Creatures of Instinct

Peter’s portrait of the false teachers now reaches its most vivid and unflattering point, for he writes that “they count it pleasure to revel in the daytime” (2 Peter 2:13). In the ancient world, daytime revelry was considered especially shameful, for the night provided at least the pretense of concealment for those who indulged in excess, but to carouse openly during the hours of daylight signaled a brazen disregard for propriety.

The false teachers’ indulgence was not hidden; they did not even bother with the appearance of restraint. They reveled openly and without shame, and they did so while feasting with the very believers whom they were deceiving. The “feasting” in view in verse 13 is almost certainly the communal meal, or love feast, that accompanied the celebration of the Lord’s Supper in the early church. These meals were meant to express the unity and love of the body of Christ, yet the false teachers turned them into occasions for self-indulgence. Peter’s language contains a pointed wordplay: The Greek word that he uses for “deceptions” sounds strikingly similar to the word for “love.” What should have been love feasts had become deception feasts. Peter calls these men “blots and blemishes,” the very opposite of what the church is meant to be, for Christ is preparing His bride to be “without spot or wrinkle” (Eph. 5:27), and these teachers mar her beauty with their presence.

In 2 Peter 2:12, Peter compares them to “irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed.” Animals operate by instinct; they do not reason about right and wrong, weigh consequences, or consider the will of their Creator. The false teachers have so surrendered to their appetites that they function no differently, governed not by truth but by their basest instincts.

The comparison also carries a grim implication about their destiny. As certain animals in the ancient world were bred for slaughter, so these teachers are destined for destruction. Their present indulgence only hastens the judgment that awaits them. They may mock the idea of divine reckoning now, but Peter assures us that they “will also be destroyed in their destruction” (v. 12), a phrase that underscores the certainty and completeness of the judgment to come. The repetition is deliberate: There will be no escape, no reprieve, and no second chance for those who corrupt the church of Christ from within.