B. The Perverted Word Condemned by God (2:1-22)

Just as false prophets arose in opposition to the true prophetic Word of God in the past, so false teachers will arise in opposition to the word of Jesus, the One who fulfills that prophetic word. In fact, it is to meet the challenge of such false teachers and their perverted word that Peter writes.

If it is difficult to determine the content, the consequences of this perverted word are clear. The false teachers promoted destructive heresies that led to a denial of the Sovereign Lord who bought them. Whatever their specific tenets of faith, the practical outcome of their teaching involved a rejection of Christ as Lord and therefore a repudiation of Christ’s saving work. This outcome, however, was far from obvious. Evidently the false teachers presented their theology in an attractive and persuasive manner. In fact, so many became followers of the “new” teaching that the integrity of the Gospel itself was in jeopardy (2:2). These confident and bold teachers preyed especially upon immature and new Christians (2:14, 18). Peter says that their acceptance of these heresies placed them in so great a danger that it would have been better for them never to have become Christians (2:20-22).

Two crucial issues were at stake in these heresies. First, and most fundamentally, was the issue of authority—who or what provides the norms for our lives as Christians? Second was the issue of Christian freedom—in what ways are Christians to express their freedom in Christ? Clearly the false teachers set up their ideas as normative for Christians, and that led to a distorted understanding of freedom. Just as clearly, Peter asserts that such teaching is a perversion of the Gospel, a denial of the lordship of Christ, and a way not to freedom and life but to bondage and death.

Peter responds to these false teachers with a scathing denunciation that demonstrates God’s condemnation on this perverted word and its proponents. He cites examples from sacred traditions and Scripture to indicate how God deals with those who teach and act as these false teachers do. In each case, certain condemnation followed (2:4-10). These examples show that the false teachers and all their adherents are headed for judgment. Peter concludes his denunciation by describing the corrupt behavior endorsed and practiced by these false teachers (2:11-16). By this means he exposes the moral impotence and ethical emptiness of their lives, only to demonstrate again the condemnation that awaits them.

Christians must reject such teachings and the lifestyle they endorse. Continued growth in grace and final entry into the eternal kingdom requires such rejection. Peter encourages his readers to make the proper response by assuring them that the Lord is fully able to rescue his people when they are tested by the slick and appealing arguments of false teachers (2:9).

The basis, then, for growth in grace is twofold. First, the prophetic word of Scripture has been fulfilled in Jesus whose person and teachings have become normative for living in grace. Second, the perverted word of the false teachers has met (and always will meet) with God’s condemnation. By rejecting the false perverted word and by embracing the true prophetic word in Jesus, Christians find a solid basis for growing in grace.