THE DANGER OF FALSE TEACHERS

2 Peter - chapter 2

By David Woodbury

The advent of the technology age has given false teachers a prized opportunity to spread their errant teachings far and wide, often to an audience that is gullible, theologically ill-informed and susceptible. They major on a persona of authority and perceived knowledge which many dare not question and, consequently, are often in a place where they can push through a personal agenda. Much of what is seen in these areas today are personality and celebrity-driven, which should immediately ring alarm bells.

In the second chapter of 2 Peter, the writer seeks to address the subject of false teachers. This is an awkward and contentious chapter for it deals with a controversial and difficult subject within the church. The tendency is to avoid it as inevitably it will create tensions within the holy nation. However, we cannot cherry-pick the Word of God and Peter points out that the issue has always been present among God’s people. Consequently, his desire to confront it among all his teaching on the new holy nation is indicative of his deep concern around the issue.

Much of what Peter is writing about here is still relevant today. However, we will not be able to cover it all in detail. For the sake of continuity, we will deal with verses 1-3 and 10-22 in one section.

The tragedy is that some aspects of this false teaching have subliminally crept into The Salvation Army, and being a small organisation our ability to recognise, contain and correct them may be limited. The longer it hangs around the deeper its roots and the further we are drawn away from our primary mission tasks. Not all the issues here will be relative to the Army. Some will, and the astute reader will recognise them.

The Danger of False Teachers

But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.

10 He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority. These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling. 11 But the angels, who are far greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from the Lord a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings.

12 These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed. 13 Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. 14 They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse. 15 They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong.16 But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.

17 These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. 18 They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. 19 They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. 20 And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. 21 It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. 22 They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.

In the previous chapter Peter has declared: By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. (2 Peter 1:3 - NLT) However, these false teachers are often persuasive orators and masters of subterfuge as they cleverly teach destructive heresies, (v2) some of which are taken from their unbalanced and narrow-focused selection of Scripture. It is unlikely they will outrightly deny the Master who bought them, (v1) but rather seek to elevate other biblical matters to the place of priority: e.g healing, spiritual gifts, deliverance, prosperity theology etc. over the central message of salvation through the redeeming death and resurrection of Jesus.

One of the worrying trends is the utilisation of very charismatic, guru style speakers, often highly rewarded through love offerings, (2:15) and who are highly promoted and elevated, almost at times it seems, over the message and person of Jesus. Great authority is assigned to them through a clever and persuasive public relations exercises, often including a spectacular rock-like, hysteria concert event that shines the spotlight of celebrity fame directly on them. The early church was married to poverty, prisons and persecutions. Today the church is married to prosperity, personality and popularity. (leonard ravenhill)

The spectre of the mega-church is one of their over-riding focuses which maintain that numbers are a sign of God’s blessing on their mission and agenda. No expense will be spared in exposing other leaders to so-called experts in this field and they will pursue their agenda even when results may indicate otherwise. Many will follow their evil teaching, not sure of the veracity of their teachings but feeling personal loyalty to such false teachers. Consequently, there arises a cult-like atmosphere and these false leaders become almost untouchable and any attempt to question their authority is perceived as rebellion against God.

Some comparisons here to Peter’s teaching in previous texts will help us understand where these false teachers are coming from. In 2 Peter 1: 16 he writes: For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this chapter, Peter writes: In their greed they [the false teachers] will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. (V3) One doesn’t have to be to astute to be aware of the ostentatious display of the wealth and possessions of many of the leaders of mega-church movement, with their mansions and private aircraft, to be conscious that it is distinctly in stark contrast to He who said he had nowhere to lay His head.

Their obvious display of wealth and numbers generates a sense of arrogance and importance and the false teachers will care little of the impact their ways are having on the church universal. Consequently, the way of truth will be slandered (v2) and the message and mission of the church degraded and weakened.

In Peter’s escalation of Christian character in 2 Peter 1:5-7 he urges the members of the Holy nation to pursue faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, patient endurance, godliness, brotherly affection and love. In contrast, false teachers will major in arrogance and slander (2:10), be experts in greed, their eyes are full of adultery (2:14) and they also despise authority (2:10).

Peter’s appeal is that we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. (1:19). False teachers will appeal to greed and make up clever lies (2:3) and lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception (2:18). All too often the appeal of false teachers is to the base desires of humanity.

A determined push to elevate a gospel of prosperity theology among many contemporary churches has a dangerous and heretical foundation. It is true, that after conversion there is often what is referred to as the redemptive lift, where a person’s economic state is elevated because of the change Christianity brings to their lifestyle, but that is the outcome and not the objective.

The false teachers of prosperity theology see the redemptive lift as the objective of their message, and once again it flies in the face of Him, who said he had nowhere to lay His head. Prosperity theology appeals to what are some of the most base temptations of humanity, that of selfishness and greed; not great Christian characteristics to hold up as desirable. A lot of what is on the bookshelves of the local Christian bookshop, on video sharing sites and shared widely on social media originates from these sources.

In the Old Testament false prophets were anxious to gain popularity and were not backward in telling the people what they wanted to hear, rather than what they needed to hear: From the least to the greatest, their lives are ruled by greed. From prophets to priests, they are all frauds. They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when there is no peace. (Jeremiah 6:13-14 - NLT)

False teachers delight in deception (2:13), and one of their favourite strategies is to entice people by telling them what they want to hear, rather than what they need to hear. The authentic teacher will insist on knowing and teaching what God has said in his Word. The false teacher will cater to what people want to hear, what itch can I scratch for them? without due regard for the Word.

In his advice to Timothy Paul covers the same subject: For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4 - NLT) We cannot be naïve about this and lightly dismiss it as some minor aberration. It needs to be seen for what it is; false teaching which borders on heresy, and all too often it is disguised in just enough truth to make it believable.

One of the ways false teachers reinforce their spiritual authority is by empty, foolish boasting, (2:18) often promoting some of the more spectacular gifts of the Spirit, particularly what is termed as a word of prophecy. Such a strategy is being dominantly used today, particularly within the charismatic movement and similar clones of it. It has the capacity to elevate the false teacher to divine-like authority since the impression given is that here is a first-hand, and unchallengeable word, direct from God.

The gift of prophecy referred to in Corinthians 12 is generally regarded as bringing a message from God through sound, biblical preaching and not a new word from God in the way of the prophets. This modern and dubious use of a word of prophecy to utter words that are perceived as having a standing equal to that of Scripture, is not only highly doubtful, it borders on heresy.

4 For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment. 5 And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. 6 Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. 7 But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. 8 Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. 9 So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment.

In verses 4-10, Peter deals with the outcome for false teachers, and it is scary and final. God will deal harshly with those who have intentionally led His flock astray. It may well be that the honest and authentic preacher, before they step into the pulpit, should consider this passage of Scripture and ask themselves:  Am I intentionally being true to the Word of God?  A sobering thought.