2 Peter 2
About 2 PeterWritten by AI
Second Peter is a farewell letter. It names Simon Peter as its author, writing near the end of his life, which would place it in the mid 60s AD. Of all the New Testament letters, its authorship is the most debated. Its style differs from 1 Peter, and many scholars think it was written later in Peter's name. Others hold it is Peter's own, perhaps written with a different helper.
The letter warns against false teachers who were twisting the faith, living immorally, and mocking the promise that Christ would return. Peter writes to remind believers of what they already know and to urge them to keep growing.
Its three chapters move from growth in godliness, to a sharp warning, to the hope of a new heaven and new earth. Watch for the word remember, and for why the Lord seems slow: “not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.”
Before you read 2 Peter 2Written by AI
Just as there were false prophets in Israel, there will be false teachers among believers, bringing destructive ideas and exploiting people with greed. Peter points to God's past judgments on rebellious angels, the ancient world in Noah's day, and Sodom and Gomorrah, while noting that God rescued Noah and Lot. These teachers are like Balaam, promising freedom while slaves of corruption.
Deliverance from False Prophets
Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed. In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.
For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight; if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly; and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.
Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings. Yet not even angels, though greater in strength and power, dare to bring such slanderous charges against them before the Lord.
These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed. The harm they will suffer is the wages of their wickedness.
They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you. Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.
They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”