Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: 2 Peter

Peter’s Steadfast Purpose and the coming Day of the Lord
Steady as a Rock – Steadfastness in writing again

WHY is the Apostle so steadfast in his calling to insist that the Church obey commands already given to them?

Could it have to do with how the Lord Jesus restored Peter’s faith and recall of what Christ had taught the Apostles all along?

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Gospel of Matthew 16:15-18 NKJV

Why does the Apostle Peter write a second epistle to the church?

Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder)..

2 Peter 3:1 NKJV

Here in the conclusion of his letter Simon Peter is about to tell us, as the Apostle refers to BOTH epistles included in this reminder.

But his motivation certainly recalls his own solid steadfastness in the risen Christ Jesus in several encounters.

Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?”

Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.”

Gospel of John 21:17 BSB

Simon Peter needed encouraged.

And so must believers be reminded of our faith in the midst of teachings from many false teachers.

στηρίζω – stērizō –
- to make stable, place firmly, set fast, fix
- to strengthen, make firm
- to render constant, confirm, one’s mind
Are you a stable Christ-follower?

Is your faith steadfast?

Peter’s second epistle to the church mirrors what the Lord had prayed prior to His crucifixion:

“But I have prayed earnestly for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, once you have returned, strengthen^G4741 your brothers.”

Gospel of Luke 22:32

The Apostle had recently written to these same believers:

For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God;
and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
1 Peter 4: 17 NKJV [in context: vs. 12-19]

Resist him [the devil], steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

1 Peter 5:9 NKJV [in context: vs 8-10 ]

2 Peter 3:

God’s Promise Is Not Slack
```
Reads the Heading from the New King James Version:
```
.. I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder,

The Apostle of Jesus Christ makes TWO points to the Church. This is the first:
```
3:2  μνησθῆναι τῶν προειρημένων ῥημάτων ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν 
```
- that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets
A single greek word for ‘that you may be mindful’ is the same word of remembering used frequently in the gospels.

And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly.

Matthew 16:75 NKJV

Peter emphasizes the subject matter spoken before by the ‘holy prophets,’ referring to the major and minor prophets of Old Testament Scripture from Isaiah to Malachi—pointing to them as Holy [ἅγιος – hagios – (an awful thing)] and certainly in contrast to the misleading false prophets and teachers against whom the Apostle has already warned.

Secondly, Peter equates Apostolic authority in this reminder mentioning the Holy Prophets speaking God’s word even before Jesus instructed them in Person.
- and of the commandment of us,the apostles of the Lord and Savior..
  - commandment of the apostles of your Lord and Savior
  - or commandment of your apostles of the Lord and Savior.
ἐντολή – entolē

– an order, command, charge, precept, injunction;

– a commandment

The commandment of the LORD in Old Testament Scripture IS the same as the commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostles!

“I and the Father are one.”

Gospel of John 10:30

The Last Days – ἔσχατος – eschatos

knowing this first:

that scoffers will come in the last days,

walking according to their own lusts,

You’ve heard of it (even if you hesitate to think about THE END) — eschatology – study of the last things or the end times.
```
Are we in them? 
```
And [the scoffers] saying, Where is the promise of his coming?

“What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again?

“Where is his promised return?

2 Peter 3:4a – various translatrions
```
The end was neither 
— the incarnation of JESUS the Son of God nor 
— resurrection of JESUS the Son of David hoped for by some of the Jews. 

And don't Common Era scoffers also want a conquering King 
— bringing victory without cost and proclaimation without persecution, 
also saying:
```
… all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

2 Peter 3:4c NKJV

And so they do, Peter suggests, but these [scoffers and doubters of Christ] are without excuse.

For this they willfully forget: that

by the word of God the heavens were of old,

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

and the earth standing out of water and in the water,

by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
```
A clear reference to Noah, who Peter has just mentioned. 
```
2 Peter 3:5-6 NKJV

But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word,

are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition [apōleia – the destruction which consists of eternal misery in hell]

of ungodly [ἀσεβής – asebēs – destitute of reverential awe towards God]

men [anthrōpos – men or women].

2 Peter 3:7 NKJV
```
Has your Common Era Pastor preached this Apostolic caution? 
```
And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: …

And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

Genesis 7:21, 9;11 KJV

The Apostle’s Timeless Response
```
agapētos HEAR THIS: 
```
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing,

that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us [or you]

not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:8-9 NKJV

“Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance..
Gospel of Matthew 3:8 – a caution of JESUS to the religious

The DAY of the LORD

In the year of the Lord 2025 — dismissed by scoffers as: 2025 of the Common Era [2025 CE] — Do you fear the wrath to come when Christ returns?

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,

in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise,

and the elements will melt with fervent heat;

both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

[literally, utterly burned up and consumed by fire!]

2 Peter 3: 10 NJKV

Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.

On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.

2 Peter 3:11-13 New Living Translation

The Apostle’s command to look ahead may not appeal to you anymore than considering your inevitable death of the flesh.

Ah, but what of your spirit, the resurrection of our familiar flesh and the judgment to come?

Peter assures Christ’s true followers — the saints of the Chruch which may include you:

And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen,

make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.

And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved.

2 Peter 3:14-15a NLT

Might the Apostle actually be calling YOU, beloved member of Christ — in need of repentance for your impure fruit, to reject those easy false teachings which oppose the Lord Jesus Christ?

The APOSTLES, including Paul

NEXT, we will briefly study just one Epistle or Letter of the Apostle to the Gentiles [or Hellenists or Greeks], Paul.

Here Peter now mentions the Apostle Paul, due to an already developing false teaching in the early church broadly known as gnosticism [a Greek word meaning “knowledge.”]

Gnosticism

Such ‘knowledge‘ often accelerates into a down-hill slope into the pit of error. Therefore a brief summary here from BibleHub.com
- Dualism: Gnosticism is marked by a strong dualistic worldview,
  - The material world is often seen as the creation of a lesser deity,
    
    sometimes identified with the God of the Old Testament,
    
    who is distinct from the true, transcendent God.
```
This, of course, is NOT SCRIPTURAL from either Jewish Scripture 
OR the Gospel of the New Testament.
```
- Gnostics believe that.. salvation involves awakening this divine spark through gnosis.
- Some Gnostic texts depict Christ as a purely spiritual being .who did not truly suffer or die.
- Gnosticism generally views the physical world as corrupt or illusory.
  - This belief often leads to ascetic practices or,
  - conversely, to libertine behavior, as the material is deemed irrelevant to spiritual salvation.
Peter confirming Paul

So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters.

There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, beware lest you be carried away with the error of lawless men and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Second Epistle of the Apostle Peter 3:16b-18a RSV

Doxology

αὐξάνετε δὲ ἐν χάριτι καὶ γνώσει τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ νῦν καὶ εἰς ἡμέραν αἰῶνος ἀμήν

Grow, urges the Apostle — connecting our growth in faith to ‘our kyrios [lord] and sōtēr [savior]

iēsous christos

— and referring to Him, a traditional doxology as the Apostle’s final words in his final letter and will for the church:

autos ho doxa

To him be the glory

kay nyn

both now

kai eis hēmera aiōn

and to the day of eternity.

ἀμήν amēn
- so it is, so be it, may it be fulfilled.
- firm: a metaphor for faithful
2 Peter 3:18

Thus ends the epistles of the Apostle Simon Peter, the Rock upon whom Jesus began the building of His Church.

Talk of JESUS . com

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
December 8, 2025
Finding the Evangelical Freedom of Balaam in our Evangelical Church
.. promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption..

2 Peter 2:19a LSB

Why does the Apostle Peter point to Balaam?
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Do evangelical pastors of Christ's Church have the freedom to accept all prophesy and every doctrine? 
```
Note the similarities of the growing popularity of Balaam of Pethor, whom Moses introduces in Numbers 22, to the AD first century missionary journeys of Peter, Paul and John.

Moses led the Israelite people from slavery in Egypt by the hand of the Lord God to the land of Canaan.

Balaam is NOT a prophet of God! He travels to new lands to profit from his reputation as a seer. (This is not unlike many false teachers we meet in Acts of the Apostles.)

Balaam is an opportunist FORCED to obey the LORD. But in addition to Balaam’s error (as some call it), the prophet would easily mislead any away from truth and will of the God.

Worshipers of Baal and other gods will follow false prophets to inclusively worship other gods— even in this Common Era.

Balaam’s journey begins in his homeland, which is described as “Pethor, which is by the Euphrates.”

Balaam’s journey to Moab is marked by divine intervention .. highlighting the spiritual battle over Balaam’s intentions and the sovereignty of God over pagan practices.

BibleHub.com

2 Peter 2: False Teachers – Wandering Creatures

These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed.

They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed.

Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done.

They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight.

They are a disgrace and a stain among you.

They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals.

They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse.

2 Peter 2:12-14 NLT

They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path and have followed the path of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of wickedness,
2 Peter 2:15 CSB

but received a rebuke for his lawlessness:

A speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

v.16

The Divine Coercion of Balaam

R.C. Sproel observes:

Only by divine coercion did Balaam obey God, and then he gave four prophesies…

ibid. p.236
```
The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,

the oracle of the man whose eyes are opened; 
the oracle of one who hears the sayings of God
and has knowledge from the Most High,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
who falls into a trance with his eyes uncovered: 

I see him, but not now;

I perceive him, but not near.

A star will come from Jacob,

and a scepter will arise from Israel. 

       - Numbers 24:15-17 excerpt CSB
```
Further study of Numbers in the context of Peter’s witness will reveal how a fourth prophesy of Balaam may interest the church.

Freedom Restrained by Truth

The Apostle of Christ writes this second epistle to the church to instruct us:

We do NOT have the freedom to say whatever we want.

AND, in fact, prophets and teachers of false doctrine will walk among the saints of the Church seeking followers to leave the narrow Way of the Lord.

Peter is not describing pagans here but apostates.

R.C. Sproel – Be All the more Diligent to Make your Calling and Election Sure, p.234

Apostates

In these loose, liberal times of Common Era preaching, I believe it necessary to provide a brief definition of that against Peter warns.

An apostate is an individual who has abandoned or renounced their faith, particularly in the context of Christianity.

The term is derived from the Greek word “apostasia,” which means a defection or revolt.

Apostasy is considered a grave sin in Christian theology, as it involves a deliberate turning away from the truth of the Gospel and the rejection of the salvation offered through Jesus Christ.

BibleHub.com Topical Encyclopedia

Most Common Era christians have never heard of such a great sin of apostasy or do we recognize how false teachers have led us away from Christ to the gods of our imagination.
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Referring to 2 Peter 2:15-16 Sproul continues: 
```
They know the right way; they have been exposed to the teachings of the Gospel;they know what the truth is—they have heard it proclaimed repeatedly—but they have forsaken it and gone a different way.

R.C. Sproul, ibid. pp 234-35

eleutheria – Freedom and Liberties

Fifteen years earlier [AD 49], at the time of the Council of Jerusalem, James writes in his Epistle:

Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.

James 2:12 CSB

And in his first epistle to the Church Peter had already written:

Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves.

1 Peter 2:16 CSB

AND NOW THE APOSTLE WARNS:

Although these false teachers promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality. For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved.

2 Peter 2:19 New English Translation

And what of Popes and false Prophets?

Whether all creatures in the time of Noah — the entire city of Sodom in which we live — the evangelical landscape of all-inclusive gods — speaking to wavering believers,

Does one walk sandalless in the error of Balaam?

The Apostle Peter warns every saint of the Lord Jesus Christ:

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome,

the last state has become worse for them than the first.

For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

2 Peter 2:20-21 ESV

Peter is not finished with his warnings against these pernicious preachers yet to come and corrupt the Church. The Apostle of the Son of the One God — speaks through the Holy Spirit of disobedient angels and false prophets as irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed.

AND, of those in the church who listen to false doctrine and are led astray, the Apostle writes:

For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

2 Peter 2:21 RSV
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Have YOU escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? 
```
NEXT: a Steadfast Purpose and Day of the Lord

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
December 2, 2025
2 Peter 2: Pernicious Preachers of a False Gospel
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you..

2 Peter 2:1a – King James Version

Accepting Apostolic Testimony OR Following False Prophets

After presenting his Apostolic testimony to wavering preachers, elders, and marginal followers of “The Way,” Simon Peter now alerts the church to dangerous heresies taught by some seeking to undermine the true Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Trustworthy Prophetic Word, reads the heading in this section of 2 Peter 1 of the Christian Standard Bible, also citing testimony from all the synoptic Gospels [Matthew, Mark & Luke].

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; where unto ye do well that ye take heed..

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

2 Peter 1:17-21 excerpt KJV

The Apostle now warns of pernicious perils of false prophets and false teaching of those who deny Apostolic testimony.

2 Peter 2:

There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.
2 Peter 2:1a – Christian Standard Bible

Peter, Apostle of Jesus, provides familiar examples from the Jewish Bible (Old Testament):
- and if he didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah v.5a
- and if he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes v.6a
- and if he rescued righteous Lot, v.7a
Compare yourself to Noah. Or compare yourself to Lot, Paul suggests, a righteous man living in Sodom surrounded by every wickedness conceived by evil men in charge of his community.

Are Sodom and Gomorrah not the cities of our home churches to whom Simon Peter writes once again?

And doesn’t our world reminiscingly resemble that near to destruction in the time of Noah?

Take heed that we have survived thus far only be saved from the final judgment of fire by Christ’s righteousness!

How do the Apostle’s examples from Genesis apply to us?

The believers to whom Peter writes live in Asian and Roman and new worldly cities not unlike Sodom — as do we in our towns and churches susceptible to every evil tolerated and encouraged by leaders of every gathering in our home community.

Destructive Doctrines
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HEADING from the New King James Version 
```
WATCH OUT! warns the Apostle in his second epistle.

.. even as there will be false teachers among you, – v.1b – NKJV

You know these preachers and elders who CLAIM JESUS.

Some saints succumb to their subtle sweet tolerance. For their deceptive doctrine suggests Christ while discounting His lordship over our saved SELF’s still flourishing in the flesh of this life.

Pernicious Preachers of Their Own Doctrines

ψευδοδιδάσκαλος – pseudodidáskalos, psyoo-dod-id-as’-kal-os; from G5571 and G1320; a spurious teacher, i.e. propagator of erroneous Christian doctrine:—false teacher.

Lexicon :: Strong’s G5572 – pseudodidaskalos
```
No, it isn't only the preacher in the pulpit who purveys false doctrine, though some succumb at times as the Apostle fears. 
```
They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves.

– 2:1c CSB

.. who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them.

2 Peter 2:1c King James Version

And many shall follow their pernicious ways
```
Time to define a key word Paul uses FIVE TIMES in his Second Epistle (translated in 2 Peter 2:2 KJV as "pernicious ways").  
```
ἀπώλεια – apōleia –

The KJV translates Strong ‘s G684 in the following manner: perdition (8x), destruction (5x), waste (2x), damnable (1x), to die (with G1519) (1x), perish (with G1498) (with G1519) (1x), pernicious (1x).

The Apostle Peter chooses STRONG language to describe these sins against the Lord.

And in fact, Jesus had spoken the same to describe Judas Iscariot!

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition;^G684 that the scripture might be fulfilled.

Gospel of John 17:12 KJV – the words of Jesus
```
What must Peter — one of the Twelve — have thought when Judas took the cup the Lord shared at their last Passover meal? 
```
The Lure of their Depravity

Common Era preachers may draw in the multitudes to gatherings of those seeking an advantage in the life of proclaiming Jesus.

(Judas, who minded their money, was like that.)

Peter continues in his second epistle warning the faithful:

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 2:3 LSB

The Apostle describes how to spot false teachers scemingly opposed to all Truth:
- Bold, arrogant people!
- They are not afraid to slander the glorious ones [2:10b LSB]
- go after the flesh in its corrupt lust
- and despise authority.
  - (even that of the Lord’s Apostles, Peter implies)
- Daring,
- self-willed,
- they do not tremble when they blaspheme [angels] glorious ones 2:10 LSB
  - (We’ll continue Peter’s mention of angels momentarily.)
They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting.

With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception.

2 Peter 2:18 LSB

The APOSTLE’S WARNING!

These people are springs without water, mists driven by a storm. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them.

For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who are actually escaping from those who live in error.

2 Peter 17-18 CSB

Peter has already presented his powerful case of his authority as an Apostle of Jesus Christ — who IS the only Son of GOD the Father and One with the Holy Spirit.

Won’t you obey an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ?

“For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son,with whom I am well pleased,”

2 Peter 1:17 ESV

OR

Will you subtly slide back into the vomit of your former overindulgence in every sin of this world?

What the true proverb says has happened to them:

“The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

2 Peter 2:22 ESV

Like a dog that returns to his vomit
is a fool who repeats his folly.

Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Proverbs 26:11,12 ESV

GOD, Angels, Men, Apostles, creatures & authority
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FOLLOW PETER'S LOGIC: 
```
- In the beginning, God [ĕlōhîm] created the heavens and the earth. – Genesis 1:1
- The apostle of Jesus Christ.. stands [in] the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: – 2 Peter 1:1
- Jesus is associated with righteousness, highlighting His sinless nature and the moral perfection that He imparts to believers.
  - sou r ce:
- 2 Peter 2:1 The term “Master” is used in the context of false teachers denying “the Master who bought them.” It underscores Jesus’ ownership and authority over believers, as well as the cost of redemption.
  - ibid.
  - Peter introduces himself as a servant [doulos] of Jesus
    
    2 Peter 1:1
  - and in his first epistle the Apostle instructs those chosen in Christ:
Servants [oiketēs, a domestic], be subject to your masters [despotēs – also translated as Lord or used for husband] with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.

1 Peter 2:18 ESV

The Apostle Peter, as servant of the Lord and witness to God in the flesh embraces great responsibility for the faith of those chosen as elect saints in Jesus Christ.

Creation, its creatures and Angels

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

… The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

2 Peter 2:4,9 KJV

The Apostle connects evil men affecting the righteous like Noah and Lot within a lengthy tirade citing angels that sinned. Though we know little of the unseen messengers (evil or good), Peter reminds us of a comparison of Jesus to Adam, who was tempted into our fall by a most-powerful angel.
```
Once again: 
```
FOLLOW PETER’S LOGIC:
- God did not spare angels when they sinned – v.4
  - .. and his angels he charged with folly: – Job 4:18b KJV
- .. but cast them into hell..
```
“How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer,[lit. Day Star] son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations! 

For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
.. 
Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit. 
```
Isaiah 14:12-13a,14 NKJV
- and committed them to pits of darkness, held for judgment…
- [2 Peter 2:4b NASB]
These cunning false teachers speaking against Apostolic Authority — granted through the same Holy Spirit of God by which the Prophets spoke — do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties [Doxa] – ‘they blaspheme the glorious ones’ – v.10

FALSE TEACHERS, who are no better than evil men who refused to listen to GOD’s Prophets speaking by the Holy Spirit and less powerful than angels, will also suffer the judgment of angels who turned against the Creator.

.. whereas angels, though greater in might and power,

do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.

2 Peter 11 ESV

Balaam, False Prophets and Pernicious Popes!

YES, we are still addressing the warning of the Apostle Peter in his second epistle to the 1st century church.
```
If you have noted in 2 Peter 2 that I quoted Scripture including men the Apostle lists as negative examples, but I missed a false prophet mentioned only once, you would be right. 
```
Peter’s full list (chronologically) includes:
- Angels – vs.4 & 11
- mankind, except Noah – v.5
- community of mankind in Sodom and Gomorrah, except Lot – v.6
- the Prophet Balaam – vs. 15-16
ALL these are WARNING SIGNS from the LAW of Moses — cited by the Apostle Peter, servant of God and JESUS Christ, sent by true direction of the Holy Spirit — to BELIEVERS in the first century churches AND those including a Lot from Common Era elect yet to be born into the body of Christ before the Day of Judgment.

I have nearly bogged down in the mire of Moses’ serious warning in the book of Numbers concerning Balaam.

Moses, Prophet and Lawgiver of Israel, sheds light enough on such men and women who cunningly lead communities of the faithful away from the Lord our God — from then nearer the Beginning until the Day of Jesus Christ.

What Popes, you may ask?

Which false prophets since Jesus, you may wonder?

AND what do these have to do with the Apostle’s example of Balaam in 2 Peter 2?

NEXT – We will examine the timeless application of Balaam to Peter’s prophesies of false teachers and HERESIES already evident to the Common Era church.

Talk of JESUS . com

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
November 25, 2025