Totally Free

Read 2 Peter 2:1-22

12. These false teachers are like unthinking animals. . . . They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed.
13. Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals.
14. They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse.
15. They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. . . .
19. They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. 2 Peter 2:12-15, 19

“When I grow up,” says many a child, “I’ll do whatever I please.” When they grow up, some actually try. Freedom to do anything they want looks heavenly.

Peter knows that appearances can be deceiving. In this second epistle, Peter warns his readers about the trade-off of “totally free” living. This concern that Peter addresses comes from heretics who advocate a do-what-you-like philosophy. But Peter says their teachings are really more binding than freeing. With guidance as perfect for our century as for the first, Peter provides insight into the slave-master relationship. Who is your master?

Peter’s second letter dealt with a heresy that urged Christians to sin. The heretics argued that we may as well do whatever we like because God will forgive us. They called this freedom. But Peter pointed out that freedom to do whatever we like is actually slavery to our sinful desires (1 Peter 2:19). He also wrote that God frees us from sin so that we can obey him rather than our sinful desires. God does not free us from the restraint to do good but from the rule of our appetites and desires.

Some people say that they want to be totally free. By this they usually mean that they do not want moral convictions or laws restraining them from doing whatever they like. In reality their desire to be totally free requires them to obey their appetites. Thus they are not totally free. Whether they realize it or not, they obey a master, too.

What or whom will you call your master? Will you follow your fleshly desires and be a slave to sin? Or will you obey God’s commands and be free from sin? It is your choice. Choose wisely.