False Teachers and the Day of the Lord

Summary

Chapter 2 warns that false teachers will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them. Peter gives examples of God’s judgment and mercy: the angels who sinned, the ancient world and the flood with Noah preserved, Sodom and Gomorrah, and righteous Lot rescued. The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and hold the unrighteous for judgment. The lesson lists false prophets in both Testaments and modern errors such as the prosperity gospel, self-salvation, universalism and legalism.

Peter then describes the false teachers’ conduct: bold and willful, driven by instinct, shameless, and following the way of Balaam, who loved gain from wrongdoing. They are waterless springs who promise freedom but are slaves of corruption. Proximity to truth is not the same as transformation: “the dog returns to its own vomit.”

Chapter 3 says Peter writes to stir up their sincere minds by reminder. Scoffers will come asking, “Where is the promise of his coming?” and Peter answers: God made the heavens and the earth by His word and judged the world once by water, and the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire. The Lord is not slow, but patient, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance, and the day of the Lord will come like a thief.

Since all this will be dissolved, Peter asks what kind of people we ought to be: holy and godly, diligent to be found without spot or blemish, at peace, waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. He closes by warning us not to be carried away by error and to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The structure

The class covered the last two chapters together.

Practical takeaways

The slides draw out these lessons: