For me, today, tone is one of the active one of the 2 words that come to mind. Peter’s tone is strong and firm and direct, and Peter is certainly coming in hard on false teachers and false teachings. History has really proven out that these false teachings will eventually get fleshed out - God is cited as doing so in several direct examples today. It is hard to miss Peter’s message on this today.
For me though, the second word that comes to mind is vulnerability. This really isn’t directly tied to Peter’s letter, but rather, it is something I am inferring from his letter. Peter doesn’t tell us that these false teachers are leading others astray because they have educated themselves relating to the gospel and are convinced that what Christians say happened, that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, was a lie...they didn’t take on false teaching with that motivation. They took on false teachings with a motivation to appease their passions and their wallets. These folks seem to have found a system whereby they could do what they wanted, when they wanted, and with whom they wanted, and they could even get rich in the process. However, they figured out that Jesus’ message wouldn’t support this way of living, so they went about trying to construct a system that would. They were likely adding a little here, taking away a little there, etc...and they were shaping Jesus’ message to fit their agenda rather than coming to God with their hands and minds open.
And, the reason I say that the word ‘vulnerability’ comes to mind is because we all do this. We all do it, at least just a little bit. We may be as subtle as to avoid just one little topic of idea from the Bible, like tithing or no sex before marriage (as examples), and with just that little bit of avoidance we can do what we want because we are otherwise living mostly righteous lives; or so we feel, when we look around and compare ourselves against others - which is a whole different issue. Or, we may read the Bible and go to church but avoid smaller group settings where we know our sins will be exposed, thereby shielding ourselves from judgement. Or, we may even completely walk away from our faith because we can’t reconcile our lifestyle with our faith and we just find it easier to walk away.
Whatever it is, we are all vulnerable to this - we are all vulnerable to looking at the world with an agenda in mind, to find what we are looking for. We are equally vulnerable to reading God’s Word with something in mind to get from it...looking to confirm a message rather than to find God’s Will.
Today is a great reminder to me to be curious, that curiosity is an essential part of our faith. Further, today reminds me that we must be open to God’s correction of us, and humble enough to receive it from those whom God has placed into our lives.