2 Peter 2:19-22

COMMENTS

I thought we were done with Chapter 2.  I didn’t really see a dividing point and thought I had covered the whole chapter in that one posting.  However, the Lord won’t let me move on to Chapter 3.  I now realize that I didn’t really discuss the last four verses, so there’s more to cover in Chapter 2….

NOTES

It’s a terrible thing to see someone bound who doesn’t have to be.  Our prisons are full of people who would not be incarcerated if they had just made better choices.  There are countless persons out there who, even though walking freely, are bound by their addictions--and there are all kinds:  gambling, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol, pornography—even food. 

There are other kinds of bondage, as well.  People are bound by “family sins”—things passed down from one generation to another.  We often see that in child abuse, spousal abuse, poor parenting skills, etc.  Then there are the “personality” bondages (my term!).  These are things like insecurity, harshness, mistreatment of others, etc. etc.  

In 2 Peter 2:19 Peter defines bondage for us:  “for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him”.  In other words, anything that controls you rather than being controlled by you has made you a slave.  And what is slavery if not bondage?   Peter tells us that the false teachers he has been warning about are slaves—slaves of depravity.  They are promising freedom to their followers, but they aren’t even free themselves.  How can they lead anyone else to freedom?

It seems to me that Peter’s tone changes in the next couple of verses.  Having been quite outspoken about their sin and deception and depravity, there seems to me to be a softening here.  Look at 2 Peter 2:20-21:

“If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.  It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.”

Do you see his pastor’s heart in those words?  Can you feel the agony he feels as he thinks of these poor souls who once lived in freedom and have now chosen to return to bondage again?  “It would have been better for them not to have known….”  (Of course, the original tone returns in verse 22 when he quotes the “dog” and “sow” proverbs.)

We know that this is all the work of the devil, who longs to see Christians in bondage.  As believers who have been filled with the Spirit, we have access to all the tools we need to live in freedom.  Peter assumes that when we chose the Christian life, we moved out of bondage and into freedom.  Having known freedom, we’d be fools to choose bondage again.

If you know me or have read many of my posts, you know that I have a great concern that many of us have never learned that we actually have the tools we need to defeat Satan, and those who do know don’t necessarily know how to use them.  If you’re interested, check my blog back on May 27, 2014, for a series I entitled “Freedom in Christ”.  There are 10 postings, starting with “Freedom in Christ:  An Appeal” and ending with “Freedom in Christ:  A Clarification”. 

Remember:  Freedom is an inward thing.  I’d venture to say that the disciples and many Christians since have been more free while sitting in prison than many of us are who are not behind bars.