Second Peter 2:1 says, “There arose also false prophets among the people, as also among you there will be false teachers, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.” The Greek words rendered “secretly bring in” may also be translated “bring in by smuggling.” Literally, the Greek means to bring in alongside, to bring in sideways, to introduce a new subject for which the hearers are not prepared. Here it denotes the false teachers bringing in and introducing their false teachings alongside the true ones. These false teachings are called destructive heresies, or, literally, heresies of destruction.
“Heresy” is an anglicized Greek word, hairesis, which means choices of opinion of doctrine different from that usually accepted, “self-chosen doctrines alien from the truth” (Alford), thus causing division and producing sects. Here this word denotes the false and heretical doctrines brought in by the false teachers, the heretics, similar to the doctrines of today’s Modernism, which denies the deity of Christ and the redemptive death of Christ.
Heresy involves three matters: opinion, the causing of divisions, and the producing of sects. Therefore, opinion, divisions, and sects are the three constituents of heresy. Instead of building up the church, heresy destroys the church. For this reason, Peter speaks of destructive heresies, or heresies of destruction.
In Peter’s words, the false teachers even deny the Master who bought them. The word “Master” implies the Lord’s person and His redemptive work. The false teachers at Peter’s time, like today’s Modernists in their apostasy, denied both the Lord’s person as the Master and His redemption, by which He purchased the believers.
Speaking of the false teachers, Peter says in verse 15, “Forsaking the straight way, they have gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.” The straight way here, as the way of the truth (v. 2) and the way of righteousness (v. 21), is the living of an upright life without crookedness and bias, without unrighteousness.
Having gone astray, the false teachers followed the way of Balaam. Balaam was not a false prophet of the Gentiles but a real prophet. However, Balaam was one who loved the wages of unrighteousness (Num. 22:5, 7; Deut. 23:4; Neh. 13:2; Rev. 2:14).
First John 2:22 says, “Who is the liar if not he who is denying that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who is denying the Father and the Son.” This is the heresy of Cerinthus, a first century Syrian heresiarch of Jewish descent, educated at Alexandria. His heresy was a mixture of Judaism, Gnosticism, and Christianity. He distinguished the maker (creator) of the world from God, and represented that maker as a subordinate power. He taught adoptionist Christology (Adoptionism), saying that Jesus became the Son of God by exaltation to a status that was not His by birth, thus denying the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. In his heresy he separated the earthly man Jesus, regarded as the son of Joseph and Mary, from the heavenly Christ, and taught that after Jesus was baptized, Christ as a dove descended upon Him. Then He announced the unknown Father and did miracles, but at the end of His ministry Christ departed from Jesus, and Jesus suffered death on the cross and rose from the dead, while Christ remained separated as a spiritual being, and will rejoin the man Jesus at the coming of the Messianic kingdom of glory. This heresy denied that Jesus is the Christ. According to John’s word, anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ is the antichrist. Cerinthus was an antichrist, and his followers also were antichrists.
In verse 22 John says that the antichrist denies the Father and the Son. To confess that Jesus is the Christ is to confess that He is the Son of God (Matt. 16:16; John 20:31). Hence, to deny that Jesus is the Christ is to deny the Father and the Son. Whoever so denies the divine person of Christ is an antichrist.
In verse 23 John continues, “Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father also.” Since the Son and the Father are one (John 10:30; Isa. 9:6), to deny the Son is to be without the Father, and to confess the Son is to have the Father. To deny the Son here refers to the heresy that denies the deity of Christ, not confessing that the man Jesus is God.
In verse 24 John goes on to say, “As for you, that which you heard from the beginning, let it abide in you. If that which you heard from the beginning abides in you, you will abide both in the Son and in the Father.” “That which you heard from the beginning” is the Word of life, the eternal life which the believers heard from the beginning (1 John 1:1-2). Not to deny but to confess that the man Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, is to let the Word of eternal life abide in us. In so doing we abide both in the Son and in the Father, and we are not led astray by heretical teachings concerning Christ’s person.
Verse 25 continues, “And this is the promise which He promised us, the eternal life.” The singular pronoun “He” here, referring to both the Son and the Father in verse 24, indicates that the Son and the Father are one. As far as our experience of the divine life is concerned, the Son, the Father, Jesus, and Christ are all one. It is not that only the Son and not the Father is the eternal life to us. It is that Jesus being the Christ as the Son and the Father is the eternal divine life to us for our portion.
Verse 26 says, “These things I have written to you concerning those who are leading you astray.” The Greek words “leading you astray” may also be rendered “deceiving you.” To lead the believers astray is to distract them from the truth concerning Christ’s deity and humanity by deceiving them with heretical teachings concerning the mysteries of what Christ is.
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