Category: Second Peter

Character of a True or False Person

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2 Peter 2:15 forsaking the right way, they have gone astray having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor , who loved the wages of unrighteousness (NASB: Lockman)

NKSV They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Boer, who loved the wages of unrighteousness

Amplified: Forsaking the straight road they have gone astray; they have followed the way of Balaam [the son] of Beor, who loved the reward of wickedness.

Barclay: They have left the straight road and have gone awandering, and have followed the road of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the profit which unrighteousness brings and who was convicted of his lawlessness. A dumb ass spoke with a man’s voice and checked the prophet’s folly

NET: By forsaking the right path they have gone astray, because they followed the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,

New Jerusalem Bible: They have left the right path and wandered off to follow the path of Balaam son of Bosor, who set his heart on a dishonest reward,

NLT: They have wandered off the right road and followed the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong.

Phillips: for they have abandoned the right road and wandered off to follow the old trail of Balaam, son of Peor, the man who had no objection to wickedness as long as he was paid for it.

Wuest: Abandoning the straight road, they went astray, having followed assiduously the road of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who set a high value upon and thus came to love the hire of unrighteousness,

Young’s Literal: having forsaken a right way, they did go astray, having followed in the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who a reward of unrighteousness did love

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FORSAKING THE RIGHT WAY: kataleipontes

1Sa 12:23; 1Ki 18:18; 19:10; Eze 9:10; Pr 28:4; Ho 14:8; Acts 13:10

Forsaking (2641) (kataleipo } literally means to leave behind and figuratively means to abandon or depart from.

  • The present tense indicates that the false teachers (active voice = their willful choice) are continually abandoning the “right way” which is God’s way, synonymous with “the way of truth” Peter mentioned in (2Peter 2:2
  • These men are continually making a conscious, volitional, willful choice to abandon the right way, the straight path. Departing from the straight path, they choose the crooked path. To depart from the path implies they saw it or knew about it, but simply choose to depart from it.

Right is also used as adverb to mean immediately, right away, at once

  • Right (2117) (euthus) when used as an adjective literally means straight or a straight line and figuratively to what is proper or right.
  • And these are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16 And in a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; 17 and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. (Mark 4:15-17)
  • Upright conduct in the Bible is pictured as a straight path. John the Baptizer uses the adjective euthus in the synoptic gospels to call upon the Jewish people to “make His paths straight!'” speaking of moral and spiritual preparation of their hearts (i.e. changing behavior) in anticipation of the appearing of their promised Messiah

For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!’ (Mt 3:3)

After Saul was blinded on the road to Damascus, Luke records the Lord’s words to Ananias declaring…Arise and go to the street called Straight ( – presumably this was a literal use and the street was straight and not crooked), and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying (Acts 9:11)

Peter addressed Simon who tried to purchase the gift of God declaring…You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right  before God. (Acts 8:21)

Paul fixed his gaze on Elymas the magician and declared…You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ( ways of the Lord? (Acts13:10)

(observe who and what is right conduct and the effect of not walking in a right way, etc)…

My shield is with God, Who saves the upright ( (Ps 7:10)

For, behold, the wicked bend the bow, They make ready their arrow upon the string, To shoot in darkness at the upright  straight; pleasing; upright; righteous;) in heart. (Ps 11:2)

The precepts of the LORD are right rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. (Ps 19:8)

Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for Thee. (Psalm 25:21)

Teach me Thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a level path, Because of my foes. (Psalm 27:11)

Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones, and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart. (Psalm 32:11)\\\

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Way (3598) (hodos) literally means a way for traveling or moving from one place to another and figuratively (which is how Peter uses it in the present context) refers to the course of behavior or to one’s way of life.

In Acts the Way was a common early name for the Christian faith. Luke first alludes to the Way in Acts 9…Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. (Acts 9:1, 2 cp the Way in Acts 19:9, 23, 24:14, 22)

These false teachers have abandoned true and righteous belief (“the Way”) resulting in unrighteous behavior. What you believe (and obey) is important, for your beliefs will direct your behavior.

Jude pronounces a woe on the false brethren who have gone the WAY of Cain (Jude 1:11), a clear parallel to the behavior of the false teachers here in 2 Peter.

Character of False Teachers in Peter’s Day

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Charles-Bible-Scofield_thumb.jpgSecond Peter 2:14

Amplified: They have eyes full of harlotry, insatiable for sin. They beguile and bait and lure away unstable souls. Their hearts are trained in covetousness (lust, greed), [they are] children of a curse [exposed to cursing]!

NET: Their eyes are full of adultery that do not stop sinning; they entice unstable people. They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children!

New Jerusalem Bible: with their eyes always looking for adultery, people with an insatiable capacity for sinning, they will seduce any but the most stable soul. Where greed is concerned they are at their peak of fitness. They are under a curse.

NLT: They commit adultery with their eyes, and their lust is never satisfied. They make a game of luring unstable people into sin. They train themselves to be greedy; they are doomed and cursed.

Phillips: Their eyes cannot look at a woman without lust, they captivate the unstable ones, and their techniques of getting what they want is, through long practice, highly developed. They are born under a curse

Wuest: having eyes full of an adulteress and which are unable to cease from sin, catching unstable souls with bait, having

The Character of those that have not been born again.

  1. Hateful to God Proverbs 6:16,18 ; 11:20
  2. Full of evil Ecclesiastes 9:3
  3. Full of evil imaginations Genesis 6:5 ; 8:21 ; Proverbs 6:18
  4. Full of vain thoughts Jeremiah 4:14
  5. Fully set to do evil Ecclesiastes 8:11
  6. Desperately wicked Jeremiah 17:9
  7. Far from God Isaiah 29:13 ; Matthew 15:8
  8. Not perfect with God 1 Kings 15:3 ; Acts 8:21 ; Proverbs 6:18
  9. Not prepared to seek God 2 Chronicles 12:14
  10. A treasury of evil Matthew 12:35 ; Mark 7:21
  11. Darkened Romans 1:21
  12. Prone to error Psalm 95:10
  13. Prone to depart from God Deuteronomy 29:18 ; Jeremiah 17:5
  14. Impenitent Romans 2:5
  15. Unbelieving Hebrews 3:12
  16. Blind Ephesians 4:18
  17. Uncircumcised Leviticus 26:41 ; Acts 7:51
  18. Of little worth Proverbs 10:20
  19. Deceitful Jeremiah 17:9
  20. Deceived Isaiah 44:20 ; James 1:26
  21. Divided Hosea 10:2
  22. Double 1 Chronicles 12:33 ; Psalm 12:2
  23. Hard Ezekiel 3:7 ; Mark 10:5 ; Romans 2:5
  24. Haughty Proverbs 18:12 ; Jeremiah 48:29
  25. Influenced by the devil John 13:2
  26. Carnal Romans 8:7
  27. Covetous Jeremiah 22:17 ; 2 Peter 2:14
  28. Despiteful Ezekiel 25:15
  29. Ensnaring Ecclesiastes 7:26
  30. Foolish Proverbs 12:23 ; 22:15
  31. Froward Psalm 101:4 ; Proverbs 6:14 ; 17:20
  32. Fretful against the Lord Proverbs 19:3
  33. Idolatrous Ezekiel 14:3,4
  34. Mad Ecclesiastes 9:3
  35. Mischievous Psalm 28:3 ; 140:2
  36. Proud Psalm 101:5 ; Jeremiah 49:16
  37. Rebellious Jeremiah 5:23
  38. Perverse Proverbs 12:8
  39. Stiff Ezekiel 2:4
  40. Stony Ezekiel 11:19 ; 36:26
  41. Stout Isaiah 10:12 ; 46:12
  42. Elated by sensual indulgence Hosea 13:3
  43. Elated by prosperity 2 Chronicles 26:16 ; Daniel 5:20
  44. Studies destruction Proverbs 24:2
  45. Often judicially stupefied Isaiah 6:10 ; Acts 28:26,27
  46. Often judicially hardened Exodus 4:21 ; Joshua 11:20
    their techniques of getting what they want is, through long practice, highly developed (Phillips)

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