Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

2:10b-11 The false teachers are bold (in a reckless, foolhardy way) and willful (stubborn and arrogant), behaving in ways that even the angels avoid. They blaspheme the glorious ones, probably evil angels (cf. v. 11; Jude 8-9). In so doing, they recklessly dismiss any thought that these demonic forces have power or that their willful sins will open them to demonic attack. But good angels, like wise humans, do not take these evil powers lightly.

2:12-13 The false teachers operate in irrational ways. They act like . . . animals, following neither reason nor truth but instinct, ignoring even the most basic of human values. Yet they behave like this while posturing as Christians, even to the point that they feast with you, probably a reference to the Lord's Supper. They are guilty of profound blasphemy and live licentiously.

2:14 Their eyes desire adultery with virtually every woman they meet. insatiable for sin. Their appetite for sin is never satisfied. Even worse, they entice (Gk. deleazō, "lure with bait") unsteady people to join them in their debauchery. Sexual sin and greed characterize these false teachers (cf. v. 3 and note). Accursed children! Peter assures his readers that the heretics will face God's curse.

2:15-16 They have followed the way of Balaam (Numbers 22-24), which is a life spent gaining things at other people's expense by means of wrongdoing. Balaam was particularly condemned for his greed. He was supposedly a man of spiritual insight, but God can use even a donkey to restrain someone who is following the way of madness rather than living as a rational, responsible human being.