Fleshly Desires & Despising Authority (part 3 of 3)

Continuing to ground the Petrine letter in the soil of the first century and the very real struggles of the earliest believers and Christ-followers, a great number of which were Jews and therefore viewed the world through their own defining narrative and understanding of their God, and thus potentially harboring desires for violent overthrow of their oppressors, it is possible to understand the author attempting to communicate the idea that through their insults and their speaking against the governing authorities in such a way as to stir up sedition and rebellion with the goal of a violent clash, the result will be their “suffering harm as the wages for their harmful ways” (2 Peter 2:13a). 

It is also quite possible to hear the author here insisting that they make light of the gravity of what it is that they are doing and the destruction to come that they are fostering, “By considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight” (2:13b).  In this, “they are stains and blemishes, indulging in their deceitful pleasures when they feast together with you” (2:13c).  They are insistent in their proclamation of their destructive heresy, as “they entice unstable people” (2:14b).  Clearly, it is worthwhile to place such thoughts on terra firma in conjunction with very real concerns, rather than letting them continue to float in the air of actions that are often looked to as being less than holy. 

Here, it can be said that they are enticing those that are not firmly rooted in the faith-granted belief in the Gospel of Jesus.  No words are minced, as it is said that “They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children!” (2:14c).  Their desire for revolution and overthrow is rooted in greed, and their end will be the curse of being hanged on a tree, as Rome will apply its punishment of the cross to those that rebel.  Indeed, “By forsaking the right path,” that being the path of belief in Jesus and His kingdom model which suffers violence rather than attempting to violently bring in the kingdom of God by force, they are said to “have gone astray” (2:15). 

Going further, one finds that “These men are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness have been reserved” (2:17).  This seems to speak of death.  Why is this said?  Because “by speaking high-sounding but empty words they are able to entice, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have just escaped from those who reside in error” (2:18).  Perhaps they particularly focus their attention on new believers?  Those new believers, at least initially it seems, would spring from the ranks of Israel.  With their new belief in Jesus, they are asked to forsake the way of national revolution.  Before these new believers are able to fully comprehend what it means to believe in Jesus’ Gospel, and what is implied by His Kingship, those who deny this way of true revolution attempt to win them back to the old way. 

It is said that “Although these false teachers promise such people freedom,” if they will join in the effort to cast off their worldly oppressors, “they themselves are enslaved to immorality” (2:19a).  What is this immorality?  Perhaps it is the continual rejection of God’s insistence that His covenant people strive to be a light to the Gentile nations (then and now), rather than wanting to condemn them and subjugate them (then and now), while holding on to the notions of exclusivity and provincialism (then and now) that were flatly rejected by Jesus Himself.  Ultimately, these deniers and despisers are enslaved to their lust for power, and while they pretend to have a desire to vindicate their God through their actions and gain their freedom accordingly, instead it is the case that “whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved” (2:19b).  Those that live by the sword, will die by the sword, and power will have its way with them.