Main news for 12 February 2023

Peter is speaking here about those who stray from the path of righteousness themselves and lead others astray. The apostle gives no names, however; the recipients of his letter knew who he was talking about. Describing these people, Peter characterizes them as those who follow the desires of their flesh, despising authority, meaning God's authority and not the "authorities" of the Synodal translation, and who are not afraid to revile glory, where the glory of God is clearly meant, not the "dignitaries" of the Synodal translation.

As we can see, what chiefly distinguishes false teachers is the absence of that sacred awe which the Bible calls the fear of God. Such people can only be false teachers: if the glory of God, which in the biblical books means God's presence, is nothing to them, then by definition they cannot see the Kingdom. Naturally, such a person cannot be a Christian teacher in any way.

In fact, here Peter gives the main sign of a false teacher: such a person never acknowledges anyone above himself, not even God. In theory, a false teacher can refer to God as the highest authority, but deep in his soul he still recognizes no authority except his own, and often even the experience of meeting God face to face does not convince such a person of anything.

At the same time, there is no need to think that when the apostle speaks of desires he necessarily has filthy debauchery in mind. Outwardly everything can be quite respectable and even pious, but in essence the false teacher indulges himself, his ego; the fact that this indulgence has a very refined and even religiously sophisticated character does not change the matter. But the apostle does not hurry events. He knows that all the points will be put over the i's only on the day of the Savior's return and the final triumph of the Kingdom. Peter, as we can see, remembered well his Teacher's parable about the wheat and the weeds. Therefore he does not call anyone to weed the field. He only warns those who have set out on the way against following those who can knock them off that way. And each person chooses for himself which way to go.