2 Peter 2:17-22

Peter does not mince his words about these false teachers. They are "springs without water", ie they offer life, but actually give nothing. A mist has no substance. They will eventually find themselves in deepest darkness.

The tactics used by these false teachers is to use clever sounding words, but which are in fact empty. They will also boast about themselves, and will appeal to people's lustful desires. This is not just referring to sexual desires, but to desires for money, and to our pride. In doing so they entice people away from the truth.

They claim to offer freedom, but are in fact themselves in slavery to depravity. The tragedy of it all is that they once knew the Lord. As an aside, the New Testament does contain occasions, such as here, where it refers to people who once knew the Lord but then fell away. As far as the Bible is concerned it is possible to fall away. This does not mean we should live in fear of doing so, but should ensure that we continue in faith. When such people fall away they tend to return to their original depravity.

All this is a warning that we should be careful about false teaching, particularly clever sounding teaching.