Some of the most powerful people in the world appear to have utter contempt for the truth. They know we know they tell lies – and they just don’t care. It is easy to feel, then, that we are facing especially wicked times. To be sure, each age has its own challenges. Today’s passage confirms that there is nothing new about corruption, heresy or deceit – and, alas, that’s just in the church! God’s people have never been a moral elite. Peter warns in verse 1 that some of those dealing in falsehood and evil are indeed among us. What is more, false teachers are not always brazen and stupid. Often, they act in secret (v 1). Their stories (v 3) may well be persuasive. How can we face them?

One key test is whether a teaching is ultimately centred on the death and resurrection of Jesus. Peter uses a particularly strong term in verse 1: ‘sovereign Lord’. Take hold of it. Another clue may be in the lifestyle of dodgy teachers. Peter does not hesitate to call greedy leaders to account. Then, ultimately, we will need to personally claim the promise in verse 9. On all scales from the local to the cosmic (v 4), lies and wickedness work together. It was ever thus. The glorious truth is that we can be rescued.

‘Immortal, invisible, God only wise. / In light inaccessible, hid from our eyes.’¹ Lord we worship you today, for you are a holy, pure, just and merciful God. 

Peter is concerned for the purity of the church and its fidelity to doctrine and practice. He sees that false teachers are already operating within the community and are leading people astray. The nature of the misleading teaching will be discussed later in the chapter, but essentially it is permissiveness of conduct, leading to a cheapening of God’s grace. 

Peter emphasises that God’s nature is holy and therefore requires us to be holy in our actions. It also requires judgement for sin. He draws on the story of the Nephilim, who were, according to Jewish tradition, understood to be the offspring of angels who engaged in sexual relations with young women – leading to destruction across the whole known world.² Citing these accounts and the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, Peter wants to underscore the reality of God’s holy judgement. We may baulk at this aspect of God’s character, but when you are being treated unfairly and unjustly, sometimes with great force and might, it is important to remember that God is holy and just and will reward at the end those who are faithful and also hold to account those who cause harm and distress to others.

As well as speaking of judgement, Peter reminds his audience of the reality of God’s mercy and grace. Noah was spared,³ as was Lot.⁴ Even in these difficult passages of divine destruction, there is a light which is God’s deliverance of his righteous people. 

For a community experiencing suffering and persecution, the message that God delivers his people is a significant message of hope. God never promises immunity from trials – centuries of Christian experience prove this all too well – but he does promise to deliver us through such struggles.  

‘Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?’⁵ Lord, we praise you that even in trial and struggle, you are the God who brings us through. 

¹ Walter C Smith, 1824–1908  ² Gen 6:1–7  ³ Gen 6–8  ⁴ Gen 19:1–29  ⁵ Gen 18:25