Bible Commentaries
2 Peter 2

Verses 1-22

II:1-3 Warning against False Teachers —The severe denunciation contained in this chapter is similar to the one in Judges 1:4-16 not only in thought and imagery, but is presented in almost the same order and often in identical language. Since Jude is more spontaneous and less reflective, it is usually considered to be the original (cf. § 960d). The Apostle puts his Christian readers on guard against certain deceitful teachers, who by their evil lives and their spirit of avarice are luring some to destruction.

1. ’False prophets among the people’, i.e. of the OT, cf.Jeremiah 5:31; Jeremiah 14:14; Jeremiah 27:9 f.; Ez 13:3, 6-9; Zach 13:1-5. Among you lying teachers’, cf.1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 3:1-8. ’Sects of perdition’, i.e. factions leading to the ruin of the Christian way of life. 2. ’Their riotousnesses’, i.e. lustful excesses. ’The way of truth shall be spoken evil of’, i.e. they bring Christian truth into bad repute. 3. Through covetousness they exploit the faithful for gain, but their punishment will not be long delayed.

4-9 Examples of Divine Vengeance —Three instances of God’s punishment are given: (1) the rebel angels; (2) the wicked antediluvians; (3) the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha. From the fate of these three classes one may conjecture what God will do to the false teachers.

4. ’The angels that sinned’ are the same that are mentioned in Jude 6. ’Trusting them down into hell, he delivered them to pits of darkness’; this is the reading of the best MSS. ’To be reserved unto judgement’, i.e. although they were punished immediately after committing sin, their solemn condemnation before the whole world awaits the day of general judgement.

5. ’And spared not the ancient world’, i.e. the antidiluvian race mentioned in Genesis 6:5 ff. ’Noe, the eighth person’, i.e. Noe’s wife, his three sons and their wives were with him in the ark. On the prominence of Noe as a type of Christ in early Christian literature, cf. Daniélou, 98-103. Noe is called a ’preacher of justice’; Gen makes no mention of this, but Jewish tradition does, cf. SB 3, 769. 6. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, Genesis 19:24 ff. 9. ’The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly from trial’, i.e. as is shown by the rescue of Noe and Lot from their wicked surroundings.

10-22 The Wickedness of the False Teachers —10. Such summary punishment in the past should be a warning to those who disregard the moral law and legitimate authority. But the false teachers are ’audacious, self-willed, and fear not to revile majesty’; in all probability the divine Majesty is meant, and sacred things directly connected with God, but cf. § 961c.11. ’A railing judgement’ most likely refers to the example given by Jude 9. 12. ’But these men . . . reviling what they do not understand’, i.e. being carnal minded, they cannot understand or appreciate spiritual things.

13. They live for the pleasures of the day, and such is their conduct, that they are ’stains and spots, indulging in their deceits while they feast with you’, i.e. using their power of deception to further their own plans even on those whose guests they were. Another reading is: ’Using their love-feasts as an opportunity for indulgence even while they feast with you’. The former reading is supported by the best MSS; cf. § 961d.

14. ’Having eyes full of adultery and of sin that ceaseth not’, i.e. whatever they see stirs up their passions and leads them to commit more and graver sins, particularly by enticing weaker souls to sin. Nor is this their only habitual vice; they are equally skilled in the ways of gaining wealth. For these reasons they are a curse to themselves and others.

15. Because of their avarice they have ’followed the way of Balaam of Bosor’. According to Numbers 22:6 Balaam was the son of Beor, who was misled by avarice to disregard the command of God, and who narrowly escaped destruction when he was reprimanded by ’ the dumb beast used to the yoke’, cf.Numbers 22:21-33.

17. The shallow-mindedness and deceit of the false teachers furnish the Apostle with a number of withering metaphors. 18. Their levity appears in the boastful and exaggerated claims they make to higher wisdom; their trickery lures with the bait of sensuality those who are least fit to resist, namely, those who were recently converted from paganism, and who had not yet fully conquered their former errors and bad habits. 19. ’Promising them liberty’; not the freedom from sin that a Christian should strive to preserve, but the worst type of slavery to human passions, from which baptism had set them free; but what else could be expected from ’slaves of corruption’. 20. Through Christian teachings they had been liberated from ’the pollution of the world’; yet should they become ’again entangled in them and overcome’, they are worse off than before. 21. They have not the excuse of ignorance, 22, and their conduct is no better than the disgusting habits of senseless beasts.