2 Peter 2

Verse 1. Lying teachers among you, some of which were already come, and many more were to follow, who shall bring in sects, [1] (heresies) leading to perdition, and deny the Lord who bought them, denying the divinity of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer; such were the disciples of Simon, and many after them. Witham.—Sects of perdition; that is, heresies destructive of salvation. Challoner.

Verse 2. Many shall follow their luxuries, or lasciviousness, such as are related of the Nicolaites and Gnostics, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be blasphemed, or ill spoken of, by those who made no distinction betwixt true and false Christians. Witham.

TR reads “destructive” instead of “immoral”

Verse 3. They shall make merchandise of you, preaching such lying doctrine as might please the people, but through a motive of covetousness, and for their own gain. Witham.

Verse 4. If God spared not the Angels, and so forth [2] Saint Peter here brings these examples of God’s justice. 1. Towards the rebellious angels that fell from heaven; 2. that of the general flood, or deluge; 3. when he destroyed Sodom and those other cities. First, angels that sinned, God by his justice delivered them, drawn down with infernal ropes into hell to be tormented, and to be reserved even for greater torments after the day of judgment. This seems to be the liberal sense of this fourth verse, which is obscure, and has divers reading in the Greek. In the examples of the deluge and of Sodom, Saint Peter shews not only the severity of God’s judgments upon the wicked, but also his merciful providence towards the small number of the just, as towards Noe, a preacher of justice, the eighth and chief of those who were preserved in the ark, when he spared not the world that was of old, (lit. the original world) or wicked of those ancient times. When he delivered that just man, Lot, at the time he reduced Sodom and those other cities to ashes: for Lot was just both in sight and hearing, without being corrupted by what he saw and heard; chaste as to his eyes and ears, or as to all that could be seen or heard of him, when the wicked among whom he lived vexed and grieved his just soul by their impious deeds. God, therefore, who knows and approves the ways of the godly, preserves them by his providence amidst temptations. Witham.

Tartarus is another name for Hell

Verse 9. To reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment, and so forth That is, God many times does not punish the wicked in this life, he suffers them to run on in the ways of iniquity, with prosperity as to the enjoyment of a short and vain happiness in this world, but his judgments are most of all to be dreaded, when the punishments are reserved till the next life, as it will appear at the day of general judgment: and from the time of their death they shall be tormented in hell. Witham.

Verse 10. Especially those who walk after the flesh, and so forth Such were the Gnostics, and divers of the first heretics, as well as many of them in after ages, who despise authority, contemn the laws, both of church and state; self-willed, full of self-love, lovers of their own infamous pleasures; blaspheming against God, his ministers, and against those who serve God. Witham.

Verse 11. Whereas angels, and so forth By comparing this place with what we read in S. Jude, (verse 9) he speaks of the good angels whom God employed to banish the rebellious angels out of heaven, and on other occasions, who, though they had greater strength and power given them by the Almighty, yet did not bear execrable judgment against themselves; that is one against another, or against those who at first had been happy spirits with them in heaven; did not exult over them with injuries and reviling reflections, but executed their commands in the name of God, saying, let the Lord command you. See Jude, verse 9. Witham.—Bring not an execrable judgment, and so forth That is, they use no railing, nor cursing sentence; not even in their conflicts with the evil angels. Challoner.

Verse 12. But these men, and so forth These infamous heretics of whom he speaks, like brutes, void of reason, naturally following the disorderly inclinations of their nature corrupted by sin, tend, or run headlong into the snares of the devil, to their own destruction and perdition, blaspheming against the mysteries of religion, and against what they do not understand. Witham.

Verse 13. Counting the delights of the day to be pleasure; such is their impiety and their folly, that they have no regard to all the punishments they make themselves liable to, if they can but pass their days in this short life, or even one day, in shameful pleasures and delights. They may be called the stains and blemishes, the shame and disgrace of mankind, on account of the abominations they practise in their rioting and banquetings. [3] See what S. Epiphan. relates of Gnostics. Witham.—Delights; that is, the short delights of this world, in which they place all their happiness. Challoner.

Verse 14. And what is still an aggravation to the weight of their sins, they entice and allure others, unstable souls, not sufficiently grounded in faith and virtue, by promising them liberty and happiness, though they themselves be miserable slaves to their passions. At the same time they make dupes of them out of covetousness, to get a share of their money and riches. Witham.

Verse 15. In this they are like Balaam, of Bosor, (a town of the Madianites) who coveting the reward promised him, (Judges 11) was willing, if God had permitted him, to have cursed the people of Israel: but God put a check to his madness, by making the ass which he rode upon speak with a human voice. Witham.

Verse 17. These are fountains without water. The like lively description is given of the manners of these heretics by S. Jude, so that the text of one of these apostles helps to expound the other. Witham.

Verse 20. For if flying, and been happily freed from the pollutions, the abominations, and corruptions of a wicked world, be upon your guard, and take great care not to be entangled again in these dangerous snares and nets, lest your latter condition (as Christ said, Matthew 12:45) be worse than the former, lest you be like a dog that returns to his vomit, or like a sow that is washed and wallows again in the mire. Witham.