2 Peter 2:2

‘And many will follow their lascivious doings, by reason of whom the way of the truth will be evil spoken of.'

A prominent aspect of their teaching would seem to have been a claim that the way to acceptability with the divine was by lascivious behaviour, probably including illicit sex and drunkenness. The idea may have been that they attained ‘oneness' with their god(s) by ‘making love' to sacred prostitutes and avid women in the Temples, or because their behaviour was seen as denying the flesh by treating it as irrelevant and letting it run away with itself. Either way lust and desire controlled their thinking.

Unbelievable though it may seem, there are so-called Christians today who also consider that they can behave in a similar way because it is ‘natural', and because ‘God wants them to enjoy life'. This is the argument for illicit sex between homosexuals, which along with adultery, where the same excuse is often used, is clearly condemned in Romans 1:24. It is also the basis for much drunkenness. And the result is that Christianity is held up to ridicule because of its supposed adherents, as a result of the fact that Christians fail to be Christlike. Here Peter reveals that those who argue in this way are false teachers and will come to their due end

The practical outworking of this was found in those days among the Nicolaitans and similar groups who are mentioned in Revelation 2:6; Revelation 2:14; Revelation 2:20, where attendance at idolatrous feasts and engaging in loose sex on religious grounds was clearly practised, along with drunkenness.