Recipients of God's curse
They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery that never stop looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse! 2 Peter 2:13-14 CSB
Peter continues on with the description of the false teachers, their actions, and the outcome of their actions in the following verses. “They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done.” The idea here is that they will reap what they have sown: destruction in the present leads to destruction in the future, eternal punishment in hell per God’s judgment. Even though this is the case, the false teachers continue to pursue their actions without shame, “consider[ing] it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight.” Thieves tend to steal in the middle of the night, when they are least visible to try to get away with their actions. Yet, these false teachers, they do not care whether or not people see their deceitful actions. They are so set on fulfilling what they want to do, that they do not care how society reacts about their actions, regardless of how detestable it is. In fact, they consider it a “pleasure.” They are considered “spots and blemishes,” which contrasts what Christ does when we become believers, for He cleanses us and makes us spotless, seen in 1 Corinthians 6:11: “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” These false teachers try to corrupt everyone around them all the time, even “while they feast with you.” “They have eyes full of adultery that never stop looking for sin.” The metaphor here is that these false teachers are seeking sin so much, that Peter describes them going beyond noticing beautiful women, but that they lust after every woman that they saw. Unfortunately, “they seduce unstable people,” meaning that they succeeded in drawing in those who did not have a strong foundation in wisdom. Thankfully, we can ask of God for wisdom to discern what is right and wrong, fighting against the lures of the false teachers, and not become unstable and double minded, in James 1:5-8: “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.” A final description by Peter of the false teachers is that they “have hearts trained in greed.” The word for “trained” here is used in the same manner as an elite athlete training for the Olympics. These false teachers are so obsessed with their greed and getting what they want, that they pursue what they want with such intensity as one who chases after a gold medal. In the end, they are deemed by God as “children under a curse,” meaning that they will face eternal punishment in hell. Peter writes so much about these false teachers for our benefit, that if we see and hear an individual like this, we should avoid them at all cost, for eternity of our souls and the souls of those around us are at stake.
Blessings,
Isaac De Guzman
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