False Teachers, Angels, & Sex

Sex.

Weird way to start an article. I know.

Now that your attention has been captured, I’d like to talk to you about your cars extended warranty….

Jokes aside. Isn’t it interesting how that 3 letter word seems to bring us to a screeching halt? We want to know what dirty dark secrets lie in the sentences that follow. Fascination with things forbidden, I assume. Like staring into a campfire, you can’t seem to pull your gaze away.

Interestingly Peter acknowledges how sex captures the hearts and minds of those who are deemed wicked and judged by God.

Peter exposes the false teachers who were influencing the Christians in the Black Sea region in 2 Peter 2. He calls them out for their impure motives, greed, and exploitation (2:1-3). He then ties their impending destruction to the destruction of former wickedness to make his case that “their destruction is not asleep” (2:3-10).

What’s fascinating in this text are the examples used: angels who sinned (2:4), the world before the flood (2:4), and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (2:5). Why these examples? What stands out about each of these examples that ties them directly to the false teachers of the Black Sea region?

Sex.

Sex is what ties all of them together.

If you pay attention in the text to Peter’s descriptions you’ll notice a pattern:

• He described the popularity of the teachers coming from their “sensuality” (2:2)

• The angels who sinned is almost certainly a reference to ancient Jewish belief that the sons of God who had illicit sex with women were angels (Gen 6:1-2; Jude 6-7; 1 Enoch 6-16)

• Sodom & Gomorrah were known for their sexual flagrance, and Peter points this out stating that Lot was tormented by their “sensual conduct” (2:7).

• Peter further describes the false teachers as “having eyes full of adultery insatiable for sin” (2:14)

• Again later, Peter identifies them as enticing others by “sensual passions of the flesh” calling it “freedom!” (2:18-19).

The link between all of these groups is sexual immorality characterized by “sensuality.” To further this point, Peter concludes with a railing judgement saying,

then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority (2 Pet 2:9-10 - emphasis mine)

Sex.

Unrestrained passion for illicit sex has been the downfall of many since Genesis 6. It shouldn’t surprise us that the teachers of Peter’s day were gaining a following because they preached freedom to have sex without fear of judgment! They offered unrestricted access to that which was off limits without fear of repercussion! No wonder “many followed after their sensuality” (2:2).

It shouldn’t surprise us that the downfall of many church leaders today is found wrapped up in unchecked passions. Like an untamable fire blazing inside, lust courses the veins of the unrestrained mind given over to sensuality.

Sex.

What’s crazy, is that sex is not bad. These passions are God ordained and created for reproduction of image bearing humans to his glory. Sex is tied to Gods intent for bringing glory to creation through humanity!

But it’s the human “slavery to corruption” (2:19) that has taken hearts and minds captive causing us to have hearts “insatiable for in” (2:14), burning with passion, and thus twisting Gods good gifts to our own wicked appetites.

Guard your passions Christian! Tame the fire! You and I are not immune to the sins that have captured many others. Our passions, if left unchecked, will bring swift destruction upon us (2:1).