.. promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption..
2 Peter 2:19a LSB
Why does the Apostle Peter point to Balaam?
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.
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.
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
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
