Horny Hot Air

“For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error” (v18).

The marketers of Madison Avenue aren’t the first ones to know that sex sells. Two thousand years before, a team of false teachers leveraged the libido in order to infiltrate local churches and tear them apart from the inside out. These hucksters may be full of hot air but they hide their lack of facts with lots of sex. And they set their sites on low hanging fruit. They target the weak and the vulnerable.

The Apostle Peter pulls no punches in the second chapter of his second letter. He spills a whole lot of ink sounding the alarm about a posse of spiritual snake oil salesmen that are destroying churches in Asia Minor (2:1-3). And he makes it VERY clear that they may pretend to talk all about God but they’re really all about sex. Let’s face it. Most translations pretty things up in the Bible. But Pete does his best to expose these sexual predators for what they really are. “Many will follow their sensuality” (2:2). He compares them to what was going down in the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (2:6-7). He warns of “those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion” (2:10). “They have eyes full of adultery” (2:14). And now he lets us know who their targeting for their sexual advances.

In case you glossed over his warning that the false teachers “are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm” (2:17), Pete bluntly accuses them of being full of hot air. They’re “speaking loud boasts of folly” (v18). He uses the Greek word huperogkos, which means of something of excessive size, overgrown and swollen. Think of a balloon that’s being overfilled. Stretching. Creaking. Groaning. It’s gonna blow!!! These knuckleheads are pretentious gas bags. They’re full of themselves. The apostle describes their teaching as “folly” (Gr. mataiotes). It can mean something devoid of truth and nonsense. But it also describes perversity and depravity. Their message is bloated with filth. When you hear crap like this, Pete says run far and run fast! When it explodes, it’s going to be nasty.

These horny con artists are looking for an easy mark. They’re not only out to make a quick buck (2:15), they’re trying to hop in the sack. Pete writes that “they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error” (v18). The former fisherman reaches into his tackle box and pulls out an angling term (Gr. deleazo). It means to bait, catch with bait, allure and deceive. These false teachers know how to bait the hook. He dropped the same word a couple of verses back. “They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice (Gr. deleazo) unsteady souls” (2:14). Jesus’ kid brother James also talked about how we often take the bait of our own sinful impulses. “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed (Gr. deleazo) by his own desire” (James 1:14). 

Their bait is sex. “Sensual passions of the flesh” (v18). The original language uses the term aselgeia. Maybe I’m overstating it. Maybe I’m just wanting to talk dirty in the guise of talking about the Bible. Well, this Greek word means living without any moral restraint, especially when it comes to outrageous sexual behavior. They’re promoting a promiscuous sexuality. Lustful indulgence. Life with no moral seat beat. If it feels good, do it…especially when it comes to sex. They don’t use truth but titillation. These hucksters appeal to our libido. They know that sex sells. Pete already warned us that they’re looking to bed married women (2:14).

The false teachers have very specific prey in their sites. “Those who are barely escaping from those who live in error” (v18). The false teachers look for the weak and vulnerable. They target those teetering on the edge. Folks with broken marriages. The lonely. The guilty. Low hanging fruit. They’re not looking to sway the leaders. That’s too hard. They won’t budge. But there are people who will fall for their sexual sell. The weak.  

The false teachers know that sex sells. Even in church. ESPECIALLY in church! Can we be painfully honest? Too many times, the subject of sex is taboo within the local church. But we must remember that it is a fabulous gift from our Creator. Sex was His idea! It was our sin that jacked up this beautiful present from God. He designed us for sexual intimacy within marriage. Anything other than that corrupts and kills. One thing we can do is talk about God’s purpose and intention for sex. Openly. Honestly. If He can include an entire book of the Bible about it (yeah, I’m talking about the Song of Songs!), then we had better talk about it. Because if we don’t, false teachers are going to use it against God’s people.