But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality and,
because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words;
their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep (2 Peter 2:1-3 NASB).
because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words;
their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep (2 Peter 2:1-3 NASB).
Can salvation be lost? Can salvation be forfeited? Is the born-again believer always in limbo of whether or not he is and will be saved? What of those who have seemed like genuinely born-again believers but who, later, walk away from faith in Christ, having nothing more to do with Him or His people, denying the faith and the Christ to which they once swore allegiance? Surely they were once saved, but later lost their salvation, right? Does not even the apostle Paul teach us that our present salvation and future justification is on shaky ground until we reach the end of our lives--that we, who were once alienated from Christ and hostile in our minds against God, He has now reconciled through the sacrificial body of Jesus in order to present us holy and blameless and beyond reproach before Him if indeed we continue in the faith, firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Gospel that we have heard (Col. 1:21, 22, 23)? That conditional if language can haunt us.
I think what is more haunting than that seemingly conditional language is the idea that my present salvation and my future justification--my eternal life in Christ--is dependent upon my feeble frame, my fickle mind, and my unfaithful nature. But let me add this: if my future salvation in Christ is dependent upon me then I have something of which to boast before God--may God Himself forbid (Rom. 3:27; 1 Cor. 1:29; Eph. 2:8, 9)! Moreover, if my future justification depends upon my faithfulness and my obedience, then why is God's faithfulness, and God's power working effectually within me, the main thrust of salvific promises throughout the New Testament (Eph. 1:4-6, 11, 13, 14, 19, 20; 2:6; 3:20; Col. 1:11; 2 Pet. 1:3; Jude 1:24-25)? We want to be found in Christ Jesus, not of our own power or alleged faithfulness (Zech. 4:6), but clothed in the righteousness of King Jesus (Phil. 3:9; cf. Phil. 3:7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14). Furthermore, how faithful, how obedient is faithful enough and obedient enough? Sixty percent? Seventy-five percent? Ninety percent? Ninety-five percent? Are we called to obey? Yes! Do we obey perfectly? Absolutely not!
WHO SAVES WHOM?
I could not (was not capable to) save myself and I cannot keep myself saved. You could not (were not capable to) save yourself and you cannot keep yourself saved. I didn't even want to be saved. Neither did you! I had no interest whatsoever in Christ or the things of God (1 Cor. 2:14). Neither did you! All I wanted to do was party, drink, have sex and enjoy my job as a nightclub DJ every weekend. Even the thought of Jesus was a waste of my time. He could keep His salvation, and He could keep His business out of my overactive sex-life, too. When He saved me, He radically changed me, which is what Scripture declares: while I was spiritually dead in sin, God raised me from spiritual death to spiritual life in Christ, and positionally seated me with Christ in Heaven (Eph. 2:5, 6). I didn't ask to be born again! I didn't ask to be saved! This was all His work! My dad showed me my need of salvation during a simple phone call and in the flash of a moment I was born anew. I could not save myself, and I cannot keep myself saved, either. I think the late John MacArthur was right to insist: "Salvation is meaningless if it isn't eternal."
If I can lose my salvation, a salvation gifted to me by the power of God--the God who promised to keep me saved (1 Pet. 1:5)--then God can break His own promises, be found powerless to guard His redeemed ones, and He can fail to fulfill His own eternal purposes. Salvation cannot be lost. The idea is ludicrous to the eternal mind of God. How can I say this? How can I be so sure this is true? Because if in the eternal mind of God He
THE YOKE OF SIN | THE YOKE OF CHRIST
Every born-again child of God is a slave to our one and only Master, the Redeemer-King Jesus Christ (Matt. 24:26; 1 Cor. 7:22; Eph. 6:6), and a slave to His righteousness / justice / rightness (Rom. 6:18, 19). Being a slave / servant of Jesus is not like being a slave / servant of Sin--which every single person is apart from union with Christ Jesus by grace through faith in Him (John 8:34; Rom. 6:6, 16, 17). When we lived our lives under Sin's wrath, being children of the just wrath of God and "dead" to the spiritual realities of Him (Eph. 2:1, 2, 3), we were yoked together with the Ox of Sin next to us. We could not break free from this yoke device and, the truth is, we didn't want to break free. We loved our sin (a part of us still does). But when Jesus sets someone free from bondage to sin (John 8:32, 34, 35, 36), He puts a yoke upon the graced believer, and if you think that this yoke is a heavy burden, like the one you carried when you were a slave to Sin, you are mistaken. Jesus very lovingly says:
THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE UNRIGHTEOUS
Because we could never attain perfect holiness, perfect righteousness, God the Father imputes the righteousness of God the Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to our spiritual account (Rom. 3:21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28). God does not infuse the righteousness of Jesus to us so that we actually become righteous, holy, sinless. God imputes--meaning to attribute or ascribe, to relate or to assign, to reckon or to consider or to credit a characteristic to someone--God credits the righteousness of Jesus to us, to our spiritual account, so that we may be considered righteous, holy, sinless in the view of God (Eph. 1:3, 4, 5, 6; Phil. 3:7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) even though we are not righteous, holy, and sinless in and of ourselves. This has been God's plan all along. He demands absolute righteousness of us if we are to be united to Him and live with Him forever; but we failed, we were disconnected from Him, and we cannot redeem ourselves. So God did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
God the Father, by the activity of God the Holy Spirit, effectually works within those whom He has savingly graced (Titus 3:4, 5) in Christ, so that Jesus has truly become to us and has become for us the very wisdom of God--that is, He has become our righteousness, our holiness and our redemption (1 Cor. 1:30 NIV). This is what we mean when we say that Jesus is our righteousness. God took all of our sin and laid it upon Christ--the truly and inherently righteous One. God then took all of Christ's righteousness and laid it upon us--the truly and inherently unrighteous (1 Pet. 3:18). There is a distinction to be made of the righteous (saved) and the unrighteous (unsaved). God has always made a distinction between His redeemed people and those who are not redeemed (Exod. 8:23; see Ps. 1:1, 2, 3 and Ps. 1:4, 5, 6; Mal. 3:18). Some say they are believers, that they belong to God and to Christ, but then they follow "the way of Cain," falling into "the error of Balaam" (Jude 1:11), and they "go astray from the truth" (2 Tim. 2:18). "Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal: 'The Lord knows those who are His'" (2 Tim. 2:19).
Regardless, true believers can drift into error, and that doesn't necessarily mean they are unsaved. That is why Paul encourages us to gently correct "those who are in opposition" to the truth, hoping "if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses, and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him [the devil] to do his [or His, God's] will [perhaps God will snatch the person from the devil so that he or she will now do the will of the Lord their God]" (2 Tim. 2:25, 26).
FALSE TEACHERS IN CONTEXT
Peter, in this second letter, often reflects Jude regarding false teachers; but, before Jude confronts them, he reminds his readers of history:
Peter, in his first letter, writes to those graciously elected by God the Father (1 Pet. 1:1, 2), by the sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit (1 Pet. 1:2; cf. Titus 3:5), to obey God the Son, Jesus Christ, and to be sprinkled with His blood (1 Pet. 1:2). Peter praises "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" for "His great mercy" for causing us "to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Pet. 1:3). The true believer loves his Lord, longs to obey his Lord, and praises his God for saving him; the true believer acts like a true believer--in private and in public--not perfectly but longing for the attempt (1 Pet. 1:13, 14, 15, 16, 17); and the true believer is "protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet. 1:5). Can God fail to protect His child from apostasy? I hope not!
The true believer (and the true teacher and true pastor), in contrast to the false believer (and the false teacher and the false pastor), has been purified by the obedience to the truth toward a sincere love of other believers (1 Pet. 1:22). He loves the truth (cf. 2 Thess. 2:10), hates false teaching / false faith / false ways, and wants the best for his brothers and sisters in Christ (1 Pet. 2:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25; 3:8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18). Behavior like sensuality, lust, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idol-worship belongs to the ungodly, the unsaved, false believers and false teachers (1 Pet. 4:3, 4, 5, 6). The true believer, the true teacher, desires "sound judgment," being serious-minded, keeping alert in prayer (1 Pet. 4:7) while keeping fervent in his love and hospitality for his brothers and sisters in Christ (1 Pet. 4:8). He uses his talents and spiritual gifts to build others up in Christ (1 Pet. 4:10, 11). He will gladly suffer if he must suffer for the cause of Christ (1 Pet. 4:12-19). True teachers, true pastors, look after and defend the Lord's flock without lording authority over them like a harsh master (1 Pet. 5:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). You should run from any teacher / pastor who loves / abuses his authority!
FALSE TEACHERS IN NATURE
Peter, in his second letter, insists that the faith of true believers is a gift received (lagchanó, to have obtained by divine allotment, second aorist active, representing an action completed in the past) at the hand of God (2 Pet. 1:1; cf. Eph. 2:5, 8, 9; Phil. 1:29): "Behind the outward mechanism of 'chance,' the New Testament writers see the hidden hand of God guiding outcomes for His purposes, whether in priestly service, apostolic office, prophetic fulfillment or saving faith"; cf. "For you have been given the privilege ... to believe in Him" (Phil. 1:29 ISV). God's "divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence" (2 Pet. 1:3). The true believer lacks nothing! This is how for centuries people who could not read God's Word, but perhaps only heard God's Word spoken or preached (hopefully in their language), could maintain a godly life in Christ. God's life (sperma, seed, i.e., the "grain or kernel which contains within itself the germ of the future plant;" seed also referring to the Word of God, cf. Luke 8:11, and God regenerated us by the Word of God, cf. James 1:18) dwells within the believer (1 John 3:9) and that life grants him everything he needs for a godly life in Jesus.
Peter says that he wants the Lord's people to always be reminded of these truths (2 Pet. 1:15). The writer of Hebrews says: "For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it" (Heb. 2:1). Why? Because he fears we will lose our salvation? No. "But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way" (Heb. 6:9). Peter gives his own personal witness for the glory of Jesus Christ, the truth of the one Faith, and to the sufficiency of the Prophetic Word of God (2 Pet. 1:16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21) which we now have in print, in our own language, to which we do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place (2 Pet. 1:19). Then he warns us of false teachers. Israel had false prophets. The Church will have false teachers.
These false teachers are crafty (cf. Gen. 3:1), sneaky, secretly (cf. Matt. 13:25; 2 Cor. 11:13, 14, 15; Gal. 2:4) introducing (to bring [into the Church] stealthily, undetected, to deceitfully "introduce from close beside"; i.e., what was introduced was not obviously erroneous; "the covert introduction of something alongside what already exists" so that it sounds like truth) "destructive heresies" (2 Pet. 2:1). The fact that these persons are titled false teachers should help us understand their nature with regard to the Church, the Word, and their spiritual condition: they are false teachers because they are false believers who "did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved" (2 Thess. 2:10). In what sense, then, can they be said to "deny the Master who bought them" (2 Pet. 2:1)? Did Jesus truly purchase them with His blood (1 Pet. 1:18, 19)?
MASTER AND SERVANT
The language of Master and servant, and purchasing a slave from the slave-auction,1 is obvious in this verse. These teachers appear as genuine Christians--at least genuine Christians believe them to be genuine believers. What is the content of their false teaching? We are not told. Richard Bauckham notes the belief that their "denial" of Christ, "the Master who bought them," is not necessarily in the content of what they teach, but in "teaching and practicing immorality," because "immoral living is flouting His authority as Master of His slaves who should obey Him."2 I am not convinced of this interpretation. I, contrarily, think these false teachers are false believers--not truly regenerate. However, I am reminded of Paul's words to Titus, "To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works [or deeds, cf. LEB, MEV, NABre, NASB, NET, RSV, TLV, WEB; or actions, cf. CEB, CEV, CJB, EHV, ERV, GW, ISV, NCV, NIV, NIRV, NLT, NLV, NRSV, VOICE]. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work" (Titus 1:15-16 ESV). Detestable, disobedient, and unfit is not the description of the redeemed. Immorality, says Dr. Bauckham, "rather than simply doctrinal error, ... brings down eschatological judgment on its practicers."3 That can be true without specifically referring and applying to the false teachers of 2 Peter and Jude. However, pay close attention to Paul's words to Titus, because he insists that the minds and the consciences of such false teachers / false believers are defiled. That betrays the truth of the truly regenerate: their minds and their consciences have been sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ who truly bought / purchased them with or by that blood (Heb. 10:22; 12:24; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19)!
Were the false teachers truly bought with the blood of Jesus or merely professors of Christ without being possessors of Christ? The latter is certainly the better view. Paul himself said that, to the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure (Titus 1:15). These false teachers profess to know God, to know His Word, but they deny Him by the way they continually live their lives by way of habit (Titus 1:16). This is no mere "slip into sin" which all true believers--who truly hate their sin--encounter from time to time. These people who profess allegiance to Jesus reject His authority over them. "They claimed Christ as their Redeemer," notes Drs. Jim Shaddix and Daniel Akin, "but they refused His sovereign lordship, thus revealing their true character as unregenerate enemies of biblical truth. Both in conduct and in doctrine, the false teachers were rejecting the life demanded by their Redeemer, thus revealing their true character as unregenerate men."4
Jesus said that those who love Him will obey Him (John 14:15, 21, 23)--not perfectly, not sinlessly, but with a heart that has been changed by the saving grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. "A lifestyle of ungodliness always stems from rejecting Christ and His redemptive work, regardless of what one claims."5 Anyone who has truly been bought / purchased by the blood of Jesus is inwardly changed, regenerated, born again, he longs to worship Christ, and he longs to teach the Word rightly. He also longs to live a godly life. False teachers, who claim to belong to Christ and to have been "bought" by Him, reveal their true nature by not only what they say--"For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt. 12:34 ESV)--but also in how they live--"The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil" (Matt. 12:35 ESV). Being warned of such people and their traits helps us to examine our own hearts.
Peter H. Davids, examining 2 Peter and Jude closely, notes that Jude "never sees those whom he opposes as belonging to the Lord, so they are said to deny 'our Lord and Master' [Jude 1:4], who is never said to have had a relationship with them [the Church]"6 or with Him--Jesus. If these false teachers merely lived a life of sin in secret then that would be tragic enough. But the problem is compounded when we learn that "many," not a few but many, "will follow their sensuality; and, because of them, the Way of Truth," Christianity as a whole, "will be blasphemed" (2 Pet. 2:2 ESV) or "maligned" (NASB). Paul quotes Isaiah for this thorny problem: "For 'the Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you [the erring Jewish people],' just as it is written" (Rom. 2:24; cf. Isa. 52:5). Our sinful actions, even of those of us who truly love our Savior, negatively impacts the Gospel, the Way of Truth, and His Church. Again, and quoted at length, Dr. Davids writes: Christianity is not so much
This reminds us of Jesus' words that "many," not a few but many, will say to Him on the Day of His return: "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy [be God's Prophetic or Pastoral Mouthpiece to His people] in Your Name, and in Your Name cast out demons, and in Your Name perform many miracles" (Matt. 7:22). May we not forget that there are people who can cast out some demons and not be true born-again believers in Jesus Christ (see Acts 19:13, 14)--though they are unable to cast out powerful demons (Acts 19:15, 16). Jesus will respond to them: "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness [wickedness]" (Matt. 7:23 NASB), for He has also said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but [only] he who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven" (Matt. 7:21). He then says: "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Matt. 7:24).
This also reminds us of Jesus' words to His wicked slaves--those who claimed to belong to Christ, to have been bought and purchased by the precious blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:19) and who work for Christ, but who abuse His people--the "Master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect Him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers" (Luke 12:46 NASB). This is where such a "slave" belongs; he revealed his true nature when he abused the Lord's people; he in effect denied Christ by his cruelty, and the way he lived his life, and he received the appropriate punishment. He is assigned a place with unbelievers because he belongs to that group! True believers in Jesus do not behave in such cruel ways. Peter "describes the false teachers as believers," and, hence, bought by the Master, "because they made a profession of faith and gave every appearance initially of being genuine believers. ... Their subsequent denial of Jesus Christ reveals that they did not truly belong to God, even though they professed faith."9 Profession is not tantamount to possession.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
I realize there are some believers who are repelled by the notion of these false teachers having never truly been saved / reborn to begin with by the grace of God through faith in Jesus. I used to wince at the idea, too, when I was Arminian; and, yet, we have the very biblical idea itself explicitly found in a letter from John. The category of false teachers / false believers / antichrists (1 John 2:18) who were in our midst, looking like true believers purchased by the blood of Jesus their Master and then abandoned us, by leaving they made it clear that none of them were truly part of us (1 John 2:19 GW). "They left us, but they were not [truly] part of us, for if they had been [truly] part of us, they would have stayed with us. Their leaving made it clear that none of them was really part of us" (1 John 2:19 ISV). They were not redeemed and purchased by the blood of Jesus our Master and they demonstrated as much by denying Him (2 Pet. 2:1; Jude 1:4) and by abandoning both Christ and us.
True believers bought by the blood of Jesus do not deny and abandon Him because they are "protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet. 1:5); they truly have been "redeemed ... with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ" (1 Pet. 1:19); they are immersed into God's "divine power" that has "granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness" (2 Pet. 1:3); we belong to Him who "knows how to rescue the godly from [overwhelming] temptation" (2 Pet. 2:9) and to Him "who is able to keep [us] from stumbling and to make [us] stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy" (Jude 1:24).
True believers, true Bible teachers, cannot be false believers and false Bible teachers or rank heretics (denying the essentials of the Faith). They cannot also be referred to as possessing the traits mentioned at 2 Peter 2:10-21: those who by way of daily practice indulge the flesh without Spirit-led conviction, despise spiritual authority, self-willed, reviling angels, being merely instinctual--unregenerate (2 Pet. 2:10, 11); they are stains and blemishes, delighting in their own deceptions, adulterers who refuse to cease sinning, unstable, immersed in greed (2 Pet. 2:13, 14); they are accursed children (2 Pet. 2:14)--or children of wrath (Eph. 2:1)--who are continually forsaking the right way, lovers of unrighteousness (2 Pet. 2:15); they are springs without water and mists driven by a storm (2 Pet. 2:17); they speak arrogant and vain words and are slaves of corruption (2 Pet. 2:18); they heard the Gospel but became entangled again into a life of sin (2 Pet. 2:20); leaving Peter to conclude: "For it would be better for them not to have known the Way of Righteousness than, having known it, to turn away from the Holy Commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, 'A dog returns to its own vomit' [Prov. 26:11], and, 'A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire'" (2 Pet. 2:21-22 NASB). The born-again Christian is a lamb belonging to the fold of Jesus, not a dog, and not a pig.
Again, the false teachers were categorized as being among those bought by the blood of the Master (2 Pet. 2:1), but they revealed their true nature, that they did not belong among those bought and purchased by the blood of the Master, by denying Him. Were they truly purchased by the blood of Jesus? No. Those who have been purchased by the blood of Jesus have a changed nature. False teachers / false believers exhibit that they do not possess a changed nature and, therefore, have not truly been purchased by the blood of Jesus even if they spend a great deal of time among those who have truly been purchased by the blood of Jesus. Dr. Schreiner sums: these false teachers gave every indication initially
__________
1 False teachers deny "our" Master (not their Master but our Master because they do not belong to us). "The term 'Master' ... means 'sovereign lord' and is often used in the New Testament to refer to God (e.g., Acts 4:24). But the qualifier here to the one 'who bought them' likely makes this a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ [hence Jesus is equal to His Father] ... The term 'bought' ... carries the idea of purchasing from a marketplace' ... as a master of a household might purchase a slave and then assign that slave responsibilities over various tasks. They now owed their complete allegiance to him because they were his personal property." Jim Shaddix and Daniel L. Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in 2 Peter and Jude, eds. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida (Brentwood: Holman Reference, 2018), 52.
2 Richard Bauckham, Word Biblical Commentary: Jude-2 Peter, ed. Ralph P. Martin (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 1983), 240-41.
3 Ibid., 241.
4 Shaddix and Akin, 52.
5 Ibid.
6 Peter H. Davids, The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude, ed. D.A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2006), 221.
7 Ibid., 222-23.
8 Thomas R. Schreiner, Christian Standard Commentary: 1 & 2 Peter and Jude, eds. Darrell L. Bock, David S. Dockery, Darian R. Lockett and Richard R. Melick, Jr. (Brentwood: Holman Reference, 2020), 396.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid., 397.
11 Herbert W. Bateman, IV, Evangelical Exegetical Commentary: Jude, eds. Derek R. Brown, Claire Brubaker, Elliot Ritzema (Bellingham: Lexham Academic, 2017), 152.
I think what is more haunting than that seemingly conditional language is the idea that my present salvation and my future justification--my eternal life in Christ--is dependent upon my feeble frame, my fickle mind, and my unfaithful nature. But let me add this: if my future salvation in Christ is dependent upon me then I have something of which to boast before God--may God Himself forbid (Rom. 3:27; 1 Cor. 1:29; Eph. 2:8, 9)! Moreover, if my future justification depends upon my faithfulness and my obedience, then why is God's faithfulness, and God's power working effectually within me, the main thrust of salvific promises throughout the New Testament (Eph. 1:4-6, 11, 13, 14, 19, 20; 2:6; 3:20; Col. 1:11; 2 Pet. 1:3; Jude 1:24-25)? We want to be found in Christ Jesus, not of our own power or alleged faithfulness (Zech. 4:6), but clothed in the righteousness of King Jesus (Phil. 3:9; cf. Phil. 3:7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14). Furthermore, how faithful, how obedient is faithful enough and obedient enough? Sixty percent? Seventy-five percent? Ninety percent? Ninety-five percent? Are we called to obey? Yes! Do we obey perfectly? Absolutely not!
WHO SAVES WHOM?
I could not (was not capable to) save myself and I cannot keep myself saved. You could not (were not capable to) save yourself and you cannot keep yourself saved. I didn't even want to be saved. Neither did you! I had no interest whatsoever in Christ or the things of God (1 Cor. 2:14). Neither did you! All I wanted to do was party, drink, have sex and enjoy my job as a nightclub DJ every weekend. Even the thought of Jesus was a waste of my time. He could keep His salvation, and He could keep His business out of my overactive sex-life, too. When He saved me, He radically changed me, which is what Scripture declares: while I was spiritually dead in sin, God raised me from spiritual death to spiritual life in Christ, and positionally seated me with Christ in Heaven (Eph. 2:5, 6). I didn't ask to be born again! I didn't ask to be saved! This was all His work! My dad showed me my need of salvation during a simple phone call and in the flash of a moment I was born anew. I could not save myself, and I cannot keep myself saved, either. I think the late John MacArthur was right to insist: "Salvation is meaningless if it isn't eternal."
If I can lose my salvation, a salvation gifted to me by the power of God--the God who promised to keep me saved (1 Pet. 1:5)--then God can break His own promises, be found powerless to guard His redeemed ones, and He can fail to fulfill His own eternal purposes. Salvation cannot be lost. The idea is ludicrous to the eternal mind of God. How can I say this? How can I be so sure this is true? Because if in the eternal mind of God He
- predetermined / predestined (past tense) to conform me to the image of Christ Jesus, having already sanctified me (past tense) in Christ (1 Cor. 6:11; Heb. 10:10, 14), having effectually called me (past tense) to come to Him and actually brought me (past tense) to Himself (Eph. 1:5 NLT);
- having already justified me (past tense) of all my sins, past, present and future, and having glorified me (past tense);
- having unconditionally elected (past tense) to save me from before the foundation of the world, before He created the universe, to one day stand before Him holy and blameless in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:4)--having written (past tense) my name in the Book of the Lamb (Rev. 13:8; 17:8);
- having predetermined / predestined me (past tense) to be an adopted son for Himself through Christ Jesus, according to the kind intention of His will (Eph. 1:5), to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph. 1:6), which He freely bestowed (past tense) upon me in Christ Jesus the Beloved of God the Father; having already forgiven me (past tense) of every single one of my sins, past, present and future (Eph. 1:7, 8); and
- having sealed me (past tense) with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of promise--or He who sealed the promises of God to me (Eph. 1:13)--the Spirit having been given to me (past tense) as a down payment, or pledge, of the inheritance God promised to me (past tense)--the Spirit being the deposit guaranteeing my inheritance until my redemption is completed by God's own eternal purposes in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:14);
THE YOKE OF SIN | THE YOKE OF CHRIST
Every born-again child of God is a slave to our one and only Master, the Redeemer-King Jesus Christ (Matt. 24:26; 1 Cor. 7:22; Eph. 6:6), and a slave to His righteousness / justice / rightness (Rom. 6:18, 19). Being a slave / servant of Jesus is not like being a slave / servant of Sin--which every single person is apart from union with Christ Jesus by grace through faith in Him (John 8:34; Rom. 6:6, 16, 17). When we lived our lives under Sin's wrath, being children of the just wrath of God and "dead" to the spiritual realities of Him (Eph. 2:1, 2, 3), we were yoked together with the Ox of Sin next to us. We could not break free from this yoke device and, the truth is, we didn't want to break free. We loved our sin (a part of us still does). But when Jesus sets someone free from bondage to sin (John 8:32, 34, 35, 36), He puts a yoke upon the graced believer, and if you think that this yoke is a heavy burden, like the one you carried when you were a slave to Sin, you are mistaken. Jesus very lovingly says:
Come to Me, all of you who are tired from the heavy burden you have been forced to carry [because Sin is a wicked tyrant of a Master]. I [on the other hand] will give you rest. Accept [receive / embrace / welcome] My teaching. Learn from Me--for I am gentle and humble in spirit--and you will be able to get some rest. Yes, the teaching that I ask you to accept [welcome / embrace / receive] is easy. The [so-called] load [or burden] I give you to carry is light [because I will empower you to carry it] (Matt. 11:28-30 ERV, modified).This passage maintains a Jewish context here that should not be overlooked. The heavy burden and yoke refers also to the Torah demands of absolute holiness and sinless perfection in order to merit Heaven (Matt. 19:16-30). But no one can be saved in this way because we all inevitably sin and fall short of the perfect standards of God's glory (Rom. 3:23). The Torah, the Law, was given to amplify sin (Gal. 3:19 NLT): to show us how horrible sin is, how sinful we are (Rom. 3:20 NLT), and that our sin has offended an eternally-holy God who not only has never sinned, but who despises sin, and who could never conceive any notion whatsoever to sin (Hab. 1:13; James 1:13, 17; 1 John 1:5). God is holy (Exod. 15:11; Lev. 19:2; 1 Sam. 2:2; Ps. 96:9; Isa. 6:3; 1 Pet. 1:14, 15, 16; Rev. 4:8)--the very nature and essence of God is absolute purity. Enter Jesus.
THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE UNRIGHTEOUS
Because we could never attain perfect holiness, perfect righteousness, God the Father imputes the righteousness of God the Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to our spiritual account (Rom. 3:21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28). God does not infuse the righteousness of Jesus to us so that we actually become righteous, holy, sinless. God imputes--meaning to attribute or ascribe, to relate or to assign, to reckon or to consider or to credit a characteristic to someone--God credits the righteousness of Jesus to us, to our spiritual account, so that we may be considered righteous, holy, sinless in the view of God (Eph. 1:3, 4, 5, 6; Phil. 3:7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) even though we are not righteous, holy, and sinless in and of ourselves. This has been God's plan all along. He demands absolute righteousness of us if we are to be united to Him and live with Him forever; but we failed, we were disconnected from Him, and we cannot redeem ourselves. So God did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
God the Father, by the activity of God the Holy Spirit, effectually works within those whom He has savingly graced (Titus 3:4, 5) in Christ, so that Jesus has truly become to us and has become for us the very wisdom of God--that is, He has become our righteousness, our holiness and our redemption (1 Cor. 1:30 NIV). This is what we mean when we say that Jesus is our righteousness. God took all of our sin and laid it upon Christ--the truly and inherently righteous One. God then took all of Christ's righteousness and laid it upon us--the truly and inherently unrighteous (1 Pet. 3:18). There is a distinction to be made of the righteous (saved) and the unrighteous (unsaved). God has always made a distinction between His redeemed people and those who are not redeemed (Exod. 8:23; see Ps. 1:1, 2, 3 and Ps. 1:4, 5, 6; Mal. 3:18). Some say they are believers, that they belong to God and to Christ, but then they follow "the way of Cain," falling into "the error of Balaam" (Jude 1:11), and they "go astray from the truth" (2 Tim. 2:18). "Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal: 'The Lord knows those who are His'" (2 Tim. 2:19).
Regardless, true believers can drift into error, and that doesn't necessarily mean they are unsaved. That is why Paul encourages us to gently correct "those who are in opposition" to the truth, hoping "if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses, and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him [the devil] to do his [or His, God's] will [perhaps God will snatch the person from the devil so that he or she will now do the will of the Lord their God]" (2 Tim. 2:25, 26).
FALSE TEACHERS IN CONTEXT
Peter, in this second letter, often reflects Jude regarding false teachers; but, before Jude confronts them, he reminds his readers of history:
- after the Lord saved "His people" out of Egypt, He subsequently "destroyed those who did not believe" (Jude 1:5); so that, though they were among God's people, many of them demonstrated that they did not possess true faith, and therefore they were not really saved;
- after God created the angels, who are "His messengers / ministers" (Heb. 1:7, 14), He banished those who abandoned Him to a place "in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the Great Day" (Jude 1:6); that they did not "keep their own domain" (Jude 1:6), their proper place in Heaven, demonstrated what kind of character they developed, one pattered not after their Creator but after the Leader of the Rebellion, Satan; and
- these false teachers, who were among the congregation of the Lord and posing as one of them, "indulged in gross immorality" just as did the men of Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities (Jude 1:7)--and then comes Judgment; their impenitence exposed their lack of true faith.
Peter, in his first letter, writes to those graciously elected by God the Father (1 Pet. 1:1, 2), by the sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit (1 Pet. 1:2; cf. Titus 3:5), to obey God the Son, Jesus Christ, and to be sprinkled with His blood (1 Pet. 1:2). Peter praises "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" for "His great mercy" for causing us "to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Pet. 1:3). The true believer loves his Lord, longs to obey his Lord, and praises his God for saving him; the true believer acts like a true believer--in private and in public--not perfectly but longing for the attempt (1 Pet. 1:13, 14, 15, 16, 17); and the true believer is "protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet. 1:5). Can God fail to protect His child from apostasy? I hope not!
The true believer (and the true teacher and true pastor), in contrast to the false believer (and the false teacher and the false pastor), has been purified by the obedience to the truth toward a sincere love of other believers (1 Pet. 1:22). He loves the truth (cf. 2 Thess. 2:10), hates false teaching / false faith / false ways, and wants the best for his brothers and sisters in Christ (1 Pet. 2:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25; 3:8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18). Behavior like sensuality, lust, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idol-worship belongs to the ungodly, the unsaved, false believers and false teachers (1 Pet. 4:3, 4, 5, 6). The true believer, the true teacher, desires "sound judgment," being serious-minded, keeping alert in prayer (1 Pet. 4:7) while keeping fervent in his love and hospitality for his brothers and sisters in Christ (1 Pet. 4:8). He uses his talents and spiritual gifts to build others up in Christ (1 Pet. 4:10, 11). He will gladly suffer if he must suffer for the cause of Christ (1 Pet. 4:12-19). True teachers, true pastors, look after and defend the Lord's flock without lording authority over them like a harsh master (1 Pet. 5:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). You should run from any teacher / pastor who loves / abuses his authority!
FALSE TEACHERS IN NATURE
Peter, in his second letter, insists that the faith of true believers is a gift received (lagchanó, to have obtained by divine allotment, second aorist active, representing an action completed in the past) at the hand of God (2 Pet. 1:1; cf. Eph. 2:5, 8, 9; Phil. 1:29): "Behind the outward mechanism of 'chance,' the New Testament writers see the hidden hand of God guiding outcomes for His purposes, whether in priestly service, apostolic office, prophetic fulfillment or saving faith"; cf. "For you have been given the privilege ... to believe in Him" (Phil. 1:29 ISV). God's "divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence" (2 Pet. 1:3). The true believer lacks nothing! This is how for centuries people who could not read God's Word, but perhaps only heard God's Word spoken or preached (hopefully in their language), could maintain a godly life in Christ. God's life (sperma, seed, i.e., the "grain or kernel which contains within itself the germ of the future plant;" seed also referring to the Word of God, cf. Luke 8:11, and God regenerated us by the Word of God, cf. James 1:18) dwells within the believer (1 John 3:9) and that life grants him everything he needs for a godly life in Jesus.
Peter says that he wants the Lord's people to always be reminded of these truths (2 Pet. 1:15). The writer of Hebrews says: "For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it" (Heb. 2:1). Why? Because he fears we will lose our salvation? No. "But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way" (Heb. 6:9). Peter gives his own personal witness for the glory of Jesus Christ, the truth of the one Faith, and to the sufficiency of the Prophetic Word of God (2 Pet. 1:16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21) which we now have in print, in our own language, to which we do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place (2 Pet. 1:19). Then he warns us of false teachers. Israel had false prophets. The Church will have false teachers.
These false teachers are crafty (cf. Gen. 3:1), sneaky, secretly (cf. Matt. 13:25; 2 Cor. 11:13, 14, 15; Gal. 2:4) introducing (to bring [into the Church] stealthily, undetected, to deceitfully "introduce from close beside"; i.e., what was introduced was not obviously erroneous; "the covert introduction of something alongside what already exists" so that it sounds like truth) "destructive heresies" (2 Pet. 2:1). The fact that these persons are titled false teachers should help us understand their nature with regard to the Church, the Word, and their spiritual condition: they are false teachers because they are false believers who "did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved" (2 Thess. 2:10). In what sense, then, can they be said to "deny the Master who bought them" (2 Pet. 2:1)? Did Jesus truly purchase them with His blood (1 Pet. 1:18, 19)?
MASTER AND SERVANT
The language of Master and servant, and purchasing a slave from the slave-auction,1 is obvious in this verse. These teachers appear as genuine Christians--at least genuine Christians believe them to be genuine believers. What is the content of their false teaching? We are not told. Richard Bauckham notes the belief that their "denial" of Christ, "the Master who bought them," is not necessarily in the content of what they teach, but in "teaching and practicing immorality," because "immoral living is flouting His authority as Master of His slaves who should obey Him."2 I am not convinced of this interpretation. I, contrarily, think these false teachers are false believers--not truly regenerate. However, I am reminded of Paul's words to Titus, "To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works [or deeds, cf. LEB, MEV, NABre, NASB, NET, RSV, TLV, WEB; or actions, cf. CEB, CEV, CJB, EHV, ERV, GW, ISV, NCV, NIV, NIRV, NLT, NLV, NRSV, VOICE]. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work" (Titus 1:15-16 ESV). Detestable, disobedient, and unfit is not the description of the redeemed. Immorality, says Dr. Bauckham, "rather than simply doctrinal error, ... brings down eschatological judgment on its practicers."3 That can be true without specifically referring and applying to the false teachers of 2 Peter and Jude. However, pay close attention to Paul's words to Titus, because he insists that the minds and the consciences of such false teachers / false believers are defiled. That betrays the truth of the truly regenerate: their minds and their consciences have been sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ who truly bought / purchased them with or by that blood (Heb. 10:22; 12:24; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19)!
Were the false teachers truly bought with the blood of Jesus or merely professors of Christ without being possessors of Christ? The latter is certainly the better view. Paul himself said that, to the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure (Titus 1:15). These false teachers profess to know God, to know His Word, but they deny Him by the way they continually live their lives by way of habit (Titus 1:16). This is no mere "slip into sin" which all true believers--who truly hate their sin--encounter from time to time. These people who profess allegiance to Jesus reject His authority over them. "They claimed Christ as their Redeemer," notes Drs. Jim Shaddix and Daniel Akin, "but they refused His sovereign lordship, thus revealing their true character as unregenerate enemies of biblical truth. Both in conduct and in doctrine, the false teachers were rejecting the life demanded by their Redeemer, thus revealing their true character as unregenerate men."4
Jesus said that those who love Him will obey Him (John 14:15, 21, 23)--not perfectly, not sinlessly, but with a heart that has been changed by the saving grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. "A lifestyle of ungodliness always stems from rejecting Christ and His redemptive work, regardless of what one claims."5 Anyone who has truly been bought / purchased by the blood of Jesus is inwardly changed, regenerated, born again, he longs to worship Christ, and he longs to teach the Word rightly. He also longs to live a godly life. False teachers, who claim to belong to Christ and to have been "bought" by Him, reveal their true nature by not only what they say--"For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt. 12:34 ESV)--but also in how they live--"The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil" (Matt. 12:35 ESV). Being warned of such people and their traits helps us to examine our own hearts.
Peter H. Davids, examining 2 Peter and Jude closely, notes that Jude "never sees those whom he opposes as belonging to the Lord, so they are said to deny 'our Lord and Master' [Jude 1:4], who is never said to have had a relationship with them [the Church]"6 or with Him--Jesus. If these false teachers merely lived a life of sin in secret then that would be tragic enough. But the problem is compounded when we learn that "many," not a few but many, "will follow their sensuality; and, because of them, the Way of Truth," Christianity as a whole, "will be blasphemed" (2 Pet. 2:2 ESV) or "maligned" (NASB). Paul quotes Isaiah for this thorny problem: "For 'the Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you [the erring Jewish people],' just as it is written" (Rom. 2:24; cf. Isa. 52:5). Our sinful actions, even of those of us who truly love our Savior, negatively impacts the Gospel, the Way of Truth, and His Church. Again, and quoted at length, Dr. Davids writes: Christianity is not so much
a set of propositional truths to be believed as a way of life to be lived, that is, an apprenticing of oneself to Jesus as one's Master. That this Way of Life was the True Way went without saying for the early Jesus [followers], so we are not surprised that both here and in James 5:19 they borrowed the phrase 'Way of Truth' from Psalm 118:30 ... to describe their 'Way.' When those who were identified with this 'Way' lived in ways that the society around them considered immoral, it reflected on the whole group. ... The charges were slanderous (blasphemous means slanderous), not in that they were not true accounts of the behavior of the group in question, but in that this behavior was not the way God desired nor did it accord with the directives of 'the Way of Truth.' But people who observed such dishonorable behavior readily believed and spread the word that this behavior was characteristic of those who followed Jesus. In a society where an honorable reputation was of the highest value, and shame the worst thing that could happen to one, this was indeed a serious result.7This is all quite convicting to me. But this is not convicting to the false teacher / false believer because he has not truly been born again, been bought by the blood of Jesus (1 Pet. 1:2; cf. Heb. 10:22; 12:24), and will not be saved when Judgment Day arrives (2 Pet. 2:1). The very ones "bought" by the Master, who are now slaves to righteousness (Rom. 6:18), truly rejoice in this state of grace. Dr. Thomas R. Schreiner is right to magnify the truth that some people "who submit to Christ's lordship subsequently deny Him and are therefore damned forever."8 This reminds us of the Parable of the Soils: curbside, rocky area, thorny area and good soil (Matt. 13:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). The Word of God / Gospel of Christ is scattered like seed upon varying kinds of soil but that seed / Word / Gospel is not truly received by all people / all kinds of soil in the same way. Some do not understand the Gospel and the Wicked One steals it from him and he does not believe. Some immediately receive the Gospel with joy but when difficulty arises they abandon what they heard. Some hear the Gospel but it takes no effect because the person is self-consumed. But there are some who hear the Gospel, believe the Gospel, and they produce spiritual fruit (Matt. 13:19, 20, 21, 22, 23). False teachers heard the Gospel, seemed for a while to be joyful in that context, appearing in worship with you for years, looking as though they were purchased by Christ from Sin's Slave-Auction, some even teaching what they know of the Word of God, but they do not last, because they cannot last.
This reminds us of Jesus' words that "many," not a few but many, will say to Him on the Day of His return: "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy [be God's Prophetic or Pastoral Mouthpiece to His people] in Your Name, and in Your Name cast out demons, and in Your Name perform many miracles" (Matt. 7:22). May we not forget that there are people who can cast out some demons and not be true born-again believers in Jesus Christ (see Acts 19:13, 14)--though they are unable to cast out powerful demons (Acts 19:15, 16). Jesus will respond to them: "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness [wickedness]" (Matt. 7:23 NASB), for He has also said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but [only] he who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven" (Matt. 7:21). He then says: "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Matt. 7:24).
This also reminds us of Jesus' words to His wicked slaves--those who claimed to belong to Christ, to have been bought and purchased by the precious blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:19) and who work for Christ, but who abuse His people--the "Master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect Him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers" (Luke 12:46 NASB). This is where such a "slave" belongs; he revealed his true nature when he abused the Lord's people; he in effect denied Christ by his cruelty, and the way he lived his life, and he received the appropriate punishment. He is assigned a place with unbelievers because he belongs to that group! True believers in Jesus do not behave in such cruel ways. Peter "describes the false teachers as believers," and, hence, bought by the Master, "because they made a profession of faith and gave every appearance initially of being genuine believers. ... Their subsequent denial of Jesus Christ reveals that they did not truly belong to God, even though they professed faith."9 Profession is not tantamount to possession.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
I realize there are some believers who are repelled by the notion of these false teachers having never truly been saved / reborn to begin with by the grace of God through faith in Jesus. I used to wince at the idea, too, when I was Arminian; and, yet, we have the very biblical idea itself explicitly found in a letter from John. The category of false teachers / false believers / antichrists (1 John 2:18) who were in our midst, looking like true believers purchased by the blood of Jesus their Master and then abandoned us, by leaving they made it clear that none of them were truly part of us (1 John 2:19 GW). "They left us, but they were not [truly] part of us, for if they had been [truly] part of us, they would have stayed with us. Their leaving made it clear that none of them was really part of us" (1 John 2:19 ISV). They were not redeemed and purchased by the blood of Jesus our Master and they demonstrated as much by denying Him (2 Pet. 2:1; Jude 1:4) and by abandoning both Christ and us.
True believers bought by the blood of Jesus do not deny and abandon Him because they are "protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet. 1:5); they truly have been "redeemed ... with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ" (1 Pet. 1:19); they are immersed into God's "divine power" that has "granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness" (2 Pet. 1:3); we belong to Him who "knows how to rescue the godly from [overwhelming] temptation" (2 Pet. 2:9) and to Him "who is able to keep [us] from stumbling and to make [us] stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy" (Jude 1:24).
True believers, true Bible teachers, cannot be false believers and false Bible teachers or rank heretics (denying the essentials of the Faith). They cannot also be referred to as possessing the traits mentioned at 2 Peter 2:10-21: those who by way of daily practice indulge the flesh without Spirit-led conviction, despise spiritual authority, self-willed, reviling angels, being merely instinctual--unregenerate (2 Pet. 2:10, 11); they are stains and blemishes, delighting in their own deceptions, adulterers who refuse to cease sinning, unstable, immersed in greed (2 Pet. 2:13, 14); they are accursed children (2 Pet. 2:14)--or children of wrath (Eph. 2:1)--who are continually forsaking the right way, lovers of unrighteousness (2 Pet. 2:15); they are springs without water and mists driven by a storm (2 Pet. 2:17); they speak arrogant and vain words and are slaves of corruption (2 Pet. 2:18); they heard the Gospel but became entangled again into a life of sin (2 Pet. 2:20); leaving Peter to conclude: "For it would be better for them not to have known the Way of Righteousness than, having known it, to turn away from the Holy Commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, 'A dog returns to its own vomit' [Prov. 26:11], and, 'A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire'" (2 Pet. 2:21-22 NASB). The born-again Christian is a lamb belonging to the fold of Jesus, not a dog, and not a pig.
Again, the false teachers were categorized as being among those bought by the blood of the Master (2 Pet. 2:1), but they revealed their true nature, that they did not belong among those bought and purchased by the blood of the Master, by denying Him. Were they truly purchased by the blood of Jesus? No. Those who have been purchased by the blood of Jesus have a changed nature. False teachers / false believers exhibit that they do not possess a changed nature and, therefore, have not truly been purchased by the blood of Jesus even if they spend a great deal of time among those who have truly been purchased by the blood of Jesus. Dr. Schreiner sums: these false teachers gave every indication initially
of genuine faith. In every church there are members who appear to be believers and who should be accepted as believers according to the judgment of charity. As time elapses, and difficulties arise, it becomes apparent that there are wolves in the flock (Acts 20:29-30), that some who confess Jesus as Lord reveal by their disobedience that He never knew them (Matt. 7:21-23; cf. 1 John 2:19), that they are like the seeds sown on rocky or thorny ground that initially bears fruit but dries up and dies when hard times come (Matt. 13:20-22).10To the contrary: false teachers / false believers, being unregenerate, are "ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness" and so, of course, they eventually "deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ" (Jude 1:4)--not truly their Master but our Master because they do not belong to Him or to us; "even denying," or repudiating,11 the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves" (2 Pet. 2:1). That Peter lumps these false teachers in the same category of the sinning angels who abandoned God their Creator, the pre-Flood pagans and the men of Sodom and Gomorrah, should indicate to us that these false teachers were never truly redeemed by the blood of Christ any more than the sinning angels or the pre-Flood pagans or the men of Sodom and Gomorrah could be thought of as having been bought by the Redeeming Master. If they had truly been purchased by the blood of Jesus (1 Pet. 1:19), their consciences having been sprinkled with His blood (Heb. 10:22), then they would not have denied and rejected our Master--that's not how the regenerate think and speak and behave.
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1 False teachers deny "our" Master (not their Master but our Master because they do not belong to us). "The term 'Master' ... means 'sovereign lord' and is often used in the New Testament to refer to God (e.g., Acts 4:24). But the qualifier here to the one 'who bought them' likely makes this a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ [hence Jesus is equal to His Father] ... The term 'bought' ... carries the idea of purchasing from a marketplace' ... as a master of a household might purchase a slave and then assign that slave responsibilities over various tasks. They now owed their complete allegiance to him because they were his personal property." Jim Shaddix and Daniel L. Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in 2 Peter and Jude, eds. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida (Brentwood: Holman Reference, 2018), 52.
2 Richard Bauckham, Word Biblical Commentary: Jude-2 Peter, ed. Ralph P. Martin (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 1983), 240-41.
3 Ibid., 241.
4 Shaddix and Akin, 52.
5 Ibid.
6 Peter H. Davids, The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude, ed. D.A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2006), 221.
7 Ibid., 222-23.
8 Thomas R. Schreiner, Christian Standard Commentary: 1 & 2 Peter and Jude, eds. Darrell L. Bock, David S. Dockery, Darian R. Lockett and Richard R. Melick, Jr. (Brentwood: Holman Reference, 2020), 396.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid., 397.
11 Herbert W. Bateman, IV, Evangelical Exegetical Commentary: Jude, eds. Derek R. Brown, Claire Brubaker, Elliot Ritzema (Bellingham: Lexham Academic, 2017), 152.
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