19 Jun 2012

II Peter 2:13-15

Posted by joncooper

II Peter 2:13: “And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;”

One surprising fact that is easy to overlook is that verse 13 states “while they feast with you”. Do you see the significance of that? Peter is not talking about random evildoers out on the street; he is talking about wicked people in the midst of the church. II Peter was written to believers, not to the lost. It was sent to churches, not pagan temples. Peter is warning believers about wolves in their midst who are posing as sincere believers but who are actually desperately evil. He says that they are headed for destruction. They “cannot cease from sin”; they are “cursed”. They may appear to be believers, or say that they are believers, or even associate with believers, but they are not believers at all. They are actually evil people who are causing immense harm.

This brings up an important question: how can you tell the difference between a sincere believer and a phony one? Some people (like the person I once talked with who claimed to be a Christian but who did not believe in Jesus) are obvious, but others are not. None of the disciples suspected Judas; they all thought he was sincere – right up until he betrayed Christ and nearly got them all killed.

How can you tell the difference? While we can judge a person by their fruits, sometimes even then it is impossible to tell. We cannot see the heart, nor do we know all that there is to know. But what we can do is refuse to allow false teachers to remain in our midst, and refuse to allow them to draw people away from the truth. We can – and we must – oppose falsehood wherever we find it.

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