¹⁷These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, ¹⁹promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

Continuing one of the darkest chapters in the NT letters, Peter further describes false teachers. The argument could be made that he is targeting specific, unnamed individuals whom his readers may know, or generalizing about what was commonly happening among the dispersed Christians of his day, or simply giving the underlying truth of all false teachers everywhere and at all times. One thing that can be said for sure is this: God takes false teaching seriously. Even the smallest of distortions or denials of what is true makes a thing false. In many areas of life, we can see analogies to illustrate this principle. Famed aviator Chuck Yeager investigated the cause of repeated air crashes of a particular jet model. He found that a single bolt was being consistently installed upside down when the jets were being built. The bolt then interfered with one of the plane’s control surfaces during certain maneuvers.The bolt was just one small part, yet wrongly installed, it brought deadly results.

Where truth is concerned, Peter gives no quarter. With apostolic authority, he leaves us the vigorous denunciation of those who propagate false teaching under the guise of being prophets of God. A few years ago, a popular preacher made an astounding assertion: doctrine, he taught, is like the coil springs stretching out a trampoline that allow people to bounce higher and higher. Remove one of the springs and the trampoline still functions with its designed purpose. He then used this to illustrate that, for example, if it turned out that Jesus Christ was not virgin born, then the doctrinal trampoline will still function well; Christianity would not fall apart in that case. However, as small as one single trampoline spring might be, his application is grossly wrong. If the virgin birth were not historically factual, then Scripture would not be inspired, for Matthew 2:23–25 clearly states that Mary was a virgin at the time of Jesus’ birth (using a Greek term for “virgin” that was unambiguous). So in a subtle move, the small spring of the spiritual trampoline turns out to completely disable all doctrine, for we would no longer have a sure foundation in the Word of God!

So Peter justifiably spends time in this extended warning to take false teaching and false teachers seriously. They promise great things that are vacuous and, in the end, enslave their followers to either legalism or fleshly living. Their promise of freedom brings shackles and judgment.

Lord, help me be on the constant lookout for false, enslaving doctrines.