Devotional 2 October 2025

October 02, 2025 • Steve Torres

2 Peter 2:12.jpg

“Especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!” (2 Peter 2:10–14, ESV)

Peter does not allow us to confuse false teachers with sincere believers who may differ in understanding. Instead, he shows them for what they are: brazen rebels who despise authority and exalt themselves. They are “bold and willful” (v.10), claiming authority even over spiritual beings, when Jude reminds us that even Michael the archangel said, “The Lord rebuke you” (Jude 9). Their arrogance exposes their blindness to the truth: true authority comes only from the Lord.

Peter likens them to “irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed” (v.12). Like wild beasts driven by survival, these teachers are ruled by appetite and self-gratification. They flaunt their corruption shamelessly, “reveling in the daytime” (v.13), showing that their sin is not hidden but proudly paraded. Worse still, they infiltrate the fellowship of believers, “reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you” (v.13). Their presence among the church is not accidental: it is parasitic.

The root of their corruption is revealed in their hearts: “trained in greed” (v.14). They are not moved by love for God or His people, but by selfish gain. They demand attention, desiring to be at the center, as though the glory belonged to them. Yet Isaiah reminds us that the Lord says, “My glory I will not give to another” (Isa. 42:8).

For believers, the call is clear: do not be swayed by such voices. Their end is destruction, and their boasting is powerless against the authority of Christ, who reigns as the true Lord of history. While they make themselves the main characters of their own stories, Scripture anchors us in the reality that Christ alone holds all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18). Fix your eyes on Him, and you will not be moved by the arrogance of men.