The depravity of false teachers

Peter said the false teachers were like animals with no conscience going about taking whatever they could by force. Man usually destroys such animals because of the damage they do and Peter said these should have been similarly destroyed. They spoke evil of matters of which they were ignorant. The road of selfish desire would actually be the road to the false teachers’ own destruction (2 Peter 2:12).

Sin offers much but pays only injury and harm. Sinners try to hide their evil deeds by doing them under the cover of darkness (Ephesians 5:11-12; 1 Thessalonians 5:7). Peter described some so wicked that they enjoyed practicing their evil deeds even in the day. They were like ugly stains on a pure white garment. These wicked people were coming to the feasts enjoyed by Christians and pretending to be good people. They enjoyed putting on such a show and deceiving people by causing them to believe they were faithful (2 Peter 2:13).

The false teachers were so wicked that they found opportunity for satisfying their lusts in even the most innocent and harmless situations. They could not look on a woman without seeing her as "an adulteress" (KJV margin). They, thus, could not cease sinning. They dangled the appealing bait of their wickedness before young Christians and others who were not well-grounded in the faith. They had been trained, much like a runner training for a race, in greed and were cursed children in the eyes of God (2 Peter 2:14).

They were once in the way of truth, but had abandoned it. Balaam was a prophet for God when the messengers of Balak, king of Moab, first approached him about cursing the children of Israel (Numbers 22:1-14). He desired the reward offered by Balak to curse Israel. Balaam planned to go despite God’s solemn warning. The ass speaking was a miracle worked by God to warn Balaam of the dangerous course he was following. Three times God moved him to speak a blessing (Numbers 22:15-24:25). Finally, he counseled them to entice Israel to sin so the Lord would curse them (Numbers 31:16; 25:1-9).

A weary traveler in an arid country has his hopes raised by the sight of a well. These false prophets were like empty wells, raising hopes only to dash them to pieces. They were also like a cloud extending hope of rain to a farmer with sun parched fields, but never delivered on that promise. A dark judgment awaited them (2 Peter 2:15-17).

The false teachers used big words that sounded good but were empty. They lured those who had just escaped back into the ways of sin. They told young Christians they were free to do as they pleased. Peter said they preached freedom, but were themselves the slaves of sin (2 Peter 2:18-19; Romans 6:16-18; 8:1-6; Galatians 5:1).

The deceivers had escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Peter used the word denoting precise or full knowledge. They had not always been hypocrites. They had escaped but were now entrapped in the tangled webbing into which they sought to lure others. They knew better, those causing them to be in a worse condition (2 Peter 2:20).

It would be better to not fully know the Lord’s will than to turn back from it. They brought reproach on the church. They had been more receptive to the gospel when they were unconverted sinners. Greater knowledge had brought greater responsibility (Luke 12:36-48). Peter compared them to the dog returning to its own vomit (Proverbs 26:11). The proverb about the sow may be from outside the Bible, but is true. Note that the dog had vomited up what made him sick and the sow had been washed clean. Both went back to that out of which they had come (2 Peter 2:21-22).