WHILE WE WAIT - 2 Peter 2:1-3 | Dom Gibson

Who are these false teachers? Peter packs a lot of theological truth into these three verses and it's very important we understand what he's saying here before we move on to the rest of chapter two.

After going through the passage, we'll briefly discuss the application of this passage to our lives by focusing on the importance of maintaining correct doctrine and on the other hand, identifying false doctrine.

So let's begin with the first part of verse one.

It says, but false prophets also arose among the people.

just as there will be false teachers among you.

Now the you in this passage is the early church in Asia Minor, but as we'll see, this passage is relevant for us today.

Now if you'll notice, it's important to note that our passage begins with the word but.

As you know, the word but is used to connect two ideas that contrast each other.

And what this tells us is that this section that we just read is actually connected to the previous section of Scripture, to the previous ideas that Peter was just describing.

He's contrasting what we just read with what we read last week.

The previous section of Scripture is 2 Peter 1, 16-21, which Cam addressed in his sermon last week.

And in this passage, Peter reminded the church about the truthfulness and reliability of scripture, as well as the fact that God had previously spoken to his people through prophets as they were led by the Holy Spirit.

In other words, in last week's passage, Peter had reminded the church that they had received the reliable, true word of God and that they had been spoken to by reliable and God-fearing prophets.

This is a major contrast with our passage where Peter discusses the problem of false teachers in the church.

Peter is setting up a clear contrast between the trustworthiness of Scripture and God-fearing prophets with the heresy and destruction brought by false teachers in the early church.

Just as there had been false prophets among God's people in the past, Peter is warning us that there will be false teachers among the flock today.

Now, in the Old Testament, we see several examples of false prophets misleading God's people.

And one of the clearest examples comes from the book of Jeremiah.

Now, as you may know, Jeremiah was an Israelite priest who lived and worked in Jerusalem.

God called Jeremiah as a prophet, and he told Jeremiah to warn his people that unless they repented from their idolatry and their injustice, judgment would come upon them.

But at this time, there were also false prophets within their midst who were attempting to lead God's people astray through false teaching.

In Jeremiah 7, Jeremiah proclaims this message.

He says, hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord.

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says, reform your ways and your actions and I will let you live in this place.

Do not trust in deceptive words and say, this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.