The Ways of the Ungodly
2 Peter 2:1-22

The Ways of the Ungodly [2 Peter 2:1-22]

4. The Ways of the Ungodly [2 Peter 2:1-22]

1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;
3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter;
7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men
8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds),
9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties,
11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.
12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,
13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you,
14 having eyes full of adultery and that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;
15 forsaking the right way they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,
16 but he received a rebuke for his own transgression; for a dumb donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.

17 These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.
18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,
19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
20 For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

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Basic Bible Study Questions

• What do false prophets and teachers introduce among God's people? (2 Peter 2:1)

• Will people follow these sensual teachings? What will happen as a result? (2 Peter 2:2-3)

• How did God deal with the angels that sinned? (2 Peter 2:4)

• How did the Lord deal with the ancient world and their ungodliness? (2 Peter 2:5)

• What did God do to the two ungodly cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? (2 Peter 2:6)

• Is God able to rescue His people from temptation? What example does he give? (2 Peter 2:7-9)

• Besides rescuing the righteous, what else does the Lord know how to do? (2 Peter 2:9)

• What two sins are particularly mentioned early on in verse 10? (2 Peter 2:10-11)

• Describe what these people will grow to be like if not restrained? (2 Peter 2:12-15)

• How did God restrain Balaam (2 Peter 2:15-16)

• What is it that these wicked people promise? What do they really offer? (2 Peter 2:17-19)

• What kind of person is he describing in 2 Peter 2:20-22? Write down the proverb cited.

Advanced and Application Questions on 2 Peter 2:1-22

Chapter 2 focuses on false teachers. It is a fact that those who do wrong encourage others to do wrong. Have you ever been encouraged to do wrong by another? Give one or two examples? Have you yourself ever taught or encouraged others to do wrong? Have you confessed this sin?

What are the result of these people if they do not repent? What keeps them from repenting? Are you immoral? What is the result of your sensuality?

I have heard many Christians excuse themselves from looking at women with lust. One excuse is, "We are all like that." How does the phrase, "Having eyes of adultery" apply to them? How might we warn them from this chapter?

Many people wonder if it is important to live righteous lives? How does the phrase, "by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved" speak to a person's real love in this life? Are you ensnared by any sin? Do you love this sin or the Lord more?

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These answers will be found right in the Bible passage and are marked by an •. The NASB text is used because it is most literal (though not always best). These questions encourage one to ask, "What does the passage actually say?"

Advanced and Application Questions

Advanced and application questions are combined together in the Advanced Questions and are marked by an . These answers will not be found in the text as the basic questions. One has to use other knowledge that one has gleaned over the years to answer these questions properly. They are meant to encourage one to dig deeper into the point of the passage. These questions would have one ask, "What does it mean?"

Application questions are meant to be personal and have to do with ones own life. These questions encourage one to ask, "What does the passage mean to me?"