But there were false prophets also among the people, as there shall be also among you false teachers, who shall bring in by the bye destructive heresies, and deny the master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction;
Peter now turns to false teachers. The verse raises three questions: how does false teaching get in, what makes a heresy "destructive", and in what sense did the Lord buy men who end in ruin?
Peter compares the danger to come with Israel's past, and he says where it starts.
In this chapter the Apostle exposes the terrible conditions that false teachers bring into the Christian circle, and he warns us against them. The first verse describes what kind of evil this is. It does not come from opposition outside. It comes from corruption inside the Christian profession. In the days of old there were false prophets among the people of God. In the same way, we are warned, "false teachers" will arise in the Christian circle, "among you".
How do these men get in, and who is safe?
These men claim to be teachers, and so they deceive simple souls, as one has said, by "weaving error and truth together, so that the truth will attract true souls and put them off their guard against the error mixed in with it". They are "among you", says the Apostle. If such men arose in the Christian circle in the days right after the Apostles, should we be surprised if false teachers arise today in the best-taught companies of believers?
Peter's phrase "secretly bring in" describes a tactic.
Satan is never more dangerous than when he works secretly, by stealth. Instead of a frontal attack that openly denies the truth, he creeps in from the side. He exploits the people of God with false words, as verse 3 puts it. In fact the very word translated "secretly bring in" means literally "shall lead in sideways." A sideways attack always succeeds much more widely than a head-on attack.
Why does error need cover at all?
This secrecy is its own condemnation, because there is no need to cover up the truth.
What is a heresy in the first place?
Heresies and sects developed early in the church. In some form they were all the result of man's own will at work. The root of the Greek word is 'to choose', which shows that a heresy is something a person picks out for himself. The teaching that is held and pushed on others may be true in itself, but it may be exaggerated or taken out of its proper connection. The usual result is that a party or sect is formed.
Peter adds a word that goes past party spirit:
These errors, brought in secretly, are "destructive heresies". They are not just faulty views of the truth. They are denials of the truth. They are fatal errors that destroy Christianity, and they lead to the denial of "the Master who bought them". This is lawlessness. It throws off the authority of the Lord and opens the door to every form of self-will.
Peter says the Master bought these men. He does not say the Lord redeemed them.
There is no difficulty in the apostle's statement that the Sovereign Master bought these false teachers. This is "purchase", which covers everyone. It is not "redemption", which belongs only to those who have the forgiveness of their sins in Christ through His blood. In the parable too we read that He bought not only the treasure but the field. The purchase took all as His slaves or property. Redemption sets people free from Satan's power as well as from divine judgment. So these men are never said to be "redeemed". They were bought, though they disowned that purchase and rebelled against His rights.
The word for "Master" here is the word for a slave owner.
They deny the only Lord (despot, Master). The same word is used in 2 Peter 2:1, "denying the Master who bought them." He bought the world, just as Joseph bought up all the land of Egypt, and the people too, for Pharaoh — the way a slave is bought. This has nothing to do with redemption. It is His claim over them. But these men "crept in unnoticed", and they refuse to admit His claim.
What does "swift destruction" mean?
In this way they show their true character, and they bring swift destruction on themselves. This does not mean that destruction will reach them in a very short time. It means that when it comes, it will fall on them swiftly. Their guilt is beyond question, so no long judgment process will be needed to prove it.
- Inside — The evil Peter predicts grows inside the Christian profession, not outside it. No company of believers is safe from it.
- Sideways — Error is "led in sideways", never announced. The need to hide a teaching condemns it, because truth needs no cover.
- Chosen — "Heresy" comes from a word meaning to choose. It is man's own will at work, forming a party — and here it goes as far as denying the truth.
- Bought — The purchase covers everyone, even these men. Redemption is only for those forgiven through His blood. They were bought, and they disowned it.
- Swift — Their guilt is beyond dispute, so no long process is needed. The judgment they invite falls at once.
and many shall follow their dissolute ways, through whom the way of the truth shall be blasphemed.
Peter has just warned that false teachers will rise from inside the Christian company. Now he says what follows: crowds will chase them, and outsiders will judge Christianity by what they see.
Peter does not say a few will be caught. He says many. One writer explains why the numbers run so high: the pull is the lifestyle, not the teaching.
We are next warned of the terrible effect that the errors of these wicked men have on the mass of those who profess Christianity. "Many", we are told, "will follow their dissolute ways". Destructive heresies always bring the grossest worldliness with them, for bad doctrine leads to bad practice. The mass may not understand their evil doctrines or be able to follow them. But worldly ways the flesh can appreciate and follow.
The word behind the older rendering "pernicious ways" describes loose, unrestrained living. The irony is that such teachers often market themselves as moral reformers.
Here is also a prediction of the widespread success of these false teachers. "Many will follow their pernicious (loose and immoral) ways, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed." They speak of making the world better. They pose as teachers of morality and righteousness, but their ways are branded as pernicious. How can they be righteous when they deny the one thing that can give righteousness to man? … Unbelief produces worldliness and immorality.
The phrase is not a vague ideal. It belongs to a family of expressions used for Christianity itself in its earliest days.
In the days of the apostles the Christian faith seems to have gained the name "the Way"; see Acts 9:2; Acts 19:9, 23; Acts 22:4; Acts 24:14, 22. Peter uses the term "the way of truth" (2 Peter 2:2).
Outsiders are poor judges of doctrine. They are far better judges of behaviour, and they rarely separate the message from the messenger.
Evil doctrine has worked through Christendom like yeast through dough, and Christendom has sunk into the gross worldliness that marks the Christian profession of our day. The result is that people speak evil of "the way of truth". The world may not be able to tell error from truth, but it can at least see and condemn the loose lives of these people who profess Christ. It judges Christianity by these men and their evil lives, and so it speaks evil of the way of truth.
Peter's wording places the blame where it belongs — on those who wear the name of Christ, not on those who mock from outside.
"And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." Alas, we know well that what Peter says would take place has been fully enacted in Christendom. There has been a throwing off of the claims of Christ, even by those who profess His name; and the way of truth is evil spoken of by those outside, because of the evil ways of those who profess to know the Lord.
The godly are not exempt from the fallout. They must live under a reputation they never earned.
Sadly, false teachers have many followers. Their corrupt religious pretence makes even the ungodly world speak evil of Christianity, for the world does not tell the difference between what is true and what is a corruption of the truth. This is a painful trial for the godly.
Verse 1 sets false prophets in Israel beside false teachers in the church. One writer explains why the repeat carries greater guilt.
So we see that the downward slide in Israel was to have its counterpart in Christendom, with a similar tide of moral corruption — both the cause and the effect of hateful false teaching. … Here the apostle foretells that it would be no better, but more guilty, since grace under the gospel was more open to abuse than the law was.
If bad lives give the world its excuse, consistent lives remove it. The same charge was once laid against Israel — "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you" (Romans 2:24) — and one writer applies it directly.
The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of the religious man. The Apostle is speaking of the Jew, but what he says is just as true of the professing Christian. What has mostly drawn out the blasphemy of unbelievers is the corruption and the degraded conduct of professing Christendom. Men would not have become Christians simply because Christians were consistent in practice. But if Christians had been true in practice to what they professed, men would have had no occasion to blaspheme God.
- Doctrine first. Bad doctrine leads to bad practice; the heresy of verse 1 produces the loose living of verse 2.
- The crowd next. Most followers never grasp the teaching. The lifestyle draws them, because the flesh can appreciate and follow it.
- The name last. "The way of truth" was an early name for the Christian faith. That is what ends up slandered.
- The world's verdict. Outsiders cannot tell truth from a corruption of it. But they can see lives, and they judge Christianity by its worst representatives.
- The reversal. Good behaviour alone will not make anyone a Christian. But lives true to the profession leave the world no occasion to blaspheme.
And through covetousness, with well-turned words, will they make merchandise of you for whom judgment of old is not idle, and their destruction slumbers not.
False teachers rarely announce themselves. They come with warm words and an eye on your money. Peter names the motive behind their teaching, and the sentence already passed on it. That sentence is slow, but it is not asleep.
Peter traces the whole enterprise back to appetite. These men want everything the human heart craves. God's people are the field they harvest.
The people of God are their prey. They are covetous. They seek their own pleasure in money, social standing, fame and everything else that the natural heart loves and desires. The conditions around us prove all of this many times over. But retribution will surely come upon them.
The ESV calls their speech "false words"; other translations read "well-turned words" or "feigned words". One writer sees an old pattern repeating in it.
Moreover, this worldly-mindedness opens the door to worldly methods. Covetousness moves these false teachers. With "well-turned words" they make merchandise of the Christian profession. Long ago the Jews turned the temple of God into a market. In the same way, these false teachers use their profession of Christianity, and their natural skill with words, to make a living.
The believers themselves are the goods for sale. One writer traces that trade up into organised religion.
Here he lays bare the pretensions of the religious system, right to the core. Babylon sells the souls of men (Revelation 18:13). It is a serious thing to have any real link with such a state of things. These false teachers use covetousness and hypocritical words to make merchandise of Christians for their own gain. This points to what is called simony — the sale of souls. But God's judgment should overtake all such.
Greed shows itself when a teacher no longer believes what he is paid to teach, and stays anyway. One commentator watched this happen in his own day.
In our day, those who are false in doctrine are bold enough to defy conscience. They cling to their position and income after they have abandoned the truth they solemnly pledged to preach and teach. So it is not only the Lord and the truth that they betray. They also sacrifice plain honesty of principle for a place and a living they value. The apostle's words expose this corruption sharply: "through covetousness with well-turned words they will make merchandise of you."
Such a man need not teach anything false to be dangerous. He is the hireling, and the test of him is what he does when trouble comes.
The hireling does not necessarily teach false doctrine, but he serves for wages. Peter warns us against shepherding the flock of God for "shameful gain" (1 Peter 5:2). He also warns that some will arise who "through covetousness" will "make merchandise" of the saints (2 Peter 2:3). Christendom has largely fallen into the snare of the hireling. The hireling may profess to tend the sheep but his motive is self. So when danger comes, he thinks of his own safety and runs away.
The second half of the verse answers an obvious question. If this is so evil, why does nothing happen? Peter answers with two pictures: a sentence that is not idle, and a destruction that is not asleep.
It is not an idle tale that of old judgment fell upon the lawless and rebellious. For a time evil may seem to prosper unjudged. But God is not indifferent. He does not slumber, unaware of all around Him. Judgment is surely coming!
The long pause has to do with the present age, not with any weakness in the sentence.
In the case we are considering, the people were under law, and judgment fell very fast. For Christendom today, under grace, it is different: God waits with much patience. Still, the apostle Peter has grave things to say about such men and the state of things they produce.
And the distance may be shorter than it feels.
But God takes account, and will not delay their judgment. Their destruction may seem far off, but it "slumbereth not": it is nearer than we may feel it to be.
- Motive — greed drives the false teacher. He wants money, standing and fame, and God's people are his prey.
- Method — smooth, well-turned words. He trades on the Christian faith he professes to make a living.
- Merchandise — the goods are people. The trade runs from the hireling's wages up to a whole religious system that sells souls.
- Mask — a man can keep his post and his pay long after he has abandoned the truth he promised to teach. His motive is self, so he runs when danger comes.
- Moment — the sentence passed long ago is not idle, and the destruction is not asleep. The delay is God's patience under grace, not indifference.