2 Peter 2 - Only true prophets preach righteousness
Peter is writing a message of righteousness, aboudn the opportunity for belief and obedience through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, leading first to goodness and then finally to love. However, as Peter points out, there are false prophets who come with messages all the time. They’re easy to dismiss if you refuse to acknowledge any and all messengers regardless of message. However, true prophets, such as Peter, are obliged to come and deliver their message, because their message is not for storing away secretly. It is for sharing, for the benefit of all, not only for the benefit of the prophet. False prophets are of a different ilk, spreadking messages only for their own good, and should be guarded against. But, how can you tell the difference? Peter explains…
 1But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
So, Peter points out that there are people who know the truth about Jesus Christ (i.e., they were bought), but then deny God and His soveriegnty, placing themselves above Him. This brings swift destruction upon them. But, is Peter denying God and His soveriegnty? Has he experienced swift punishment for the message he is spreading? No, but as Peter’s audience might point out, false prophets can work for years and years without any apparent penalty. So how swift can swift penalties actually be? How can they know that Peter isn’t just a false prophet who has yet to be punished? Peter goes on…
 4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. 10This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority.
So, they can be sure that God has things under control, punishing the ungodly, while saving the righteous among them. But still, doesn’t that just beg question? What of Peter? Is he the righteous one rescued from wolves, or is he the wolf the righteous will be rescued from? Well, he has answered that in part… the wolves despise authority, while Peter is preaching and modeling obedience to Jesus Christ our Lord. That answers part of the question. But still… why does it seem that the swift punishment of false prophets is so slow coming? Will they really be punished, or is that again just a clever ruse on the part Peter to infect them with his message?
 13They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. 14With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—a beast without speech—who spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
Okay. So now we get to it. Yeah. Peter is certainly not doing these things, and God isn’t publicly reproaching him. If the false prophets they have seen really do love wickedness, possibly putthing a “righteous” appearance to it (perhaps disguising it as an expression of their freedom from the the law), then yes, this just might be enough to trigger memories of false prophets by which Peter can be judged. I cannot say whether the recipients of the letter bought it, but on the other hand, the letter survived! Then, just to be clear…
 17These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 20If 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. 21It 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. 22Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,”and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”
Like Jesus’ teaching that you will know them by their fruit, Peter points out that people are slave to what has mastered them. Peter’s message is to believe God and obey Him, because God is Peter’s master… a false prophet would not say that. Well, they might lead with that, but only as a distraction. They would eventually lead back around to themselves and what is truly master over them. Peter on the other hand is consistently on point that God is his master, and should be ours. In that case, his message to us is that our righteousness comes from Jesus’ righteousness. That is his message.