"You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability." (2 Peter 3:17)
IN 2 Peter 3:15-17, apostle Peter warns against reading Paul's letters containing words that is “hard to understand” and which “the ignorant and unstable” misinterpret. He associates this error with “lawless people.” These lawless people or lawbreakers are also referred to as "false teachers" that Peter confronts throughout his epistle. They reject the “way of righteousness” and the “holy commandment”, he further noted (2 Pet. 2:21). He wrote these warnings in a very clear yet somber manner, so everyone will seriously consider. Following are Peter's own description of their actions (beg. 2 Peter 2):
1. They bring in "destructive heresies" (v1)
2. Denying God's own salvation--"the Lord who bought them" (v.1)
3. They "blasphemed" the truth (v.2)
4. They are covetous and exploiters (v.3)
5. Presumptous and self-willed (v10)
6. Having eyes full of adultery (v.14)
7. They have forsaken the "right way" (v.15)
8. They speaks great swelling words, yet empty. (v. 18)
9. They promise liberty, yet they themselves are in bondage. (v.19)
10. They are liken to a "dog that returns to their own vomit." (v.22)
Peter’s warning against being “carried away with the error of lawless people” serves as a strong admonition not to interpret Paul as teaching antinomianism. According to Peter, such an interpretation twists Paul’s words to their own ruin.
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*Antinomianism is the belief that Christians are freed from the need to obey God's Law because of grace. The term comes from the Greek words anti, meaning "against", and nomos, meaning "law". Antinomianism has been present in the early church, and can be traced back to earlier heresies.
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