May 18, 2023

2 Peter 2:12-22 (HCSB)
12 But these people, like irrational animals—creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed—speak blasphemies about things they don’t understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed, 13 suffering harm as the payment for unrighteousness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions  as they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery  and are always looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse!  15 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 unrighteousness  16 but received a rebuke for his transgression: A donkey that could not talk spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s irrationality. 17 These people are springs without water, mists driven by a whirlwind. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them.  18 For by uttering boastful, empty words,  they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped  from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them.  20 For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,  they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first.  21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness  than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command  delivered  to them.  22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit,   and, “a sow, after washing itself, wallows in the mud.”

Olivia Yates
Peter goes on to further describe the false teachers. False teachers can be recognized by their lifestyle. They are blasphemers, greedy, lustful, and always looking for sin. Starting in verse 17, Peter warns of those who have a superficial commitment to Jesus. Those people end up returning to their old practices. A true knowledge of Jesus would have affected them permanently. Needless to say, these false teachers never had a genuine relationship with the Lord. It is important to know God's Word, know His truths, and know His commands. We all need to have our own personal relationship with Him.