2 Peter 2:18
For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
False teachers speak boastful, empty, self-exalting words, boasting of light and knowledge and holding their own opinions as infallible, and by appealing to fleshly desire and reckless indulgence they allure unstable souls who had barely escaped from those living in error back into licentiousness and sin. While they promise liberty to those who rebel against God's revealed will, they themselves are servants of corruption under Satan's power, overcome and enslaved by the sin they serve rather than free. They spoil the church and lead away from truth by pleasing sophistries and false ideas about God that undermine the Bible's plain truths and the foundation of faith. Part of that deception is the strong delusion that licentiousness and adultery are nothing displeasing to God, and that obedience to His law is bondage, a claim pressed especially by those who boast of freedom from His law. If after escaping the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they reject light and turn from the holy commandment, the latter end is worse than the beginning, so such empty boasts are abhorrent to God and call for humility rather than pride.
False Teachers' Tactics and Targets
The great swelling words of vanity are boastful, empty, self-exalting speech, professing to believe the truth while boasting of light and knowledge and love of the truth. They exalt self and refuse to receive light even when warning comes, holding personal opinions as never to be given up and treating personal judgment as infallible. Through the lusts of the flesh and much wantonness they appeal to fleshly desire and reckless, sinful indulgence to allure hearers, using enticing speech to draw them toward sensual desire. That alluring works by drawing into licentiousness and adultery, including violation of the seventh commandment, and into rebellion against God's revealed will.
Those allured are those that were clean escaped from them who live in error, beguiled as unstable souls. Having escaped error does not make anyone immune, for their influence can draw people back into sin and away from the right way. The verse belongs to the account in 2 Peter 2 of men who caused much trouble in the early church, and similar conditions must be met today, so all must be on guard. They spoil the church and lead away from truth by presenting pleasing sophistries and immortalizing theories that injure the Lord's work. Grand, empty, boastful speech is also used to spread false ideas about God that undermine the Bible's plain truths and the foundation of faith.
Part of that deception is teaching the strong delusion that licentiousness and adultery are nothing displeasing to God. Obedience to God's revealed will and law is portrayed as bondage, while violation is encouraged as freedom.
False Liberty and Solemn Warning
The promise of liberty is held out to those who rebel against God's revealed will, yet those who make the promise are themselves the servants of corruption. They are under Satan's power and cannot freely resist the demons they serve, and whoever is overcome by sin becomes its slave, bound to sin and to Satan rather than made free.
They exalt themselves and will not receive light even when messages of warning come to them. They reject light, plant doubt, and work to undermine the confidence of others. If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning, and it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness.
This warning applies especially to spiritualists, who boast of freedom from God's law. They portray obedience to God's revealed will and law as bondage and encourage violation of it, especially of the seventh commandment, as freedom.
Such great, empty boasts are abhorrent to God. His judgments, especially those visited on Battle Creek, call for humility rather than pride and self-exaltation. The warning applies to the proud, self-exalting claims made by people connected with the Sanitarium and by men connected with Battle Creek institutions. Their words mislead people and undermine confidence, and undermine the influence God intends to have on those doing medical missionary work and gospel ministry.