Abundant Joy

“They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery that never stop looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse! They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path and have followed the path of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of wickedness but received a rebuke for his lawlessness: A speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.”

Peter will spend the rest of this chapter going between describing the false teacher’s actions, description, and punishment. In this section, he describes their blatant disregard for the truth and their delight in their sin. They make no attempt to follow the narrow way, and they are looking to take as many believers with them as possible. Peter uses a story from the Old Testament as an example.

He starts by saying, “They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight.” Douglas Moo writes in his commentary, “Pleasure can, of course, be a neutral or even positive thing; God himself created many things to give his people pleasure. But the Greek word here for ‘pleasure,’ hedone, is the word from which we derive ‘hedonist,’ one who lives only for pleasure.” Not only that, but they are doing it in broad daylight! Normally, this type of activity is done under cover of night. Paul writes, “For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled and put on the armor of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:7-8). These false teachers are taking behaviors that are sinful and normally done under the cover of darkness and trying to make them look like they are not.

Peter has harsh words for them. “They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions while they feast with you.” They are not mistakenly leading people astray. They delight in their lies. Peter is saying that they know exactly what they are doing. To make it worse, they were doing it during their special mealtimes. John Berry writes that this “refers to meals eaten in connection with worship services or the Lord’s Supper. These ‘agape meals’ were meant to enrich Christian fellowship and strengthen the believers sense of union with Christ. But the false teachers are using these meals to lead others astray- they are exploiting the teachings of Christ when others are supposed to be experiencing the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice and growing in their faith.”

Peter goes on. “They have eyes full of adultery that never stop looking for sin.” Not only do they commit adultery, but they also look for opportunities for sexual sin. Remember how Jesus describes adultery: “You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery.But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). Peter may have been remembering Jesus’s words when he wrote this.

He continues with their action and motivation. “They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed.” So far, we have seen that these false teachers are motivated by money and sex. And they seduce unstable believers to follow them. Human nature does not change. Money, power, sex- these three things have motivated people all through history. Even today, we have false teachers in the church who are motivated by these things, and they want to seduce as many believers as they can. How can we guard against it? Psalm 1:1-3. “How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” I picture a tree, with its roots deep. If we are grounded in God’s Word, if we know what it says, then we won’t be fooled by the false teachers!

Peter then says, “Children under a curse!” Again, Peter reminds them of their punishment. Moo writes, “…the Old Testament and the Jewish world often attributed a certain quality to people by saying that they were ‘children of’ or a ‘son of’ that quality. Judas, for instance, is ‘the son of destruction,’ that is, one destined for destruction (John 17: 12) … Christians are ‘children of light,’ that is people characterized by light (1 Thess 5:5). Peter has already pronounced his condemnation on the false teachers (vv. 3b-10a). Overwhelmed by the enormity of their sinfulness, he once again interjects this reminder of their ultimate fate.”

In verses 15 and 16, Peter uses the example of Balaam from the Old Testament. Balaam is an example that is used several other times in the bible. Moses uses him as an example in Deuteronomy, and Balaam’s sin is listed in Revelation 2: 14. Jude also lists Balaam as one of the examples of the false teachers.

You can read about Balaam in Numbers 22-24. As a refresher, he is the pagan prophet that the king of Moab hires to curse Israel. God forbids him to curse Israel, and when Balaam is on his way to do that very thing, God uses his donkey to talk to him. Balaam blesses Israel. Balak, the king of Moab, is furious with Balaam. Balaam tells him this. “Didn’t I previously tell the messengers you sent me: If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go against the Lord’s command, to do anything good or bad of my own will? I will say whatever the Lord says” (Numbers 24:12b-13).

If this was the end of the story, then we would not have Balaam as an example. In Revelation 2:14, in the letter to the church at Pergamum, John writes, “But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block in front of the Israelites: to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.” We read later “the rest of the story.” Later in Numbers, we read about Moses and the Israelites at war with the Midianites. They killed the five kings of Midian along with Balaam. They also killed all the men. Moses became angry when he found out they let the women live. This may seem harsh, but this is what Moses said. “Have you let every female live?” he asked them. “Yet they are the ones who, at Balaam’s advice, incited the Israelites to unfaithfulness against the Lord in the Peor incident, so that the plague came against the Lord’s community” (Numbers 31:15-16).

So let’s recap what Peter is saying these false teachers are doing. He is saying that these teachers are inciting the believers to unfaithfulness to God. In the story of Balaam, he brought idol worship into Judaism through the Midianite women. The same thing is happening today. False beliefs from the New Age, Buddhism, New Thought, and popular culture get brought into Christianity. People are easily fooled by this false teaching if they are not grounded in the truth of the Word. So read your Bible. Know what it says! Do not be fooled by deceptive teachers who have abandoned the straight path.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it.How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14)

Grace be with you!