2 Peter 2:1-3 “Identifying False Teachers”

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church Manhattan KS, 11 Feb. 2024

Introduction

v.1 False teachers/prophets are a reality

v.2 Temporal Results of False Teaching

v.3 The Perilous Situation of False Teachers



Comparison of Bible Translations of 2 Peter 2:1-3


GNTA

NAWB

KJVC

MurdockD (Peshitta)

RheimsE (Vulgate)

1 ᾿Εγένοντο δὲ καὶ ψευδοπροφῆταιF ἐν τῳ῀ λαῳ῀, ὡς καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν ἔσονταιG ψευδοδιδάσκαλοιH, οἵτινεςI παρεισάξουσινJ αἱρέσειςK ἀπωλείαςL, καὶM τὸν ἀγοράσανταN αὐτοὺς δεσπότηνO ἀρνούμενοιP, ἐπάγοντεςQ ἑαυτοῖς ταχινὴνR ἀπώλειαν·

1 Nevertheless, there were also false prophets among the people, as also among y’all there will be false teachers – those who will slip destructive heresies in, even denying the Master Who bought them, thus bringing upon themselves sudden destruction.

1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there shall be among you lying teachers who shall X bring in sects of perdition and deny the Lord who bought them: bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

1 But in the world, there have been also false prophets, as there will likewise be false teachers among you, who will X bring in destructive heresies, X denying the Lord that bought them; thus bringing on themselves swift destruction.

2̈ καὶ πολλοὶ ἐξακολουθήσουσινS αὐτῶν ταῖς ἀσελγείαιςT, δι᾿ οὓςU ἡ ὁδὸς τῆς ἀληθείας βλασφημηθήσεται·

2 And many will follow into their immoralities, on account of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

2 And many shall follow X their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

2 And many shall follow X their riotousness, throughV whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

2 And many will go after X their profaneness; on account of whom, the way of truth will be reproached.

3̈ καὶ ἐν πλεονεξίᾳW πλαστοῖςX λόγοις ὑμᾶς ἐμπορεύσονταιY, οἷς τὸ κρῖμα ἔκπαλαιZ οὐκ ἀργεῖAA, καὶ ἡ ἀπώλεια αὐτῶν οὐ νυστάζειAB.

3 In greed they will also market themselves to y’all using plastic words, against whom the judgment from of old is not inactive, and their destruction is not dormant.

3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment [now] of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you. Whose judgment [now] of a long time lingereth not: and their perdition slumbereth not.

3 And, in the cupidity of raving words, they will make merchandise of you: whose judgment, of a long time, is not idle; and their destruction slumbereth not.


1LXX =μάταια MT=שָׁ֣וְא = lit. “empty” The same word occurs again toward the end of this verse.

2There is an alternate interpretation which Gordon Clark summarized as “God rescued you from Egypt; do you therefore repay him with heresy and immorality?” See Endnotes for discussion on this.

3“Peter is not saying that Christians can lose their salvation (John 10:28, 29, Rom 8:28-30), but is describing the false teachers in terms of their own profession (vv. 20, 21). By teaching and practicing immorality they despise the lordship of Christ and prove their profession to be false (1 John 2:3, 4, 19).” ~New Geneva Study Bible

4“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality…[and more]” (ESV)

5Tob. 1:3, Wis. 5:6, Mk. 12:14 || Lk. 20:21

6Isaiah 52:5 “‘But now, what have I here?’ declares Yahweh, ‘for my people were taken gratuitously, their rulers howl [with laughter],’ declares Yahweh, ‘and all the day long my name is blasphemed.’” (NAW)

71 Thess. 2:4-6 “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness--God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ.” ~NKJV

8For instance, Deut. 13:1-5 “If there arises among you a prophet... saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’... you shall not listen to the words of that prophet... You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him... But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death…” (NKJV)

9“Long ago that judgment started on its destroying path, and the fate of sinning angels, and the deluge, and the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah were but incidental illustrations of its power; nor has it ever since lingered.… It advances still, strong and vigilant as when first it sprang from the bosom of God, and will not fail to reach the mark to which it was pointed from of old.” ~Salmond and Lillie, c.1850, AD

A1904 "Patriarchal" edition of the Greek Orthodox Church, as published by E-Sword in June 2016. Annotated by NAW where the 27th edition of the Nestle-Aland GNT differs.

BNathan A Wilson’s translation

CKing James Version of the Holy Bible (a.k.a. Authorized Version), 1769 edition, as published by E-Sword in July 2019.

DTranslation of the Peshito Syriac New Testament into English by James Murdock. Published in 1851. Republished by E-sword in June 2016.

ERheims New Testament first published by the English College at Rheims, A.D. 1582, Revised by Bishop Richard Challoner, A.D. 1749-1752, as published by E-sword in June 2016.


FThis term “false-prophet” shows up in Zechariah 13:2 and Jeremiah 6:13; 33:7-16, and 34:9-36:8. In the NT, Jesus mentioned “false-prophets” in Matt. 7:15-17 and indicated that a proliferation of false prophets would be a “sign” of the “close of the age” before His “return” in Matt. 24:4-27 . Paul and Barnabas ran into a false prophet in Crete on their first missionary journey in Acts 13:6-11, and John mentioned how to identify false prophets in 1 John 4:1-3 and prophesied of the coming of a singular “false prophet” who will ultimately be cast into hell in Rev. 16:13, 19:20, and 20:10.

G“Peter speaks of them as future, and Jude (Jude 1:4) as present.” ~Vincent
Gordon Clark theorized that if there were an initial peaceful stage in church-planting without challenges from false teachers yet, followed by the inevitable rise of false teachers, this could explain the difference between Peter’s future tense and Jude’s present tense.
D.F. Zeller suggested that it was a “future of certainty” referring to present conditions which should be taken for granted in the future.

HHapex Legomenon. “The change in wording from pseudo prophetai to pseudo didaskaloi may indicate that prophets and apostles are on a level, but that teachers are on a lower level. At any rate, the Christian community of the second century, as well as the first, made a sharp distinction.” ~Gordon Clark

I“This indefinite relative pronoun is used qualitatively in order to bring out the characteristic, or the class of people to which these false teachers belonged.” ~D.F. Zeller

JHapex Legomenon. An adjectival form occurs once in Galatians 2:4, when Paul relates how “false brothers secretly brought in… came… that they might bring us into bondage” but “we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue…” (NKJV)

KFausset: “heresies — self-chosen doctrines, not emanating from God (compare “will-worship,” Col. 2:23).”

L“Descriptive genitive” ~A.T. Robertson. Regarding this “destruction,” cf. Phil. 1:27-28 & 3:8-9, 2 Thess. 2:1-4, and 2 Peter 3:15-18.

MLander tagged this conjunction as Louw & Nida semantic domain #89.93a “even, indeed (ascensive).” “Heresies” is plural, so the singular action of “denying Christ” seems to describe the worst of (or epitome of?) these heresies.

NJohn Gill, J.B. Mayor, and Gordon Clark postulated that this is referring to Yahweh who redeemed the Jews from slavery in Egypt rather than to Christ redeeming His elect by His blood on the cross. They argue that the absense of any other name for Christ but “despot” and the absense of anything else about the theology of redemption and the cross, and the presuppositions of the Jewish-background audience of Peter’s ministry would all support this interpretation. Gill and Clark were further motivated to by their reformed theology to avoid asserting that God had actually redeemed these false teachers, an assertion that A.T. Robertson didn’t hesitate to make. Problems with this position include the strong parallel with Jude which identifies the “despot” as “Jesus Christ” and the fact that nowhere in the Old Testament is this verb root used to referr to God’s redemption of the Jews from Egypt, whereas it is used to refer to the redemption of Christians by Jesus on the cross in four places in the New Testament (1 Cor. 6:20 & 7:23, and Rev. 5:9 & 14:3-4). John Calvin, Matthew Henry, Alford, Lenski, and D.F. Zeller interpreted it as Jesus’ redemption of Christians, and A.R. Fausset concurred, “The denial of His propitiatory sacrifice is included in the meaning (compare 1 Jn. 4:3).” Lenski and Alford used this as a platform to advocate universalism, whereas the others did not grapple with the problem of a redeemed person being a false teacher. The New Geneva Study Bible seems to offer the best solution that this is “describing the false teachers in terms of their own profession,” in other words, “the Master whom [they profess to have] bought them” - and, as such they should not be in rebellion against Him, but since their profession is fake, they are not actually redeemed but destined for perdition.

OAlthough uncommon as a designation for God, this term is used as such in the N.T. a few other times: Lk. 2:29, Acts 4:24, 2 Tim. 2:21, Jude 1:4, and Rev. 6:10. It matches the Accusative Masculine Singular substantive participle “the one who bought.”

PThis Present tense participle is epexegetical, explaining at least one (perhaps the worst) of the aforementioned heresies. It is the same verb Peter used to describe what the Jews did to Jesus in Acts 3:13. (See also: 2 Tim. 2:12, Titus 1:16, 1 John 2:22-23, Jude 1:4, Rev. 2:13 & 3:18.)

QThis Present tense participle denotes the result of the previous action. Fausset commented, “[C]ompare ‘God bringing in the flood upon the world,’ 2 Pet. 2:5. Man brings upon himself the vengeance which God brings upon him.”

RWhen God’s “punishment” comes, it will be “swift” and “destructive,” as we’ll see in chapter 3, but, as we will also see in chapter 3, that “swiftness” does not necessarily characterize the entire length of time between the commission of sin and the judgment of it.
“Peter’s death is tachine; the destruction of the false teachers is tachinen. It seems to make little difference whether we translate it as suddenly or swiftly.” ~G. Clark

SThis verb is used in the NT only in 2 Peter. Cf. 1:16 “... it was not after following sophisticated stories that we made [Christ] known to y'all...” and 2:15 “...following the way of Balaam…” In the LXX, it appears in Job 31:9; Amos 2:4; Isa. 56:11; Jer. 2:2; and Dan. 3:41, sometimes indicating faithfully “following” God, and sometimes indicating “following” ungodly influences into apostasy. The standard English versions are missing something by translating this word as simply “follow.”

TCf. Gal. 5:19, Eph. 4:17-19, 1 Peter 4:3-5, and Jude 1:4. Textus Receptus reads apwleiaiV (“destructions”), which is why the NKJV reads “destructive ways,” but there is no known Greek manuscript which contains that word. The word in all the Greek manuscripts is the alpha-privative of the Greek word for “continent.” But in both the Greek manuscripts and the T.R., this noun is Dative. It is appropriate to render the Dative case by the English preposition “into,” but no standard English translation does this, perhaps because, in almost every occurrence of this verb “follow” in the Greek Bible, the thing followed is in the Dative case (the exception being Dan. 3:41), so it is assumed by many that the verb requires the Dative case and that the Dative case therefore has no lexical meaning in this instance, but I am not convinced, nor was A.T. Robertson, who labelled this as an “Associative instrumental.”

UThe Greek is unclear whether this relative pronoun in the Accusative case (“whom”) relates to the Nominative (“many”) or to the Genitive “their” (presumably identical with the Nominative “pseudo-prophets” and “pseudo-didactics” in the previous verse). Calvin thought it was the former, but Fausset, ATR, Clark, Zeller, and I think the latter.

VThis Greek preposition indicates instrumentality (“through/by means of”) when its object is Genitive, but causality (“because/on account of”) when its object is Accusative, and the object is Accusative here.

WThe Dative case of this noun indicates the emotional state “in” which the false teachers exist and which motivates them to “market” falsehood (cf. Fausset & Vincent). It occurs again in v.14. This is in stark contrast to the ministry of the Biblical Apostles who upheld the value of Holy Scripture and operated under the authority of Christ and so were not greedy or man-centered. (1 Thess. 2:4-6 “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness--God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ.” ~NKJV) This “covetous/greed” is the exact opposite of relying on God’s word according to Psalm 119:36 “Incline mine heart to thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.” (Brenton) Biblical prophets spoke out against covetousness in the leaders of their days (Jeremiah 22:17, Ezek. 22:27), and Jesus said, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” (Luke 12:15, NKJV) In Ephesians 4:1-19, the Apostle Paul adds, “...you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.” (NKJV) That is life without the truth of the Bible or the divine authority of Christ.

XHapex Legomenon. The tendency for Secular Humanists to fabricate new vocabulary is an intriguing thesis. (c.f. Orwell’s 1984)
“...not necessarily ‘false’ words, but... words suited to their objective – greed for money… [I]n the papyri and Josephus it is used to refer to a forged document.” ~D.F. Zeller

YThis Greek word denotes “doing business/conducting trade/marketing,” and nowhere else in the Bible does it connote doing so dishonestly, as all the contemporary English versions imply here (Viz. Gen. 34:10, 21; 42:34; 2 Chr. 1:16; 9:14; Prov. 3:14; 31:14; Hos. 12:2; Amos 8:6; Ezek. 27:13, 21; Jas. 4:13. A noun form is in John 2:16 “...my Father’s house an emporium.”). This verb is in the middle voice, which would normally mean that they “market themselves.” Throughout the Biblical use of this verb, the things traded are marked with the Dative (or Genitive) case, whereas the persons with whom the trade is conducted are marked with the Accusative case; “y’all” here is accusative, so “y’all” are the ones to whom they are trying to “market themselves” (i.e. their false teachings).

ZThe only other occurrence of this word is in 3:5, where it describes the “being of the heavens.” Without the ek- prefix, the root refers to the “beginning” of things – as in creation in Isa. 37:26 & 48:5-7 (and probably Heb. 1:1), or to relatively “long ago” in Matt. 11:21 || Lk. 10:13 (“they would have repented long ago”), or to a “long duration” of time Mk. 15:44 (“has he been dead long?”). (See also 2 Cor. 12:19 & Jude 1:4). Fausset, Vincent, Clark, and Zeller advocated for “long ago” over “of long duration.”

AAThis verb is found nowhere else in the NT, but is in Ezr. 4:24, 2 Mac. 5:25, Eccl. 12:3, and Sir. 33:28, indicating people pausing an activity. The NIV is quite a stretch from this idea of “not suspending.”

ABCuriously, the majority of Greek manuscripts throw this word into the future tense (nustaxei), emphasizing the future-ness of the judgment, but all 5 of the oldest-known manuscripts, as well as a sizable minority of the Byzantine manuscripts, read Present tense (nustazei, matching the previous verb “is idle”), emphasizing the current-ness of the operations of God’s judgment. The latter is followed by both Critical GNT editions and Textus Receptus editions, as well as by the ancient Latin and Syriac versions and all the standard English versions (except for the NIV, which oddly rendered both verbs perfect tense). Greek Orthodox GNT editions are split between the two spellings. It is often paired with the verb for “sleep” coming after it, so it could indicate the early stages of falling asleep. It is also found in Matt. 25:5 and in the LXX 2 Sam. 4:6, Ps. 75:7, 120:3-4, Prov. 6:10, 24:33, Nah. 3:18, Isa. 5:27, 56:10, & Jer. 23:31.

9