Empty Promises of False Teachers: The Blind Leading the Lost

The Culmination of Warning

Throughout this chapter, Peter has been warning believers about false teachers—their methods, their coming judgment, and God’s faithfulness to deliver the righteous while condemning the wicked. Now he culminates his warning by revealing their true character with unflinching honesty. After so much time rebelling against God, their deceit has grown to the point where they are consumed with various lusts and a complete disregard for moral boundaries. They are fully given over to rebellion.

Peter’s description is graphic and intentional. These teachers have no shame in waiting for the cover of darkness to practice whatever sinfulness they desire. Their “eyes full of adultery…cannot cease from sin.” This isn’t occasional failure or human weakness; it’s habitual, unrepentant, enslaving sin. Yet these same people present themselves as spiritual guides, speaking with authority using words that sound spiritual and scholarly. This is the danger: the empty promises of false teachers come wrapped in religious language that deceives the undiscerning.

Their Deceptive Character

Peter uses vivid imagery to expose what these teachers truly are. They’re “wells without water”—appearing to offer what desperate people need but delivering nothing. They’re “clouds carried by a tempest”—looking promising but producing no life-giving rain. Finally, “spots and blemishes” among believers, corrupting from within while pretending to belong. Their hearts are “trained in covetous practices”—not accidentally greedy, but deliberately, habitually exploiting others for personal gain.

The reference to Balaam is particularly telling (Numbers 22-24). Balaam was a prophet who knew God’s truth but loved money more. He couldn’t directly curse Israel because God wouldn’t allow it, so he taught Israel’s enemies how to cause Israel to sin, leading to their own curse. False teachers operate the same way—they can’t openly attack God’s people, so they corrupt from within, leading believers into sin while claiming to help them.

This reveals their true character: they are consumed by their own lusts, enslaved to sin, yet presenting themselves as spiritual authorities. The empty promises of false teachers flow from empty lives that know nothing of genuine freedom or transformation.

Their Twisted Method

How do these teachers operate? Peter identifies their method clearly: “They speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness.” Their teaching sounds impressive—scholarly, authoritative, spiritual. But it’s fundamentally empty because it’s designed to appeal to fleshly desires rather than transform them.

Here’s their strategy: they twist God’s Word to soften the morality commands in Scripture. They assure people that certain sins aren’t really that bad, God’s standards have changed, and biblical morality is outdated or culturally conditioned. They promise liberty and freedom—freedom from guilt, from restrictive rules, from “legalistic” standards. It sounds gracious, loving, inclusive. But it’s a lie (Romans 6:15-16).

The tragic irony is that “while they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption.” They can’t offer freedom because they’re not free. They’re bound by the very sins they’re excusing. As Jesus said, “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). The empty promises of false teachers come from people who themselves are enslaved, pretending they can see while actually blind.

Their Vulnerable Target

Peter identifies who is most at risk: “They allure…the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.” People seeking a fresh start, hearts softening toward God, those who have “recently escaped the pollutions of the world”—these are the targets. And this is where Peter lays out their greatest sin.

Think about what’s happening here. Someone has recognized their slavery to sin and their heart is softening to the gospel and the freedom of Christ. They’ve seen the possibility of liberation, yearning for the joy of forgiveness, begun the seeking process. Their heart is tender, open, hopeful. Then along comes a false teacher: “You don’t need to change that much. God’s grace covers it. Those strict moral standards aren’t really necessary. You can have Jesus and your old lifestyle too.”

These teachers trap people trying to escape their sin-filled lives by basically assuring them that their sins are okay. They soften God’s commands, redefine His standards, and promise freedom while leading people right back into the bondage they were escaping. This person, not yet grounded in Scripture, is vulnerable and more easily believes the lie.

Their Greatest Sin

Why is this so particularly heinous? Because most of these teachers know God’s truth and decide to reject it, then determinedly seek to drag others down with them. Peter suggests some were once genuine believers who “escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” but then became “again entangled in them and overcome.” Whether they were truly saved or merely had intellectual knowledge is debated, but the point is clear: they knew better. They had access to truth and chose to reject it (Hebrews 6:4-6).

“For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” This isn’t suggesting ignorance is better than knowledge—it’s revealing the severity of their judgment. To know God’s way and deliberately lead others away from it is the height of wickedness. Their judgment will be severe precisely because they knew the truth and chose deception instead.

Peter concludes with graphic proverbs: a dog returning to its vomit, a washed pig returning to wallow in mud. These aren’t pretty images, but they capture the reality. The empty promises of false teachers lead people right back to what made them sick in the first place, right back to the filth they’d been washed from.

Protecting the Vulnerable

This passage should create in us an urgency to protect those most vulnerable to the empty promises of false teachers. New believers need several things:

First, they need to be grounded in Scripture quickly. The best defense against false teaching is knowing true teaching (2 Timothy 2:15). Help them understand that God’s moral commands aren’t restrictive rules to limit freedom but loving boundaries that protect true freedom.

Second, they need to understand what genuine freedom actually is. Biblical liberty isn’t freedom to sin without consequences—it’s freedom from sin’s enslaving power (Galatians 5:1). True freedom is being able to obey God, not being able to indulge flesh without guilt.

Third, they need community with mature believers who model authentic faith. False teachers isolate and manipulate; healthy churches protect and disciple. Don’t let new believers navigate these dangers alone (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Fourth, they need to recognize the pattern of false teaching: promises of freedom coupled with softened morality. If someone is telling you that sin isn’t really that big a deal, that God’s standards have changed, that you can pursue holiness and habitual sin simultaneously—run. Those are empty promises of false teachers.

The Warning for All of Us

But this isn’t just about protecting new believers. We’re all vulnerable to the appeal of softened standards and promised liberty. How often are we tempted to listen to voices that tell us what we want to hear rather than what we need to hear? How easily do we gravitate toward teachers who make us comfortable in our sin rather than challenged toward holiness?

The empty promises of false teachers are seductive precisely because they appeal to our flesh. They promise us we can have God’s approval without God’s transformation and assure us we can be Christians without the cost of discipleship. But Scripture is clear: “By whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.” Whatever masters you, enslaves you. The teacher promising you freedom to sin is actually enslaving you to it. Don’t believe the lie. True freedom comes not from lowered standards but from transformed hearts that actually want to obey God.

Reflection Questions

1. Have you ever been tempted by teaching that softened God’s moral standards or promised “freedom” that actually led toward bondage? What made that teaching appealing, and how did you recognize it as false?
2. If you’re a new believer or mentoring one, what specific steps can you take to ground yourself/them in Scripture to recognize the empty promises of false teachers?
3. Where in your life are you tempted to believe that God’s standards don’t really apply or that grace means license to sin? How does this passage challenge that thinking?
4. How can you help create a church culture that both extends genuine grace to struggling believers and maintains clear biblical standards, avoiding both legalism and license?

Prayer

Consider how the empty promises of false teachers appeal to our flesh by softening God’s standards. Ask God to give you and your church wisdom to extend genuine freedom while protecting against deceptive promises that lead to bondage.