What are the characteristics of false teachers?
Peter assured the “chosen generation” that the promises of the Lord to them would be fulfilled in every respect if they continued to repent and strive to develop the character of godliness. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). This day of testing carried with it, however, the inevitable possibility of failing the test. The Apostles were shocked at the speed with which the spirit of apostasy was taking hold of the Church in their own time. Peter warns of the “false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them … Many shall follow their pernicious ways” (2 Pet. 2:1-2). Jude was startled enough at the sudden defections all around him that he interrupted the writing of an epistle on the doctrines of salvation to write a stern warning against “certain men” who have “crept
