"Instead of being faithful to Paul and his presentation of the gospel, the false teachers have distorted his message."Gene Green, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Jude and Peter, 340. "They twist his teaching ... as even the other Scriptures,"Green, Ibid., 340 and they do this to their own "eternal destruction" (Greek: apōleia),Edward Robinson, Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament, 90. which entails "the loss of eternal life"G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 56–57; A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament being Grimm's Wilke’s Clavis Novi Testamenti, Translated, Revised and Enlarged by Joseph Henry Thayer, 71. and "the final loss of salvation."Green, Ibid., 241; "exclusion from salvation" (Hermann Cremer, Biblico-Theological Lexicon of the New Testament Greek, translated from the German Second Edition by William Urwick, 453). "The problem of the false teachers is not that they have poorly understood portions of divine revelation but that they use their twisted interpretation to justify their immorality (e.g., 2:19; 3:3-4). Twisted teaching and twisted practice go hand in hand."Green, Ibid., 341. Peter's "dear friends" have been forewarned in advance—they are to continually be on guard against being "carried away" (Greek: synapagō) by the error and deception of the false teachers who are already "seducing the unstable" in the congregation.Green, Ibid., 341–342. David Kuske says the verb synapagō "means 'to drag away together with others," and the passive voice indicates that this action would be done to Peter's readers" by the false teachers.David Kuske, A Commentary on 1 & 2 Peter, Jude, 361. If a believer winds up embracing the heretical beliefs and practices of these false teachers, they will "apostatize,"Vic Reasoner, A Fundamental Wesleyan Commentary on 1–2 Peter, 307. So B.J. Oropeza, Apostasy in the New Testament Communities, Volume 3: 150, 152. or "fall" (Greek: ekpiptō) from their secure position. Jörg Frey says the word fall (ekpiptō) is likely used here because piptō, fall, "and other composites are conventionally used for apostasy and ethical decline (cf. Rom 11:11, 22; 1 Cor 10:12; Gal 5:4; Heb 4:11; Rev 2:5; 1 Clem. 59:4; 2 Clem. 2.6; 5.7)."Jörg Frey, The Letter of Jude and the Second Letter of Peter: A Theological Commentary, 430, fn. 915. "The term is used figuratively in Gal. 5:4 and 2 Peter. 3:17 to convey the sense 'to lose’ one's salvation or 'to fall away' from grace" (Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words, William D. Mounce, General Editor, 235). S.T. Bloomfield has "fall away from, namely, by apostasy" for ekpiptō in Gal. 5:4 and 2 Peter 3:17. (A Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament, 115). Even Calvinist Thomas Schreiner says "fall" here "refers to apostasy (cf. Rom 11:11, 22; 14:4; 1 Cor 10:12; Heb 4:11; Rev 2:5)," but denies that it is possible for Christians to commit apostasy (New American Commentary: 1, 2, Peter, Jude, 400). Peter is issuing a "severe warning." His readers have been "informed in advance about the nature of the false teachers and the danger they pose, and should therefore be on guard against the temptation to apostasy from the true faith and the ethical way of life, because this would inevitably entail the loss of salvation and destruction."Frey, Ibid., 430-431. He "has clarified in the entire letter that those who fall away" (or commit apostasy, like the false teachers have done), "are destined for eternal destruction. Believers maintain their secure position ... by heeding warnings, not by ignoring them."Schreiner, Ibid., 400. "The apostle recognizes that the best antidote against apostasy is a Christian life that is growing."Green, Ibid., 343. Therefore, Peter urges them in his final exhortation to "continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah."Green, Ibid., 343. This growth in grace and knowledge "is the strongest antidote against the destructive lures of the false teachers."Green, Ibid., 343.
