Chapter 2

It has been necessary in the first chapter to emphasise what is the most important thing in life. Now we move on to the second chapter where we have a change of pace. Peter heard our Lord Jesus Christ condemn the Pharisees, the false teachers. He also was strong in His condemnation of any form of reversionism and self-righteousness. He said that the Pharisees were whitewashed tombstones; they had beauty on the outside and were full of dead men’s bones. Now Peter heard all of these things; he heard the condemnation of those who are classified by himself as the devil’s disciples. He realised that the principle of false teachers or the devil’s disciples would exist throughout the Church Age and that in every generation of the Church Age there would be those who would be reversionistic, and therefore impressed with the false teachers. And so in his dying moments Peter was led by the Holy Spirit to warn the Church on this great subject. We have a whole chapter on the devil’s disciples, on the people who impress the reversionistic believer.

There will be no reversionistic believer in context. Instead we have the reversionistic unbeliever. However, the principle goes both ways. When a believer is in reversionism he practices reverse process reversionism, he enters into some form of superficiality known as celebrityship, and he therefore becomes impressed with false teaching.

By way of introduction to this chapter a few things about the devil’s strategy, the devil’s work. Since the devil is using human beings and since many of these human beings are the great false teachers of the Church Age it is probably imperative to understand something of the nature of these people. The devil himself as a person is described in great detail in Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:11-19. In both of those passages the devil is said to be the most attractive, the most beautiful personality of all time. The “anointed cherub” means the messianic cherub, and as the messianic cherub he personally was, as it were, the accompanying angel to the Lord Jesus Christ. But pride changed it. Something in his thinking completely reversed it and he was so taken with himself that he decided that he could be God and replace God. As a result he started a revolt in which he took a great portion of the angelic creatures with him, a revolt in which eventually all angels made a decision one way or another for or against God. And the end of it all was that the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father held a great convocation of angels in which there was a trial, both of Satan and of all the fallen angels. At the end of this trial Satan and the fallen angels were condemned to the eternal lake of fire. Of course Satan appealed and as a result of his appeal we have the creation of man. And the angelic conflict will be continued until the end of time when the sentence will be carried out.

Now during the course of this angelic conflict man started out as the ruler of this world. He lost that sovereignty through sin, through negative volition toward God’s prohibition. And since that time Satan has been and continues to be the ruler of this world — John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11. And as such Satan is responsible for all kinds of doctrines and principles which seek to counterfeit the laws of establishment, counterfeit the various principles of doctrine, including salvation. So that Satan is constantly trying to bring order out of the chaos of this world and he is using all of his genius and personality to do this.

The Bible describes from time to time the various ways and manners and means in which the ruler of this world seeks to gain his own ends. So far he has never succeeded in bringing together all the people of the world under his direct obedience. There is always someone who responds to the gospel and then responds to Bible doctrine, and as a result of this Satan is never quite able to pull it off. He has used many systems and many principles but so far, although he is the ruler of this world, he has never been able to conquer this world. But he continues to make the believer his number one target as he seeks to gain control of his own kingdom. He does this by, first of all, accusing believers at every opportunity. The answer to this is found in 1 John 2:1,2 where Jesus Christ acts as our defence attorney. We have Him constantly retained on our behalf, as it were, to defend us in the angelic convocations where accusation is brought forth. So there are many portions of the Word of God which teach this principle, many portions which emphasise the accusation of believers. All of us are under accusation. But every time our name comes into court the Lord Jesus Christ always has the perfect defence. The sins that he mentions have been judged and, as it were, you are under the blood of Christ, you are under the judgement of the cross. These sins were judged in another court and therefore in this angelic court they are thrown out.

So we have the accusation of believers, and in this accusation Satan seeks to neutralise our effectiveness in the grace plan of God. We have to add something to that: he has to get some co-operation from us without our realising it. Therefore it has been, since the very beginning of revelation and doctrine, the strategy of Satan to encourage believers to ignore Bible doctrine, to reject the Word of God, to reject its rightful place. Not only does he seek to neutralise Bible doctrine but he sets up a substitute, a counterfeit doctrine, the doctrine of demons. It is, therefore, the objective of the devil where you are concerned to first of all neutralise in your soul and in your life any relationship with the Word of God. For Satan knows that he is defeated to the extent that you take in any portion of doctrine. If you have positive volition for two days at a time it is bad news for Satan! In addition to that he works on you in heaven. That is why he is called Satan and the devil. Both words connote accuser. Devil really means enemy and accuser; Satan means accusing lawyer. He actually goes to court and he spends a lot of time giving the facts of your personal sins.

The only other area where the devil can really frustrate you is in the area of the will of God. Obviously God has a will for your life, He has a purpose for your life and He has a plan. The will of God includes every moment of your life. So obviously the devil must do something to frustrate the will of God being worked out in your life — to frustrate operation grace.

The will of God is generally defined in three areas: The operational will of God: to be doing what He wants you to do; the geographical will of God: to be where He wants you to be; the mental will of God: to think what He wants you to think [divine viewpoint versus human viewpoint]. In all of these areas Satan understands the categorical breakdown and therefore in the areas he seeks to frustrate the will of God in your life.

There is one special area where the devil can separate the soul of the believer from the plan of God. There is a place where the devil has found it possible to short-circuit everything that God wants to give you and everything that God has planned for you. And that has to do with worry in the soul. Worry is the one thing whereby you separate yourself from the divine operating assets, even if you possess them in your soul. Worry, of course, is the antithesis of the faith-rest technique. Satan also knows that you have a special area of worry, a special area of anxiety. There are certain areas of worry, once they are developed, where we are separated from every asset we have in the soul. One ounce of worry cuts you off from the assets you are carrying in your soul. You are carrying Bible doctrine, you carry promises in your soul, they are yours. But the devil knows how to cut you off from them.

Then there is another little trick that Satan uses. It is called focus. Everyone has a tendency to concentrate on something at some time. A person who never concentrates on anything at any time is obviously not sane. You cannot think clearly and logically and well unless you have the ability to concentrate. Satan’s objective is to get you to concentrate on the wrong things. This is called eyes on self. Self-pity is a classic illustration. Self-pity is more than just a failure on your part, it is a part of the overall Satanic plan to separate you from the assets of grace. When you feel sorry for yourself you have fallen into the Satanic trap.

Another is an area which is quite subtle, especially for believers when they begin to get discernment. There is under the laws of divine establishment the function of the believer in this life in relationship to his nation — patriotism and so on, military service, even becoming a public servant, working in the government in some way. However, in these areas you immediately become enmeshed in the whole cosmic system. The laws of establishment and the function of the laws of establishment keeps the believer pure in the function of the life of a nation. This is why a believer often becomes a statesman instead of a politician. Men who have Bible doctrine and have enough Bible doctrine to understand the laws of establishment, and who keep their thinking pure in the field of establishment, emphasising always the freedom and getting away from the welfare trap. These people avoid Satan’s strategy, part of which is the idea of getting involved in temporal solutions where spiritual solutions are the answer.

For example, if you are a believer with Bible doctrine you should hate and despise communism. You should recognise communism for what it is — a monster which is seeking to destroy us. But there comes a point when the question is asked: What can we do? Here is where the problem arises. How do you avoid getting involved in some Satanic trap at the point of solution? Is there a temporal solution to communism? The answer is, No. Communism is basically a Satanic system and since it is involved in Satan’s thinking and in Satan’s plan as a spiritual force it must be met with a spiritual force. Temporal solutions never stop spiritual forces. The answer is found in Bible doctrine. Oh, there comes a time when, as it were, the cards are on the table and there comes a time to fight communism. Then you have a temporal solution: kill all the communists you can, professionally, in a military sense, and resist them to the point of death.

Satan knows that many believers are ignorant of Bible doctrine and he realises that it is very easy for people to accept a veneer instead of Bible doctrine. Therefore he has set up a number of counterfeit systems. Counterfeit systems only fool the immature believer. They always have whitewash, they always sound appealing and great, but they are not.

Satan’s counterfeit systems

1. A counterfeit gospel — 2 Corinthians 11:3,4.

2. There are counterfeit ministers — 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.

3. A counterfeit communion table — 1 Corinthians 10:19-21.

4. A counterfeit system of spirituality — Galatians 3:2,3.

5. A counterfeit righteousness — Matthew 19:16-28.

6. A counterfeit modus operandi — Matthew 23.

7. A counterfeit system of power — 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10.

8. A counterfeit system of gods — 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4.

In our context we have the devil’s disciples, false teachers who represent Satan and who are a part of this system.

1. In the field of idolatry, of which there is still a great deal today. History will never be free of idolatry — the devil’s communion table. Idolatry is advanced by false teachers — Habakkuk 2:18,19.

2. False teachers, or the devil’s disciples, always come as the best dressed people as far as personalities are concerned. They are only pleasing personalities and attractive personalities. Their insidious teaching is not obvious from the facade of their sweetness and sincerity — Matthew 7:15; Romans 16:18.

3. The area of courting believers away from doctrine — Galatians 4:17,18.

4. The devil’s disciples appeal to the ego; they stimulate the approbation lust of their victims — 2 Corinthians 10:12.

5. The devil’s disciples operate in an evangelistic way throughout the entire Satanic kingdom of the earth — 1 John 4:1.

In our passage we are going to learn many things about the devil’s disciples. There are three paragraphs in 2 Peter chapter 2. The first paragraph is the exposure of false teachers —verses 1-3a; secondly, the judgement of the devil’s disciples —verses 3b-9; thirdly, the characteristics of the devil’s disciples —verses 10-22.

In the first verse we are going to see that the devil’s disciples denied the Lord that bought them. This is the whole principle of a doctrine so important to our understanding —unlimited atonement. “False prophets” is an Old Testament word for the devil’s disciples; “false teachers” is a New Testament word for the devil’s disciples. We have people being deceived by them. We are going to find all kinds of people in this context who are going to be deceived by them. Unbelievers are deceived; even believers are deceived. We even have one case of where a believer was not deceived — Noah. Lot was deceived by them and Lot as a believer was destroyed by them. At the end of this chapter we see how unbelievers lose their common sense, how unbelievers have a state of reversionism that brings them directly under Satan and in direct opposition to God’s great plan on this earth.

Second Peter chapter two is one of the great passages in the Word of God on unbeliever reversionism. However, some of the illustrations are taken with regarded to believers. For example, one or two well-known reversionists are found in this passage. In verse 7 we have Lot, a very famous reversionist in the days of Abraham. We also have one of the great believers of all time in verse 5 — Noah. And while we do have occasionally believers used as an illustration the false teachers in this passage are unbelievers. At the end of the chapter we have unbelievers in reversionism. In chapter two verse 1 we have unbeliever false teachers; in the last verse — 22 — we have the illustration of their effect upon unbelievers who enter into reversionism. So reversionism of the unbeliever is the general subject but because of the use of believers in the illustrations we definitely have an application to us who have accepted Jesus Christ as saviour.

This passage is designed to explain many otherwise unexplainable things in the world today. For example, why does a generation suddenly become weird? Why do politicians make stupid and incomprehensible decisions? The passage deals with reversionism but it deals with reversionism from the standpoint of an unbeliever who starts out with common sense, discernment, norms and standards which are compatible with the laws of divine establishment, and winds up putting this person in the place of a pig eating slop, or a dog devouring his own vomit. It takes certain ingredients to do that even though this is the devil’s world. But the soul has certain freedom safeguards to protect individuals and groups of individuals becoming weirdoes.

Verse 1 — “But” sets up a contrast with the great men of God in Old Testament times who communicated doctrine. These men communicated verbally but they also communicated in written form the Old Testament canon. In verses 20-21 of the previous chapter we have the mechanics for the formation of the Old Testament canon. But then, in the Old Testament times, and now, in the Church Age, we have the antithesis of a true prophet, a true communicator of the Word. We have the false prophet, referring to the Old testament type, and we have the false teacher, referring to the Church Age.

“there were” — aorist middle indicative of ginomai. Ginomai indicates that these things came into existence. “There were” would be e)imi, but we do not have e)imi here, therefore it can’t be translated “there were” .It should be translated, “There came into existence” .The aorist tense here means that this occurs periodically in history. It reaches a concentration point in certain eras of history. The middle voice is reflexive. Each false teacher had to be developed through a Satanic training course. Each false teacher or false prophet rejected truth. He rejected the gospel when he heard it; he built scar tissue on the left bank of his soul and he built scar tissue on the right bank of his soul by a frantic search for happiness on the one hand or by that house of cards, self-righteousness, on the other. He had a blackout of the soul; the vacuum in his soul opened up and through mataiothj came Satanic doctrine. He became an effective communicator of false concepts, and when false concepts become the premise of any group of people, whether by logical or illogical means, the conclusions are also false.

It is inevitable that a false premise produces a false conclusion. Therefore it is inevitable that society and people within a society destroy themselves by their thinking. For example, no matter how you slice it you cannot look at the boils on the epidermis of society today without recognising the fact that we are in for something very serious. People do not realise that they are going collectively “nuts.” Reversionism is very subtle and when people become involved in reversionism they are not aware of their condition. So this passage portrays it very beautifully.

However, reversionism must have leadership in the field of communication. In the ancient world it was spoken communication; today we have other sources of communication as well. There is always a voice persuasively presenting something that is false which becomes the premise for the function of society. And once this premise is established it is inevitable that conclusions reached logically or illogically, by inference or deduction, will also be false. Then you have created a bomb.

The middle voice is reflexive. Each false teacher must develop under a Satanic training course. The indicative mood is the reality of false teachers in Old Testament times — “There came into existence false prophets” .These were Satan’s disciples in the past. Notice: they are communicators, they are sent to be among the people [a reference here to Israel in the last dispensation] and this becomes then the ground work for an analogy between false prophets of the Jewish Age and false teachers of the Church Age. The analogy is completed by using a simple word for analogy, o(j, followed by a change of verb — “as there shall be,” the future active indicative of e)imi. When Peter wrote this he switched from ginomai to e)imi and he put it in the future tense to show that the trend which was begun in the Old Testament will continue throughout all history. The future tense is what we call a gnomic future. This is used to develop a statement of fact or performance which may be rightfully expected under the conditions outlined by the context. And if you have a false teacher, and if the false teacher is persuasive as Satan’s disciples are, then it is inevitable that there will be converts to the system.

“among you” — believers of the Church Age can expect the presence of false teachers. The relative pronoun refers to the false teachers in the Church Age.

“who privily” — this does not line up with the Greek. It is the future active indicative of pareisagw — to infiltrate or bring in secretly. A)gw means to lead or to bring; e)ij is a directional preposition; par is the preposition of immediate source which also connotes “by the side of.” To lead into by the side of means a subtle insidious infiltration, and in their persuasive language for which they gain a hearing. Throughout history public speaking has been the greatest system for influencing people at the moment, just as the written page has a more prolonged influence. Here is the type of thing that you have to recognise: the devil’s disciples do not look or act in the sense of being evil and they are therefore not easily identified. They are sweetness and light, they are persuasive, they are eloquent and attractive, all of which are absolutely necessary. Satan picks his communicators well and they always have an appeal that includes a solution, a panacea, and it always follows the principle of that greatest lie in history: the greatest good for the greatest number. That is a lie; it is an attack upon your freedom. Or that you must surrender your freedoms to us so that we can benefit others. Are you going to be selfish and just have this freedom all to yourself? This is a Satanic lie. So one way or another, very persuasively, these things become a premise. You don’t get the whole package at once, you get it a little bit at a time. You do not see the end, you only are attracted by what you hear at the beginning.

“damnable” — genitive singular of a)poleia, and it means destructive. It means that they not only destroy society but it applies to unbelievers as individuals — their freedom is affected — and it applies to believers as individuals. It also applies to believers spiritually, they are often led astray. Destructive, then, refers to both individual and collective concepts.

“heresies” — a(iresij. This really means factions or discords, but also it means heresies in the sense of a principle or doctrine which is in contention with the truth. This is the meaning here. Destructive deviations from doctrine is the principle here.

These false teachers had to have a start. How did Satan recruit them? What was the one thing that was absolutely necessary before they could become false teachers? It is found in the present middle participle a)rneomai, translated “denying.” Satan recruits those who specifically reject Jesus Christ. His recruiting program which precedes his training program: the individuals involved must renounce Jesus Christ. The present tense means they not only denied the first time they heard about Christ and the gospel but they persisted in the denial at any time. And a)rneomai not only means to renounce but it means to have antagonism in renunciation. Therefore that is why it sometimes comes to mean to contradict. The middle voice means they did it on their own. The participle indicates that from such people who do it this way, Satan recruits. He doesn’t recruit everyone but he does recruit talented people.

How do you correct something like this? When society creates its own bomb it destroys itself. Can it be corrected? The answer is, Yes it can. But here again we have to watch the solution because the solution is a spiritual one. You have to reverse the whole trend. And the answer in reversing the trend is regeneration followed by the function of GAP.

“Lord” — not what we would expect here. It is not kurioj here. The word is despothj, which means absolute Lord. Despothj is used to indicate that these people had a clear shot at salvation, they understood the issue completely. If kurioj had been used it would mean that they did not necessarily have a clear understanding but despothj means that there was no question about their understanding of the gospel. They knew what they were rejecting. Satan, who is recruiting, must take people whose scar tissue is definite and will continue, and in a)rneomai you have a present middle participle which implies not only the denial but the resultant scar tissue. And it keeps accumulating because there never will be a time but what these false teachers are always antagonistic to the Lord. Despothj looks at the Lord from the standpoint of His absolute existence in hypostatic union, and they have a clear understanding of this and they reject it. Therefore despothj is used instead of curio. The absolute Lord has the absolute criterion and despothj indicates that anything that comes from the Lord must be absolute truth. That is the concept, they reject absolutes. This tells us immediately something about false teachers. False teachers will never accept anything that smacks of absolutes. Everything is relative to them and they dabble in relatives so that they can be inconsistent under Satan’s leadership and still be appealing. You see, the only way you can ever have consistency in life is to anchor on absolutes. Bible doctrine is anchoring on absolutes.

“denying the Lord that bought them” — When Christ went to the cross He bore the sins of every one of these false teachers. He died for everyone. “Bought” is the aorist active participle of a)gorazw. A)gora is the market place, and when you add the a)zw on to a)gora it just simply means to go to the market place and purchase something. That was the original use of the word. A)gorazw means to buy or to purchase then. It is also one of the words used in redemption. And you can translate this: “the Lord having purchased them” or “having redeemed them.” The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. Pareisagw is the main verb and long before these people introduced false doctrine publicly in an insidious and subtle manner Jesus Christ died for them. “Them” is the accusative plural pronoun used here for false teachers. And again this is the doctrine of unlimited atonement. We have the same concept in 1 John 2:2. “and bring upon themselves.” This is the fairness and the justice of God. Even though Jesus Christ died for their sins, when they reject the love of God at the cross the alternative is that God cannot say in eternity to forget this lake of fire. His love must be met at the cross; “swift” — taxinoj, which means swift, speedy or impending. All are true here.

“destruction” — accusative of a)poleia. Here it refers to what they teach. They bring upon themselves a)poleia while they have been teaching a)poleia. But remember that they are not going to hell because they teach false doctrine, they are going to hell because they reject Christ as saviour.

“there were” — aorist middle indicative of ginomai. Ginomai indicates that these things came into existence. “There were” would be e)imi, but we do not have e)imi here, therefore it can’t be translated “there were.” It should be translated, “There came into existence.” The aorist tense here means that this occurs periodically in history. It reaches a concentration point in certain eras of history. The middle voice is reflexive. Each false teacher had to be developed through a Satanic training course. Each false teacher or false prophet rejected truth. He rejected the gospel when he heard it; he built scar tissue on the left bank of his soul and he built scar tissue on the right bank of his soul by a frantic search for happiness on the one hand or by that house of cards, self-righteousness, on the other. He had a blackout of the soul; the vacuum in his soul opened up and through mataiothj came Satanic doctrine. He became an effective communicator of false concepts, and when false concepts become the premise of any group of people, whether by logical or illogical means, the conclusions are also false.

It is inevitable that a false premise produces a false conclusion. Therefore it is inevitable that society and people within a society destroy themselves by their thinking. For example, no matter how you slice it you cannot look at the boils on the epidermis of society today without recognising the fact that we are in for something very serious. People do not realise that they are going collectively “nuts” .Reversionism is very subtle and when people become involved in reversionism they are not aware of their condition. So this passage portrays it very beautifully.

The middle voice is reflexive. Each false teacher must develop under a Satanic training course. The indicative mood is the reality of false teachers in Old Testament times — “There came into existence false prophets.” These were Satan’s disciples in the past. Notice: they are communicators, they are sent to be among the people [a reference here to Israel in the last dispensation] and this becomes then the ground work for an analogy between false prophets of the Jewish Age and false teachers of the Church Age. The analogy is completed by using a simple word for analogy, o(j, followed by a change of verb — “as there shall be,” the future active indicative of e)imi. When Peter wrote this he switched from ginomai to e)imi and he put it in the future tense to show that the trend which was begun in the Old Testament will continue throughout all history. The future tense is what we call a gnomic future. This is used to develop a statement of fact or performance which may be rightfully expected under the conditions outlined by the context. And if you have a false teacher, and if the false teacher is persuasive as Satan’s disciples are, then it is inevitable that there will be converts to the system.

“among you” — believers of the Church Age can expect the presence of false teachers. The relative pronoun refers to the false teachers in the Church Age.

“who privily” — this does not line up with the Greek. It is the future active indicative of pareisagw — to infiltrate or bring in secretly. A)go means to lead or to bring; e)ij is a directional preposition; par is the preposition of immediate source which also connotes “by the side of.” To lead into by the side of means a subtle insidious infiltration, and in their persuasive language for which they gain a hearing. Throughout history public speaking has been the greatest system for influencing people at the moment, just as the written page has a more prolonged influence. Here is the type of thing that you have to recognise: the devil’s disciples do not look or act in the sense of being evil and they are therefore not easily identified. They are sweetness and light, they are persuasive, they are eloquent and attractive — all of which are absolutely necessary. Satan picks his communicators well and they always have an appeal that includes a solution, a panacea, and it always follows the principle of that greatest lie in history: the greatest good for the greatest number. That is a lie; it is an attack upon your freedom. Or that you must surrender your freedoms to us so that we can benefit others. Are you going to be selfish and just have this freedom all to yourself? This is a Satanic lie. So one way or another, very persuasively, these things become a premise. You don’t get the whole package at once, you get it a little bit at a time. You do not see the end, you only are attracted by what you hear at the beginning.

“heresies” — a(ireseij. This really means factions or discords, but also it means heresies in the sense of a principle or doctrine which is in contention with the truth. This is the meaning here. Destructive deviations from doctrine is the principle here.

“Lord” — not what we would expect here. It is not kurioj here. The word is despothj, which means absolute Lord. Despothj is used to indicate that these people had a clear shot at salvation, they understood the issue completely. If kurioj had been used it would mean that they did not necessarily have a clear understanding but despothj means that there was no question about their understanding of the gospel. They knew what they were rejecting. Satan, who is recruiting, must take people whose scar tissue is definite and will continue, and in a)rneomai you have a present middle participle which implies not only the denial but the resultant scar tissue. And it keeps accumulating because there never will be a time but what these false teachers are always antagonistic to the Lord. Despothj looks at the Lord from the standpoint of His absolute existence in hypostatic union, and they have a clear understanding of this and they reject it. Therefore despothj is used instead of kurioj. The absolute Lord has the absolute criterion and despothj indicates that anything that comes from the Lord must be absolute truth. That is the concept, they reject absolutes. This tells us immediately something about false teachers. False teachers will never accept anything that smacks of absolutes. Everything is relative to them and they dabble in relatives so that they can be inconsistent under Satan’s leadership and still be appealing. You see, the only way you can ever have consistency in life is to anchor on absolutes. Bible doctrine is anchoring on absolutes.

“denying the Lord that bought them” — When Christ went to the cross He bore the sins of every one of these false teachers. He died for everyone. “Bought” is the aorist active participle of a)gorazw. A)gora is the market place, and when you add the azw on to a)gora it just simply means to go to the market place and purchase something. That was the original use of the word. A)gorazw means to buy or to purchase then. It is also one of the words used in redemption. And you can translate this: “the Lord having purchased them” or “having redeemed them.” The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. Pareisagw is the main verb and long before these people introduced false doctrine publicly in an insidious and subtle manner Jesus Christ died for them. “Them” is the accusative plural pronoun used here for false teachers. And again this is the doctrine of unlimited atonement. We have the same concept in 1 John 2:2.

“and bring upon themselves.” This is the fairness and the justice of God. Even though Jesus Christ died for their sins, when they reject the love of God at the cross the alternative is that God cannot say in eternity to forget this lake of fire. His love must be met at the cross.

“swift” — taxinoj, which means swift, speedy or impending. All are true here.

In verse 2 we notice the converts of the false teachers. While the Bible emphasises reversionism among believers the passage here actually deals with the unbeliever in reversionism. When a believer goes into reversionism he has followed a process. Over a period of time he has functioned under GAP. The thing that distinguished the mature from the immature believer is the use of e)pignwsij in the construction of the ECS, for this is the objective of the Christian life. Once the ECS is achieved there is also one of the greatest dangers in phase two, the danger that the believer will begin to neglect the doctrine by which the complex has been constructed. He will become indifferent, or assuming that he has arrived he will phase out the daily concept of GAP. There is no antagonism toward doctrine at first, merely indifference. Then from this indifference there starts the process of reversionism.

There is one thing against which no unbeliever can stand against. When mataioths opens up Satanic concepts begin to come through the vacuum. That is the beginning of the end. He may reject these things at first but sooner or later “the dog will return to his vomit.” Reversionism in a believer is the destruction of the ECS. The unbeliever never has an ECS, he has a house in his soul called establishment and the destruction of the house in his soul is reversionism. These days we have a whole generation of young people who are in reversionism.

False teachers have converts just as those who teach the gospel have converts. So we begin in verse 2. “Many” are the converts of false teachers. These are the victims who will be described in great detail beginning in verse 18 and going through verse 22. What we have here is the principle that unbelievers are converts to the reversionistic system. And this explains so much of the trouble we have in the world in any generation. The Greek word is polloi, and it refers to those in any generation those who have responded to false teaching, those who have been converts to reversionism.

“shall follow” — a future active indicative of e)cakoluqew, which means to follow after, to imitate, to obey. It really means here to follow the authority of those who are communicators of the Satanic system called in 1 Timothy 4:1 doctrines of demons. Followers of the Satanic system. This is a verb of discipleship. False teachers make disciples of unbelievers who go negative toward the gospel.

“pernicious” — a)selgeia, the Greek word for the phallic cult. It is generally translated licentious. The phallic cult is inevitably related to any kind of devil worship. As a result of being converts they follow an authority and they move into the function of the phallic cult.

“by reason of whom” — should be “because of whom.” We have dia plus the accusative which means “because of.” “Whom” is a relative pronoun in the accusative case referring to the false teachers.

“the way of truth” — this has two meanings. A)lhqeia refers to any form of doctrine. First of all it means doctrine pertaining to the gospel. The way of truth specifically here is redemption, reconciliation, propitiation, imputation, justification, doctrines pertaining to salvation. The way of truth is everything in the field of soteriology and Christology and hamartiology which relates to the correct and accurate presentation of the gospel. But the way of truth, therefore, also refers to any form of Bible doctrine for a)leqeia is Bible doctrine categorically stored and communicated. So Bible doctrine is the way of truth or whether it is phase two or phase three doctrine …

“shall be evil spoken of” — the future passive indicative of blasqemew, which means to slander or malign. So the way of truth is maligned by false teachers. Bible doctrine is always maligned by false teachers and when Peter put this in the future tense he was warning that this would be true of the entire Church Age. The passive voice means that the truth will never be communicated without having its enemies.

Verse 3 — Their motive and mechanics. “through” is e)n plus the locative — “in the sphere of” ."covetousness” — the Greek word is a technical word pleonecia, which is not really covetousness. It is a frantic search for happiness. False teachers are the blind leading the blind. They themselves are involved in a frantic search for happiness which is building scar tissue on their souls. And as the blind are leading the blind they lead you into a frantic search for happiness so that you too will have scar tissue on the right bank of the soul. “In the sphere of a frantic search for happiness.” This is their modus operandi.

“shall they with feigned words.” The word for feigned is plastoj, where we get the word “plastic.” It means moulded words, fashioned words. In other words they have a vocabulary to impress and deceive. They are trying to put you into their mould of false concepts and they squeeze you into their moulds by the use of moulded words, words designed to intrigue and to stimulate. In other words, these people have excellent vocabularies and they challenge your thinking and lead you into this mould. So, in effect, every false teacher is a Judas goat leading you into a mould.

“make merchandise of you” — the future middle indicative of e)mporeuomai. This word is a business term used for a travelling salesman making a great profit. He moves to one place and makes a quick killing, moves somewhere else and makes a quick killing. It is used for a travelling salesman whose product is not good enough to stand setting up a regular system of distribution in one place. So to make a profit he has to go and do a lot of hard selling, sell his product, unload quick and get out of town before they find out it isn’t everything he said it was. That is what e)mporeuomai means. There are words for legitimate salesmanship, this is for illegitimate salesmanship.

Verses 3b-9 — the judgement of false teachers.

Verse 3 — “whose,” the relative pronoun refers to the false teachers who are reversionistic unbelievers.

“judgement” means a judicial sentence. The Greek word is krima. Krima refers to a judicial sentence which was passed in eternity past based upon the righteousness and the justice of God which never changes.

“now of a long time” is a compound adverb, e)kpalai. It actually means from of old or for a long time, or a long time ago. A long time ago means that this judgement was passed in eternity past. God knew all the facts billions of years ago.

“lingereth not” — a)rgew means to be unemployed primarily. It also means to be inoperative and, therefore: “whose judicial sentence from eternity past is not inoperative.” In other words, they are definitely going to be judged.

“their damnation” — literally, “their destruction.” A)poleia means destruction and refers to the last judgement in which all false teachers will be included.

“slumbereth not” — the present active indicative of nustazw which means to sink into sleep or to slumber into inactivity. Nustazw indicates once again that the great white throne does not slumber into inactivity but is waiting for these false teachers. The negative with nustazw means it is there, it is just a matter of time. History must run its course before this judgement is completed.

That brings us in verse 4 to one of the longest protasis in all of the scripture — verses 4-8. The apodasis is verse 9. Verse 4-9 is one sentence in which we have a series of clauses to compare this judgement to various things which have occurred historically. The protasis begins with a description of the judgement of fallen angels. This judgement of verse 3b is now compared to the judgement of fallen angels.

“If” introduces a first class condition. The protasis runs through four verses and in each one of these we have a comparison to the judgement just mentioned. The last judgement just mentioned is not inoperative. It was a reality in eternity past and will be fulfilled in eternity future and it is compared in its certainty to four judgements: a. The judgement of the fallen angels, verse 4; b. The judgement of the flood, verse 5; c. The judgement of Sodom, verse 6; d. The judgement of Lot.

“If” — if and it is true. This is an historical incident to illustrate the certainty of divine judgement. It always looks as though God is never going to judge the false teacher because he goes right on with his false teaching, and therefore it becomes discouraging to believers to see false teachers apparently going on and on and on. But God is going to judge them. Hell is forever and they are going to have eternal judgement as unbelievers.

“God” — o( qeoj, which is “the God,” a reference to God the Father who has never made a mistake and has done an awful lot of judging.

“spared not the angels that sinned.” As the author of the divine plan God the Father holds the prerogative of judging those who reject grace. And this He will do until He hands over one part of judgement to the Son at the great white throne, the last judgement. His judgement is based upon the fact that He is righteous, just, sovereign, and that He is omniscient, He knows all of the facts.

“spared not” — aorist middle indicative of feidomai. Feidomai means to be thrifty, or to be tender, or to spare. Here it means to spare. The aorist tense is a timeless aorist which goes with the fact that God fulfilled these judgements in eternity past. They were certain then because He had the facts then.

Now it is really the middle voice that calls our attention to a lot of things here. Feidomai is in the middle voice. In the active voice in the Greek the subject produces the action. In the passive voice the antithesis is true: the subject receives the action. Now we have the middle voice, the voice of agency, in which the subject participates in the results of the action, or the subject acts with a view to participating in the outcome. The active voice emphasises the action but the middle voice stresses the agent, it relates the action more intimately to the subject. And there are basically four types of middle voice: the direct middle voice which is reflexive; the indirect middle which emphasises the agent producing the action; there is the intensive middle which is comparable to the piel stem in the Hebrew; there is the permissive middle in which the agent voluntarily yields himself to the results of the action in his own interest, hence the subject is benefited by the action of the verb.

God is the subject of feidomai. This is aorist middle indicative — God producing the action. God did not spare the angels who infiltrated the human race — middle voice. So first of all it is a direct middle, it is reflexive. God Himself did the judging of those angels and therefore protected the human race and perpetuated the angelic conflict. The indirect middle emphasises the agent producing the action and the emphasis here is on God who produces the action of judgment by sparing not these angels. These angels are already incarcerated. This is also an intensive middle in that God in sparing not the angels provided a judgement which was so intense that certain fallen angels have been out of the picture since Genesis 6. So we have the direct, indirect and the intensive middle all applying to feidomai. The subject participates in the results of the action and the result is the fact that certain angels now reside in Tartarus. Genesis 6: Satan had to come up with a plan to cut off the promise of Genesis 3:15. The “seed of the woman” is Jesus Christ. Seed has to do with being the last Adam. Of the woman indicates the manner in which Jesus Christ would become true humanity, made lower than angels. In other words, the virgin birth. The seed of the woman is Christ coming into the world — virgin birth. So one thing that must be stopped: if Jesus Christ comes into the world as a man, made lower than angels, and eventually becomes superior to angels, then Satan’s back is broken. Man, the first Adam, started this mess in the fall; the last Adam, Christ, gets us out of the mess. In between Satan is the ruler of this world and he came up with a great plan to frustrate the incarnation. If he could simply send in a demon army at a time when there was a maximum number of women and a minimum number of men, and these demons by copulating with these women could actually produce super creatures who were one half angelic and one half human, once all of the human race was infiltrated with angelic part angel and part human, that would wipe out forever any possibility of Christ coming into the world as true humanity. Had this attack succeeded there would be no salvation and the angelic conflict would have been won by Satan. And since man was created to resolve the angelic conflict God had to take vigorous steps of judgement, not only to stop this thing but to see that it never happened again. It was these creatures who were half human, half angelic who were destroyed in the flood. So the flood is a part of that judgement. And there was only one surviving family from the flood — Noah and his family. Between Adam and Noah there was no infiltration of angels, it was true humanity all the way. This was the only line by which Christ could come into the world. So Christ was descended from Adam through Noah, and Abraham and the Jews could not come into existence even until this matter had been cleared up. And while demons today can indwell unbelievers and can teach believers who are in reversionism there is no more sexual infiltration into the human race. That was cut out as of Genesis 6.

Genesis 6:2 — “the sons of God.” In the Hebrew we have bene ha elohim. This particular phrase is only used for angels, it is never used for human beings in the Hebrew. You find in Daniel sons of God but it is not this same phrase. This Hebrew phrase is used four times in the scripture and it never refers to anything but angels — Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Genesis 6:2. It never refers to human beings. All fallen angels today fall into two categories. Tartarus is the place of the fallen angels of Genesis 6. But on the earth we still have a great host of fallen angels functioning under Satan, called demons.

Verse 4 continued: “that sinned” — an aorist active participle of hamartanw. Hamartanw refers to the infiltration. They crossed the line of something that was forbidden. If God had not judged these angels that sinned the entire human race would have been corrupted so that the incarnation would have been frustrated and impossible.

“down to hell” — an aorist active participle of the verb tartarow, which is a reference to Tartarus. He didn’t “cast them down to hell,” He incarcerated them in Tartarus. This is the manner in which He executed feidomai. Again we have the principle of the certainty of judgement.

“he delivered them into chains of darkness.” The word “delivered” is the aorist active indicative of paradidomi. If God has the power to judge these angels and remove them from the scene at a certain point after grace has been extended beyond grace, then God will do the same thing with false teachers.

“darkness” is really not darkness at all. It refers here to pits of gloom — zofoj.

“to be reserved” — the present passive participle of terew means to be guarded. Passive voice: they received guarding, they are always held there.

“unto judgment” — e)ij plus krima, for judgement, with reference to judgement. That judgement is Matthew 25:41 where this segment of fallen angels will also be brought before God and cast into the lake of fire forever.

No we have our first illustration: the certainty of the judgement of these fallen angels guarantees the certainty of the judgement of apostate teachers in the human race, the apostate teachers for whom Christ died in verse 1.

Verse 5 — the certainty of the judgement of the apostates is based upon this historical incident. The flood really occurred and apostate teachers of verse one will really be judged.

“And spared not” is an aorist middle indicative of the verb fiedemai. It is correctly translated “to be spared.” The aorist tense is culminative. From the standpoint of the writer the flood was a completed action. We have the middle voice in which the subject participates in the results of the action, or the subject acts with a view toward participating in the outcome. The active voice emphasises the action of the verb; the middle voice stresses the agent of the verb. The middle voice relates the action more intimately, then, to the subject. There are four different types of middle voice: the directive middle, which is reflexive; the indirect middle, which emphasises the agent producing the action; the intensive middle, which is like the piel stem in the Hebrew; the permissive middle in which the agent or the subject voluntarily yields himself to the results of the action in his own interest, therefore the subject becomes benefited by the action of the verb. This is a direct or reflexive middle here. God Himself executed the judgement of the flood and the certainty of the judgement of the flood illustrates two factors which are given in verse nine. The Lord knows how to deliver the godly; he also knows how to punish. The historical fact of the flood is a demonstration of His ability to do both. he was able to deliver those who were believers and He punished and judged those who were unbelievers on the earth. The indicative mood is the reality of the judgement of the antediluvian civilisation. This judgement parallels the judgement of fallen angels in that it also removes the super race of half-angelic and half man. This corruption of the human race would have eventually destroyed the human race and made the incarnation impossible.

“And spared not the old world.” The old world refers to the old civilisation, the antediluvian civilisation which existed before the flood and went from the creation of man until the flood. The post-diluvian civilisation began with the new beginning after the flood and it terminates with the second advent when the Millennial civilisation will begin.

We have a conjunction which sets up a contrast between the judgement of the unbelievers and the Nephalim and the preservation of the eight believers. The word “saved” does not mean eternal salvation. The aorist active indicative of fulassw means to preserve and guard. The aorist tense indicates that up to the flood every day Noah and his family had to be protected from the super race who were highly violent. Then they were preserved through the flood, and after the flood they were preserved. That is the concept of the constative aorist of fulassw. The active voice: the preservation depended entirely on who and what God was and nothing else — grace. The indicative mood is the reality of this preservation.

“Noah the eighth” is the Greek way of saying what we would say in the English, “Noah plus seven.” It means eight people.

“preacher” is an incorrect translation. The Greek word is khruc which is a herald, a public messenger, a communicator. Noah was a communicator, a teacher of Bible doctrine. Khruc is used in the sense that he taught groups of people. A herald makes an announcement to a group of people. So he taught in the same sense that a pastor-teacher communicates. He was a public communicator of “righteousness.” Righteousness here refers to imputed righteousness after the pattern of Genesis 15:6. The principle in Noah’s communication, this intensified communication of doctrine, is that principle which is found so frequently in the Word of God: Grace always precedes judgement. There is always a grace period and during that grace period there is one characteristic that is more important than anything else. Wherever you find in the Bible this principle of grace preceding judgement there is always one thing that happens first: an intensification of Bible teaching — always. In this intensification of Bible teaching there is always an intense and powerful delineation of the divine viewpoint before the judgement hits. Along with this intensified evangelism and teaching there is also a reaction to it. Take, for example, the Tribulation. It is a period of grace before judgement. The great judgement occurs at the second advent though there are national and international catastrophes prior to that. But in this period you have the greatest concentration of evangelism in history. In a period of seven years the world will be evangelised four times and in each case there will be a declaration of Bible doctrine, gospel type. There will be reaction to this. The reaction is described in 2 Thessalonians chapter two as “strong delusion.” Out of this reaction and a few who are snatched as brands from the burning you have eventually the terrible judgement of the baptism of fire occurring at the second advent of Jesus Christ. That is the principle.

Wherever you find false teachers, as we find in 2 Peter 2:1, these false teachers occur as a reaction. They have reacted against the truth to the maximum by teaching that which is false. This is the strong reaction that comes in the face of a concentration of the teaching of the truth.

“bringing in the flood” is the aorist active participle of e)pagw. This is the case of where the action of the aorist participle precedes one main verb and is coterminous with the other. It precedes the action of “preserve.” The flood was brought in to judge the unbeliever, the apostate. The judgement of all apostasy occurred through the flood. So the word “preserve,” the aorist active indicative of fulassw, indicates that the flood came first and as a result the believers were spared. The principle of action of the aorist participle preceding the main verb here is that they were preserved — “having brought the flood he preserved” the believers. The Lord delivers through great disaster. More frequently than not the Lord will deliver you through, not from. So we have “having brought in the flood,” disaster. The flood found Noah and the seven in the place where God wanted them to be. They would experience the flood in a place of safety. God must in grace preserve the devil’s world so that the angelic conflict continues. The super race was removed from the devil’s world, and the super race were the devil’s adherents. A new human race would start and from that human race the devil would get other adherents. The angelic conflict would continue and the issue of race would still be an issue because those who came into the world would still be born into the devil’s kingdom and would have the option of being born again by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“the world of the ungodly” — a genitive of description from a)sebhj. The world of the ungodly describes all of the people who were left, the super race and unbelievers in the human race. The new civilisation would begin with believers only but their progeny would be born into the devil’s kingdom.

Verse 6 — a comparison of false teachers with another famous historical judgement, the judgement of Sodom. The Dead Sea is a memorial today to this very famous historical judgement which occurred in antiquity. Where the Dead Sea is today was once one of the most beautiful valley in the ancient world.

“And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes.” Turning into ashes is an aorist active participle from tefrow which means to reduce to ashes. This is the concept of a great conflagration, great fire, which destroys everything and all that is left is ashes. The action of the aorist participle is now coterminous with the main verb. The main verb comes next — “condemned.” This is an aorist active indicative of katakrinw which means to judge according to norms and standards, and it means to condemn. He condemned the cities by turning them into ashes. There are two aorist tenses here. The first is a culminative aorist. By turning the whole plain into ashes God left a monument for divine judgement. So we have a culminative aorist followed by a culminative aorist. The action of turning this beautiful plain into ashes the condemnation is terminated. Both occurred simultaneously.

“With an overthrow” is the instrumental case of katastrofh which means destruction, catastrophe. The word “making” is a perfect active participle of tiqemi which means to appoint. It is in the perfect tense which means a permanent appointment. The word for example, u(podiegma means a copy or a pattern. With the perfect participle it means a permanent pattern — “having appointed them a permanent pattern to those about to be ungodly.” The word a)sebew means to be ungodly. With it we have a verb in the present participle, mellw which means to be about to be. In other words, the participle which precedes mellw indicates that from that time of that judgement for the rest of human history, that judgement is a monument and a pattern as to what those who are outside of the plan of God can expect periodically in the devil’s world so that the angelic conflict will continue and so that grace will always be an issue. There is a principle here: God Himself, to perpetuate the angelic conflict to the cross, to the resurrection, ascension and session, and to the second advent, from His perfect character practices capital punishment. God set up a principle — capital punishment. In order for the human race to survive and be benefited segments of the human race from time to time must be wiped out, removed from the earth. This is a dictum from God’s perfect character. And when human law fails to recognise the principle of capital punishment and properly apply it the result is anarchy and a phenomenal rise in crime.

Translation: “And having reduced to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, he condemned them by means of destruction, having appointed them permanently a pattern to those about to be ungodly.”

In other words, the principle will always exist: God will take the life of certain individuals or groups who in any way frustrate the grace issue in life. And how do you frustrate the grace issue? Example: When you murder someone else you deprive them permanently of their freedom on this earth, and if enough people get homicidal in their tendencies then a maximum number of people lose their freedom and grace is never an issue without the existence of freedom. That is why one of the commandments with regard to human freedom is “Thou shalt not commit homicide [murder].” By so doing a person’s freedom is permanently interfered with.

Verse 7 — “And delivered just Lot.” The word “delivered” is the aorist active indicative from r(uomai. R(uomai is used here instead of fulassw because fulassw meant they were inside the ark during the time of the flood. So they were delivered through the flood. But Lot and his two daughters were delivered out from, so that is r(uomai. A different verb is used because God chooses in grace to deliver in different ways. He can deliver through the disaster or He can deliver out from the disaster. Both options are open under God’s plan of grace. In this case Lot was delivered out from. By the way, r(uomai means to drag or to rescue. He had to drag Lot out of town!

Notice he is called “just Lot” .The word “just” is in the accusative of dikaioj and means justified by grace. He delivered a grace product. Lot didn’t deserve the deliverance because he was in reversionism. He was born again and in the plan of God.

“Vexed” — he wasn’t vexed! This is the present passive participle kataponew which means overpowered. He was in reversionism. The present tense: he kept on being overpowered. Passive voice: he received this overpowering influence from the evil of Sodom. He was reversionistic. He was overpowered “with the filthy conversation.” The Greek has two prepositional phrases here, and it isn’t “filthy conversation.” The first prepositional phrase is u(po plus the genitive of a)qesmoj which means lawlessness or no restraint. The a means no and qesmoj means restraint. U(po means under the authority of. So he lived in an antiestablishment place under the authority of lawlessness. He lived under lawlessness. He lived under antiestablishment and when a person deliberately moves into an area of antiestablishment it will rub off on him in reversionism. Lot became friendly with the people and he could not be friendly with these people and still maintain his spiritual life. Therefore Lot practised reverse process reversionism.

The second prepositional phrase is e)n plus the instrumental of a)selgeia — “by lasciviousness.” Translation: “And dragged out justified Lot, overpowered under lawlessness by means of lasciviousness of behaviour pattern.”

Lot was a reversionistic believer when he was delivered. He was delivered from the disaster and when he was delivered he was in reversionism. That is grace. Noah, a supergrace believer, went through the disaster and was delivered.

Verse 8 — We are talking about a reversionist by the name of Lot and in verse 7 we read, “And dragged out of danger justified Lot, overpowered under the authority of lawlessness in the sphere of lasciviousness of behaviour pattern.” God delivered Lot by grace out of the disaster. (Noah who was equipped for the disaster of the flood was delivered in the disaster) Lot should have separated himself from Sodom, as a mature believer he would have done so. But as a reversionistic believer he was living among the people of Sodom. Lot enjoyed fellowship with the people of Sodom. We have to remember that the people of Sodom were homosexuals and that means that their personalities were of such a nature that he just enjoyed social life with them. Yet they were degenerate and totally anti- establishment. Lot was not a homosexual but he enjoyed the company of the people of Sodom and he tolerated them. And that sort of thing rubs off. Obviously Lot could not concentrate on doctrine and he could not, therefore, concentrate on the divine viewpoint. So he concentrated on personalities and personality rapport replaces Bible doctrine.

“For that righteous man” — righteous is dikaioj and it refers to imputed righteousness on the basis of God’s justice. When Peter speaks of Lot under the ministry of the Spirit he emphasises Lot’s imputed righteousness and not his scintillating personality.

“that righteous man” refers to the fact hat we are talking about a saved, born again believer.

“dwelling among them” — present active participle of e)gkatoikew. Katoikew means to dwell permanently, or to be at home. E)g is part of the preposition e)n, and it means to be at home among. Carnal Lot was at home among the Sodomites. This means rapport with the homosexuals.

Principle: A reversionistic believer has rapport with the wrong people because of his concentration on personality rather than doctrine.

“in seeing and hearing” — he was socially unfaithful to God. Lot enjoyed the company of these people even though he apparently never got into it. The word “seeing” is a noun and the word “hearing” is a noun and both of them are instrumental singulars. The first one is the instrumental of blemma. Blemma means the act of seeing. “Hearing” is a)koh, which is the act of hearing. The two words should be translated “by the act of seeing and the act of hearing.”

Translation: “For the righteous one [Lot] being at home among them [the people of Sodom] by the act of seeing and by the act of hearing constantly tortured his righteous soul by means of their lawless deeds.”

“vexed his righteous soul” — the word “vexed” is the imperfect active indicative of basanizw, and basanizw means to torture, not “vex his soul.” He tortured his own soul. When you associate with the wrong crowd you torture your own soul.

“his righteous soul” — dikaioj indicates that he is saved, and once more we have dikaioj for imputed righteousness. This refers to his saved soul, not to human righteousness.

“from day to day” is literally, day in and day out.

“with their unlawful deeds” — this is the instrumental a)nomoij e)rgoij which means “because of their lawless production.”

Principle: The believer in reversionism associating with the wrong crowd is a tortured soul but he does it to himself. Of his own free will he ends up in this situation.

Verse 9 — “The Lord knoweth.” Kurioj here is one of those rare cases where this word for deity is used for God the Father. The absence of the definite article calls attention to the quality rather than to the definition of the noun. So kurioj minus the definite article refers to deity. Deity knows [knoweth] and o)ida is used here for omniscience, inherent knowledge.

“how to deliver the godly [the believer] out of testing.” To deliver is a present middle infinitive of r(uomai. R(uomai means to drag someone out of danger, to rescue someone from danger or disaster. And even though Lot is a reversionistic believer God the Father inherently understands how to deliver him. Lot doesn’t deserve it, it is a matter of grace. We have a middle voice, the subject participates in the results of the action. And God the Father is the subject and He himself acted on behalf of Lot and preserved Lot from the disaster. So we have: Deity knows inherently how to rescue the godly. The godly is a technical word for any believer. Lot was delivered on the basis of the character of God.

“out of temptations” — e)k plus the ablative singular and it should be: “out from calamity.” The word for temptations here, peirasmoj, has a very interesting meaning here. Peirasmoj means testing or trial, putting someone on trial to see if they have it. And God put Sodom on trial and they didn’t have it. This was the 5th cycle of discipline. God tests a nation to see if the number of believers with an ECS is high enough to preserve the nation. Peirasmoj is translated here “calamity” because God tested and found no one with an ECS and destroyed under the 5th cycle of discipline principle. Therefore translated: “Deity knows inherently how to rescue the believer out from disaster [or calamity].”

“reserve” is the present active infinity of terew which means to keep, to preserve or guard. It means to guard something that belongs to you. God the Son died on the cross for their sins, they say No to the cross — unbelievers — and he preserves them to the last judgement. So He knows how to reserve the “unjust.” Unjust is in contrast to godly; unjust means unbelievers, not people whose lives are personally unjust.

“the day of judgement” — Revelation 20:12-15; “to be punished” — present passive participle of kolazw. Kolazw means to receive painful punishment. Under the passive voice it means to receive painful punishment.

Now all of this so far was designed to bring us back to the false teachers. The false teachers are devastating. They themselves are the recipients of judgement and those who adhere to them. Those who are positive to false teaching are judged. They are judged in time, they are judged in eternity.

Verse 10-22, the description of these false teachers.

Verse 10 — Here is the judgement and destruction of a national entity under false teaching. The word “chiefly” is an adverb, malista, which means “especially.”

“them that walk” — present active participle of poreuomai. Poreuomai means to go from place to place. It often has the connotation of instability.

“after” is incorrect. O)pisw means behind the “flesh” — sarc, for the old sin nature. Literally, “behind the flesh.”

Translation: “Especially ones going from one place to another after the flesh.” In other words, they are moving in a direction that appeals to their old sin nature. This is a reference to the unbeliever. The believer walks according to the flesh. The word “after” is often used but it is kata. We have the preposition for the believer — kata; we have an adverb for the unbeliever — o)pisw. Kata means according to the norm or standard; o)pisw means behind.

“in” — e)n plus the locative, “in the sphere of.”

“the lust” — e)piqumia refers to the lust pattern of the old sin nature. This is the disintegration of a nation. In this context we have two concepts in mind. First of all, the disintegration of a nation and, secondly, the judgement of unbelievers at the last judgement. We have just covered judgement of the unbeliever at the last judgement in verse 9. Now we go back and cover the concept: Sodom fell and was destroyed under the principle of the 5th cycle of discipline. What are the ingredients that destroy a national entity? You get unstable people following the flesh, e.g. hippies and gypsies. “In the lust” — approbation lust, power lust, materialism lust, lasciviousness.

“uncleanness” — miasmoj, means polluted, defiled, corrupted. And what do these people do?

“despise government” — present active participle of katafronew. Phronew means to think; kata means down. To think down here means to despise, to scorn, it also means to disregard. The word for government is kuriothj. It is derived from kurioj and it means constituted authority, not just government but any type of authority. The Sodomites rejected authority. When you have a generation of young people who reject authority they destroy themselves. They reject the authority of academic discipline, they reject the authority of freedom, they reject the authority of principles designed to protect privacy and property, the woman rejects the authority of her right man, they reject the authority of parents, they reject the authority of law, they reject the military. So it is the whole concept of authority and therefore they become presumptuous.

“Presumptuous” — tolmhthj, which means to have effrontery, brazen in a bad sense.

“self-willed” — means self-gratification. The Greek word is a)uqadeij — a)utoj, self; a)deomai, to gratify. “they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities” — this is a part of antiestablishment.

“are not afraid” is a present active indicative of tremw, which means to fear or to tremble.

“to speak evil” is blasfhmew which means to malign.

“dignities” — doca, glories. The word is used for both angels and human beings. It also refers to duly constituted authority, glories in the sense of something that is set up as a bona fide principle of authority in a nation.

So they are motivated by lust pattern from the old sin nature, they despise duly constituted authority, they are arrogant, full of self-confidence, they are indulgent to the point of self-gratification, they malign those who have authority and , in the case of Peter’s day, even those who are angels. They have no respect for authority in any form.

One of the great characteristics of the false teacher has always been antiestablishment. False teachers are completely and totally opposed to everything from the principles of freedom to military service. And yet in the area of establishment we have those freedoms which are absolutely and vitally necessary for capacity and function in life. Even the unbeliever benefits to the maximum from establishment. He benefits from the standpoint of freedom, from the standpoint of capacity for life, but the false teacher is always antagonistic to it. He is always knocking some area of establishment and substituting for it brotherly love, hearts and flowers, the concept of gypsy life which they call freedom, internationalism, antiwar. And when these gypsies begin to run every facet of the country then serious trouble develops and the nation disintegrates — the attack upon the military, the attack upon human freedom, the lack of manners, the lack of poise, all add up to national disintegration.

Verse 11 — the angelic convocation. The first word “Whereas” is an adverb, o(pou, which is an unusual way to start a sentence. It is a connective link. It means here “In which place” and it is actually a reference to angels in heaven assembled for a convocation.

“are” — present active indicative of e)imi, the absolute status quo verb.

“greater in power and might.” “Greater” is a comparative adjective and brings up once again the concept of doctrine, the superiority of angels over human beings. a. Angels are superior to mankind through creation — Hebrews 2:7,9; b. Christ, in the incarnation, became a human being and was made lower than angels — Hebrews 2:9,16; c. By death , resurrection, ascension and session the humanity of Christ becomes superior to angels — Hebrews 1:4-8, 13; 2:14; d. Every believer is in union with Jesus Christ — Ephesians 1:6; 2 Cor. 5:17; 1 Cor. 1:2; e. Therefore, every believer is positionally superior to angels as of the point of regeneration, and every believer has a servant angel — Hebrews 1:14; f. Through ultimate sanctification — the resurrection body — the believer will be physically superior to angels for all eternity; g. In the meantime the only advantage that the believer on this earth in a body of corruption can have over angels is through the completion of the ECS, the entrance into spiritual maturity.

“in power” is the instrumental of i)sxuj. I)sxuj is one of the words for power. Kratoj is ruling power, authority, dunamij is inherent power, e)nergew is operational power, and i)sxuj is endowed power. This is the inherent power of angels which is greater than the inherent power of members of the human race.

“might” is the word dunamij, which connotes the inherent power manifest in ability. When isxuj is followed by dunamij then one becomes the result of the other. The angels have an endowed power greater than man and therefore they have greater ability than mankind. And yet with their endowed power and their superior ability over mankind, “they dare not bring.”

“they bring not” is a present active indicative of ferw plus the negative. Ferw means to bear or to carry. They dare not carry to heaven and bring to God railing accusations.

“railing accusation” — blasfhmoj, maligning, krisij, the act of judging. Even though they are greater in endowed power and ability they do not carry maligning judgement against false teachers. False teachers may malign dignities — glories, angels — but, even though angels are greater they do not carry into heaven accusation against false teachers.

“before the Lord” — para, the preposition of immediate source; it also means “beside.” It indicates an angelic convocation as they are standing in the presence of the Lord, beside the Lord. The only person who brings any accusation in heaven from the angels in convocation is Satan, and he accuses believers before the throne of God — Revelation 12:9,10; Job 1:6,11; Zechariah 3:1,2. 8

Verses 12-14 — we change the subject. We move into the concept of the modus operandi of these false teachers. False teachers occupy the pulpits of the world today — among fundamentalists as well as the denominations. All of the people in cults are false teachers. All of the false teachers are described under two categories which are based upon the trends of the old sin nature: the trend toward asceticism and the trend toward lasciviousness. These are general characteristics that belong to all false teachers in every generation of the Church Age.

Verse 12 — “But these.” The conjunction is adversative, it indicates a contrast between elect angels who cannot malign and false teachers who habitually malign the elect angels. “These” refers to the false teachers of verse 1.

“as” introduces an analogy. The next word describes one of the first characteristics of them. They are called “natural brute beasts.” Two words here. First of all the nominative plural of a)logoj, an adjective — “a” is negative, logoj means word or thought. And it means without reason. False teachers do not have reason or common sense, or the ability to relate life to the establishment. And they are often destroyed themselves. They are not “brutes,” they are a)logoj, they are stupid. They are not “beasts,” zwon, they are animals. It should be translated: But these false teachers, like animals, without common sense.”

“made” is not correct. We have the perfect passive participle of genaw, and it means “having been born.” All false teachers were born. The perfect tense means that they have been born with the result that, with their birth and their growth and their development into adulthood, they have contributed and added to the misery of this world. The participle indicates the permanence of the detrimental function of their false teaching.

“to be taken and destroyed.” We have the word fusikoj, which means instinct, the instinct of an animal, but it doesn’t mean an animal.

Translation so far: “But these false teachers, like animals without common sense, having been born creatures of instinct.” In other words, false teachers from birth until the first time they get up and utter their blasphemies, have been antiestablishment, opposed to the establishment. Their sin nature has not been controlled by law and order, by the inculcation of freedom and patriotism, or by the great principles of God’s plan of grace taught under the principle of Bible doctrine.

“to be taken” is a noun, not a verb. The noun is a(losij and it means to be removed. Animals must be removed if they are dangerous. Instinctively they strike out and therefore they must be removed from the scene; “and destroyed” — literally, for capture and destruction. And this means capture by law, destruction by the function of law. They need to be removed from society. The second noun here is fqora, which means destruction because of corruption. By speaking these false teachers pass their corruption on to others.

“speak evil” — present active participle of the verb blasfhmew, which means to malign. They malign the things that they do not understand.

“that they understand not” — e)n o)ij, in which. And then we have “they do not understand” which is a present participle of a)gnoew. They malign the things of which they have no understanding; “and shall be destroyed in their own destruction.” These people ultimately lead a nation to the 5th cycle of discipline and they are destroyed in their own destruction.

“and shall utterly perish” is the future passive indicative of fqeirw. This means that when the nation goes down they are always destroyed with it. Illustration: the false teachers in Jeremiah’s day.

“their own corruption” — fqora, their false teaching destroys them as they destroy the people they reach with it. Always, when a nation goes down it is preceded by false teachers.

Verse 13 — a principle of human good.

“And” is not found in the original.

“shall receive” — the present passive participle of a)dikew. It means to be deprived of credit, or wages. All false teachers have a system of human good and their objective is to get everyone operating under this system of human good. Human good destroys a nation.

“reward of unrighteousness” — a reference to human good.

The doctrine of human good

1. Human good is dead to God’s plan. Therefore it is called dead works — Hebrews 6:1.

2. Human good is not acceptable to God at any time — Isaiah 64:6.

3. Therefore, human good has no place in the plan of God — 2 Timothy 1:9.

4. Distinction should be made between human good and morality — Romans 13:4,5. Morality is a part of the laws of establishment. It is necessary for the perpetuation and function of the human race under the angelic conflict. Human good is not a part of establishment.

5. Human good will not save mankind — Titus 3:5.

6. The believer’s human good is revealed and destroyed at the judgement seat of Christ — 1 Corinthians 3:11-16.

7. Human good is the basis for the unbeliever’s indictment at the last judgement — Revelation 20:12-15.

8. Human good can only produce human boasting — Ephesians 2:9.

In the middle of verse 13 we have the social life of the false teacher. He relates it to hooking his victims and gathering them into his false teaching. Just the antithesis of God’s order the false teacher uses his life to attract people to his message, whereas it is the objective of true communication to use Bible doctrine to attract people to the only life, the grace life provided through Jesus Christ. Where the communication of doctrine is concerned it is doctrine that attracts to the life and the principles of grace of the Lord, whereas the opposite is true when it comes to the false teacher. In other words, Satan always uses the life, and emphasis on the life, of the false teacher. With doctrine it is the message, not the life, that counts.

Verse 13b — “they that count” is the present active participle of e(geomai means to regard as an objective of pleasure. E(geomai means to have an opinion, regard, to think, to hold an opinion.

“pleasure to riot in the day time” is literally, “luxurious living in the day time of leisure.” The word for luxurious living is trufh, which means revelling, indulgence. In other words, it means total lack of self-discipline. The word for pleasure, h(donh, means sensual pleasure, gratification of any kind, the antithesis of self-discipline. In addition to that we have the attitude of the Word of God toward these false teachers, they are called “spots.”

“Spots” — the nominative plural of spiloj, which means stains. It means spots or stains on the escutcheon of the laws of divine establishment.

“blemishes” — also in the nominative plural, momoj, means a disgrace to establishment. A momoj is some kind of a spot which disfigures the skin. The two words (spots and blemishes) together are used as an idiom for city scum in Rome, the lowest order of urban dwellers. Since the Punic wars Rome had been bothered with its scum and had never really solved the problem. The false teachers are compared to the scum of the city, they are active in heavily populated areas and therefore it is a very apt analogy.

“sporting themselves” — present active participle of e)ntrufaw, which means to carouse. Entrufaw means to revel or to carouse. The use in the daytime again indicates no self-discipline, no job, no work, no purpose, no motive in life, except to peddle false doctrine. “Constantly revelling in” is a better translation than sporting themselves.

“their own deceivings” — dative of disadvantage in the plural form a)path. A)path means that what they teach is attractive, and the way they teach it, because they are attractive people. But it is deceit, antagonistic to Bible doctrine.

“they feast” — not correct. This is where the recipients of false teaching come in. They feast, but it is a present passive participle — suneuoxeomai, which means to be entertained lavishly. They received lavish entertainment. False teachers are stimulated by false doctrine they communicate, and they receive lavish entertainment from people who admire their lives and accept their teaching. But remember, they accept their teaching on the basis of their lives and they are socially attractive. That is the principle of this half of the verse. Being socially attractive they are given a wide hearing.

Now these false teachers are very attractive. They are well thought of. Their lives are held up as something great and that indicates a general trend toward apostasy and negative volition toward doctrine. They live in a time of antiestablishment.

Translation of verse 13 — “Being deprived of credit, the wages of unrighteousness, they regard as pleasure revellings in the daytime. Moral blots and a disgrace to society, constantly being stimulated by their own deceivings while being lavishly entertained by you.” Peter is writing to those who are believers who have also been drawn in.

Verse 14 — In addition to their social attractiveness they live totally outside of the establishment.

“Having” is a present active participle of e)xw. “Having eyes full of adultery.” This does not mean that they commit adultery, it means that they are lascivious in their mental attitude, in their souls. The word for adultery here, moixaloj, is teamed up with the word “eyes.” “Eyes” is used for the soul, the perception of the soul. Moixaloj is adultery, but when you team it up with “eyes full,” then you have a soul function. They are socially very scintillating. This is not the overt practice of adultery, this is a mental attitude which helps to make the one involved attractive and acceptable. This also is a part of the antiestablishment, and having eyes full of adultery is a soul condition to indicate that false teachers are antiestablishment. The practice of adultery is not involved here but the principle of adultery in the soul. They are completely selfish and non-disciplined people.

“that cannot cease from sin” is not correct. There is no verb here. It says, “they cannot be restrained from sin.” And the word “cannot be restrained” is a)katapostoj, a noun. It is literally, “non-restrainable from sin.” That is, false teachers are living totally outside of the laws of divine establishment. They are not only anti-grace, anti-doctrine, anti-gospel, but the way you can spot them easily is they are antiestablishment. “Sin” here doesn’t refer to any particular type of sin, it refers to the whole principle of establishment.

“beguiling” — present active participle of deleazw. Deleazw means to trap, to allure, to entice, to delude. And whom do they trap, entice, allure and delude?

“unstable” — the feminine accusative plural of a)steriktoj, which indicates the person who responds to this type of living — an unstable, frustrated person. A)steriktoj not only means unstable, but it means frustrated instability and it is in the feminine gender, and it indicates all of the accoutrements of instability. The accoutrements of instability, the rejection of the gospel in the case of unbelievers, the rejection of Bible doctrine in the case of believers; they have gone negative toward doctrine.

“heart” here refers to the right lobe — kardia. They could not be trapped unless they had something false in the right lobe. Kardia is used for the mentality of the soul and it has inside of it a frame of reference, a memory centre, a vocabulary category area, norms and standards (which we call conscience) and it has a launching pad. Because of going negative toward the establishment the unbeliever’s right lobe has norms and standards that are ready for this type of thing.

“they have exercised” — perfect passive participle of gumnazw. This word means to train in exercise. But they, because of their right lobe, they’re ready for this kind of life, they are ready for false doctrine, they are looking for it. Why? Perfect tense — their right lobe has been exercised and trained for it. The exercise here is simply a series of reflexes ready for trouble.

“with covetous practices” — the word covetousness is pleonecia, the frantic search for happiness. Covetous practices having a frantic search for happiness. In other words. they have exercised their soul to a series of conditioned reflexes which are designed for pleonecia — a frantic search for happiness. Therefore they become …

“cursed children” — katara means execrated children. Execrated children are reversionistic. Children of reversionism, children of the curse.

Literally, “Having eyes full of adulteresses [not adulterers] and cannot be restrained from sin, enticing unstable souls: the heart having been exercise, having a frantic search for happiness; children of reversionism.”

Verse 17 — “These,” o(utoi, a demonstrative pronoun in the nominative plural referring to false teachers. “are” — present active indicative of e)imi, there are no exceptions. False teachers always fall into this category.

“wells without water” — used to describe the false teacher from the standpoint of Bible doctrine. Without water means without doctrine. Water is used in the Bible for salvation — Isaiah 55:1; it is also used for the Holy Spirit — John 7:38,39; in Ephesians 5:26 water is always used for Bible doctrine. False teachers are minus salvation, minus the Holy Spirit and minus Bible doctrine. Minus Bible doctrine is the primary thrust of this passage.

“clouds” — the nominative plural of o(mixlh, which refers to false teachers in their instability. The word o(mixlh also means fog, and false teachers are like a fog, they are confusing, you lose your perspective, lose the landmark.

“that are carried along” — Literally, driven along. It is the present passive participle of e)launw. Here is the instability of these false teachers, they are clouds being driven along. And to be driven along means that clouds have no anchor. In other words, they never stay in the same place.

“with” — the preposition u(po, which connotes authority. They reject authority, they are under the authority of punishment and catastrophe and disaster.

“tempest” — is the squall line, and we have the word lailapoj. You can see a squall line from a distance but once you are in the midst of it you can see nothing. They victims of the false teachings will first of all reject it, they see the squall line from afar, but having rejected the gospel they will walk right into it. Hence they will be in the storm, they will be confused and the whole perspective of life is destroyed. That is the concept here.

“to whom” is a relative pronoun referring to the false teachers. False teachers in this context are unbelievers. They draw in believers but they themselves are unbelievers.

“the mists” — thick darkness, zofoj. Thick darkness refers to the content of their right lobe.

“of darkness” — skotoj. Both zofoj and skotoj are words for darkness. Skotoj is the darkness in their soul that caused them to say No to the gospel. Zofoj is the darkness that came in as a result of saying No. Darkness accumulates more darkness, it adds to darkness. And the big safety valve, the presentation of the gospel, when rejected inevitably results in catastrophe to the group who reject it.

“is reserved” — perfect passive participle of terew, which means to guard. Has been guarded, literally.

“forever” is not found in the original.

The message of the false teachers: Verse 18 — “When they speak” is the present active participle of fqeggomai, which means to speak bombastically. Here is where we have to go back and pick up verse 15.

Verse 15 — “Which” is not found in the original. “Have forsaken the right way.” These are the false teachers again. Kataleipw means to abandon or desert. These false teachers have abandoned the right way, they have abandoned the truth.

“are gone astray” — aorist passive indicative of planaw, they have been deceived. The passive voice means that they have received going astray or being deceived by error.

“following” — e)cakolouqew, which means to follow after or to imitate. They imitated the way of Balaam. They way of Balaam is reversionism.

“who” — relative pronoun refers to Balaam; “loved,” aorist active indicative of a)gapaw, his mental attitude, his conditioned reflexes of the soul.

“the wages of unrighteousness” — i.e. the fantastic fee which king Balaak offered to Balaam.

Verse 16 — “But he was rebuked for his iniquity.” The word “rebuke” is a combination of the aorist active indicative of e)xw — he had and held. Then we have the object of the verb, the accusative singular of e)legcij, which means accusation or condemnation. Here it means accusation. He had condemnation for his iniquity, or literally, for his own private transgression.

“the dumb ass” — describing Balaam’s ass of Numbers 22:28; “dumb” — a)fonoj, a is negative, fonoj is voice.

“speaking” — the aorist active participle of fqeggomai, the same word we find in verse 18, meaning to speak bombastically, or with a preachers swing. The ass actually “preached” to Balaam.

“he forbad the madness of the prophet” — aorist active infinitive of koluw. But the interesting word is the word “madness” — parafronia, which means psychosis. A reversionist comes to the place of psychosis.

Verse 18 again. When a person becomes a reversionist and a false teacher he is exactly like Balaam’s ass. He speaks bombastically. Why? If Balaam was psychotic, and it says he was, and the ass spoke in a certain style, why did he speak that way? It is the only way you can reach a psycho. And the people who follow false teaching: the only way you can reach them because they are psychotic and go for a certain style — fqeggomai. Balaam’s ass had an audience of one, a prophet, and the prophet was psycho. How are you going to reach this psycho? — fqeggomai.

There is a direct parallel between the ass speaking in verse 16 and the false teacher communicating false doctrine to believer and unbeliever in reversionism. Reversionists respond to not normal communication, abnormal communication — fqeggomai, bombastic. The only way that Balaam could have responded, but didn’t, was through fqeggomai — bombastic eloquence.

“great swelling words” — always good literary language, never the vulgar Koinh words of any language. It is always the eloquent nebulous language which is abstruse but effective — the accusative plural from the adjective u(perogkoj. U(per, over and above; agkoj means to be over-swollen, overweight, and it means words with long syllables.

“of vanity” — mataiothj, the vacuum whereby Satanic doctrine attacks the right lobe. These are the words of the false teachers.

“they allure” — present active indicative of deleazw. They attract, they trap “through the lusts of the flesh” — e)n plus the instrumental, “by means of the lusts of the flesh.”

“wantonness” — lasciviousness. And just as lasciviousness appeals to the old sin nature, so these great swelling words titillate the soul as fornication stimulates the body. That is what Peter is saying.

“those that were clean escaped” — Those that are scarcely escaping [from them]. At one time these people were free.

“who live in error” — Literally, who live in the sphere of error; “who live” is not the ordinary word for living, like zaw. This is a present middle participle of a)nastrefw, which means to have a behaviour pattern. e)n plus the locative of planh, means that they have in the sphere of error rejected Bible doctrine which is their only anchor, or as unbelievers they have rejected the gospel which could have been the beginning of their anchor, or they have rejected establishment.

Translation: “When speaking with multi-syllabled words of mataiotehj, they beguile through the lusts of the flesh, by means of lasciviousness, those that are scarcely escaping from them, having a pattern of life in the sphere of error.” The error is rejection of establishment, rejection of the gospel, rejection of Bible doctrine.

Verse 19 — the enslavement of false teachers. The false teachers set up a system of slavery.

“While they promise them liberty” — the present middle participle of e)paggellw. E)paggellw means to announce or to promise. Here it means both. They announce freedom and they promise.

“liberty” — e)leuqeria, the most enticing type of freedom. However, it is a freedom with responsibility. They do not mention responsibility. Why?

“for they themselves” referring to the false teachers, “are.” It is not “are” but the present active participle of u(parchw which is their permanent status.

“servants” — not servants but slaves of fqora, which means the old sin nature with emphasis on its “corruption” .This passage refers to slaves to the lust pattern.

Now we have the principle of slavery. Slavery is more than someone being shackled or having no volition of his own. Basically slavery begins in the soul with no volition and ends up with shackles.

“for whom” — o(j, a relative pronoun in the instrumental case. “For by whom,” literally.

“ man” — not in the original. Tij — “anyone.” Generally in a principle it is a general phrase meaning “anyone.” The principle first of all applies to false teachers in slavery as a result of reversionism. All unbelieving false teachers have gone through the process — negative volition toward the gospel, and the tearing down of the laws of establishment, so that this person practices, as an unbeliever, reverse process reversionism in the areas open to the unbeliever. If the false teacher is in slavery, obviously whatever he communicates will lead those who respond to him into slavery.

“for of whom a man is overcome” — for by whom anyone has been defeated, literally; “by the same he is brought into bondage” — literally. They promise all of these wonderful things that look very attractive. They are the servants of the old sin nature. We have the perfect passive indicative of h(ttaomai — to be defeated. In this case, the perfect, it means “has been defeated.” In other words, when an unbeliever goes negative toward the gospel he has been defeated. The perfect tense brings out the permanent results. He will wind up in reversionism. If a believer or an unbeliever goes negative toward the laws of divine establishment he has been defeated and will suffer the consequences of reversionism in that area. When a believer rejects Bible doctrine he has been defeated. A believer has not been defeated on his failure to witness, on his failure to pray, on his failure to hustle in the local church, a believer is defeated when he rejects Bible doctrine. The issue of the Christian life is Bible doctrine and your attitude toward it, not works.

“of the same” — instrumental of tij again; “he is brought into bondage” — perfect passive indicative of doulow, which means to be brought into slavery. We have two perfect tenses here. The perfect tense of e(ttaomai and the perfect tense of doulow both indicate the permanent results which accrue.

In effect, from this principle comes the pattern of enslavement to false teaching — verses 20-22.

Verse 20 — We are going to see stages of slavery and entanglement with false teachers.

a. They are exposure to false teaching and rejection of it, exposure to false teaching and going negative toward it. Why? Because the person involved, as an unbeliever for example, has two things going for him: a sense of humour and common sense, either one of which will act as a safety valve. He has in his conscience the laws of divine establishment and have been since early youth; common sense. b. The same person at some other time is exposed to the truth of the gospel and he goes negative toward the gospel. He rejects the gospel even though he has it in e)pignwsij in his right lobe. As a result of going negative toward the gospel he destroys the laws of divine establishment in his right lobe, he destroys the common sense discernment factor, and he wipes out his sense of humour to where it is not a safeguard. As a result he goes back and hears the same teaching, and this time goes positive because he is an unbeliever now in reversionism.

“if after they have escaped” — the aorist active participle of a)pofeugw. The verb is used both here and in verse 18. In verse 18 it was a present active participle indicating the first exposure to false teaching, and escaping. A)pofeugw is to say No to false doctrine, to say No on the basis of the laws of divine establishment, common sense, discernment, and even a sense of humour. But in verse 20 we have the aorist active participle, and this indicates resistance to false teaching through these things. This is a serious resistance to it because of that which is comparable to the ECS.

“the pollutions of the world” or the defilement of the cosmos. The word pollutions is the accusative plural of miasma.

“through” — e)n plus the instrumental of e)pignwsij. By means of e)pignwsij — “knowledge” .

“of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” — remember that in the presentation of the gospel whatever is true that is given by the witness or by the evangelist or by the communicator, the Holy Spirit has to act as a human spirit to give reality to what is taught — the doctrine of common grace.

“again” — palin. This means an exposure to false teaching again, after the process of emotional revolt. You see the exposure — present participle followed by the aorist participle — is a full exposure saying No on the basis of the laws of divine establishment, common sense, discernment, sense of humour. But now we have e)pignosij gospel, and saying No to that destroys this information in the right lobe. At this point we have palin — between stages two and three, scar tissue has accumulated, blackout of the soul, emotional revolt of the soul, reversionism. So palin introduces the same believer hearing the same information, and this time he is entangled.

“entangled” — the aorist passive participle of e)mplekw. E)mplekw means to weave something into a tangle, and therefore to entangle or to become involved.

“therein” — the instrumental word is tutoij, from o(utoj. It should be translated “by these.”

“and overcome” — the word overcome is the present passive indicative of hettaomai, which means to be defeated. His defeat is bondage.

Note the pattern of defeat or enslavement: a. Exposure to false doctrine, rejection of the same from the stability of the soul; b. Exposure to the gospel in e)pignwsij form, and its rejection; c. The e)pignwsij gospel rejection resulting in moving into the stages of reversionism; d. Going back and being exposed to the same things and now saying Yes.

“the latter end” is ta e)sxata. It refers to the third stage or the unbeliever accepting false doctrine which he has previously rejected. He does so because as an unbeliever he has something comparable to the ECS — laws of establishment, etc. — and this has been torn down through negative volition toward the gospel. So the latter end refers to the dog returning to his vomit or the sow returning to her wallowing.

“is” — perfect active indicative of ginomai should be “has become.” Permanent results to the individual and the nation. We used to have a good citizen here; now we have a confused person.

“worse” — the nominative plural neuter of an irregular imperative called xeiron. It is derived from kakoj which means evil. The unbeliever minus false doctrine with the laws of establishment has a chance, and so does his community and his nation. But the unbeliever with false doctrine, having gone through the process of reversionism, becomes a source of danger to his nation. This is what happened in Jeremiah’s generation in Judah.

“than the beginning” or “than the first” — the genitive plural of prwtoj. Prwtoj was step one. In step one he said No to the false teaching. Step two: he went into reversionism through a series of Noes to e)pignwsij gospel. Step three: he said Yes to the same false teaching.

Translation: “For if having escaped the defilement of the cosmos by means of epignosij [gospel knowledge] of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, again having become involved by this [false doctrine] they are defeated, the latter end has become worse than the first.”

The word “defeated” is a very excellent one because a defeated people in the spiritual realm — false teaching excepted — become a defeated people in every realm. Establishment protects a nation. Rejection of establishment by the people of that nation makes them a defeated people, and a defeated people are defeated sooner or later by another nation — and that is the 5th cycle of discipline.

Verse 21 — “For it had been,” imperfect active indicative of e)imi, translated like a perfect tense except that e)imi does not have a perfect tense. This is a legitimate translation here because of the illustration.

“better” is a comparative of a)gaqoj; “for them” is dative of indirect object and the dative of disadvantage. It is a reference to the victims of false teaching who at first had common sense, establishment principles, good judgement, a sense of humour, all of which they have now lost in reversionism. So their latter end is worse than the first. They went from freedom from false teaching to slavery to false teaching.

“not to have known” — perfect active infinitive of e)piginwskw. This means to have fully known, it means e)pignosij gospel. The perfect tense indicates that the ministry of the Holy Spirit acting as a human spirit made the gospel clear to them and they rejected it, which is how scar tissue began and how reversionism began. The active voice: they did come to a complete understanding of the gospel.

“the way of righteousness” is a reference to salvation with emphasis on imputed righteousness as per John 16:8 and 10. Remember that the Holy Spirit convinces of sin, righteousness and judgement. However, sin is unbelief, rejection of Christ. That is the only sin of which the Holy Spirit convinces. Next is righteousness, and this has to do with imputed righteousness. You cannot live in the presence of God forever or have a relationship with God unless you are as good as He is, and He imputes His own righteousness at the point of salvation. And judgement has to do with the judgement of Satan and all unbelievers. So it is the second one here, mentioned in John 16:8,10, which is the basis of making the gospel e)pignwsij to the individual involved in this passage. The way of imputed righteousness in this passage is salvation.

“after they have known” is an aorist active participle of e)piginwskw. The aorist active participle here is to show that they thoroughly understood before they turned away.

“to turn from” — an aorist active infinitive of u(postrefw, a culminative aorist. It is a complete and total decision, a complete and total negative.

“the holy commandment” — is to believe in Jesus Christ, as per 1 John 3:23.

“delivered unto them” — literally, having been delivered to them — aorist passive participle of paradidomi. Paradidomi means to deliver, it also means to betray. The holy commandment was delivered to them through witnessing, through evangelism.

Translation: “It would have kept on being better for them not to have fully known the way of righteousness, than, having fully known to turn away from the holy commandment having been delivered to them for their advantage.”

Verse 22 — the illustration. “But it is happened unto them.” The word “happened” is the perfect active indicative of sumbainw — it has happened. Perfect tense: it has happened in the past with the result that it keeps on happening all the time in history.

“unto them” — dative of disadvantage refers to negative volition toward false teaching, followed by negative volition toward e)pignwsij gospel, followed by positive volition toward false teaching.

“according to the true proverb” a paraphrased quotation from Proverbs 26:11.

“the dog” — kuwn, referring to the Gentile unbeliever who follows the pattern of verse 20. He is negative toward false doctrine, he is negative toward e)pignosij gospel. This causes reversionism in the unbeliever that makes him positive toward false doctrine.

“is turned to” — aorist active participle, “having returned to,” literally. U(postrefw, which means to return.

Points: a. The initial act of vomiting is rejection of false doctrine.

b. The return to the vomit is the acceptance of false doctrine.

c. The difference is the condition of the unbeliever’s soul.

d. When false doctrine was rejected the soul was stabilised.

e. But when false doctrine was accepted the soul was in reversionism.

f. In this illustration the vomit is analogous to false doctrine.

“and the sow” — u(j; “washed” — aorist passive participle of luw — having been washed. This is a culminative aorist, the washing has been completed. Here is the unbeliever again having rejected false doctrine because of stability of soul, because of the laws of divine establishment, because of conservatism in her right lobe.

“to her wallowing” — preposition e)ij plus the accusative of kulisma. E)ij is a directional preposition, she goes right back to kulisma — to get in the mud.

“mire” — genitive of borboroj, which means not just mud but sewage, garbage, etc. This is the same principle as with the dog. The same principle applies to the believer who rejects Bible doctrine. The rejection causes the believer to accept false doctrine because he develops scar tissue which opens up the vacuum of the soul, into which comes false doctrine.