Sex Slaves

“They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved” (v19).

Picture an addict absolutely consumed with their next fix. The monkey on their back has grown bigger than King Kong. Yet they’re not just using. They’re pushing. The junkie is also a dealer. They’re blind to the fact that the addiction is killing them. Yet they want everyone to join them. In death. That’s the picture Peter paints in verse 19. These false teachers guarantee a liberty that won’t free anyone. As a matter of fact, their so-called freedom is just a mirage. In fact, it’s slavery. A slavery that rots. A slavery that destroys. A slavery that kills.

The apostle writes that they’re pitching freedom. These spiritual snake oil salesmen are pushing sexual freedom. It doesn’t take a biblical scholar to see that the false teachers are not just consumed by sex but selling it too. In the previous verse, Pete tells us “they entire by sensual passions of the flesh.” They’re selling the jacked up concept of sexual freedom.“Many will follow their sensuality” (2:2). He compares them to the twin sin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (2:6-7). He reassures us that God knows how to handle “those who induce in the lust of defiling passion” (2:10). The false teachers are on the sexual prowl, with “eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin” (2:14). If that’s not bad enough, these con artists are targeting folks who are weak and vulnerable. They’re preaching liberty to “those who are barely escaping” (2:18). 

There’s one big problem of their pornographic sales pitch. The false teachers are preaching a message of free love that is actually holding them captive. “They themselves are slaves of corruption” (v19). Their alleged sexual freedom is actually sexual bondage. MacArthur writes, “The false teachers can’t deliver the freedom they promise, because they themselves are enslaved to the very corruption which people are trying to escape.” The translators of the ESV use the word “corruption.” But Pete drops one of his favorite Greek terms: phthora. It means destruction, ruin, disintegration. The word also describes something rotten. Decaying flesh. A decomposing corpse. As a former commercial fisherman, he knows all about putrid smells.

I mentioned that this is one of the apostle’s faves. He used it earlier in the letter to describe these rotten teachers and their destructive message. “But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed (Gr. phthora), blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction (Gr. phthora)” (2:12). Earlier he reminds Jesus’ followers that we’ve “escaped from the corruption (Gr. phthora) that is in the world because of sinful desire” (1:4). These hucksters are actually rotting away by using the very message they’re selling. They’re like drug addicts who are also dealing chemicals that kill. 

Here in the middle of his specific warning about these sexually addicted dealers, Peter sounds a broader alarm. “For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved” (v19). The apostle uses the verb hetteomai, which means to be defeated, conquered, and controlled. When something kicks your butt, it takes control of your life. It conquers. It controls. This may be something overtly evil, like addiction or porn. But it can also describe something good. Family. Marriage. Work. Church. These good things have the power to secretly infiltrate our hearts and conquer our lives. Mark Driscoll likes to say that making good things into god things is a bad thing. The only One who deserves the pole position in our lives is Jesus.

As a matter of fact, Christ taught His followers about the slavery of addiction. “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin” (Jn 8:34). There’s only one way to freedom. And it’s NOT following the perverted preaching of the false teachers. Jesus is the ONLY way to truly know liberty. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (Jn 8:36). In his letter to his buddies in Rome, Paul wrote a similar message of sin and slavery. “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness” (Rom 6:16).

It’s no stretch to see the false teachers as sex addicts. And they’re pushing life of sexual freedom. What they don’t realize is their very message is one of death. One of decay. One of decomposition. The next time an addict tries to sell you the same fix that’s killing them, you need to walk away. They think they’re sex liberators. They’re actually sex slaves.