Indroducing False Teachings

Wisely, we take note of how false teachers introduce their corrupt thinking.  Peter first says that they do it quietly, or in an unobtrusive, subtle way.  He adds:  "With covetousness they will exploit you with counterfeit words."  Selfish desire motivates false teachers, as is emphasized by the rendering  in the Jerusalem Bible:  "They will eagerly try to buy you for themselves with insidious speeches."  Similarly, James Moffatt's  translation here says:  "In their lust they will exploit you with cunning arguments."  (2 Peter 2:1, 3)   The mouthings of false teachers may seem plausible to one who is not spiritually alert, but their words are carefully designed  "to buy" people, seducing them into serving the deceivers' selfish purposes.

No doubt, first-century false teachers influenced by the then current worldly thinking.  About the time of Peter's writing, a philosophy called Gnosticism was becoming popular. Gnostics believed that all matter is evil and only that which pertains to the spirit is good.  Thus, some of them said that it does not matter what a man does with this physical body.  In time,  they argue, man would not have this body.  Therefore, they concluded, bodily-including sexual-sins are not important.  Apparently, such views began to influence some who professed Christianity.

One Bible scholar noted that "there were those in the church who perverted the doctrine of grace," or "undeserved kindness."  (Ephesians 1:5-7)  According to him, the argument of some went like this:  "Do you say that God's [undeserved kindness] is wide enough to cover every sin? . . .Then let us go on sinning, for God's [undeserved kindness] can wipe out every sin.  In fact, the more we sin the more chances God's [undeserved kindness] will get to operate." Have you heard a more twisted reasoning than that?  (that is some messed up stuff)

The apostle Paul countered wrong thinking a about God's mercy when he asked: "Shall we continue in sin, that undeserved kindness may abound?"  he also inquired:  "Shall we commit a sin because we are not under law but under undeserved kindness?"  To each question Paul answered emphatically: "Never may that happen!  (Romans 6:1, 2, 15)  Clearly, as Jude observes, certain ones were "turning the undeserved kindness of our God into an excuse for loose conduct."  However, Peter notes that for such ones 'destruction is not slumbering.' -Jude 4; 2 Peter 2:3.

Next time: Warning Examples

The Watchtower, 1997