Teachers
What can you learn about false teachers in the second half of this chapter? Certainly one thing is that God has a very grim view of them. Peter gives insights into the characteristics of false teachers. You might want to number them in your Bible. They take good Christian fellowship and use it to practice their ungodliness. They use their positions and abilities to do spiritual work for personal gain. They promise refreshment for people who will follow them and adhere to their teachings, but what they produce in peoples’ lives is far from it. They, at one time, have had the appearance of godliness, but the pattern of their lives illustrates that their true nature is far from God. In fact, Peter says that it would have been better for them not to have known the truth, than to have known it and then reject it in order to teach their false doctrine for personal gain. We need to be careful whom we trust and follow. What a blessing to have a teacher who is not like the ones in this chapter! If your teacher is not like this, why not write to thank him? It would encourage him to continue to faithfully walk with God.
