In preparation for this week’s growth group, I was struck by the strong, direct language of the apostle Peter when he wrote, “For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved” (2 Peter 2:19).

In the context of what Peter is discussing, this is speaking of the “false teachers among [us]. The “unrighteous, irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. Blots and blemishes. Waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, slaves of corruption” (2 Pet. 2). This is an incredibly prophetic, unapologetic description of those who “entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who in error” (2 Peter 2:18). Of those he goes on to say, “it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them” (2 Peter 2:21). As this speaks to the false teachers, and of course applies to all believers, where does that leave us? Where is the hope for us who have “escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” yet may be finding ourselves “again entangled in them and overcome” (2 Peter 2:20)? Surely not only the false teachers have this problem, and the judgment ringing out from Peter’s appeal can leave us so hopeless if we miss out on the key word overcome in this passage.

We have all been overcome by something since our salvation through faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ by the cross. For so many, including myself, there are times when we find ourselves overcome by “the passions of [our] former ignorance” (1 Peter 1:14), and kick ourselves repeatedly for being like “the dog [returning] to its own vomit” (2 Peter 2:22; Proverbs 22:11). This, of course, is the bad news and, if we are reading carefully, we pick up on Peter’s declaration: “whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.” This can make the bad news seem even worse. Not only do I “fall” in sin, but I am actually enslaved to that sin if it is overcoming me. The common language today is that we fall, we stumble and mess up. This almost allows us to paint a prettier picture for ourselves than the real picture God sees. To us, it is a simple smudge on a large canvas of an otherwise good painting. To God, it is a whole section of canvas torn off and missing from His grandest work of art: redeemed mankind. We do not simply mess up; we shackle ourselves once again to the slave-master, sin, from which we were set free through our baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection into a newness of life (see Romans 6). Again, this is the bad news. I have intentionally sought to magnify the gravity of the bad news in the hope that it may help to set some captives free even today. “The sin that so easily ensnares us” (Hebrews 12:1) is not simply an “oopsie-daisy,” but a willing enslavement of ourselves to that sin. With that in mind, let us consider the overwhelming good news! When we see the slave-master, sin, for what it is, we begin to take a whole new approach to it. We will begin to seek, through a conscious effort, to extend our freed bodies, as living sacrifices, to the yoke of Christ and so become bond-slaves of righteousness again, presenting our members to Him (See Rom. 6; Matthew 11:28-30).

If it is true that “whatever overcomes a person” is what the person is enslaved by, our greatest chance of being set free again is by looking to Jesus and being overcome by His glory, His mercy, His goodness, His grace. In his first epistle, Peter reminded his readers they were, “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for [them], who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5). As they were struggling through this world, going against the grain of their culture and seeking “to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against [their souls]” (1 Peter 2:11), Peter admonishes them to “set [their] hope fully on the grace that will be brought to [them] at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13). That is their anchor. That is our anchor. The hope we have in Christ for eternity is what sustains us on Earth. The gratefulness for the new life He has bestowed on us, even “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8) is what causes us to “rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:11). That rejoicing, born from our living hope through Christ, causes us to want to “be holy in all [our] conduct. knowing that [we] were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from [our] forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:15-19). If we set our hope, anchor our hope, in Jesus, we begin to live as God’s children, as those who have been set free: “if the Son sets you free you [are] free indeed” (John 8:36).

It is true, “whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.”

Let’s be enslaved to Jesus Christ, willingly, because of His great love for us, and the fullness of joy that He has promised us as we take His yoke upon us (John John 15:11). Being overcome doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Being a bond-slave doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It is really a matter of deciding who we are going to be bond-slaves to sin, which always leads to death, or Jesus Christ our Lord, who is Himself life.