2 But false prophets also appeared among the people, likewise there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even contradicting the Master who purchased them, bringing impending destruction upon themselves. ² Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; ³ and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. ⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into the deepest abyss and committed them to pits of darkness, to await final judgment; ⁵ and He did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example of what is coming for the ungodly; ⁷ and if He rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the perverted conduct of unscrupulous people ⁸ (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), ⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt passion, and despise authority. ¹¹whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a demeaning judgment against them before the Lord. ¹² But these, like brute beast, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and destroyed, using abusive speech where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,  (2Pet2:1-12).

The need to contemporize

Following on from the close of chapter one where Peter affirms that true prophecy is never a matter of particular interpretation but the words of men moved and directed by the Holy Spirit, he now warns of false teachers that he knew would come into the Church. In interpreting and applying Peter’s teaching, contemporizing is essential. Today and for many centuries previously, as a result of apostacy and division within the churches, the situation exists in which one assembly of sincere, Christ-loving worshippers regard others who are equally sincere and devout but have a very different understanding of the gospel to be false teachers or rather the followers of such. I know this from personal experience having been an Evangelical Calvinist for the first 28 years of my Christian life and a (somewhat unorthodox) Catholic for a similar period subsequently.

Apostolic restraints

Such doctrinally divided enclaves of believers could never have become established in the apostles’ time, not least because of the presence and influence of such men of God as Paul and Peter. Even so, the latter  points out in the next chapter that there were already some Christians who were misunderstanding Paul’s writing and leading their fellow believers astray (3:16). Generally speaking, false teachers of the kind Peter is referring to would have been far easier to spot than is the case today. They appeared to be followers of Christ, the “Master who purchased them” (v1) yet they thoroughly undermined His teaching, especially in the areas of lust, immorality and greed (vv2-3). This is particularly indicated in Peter’s reference to Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot’s experience within those debauched  societies. He later refers to these false teachers as “brute beasts created to be captured and destroyed” (v12), and  “accursed children who cannot cease from sin” (v14).

What of yours truly?

One of the points I’m making is that these do not equate to people who teach the gospel in good conscience as they have come to understand it, even if it contain substantial error. In my Evangelical days I would have considered a Catholic/Orthodox priest to be a false teacher, and (no doubt) vice versa. As one who was briefly a Baptist minister, I now regard myself as having been a false teacher, but hardly a “brute beast created to be captured and destroyed who never ceased from sin”. Such horrors exist within the various churches and breakaway cults today but thankfully are few and far between. Like the vast majority of Evangelical preachers I was seeking to convey the gospel as I understood it, for the glory of God  and the spiritual wellbeing of my listeners. All who genuinely preach and teach to glorify Christ and bring about the salvation of their listeners shall surely be positively regarded by our merciful God and Saviour. For truly, we are not ultimately to be judged on our theological acumen.

Although no longer a recognized teacher in the Church (or any church), I seek to do the same now based on the prophetic insights I have received. In view of the nature and scope of these revelations, aspects of which even fellow Catholics may regard as false, I believe what the Spirit has shown me is  intended to be shared through book publication and via the internet to as many Christians as will receive it. How this came about is set out in a testimonial post.

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