Standing on the Promises - A Study of 2 Peter Lesson 4 - Standing Against What is False After reminding us what an incredible life we have been called to, and showing what strong foundation we stand on, the divine revelation of God as fulfilled in Jesus, Peter now brings up the main subject matter of this letter: the danger of false teachers. 2 Peter 2:1-3 There were false prophets also among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved ways, and because of them the way of the truth will be blasphemed. 3 In their greed they will exploit you with fabricated messages. Their condemnation announced long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 1. “There was and there will be false teachers.” Why can’t we ever expect a time or place in this present world where false teachers are not a thing we need to be aware of and on guard against? 2. “Secretly bring in destructive heresy.” Why is secretiveness a key feature of brining in heresy (false teaching)? 3. What is heresy, and what is just misguided judgment in interpretation? How do you tell the difference between the two? 4. The false prophets are not only outside of you, but among you. Should we be distrustful of the members of our church? Our synod? How do we guard against false prophets being “among us”? 5. Why would someone ever want to deny the master who bought them? 6. Why doesn’t the destruction brought on a false teacher often appear that swift? Why do some false teachers seem to be given lots of time to keep spreading their false teaching?
7. If people are saved by faith in the message of Jesus, does it really matter is a messenger of Jesus lives one way or another, as long as they proclaim the facts about Jesus? 8. Teachers are role models for their students. So if a student picks up on a lifestyle that they learned from the teacher, who is to blame: the teacher or the student? 9. How do you feel when you buy something that you were made to believe was more valuable than it actually is? 10. When condemnation seems idle, and destruction seems asleep, discouragement can set in. How can we be reminded that such condemnation and destruction is imminent? 2 Peter 2:4-9 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned but handed them over to chains of darkness by casting them into hell, to be kept under guard for judgment; 5 and if God did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, along with seven others when he brought a flood on the world of ungodly people; 6 and if God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, by turning them into ashes when he made them an example of things to come for the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the unrestrained immorality of the wicked people 8 (while that righteous man was living among them, he was tormented in his righteous soul day after day by the lawless deeds he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under guard until the day of judgment, in order to punish them. 11. When angels sinned, what happened? 12. How can you believe in something so barbaric and cruel and heartless as the idea of hell? 13. How does God keep the fallen angels under guard until the final judgment? Why does he even delay a final judgment at all? Why give them any ability to do anything even for a (comparatively) short time? 14. When Noah was a “preacher of righteousness”, how effective was his preaching?
15. Angels sinning, the Noah era world’s wickedness, the condemning of Sodom and Gomorrah; what lessons can we learn from these 3 ancient examples? 16. Lot was very distressed by the unrestrained immorality of the wicked people, tormented in his righteous soul day after day by the lawless deeds he saw and heard. What can we learn about how to respond to immorality around us? 17. “In order to punish them.” Is God looking forward to dishing out punishment on the last day? In what sense is he the one to punish the ungodly?