Angelic Rebellion and False Teachers

The confronting chapter of 2 Peter 2

2 Peter 2 discusses the nature of false teachers within the church, comparing them to the angelic rebellion, the flood and Sodom and Gomorrah. It’s a confronting and baffling text. But ultimately, it’s about the Lord’s commitment to sustain his people through even the darkest of times.

I had the privilege of preaching from this passage on Sunday 2nd November 2025 at All Souls Church, Eastbourne. You can read the sermon below or listen to it by clicking the image above. God bless!

Image: ‘The Fall of the Rebel Angels’ (1562) by Pieter Brueghel the Elder

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False Teachers Will Come

The reed warbler is a small British bird. And it faces a terrible threat. The cuckoo. Because the cuckoo is very sneaky.

Here’s what happens. The female cuckoo lays an egg in a reed warbler’s nest. The cuckoo egg hatches, and the unsuspecting warbler parents raise the cuckoo chick as if it is their own offspring. They feed it. They protect it. They tend to it.

And the young cuckoo grows faster than the young warblers. It gets bigger and stronger. And it even pushes the warbler eggs and chicks out of the nest.

It effectively becomes the centre of attention, in a family where it never truly belonged. Draining life from the nest. Like a parasite.

Could something like that ever happen to the church? Well, the Apostle Peter says yes. It has happened already. And it will happen again. It’s a warning that Peter’s readers needed to hear. And it’s a warning that we need to hear.

Peter is writing to a group of churches in Asia Minor. Modern-day Turkey, effectively. And in his first letter to these churches, 1 Peter, he talked largely about the challenges that come to God’s people from beyond the church. Persecution.

And Peter’s encouragement to them was simple and profound. Suffer well, with hope. Cling to Christ. Cling to the good news of the gospel, because there is nothing greater.

And he reiterates that in chapter 1 of 2 Peter. But in chapter 2, his attention shifts to the trouble that will come from within the church. False teachers.

2 Peter 2:1 (NIV)

But 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.

So Peter begins with the reminder that false teaching is nothing new. In Old Testament times, there were the true prophets, the ones who “...spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21), as Peter says at the end of chapter 1.

But there were also false prophets. There were teachers who distorted the truth and led the people of God astray. Peter will go on to give us some examples of that.

So false teaching is not a new problem. And just as it happened before, it will happen again. “There will be false teachers among you”. It’s inevitable. But notice the next part of the verse.

2 Peter 2:1 (NIV)

…They will secretly introduce destructive heresies…

These false teachers act secretly. They’re not going to advertise the fact that they’re false teachers. They’re not going to put on their Twitter bio: “Father of three. Arsenal fan. False teacher.” You’re not going to see that.

According to Peter, these people don’t call themselves false teachers. They might not even think of themselves as false teachers. But they will secretly introduce destructive heresies.

Now, heresy. That’s not a word we hear very often nowadays, is it? It conjures images of severe-looking theologians in robes with long beards. Heresy!

But Peter is dead serious about this. He has been entrusted with the gospel. The good news of Jesus. The most glorious message the world has ever heard. Because it is not of this world. It is the beating heart of the living God himself. John 3:16.

John 3:16 (NIV)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

This is the gospel! This is how God saves people and brings them into his family. Including Peter himself. So of course Peter can’t stand any teaching that undermines that! Especially when it comes from people who claim to be Christians.

If heresy means preaching a different Jesus to the real one, then heresy must, by definition, be damaging. It can only be damaging. It’s the nature of the case.

There is only one Jesus who saves. If I preach anything other than this Jesus, the Jesus of scripture, don’t let me up here again. Peter goes on. Verse 2.

2 Peter 2:2-3 (NIV)

2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

So these false teachers, sadly, will gain a following. Turns out that heresy sells. And you don’t have to look far to see that.

Throughout the world and down through history, many people have been drawn into false gospels that enslave them, rather than setting them free.

There was gnosticism in the early church, denying the physical resurrection of Christ. There were the indulgences of the Medieval church, offering spiritual blessings for a price. Islam, Mormonism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses preach a different Jesus to the one that Peter proclaimed. And then there’s the prosperity gospel. With pastors becoming millionaires at the expense of their own congregations. Doesn’t that make you angry? When the words of Jesus are twisted for selfish gain?

Peter says of the false teachers: “Their condemnation has long been hanging over them”. Now, their ultimate fate is in God’s hands.

But there is a sense in which false teachers are already experiencing the judgement of God. Here and now. Because if the true gospel is what we are made for, it is the grain of reality. And if you go against that, you will get splinters.

False teachers might think they’re living a fulfilled life, but they’re not. If they stubbornly, unrepentantly continue to hold out against Jesus, they are piling condemnation upon themselves.

God’s Salvation Plan is Unstoppable

So false teaching is a big problem. But in this next section, Peter wants to remind his readers of how God is ultimately in control. Let’s see how he describes several incidents from the book of Genesis. Verse 4.

2 Peter 2:4-9 (NIV)

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; 5 if 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; 6 if 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; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 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)— 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

So Peter talks about three examples. The rebellion of the angels, the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah. Let’s keep an eye out for what these three examples have in common.

First, the angels. Angels are heavenly beings. They are servants of God, messengers. And there was a time when some of them sinned against God.

When did that happen? Well, many commentators think that Peter might be referring to Genesis 6. I’ll read it to you.

Genesis 6:1-2 (NIV)

1 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.

So apparently, just before the flood, there were these potentially angelic creatures, called the sons of God, and they had forbidden sexual relationships with human women, producing offspring called Nephilim.

What did God do to these rebellious angels? Verse 4. He “sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment”.

Notice God’s judgment and mercy. His judgement in punishing those angels, but also his mercy to the world in restraining those angels from causing further damage.

What about the flood? The world had become so corrupt, so compromised by sin, that “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5 (NIV)). And as Peter reminds us, God acted in judgement. Verse 5.

2 Peter 2:5 (NIV)

…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…

So the waters of judgement came, but there was a path through that judgement. And 8 people were saved. In the midst of God’s righteous judgement, we also see his mercy.

No matter how bad the world gets, if there are people who love him, even imperfectly, God provides a way for them to be saved.

From verse 7, Peter gives a third example of this. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah were profoundly wicked. Ezekiel 16 talks about their pride and how they did not care for the poor.

And when two angels showed up, the men of Sodom wanted to have sex with those angels. Another perverse attempt to combine heaven and earth on human terms rather than God’s terms.

So God, in his great love, burned with anger against the depravity of Sodom and Gomorrah. And he destroyed those cities. But just like the flood, even in the midst of his judgement, he had mercy.

Abraham’s nephew Lot was saved from the burning sulphur that rained down from the sky.

Now, Lot wasn’t a perfect man. But as Peter says, he was tormented in his soul by the darkness of Sodom. He trusted in the Lord. And he was saved. Not by his works, but entirely by God’s grace. Verse 9.

2 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV)

9 …if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. 10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.

And this is the point of Peter’s three examples. They remind us that God’s judgement and mercy aren’t in a tug of war. They don’t get in the way of each other. God is able to do both.

He does not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Even when the entire world is riddled with corruption and false teaching, God in his great mercy does not scrap the whole thing.

Judgement will come, and come it must. But God will not forsake even the one person who puts their trust in him.

So Peter is encouraging his readers that God does not let anything derail his salvation plan for the world. Not even false teachers.

Red Flags

After this tour through the book of Genesis, Peter turns his attention back to the false teachers of his time. And he shares some red flags to be on the lookout for.

These red flags won’t all be present in every false teacher. But they are all dangerous. Arrogance, the love of money and the love of sex.

First, arrogance. Second part of verse 10.

2 Peter 2:10-12 (NIV)

10 …Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings; 11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord. 12 But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.

Okay, what’s going on here? Apparently there are some specific heavenly creatures called celestial beings or glorious ones, in some translations.

We don’t know exactly what they are. But notice verse 11. Angels bring judgement upon them from the Lord. So these celestial beings have clearly fallen in some way. And they deserve judgement.

And the good angels pour out the judgement of God on these wayward celestial beings. But, verse 11, the angels do not heap abuse on the celestial beings.

So the good angels, even though they are more powerful than humans, they have humility. They do not abuse their authority, because they recognise that it comes from the Lord.

And here’s what’s shocking. The human false teachers, though they are less powerful than the angels, they do heap abuse on celestial beings.

So the false teachers think of themselves as having more power than the angels. The arrogance. And Peter is saying, we need humility.

It is not our place to be flippant or dismissive when it comes to the supernatural. When it comes to matters that are beyond our control. The affairs of heaven. Beyond what we can see.

Human beings, and especially teachers of the gospel, are called to be humble. Peter continues to describe the false teachers. Verse 13.

2 Peter 2:13 (NIV)

They 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.

Commentators have suggested that the feast described here is the Lord’s supper. Communion.

And this is another example of the false teachers being dismissive about spiritual matters. Even while they take communion, they are focused on their personal pleasure. Verse 14.

2 Peter 2:14-16 (NIV)

14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

False teachers, in their dismissal of the supernatural, live for the things of this world. And so often that boils down to sex and money.

This characterised the false teaching of Noah’s time. A warped love of sex and money. Same thing in Sodom and Gomorrah. Same thing today.

And Peter adds a reference to Balaam. You can read his story in Numbers 22. And although he appears faithful to begin with, he eventually sold his soul. Revelation 2:14 tells us that “[Balaam] taught [king] Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.”

Balaam went after money, and he enticed God’s people into sexual immorality. False teaching is nothing new. And why is Peter so affronted by this? Because it takes things that are good gifts from God, and corrupts them.

Take sex, for instance. Page one of the Bible. God created the heavens and the Earth. Heavens is a masculine word in the Hebrew. Earth is a feminine word.

And the gospel is the love story of God pursuing his unfaithful people. And it builds to a marriage. Christ, the bridegroom, giving himself in self-sacrificial love so that he can marry his bride, the church.

And so human marriage in the eyes of God is between one man and one woman for life and that’s the only context for sex because it is a signpost to that greater marriage.

As for money, why would we seek to accumulate wealth for ourselves when it can be poured out in service for the Lord and for others?

This is the way of Christ. It’s glorious! And all of us will fail to live up to it perfectly. But Peter warns us that there are false teachers who will seek to undermine this vision entirely. Verse 17.

2 Peter 2:17-22 (NIV)

17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” 20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 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. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

Here is the fiery devotion of God, speaking though the Apostle Peter. It’s uncomfortable. It’s confronting. But God is not saying this in spite of his love. He’s saying it because of his love.

Because Jesus really is the only door to true human flourishing. This is what we are made for, to participate in the divine nature. Nothing less. So God, because of his love, burns with anger whenever that door to flourishing is obstructed.

Whenever anyone tries to lead the flock away from Jesus, the one true shepherd. Do you love Jesus? His compassion? His kindness? The way he meets and transforms the outcasts. The rejected. The people at the fringes of society. Is he not glorious?

Then don’t settle for anything less than him. Accept no imitations. Only the real thing. Compared to the way of Jesus, every other way of life is like returning to vomit. Wallowing in mud.

And Peter’s harshest words are to those who have experienced the goodness of Christ, and yet have turned away from it. Those who stubbornly, unrepentantly hold out against Jesus.

Apparently, there will be some people who, by all appearances, are born again Christians. People whose lives seem to be transformed in light of the gospel. And yet, they will walk away. They will not endure to the end. And that is a confronting reality.

But what does Peter want us to do about this? Well, we’ve seen a few things. We should expect that false teachers will come. We should expect that they will be damaging.

And there are practical things that we can do as a church to combat this problem. We should be wary of what we watch and listen to online. Because in the vast marketplace of ideas that is the Internet, there’s a lot of false teaching out there. If you’re new to faith, perhaps ask a more experienced Christian which resources they’d recommend. And we’re called to be careful as a church, when we appoint people to teach. Do they love Jesus? Do they love his word?

But ultimately, Peter’s emphasis is that we cannot fully solve this problem by ourselves. The problem of false teachers has been in God’s hands from the beginning. Christ himself is the good shepherd. And will he not deliver his flock from the wolves?

In Romans 8, the Apostle Paul says this:

Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That list sounds pretty exhaustive to me. I think Paul is including false teachers in that list. So friends, be encouraged. No false teacher will ever derail God’s salvation plan for the world.

This passage is intense. Reading it this week, it felt like sitting slightly too close to a fire. But what shines through is Christ’s fierce devotion to his bride, the church. Peter’s words shouldn’t push us away from Christ, they should draw us into his embrace.

Because the only way to identify and avoid false teaching is to focus on Christ. It is only when you know the real banknote that you can identify the counterfeit. It is only when you know the truth that you can identify the lie.

Because at the end of the day, humans, by default, are lost sheep. We need help. And only the Jesus that scripture proclaims can save us.

Jesus alone is the door to life, the door to ultimate flourishing. Nothing else will do. Nothing else will satisfy. Nothing else will ultimately quench our thirst for meaning and truth and goodness and beauty.

I know how this might sound if you’re new here. It might sound like I’m saying that we’re right and everyone else is wrong.

But here’s the thing. At All Souls, we’re not better than anyone else. We’re just people who realise that we need help. And it is entirely by God’s grace that we have come to see that Jesus is the answer. We are beggars, telling other beggars where to find the bread.

And all who come, all who repent and believe, all who simply receive Jesus, will be forgiven and brought into his family. It’s happening all over the world. Whoever you are, whatever you’ve done, even if you have been drawn into false teaching yourself, it’s not too late to come home to Jesus.

It’s the most glorious message the world has ever heard. It’s what we’re made for. Come to Jesus.