Introducing 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 were 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 his physical body.  In time, they argued, man would not have this body.  Therefore, they concluded, bodily-including sexual-sins are not important.  ( note:  these people are koo-koo and not for cocoa puffs) Apparently such views began to influence some who professed Christianity. 

One Bible scholar noted that "there were those in 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  ever heard more twisted reasoning than that?   (note: that is exactly  what  Satan would say).

The apostle Paul countered wrong thinking 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.' -Jude4; 2 Peter 2:3.

Next time: Warning Examples

From the Watchtower magazine, 1997