Both Apostle Peter (in 2 Pet 2:1) and Apostle Paul (in Acts 20:29) warned against false teachers. It is an ongoing concern. We have to examine ourselves to ensure that we are not false Christians or false teachers. Our titles or offices do not guarantee that we are true believers.

False teachers “walk after the flesh” (2 Pet 2:10) by indulging in the fleshy lusts of their heart in their minds and then through their actions which are corrupt and immoral. They seek vain glory and do not live out the sermons they preach. They “despise government” (2 Pet 2:10). This means that they are disrespectful to the authorities God has placed over them (at home, in church, in society). They do not like accountability nor stewardship, wanting only to do what they like. They do not submit to godly counsels and are not humble, revealing their presumptuous spirit and their desire to assert themselves. They are “selfwilled” (2 Pet 2:10), forgetting that it is God who is sovereign. They dare to defy Him. They“are not afraid to speak evil of dignities (angels) ” (2 Pet 2:10). This is in sharp contrast to the attitude of Michael the Archangel (Jude 8-9) and the angels who respect positions and office (2 Pet 2:11).

Like “natural brute beasts” (2 Pet 2:12) that react by instinct, these false teachers will also react unpredictably because of their unguarded desires. Hence, they cannot be trusted. They “speak evil of the things that they understand not” (2 Pet 2:12). They do not even know that they are wrong: self-deception is the worst kind of deception. They “shall utterly perish in their own corruption” (2 Pet 2:12). Having no fear of God, they think that God will pass their sins by. But “God is not mocked” (Gal 6:7).

False teachers even live wickedly in the day (2 Pet 2:13). They may love to come together for fellowship, yet they despise God’s Word, not obeying it in word or in conduct. They are sensual and carnal in their behaviour (cf. Jezebel, Rev 2:20). Like Balaam, they covet wealth.

We must ask God to transform our life. Changing from one sin to another is not transformation (e.g. changing from stealing from others to stealing from God by withholding tithes). As a church, we must be watchful of false teachers and not fall prey to them. We must study God’s Word, that it may protect us (2 Tim 3:16-17) and help us to be “throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim 3:17).