Be Diligent! "And many will follow their destructive ways" (2 Peter 2:2a). False teachers in the church do all they can to draw people away from God, and they will have a following. False teaching is always made to sound good, but it leads to destruction. Matthew 7:13-14 says, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Be diligent! Follow that narrow way.
A few verses later in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter" (Matt. 7:21). Just claiming to be a follower of Jesus isn't good enough. A true follower of Jesus follows through by walking with Jesus and living for Him. Superficial claims to be followers of Christ, claims that are no more than skin deep, claims that are insincere and only for show, are meaningless. Only when you fully submit to His lordship and obey His will do you demonstrate that you truly belong to Him. Be diligent! Follow Him as Lord.
"Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (1 John 2:3-6). Be diligent! Walk as He walked.
Be Strong! Peter spoke of "their destructive ways" (v. 2a). False teachers in the church bring destruction on all who follow. "Their destructive ways" (v. 2a) is literally "their shameful ways, their vices, or their sexual debaucheries" (Expositor's Bible Commentary, Vol. 12, [Zondervan Publishing Hiouse: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1981], 276). The false teachers bring their sinful ways into the church, causing others to fall into their trap. It only leads to destruction. Be strong! Stand firm against their sinful ways.
Because they have rejected the lordship of Christ, their lives are marked by unrestrained sin. They refuse to restrain their fleshly desires in any way. As a result, Jude compared their sins with those of Sodom and Gomorrah: "For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jude 4); and, "as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 7). Be strong! Resist the false teachers and follow Jesus.
Be cautious! Peter continues, "because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed" (2 Peter 2:2b). False teachers bring reproach on the name of Christ. False teachers in the church are misleading. Because of false teachers, people get the wrong picture of Christianity. They are often led to believe that there is nothing special about the church because they see it as no different than the world. And it often isn't different because of the false teachers who have taken over. They leave behind much spiritual wreckage, causing the biblical message to be lost in the eyes of the world. Be cautious! Live by faith and let the world see the difference Christ makes in your life.
As R.C.H. Lenski wrote in his commentary: "True Christianity is blasphemed, reviled, cursed, condemned by outsiders who see professed Christians running to all manner of excesses. 'If that is Christianity,' they will say, 'curse it!' When many follow such excesses, outsiders are unable to distinguish and so blaspheme the whole 'way.' These false exponents seem true products of the way to them" (R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John, and St. Jude [reprint, Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1966], 307). Be cautious! Guard the faith. Protect the truth.
Be Grieved! As Peter said, "the way of truth will be blasphemed" (v. 2b). False teachers in the church dishonor Christ. They bring their lies and deceit into the church, along with their sinful ways, causing "the way of truth" (v. 2b) to be maligned. "The way" was an early common name for the Christian faith. Understand, then, that the Christian faith is "the way of truth" (v. 2b). It is not only correct thought or "truth," but it is the "way" of life that responds to and is determined by the truth. True doctrine must issue in true living. The knowledge of God should lead to a godly life. Be grieved that the Christian faith is maligned because of the false teachers. Live your life for Christ as a light to the world.
Whether by deceptive teaching or by immoral behavior, false teachers have maligned the gospel. Literally in the Greek, they have "blasphemed," "slandered," or "defamed" the gospel. Their way of operating is consistent with Satan's mission, which is seeking to undermine the church from the inside by introducing deceptive heresies and false doctrines, or seeking to damage the church's reputation from the outside by revealing the behavior of the false teachers before a watching world. When the conduct of false teachers is associated with the practice of the true church, the name of Christ becomes defamed. Be grieved that this could ever happen! Be faithful to Christ and guard the church against the infiltration of false teachers.
To counter the relentless assault on the church by false teachers, the church must be doctrinally pure. Christians must live in such a way as to make the transforming power of Christ both seen and believed. Paul said, "Prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world" (Phil. 2:15, NASB). Be grieved! Live right! Amen.
Be cautious! Peter continues, "because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed" (2 Peter 2:2b). False teachers bring reproach on the name of Christ. False teachers in the church are misleading. Because of false teachers, people get the wrong picture of Christianity. They are often led to believe that there is nothing special about the church because they see it as no different than the world. And it often isn't different because of the false teachers who have taken over. They leave behind much spiritual wreckage, causing the biblical message to be lost in the eyes of the world. Be cautious! Live by faith and let the world see the difference Christ makes in your life.
As R.C.H. Lenski wrote in his commentary: "True Christianity is blasphemed, reviled, cursed, condemned by outsiders who see professed Christians running to all manner of excesses. 'If that is Christianity,' they will say, 'curse it!' When many follow such excesses, outsiders are unable to distinguish and so blaspheme the whole 'way.' These false exponents seem true products of the way to them" (R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John, and St. Jude [reprint, Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1966], 307). Be cautious! Guard the faith. Protect the truth.
Be Grieved! As Peter said, "the way of truth will be blasphemed" (v. 2b). False teachers in the church dishonor Christ. They bring their lies and deceit into the church, along with their sinful ways, causing "the way of truth" (v. 2b) to be maligned. "The way" was an early common name for the Christian faith. Understand, then, that the Christian faith is "the way of truth" (v. 2b). It is not only correct thought or "truth," but it is the "way" of life that responds to and is determined by the truth. True doctrine must issue in true living. The knowledge of God should lead to a godly life. Be grieved that the Christian faith is maligned because of the false teachers. Live your life for Christ as a light to the world.
Whether by deceptive teaching or by immoral behavior, false teachers have maligned the gospel. Literally in the Greek, they have "blasphemed," "slandered," or "defamed" the gospel. Their way of operating is consistent with Satan's mission, which is seeking to undermine the church from the inside by introducing deceptive heresies and false doctrines, or seeking to damage the church's reputation from the outside by revealing the behavior of the false teachers before a watching world. When the conduct of false teachers is associated with the practice of the true church, the name of Christ becomes defamed. Be grieved that this could ever happen! Be faithful to Christ and guard the church against the infiltration of false teachers.
To counter the relentless assault on the church by false teachers, the church must be doctrinally pure. Christians must live in such a way as to make the transforming power of Christ both seen and believed. Paul said, "Prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world" (Phil. 2:15, NASB). Be grieved! Live right! Amen.
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