Hog-Wallow

Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,  whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery,insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.  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. 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 2:10-22

Peter, in his warnings about the false teachers who would infiltrate the Church, became more condemning of them as he continued to write this epistle. He saw this coming, and he was thoroughly disgusted by the damage they would do to the naive, unsuspecting lambs in his flock. His graphic descriptions of them tell us how sickened he was by the coming confusion these apostates would bring to the Body of Christ. This is why, in the earlier verses of chapter 2, he insisted that the believers must learn the New Testament doctrines so thoroughly that they could never be shaken from the truth.

These apostates are so bold they are not afraid to blaspheme the holy ones of God. Angels do not denounce the false teachers, but leave their judgment to God. These “natural brute beasts,” in their rebellion against God’s plan, have such hardness of heart (scar tissue of the soul) that all they can think is evil. They take advantage of the Christian fellowship meals to indulge in drinking parties. They will convince some baby believers that “God is love, so let’s get it on.” With many, their motivation is greed. Carnal Christians whose priority is money will do anything for it. Balaam did. He, a believer, was willing to curse the people of God for a fee from a foreign king (Numbers 22:7,17 and Jude 11). Of course, God didn’t allow the curse and used Balaam’s own donkey to chastise him for his evil. These folks will use their church as business connections or some will actually steal the offering money for personal use and not seem to feel any conviction about it. They may think they are somehow entitled to it? 

False teachers come in two categories: some have made professions of faith in Christ, but have never actually believed in His finished work on the cross for their salvation. So they affiliate with a local church for the aforementioned advantages (social connections, monetary gain, approbation lust). Since they are natural men, not regenerated by Christ’s imputed righteousness, they have no concept of the truths of God’s Word (I Corinthians 2:14). No spirit = no understanding of spiritual things = mercenary do-goodism. That is a frustrating, unfulfilling life, and when they tire of it they go on a frantic search for happiness, which leads them into all forms of counterfeit religions, demonism and sensuality, which leads them into blackout of the soul. All their thoughts are selfish and evil. They will tell you they know the Bible, having read it once or twice, but they have a distorted view of its teaching. On the scriptures that condemn their own attitudes and behaviors, they will try to convince you that the particular passage is mistranslated, out of context, or any number of falsehoods, to justify their own sin.

Then there is the other category. These have actually been born again, perhaps at a young age, by hearing the gospel, believing it, and receiving Jesus as their personal Savior. But they don’t learn Bible Doctrine, they don’t learn how to live the Christian Way of Life, they do not continue in Jesus’ Word and become true disciples, they do not mature into grace-oriented believers with purpose and definition for their lives. They never learn to truly love the brethren. They are lazy and negligent in their duty to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are practicing religion. Falsely. Non-productively. They have nothing of value to offer. 

The scary part is the carnal believers once knew the truth, believed the truth, and had been delivered from the defilements of the world. Now, they have allowed their lusts and emotions to overcome their spiritual common sense, to the point of total reversionism. The believer in total reversionism is just like an unbeliever. No understanding, no desire to know and please God, no real love for other believers. They’ve returned to their lusts and passions, like the dog to his vomit and the sow to her wallowing.

Both of these categories of false teachers reject the authority of God’s Word. They are driven by emotion and self-will. If they don’t like a standard of behavior, they refuse to believe that God ordained that standard, and prefer to say that those teachings are out-dated and irrelevant in today’s world. There is a prevalent attitude among these people which says: “if I want to do it, it must be okay. Anyone who doesn’t approve of my lust is simply a bigot; a wrong-thinking hater. God is love. He made me this way.” They don’t want truth. They want strokes.

Peter was beginning to see them infiltrating the Church in his lifetime. He was deeply agitated about it, and did everything he could to prepare his flock to resist this invasion of evil. Well, brethren, I recognize those people among us nowadays, don’t you? They will continue their wickedness, disguised as pastors, teachers and leaders in the local churches, until Jesus returns and separates the tares from the wheat. Until He does that, we must be ever on our guard against these wolves. They are lying in wait to devour us and our lambs. There is protection that will not fail: God’s perfect Word of Truth, resident in our souls will guard us against their distortions, no matter how cleverly they present them.