2 Peter 2:3

The context

Chapter 2 warns about false teachers who will arise among the churches, deny the Master, and draw people after their sensuality. Their method is described in verse 1 as destructive opinions, and in verse 3 as invented stories used for gain. The chapter then moves to the judgment of angels and of Sodom.

What it establishes

It establishes that the motive attributed is greed and that the instrument is fabricated speech. The verse also asserts that the exploitation will not go unjudged: condemnation is described as neither asleep nor idle, which is the ground for the warning.

What it does not establish

It does not establish that every claim of miracle is fabricated. The verse names a practice among a specific group, not a general rule. Nor does it give criteria for distinguishing invention from report; the reader applies the test.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Cited in these answers

• Don’t the numerous televangelists on TBN and other such networks show that Christianity is all about the money?

Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.