Sensuality and Vanity

2 Peter 2:10-22

November 21, 2021

This week we return to 2 Peter 2:9.

2 Peter 2:9 (NKJV) the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,

The paragraph before this statement uses Noah and Lot as examples of God delivering the godly out of temptations (trials). The remainder of chapter two condemns false teachers.

Today, we continue from verse 9. This verse ends in the middle of a sentence that continues through verse 10. So, let’s read verses 9 and 10.

2 Peter 2:9–10 (NKJV) …the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, ¹⁰and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.

First, let’s concentrate on one word “…especially.”

Please allow me to give you the English definition of this word. The New Oxford American Dictionary says:

used to single out one person, thing, or situation over all others

God is singling out one class of people. This class of people is defined in 2 Peter 2:10 as “…those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.

This particular class of people was a big part of Peter’s decision to write this second letter. Therefore, the remainder of chapter two is about these false teachers.

However, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s remember why God is singling out these particular people. Verse nine tells us: “…the Lord knows how to…reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment…” God is singling these people out for judgment. His plan is to keep them under punishment until the day of judgment.

In chapter 3, Peter tells us God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. However, if false teachers do not repent, they will suffer a terrible fate. Everyone will be judged, and the unjust and ungodly will suffer punishment. But false teachers will receive harsher punishment (judgment) than others.

James 3:1 warns us against becoming teachers.

James 3:1 (NKJV) My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.

Teaching is a tremendous responsibility, and teachers are necessary. Elementary school teachers influence the lives of children. A bad teacher can damage a child, even if the subject matter is taught. A godly person teaching math can do a fantastic amount of good.

James is speaking of spiritual teachers (pastors). Pastors and spiritual teachers are entrusted with the care of souls. A poor math teacher may cost someone a career, but false spiritual teachers cost others their souls. 

False teachers lead people away from the truth and keep them from being saved. Every sin affects others, but mishandling, twisting, and perverting the word of God is exceedingly insidious. False teachings lead people to hell under the pretense of leading them to heaven.

We will consider two things Peter tells us about false teachers.

First, false teachers walk in the lusts of the flesh. 

Their sensuality is described for us in the verses that follow. Verse 13 describes their behavior as “carousing.” Then verse 14 says, “…having eyes full of adultery.” While claiming to be teachers ordained by God, false teachers are controlled by their appetites. 2 Peter 2:14 says they “…cannot cease from sin,” and “they have a heart trained in covetous practices.”

We must guard our hearts lest any of us should be like these false teachers. What does it mean that a person “cannot cease from sin?”

A person is a slave to whatever he chooses to obey. Unless Jesus delivers us, we are all slaves of sin and, as such, are unable to do otherwise. An unredeemed person (unbelieving) cannot help but go wrong if they teach spiritual truth. They go wrong because they do not believe.

The Pharisees were the teachers of Israel in Jesus’ day. Although they knew and studied the Law of Moses, they had unbelieving hearts. So, they were the most significant single hindrance to people being saved. Jesus called them a “brood of vipers.” Let’s consider what Jesus said to these teachers.

Matthew 12:33–35 (NKJV) ³³“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. ³⁴Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. ³⁵A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.

With these thoughts, we will move on to consider the second thing Peter tells us about false teachers. The Pharisees Jesus addressed were motivated by greed, the sensuality of pride, and the lust of the flesh. However, they were also characterized by the second thing Peter mentions. They boldly spoke about things that they did not understand. They even pronounced judgments against the Son of God.

Peter calls such teachers presumptuous. This is the second thing Peter talks about “presumption.”

Some other translations say “bold.” Another word we could use is “audacious.” Verse 10 uses the example that they are not afraid to speak evil of “dignitaries.” The word used for dignitaries is translated as “glory” in other places. These beings are “glorious ones.” We would have a hard time understanding who these beings are but Jude 8-9 answers this question.

Jude 8–9 (NKJV) ⁸Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. ⁹Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

Michael is an archangel, and the devil was also a high-ranking angel before he rebelled. Therefore, we know that the “glorious ones” spoken of in Peter and Jude are spirit beings. 

False teachers are not afraid to make thundering judgments against spirit beings that even the highest angels do not dare. 

2 Peter 2:18 says they speak “great swelling word of emptiness.” That translates loosely, “They are full of hot air.” The problem is that they “allure” people away from the truth. Their “great swelling words of emptiness” appeal to peoples’ pride and lusts. 

Corinthians, Galatians, Thessalonians, 2 Peter, Jude, and other letters were all written to correct errors and false teaching. From the beginning, false teachers have challenged the truth. The Apostle Paul gives this warning:

Colossians 2:8 (NKJV) Beware lest anyone cheat (take you captive) you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

This same warning is repeated in Ephesians 5:6.

Ephesians 5:6 (NKJV) Let no one deceive you with empty words…

Please notice that 2 Peter 2:18, Colossians 2:8, and Ephesians 5:6 all contain the word “empty.” This is also translated as "vanity.” Vanity is emptiness. These words are empty and vain because they are meaningless.

Do not be deceived by complex, lengthy arguments. Some things are complicated and hard to understand, but the gospel is not one of them. John 16 tells us that the Spirit will lead us into all truth and 1 John 2:2 tells us that we have an anointing from the Holy One that teaches us all things so that we do not need anyone to teach us.

For example, some “modern” scholars (mostly dating back into the 1800s) espouse various theories about how Genesis was not written by Moses. They do this with many books of the Bible. They have very sophisticated-sounding explanations that divide the books up. These arguments are built off of what names are used of God in certain portions or variations in grammatical uses.

With these kinds of arguments, any book can be divided up in the same way. All the empty words avoid the critical, central issue. Either the Bible is the word of God as it claims to be, or it is not. Seminaries teach such garbage to our teachers, and then they come out to teach us, but they have subtly been taught that the Bible is not really what it claims to be. So Genesis 1 becomes the “Creation Myth," and the fall of man in the Garden of Eden becomes an allegory to teach truth but certainly not history.

We do not have any reason to doubt these Biblical accounts besides “great swelling words of emptiness.” Either the whole thing is true, or it is just so much garbage and mythology.

We do not have to blindly accept anything. God gave us our minds, and He expects us to use them. That includes having the sense to realize that some “scholars” tell their own versions of history to avoid the truth. 

2 Pete 2:17 describes them.

2 Peter 2:17 (NKJV) These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for who is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

I will close with a reminder from what we read in Colossians.

Colossians 2:8 (NKJV) Beware lest anyone cheat (take you captive) you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.