2 Peter 2:10-22, Are False Teachers Christians?

This passage describes the false teachers and their “ministry.”  Before working through this we want to consider just who these people are in the big picture (v20-22).  They come into a church and have a presence that causes people to follow after them.  To use John’s language (1 John 2:19): are they really “of us” or not?

·        Are they believers who have lost their salvation?  We believe this cannot be.  This would deny election (God chose but could not keep), justification (God made a mistake in declaring them righteous), imputation (God put the righteousness to their account but then had to change His mind), the new birth (they were born again by the Spirit but then not born again) and every other salvation related doctrine.  Our salvation is the work of God; to lose it is to charge God with a mistake.

·        Are they believers once saved who have turned from the truth but who are nevertheless always saved?  Again, we believe this cannot be.  Again this would deny the character of God (He did not save us to remain in sin), the work of Christ (He did not die that we might live in sin) and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer (His presence is in us to sanctify us).  Christians do sin and they often struggle to come to the knowledge of the truth.  God chastens as a loving Father (Heb. 12:5-6).  And God burns away the fruitless vine (Jn. 15:6).  But that is not what we are talking about here.  These false teachers are deceivers; they know that they are not true believers.  They are intentionally leading astray God’s people.

·        Are they people who were at one time “professing believers” whose true nature has been revealed?  This is what we believe.  Paul described them in a very powerful way as transforming themselves into apostles of Christ and ministers of righteousness aligning themselves with Satan who transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:13-15).  We have heard people speak of these kind of people, finding it hard to believe that they were not true believers.  They can be extremely convincing, having an air of great humility about them, and yet being deceivers.  They appeared to escape the pollutions of the world (2:20) but they did not escape the corruption of the world (1:4).  What is the difference?

o   Pollutions (only use in NT) refer to defilements, the resulting filth that comes from living in a sinful world.  They cleaned up their lives and look unpolluted.

o   Corruptions refer to the judgment we reap as a result of being a part of the sinful world.  Peter uses the term in 2:12 to speak of their lives that will perish; and in 2:19 to point out they are still slaves to this corruption.  Paul says it is the judgment one reaps who sows to his flesh or lives in sin (Gal. 6:8).  They may look like Christians on the outside but inside they are doomed to destruction.

We hope this is a helpful discussion.  We hope that we will be warned concerning these most deceiving individuals, weeds sown by Satan to destroy the fruitful crop of our Lord (Matt. 13:36-43).  They may look the same but that they are not!