Peter Warns All Believers Against False Teachers Within and Exhorts Us

Peter says these False Teachers Cannot Stop Sinning & Lure Others into their Sin 2 Peter 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: KJV Note: NLT=New Living Translation; NKJV=New King 👑 James Version As we declared in the last bible study/commentary (Volume 24), these false teachers are a stain to any True Church of Christ Jesus our Lord and the Apostle Peter goes on further to now say that because of them being deceived they cannot ever stop sinning (2 Peter 2:14). The reason for this Peter declares is that they have eyes full of adultery, that is, they are constantly looking lustfully seeking another sexual conquest and much of their seeking is done among those in visible Churches. You see these seducing spirits, that is, the teachings of demons has so consumed their inner man 👨and inner woman 👩that they have sunk their souls into said lies and can no longer hear the truth of godliness. We know that it is because they don't have God the Holy Spirit in them to lead and guide them, but it is because they have refused the truth and crave and long for the lie instead. This little English phrase 'that cannot cease' is translated by the Greek word akatapaustos used here this one time only in the entire New Testament; it means to be unrefraining. Because they have embraced the lie, they don't even see the need to refrain from any sin. However, throughout the New Testament the true children of God are always being commanded to refrain or abstain from sexual immorality and by the grace of God and the Spirit of God we are enabled to, exercised to, and empowered to do so. The overriding theme of every letter in the New Testament to true believers is to love one another, to see others as better than yourself, to forgive one another as Christ has forgiven us, and to not cause one another to fall or stumble, that is, into sin. How could the love of God be in any person claiming to be a child of God and their very motive always is to cause others to sin. Sin is what crucified/killed our Precious Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus told us that to simply look at a woman with the thought to want to have sex with her is actually having sex with her already in your mind, which He declares to be the same as having sex with her literally. You see, these false teachers/false christians/false believers are a very profane threat to true believers because many (at first glance) look and sound like they are children 🧒of God and that is because of what Paul the Apostle wrote with these words to the Church @Corinth, "But I will continue doing what I have always done. This will undercut those who are looking for an opportunity to boast that their work is just like ours. These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants/ministers also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve." (2 Corinthians 11:12-15) (NLT). You see, the devil has planted them throughout the earth 🌎in many visible Churches as weeds among good plants so as to try and corrupt the Body of Christ. But here is the great news from our Lord Jesus Christ Himself concerning these false teachers, it is written, "But He(Jesus) answered and said, 'Every plant which My Heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.'" (Matthew 15:13-14) (NKJV). The Apostle Peter says that these false teachers or weeds among good plants go about 'beguiling unstable souls' (2 Peter 2:14). The English word 'beguiling' is translated by the Greek word deleazō meaning to entrap, that is, (figuratively) delude: - allure, beguile, entice. The English word 'unstable' is translated by the Greek word astēriktos meaning (as a negative particle); to turn in the wrong direction away from the truth; unfixed, that is, vacillating (wavering between conflicting positions or courses of action). In other words, these false teachers of God's Holy Word who are themselves deceived go about to lure or entrap or entice other wavering souls like themselves away from the truth of godliness into the wrong way of ungodliness. This leads into the final thing the Apostle Peter declares of these false teachers and that is 'an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:' They not only have an insatiable appetite for constantly and continually committing sexual immorality without ceasing, but they have an equally greedy appetite to gain as much material wealth on the earth 🌎as they possibly can. These two things are their god and the righteousness of Jesus Christ who died for their sins on Calvary they have forsaken and twisted what Christ accomplished for sinners into a license to do evil 😈and still reap the benefits of heaven after they die. The way they get their material wealth is by their luring unstable souls into their net or web of lies and then draining them of their money to make themselves wealthy. Sow a seed (seed being money) they say to these unstable souls and their god (little g) will reward them 100 times what they sow. However, here is what the Apostle Paul says to brother Timothy about these false teachers, it is written, "Teach these things, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them. Some people may contradict our teaching, but these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. These teachings promote a godly life. Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions. These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy. Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows." (1 Timothy 6:2-10) (NLT). Here is what Albert Barnes had to say of 'having eyes full of adultery', "Margin, as in the Greek, 'an adulteress;' that is, gazing with desire after such persons. The word 'full' is designed to denote that the corrupt passion referred to had wholly seized and occupied their minds. The eye was, as it were, full of this passion; it saw nothing else but some occasion for its indulgence; it expressed nothing else but the desire. The reference here is to the sacred festival mentioned in the previous verse; and the meaning is, that they celebrated that festival with licentious feelings, giving free indulgence to their corrupt desires by gazing on the females who were assembled with them. In the passion here referred to, the 'eye' is usually the first offender, the inlet to corrupt desires, and the medium by which they are expressed. Compare the notes at Matthew 5:28. The wanton glance is a principal occasion of exciting the sin; and there is much often in dress, and mien, and gesture, to charm the eye and to deepen the debasing passion." Here is what Dr. John Gill had to say of 'and that cannot cease from sin;', "Which may be understood either of these wicked men, who are like the troubled sea, that cannot rest, but are continually casting up the mire and dirt of sin out of their polluted heart; who live and walk in sin, and are always committing it, their conversation being nothing else but one continued series of sinning; nor can they do otherwise, since they are slaves to their lusts, and are carried away with the force and power of them: or of their eyes, which were always rolling after unlawful objects; their eyes and their hearts were only, and always, for their lust, as the Prophet says of others, that they were but for their covetousness, "Yet your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness, For shedding innocent blood, And practicing oppression and violence." (Jeremiah 22:17); a sin also which reigned in these men." Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary had to say of 'beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:', "A very pestilence must such men have been to the Churches. For there are always many to be found who are not established in the truth, though it be present with them, men whom the bait of a promised freedom, with its assumption of superiority, will always catch. There is in it a witchery worse even than that which, in another direction, had once before led the Galatians astray. Satan himself offers the temptation, and finds allies within men's hearts to help his cause. It is only by those steadfast in the faith that he can be withstood. (1 Peter 5:9) They look beyond today, and to a brighter, purer joy than any which he can offer. So they are safe. But, alas! in the Churches such men are often but the remnant, and the trade of the beguiler makes its gain in every age. And it was for material gain these men were laying themselves out; and, that they might be perfect in their craft, they had put themselves, as it were, to school, gone through a training. As was said of Israel in old time, (Jeremiah 22:17) their eyes and their heart are but for their covetousness, greed of defilement, and greed of gain. Children of cursing are they in a double sense: they are a curse to those whom they lead astray; and in spite of the popularity which for a time they will seem to enjoy, there is no blessing upon them. Their doom is foretold from of old. The lamp of God's prophecy makes it clear that such men are the children of Cain." If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...