2 Peter 2:1

FIRST PREDICTION: False teachers shall have great success and certain ruin (2Pe_2:1-10).

(1) But there were false prophets also.—To bring out the contrast between true and false prophets more strongly, the clause that in meaning is secondary has been made primary in form. The meaning is, “There shall be false teachers among you, as there were false prophets among the Jews;” the form is, “But (in contrast to the true prophets just mentioned) there were false prophets as well, even as,” &c.

Shall be false teachers among you.—We must add “also.” With this view of Christians as the antitype of the chosen people comp. 1Pe_2:9. The word for “false teachers” occurs here only. It is probably analogous to “false witnesses,” and means those who teach what is false, rather than to “false Christs,” in which case it would mean pretending to be teachers when they are not. “False prophets” has both meanings—sham prophets and prophesying lies. Justin Martyr, about A.D. 145 (Trypho, lxxxii.), has “Just as there were false prophets contemporaneous with your holy prophets” (he is addressing a Jew), “so are there now many false teachers amongst us.” Another possible reference to this Epistle in Justin is given below on 2Pe_3:8. As they occur close together, they seem to render it probable that Justin knew our Epistle. “There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in heresies of destruction,” is quoted in a homily attributed, on doubtful authority, to Hippolytus. (See below, on chap. iii. 3.)

Privily shall bring in.—Comp. Jud_1:4, and Gal_2:4; and see Notes in both places. Comp. also the Shepherd of Hermas, Sim. VIII. vi. 5.

Damnable heresies.—Rather, parties (full) of destruction (Php_1:28), “whose end is destruction” (Php_3:19). Wiclif and Rheims have “sects of perdition.” “Damnable heresies” comes from Geneva—altogether a change for the worse. The Greek word hairesis is sometimes translated “sect” in our version (Act_5:17; Act_15:5; Act_24:5), sometimes “heresy” (Act_24:14; 1Co_11:19; Gal_5:20). Neither word gives quite the true meaning of the term in the New Testament, where it points rather to divisions than doctrines, and always to parties inside the Church, not to sects that have separated from it. The Greek word for “destruction” occurs six times in this short Epistle, according to the inferior texts used by our translators (in the best texts five times), and is rendered by them in no less than five different ways: “damnable” and “destruction” in this verse; “pernicious ways,” 2Pe_2:2; “damnation,” 2Pe_2:3; “perdition,” 2Pe_3:7; “destruction,” 2Pe_3:16.

Even denying the Lord that bought them.—Better, denying even the Master that bought them. (See Note on Jud_1:4.) The phrase is remarkable as coming from one who himself denied his Master. Would a forger have ventured to make St. Peter write thus?

This text is conclusive against Calvinistic doctrines of partial redemption; the Apostle declares that these impious false teachers were redeemed by Jesus Christ. (Comp. 1Pe_1:18.)

And bring upon themselves.—More literally, bringing upon themselves. The two participles, “denying” and “bringing,” without any conjunction to connect them, are awkward, and show that the writer’s strong feeling is already beginning to ruffle the smoothness of his language.

Swift destruction—i.e., coming suddenly and unexpectedly, so as to preclude escape; not necessarily coming soon. (See first Note on 2Pe_1:14.) The reference, probably, is to Christ’s sudden return to judgment (2Pe_3:10), scoffing at which was one of the ways in which they “denied their Master.” By their lives they denied that He had “bought them.” He had bought them for His service, and they served their own lusts.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Pe_2:1

But there were false prophets also.

False prophets and false teachers

I. A narration.

1. The connection of the words. Also implies that there were always true prophets. God never leaves His people without tutors.

2. The corruption of the persons. False prophets.

(1) They that came in the name of God, but were never sent by God (Jer_23:21).

(2) They that come in Gods name, and are sent, but deliver a false message.

3. The intrusion of their mischief. Among the people. But durst these black impostors press into so famous a light, and not fear discerning? (1Ki_18:19; 1Ki_22:6.) They say it is half a protection to foreknow a danger: behold the apostles fidelity, and therein Gods mercy.

II. A caution.

1. Who they be that assault us. Falsehood insinuates itself always in the semblance of truth. For error is so foul a hag, that if it should come in its own shape, all men would loathe it.

2. Whither they come. Not to the Turks, or Gentiles, or other heretics only; but to you that have the gospel. They seem to come unto you, but indeed they come against you; they promise your good, but they perform your hurt.

(1) God suffers these for the trial of our faith (1Co_11:19).

(2) God suffers them, that the true pastors might more patiently exercise their knowledge. Heresy makes men sharpen their wits, the better to confute it.

(3) God permits them for mens ingratitude.

3. These false teachers intrude themselves--as sometimes a gamester, being flushed with his luck--and they meet with three encouragements:

(1) The numbers and applaudings of their auditors (Jer_5:31).

(2) The honour and respect that is done them.

(3) Large gifts and riches.

4. Their unavoidable necessity. They will press in, and we cannot easily stave them off. Jesus Christ must enlighten our hearts to decline these false teachers. Now the means whereby Christ teacheth us is the Scripture.

III. A description of these pernicious liars, concerning whom we find a threefold mischief: one that issues from them, another that abides in them, a third that is inflicted on them.

1. Their seminary mischief, offensive and noxious to others.

(1) The matter, what they bring in--damnable heresies.

(a) Heresy is that which doth diametrically oppose the truth, and set up an opinion against it. Error is when one holds a wrong opinion alone; schism, when many consent in their opinion; heresy runs further, and contends to root out the truth.

(b) Heresies, in the plural, to point at a multitude. The troubles of the Church seldom come single; but either unite their forces, as the five Amorite kings combined against Gibeon (Jos_10:5); or separately they vex her on every side, as Solomon was assaulted by Hadad, Rezon, and Jeroboam (1Ki_11:1-43.).

(c) They shall bring in. Here is the necessity. Shall; though provision spend all her wit, and prevention all her strength, yet no avoiding it.

(d) The malignity of them. Damnable heresies.

(i) Because they are reprobated of God.

(ii) Because pestilent to the kingdoms or nations where they are admitted.

(iii) Because they bring destruction to all their followers and defenders.

2. The causes that produce such inevitable effects.

3. The manner of their induction: underhand, privily.

(1) Their subtlety, whereby they insinuate their unseen poisonous seeds (Eph_4:14).

(2) Their vigilant care to spy out the opportunity, how they may privily bring heresy in (Mic_2:1).

(3) Their hypocrisy, with the covertly carriage of their intended plagues (Rom_16:18). Vice dares not walk without a borrowed shape.

4. Their criminal evil.

(1) They deny. It were bad enough to slight Him, worse to forget Him, yet worse to forsake Him; but to deny Him is fearful.

(2) The Lord. Not a creature, not a man, not a father, not a friend, not an angel, not themselves; but the Lord, this is more fearful.

(3) That bought them. It is much to deny a benefactor, more to deny a parent, more to deny a Creator; but yet there is a step higher: to deny a Redeemer. Denial of Christ is of two sorts--either in judgment or in practice; denial in faith or denial in fact. The latter is of infirmity, the other of infidelity.

5. The punishment.

(1) They bring upon themselves.

(a) The wicked are the causes of their own condemnation (Isa_50:1; Pro_5:22; Psa_64:8; Jer_2:17).

(b) God is not the cause of mans transgression or damnation (Jam_1:13; Rom_9:19).

(c) They themselves bring it; therefore not any fatal necessity out of themselves, but their own malice within them.

(2) Destruction. This is the measure of their punishment--total ruin.

(3) Swift. Man may shoot and miss, or his arrow be so slow of flight that it may be avoided; but if God shoots, He hits and kills. (Thos. Adams.)

Error in the Church

1. The futility of insisting on having even now what might be called a pure Church. It must needs be, said our Lord, that offences come.

2. It is none the less the duty of the friends of truth and righteousness to maintain the spirit of a vigilant and strenuous resistance to the assaults of error and corruption.

3. That a doctrine or a practice has many followers, even among church members, affords but a poor presumption that it deserves to be followed (Mat_24:5; Mat_24:10-12).

4. The certain and irretrievable ruin of ungodly men.

5. finally, let us bless God that, through the waste wilderness of obstruction, deceit, and delusion, His own holy Word has clearly marked for us the way of the truth. (J. Lillie, D. D.)

Doctrinal poison

The poison that ended the life of Alexander VI. of Italy was no less destructive because it was concealed in a glass of wine. The virus that sent to the grave Sir Thomas Overbury was not the less fatal because it was hidden in a jelly handed to him by ,. fascinating lady. The bite of the asp that closed the career of Cleopatra was not the less deadly because the reptile rested on roses. Doctrinal poison is none the less mortal because the pen of a prince in erudition inscribes on it the word scholarship. (S. V. Leech, D. D.)

Damnable heresies.

Destructive heresies

1. It is a destructive heresy for a man to think that he can be saved without faith in Christ, while ignoring, or, it may be, denying the redemptive work of Christ.

2. It is a destructive heresy for a man to think that he is safe and in the way of salvation while yielding to corrupt passions and living a careless life.

3. it is a destructive heresy for a man to regard himself as a Christian, and think he is right for heaven, while possessing nothing of the mind and spirit of Christ.

4. It is a heresy of destruction for a man to think that if he abstains from great and glaring transgressions he may safely indulge in sins of the heart, and need no be over particular about what has been called the minor moralities of life.

5. It is a heresy of destruction for a man to think that he is a Christian sheltered by the blood of Christ while he consciously and continually disregards the commands of Christ.

6. It is a heresy of destruction for a man to boast that Christ is all in all to him while he withholds himself and all he has from Christ.

7. It is a heresy of destruction for a man self-complacently, to suppose that he may gird up the loins of his mind, be sober, and hope unto the end while he is conscious of no love to God, and while cherishing hatred of his fellow-man. Let us examine ourselves, lest we should--

(1) Endanger our own souls salvation.

(2) Endanger the souls of others.

(3) Deny the Lord that bought us.

(4) And so dishonour God, bring upon ourselves swift destruction. (The Study.)

Denying the Lord that bought them.--

The master and his slaves

There were three great stains on the civilisation of the world into which Christianity came--war, the position of women, and slavery. The relation of the New Testament to the last of these great evils naturally connects itself with the words before us. This same wicked thing, slavery, is used as an illustration of the highest, sacredest relationship possible to men--their submission to Jesus Christ. With all its vileness, it is still not too vile to be lifted from the mud, and to stand as a picture of the purest tie that can bind the soul. The word in our text for Lord is an unusual one, selected to put the idea in the roughest, most absolute form. It is the root of our word despot, and conveys, at any rate, the notion of unlimited, irresponsible authority. Nor is this all. One of the worst features of slavery is that of the market, where men and women and children are sold like cattle. And that has its parallel too, for this Owner has bought men for His. Nor is this all; for, as there are fugitive slaves, who break away every man from his master, and when questioned will not acknowledge that they are his, so men flee from this Lord and Owner, and by words and deeds assert that they owe Him no obedience, and were never in bondage to Him.

I. Christs absolute ownership. To material things and forces He spake as their great Commander, saying to this one God and he went, and showing His Divinity, as even the pagan centurion had learned, by the power of His word, the bare utterance of His will. But His rule in the region of mans spirit is as absolute and authoritative, and there too His word is with power. Loyola demanded from his black-robed militia obedience so complete that they were to be just like a corpse, or a staff in a blind mans hand. Such a requirement made by a man is of course the crushing of the will and the emasculation of the whole nature. But such a demand yielded to from Christ is the vitalising of the will and the ennobling of the spirit. The owner of the slave could set him to any work he thought fit. So our Owner gives all His slaves their several tasks. As in some despotic Eastern monarchies the sultans mere pleasure makes of one slave his vizier and of another his slipper-bearer, our King chooses one man to a post of honour and another to a lowly place; and none have a right to question the allocation of work. What corresponds on our parts to that sovereign freedom of appointment? Cheerful acceptance of our task, whatever it be. The slaves hut, and little patch of garden ground, and few bits of furniture, whose were they--his or his masters? If he was not his own, nothing else could be his own. And whose are our possessions? If we have no property in ourselves, still less can we have property in out properly. These things were His before and are His still. Such absolute submission of will and recognition of Christs absolute authority over us, our destiny, work, and possessions, is ennobling and blessed. We learn from historians that the origin of nobility in some Teutonic nations is supposed to have been the dignities enjoyed by the kings household--of which you find traces still. The kings master of the horse, or chamberlain, or cupbearer, becomes noble. Christs servants are lords, free because they serve Him, noble because they wear His livery and bear the mark of Jesus as their Lord.

II. The purchase on which that ownership is founded. This master has acquired men by right of purchase That abomination of the auction-block may suggest the better merchandise of the souls of men which Christ has made when He bought us with His own blood as our ransom. First, then, that is a very beautiful and profound thought, that Christs lordship over men is built upon His mighty and supreme sacrifice for men. We are justified in saying to Him, O Lord, truly I am Thy servant only when we can go on to say, Thou hast loosed my bonds. Then consider that the figure suggests that we are bought from a previous slavery to some other master. He that committeth sin is the slave of sin. If the Son therefore make you free, you shall be free indeed.

III. The runaways. We do not care to inquire here what special type of heretics the apostle had in view in these solemn words, nor to apply them to modern parallels which we may fancy we can find. It is more profitable to notice how all godlessness and sin may be described as denying the Lord. All sin, I say, for it would appear very plain that the people spoken of here were not Christians at all, and yet the apostle believes that Christ had bought them by His sacrifice, and so had a right over them, which their conduct and their words equally denied. How eloquent that word denying is on Peters lips! It is as if he were humbly acknowledging that no rebellion could be worse than his, and were renewing again his penitence and bitter weeping after all those years. All sin is a denial of Christs authority. It is in effect saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. It is at bottom the uprising of our own self-will against His rule, and the proud assertion of our own independence. It is as foolish as it is ungrateful, as ungrateful as it is foolish. That denial is made by deeds which are done in defiance or neglect of His authority, and it is done too by words and opinions. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Pe 2:1. But — Now that I am speaking of the divinely-inspired Jewish prophets, whose writings you must give heed to, I must remind you that there were also false prophets among the people — Of Israel, whose doctrine and pretended predictions were to be disbelieved and disregarded, and whose society was to be shunned. Under the name of false prophets, that appeared among the Israelites of old, those that even spake the truth, when God had not sent them, might be comprehended; and also those that were truly sent of him, and yet corrupted or softened their message. Even as there shall be false teachers — As well as true; among you — Christians. The entrance of false teachers into the church of Christ, their impious doctrines, their success in perverting many, and the influence of their doctrines in corrupting the morals of their disciples, were all very early made known by the Spirit to the Apostle Paul, as we learn from his speech to the elders of Ephesus, and from his epistles to the Thessalonians, to Timothy, and to Titus. The same discoveries were made to the Apostles Peter, John, and Jude, who, as well as Paul, published them in their writings, that the faithful might oppose these false teachers, and confute their errors, as soon as they appeared. Peter, therefore, here records the revelation which was made to him concerning the false teachers who were to arise in the church, and concerning their destructive ways. But, lest the prospect of these great evils should grieve the faithful too much, as suggesting a fear that God had forsaken his church, he observes, by way of preface, that such a thing was not unexampled; because that, together with many true prophets, there were also many false ones in God’s ancient church, which, however, God had not therefore forsaken, but continued to superintend and take care of it. Who privily shall bring in — Into the church; damnable, or destructive heresies — As αιρεσεις απωλειας signifies; understanding by the word heresies not only fundamental errors in doctrine and practice, but divisions and parties occasioned by them, formed among the faithful. See note on 1Co 11:18-19. Even denying the Lord that bought them — They either, first, by denying the Lord, introduced destructive divisions, or they occasioned first those divisions, and then were given up to a reprobate mind, even to deny the Lord, both by their doctrine and their works. By the Lord here may be understood either the Father, who hath redeemed mankind by the blood of his Son, or the Son, who hath bought them with his own blood. Observe, reader, the persons here spoken of as denying the Lord, and therefore as perishing everlastingly, were nevertheless bought by him; by which it appears that even those who finally perish were bought with the blood of Christ; a full proof this of the truth of the doctrine of general, redemption. And bring upon themselves swift destruction — Future and eternal misery.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Warning Against a Threatened Plague of Brutal False Teachers

As of old there were false as well as true prophets, so it will be now. This leads the Apostle to speak about the false teachers, who if they have not already begun-he expects will trouble his readers. Prophets were important persons in the early Church: cp. Act_11:27; 1Co_12:28.; 1Co_14:29.; Eph_2:20; Eph_3:5; Eph_4:11. These teachers, who had doubtless been baptised, claimed, it would seem, to be prophets, and therefore to be outside ordinary rules and discipline: they put a 'private interpretation' on such matters. Hence they fell into the sin of pride, and rebelled against official authority; and of lust and covetousness, despising the laws of morality. The Apostle shows, by the example of the angels that sinned, and of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, that sure punishment is ready for them, but that God will preserve the faithful from their seductions. He writes in strong but very spiritual language, and is in accord with the rest of the NT. in teaching that the destruction of the unrepentant sinner is continuance in sin: see Eph_4:12. (RV), 19f; and cp. Mar_3:29; (RV) Rom_1:28; 2Th_2:11. (RV) Heb_6:6.

This chapter should be carefully compared with St. Jude's Epistle.

1. Damnable heresies] RV 'destructive heresies.' The word 'heresy' is passing here from its older meaning of a 'school' or 'sect' (RM) to the modern meaning of 'false doctrine': cp. Act_24:14; 1Co_11:19; Gal_5:20. Even denying the Lord] RV 'denying even the Master'; their evil lives were a denial of Christ's authority.

2. Pernicious ways] RV 'lascivious doings.'

3. Damnation] RV 'destruction': cp. 2Pe_2:12, 2Pe_3:7. With the rude but vigorous style of this and other vv. in the chapter cp. 1Pe_3:17. St. Jude is more polished, but less strong.

4. The Apostle here follows Jewish tradition (cp. Rev_20:1-3), as it is given in the book of Enoch, from which St. Jude expressly quotes.

5. Noah the eighth person] RV 'Noah with seven others': cp. 1Pe_3:20.

6. Neither here nor elsewhere in Holy Scripture is it said that these cities were submerged. Zep_2:9 is against such a belief.

7. Vexed with the filthy conversation] RV 'sore distressed by the lascivious life.'

9. Unto the day of judgment to be punished] RV 'under punishment unto the day of judgement.' God's punishment is remedial, and this v. gives just a gleam of hope for the false teachers.

11. Comparison with Jdg_1:9 would suggest that the Apostle is here too referring to an apocryphal book, but if we did not know that Epistle we should more naturally think of Job 1 or Zechariah 3.

12. Natural brute beasts, made to be taken] RV 'creatures without reason, born mere animals to be taken.' Shall utterly perish in their own corruption, and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness] RV 'shall in their destroying surely be destroyed, suffering wrong as the hire of wrongdoing.'

13. Sporting themselves with their own deceivings] RV 'revelling in their love-feasts.' Such a love-feast or common meal of the Christians is described in 1Co_11:20.; The abuses for which the Corinthians were rebuked led to the separation of the Holy Communion from such feasts. But though St. Jude has 'love-feasts' in the parallel passage, it is more than possible that 'deceivings' of AV and RM is right here. The Gk. words only differ by two letters, and if St. Jude used this Epistle he might well correct a difficult to a seemingly easy expression.

14. Cursed children] RV 'children of cursing,' a Hebrew mode of expression: cp. 1Pe_1:14 it means that their whole character is worthy of execration.

15. Bosor] RV 'Beor,' as in Num_22:5, Balaam, as we learn from Rev_2:14, taught Balak to try and ruin the Israelites by tempting them to uncleanness, and Balak had already offered him rewards (Num_22:7, Num_22:17). Thus he was like the false teachers in two respects.

16. Forbad] RV 'stayed.'

17. Wells without water, etc.] RV 'spring without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved.' The false teachers are as disappointing as springs without water, or as mists which promise moisture but are scattered by the wind: cp. Wis_2:4 and Eph_4:14. The Day of the Lord will come to them, as Joel saw it (Joe_2:1.), 'with clouds and thick darkness '—a storm which will truly satisfy the thirsty land: see Intro.

18. Through much wantonness] RV 'by lasciviousness.' The repetition of this word points to the character of the false teachers. Repetition of this kind is frequent in 1 Pet.

Those that were clean escaped] RV 'those who are just escaping'; i.e. those who have become Christians, but are not far advanced in the Christian life; 'new-born babes,' as they are called in 1 Pet, who have still to 'grow unto salvation.'

19. Cp. Joh_8:34; Rom_6:16.

20. Knowledge of Christ is both the beginning and the end of Christian life: cp. 18 (RV). Latter end] RV 'last state': cp. Mat_12:45 and Heb_6:4-6; Heb_10:26.

21. Turn] RV 'turn back.'

22. The second proverb is not in Holy Scripture; the first comes from Pro_26:11.

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

II. WARNING AGAINST FALSE TEACHERS SOON TO APPEAR, 2Pe_2:1-22.

1. Their doctrine, influence, and doom, 2Pe_2:1-3.

1. False prophets—While there were these holy men and true prophets among God’s people, the ancient Israel, there were false prophets as well. Some pretended to be prophets who were not, and some prophesied “out of their own hearts,” who followed “their own spirit,” and saw “nothing.” Deu_18:20-22; Jer_28:15-17; Eze_13:2-3.

False teachers—Teachers of falsehood in the Church, the spiritual Israel.

Privily shall bring in—Literally, Shall bring in by the side of. By the side of the true doctrine already received, they would bring in what seemed to be truth, not, at first, in open antagonism, but stealthily and unobservedly.

Damnable heresies—Rather, Heresies of destruction. For they led to perdition. The word heresy ordinarily, in the New Testament, means a sect or faction; it here is nothing created or founded, but brought in, and must have the sense of doctrine. The character of these heretics is so fully described in this chapter that there is no mistaking their identity. Adopting the theory that all evil is in matter, they easily fell into the inference that the grossest immorality is consistent with sinless purity. The logical culmination of such a doctrine was in a denial of Christ’s authority over them as Lord and Redeemer. On this shocking doctrinal heresy, so subversive of the glory of Christ, the apostle’s mind fastens, as shown in his next words.

Denying the Lord that bought them—Some think that God is meant, but incorrectly, for as idolatry is not alleged, that would make them atheists, which they were not. The word for Lord is δεσποτης, master, denoting supreme authority and sovereignty. These false teachers had charged St. Peter with misrepresenting, in his first epistle, the power and dignity of Christ. See notes on 2Pe_1:16. They denied, then, the Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ; they denied his lordship over men and angels; and they denied the redeeming efficacy of his death.

Swift destruction—As a result of this denial; for they repudiate the only Saviour. The Lord had bought them with his own blood; and yet they are miserably self-destroyed. It indisputably follows, from this passage, that some for whom Christ died will finally perish. Efforts are made to escape this inference; such, for instance, as Scott employs, who says, “It is not requisite to understand the apostle as declaring that the Lord Jesus Christ had died with an intention of redeeming these very persons.” Most certainly not; yet he does expressly declare that Christ did redeem them, and he would be a bold man who would venture to affirm that he redeemed them without intending it.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

MISCHIEF-MAKERS AND MISCHIEF-MAKING

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

THE subject treated in this chapter is the mischievous influence of corrupting doctrine. And false doctrine is constantly treated in the New Treatment in view of the immoral associations which always attended it, as with the idolatries of older days. True doctrine works for righteousness; false doctrine works for licence. True prophets had been referred to in 2Pe_1:21, and they suggest warnings against false prophets, and false teachers.

2Pe_2:1. There were.—In the times of the true prophets there were false ones. It is always so. The good and the evil go together. False teachers.—Such as the Judaising teachers, who dogged the steps of St. Paul, or such as the Gnostic teachers—or teachers of what subsequently became known as Gnosticism, who roused the intense opposition of St. John. Apart from these there may have been pure time-servers, who were ready to deceive the people if they could secure their own gains, such as Simon the sorcerer. People.—Term specially used of the Jews, as the people of God’s choice (Mat_1:21; Joh_11:50). Privily.—With the idea of subtlety; craftily, not merely secretly. The warning was needed because of the guilefulness of the false teachers; their plausibility. (For examples of false prophets, see 1Ki_22:6; 1Ki_22:11; 1Ki_22:24; Jeremiah 28; Isa_9:15, etc.). Damnable heresies—R.V. “destructive.” “Sects” is better than “heresies.” The word “heresy” means “choice of a party,” and was used in later Greek for a philosophic sect, or school. St. Peter deals with classes rather than with persons. The Lord.—Here δεσπότην, Master. Bought them.—Compare 1Pe_1:18. Some of the early false teachers denied our Lord’s humanity, and some His Divinity; but probably St. Peter had chiefly in mind entangling men in old legal Jewish forms, when they had been lifted into spiritual liberty and privilege.

2Pe_2:2. Pernicious ways.—Lascivious doings (see Mar_7:22; Rom_13:13; 1Pe_4:3; Jude 2Pe_2:4; 2Pe_2:8). The connection between false doctrine and immorality is fully recognised, but the apostle may have in mind self-willedness, swayed by self-seeking motives. Way of truth.—The service of Christ was at first known as “the way” (see Act_9:2, etc.).

2Pe_2:3. Through covetousness.—The preposition, ἐν, indicates that covetousness (unprincipled getting for personal advantage) was the element, the substratum, of their profession. Illustrate Simon the sorcerer. Feigned words.—Made-up tales. Their own manufactures, which rest on no authority. “A bombastic mysticism, promising to reveal secrets about the unseen world and the future, was a very lucrative profession in the last days of Paganism, and it passed over to Christianity as an element in various heresies.” (Compare “Cunningly-devised fables,” 2Pe_1:16.) Damnation.—Destruction. “Judgment does not loiter on its way; destruction does not nod drowsily. Both are eager, watchful, waiting for the appointed hour.”

2Pe_2:4. The angels.—No article—“angels.” Whether the antediluvian sinners or beings of another world, are meant, is disputed. There is no Old Testament record of, or allusion to, any fall of angels. Plummer thinks the reference is to statements in the book of Enoch, that certain angels sinned by having intercourse with women (see T. Moore’s poem, “The Loves of the Angels”). “Angels” may be a translation of “Sons of God” (Gen_6:2). To hell.—Cast them into dungeons. Tartarus, ταρταρώσας, an unusual term.

2Pe_2:5. Old world.—In the book of Enoch the Flood follows close upon the sin of the angels. Eighth person.—Noah and seven others. Preacher.—κἡρυκα, herald. One to whom a message is given to deliver. (Compare Jonah.)

2Pe_2:7. Just Lot.—With special reference to moral sentiments. Filthy conversation.—The lascivious life of the wicked.

2Pe_2:8. Righteous man.—Spiritual righteousness is not suggested; only moral righteousness. Lot’s character must be judged from his story as a whole. Vexed.—Tortured. Why, then, did he stay in the district? “Righteous” is a comparative term; and we must think of Lot in relation to the defective morality of his age, and in view of the licentiousness of those with whom he is here contrasted.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—2Pe_2:1-8

The Essence of Heresy.—It has been satirically, but with much suggestive truthfulness, said that orthodoxy is “my opinion,” and heterodoxy is “other people’s opinion.” It should be carefully observed that, in Scripture, heresy is never regarded as a mere difference in intellectual standpoint, mental apprehension, or word setting. It is always regarded from its moral side, always seen as bearing a mischievous influence upon the character, or giving an unhealthy licence to the conduct. Heresy is anything and everything that helps a man to do wrong. By its fruits it is known. That opinion is wrong which works out into unrighteousness.

I. Heresy is not the reverent endeavour to understand revealed truth.—Revealed truth has to be understood and explained; it has to be understood, and set forth in fresh language-forms, for each age. And it is the gravest mistake to represent the new shapings of truth-forms in order to carry old truths to the minds of a new generation, as being heresy. The old forms become, in course of time, dead as mummies, and must be replaced by new forms, using the terms and connotations of each fresh generation.

II. Heresy is not the individual stamp which persons put upon revealed truth.—If it were, then every intelligent and independent-minded person would be a heretic; and progression in the apprehension of truth would be impossible. It is the genius given to individuals, that they can put life into old things by re-clothing them for presentation to our minds and hearts.

III. Heresy is every setting and shaping of opinion that gives incitement or support to moral evil.—Pharisaism is therefore heresy. Later Judaism was heresy. Heathenism was heresy. Gnosticism, on some of its sides, was heresy; because these things gave licence to moral evil. Still, everything that works for righteousness is orthodox, and everything that works for evil is heterodox.

IV. Heresy is that setting of opinion which has for its inspiration the covetous spirit.—The man is sure to go wrong in his thinking whose aim is getting for himself. See 2Pe_2:3.

Examples of Divine Judgment.—Three instances of Divine vengeance, proving that great wickedness never goes unpunished—the special point to illustrate being that the Divine judgments are sure to come upon those who associate Christianity with licence, or with self-seeking. The three instances are here given in chronological order—Wanton Angels; Flood; Sodom and Gomorrah: while those in Jude are not—Unbelievers in the Wilderness; Impure Angels; Sodom and Gomorrah.

I. The example of the angels.—We must carefully dissociate the representations of modern poetry from the teachings of Scripture. Milton’s use of legendary matter carries no authority, and affords no explanation of difficult allusions in Holy Scripture. Moore’s “Loves of the Angels,” is a pure work of imagination. It was a common Jewish idea that the term “sons of God” in Gen_6:2 meant the angels. But there can be no reasonable doubt of the fact that both St. Peter and St. Jude took their idea of fallen angels either from the book of Enoch (an apocryphal work of that age), or from the current traditions which were afterwards embodied in the book. It is certain that Holy Scripture carries no revelation at all in relation to the matter. “Not improbably the false teachers made use of this book, and possibly of these passages, in their corrupt teaching. Hence St. Peter uses it as an argumentum ad hominem against them, and St. Jude, recognising the allusion, adopts it, and makes it more plain; or both writers, knowing the book of Enoch well, and calculating on their readers knowing it also, used it to illustrate their arguments and exhortations, just as St. Paul uses the Jewish belief of the rock following the Israelites.” The sin of the angels was the self-willedness that found expression in self-indulgence. Instead of keeping their dignity as the servants of God, they asserted a dignity for themselves, in independence of Him. When that dignity of their own worked itself out, it showed itself as sensuality, and moral evil, upon which the judgments of God must come.

II. The example of sinners before the Flood.—It is singular to find St. Peter and St. Jude so deeply interested in the antediluvians, and we can only suppose that speculations concerning them, and their fate, were characteristic of the times. But it has been noticed that in the book of Enoch reference to the Flood immediately follows on reference to the sin of the angels. Those old-world sinners set themselves, in their self-will, against God; and the self-will did what it always does, worked itself out into immorality and violence, upon which the judgments of God must rest. The inference in each case is that the false teachers, who were corrupting the Churches, were self-willed men, teaching self-willed opinions, and the fruitage of their teaching was precisely what you might have expected it to be, a licence to self-indulgence and sin.

III. The example of the cities of the plain.—Pride, nourished by the idle life which a luxurious soil permitted, manifested itself in a masterful self-willedness, which found expression in immoralities of the most abominable and degrading character. Upon them the judgments of God, taking a most terrible and overwhelming character, were bound to fall. “The judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah forms a fitting complement to that of the Flood, as an instance of God’s vengeance, a judgment by fire being regarded as more awful than a judgment by flood, as is more distinctly shown in chap 2Pe_3:6-7, where the total destruction of the world by fire is contrasted with the transformation of it wrought by the Flood.” The great sin of Pagan self-willedness was sensuality. The great horror of heathenism is sensuality. The great peril of the early Christian Church—under the influence of self-willed teachers—was sensuality. Christianity works ever towards the righteousness of moral self-restraint; and that is not Christianity which, in any sense or degree whatever, gives licence or incitement to moral evil. The judgments of God must come on all professing Christians who fail to “keep the vessels of their bodies in sanctification and honour.”

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

2Pe_2:5. A Preacher of Righteousness.—That is, a preacher whose preaching, if followed, would surely work out into righteousness. There was in his day the necessity for a very extraordinary Divine judgment. The long-lived race proved to be so gigantic in its iniquities and abominations that its entire removal became necessary. But God never lets threatened judgments fall until He has given sufficient warning, and provided space and opportunity for repentance. Noah was to be the agent in giving the Divine warning to that sinful generation; and the opportunity for duly responding to the warnings was provided by the long delay of judgment. Noah was to warn by word. He is called “a preacher of righteousness.” He was to warn by act—building on persistently, day by day, at the Ark, and testifying thus his belief in the Divine threatenings. For one hundred and twenty long years he was to keep up his witness, and carry on his work. And we can only admire the loyalty and the faith which kept him quietly going on amid the jeers and scoffs of the thoughtless multitudes who watched his work, and listened to his word. Here is no common man. For one hundred and twenty years he held on his faith in God against all kinds of temptations. It would have been a little thing if, on receiving his commission from God, he had gone away, dwelt in a cave, nourished his faith in secret, and then, at the close of the time, come forth to declare his warnings. Here is the surprising thing: the man stood in the world’s eye all through those years. He lived among the people whom he warned. They might say of him and of his work what they pleased, but he went on gathering his material, shaping and fitting things together, letting his strange vessel grow in sight of all who cared to look. The hermit who lives for God in a secret cell is not so very admirable; commendations may well be kept for the man who lives for God in the market-place and in the street. The religion that is worth anything can stand the strain of commonplace, every-day life and relations. The man who cannot be godly in home and business cannot be godly anywhere. It is in his common life among men that the moral strength of a Noah is revealed.”—From “Revelation by Character.”

The Reception of Noah’s Preaching.—Now, Noah believed God’s Word, that He was about to destroy the inhabited parts of the world with a flood, if they did not repent. We are told that he preached righteousness to his neighbours, and told the world around him to repent of their wickedness, or destruction would come upon them. We can imagine how they scoffed and jeered. “What strange story have you to tell us? that we shall be destroyed by a flood? We will believe it when we see it. You want us to be religious, and so you try to frighten us, in order to make us give up our sins. Tell us something pleasing; we hate this melancholy message you bring us. Religion has gone out of fashion here. They found it was not profitable, and so they gave it all up. Everything has gone on as it was since the beginning of the creation, and we shall not trouble ourselves because of this message.” Noah preached; they laughed; it was all unheeded; no one returned from his evil way; no one believed the message which God sent by Noah to a guilty world. He turned from them with a heavy heart. But he felt also that, like a brave man, he had done his duty. He began to work at the Ark or great ship which God told him to build, and this showed his own faith in the message. The world around him, no doubt, thought him mad, but God comforted and supported him by making a covenant or solemn promise to him that he and all his family should be saved.… Death yawned about them, but Noah was supported by a faith in the truth, love, and faithfulness of a God who will save to the very uttermost all who come to Him for shelter, and who will bring those who trust in Him safely across the cold, stormy waters of death to the land where faith becomes reality.—R. Barclay.

Method in Miracles.—The spiritual substance of the revelation contained in the sacred Scriptures is presented to us as sanctioned and proved, both to sense and reason, by a long array of miracles. The present purpose is to point out certain characteristics of the alleged miracles of the Bible which deserve special consideration.

1. The whole series is entirely worthy of the hand of God. In this respect the works of the Bible correspond to the words. Amidst the large number recorded, there is not one which fails to support the character either of nobleness, or greatness, or beauty, or usefulness, or sublime beneficence, or awful power, which we must attribute to the Deity. None of them is of the nature of a trick, or bears with it any admixture of a grotesque or frivolous element. Compare the miracles of the Bible with the wonders of ecclesiastical history.

2. The apparent suitableness of the miracles to the times and seasons when they were alleged to be wrought, with differences which would scarcely have occurred to literary inventors.

3. All the alleged miracles of the Scriptures were wrought in support of the most exalted ideas, in defence of the highest interests of man, and in illustration of the loftiest moral attributes of God.

4. The miracles of the Scriptures are inextricably interwoven with the web of Jewish history, so that the history becomes unintelligible apart from the supposition of the miracles.

5. A system of prophecy runs parallel with a system of miraculous agency in the recorded dispensations of God. The one yields support and credibility to the other.

6. The chief objection to the reality of the Scripture miracles is derived from their cessation. It is said, Why do they not occur now? But it was no part of the Divine plan to encourage the expectation of the violation of natural law, or the perpetual presentation of miraculous evidence to the senses. The moral evidence suffices after miracles have once attested the Divine origin of religion.—Edward While.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2

2Pe_2:4. The “Hell” of St. Peter. Greek, “Tartarus.”—This is the only passage in the New Testament in which this word occurs. It is a purely heathen word, and embodies a purely heathen conception. As they pried into the future, the Greeks and Romans saw nothing clearly, although the “initiated,” perhaps, had been quickened into an intense yearning for, if not a very bright and vivid hope of, a world to come. The world beyond the gates of death was, for them, “a world of shades.” Their utmost hope, even for the good, was that some thin shadow of the former man would survive to enjoy some faint shadow of his former honour and pursuits. The utmost they foreboded for the wicked was that their thin, wavering, unsubstantial ghosts would be doomed to hopeless tasks, or consumed by pangs such as men suffer here. Sometimes they gave the name “Tartarus” to the whole of this land of shadows; but more commonly they divided the under-world into two provinces: Elysian fields, in which the spirits of their heroes and sages, with all who loved goodness, wandered to and fro, illumined by a pale reflection of their former joys; reserving the name “Tartarus” for that dismal region in which the ghosts of the wicked were tasked, and tantalised, and tormented.… But the Tartarus of St. Peter by no means answered to our hell, as it is usually conceived. Our plain duty is to read the above passage just as it reads in the original Greek: “God spared not angels who sinned, but cast them into Tartarus.”—Salvator Mundi

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Pe_2:1-10 a.

Analysis:—Warning against the false prophets with reference to their inevitable punishment, illustrated by three examples

1But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall he false teachers among you, who1 privily2 shall bring in damnable heresies,3 even4 denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2And many shall follow their pernicious ways,5 by reason of whom the way of truth6 shall be evil spoken of. 3And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of7 you: whose judgment now of a long time8 lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 4For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains9 of darkness, to be reserved10 unto judgment; 5And spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an 7ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered11 just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation12 of the wicked: 8(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds:) 9The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation,13and to reserve the unjust14 unto the day of judgment to be punished: 10But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Connection:—The Apostle, having exhorted them to give attention to the prophecy of Holy Scripture, 2Pe_1:19, now warns them against the false prophets, delineating their character and adverting to their fearful end. As he often takes up the words of our Lord in the first Epistle, so he doubtless alludes here to passages like Mat_24:11-12; Mat_7:15 : “Beware of false prophets.” He makes the transition with reference to the false prophets in Israel, in order that the believers to whom he wrote might not be alarmed at the appearance of erroneous teachers. Paul also had prophesied concerning such erroneous teachers, Act_20:29-30. Those seducers are referred to in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, the first of John, and the book of Revelation, but especially in the Epistle of Jude. In those writings they are mostly described as already existing.

2Pe_2:1. But there were false prophets also—destruction.—Besides those holy men of God, there were also false prophets among the people; the history of Ahab shows this, the books of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel prove it more particularly, and 2Pe_2:15, below, gives an example in the case of Balaam.—ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι found here only, formed analogously to ψευδολόγοι, 1Ti_4:2; and ψευδοπροφῆται. [Alford remarks that ψευδο, in the latter, is ambiguous, the word being either subjective=pretenders, not real prophets, or objective=prophesiers of false things; cf. for the latter, Jer_14:14, LXX, ψευδῆ οἱ προφῆται προφητεύουσιν….; ib. Jer_14:15; Jer_23:25.—M.] Dietlein: “Not a prophet or teacher who prophesies or teaches falsehood, but one who is not a prophet and yet falsely pretends to be one, cf. 2Co_11:13; Rev_2:2.—[Better make ψευδο, in ψευδοδιδάσκολοι, ambiguous, and understand not only unauthorized pretenders, but also teachers of falsehood.—M.]—παρεισάξουσι, not to bring forward, but to bring in beside, introduce secretly. In Jude occurs the similar term παρεισέδυσαν, they crept in through a false door. Bengel: “Beside the salutary doctrine of Christ.—Αἳρεσις from αἱρέω, a doctrine, a school, a sect. In the New Testament it is applied to the religious parties among the later Jews, contending with one another, Act_5:17; Act_15:5; Act_26:5; in a bad sense, Act_24:5; Act_24:14; Act_28:22. So especially, Tit_3:10. “A man that is an heretic….. reject.” It denotes voluntary, deliberate deviating from purely Christian articles of belief, leading to divisions in the Church, cf. Herzog, Real. Encycl. Art. Häresie.—Ἀπωλείας intensifies the idea of αἱρέσεις. Not all heresies are equally pernicious, not all lead so decidedly to destruction. [Doubtful whether this distinction can be drawn; it certainly does not pertain ad rem; these false teachers, who surreptitiously bring in false teaching by the side of the true faith, bring upon themselves destruction. Their end is destruction, cf. Php_3:19.—M.]

Deniers of the Master that bought them.—Winer assumes that the two Participles ἀρνούμενοι and ἐπάγοντες are not cöordinate to each other, but that καὶ—ἐπάγοντες is to be connected with the principal verb thus: “Who shall bring in corrupting heresies, and also, denying the Lord, bring upon themselves swift destruction;” too artificial. Others take καί for even, “even denying the Lord,“ but this use of καί cannot be substantiated. Huther proposes to take the Participle ἐπάγοντες as the verbum finitum, but without any analogy. The construction, however, becomes quite simple by taking the three Participles coördinate and alike dependent on ἕσονται, and making ἐπάγοντες to refer to the two classes of seducers, without distinguishing them from each other. This precludes the necessity of changing the construction while καὶ retains its usual signification. The second form of seducers is a species of the former. The terms παρεισάξουσιν and ἐπάγοντες correspond: they introduce their errors by stealth, but they draw upon themselves open and manifest destruction. [The reader has Fronmüller’s construction in the translation, and may think it less artificial than awkward. The construction of Alford (who takes καὶ as the simple Copula, and regards ἀρνούμενοι as standing in the place of the finite verb, cöordinate with παρεισάξουσιν, followed, as a consequence, by ἐπάγοντες κ. τ. λ.) seems least difficult; he renders “and denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.”—M.]

Of the Master that bought them.—δεσπότης denotes an absolute ruler [an autocrat,—M.] of bondmen or slaves. It is used of God the Father, Luk_2:29; Act_4:24; Rev_6:10. Here the context requires us to apply it to Christ, cf. Judges 4, and Rev_1:8, where Christ is called the Almighty. This term suits ἀγοράζειν better than κὐριος.—1Pe_1:18, has λυτροῦσθαι for ἀγοράζειν, the former of which indicates the infinitely precious ransom, generally ἐξαγοράζειν, to buy back from, out of, Gal_3:13; Gal_4:5; Eph_5:16; Col_4:5. The simple ἀγοράζειν occurs at 1Co_6:20; Rev_5:9; Rev_14:3-4. Calov: “The ransom is the blood of Christ, Mat_20:28. He, to whom it has been paid, is God, who chiefly held us in prison, whereas the devil is only His prisonkeeper, from the hands of whom Christ has delivered us, Eph_5:2; Heb_9:14. God in virtue of His justice required a ransom for our deliverance; in virtue of His mercy He accepted the ransom, which Christ paid for us.”—Gerlach says: “These erroneous teachers had already become Christians, they had already experienced the saving effects of redemption, and had really left the service of the devil in Judaism or Paganism for the service of Christ.” In support of this view 2Pe_2:21 may be cited. But ἀγοράζειν is generally used to denote absolutely the vicarious satisfaction of Christ extending to all men, and consequently also to these false teachers; it is not used with the limitation that the effect of it has been experienced, as Calvin maintains, cf. 1Ti_2:6; Eph_5:2; Heb_9:14. Gerhard makes use of the illustration of a Christian ruler who pays a certain ransom for the redemption of prisoners into the hands of the Turkish Sultan. Those prisoners are truly redeemed, although they should refuse to accept the benefit of their liberation and continue in their bonds.

Deniers of the Master.—Their wickedness is the more enormous, because they deny their greatest Benefactor, in the service and confession of whom they ought cheerfully to die. The manner of their denial is not further defined. Bengel adds: “By their doctrine and works.” Perhaps it is the same kind of denial as that of the false teachers in 1Jn_2:23; 1Jn_4:2; 1Jn_5:12; 2Jn_1:7; 2Jn_1:9. The denial of the historical Christ, at once God and Man in one Person, as held and afterwards developed by the Gnostics into an anti-christian doctrine, partly with highly dangerous practical consequences.—Their denial may have had particular reference to the virtue of His sacrificial death and to His royal power over us, as His bondsmen.—[St. Peter, in inditing these words, doubtless felt deeply his own conduct in this respect, for notwithstanding the warning of Jesus, he denied Him thrice under the most painful circumstances. Mat_26:70; Mat_26:72.—M.] ταχινὴν ἀπώλειαν; ἀπώλεια, destruction, ruin in temporal and eternal death. This will be sudden, cf. 2Pe_1:14; their end will be attended with terrors, Psa_73:19. Destruction shall overtake them swiftly, 1Th_5:3, just as the coming of Christ will be sudden.

2Pe_2:2. And many shall follow after their licentiousnesses.—Cf. Mat_24:11-12; 2Ti_2:17. Errors, particularly those which give free scope to the flesh, are very contagious. [For an account of the Gnostic false teachers see below under Doctrinal and Ethical, No. 4.—M.] ἀσελγείαις, licentiousnesses, dissolute habits, unclean living. We see from 2Pe_2:19 that a false liberty [really libertinism.—M.] was the gospel of those false teachers. They confounded Christian liberty with unbridled license. The roots of the bold antinomian tendency, which we find in the second century among the Carpocratians and other Gnostics, descend to the middle of the first century. “The haughtiness of false spirituality and unbridled sensuality with them went hand-in-hand.” Gerlach. De Wette exhibits gross confusion in the remark that “αἱρέσεις being called here all of a sudden, ἀσέλγειαι, can only be explained from Judges 4.”

By reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.—δἰ οῦς; refer the relative to those who are seduced. The way of truth is an expression taken from the Old Testament, cf. Gen_24:48; Psa_139:24; Jer_18:15; Amo_8:14. The right manner of worshipping and serving God. So Act_19:9; Act_19:23. As a way to a traveller such is true religion to us men. It is evil spoken of among the heathens and the worldly-minded [Bengel: “ab iis qui foris sunt, discrimen ignorantibus verorum et falsorum Christianorum.”—M.] who charge Christianity with the sins of false Christians. “They are wont to say: Look at the fruits of the Christian religion! The inference, although false, does harm, because it confirms those who draw it in their aversion to the truth and to Christ Himself.” Roos.—Peter in his first Epistle, 1Pe_4:14, and Paul in Rom_2:24 (cf. Jam_2:7) allude to this evil speaking. [Oecumenius describes the Nicolaitans and Gnostics as most “unholy in their doctrines and most licentious in their lives.” Clem. Alex. states as a reason for his own writing, that false teachers, professing the name of Christians, and yet living shameless lives, have brought infamy (βλασφημίαν) upon the Christian name, even among the Gentiles, and that it was necessary to disabuse their minds of this illusion, and to vindicate the Gospel of Christ. See Wordsworth, who is very rich in illustrations on this subject.—M.]

2Pe_2:3. And in covetousness with feigned words they will make merchandise of you.—ἐν πλεονεξία; not only the lust of money, but also the lust of honour and pleasure. Ἐν is significant and denotes that they were sunk and immersed in it.—Πλαστοῖς λόγοις, another expression characteristic of Peter, with speeches deceitfully conceived and invented [“speciously fashioned in fair forms so as to allure and deceive,” Wordsworth; Wetstein quotes Artemid. 1, 53, πλάσσειν δοκεῖ……ἀγαθὸν ῥήτορσι……καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἀπατεῶσι, διὰ τὸ τὰ μὴ ὅντα ὡς ὅντα δεικνύειν τὰς τέχνας ταύτας.—M. ] Cf. 2Pe_1:16; Rom_16:18. Perhaps the reference is to fictitious stories of the life of Jesus and the Apostles.—Ἐμπορεύεσθαι, to trade (Jam_4:13), to import goods, to traffic, to make gain of, to overreach, cheat, cf. Hos_12:1; Pro_3:14; to deal in a thing, and to acquire a thing by traffic, is construed with the Accusative. Winer, p. 255, German ed., quotes from Josephus: ἐμπορ. τὴν ὥραν τὴν τοῦ σώματος, to trade in the beauty of the body; and from Philo: ἐνεπορεύετο τὴν λήθην τῶν δικαστῶν, he made profit of the forgetfulness of the judges. Hence Winer inclines to the rendering, “they will seek to get profit out of you, to make gain of you,” or as Dietlein puts it, “they will cheat you” (beschachern).—[The 6th ed. of Winer, Engl. Transl., does not contain these quotations. Winer says plainly, p. 236, that the word here means, “make merchandise of you.”—M.] Gerlach: “They will sell you for coin the doctrines of their own inventing,” cf. 1Ti_6:5; Tit_1:11. The equally proven sense, “to cheat, to deceive,” seems to be most simple.

For whom judgment from of old lingereth not.—οἶς τὸ κρίμα ἔκπαλαι. De Wette thinks it necessary to connect κρίμα and ἔκπαλαι, as if it were the judgment from of old decreed and predicted (Judges 4); for, taken with the verb, it would contain a contradiction; a judgment long since hastening! Dietlein defends this sense, saying that both the promises and the threatenings are from of old in process of continual fulfilment, although their final fulfilment is long delayed, 2Pe_3:9. But this cannot be the meaning of the Apostle, for he speaks of a ταχινὴ ἀπώλεια; the sense is rather: “for whom, according to an old experience, the judgment is not dilatory.” De Wette’s rendering, at any rate, is inadmissible; for it would require ἔκπαλαι before κρίμα. [Alford renders “for whom the sentence from long since is not idle”—after Bengel: “non est otiosum,” who explains: i.e., “plane viget unum idemque est judicium super omnes peccantes, quod in animo Judicis sine intermissione agitatur dum erumpit: et in iis, qui puniti in Scriptura memorantur, ostenditur quid ceteros maneat; tametsi peccantes putant, illud cessare ipsique dormitant.”]

And whose destruction slumbereth not.—An original expression, peculiar to Peter. It is generally used only of men, as is shown in the passage from Plato cited by Huther: μηδὲν δεὶσθαι νυστάζοντος δικαστοῦ. Gerlach: “Punitive judgments live in God’s immutable decree and break forth at the appointed time, and the specific instances recorded in history teach us what is in store for all. God is awake as the Judge, while He seems to be sleeping; but they, the recreants, sleep the sleep of security, while they seem to be awake in undisturbed activity and work.” Hugo extends the expression to stings of conscience, which form already a part of hell, in Gerhard, p. 195.

2Pe_2:4. For if God spared not the angels that had sinned.—Now follow three examples in illustration of ἔκπαλαι, which clearly exhibit the punitive justice alongside the saving justice of God.—εἰ γάρ. Winer, de Wette and al. assume here the existence of an anacoluthon; but the apodosis of the three pratases [1.—εἰ γάρ; 2. καὶ ἀρχ. κόσμ; 3. καὶ πόλεις.—M.] occurs at 2Pe_2:9, although couched in more general terms than might have been expected, respect being had to the exhibition of Divine justice to the pious.

Spared not.—Bengel: “Severe judgment is announced upon those of whom we should have expected that they would be spared.” Complete the sentence thus: “If He did not spare those who stood higher and enjoyed greater dignity, much less will He spare the less.” [But in order to bring this out ἀγγέλων ἁμαρτησάντων should be rendered without the article, viz.: “For if God spared not angels having sinned,” then supply, “much less will He spare these false teachers.”—M.]

That had sinned.—In Judges 6, we have the addition, “who kept not their principality, but left their own habitation,” or according to Stier, “who left their original true dominion and dignity,” cf. Joh_8:44. Dietlein supposes on untenable grounds that 2Pe_2:4-5 belong together, and that Peter therefore stands up as an authority that Gen_6:2, refers not to the Sethites, but to angels; that he alludes more particularly to that last form of the development of sin when they entered into sexual relations with the daughters of men. As to Gen_6:2 we are unable to abandon the view that it relates to the amalgamation of the Sethites and Cainites, cf. Luk_20:34-36. (Dettinger, Tübinger Zeitschrift, 1835, 1; Evangelische Kirchenzeitung, 1858, No. 29.)—ἁμαρτησ. ἀγγ. above, probably would never have been interpreted otherwise than as setting forth the first fall in the realm of spirits, unless the passage, Jude 6. 7, had been believed to contain a reference to a πορνεία on the part of angels. But this view is founded on a false interpretation of τούτοις, which belongs not to the first mentioned angels, but clearly to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, hence the masculine τούτοις. So Keil. It, is alleged in the Evangelische Kirchenzeitung that ἐκπορν. is only used to describe that kind of incontinence which violates an existing bond, that Genesis 6 refers, to matrimony, while 2Pe_2:3 discountenances altogether all reference to angels; that angels indeed denote sometimes fallen angels, 1Co_6:3 (against Stier); that Jude must not be interpreted by the book of Enoch, which, at the time when that Epistle was written, was perhaps not even extant (?). Hence the sinning on the part of angels in our passage can only be understood of the revolt of Satan and his associates, 1Jn_3:8; 1Jn_3:10. Kurtz, Delitzsch and al. interpret differently, while Keil (Lutherische Zeitschrift, 1855, 2), defends our view of Gen_6:2 and 2Pe_2:4, on weighty grounds. The angel interpretation is found in Justin, Athenagoras, Cyprian and al.; also in the Syrian Church; in the Hellenistic and Palestinian synagogue; the Sethite interpretation is held by writers of the Middle Ages, but also earlier by Julius Africanus, Ephrem the Syrian and al.; also by Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin.

But cast them in bonds of darkness into hell and committed them.—σειρά from εἴρειν, to tie, bind, wind(?), a cord, a rope, a band, a noose, not a chain. Judges 6 has instead, δεσμός, a bond, a band, a fetter. [But the most authentic reading (see Appar. Crit. on 2Pe_2:4) is σειροῖς from σειρός=σίφος or σιῤῥός, σιρός, properly a cave where corn is stored (Demosth.); a pit, a wolf’s den; in that case render “dens of darkdess.” Cf. Alford and the Lexica.—M.]

Bonds of darkness.—The Book of Wis_17:18, in connection with the plagues of Egypt, uses the following expression: “ἀλύσει σκότους ἐδέθησαν, they were bound with indissoluble (?) bonds of darkness.” As the bonds here are only a figure of the binding (?) power of darkness, so they are doubtless in our passage. Hence Bengel: “Darkness itself keeps them bound and is to them like a chain.” Jude 5. 6 is more explicit: “he hath reserved them (bound) in everlasting chains under darkness.” In both passages ζόφος, profound, extreme darkness, is used for σκότος. Judges 13. gives both words to express the highest degree of darkness. Although these bonds must not be taken literally, the darkness must not be confined to the darkness of their wickedness, but should be taken to denote real darkness, and the custody in which they are kept, a real custody. But this custody of the evil angels, says Bengel, is as yet preliminary, and the servants of hell may still remain on earth, Luk_8:31; Eph_2:2; Act_5:3; Act_13:10; just as prisoners of war are sometimes permitted to go beyond the place of their confinement.—Ταρταρώσας, another term peculiar to Peter and not found in the LXX. Grotius rightly remarks that it denotes in Classic Greek to cast down into Tartarus, not to condemn to Tartarus. Nor does τάρταρος occur either in the N. T. or in the LXX.; the Greeks conceived it to be the lowest region of the earth, full of darkness and cold, not a region in the air, as Grotius, quoting Plutarch, supposes. So Tertullian, Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, Theodoret. It is=ἄβυσσος, while ᾅδης describes the abode of the dead in general, and γέεννα denotes the final place of punishment, the lake of fire, Rev_20:10-14; Mat_25:44, consequently the preliminary place of confinement and state of spirits, similar to what Sheol is for men. Huther connects παρέδωκε with σειραῖς; but the most simple construction is to connect ταρταρώσας with σειραῖς.

Being kept unto judgment.—Εἰς κρίσιν τηρουμένους belong together. A judgment has probably been passed upon them already, but the final judgment is still in store for them, cf. Mat_8:29; Rev_20:10; Jam_2:19. The Epistle of Jude amplifies “unto the judgment of the great day.”—Τηρουμένους, as criminals that are now reserved for judgment [from a present point of view.—M.] Winer, p. 358.—“They are as unable to work themselves out of their darkness as is a prisoner to extricate himself from his chains.”—Roos. But this author errs when he continues: “Just as the word prison, Job_36:13, and the term hell, 1Sa_2:6, do not describe a place, but a condition, so the term tartarize with reference to the apostate angels does not describe a being locked up in a bad place, but rather the translation to a bad condition. These angels, be they wherever they may, are in a tartaric condition.” The latter is true, but the abstraction, which precedes it, is not biblical.—Grotius sees in their being reserved a particular reference to their inability of going beyond the confines of the place assigned to them, and of doing any thing without permission. Stier calls attention to the deep irony which he detects in these words, whereby the Almighty holds those mighty ones up to derision, an irony of the initial judgment of their perverse doings. “They would not keep their first estate and appointed habitation, and for this they must now, in virtue of the new power exerted against them by the Creator, be sadly kept and held fast unto guilt and punishment in the state of sin of which they made deliberate choice.” This is perhaps too ingenious.

2Pe_2:5. And spared not the old world, but preserved Noah, the eighth person, a herald of righteousness.—The second example, which is not given by Jude, is taken from the flood.

The old world, the world primeval. Dietlein: “Not absolutely the antediluvian race; it includes impersonal creation in so far as it surrounded that primordial race and being, as it were, its body, participated both in its corruption and punishment.”—Ὄγδοον Νῶε. As the Apostle in 1Pe_3:20, attaches importance to the small number of the saved, so he does here in the case of Noah and his wife, three sons and their three wives; cf. on this use of the ordinal, Winer, p. 263. “The eight souls are contrasted with the most numerous world of the ungodly.”—Bengel. Among the Patriarchs Noah is the tenth. There is here consequently no room for a prophetico-symbolical reference. The allusion is plainly to the small number of the saved at all times. [Wordsworth: “Seven is the number of completion and rest, the Sabbatical number: and in Enoch—the seventh from Adam—who walked with God, and did not die, but was translated from the turmoil of this world to a heavenly rest, and taken up to God, there appears to be a figurative adumbration of the Sabbath of heavenly rest, which remaineth to the people of God, Heb_4:9.” Wordsworth has this note with reference to Jdg_1:14 : “Enoch, the seventh from Adam,” and thinks that Peter not only calls attention to the fact that Noah was saved with seven others, but that it places him as it were at the highest point of the climax.—M.]

Herald, preacher of righteousness.—He stood up against the world, denounced its unrighteousness and corruption, and exhorted it to repentance and conversion. Διακοσύνη. Huther: “Here not=righteousness of faith, but in the Old Testament sense=piety exhibited in obedience to the will of God.” [Alford: The fact that Noah was thus a preacher of (moral) righteousness to the depravity of his age, is found alluded to in Joseph. Antiq., I., 3. 1,—Ὁ Νώεος δὲ, τοἳς πραττομένοις ὑπ̓ αὐτῶν δυσχεραίνων καὶ τοῖς βουλεύμασιν ἀηδως ἔχων, ἔπειθεν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον αὐτοὺς τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ τὰς πράξεις μεταφέρειν. Bereschith Rabba, XXX. 6, in Wetstein: “κῆρυξ generationis diluvii, id est, Noachus.”—M.]

Bringing the flood upon the world of the ungodly.—κατακλυσμόν from κατακλύζω, the deluge, confluence of the seas, cf. 2Peter 6. מַבּוּל Gen_6:17.—Ἐπάξας, that which here is referred to the operation of God, is described in 2Pe_2:1, as the guilt of man. The two should go together. [Human depravity the cause of Divine punishment.—M.]

2Pe_2:6. And burning to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, etc.—The third example is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, cf. Judges 7.—Τεφροῦν from τέφρα, to burn to ashes.—Καταστροφῇ κατέκρινεν. Dietlein and al. translate: “He condemned them actually by overthrow;” but we prefer rendering with de Wette, Huther and al.: “He condemned them to overthrow,” like κατακρίνειν θανατῷ, Mat_20:18; Mar_10:33.—Καταστροφή, cf. Gen_19:29, LXX. 2Ti_2:14; Jude amplifies, see 2Pe_2:7.—Ὑπόδειγμα τεθεικώς=παράδειγμα: Jude has δεῖγμα, proof, figure, example, similitude, by which something is shown, cf. Jam_5:10; Heb_4:11; Heb_8:5; Joh_13:15.—Dietlein strangely accounts for the use of the word by Peter’s preference for ὑπό. The Perfect is very emphatic, being usually employed to denote an action completed, conceived as continuing in its effects, cf. Winer, p. 286. Bengel: “It was an irrefragable monument of God and of the Divine judgment.”—Peter probably alludes here to 3Ma_2:5.

2Pe_2:7. And delivered righteous Lot, etc.—Καταπονούμενον, cf. Act_7:24, καταπονέω to wear down or tire out, to oppress, to harass beyond bearing (Alf.). Connect with ὑπὸ τῆς—ἀναστροφῆς. Others join ὑπὸ with ἐῤῥύσατο, rendering “out of the power of the bad conversation, under the influence of which he had been left,” cf. Winer, p. 386.—Ἐν ἀσελγείᾳ ἀναστροφή, cf. 1Pe_1:17.—Ἂθεσμος from θεσμός, a lawless, abandoned man, an antinomian; Bengel: “One who sins against nature;” Gerhard: “One who cares neither for right nor law.” Only here and eh. 2Pe_3:17.

2Pe_2:8. For seeing and hearing the righteous man, etc.—Parenthetical explanation of καταπονούμενον. Instead of the lawless tormenting his soul, it was he, the righteous man, who tormenting his righteous soul.—Βλέμματι καὶ ἀκοῇ belong to ἐβασάνιζεν. Wherever he turned and saw and heard, his soul was distressed at the wickedness that surrounded him. The sense here is similar to Joh_11:33, where it is said of Jesus that He ἐτάραξεν ἑαυτόν. Dietlein: “Pain at one’s own sin and at sin in general must not only be felt, but it must be a pain effected by the soul itself by reason of its turning to God.”—Καταπονούμενον denotes the passive side of the pain. Bede connects δίκαιος with βλέμματι καὶ ἀκοῇ, and renders, “righteous because he did not suffer himself to be seduced by seeing and hearing.”—Ἀνόμοις ἔργοις denotes the object of his distress.

2Pe_2:9. The Lord knoweth, etc.—The apodosis is expressed in terms which apply the preceding examples not only to the lawless, but also to the pious.—Οἷδε. Knowledge and power combined. Κύριος, God the Father, according to 2Pe_2:4.—εὐσεβεῖς, those who like Noah and Lot walk in faith in the living God.

Out of temptation, cf. 1Pe_1:6; 1Pe_4:12; Mat_6:13; Mat_26:41; Luk_8:13; Act_20:19; 1Co_10:13; 1Ti_6:9; Heb_3:8; Jam_1:2; Rev_3:10.—To deliver (rescue,) cf. Jer_39:11; Jer_39:18; Jer_45:5; Exo_18:10.—Κολαζομένους τηρεῖν.—Some take κολ. as Future, but Winer remarks that this is unnecessary, because the idea of the Future is already implied in τηρεὶν εἰς ἠμέραν; and the Present seems to have been chosen intentionally in order to show that their punishment has already begun before the last judgment, cf. 2Pe_2:4.

2Pe_2:10. But chiefly those who go after the flesh.—Jude 2Pe_2:7, applies to the cities of the plain that which here is affirmed of the false teachers, viz., “Πόλεις…. ἐκπορνεύσασαι καὶ ἀπελθοῦσαι ὀπίσω σαρκὸς ἑτέρας. Then in 2Pe_2:8 it is said of the false teachers, that “likewise these…. defile the flesh.” The comparison of the two passages will show that Jude amplifies and explains more fully than is the case in our passage. Stier interprets ἐκπορνεύειν with reference to the next following expression, as=excess of debauchery, to commit fornication out of all rule and order, beyond the limits of nattire.—Ὀπίσω σαρκὸς ἑτέρας, besides the horrors of sensuality, mentioned in Gen_19:5, and Rom_1:27, refers evidently to the terrible sins of Sodom, which are enumerated in Lev_18:22-24 among the horrors of the Canaanite heathen.—Our passage, on the other hand, is kept more in general; they seek their pasture in the flesh, in all manner of sensuality, they go in their infamous lust after every flesh.

In lust of defilement.—Ἐπιθυμίᾳ μιασμοῦ, not as Dietlein contends, “in lust, which is defilement,” nor like Huther, “in lust after impure, polluting enjoyment,” for where does μιασμός signify “polluting enjoyment?” It denotes defilement, stain, intercourse; connect it with the lust of concupiscence, 1Th_4:5; cf. Rom_1:24-27; Eph_4:18-19. Μιασμός also peculiar to Peter, and found only here in the New Testament. The description of these erroneous teachers reminds us of the Balaamites and Nicolaitanes in Rev_2:14-15; Rev_2:20; Rev_2:24, in whom we recognize a stem of the fourfold Gnosticism of the second century. The circumstance that Peter now passes from the Future ἔσονται, 2Pe_2:1, to the Present, must not be turned with de Wette into a reason for suspecting the genuineness of this Epistle. It may be accounted for in part by the Apostle’s prophetically exalted frame of mind, for his fiery language shows him throughout as a φερόμενος ὑπὸ πνεύματος ἁγίου (cf. 2Pe_1:21,) and in part by the fact that the beginnings of those melancholy phenomena were already stirring. A forger of that capacity, which the Epistle presupposes, would have consistently adhered to the position he had taken at 2Pe_2:1.

And despise lordship.—The first mark of those false teachers was the denial of Christ, 2Pe_2:1; the second, covetousness, 2Pe_2:3; the third, unbridled sensuality, 2Pe_2:10; the last, arrogant despising of lordship. Κυριότητος καταφρονοῦντας. Judges 8 has κυριότητα ἀθετοῦσι, which goes further than καταφρ., and is its consequence. Κυριότητα should be taken in a general sense; every and any lordship, whatever shall be and shall be called Lord, all Divine and human authority. So Stier. The word must not be limited to the dignity of Christ’s lordship, because that had already been referred to 2Pe_2:1. Dietlein applies it to Divine and superhuman powers, cf. Eph_1:21; Col_1:16; Col_2:18; Calvin, to earthly governments; Huther understands it of the Divine Being, because all power and authority repose in It; while with reference to the book of Enoch he explains δόξαι of the halo of glory surrounding the Being of God.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. We must not believe that those false teachers passed theoretically from the denial of Christ’s redeeming grace and lordship to their moral libertinism and sensual enormities; the usual psychological course is rather that the heart is first corrupted, that the will is sold to sin, and that then the understanding becomes darkened.

2. The account of the angels given in 2Pe_2:4 falls in with what the Bible teaches concerning angels in general, and must not excite in us the suspicion that it is apocryphal. It is doubtless founded on special revelations.

3. It is remarkable that anti-Christian phenomena, similar to those which threatened to overthrow the foundation of the Church in the beginning, spring up in our time. Stier refers more particularly to the rapidly spreading, fearful doctrines of the liberty of the flesh, and to the sins darkly skulking among the ungodly men of our time, especially to self-abuse.

4. [The principal heresies which sprung up in the Apostolical age, and developed themselves before the close of the first century, were:

1. Simonianism, or the opinions held by followers of Simon Magus, who taught that the three Persons of the Trinity were only three revelations of the same Person, and that Simon was the great power which emanated from the invisible God. Neander thinks it possible that the words of which Simon made use are contained in the apocryphal writings of the Simonians; see Jerome’s Comm. on Matthew , 24 : “Ego sum sermo Dei (ὁ λόγος), ego sum speciosus, ego paracletus.”

2. Docetism, or the doctrine of the Docetæ, who denied the reality of the human body of Christ, of His crucifixion, resurrection and ascent to heaven.

3. The doctrine of the Nicolaitans, who were noted for their licentiousnesses.

4. Ebionism, or the heresy of the Ebionites, who denied the Divinity of Christ, and maintained that He was a mere man, descended from Joseph and Mary.

5. The doctrine of the Cerinthians; who separated Jesus from Christ, and asserted that Christ descended from the Father into the person of Jesus at His baptism, in the form of a dove, preached during His ministry and worked miracles, that at the end of His ministry Christ flew away from Jesus, and did not suffer death, and that only the man Jesus was crucified.

These all “denied the Lord that bought them.”—M.]

5. [The following note of Wordsworth on evil angels embodies much valuable information. He says: This passage and the parallel in St. Judges 6, are two important texts on the present condition and future destiny of evil angels, and, consequently, of those persons who yield to their solicitations (cf. Mat_25:41); these two texts declared:

1. That some angels sinned, and, as a penalty for their sin, were cast out of their original habitation; and,

2. That they have been committed in custody to chains of darkness; and that they are now being kept in them, and they there endure some punishment.

3. That they there remain even to the end of the world, and are reserved there for the judgment of the great day.

This appears also from the language of the devils themselves to Christ: “Art thou come to torment us before the season (καιροῦ) of judgment?” See Mat_8:29; Luk_8:31.

It is also evident from our Lord’s words, describing the transactions of the great day. He there pre-announces that He will then say to them on the left hand, “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, that hath been prepared for the devil and his angels.” They are, therefore, not yet cast into it.

It is also further apparent from the Apocalypse, revealing the casting of the devil into the lake of fire, as an event which has not taken place, but is yet future, Rev_20:10.

4. Comparing also these texts with other portions of Holy Scripture (1Pe_5:8), where the devil is compared to a roaring lion walking about, seeking whom he may devour; and (Rev_20:7), where Satan is described as loosed; and with the clear assertions of the Apostolic writings, describing his present liberty, energy, and influence, and designating him as “the prince of the power of the air” (ἀέρος, not αἰθέρος, Eph_2:2), and as “the god of this world” (2Co_4:4), we must conclude, that the chains of darkness, of which the Apostles St. Peter and St. Jude speak, and to which Satan and his associates are now confined, and in which they will be kept even till the day of judgment, are of such power as to restrain them from ever recovering their place in the regions of light; but not such as to prevent them from exercising great power over those persons in the lower world who allow themselves “to be taken captive by them at their will.” See Wordsw. on Eph_2:2, and Rev_20:1-8.

The book of Enoch in like manner describes the evil angels as chained under the earth, till the day of judgment, when they will be cast into the lake of fire. See there Enoch 5:16; 10:6; 14:4; 21:6; 22:4. Huther, p. 205. Cf., also, the Catena here, p. 91, where we read, that “at the end of the world, Christ will condemn to severer punishment those evil angels whom He has already shut up (in the abyss), and this He will do by casting them into everlasting fire.” And Bede says here: “The apostate angels are yet to be condemned to the penalties of the final judgment; for although they have already received the nether regions of the murky air as a prison house, which, when compared with the bright glories of heaven, where they once dwelt, may be called an inferno, yet there is a deeper gulf below, which awaits them.”

Accordingly, Jerome (in Ephesians 6) delivers it as the opinion of all the doctors of the Church, that “the devils have now their abode in the space between heaven and earth.” And Augustine (de Civ., Dei, 8, 22) says, “that the devils dwell in this nether air, and being cast down from heaven for their sin, they are here pre-condemned as in a prison, suitable to their sin.” And it is asserted as an article of the Catholic faith by Irenæus (1, 2), that “Jesus Christ will come again hereafter, to raise all bodies, and to judge all men, and to cast the rebel angels into everlasting fire.” Justin Martyr, Origen, in Numb., cap. 22, Irenæus (5, 26), and Eusebius (4, 17), were of opinion “that the devils never openly blasphemed God before the publication of the Gospel, because they did not know till then what their future punishment would be,” which opinion, whether true or no, shows that those ancient writers did not imagine that the devil has, as yet, been cast into hell. See the discourse of Joseph Mede; Works, p. 25, Disc. 5.—M.]

6. [The Gnostic teachers, says Wordsworth, despised and annulled κυριότητα, or lordship, in various ways:

1. With regard to God the Father, the Κύριος Κυρίω, Lord of Lords. Tillemont (2, pp. 17, 23), “all who took the name of Gnostics distinguished the Creator of the world from the God who reveals Himself by His Son; thus they made two gods,” i.e., they despised lordship by their dualism.

2. With regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Ebionites, as we have seen above, regarded Jesus as a mere man; the Cerinthians separated Jesus from Christ, and denied the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, by which He had acquired universal lordship over the Church and the world; they also invoked other mediators in place of Christ. They denied the Lord that bought them, and would not call Him Lord (Iren. 1,1.).

3. With regard to earthly rules, by affirming themselves to be free to do all things, and to be exempt from all civil restraints. See more in Wordsworth, from whom this note is taken in a condensed form.—M.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The history of the Divine judgments an earnest monitor for all times.—The great comfort of the doctrine of universal redemption,—It is not enough that we teach sound doctrine, we must also denounce false teachers.—The rise of false teachers among the people of God is a historical necessity, 1Co_11:19; Mat_7:15.—In how many different ways may Christ be denied?—Which is the greatest gain?

Chrysostom:—“We admire Abraham, Lot and Moses, because they shone like bright stars in the darkness of night, because they were as roses among thorns, and as sheep among countless wolves.”

The pious are distressed at the wickedness of the godless, 1. because it sullies the glory of God; 2. because it shows that they are tyrannized by Satan; 3. because it conduces to their condemnation.

Gerhard:—“The pious are not preserved from every distress and affliction, but they are rescued from them, so that the help of God is so much the more manifest. Thus it fared with Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, David, Daniel and the three men in the furnace.”

Starke:—Try the spirits whether they are of God, 1Jn_4:1. Although they wear a rough garment (Zec_13:4), ye shall know them by their fruits, and shall not take up with their party.—God has no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked, Eze_23:11.—No wonder that the many take the broad way that leadeth to condemnation, because they find in it so many things which are agreeable to the flesh.—A false and godless teacher is apt to have more followers than a true and godly teacher, but his condemnation also will be so much the greater, because he draws many people into his own destruction, Act_5:36-37.—To delay is not to annul [German proverb: Aufgeschoben ist nicht aufgehoben.—M.]. God is long-suffering; He forbears long, but His punishment is terrible. O! man, may His long-suffering lead thee to repentance, Rom_2:4.—The devils are condemned, but their full judgment, without any hope of redemption, is yet future, Mat_8:29.—Let us walk in the light, if we would escape the darkness of hell, 1Jn_1:7.—God has His elect and pious ones among the great multitude of the ungodly, whom He can and will miraculously preserve from universal punishment, Mal_3:17.—No country is so fertile, no city so beautiful, glorious and rich, but that they may be laid waste and destroyed, if their sins multiply.—God has many ways of saving His people: one way is His preserving them from communion with evil, and His strengthening them spiritually to endure evil with patience, 2Co_1:6.—Should not the sincere servants of God be pained and grieved, if their teaching, prayers and exhortations notwithstanding, it fares ill with their congregations? Woe to you, over whom they sigh! their sighs will rest heavily on you, Jer_13:17.—The sufferings of believers are only temporal; their redemption is at the door, 2Co_1:9-10. If not before, a happy death is sure to bring perfect redemption, Psa_73:17; Psa_73:19.—As there are degrees among believers, and as some excel others in spiritual gifts, and as they will be distinguished in glory, so there is also a difference in point of sin and punishment among the ungodly. Some excel others in wickedness; so the punishment of some will excel that of others, Heb_10:29.

Lisco:—The enemies of the citizens of the kingdom.

Roos:—If the kingdom of God cometh with power, the power of darkness is also astir. False teachers should stir up and incite the children of light diligently to search for the truth, and instantly and believingly to pray God for more enlightenment.

[2Pe_2:4. Critici Sacr. Thes., 2, 789, “De malorum angelorum Ταρταρώσει.”

2Pe_2:9. South, Three sermons, Works, vol. 6, pp. 121, 169, 209.

1. Deliverance from temptation, the privilege of the righteous.

2. Cause of the deliverance of the pious out of temptation.

3. Deliverance from temptation, why to be reputed a great mercy.—M.]

Footnotes:

[1]2Pe_2:1. [οἵτινες of a class, not simply identifying the individuals. Alford.—M.]

[2]2Pe_2:1. [παρεισάξουσιν, to bring in by the side of (παρὰ), introduce surreptitiously.—M.]

[3]2Pe_2:1. [αἱρέσεις, heresies, i. e., self-chosen doctrines repugnant to the truth.—M.]

[4] 2Pe_2:1. [Both ἀρνούμενοι and ἐπάγοντες are to be connected with παρεισάξουσιν. They are not, however, co-ordinate to each other; as ἐπάγοντες must be annexed to the clause οἵτινες … ἀρνούμενοι, Winer, p. 368.—M.]

[German: But there arose also false prophets among the people.… who privily shall bring in self-chosen doctrines of destruction, and deniers of the Master who bought them, people that bring upon themselves swift destruction.

Translate: But there were.… heresies of destruction and denying ….—M.]

[5]2Pe_2:2. [ ἀσελγείαις, A. B. C. K. L. Cod. Sin., ἀσελγίαις. Rec, ἀπωλείαις.—M.]

[6] 2Pe_2:2. [ A., Cod. Sin. (?) read δόξα for ὁδὸς.—M.]

[German:.… their licentiousness.…—M.]

[7]2Pe_2:3. [ Cod. Sin., ἐκπορ. (**ἐνπορ.).—M.]

[8] 2Pe_2:3. [ ἔκπαλαι, ex olim, Bengel.—M.]

[German: And snared in covetousness.… deceive you.

Translate: And in covetousness.… make merchandise of you.…—M.]

[9]2Pe_2:4. [ σειροῖς, A. B. C. Cod. Sin.: σιροῖς ζόφοις (**ζόφου); Rec, al., σειραῖς.—M.]

[10] 2Pe_2:4. [ Rec, al., τετηρημένους; A. C. **al.,κολαζομένους τηρεῖν; Cod. Sin., κολαζομένους τηρῖν. B, (Mai) C.* K. L., Alford. “The readings are in great confusion from the combined influence of Jude and 2Pe_2:9 below.” Alford.—M.]

Dietlein prefers the reading, τετηρημένους=those which once should have been reserved? Lachmann: κολαζομένους τηρεῖν.

[German:.… but cast them in bonds of darkness into hell, and committed them, in order to be reserved unto the final judgment.—M.]

2Pe_2:5. [German:.… and preserved only Noah.… the herald of righteousness.

Translate:. … but preserved Noah, preacher of. …—M.]

2Pe_2:6. [German:.… condemned them to overthrow, laying down an example of warning for those.… Translate:.… laying down an example of those.—M.]

[11]2Pe_2:7. [ἐῤῥύσατο, Rec., A. B. * * C., al. ἐρύσατο, B. *, Alford.—M.]

[12] 2Pe_2:7. [ τῆς ἐν ἀσελγείᾳ ἀναστροφῆς—one idea. Behaviour in licentiousness=licentious behaviour.—M.]

[German:.…. righteous Lot.… of the lawless.—M.]

2Pe_2:8. [German: For in seeing and hearing.… distressed his righteous soul at (on account of) their immoral deeds.—M.]

[13]2Pe_2:9. [πειρασμῶν, Cod. Sin. (*).—M.]

[14] 2Pe_2:9. [ ἀδίκ. δὲ πεφυλασκισμένους (** improb. πεφ.) εἰς. Cod. Sin.—M.]

2Pe_2:10. [German:.… in lust of defilement, and despise government.—M.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2 Peter

THE OWNER AND HIS SLAVES

2Pe 2:1.

The institution of slavery was one of the greatest blots on ancient civilisation. It was twice cursed, cursing both parties, degrading each, turning the slave into a chattel, and the master, in many cases, into a brute. Christianity, as represented in the New Testament, never says a word to condemn it, but Christianity has killed it. ‘Make the tree good and its fruit good.’ Do not aim at institutions, change the people that live under them and you change them. Girdle the tree and it will die, and save you the trouble of felling it. But not only does Christianity never condemn slavery, though it was in dead antagonism to all its principles, and could not possibly survive where its principles were accepted, but it also takes this essentially immoral relation and finds a soul of goodness in the evil thing, which serves to illustrate the relation between God and man, between Christ and us. It does with slavery as it does with war, uses what is good in it as illustrating higher truths, and trusts to the operation, the slow operation of its deepest principles for its destruction.

So, then, we have one Apostle, in his letters, binding on his forehead as a crown the designation, ‘Paul,’ a slave of ‘Jesus Christ,’ and we have in my text an expanded allusion to slavery. The word that is here rendered rightly enough, ‘Lord,’ is the word which has been transferred into English as ‘despot,’ and it carries with it some suggestion of the roughness and absoluteness of authority which that word suggests to us. It does not mean merely ‘master,’ it means ‘owner,’ and it suggests an unconditional authority, to which the only thing in us that corresponds is abject and unconditional submission. That is what Christ is to you and me; the Lord, the Despot, the Owner.

But we have not only owner and slave here; we have one of the ugliest features of the institution referred to. You have the slave-market, ‘the Lord that bought them,’ and because He purchased them, owns them. Think of the hell of miseries that are connected with that practice of buying and selling human flesh, and then estimate the magnificent boldness of the metaphor which Peter does not scruple to take from it here, speaking of the owner who acquired them by a price. And not only that, but slaves will run away, and when they are stopped, and asked who they belong to, will say they know nothing about him. And so here is the runaway’s denial, ‘denying the Lord that bought them.’ Now I ask you to think of these three points.

I. Here we have the Owner of us all.

I do not need, I suppose, to spend a moment in showing you that this relationship, which is laid down in our text, subsists between Jesus Christ and men, and it subsists between Jesus Christ and all men. For the people about whom the Apostle is saying that they have ‘denied the Lord that bought them’ can, by no construction, be supposed to be true Christians, but were enemies that had crept into the Church without any real allegiance to Jesus Christ, and were trying to wreck it, and to destroy His work. So there is no reference here to a little elected group out of the midst of humanity, who especially belonged to Jesus Christ, and for whom the price has been paid; but the outlook of my text in its latter portion is as wide as humanity. The Lord--that is, Jesus Christ--owns all men.

Let me expand that thought in one or two illustrations which may help to make it perhaps more vivid. The slave’s owner has absolute authority over him. You remember the occasion when a Roman officer, by reflecting upon the military discipline of the legion, and the mystical power that the commander’s word had to set all his men in obedient activity, had come to the conclusion that, somehow or other, this Jesus whom he desired to heal his servant had a similar power in the material universe, and that just as he, subordinate officer though he was, had yet--by reason of the fact that he was ‘under authority,’ and an organ of a higher authority--the power to say to his servant, ‘Go,’ and he would go; and to another one, ‘Come,’ and he would come; so this Christ had power to say to disease, ‘Depart,’ and it would depart; and to health, ‘Come,’ and it would come; and to all the material forces of the universe, ‘Do this,’ and obediently they would do it. That is the picture, in another region, of the relation which Jesus Christ bears to men, though, alas, it is not the picture of the relation which men bear to Christ. But to all of us He has the right to say, wherever we are, ‘Come,’ the right to say, ‘Go,’ the right to say, ‘Do,’ the right to say, ‘Be this, that, and the other thing.’

Absolute authority is His; what should be yours? Unconditional submission. My friend, it is no use your calling yourself a Christian unless that is your attitude. My sermon to-night has something else to do than simply to present truths to you. It has to press truths on you, and to appeal not only to your feelings, not only to your understandings, but to your wills. And so I come with this question: Do you, dear friend, day by day, yield to the absolute Master the absolute submission? And is that rebellious will--which is in you, as it is in us all--tamed and submitted so as that you can say, ‘Speak, Lord! Thy servant heareth’? Is it?

Further, the owner has the right, as part of that absolute authority of which I have been speaking, to settle without appeal each man’s work. In those Eastern monarchies where the king was surrounded, not by constitutional ministers, but by his personal slaves, he made one man a shoeblack or a pipe-bearer, and the man standing next to him his prime minister. And neither the one nor the other had the right to say a word. Jesus Christ has the right to regulate your life in all its details, to set you your tasks. Some of us will get what the world vulgarly calls ‘more important duties’; some will get what the world ignorantly calls more ‘insignificant’ ones. What does that matter? It was our Owner that set us to our work, and if He tells us to black shoes, let us black them with all the pith of our elbows, and with the best blacking and brushes we can find; and if He sets us to work, which people think is more important and more conspicuous, let us do that too, in the same spirit, and for the same end.

Again, the owner has the absolute right of possession of all the slave’s possessions. He gets a little bit of land in the corner of his master’s plantation, and grows his vegetables, yams, pumpkins, a leaf of tobacco or two, or what not, there. And if his master comes along and says, ‘These are mine,’ the slave has no recourse, and is obliged to accept the conditions and to give them up. So Jesus Christ claims ours as well as us--ours because He claims us--and whilst, on the other hand, the surrender of external good is incomplete without the surrender of the inward will, on the other hand the abandonment and surrender of the inward life is incomplete, if it be not hypocritical, without the surrender of external possessions. All the slave’s goods belonged to the owner.

And the owner has another right. He can say, ‘Take that man’s child and sell him in the market!’ and he can break up the family ties and separate husband and wife, and parent and child, and not a word can be said. Our Master comes, not with rough authority, but with loving, though absolute authority, and He sometimes untwines the hands that are most closely clasped, and says to the one of the two that have grown together in love and blessedness, ‘Come!’ and he cometh, and to the other ‘Go!’ and she goeth. Blessed they who can say, ‘It is the Lord! Let Him do what seemeth Him good.’

Now, dear friends, this absolute authority cannot be exercised by any man upon another man, and this unconditional submission, which Jesus Christ asks from us all, ought not to be rendered by any man to a man. It is a degradation when a human creature is put even in the external relation of slavery and servitude to another human creature, but it is an honour when Jesus Christ says to me, ‘Thou art Mine,’ and I say to Him, ‘I am Thine, O Lord, truly I am Thy servant; Thou hast loosed my bonds.’ In the old Saxon monarchies, some antiquarians tell us, the foundation of our modern nobility or aristocracy is found in that the king’s servants became nobles. Jesus Christ’s slave is everybody else’s master. And it is the highest honour that a man can have to bow himself before that Lord, and to take His yoke upon him and learn of Him. So much, then, for my first point; now a word with regard to the second.

II. The sale, and the price.

‘The Lord that bought them.’ You perhaps remember other words which say, ‘Ye are bought with a price; be not the servants of men’; also other words of this Apostle himself, in which he speaks, in his other letter, of being ‘bought with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.’ Now notice, Christ’s ownership of us does not depend on Christ’s Divinity, which I suppose most of us believe, but on Christ’s sacrifice for us. It is perfectly true that creation gives rights to the Creator. It is perfectly true that if we believe, as I think the New Testament teaches, that He, who before His name was Jesus was the Eternal Word of God, was the Agent of all Creation, and therefore has rights. But Christ’s heart does not care for rights of that sort. It wants something far deeper, far tenderer, far closer than any such. And He comes to us with the language that is the language of love over all the universe, as between man and woman, as between man and man, as between man and God, as between God and man, upon His lips, and says, ‘Thou must love Me, for I have died for thee.’ Yes, brother; the only ground upon which absolute possession of a man can be rested is the ground of prior absolute surrender to Him. Christ must give Himself to me before He can ask me to give myself to Him. So all that was apparently harsh in the relationship, as I have been trying to set it forth to you, melts away and disappears. No owner ever owned a slave as truly as a loving woman owns her husband, or a loving husband his wife, because the ownership is the expression of perfect love on both sides. And that is the golden bond that binds men’s souls to Christ in a submission which, the more abject it is, the more elevating it is, just because ‘He loved me, and gave Himself for me.’

I do not dwell upon any cold theological doctrine of an Atonement, but I wish you to feel that deep in this great metaphor of our text there lie the two things; first, the price that was paid, and, second, the bondage from which the slave was delivered. He belonged to another master before Christ bought him for Himself. ‘He that committeth sin is the slave of sin.’ Some of you are your own despots, your own tyrants. The worse half of you has got the upper hand. The mutineers that ought to have been down under hatches, and shackled, have taken possession of the deck and clapped the captain and the officers, and all the sextants and log-books, away into a corner, and they are driving the ship--that is, you--on to the rocks, as hard as they can. A man that is not Christ’s slave has a far worse slavery in submitting to these tyrant sins that have tempted him with the notion of how fine it is to break through these old-womanly restraints and conventional fads of a narrow morality, and to have his fling, and do as he likes and follow nature. Ay, some of you have been doing that, and could write a far better commentary than any preacher ever wrote, out of your own experience, on the great words, ‘Whilst they promised them liberty, they themselves are the slaves of corruption!’ Young men, is that true about any of you--that you came here into Manchester to a situation, and lonely lodgings, comparatively innocent, and that somebody said, ‘Oh, do not be a milksop! come along and see life,’ and you thought it was fine to shake off the shackles that your poor old mother used to try to put upon your limbs? And what have you made of it? I will tell you what a great many young men have made of it--I have seen scores of them in the forty years that I have been preaching here: ‘His bones are full of the iniquity of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.’

There is a slavery which is blessedness, and there is a slavery which at first is delightsome to the worst part of us, and afterwards becomes bitter and deadly. And it is the bondage of sin, the bondage to my worst self, the bondage to my indulged passions, the bondage to other men, the bondage to the material world. Jesus Christ speaks to each of us in His great sacrifice, by which He says to us, ‘The Son will make you free, and you shall be free indeed.’ The Lord has bought us. Have you let Him emancipate you from all your bondage? Dear friends, bear with me if I press again upon you, I pray God that it may ring in your ears till you can answer that question, Jesus Christ having bought me, do I belong to Him?

III. And now, lastly, notice the runaways.

Did it ever occur to you what a pathetic force there is in Peter’s picking out that word ‘denying’ as the shorthand expression for all sorts of sins? Who was it that thrice denied that he knew Him? That experience went very deep into the Apostle; and here, as I take it, is a most significant illustration of his penitent remembrance of his past life, all the more significant because of its reticence. The allusion is one that nobody could catch that did not know his past, but which to those who did know it was full of meaning and of pathos:--’Denying the Lord, as I did on that dismal morning, in the High Priest’s palace. I am speaking about it, for I know what it comes to, and the tears that will follow after.’

But what I desire to press upon you, dear friends, is just this: That in that view of the lives of people who are not Christians there is suggested to us the essential sinfulness, the black ingratitude, and the absolute folly of refusing to acknowledge the claims of Him to whom we belong, and who has bought us at such a price. You can do it by word, and perhaps some of us are not guiltless in that respect. You can do it by paring down the character and office of Jesus Christ, and minimising the importance of His sacrifice from the world’s sins, and thinking of Him, not as the Owner that bought us, but as the Master that teaches us. You can do it by cowardly hiding of your colours and being too shamefaced, too sensitive to the curled lip of the man that works at the next bench, or sits at the next desk, or the student that is beside you, or somebody else whose opinion you esteem, which prevents you from saying like a man, ‘I belong to Jesus Christ, and whomsoever other people serve, as for me, I am going to serve Him.’ And you can do it, and many of you are doing it, by simply ignoring His claims, refusing to turn to Him, not yielding up your will to Him, not turning your heart to Him, not setting your dependence upon Him. Is it not a shame that men, whose hearts will glow with thankfulness when another man, especially if he is a superior, comes to them with some gift, valuable, but nothing as compared with the transcendent gift that Christ brings, will yet let Him die for them and not care anything about Him? I can understand the vehement antagonism that some people have to Christ and Christianity, but what I cannot understand is the attitude of the immense mass of people that come to services like this, who profess to believe that Jesus Christ’s love for them brought Him to the cross, and yet will not even pay the poor tribute of a little interest and a momentary inclination of heart towards Him. ‘Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by,’ that Jesus Christ died for you? He bought you for His own. Let me beseech you to ‘yield yourselves’ servants, slaves of Christ, and then you will be free, and you will hear Him say in the very depth of your hearts, ‘Henceforth I call you not slaves, but friends.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

II. THE EVIL TO COME THROUGH FALSE TEACHERS

CHAPTER 2

1. The source of the evil (2Pe 2:1-3)

2. The lessons from the past. (2Pe 2:4-10)

3. The description of the apostates (2Pe 2:11-22)

2Pe 2:1-3

The Apostle Peter is now being used by the Spirit of God to prophesy. He predicts the coming evil for the professing church, that apostate teachers would do their vicious work. As pointed out in the introduction every other writer of the Epistles bears the same witness and that witness is mostly found in the second Epistles and in the Epistle of Jude. (See 1Ti 4:1-2; 2Ti 3:1-5; 2Ti 4:1-4; 2Th 2:1-17; 1Jn 2:18-23; 1Jn 4:1-6; 2Jn 1:7-11; Jud 1:1.) He reminds them that among their own nation Israel there were false prophets. The false prophets appeared mostly, if not Altogether, when judgment was impending for the nation, as we learn from the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. These false prophets opposed the true prophets of God, who preached the God-given message, while the false prophets rejected the Word of the Lord and belittled it. They spoke out of their own hearts and spoke vanities and lies (Eze 13:2; Eze 13:8). Their message was “peace” when there was no peace. As a result the people of Israel did not believe the Lord and His Word; they rejected Him.

The same, it is predicted, would be repeated in this Christian age, only with this difference, that not false prophets should appear, but “false teachers.” And as this dispensation draws to its close apostasy would set in. (Consult annotations on 2Th 2:1-17.) These false teachers, like the false prophets, reject first of all the Word of God; they, too, speak out of their own hearts, that is, vanities and lies. As a result they bring in “privily destructive heresies.” All heresies have but one goal, and that is the denial of Christ and the gospel. Therefore Peter predicts “denying even the Master, who bought them.”

This is the way of destructive criticism. One looks in vain among the many preachers and teachers who deny the virgin birth and with it the deity of Christ, for one who believes that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. All those who deny the Master who bought them began with criticism of the Bible, rejecting first the writings of Moses, casting doubt upon other books, and finally abandoning any kind of faith in the Bible as the Word of God. Well is it called “the destructive criticism,” for it is in the end destructive of everything. It is this which is poisoning everything in Christendom today and there is no denomination in which this leaven is not at work. Thus Peter’s prediction is increasingly fulfilled in our days and will be much more as this age draws rapidly to its close.

We must also notice that it does not say that they deny “the Lord who redeemed them”; but “the Master who bought” or purchased “them.” The difference between “purchase” and “redemption” is, that purchase is general, while redemption is limited to those who believe on Him and are thus redeemed by His precious blood. These false teachers never believed on Him as Lord, and, therefore, they are not redeemed by Him, though He paid the purchase price in their behalf. By denying Him they disowned the purchase. And for such there is in store swift destruction. This pronounces the sentence of eternal doom upon all false teachers, upon destructive criticism as well as upon the cults which teach damnable heresies and, by doing it, deny the Master who bought them.

Here is also a prediction of the wide-spread success of these false teachers. “Many shall follow their pernicious (dissolute or lascivious) ways, through whom the way of truth shall be blasphemed.” They speak of making the world better, they pose as teachers of morality and righteousness, but their ways are branded as pernicious. How can they be righteous when they deny that which alone can give righteousness to man? How often it has been brought to light that those who deny the truth and yet claim to be teachers of morality, were miserable hypocrites. Unbelief produces worldliness and immorality. Then the way of truth is being blasphemed and “that worthy Name” is being dishonored.

“And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you; whose judgment now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not.” The people of God are their prey. They are covetous, seeking their own gratification in money, social standing, fame and everything else that the natural heart loves and desires. All is abundantly verified in the conditions about us. But retribution will surely come upon them.

2Pe 2:4-10

Here we reach the section of second Peter, which is so much like the greater part of Jude’s Epistle, that critics have claimed that one must have copied from the other. We have shown in the introduction that Peter and Jude wrote independently of each other as the direct instruments of the Holy Spirit. The correspondence of Peter’s testimony with Jude’s Epistle is more fully examined in the introduction to Jude.

The Spirit of God calls attention through Peter to that which happened in past history, showing that God deals with apostates who defy Him and are disobedient, while the godly He delivers. In Jude we shall find out, that while there is much similarity, the purpose of the testimony is quite different from that of Peter. First, mention is made of the angels who sinned and who are cast down to hell, the word being Tartarus (the very lowest pit), where they are kept in chains of darkness for the coming judgment. It is evident that this passage does not mean Satan and the angels who joined in his rebellion before ever man was created. Satan and the fallen angels are not now in the lowest pit awaiting there in a helpless condition the judgment; they are not in chains, but loose, and Satan, as the prince of this world, uses his angels in the pursuit of his work. Who, then, are these angels? They are the beings described in Gen 6:1-4 as the “sons of God” (a term which in the Old Testament means angels) who came down and mingled with the daughters of men. These angels, as Jude tells us, did not keep their first estate, left their assigned place, and by their disobedience became the means of corrupting the race in such a manner that the judgment of God had to act in the deluge.

God has not been pleased to give a complete revelation of this sinister event. That it means this episode is learned that Peter at once speaks of the old world, which was not spared by God, “but saved Noah, the eighth person (with seven others), a preacher of righteousness, having brought in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.” This testimony is closely linked with what Peter had written in the first Epistle (1Pe 3:19-20). And here we are told that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He and his house had found grace in the sight of the Lord, while the mass of the ungodly world who rejected His truth and His Spirit, who strove with them, were not spared but dealt with in judgment. It is so now. Another day is coming in which the Lord will judge the ungodly and unbelieving, while His people will be saved.

Sodom and Gomorrah are cited also as examples of God’s holy judgment. These cities were turned into ashes, as an example of all those who live ungodly. The awful fruit of sin in the most terrible, unutterable corruption was manifested in these cities; the same corruption is found still in the world, and that mostly in the great centers of Christendom. (Rom 1:27 mentions the same corruption so often referred to by classic writers of Rome and Greece .) Lot, who was in Sodom, though not of Sodom, is called, nevertheless, righteous, was vexed from day to day with their lawless deeds. The Lord delivered him. It is another warning to the false teachers with their denials and heresies, for the rejection of God’s Word brings in the flood of immorality, licentiousness, and lawlessness.

The God who turned Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, by raining upon them fire and brimstone, will also deal with the apostasy at the close of this age, and with the teachers who deny the Master who bought them, in spite of their self flattery that they are moral. That judgment comes “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2Th 1:7-9). These false teachers sneer at these words of Paul and call them quotations taken from the apocalyptic literature of the Jews, or something else; but the day will surely come when the Lord will vindicate His truth. In the meantime He knows the righteous, watches over them and knows how to deliver them.

2Pe 2:11-22.

This is one of the most solemn portions of the Word of God. It is prophetic, for here we have a description of the false teachers of the last days. Here is a startling picture of the baptized infidels of Christendom. It corresponds in a measure with 2Ti 3:1-5. They are bold (daring), self-willed, and tremble not to rail at dignities. They are unbridled in their talk and in their conduct. They are daring enough to assail every part of the truth of God, they call His revelation a myth, the virgin birth a legend, and despise the atoning work of the Son of God; they do what angels would never do, railing at dignities. (Jude has more to say about this; it is a well-known fact that some of the liberal theology leaders have joined hands with socialism in its worst form, that is, the anarchistic side of it. They speak of helping the masses and they rail against existing law and order, and advocate their overthrow. The ringleader of an attempt in Western Canada against the government was an apostate preacher of an honored denomination. The so-called “parlor-bolshevists” belong to this class.)

As we read on let us remember that not Peter, but the Holy Spirit speaks. They are compared to beasts, just born to be caught and to be destroyed; they speak evil of the things of which they know nothing whatever. The meaning is that they were never born again, and therefore follow the flesh, though it may be under the guise of culture and learning. They shall perish in their own corruption. They count it pleasure to revel in the day-time, they delight in luxurious and sinful pleasures. More than that, they claim a Christian profession and fellowship, by attending the love feasts of believers, which they dishonor by their presence as spots and blemishes, while at the same time they glory in their deceivings, their false teachings and denials of the Master. The right (or straight) way which they professed to have taken, when they took the name of Christ upon themselves, they have now left, having gone astray. Therefore they have eyes full of adultery and cannot cease from sin; they entice unstable souls, leading them astray as they have gone astray themselves.

They are also following in the way of Balaam, who was rebuked for his iniquity by the speaking of the dumb ass. The love of money controls them, as it controlled the heathen prophet. 2Pe 2:17-18 give additional descriptions of the character of these false teachers. They are springs without water, men look to them for the refreshing water of life, because they profess to be teachers; “the hungry sheep look up and are not fed.” They know nothing of the water of life. They are nothing but obscuring mists driven by the tempest of their natural hearts. The great swelling words are the divine estimate of empty, human rhetoric by which thousands are swayed, but they are words of vanity, instead of bringing souls to Christ and the knowledge of redemption, they allure them through the lusts of the flesh, while they promise liberty to others, they are themselves slaves of corruption. Such is the character of the false teachers, who deny the Master that bought them.

“For if, after having escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the first. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them.” Does this mean that these persons were at one time really begotten again, having received life and the Holy Spirit by trusting on Christ? These false teachers certainly were never born again; the description which we have of them is the proof of it. The last verse of this chapter gives the conclusive evidence. Believers, true Christians, are never compared to dogs or swine; they are the sheep of His flock. A sheep cannot be transformed into a dog or a swine, nor will a sheep do what a dog or a swine does. They were therefore never the true children of God. They had escaped the outward pollutions of the world, which is a different thing from the escape of the corruption which is in the world by lust; the latter stands for the inward deliverance by the new birth, the former for an outward reformation which had taken place when they professed the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when for a time forsaking their evil ways so that they escaped the pollutions. But not having a new nature they became entangled therein and overcome, so that it was worse with them than in the beginning, before they had made a profession. They had known the way of righteousness as made known in the gospel of Christ, but the life which is offered in that way of righteousness, with the fruits of righteousness which follow, they had never accepted by a living faith. And this seems to be the case with the vast majority of the false teachers of today, the destructive critics, and those who deny the deity of our Lord. They were never born again; they never had a true experience of real salvation, hence they are but natural men, not having the Spirit.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ARGUMENT 2

FALSE TEACHERS IN THE GOSPEL DISPENSATION

1. In the old dispensation false prophets swarmed like locusts. If God had not spoken we never would have known that they had lived or died because they were the popular and influential preachers, much beloved and appreciated. Jesus said unto His disciples, “Woe unto you when all men speak well of you, for so they spoke of the false prophets who were before you,” thus revealing the fact that the false prophets were the beloved pastors, well spoken, while God’s prophets were the incorrigible cranks, disturbing the Church by their fanaticism, suffering terrible persecutions and sealing their faith with their blood. Were they not avowedly prophets of Baal? But Baal is a Hebrew word which means Lord, in contradistinction to Jehovah, the excarnate Christ of the Old Testament. Those false prophets claimed to be true, and they thought that God’s prophets were false. The simple fact of these false prophets is, they preached a bloodless and spiritless religion. They despiritualize the plan of salvation. Their successors are all round us, pursuant to Peter’s prophecy; their name is legion. Truly they have flooded the world with damnable heresies, which largely constitute the popular preaching of the day. “Denying the Lord that bought them, they bring on themselves swift destruction.” Satan fought four thousand years against the Fatherhood and broke down the divine Fatherhood, receiving full recognition before the incarnation. When God came incarnate he turned all his battering rams against the Sonship of God, dividing the Church into Arians and Trinitarians, the war sweeping hot through ten centuries. On that line he suffered signal defeat, the Christhood of Jesus signally triumphing. We are now in the midst of Satan’s last war period, i.e., against the Holy Ghost, the third person in the Trinity. He is stirring earth and hell against the Holy Ghost. When he suffers defeat on this battlefield, as soon he will, the apocalyptic angel will come down and chain him, and lock him up in hell.

The false teachers of the present day are preaching a bloodless religion, and fighting holiness, i.e., the personal Holy Ghost, just as their predecessors in the early centuries fought the divinity of Christ and four thousand years ago the Fatherhood of God.

2. “Many will follow their impurities; through them the way of truth will be evil spoken of.” They preach the doctrine of impurity, i.e., a sinning religion which, of course, suits the carnal mind.

3. “And in their covetousness they will sell you by their soft words.” How signally Peter’s prophecy is this day fulfilled. These anti-holiness preachers please the people with an impure gospel which tolerates sin in some form, and in this way they sell their congregations to the devil for filthy lucre. The picture is awful but the fact is worse. How many preachers, if paid money enough, will let their own members slip through their fingers into hell. These are the false prophets of the present, seen by Peter’s prophetic eye, and discerned by the Holy Ghost. “For whom,” i.e., these counterfeit preachers, who “in their covetousness sell” the people to the devil “by their soft speeches.” “Judgment of old tarrieth not and their destruction slumbereth not.” So surely as God is true an awful retribution is destined to overtake these men. God never forgets anything. Peter reminds us of the horrible judgments which overtook their predecessors.

4. In confirmation of the awful judgments awaiting the false preachers and teachers of the Gospel dispensation, Peter reminds us of the angels who sinned and were cast down to hell, destined to meet their appalling doom when they stand before the great white throne.

5. He portrays before us the dismal doom of the wicked antediluvians, where bloodless religion prevailed over holiness, especially after the holy people committed the sad mistake of intermarrying the wicked race of Cain, the great patriarch of bloodless religion.

6. Sodom and Gomorrah, whose very sites are now covered by the Dead Sea, are an everlasting reminiscence of divine retribution. Even Jericho, fifteen miles up the Jordan Valley, the successor of Sodom, was shouted down, and prohibited ever being rebuilt.

7, 8. Lot is here commended as a preacher of righteousness, true to God amid the iniquities of Sodom. He belonged to the patriarchal dispensation under which God called and sent His preachers, as under the Gospel.

9. Peter testifies to the perfection of the divine administration in rewards and punishments.

10. “Especially those going after depravity in the lust of pollution, and despising lordship,” i.e., the divine sovereignty. Dominion is kuriotees, from kurios , Lord, and means lordship, i.e., God’s government, i.e., holiness. These carnal preachers despise and reject it with contempt. “Audacious darers, they tremble not at glories speaking evil.” Such is their audacity that they criticize and speak evil of the glory which holiness gives.

11. The angels who are greater in power and majesty than men tremble with awe at the very thought of the slightest infringement on the divine administration.

12. “But these (false teachers) are irrational animals, having been naturally born for capture and destruction, speaking evil of those things in which they are ignorant, shall even be corrupted in their own corruption.” This is certainly an appalling picture, describing these false teachers as irrational animals which are brought into the world, like bears and deer, to be caught and eaten without mercy. So the counterfeit preachers, carnal, worldly, and opposed to holiness, are to be caught by devils and devoured in hell.

13. “Receiving the reward of unrighteousness, considering luxury, which is through the day (as well as night) their pleasure,” i.e., they make temporalities, fine salaries, and luxuriant living, their chief desideratum. “Spots and blemishes swelling in their delusions feasting along with you.” As they are the chief ministers, of course they are with you, not only in the sacraments, but in the church festivals, fetes and receptions, though so corrupt that the Holy Ghost anathematizes them as “spots and blemishes.” Satan has so wrapped them in his delusions as not only to fill them with self-confidence, but inflate them with the most imperious egotism.

14. “Having eyes full of an adulteress, and can not cease from sin.” Throughout the Bible God’s Holy Church is represented by a pure virgin, while the counterfeit church is symbolized by a harlot. These carnal creatures are devout servitors, not of God, but of the fallen ecclesiasticism, here denominated an adulteress. We now live amid the awful fulfillment of this prophecy. Every young preacher is forced to face the emergency and decide between God and fallen churchism, i.e., the “adulteress,” settling the question whether he will be loyal to the Holy Ghost or to some one of Babylon’s daughters. In his conservatism and rigid loyalty to the “adulteress,” i.e., the fallen church, of course he can not “cease from sin.” “Beguiling unestablished souls” in the economy of grace. When regenerated people get sanctified they must move forward into the establishing grace, or get caught in some of Satan’s traps, especially those set and manipulated by his unconverted preachers, with whom the world is flooded. “Having a heart which has been made fat with covetousness, the children of the curse.” These preachers are actuated by the love of money, big salaries, fine houses, luxurious living, social position, pomp, pageantry and popularity. “Children of the curse,” is an orientalism, significant of the most appalling divine retribution.

15. “Leaving the straight way they have wandered off.” We see in 2Pe 2:21 that these preachers were once converted, but backslid because they would not seek sanctification. Hence they have become false prophets and money lovers, like Baalam.

16. Who, despite the miraculous rebuke of the donkey on which he rode, persisted in his enterprise, cursing Israel, for Baal likes gold. Myriads are the followers of Baalam this day, who, despite all of God’s faithful warnings, persist in cursing Israel, i.e., God’s holy people, in order to please the fallen churches and get their gold. Despite of all of Baalam’s good resolutions, he fell in the Moabitish war, fighting against Israel, and lost his soul. So these anti-holiness preachers, despite a thousand conscientious compunctions, providential warnings and spiritual awakenings, predominated by the love of gold, continue to curse Israel, till they drop into the pit. As in case of Baalam, of course, God turns their cursing into a blessing to His true people, causing the “wrath of man to praise Him.” It is wonderful how God uses the opposition to confirm His true people and scatter holiness over the earth.

17. “These are fountains without water and mists driven away by the storms.” In vain do the people look to these preachers for the water of life to revive their famishing souls, for they have not a drop. We hear them preach, but receive not a drop of water or a crumb of bread to satisfy hunger and thirst. When they rise in the pulpit the people hope they will send down a rain to save their famishing gardens and fields; but how badly are they disappointed. They have neither rain nor dew. “For whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved.” We see here in the clear revelation of the Holy Ghost the preacher’s hell is the blackest, darkest, deepest and hottest abyss in the dismal regions of irretrievable woe. In my humble way I have been a preacher forty-three years. Good Lord, deliver me from a preacher’s hell! I would prefer that of any other reprobate in all the gloomy dungeons of damnation. An apostle lost his religion and went to hell for money. I doubt whether any other apostle has a larger ministerial following this day than Judas. Oh, the preachers who for the love of money oppose holiness.

18. “Speaking great swelling words of vanity through the lusts of the flesh, by their impurities they beguile those who have but slightly escaped, being exercised in the delusion.” These are the men who preach grand, eloquent sermons, containing everything but Gospel, which Paul says is God’s “dynamite unto salvation to the believer,” thus “speaking great swelling words of vanity,” i.e., preaching these eloquent, despiritualized and degospelized sermons, to feed the vanity of the carnal people who pour out their gold, till they live like kings. Meanwhile their poor souls slip through their fingers into hell. If you have not been converted, sanctified and established in holiness, you are very likely to be caught by the sophistical eloquence, soft palaver, etiquette, socialism, mannerism and galvanized diabolism of these men, led away, alienated from God, your experience evanesced, your soul lulled to sleep, till you wake up in hell.

19. “Promising them liberty they themselves being the slaves of corruption, for to whatsoever any one has been made inferior, to this he has become enslaved.” These carnal preachers denounce holiness as “narrow, fanatical, illiberal and cranky,” alluring the people with their generous proclamation of liberty, thus in fact teaching a broad way to heaven, flatly contradicting Jesus, amid all their boasted proclamations of liberty, themselves are the slaves of their own carnal appetites and corrupt predilections, from which nothing but entire sanctification can deliver. They are utterly ignorant of the freedom which belongs only to God, and becomes His gracious gift to the wholly sanctified.

20. This verse justifies the conclusion that these false preachers have once known the Lord, but as hopeless backsliders are now in an infinitely worse condition than before they were converted.

21. “For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than knowing it to turn from the holy commandments, having been delivered unto them.” This verse furnishes us the key which unlocks the sad problem and reveals the mournful secret of the miserable condition and appalling doom of these “false teachers” (2Pe 2:1), certifying that they backslide and become confirmed reprobates, because they “turned away from the holy commandment which was delivered unto them,” i.e., they backslide because they did not get sanctified; became carnal, worldly and covetous. Meanwhile they gather up great libraries, study hard, becoming able pulpit orators, standing in the front of the clerical ranks.

22... “The dog having returned to his own vomit and the sow that was washed unto the wallowing of the mire.” The metaphors vividly enforce the indisputable possibility and fearful probability of apostasy. The dog gets terribly sick and vomits. What a vivid picture of a true penitent down at the mourner’s bench, vomiting up his sins. How strange to see the same dog ere long go back and eat up his vomit, and still more so to see a man who has been born from above, going back and taking up his old sins, which he vomited out when he drank the bitter cup of repentance. While the preachers here described in Peter’s prophecy are backsliders for the want of sanctification, doubtless many of their comrades never did know the Lord. Rest assured we are living amid the momentous fulfillment of these terrible latter day prophecies.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Division 2. (2Pe 2:1-22.)

The progress of evil, and the seduction of false teachers.

We come now, in the second division, to look at the development of evil, alas, in what is the professing Church of God on earth; the opposition of the enemy, which we have already learned to be so commonly by imitation of the truth, as well as also by weaving error and truth together, so that the truth shall attract true souls and thus put them off their guard against the error mixed with it. How essentially is the present day a day of such mixture! And how abundant are the sanctions of false prophets at the present time, whether professedly Christian or as nearly as possible assuming a Christian aspect in order to deceive! Man’s will, as we shall find, throughout distinguishes the false prophet, the very thing which the apostle has carefully assured us is absolutely foreign to the true one.

1. Looking back, the apostle reminds those whom he addresses -Israelites, as we know -that there were, there always have been, false prophets among the people. This was not to cease in Christianity, as one might easily think and would surely hope; the brightness and blessedness of God’s grace in it allowing no successful imitation. Nay, says the apostle, there shall be false teachers among you, and that going on to the extreme of revolt against the Master that bought them. He does not say "redeemed." He has no thought of redeemed people here. Christ has bought everything. The whole world is His, with all that is in it, and not merely as the Creator, but as the One who has paid an infinite price to get it back, as it were, to Himself.* But purchase is not redemption. What it does imply is the right over them of the One who has made this purchase, a right they may deny, as, in fact, those mentioned would deny it. They would develop a spirit of rebellion which would bring swift destruction, not upon themselves alone, but upon all who followed them. Their ways would be ways of dissoluteness, -their own way manifestly, -but which would cause, by the number of their followers, the way of truth to be blasphemed by those who were professed followers of it.** Seeking their own ends, they would be but merchantmen on their own account, making merchandise, with well-turned words, of the people of God themselves, to satisfy simply their own covetousness, their lust of power, lust of money, lust of fame, every other kind of lust that presses upon man. The judgment upon these was ordained from of old, and, as it were, ready to break forth. The patience of God was not indifference, and the seeming prosperity that they might in the meantime have would not hinder the completeness of their final destruction.

{*Thus the whole field was purchased (Mat 13:1-58) for the sake of the hidden treasure -the world, for the sake of Israel. So also in Heb 10:29, apostates are spoken of as having been "sanctified" (set apart) by the blood of the covenant. Of course, this is only external, and has no thought of redemption. -S.R.

**In like manner, the name of God was blasphemed among the Gentiles by the godlessness of the Jews (Rom 2:24). The world is always ready to attribute to the true the excesses of the false imitation. -S.R.}

2. The apostle now exhorts those who might be in danger of being carried away by the false pretensions of such as these to remember the judgment which is already passed upon those who in former times walked in the same course of lawlessness and rebellion against the authority of God. The angels who sinned God has cast down to the pit, delivering them to chains of darkness to be kept for judgment -a company which, as it seems by what is said of them, must be kept separate from the more general class of Satan and his angels, who are, as we know, not in confinement as yet, but going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it, Satan himself being the prince of this world at the present time. These, on the other hand, are already in chains, not in hell exactly, which in the force that it has now with us would mean the final place of torment. Here, evidently, is a condition preliminary to the judgment which is at hand for them and for all else, one and the same judgment at the same time. The apostle brings forward again the judgment of that old world out of which Noah, "the eighth person," -or one among eight, -"a preacher of righteousness," was preserved, the flood being brought in upon the world of the ungodly. It is the same example that we have had in the first epistle, and evidently used in the same way: not to dilate upon God’s grace to those thus perishing, but the very opposite -to emphasize their judgment, and that, out of a whole world of ungodly, only eight persons were preserved. Next, he passes on to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah which God had turned into ashes, condemning them with an overthrow, making them an example to those that should live ungodly.* Here, too, was a careful discrimination in favor of the righteous, though it might be only one man who manifested himself really as that. He, too, was in a place where manifestly he had no call from God to justify his being in it. Righteous man he was, vexed with the evil behavior of the godless, and that from day to day, as in their midst he saw and heard what was taking place. But why was he there to vex his soul with it? Yet, after all, though in Sodom, he was not of Sodom, and the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation while keeping the unrighteous to the day of judgment under punishment. Even in that preliminary prison-house of the lost there must of necessity be the sense of God’s anger abiding upon those shut up there, although the time of full and final apportionment has not come. The apostle emphasizes two things especially as noted among them -the outbreak of the flesh in its grossest character, and the setting aside of all authority. These two things, of course, necessarily go together; at least, the latter will accompany the former. Thus, then, had God manifested Himself able to destroy on the one hand, able to deliver on the other, and faithful on both sides to His nature and to His word.

{*In the three instances of sin and its judgment there seems to be a development of evil: in the angels, self-will and rebellion are prominent; in those judged at the flood, violence and lawlessness are present; while in Sodom and Gomorrah, it is the abominable corruption of the flesh. Thus departure from God is the beginning of a course of sin which is fully manifested in unutterable corruption. It will also be noticed that, while not in the final place of doom, the penalty and judgment inflicted in each case is irrevocable. -S.R.}

3. We have now the full manifestation of these ungodly ones of the last days. The same general character is seen in them, only ripened in the constant resistance to the longsuffering of God, which is salvation, and to the full light which has come in. This is, in fact, what makes the last days so evil: not that, if you look at the mere outward condition, you could always say that it is worse than what the world has been ever full of; but, as we have learnt in Paul’s epistle to Timothy, the evil has wrought in the presence of the truth, to which, in the first place, it had seemed indeed to be in allegiance, and which, in fact, had more or less control. Thus there was a form of godliness while the power of it was denied. Here we have a similar thing, but with a fuller description, and therefore more loathsome as seen nearer at hand. They are "bold," "self-willed, they do not fear to rail at dignities," whereas angels, so much greater in might and power, did not bring railing accusation against them before the Lord.* But these are only as animals naturally, without the constraint of reason or the fear of God, having lost the capacity for communion with Him, and thus all that implied or necessitated continuance at all. They were but as beasts "born to be caught and destroyed," much lower therefore than the beast, for man cannot sink to them without sinking lower. These, therefore, railing about things of which they are ignorant, will perish in their own corruption. There is in sin a necessary element of destruction. It has no justification of its existence, no right to live, and the perpetual degradation downward tends necessarily to the same thing. Thus they receive the reward of unrighteousness, being such as count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, not in the night, as men do usually for shame. They have learnt to face the light and defy it. Thus they can take their place even with Christians, while mere spots and blemishes upon all the Christian name; reveling at last in their very deceivings at the superior wisdom with which they trick the more credulous souls around them, their very heart going out in their restless eyes, never ceasing from sin, having the heart practiced in ways of personal gain, following Balaam in his path of old, who loved the reward of unrighteousness and walked, with the very hand of God upon him, in the folly of his own self-seeking. Thus the dumb ass was used of God in fitting rebuke to him -a human voice, yet with a beast’s nature; but the beast rebukes the man, as even beast nature does. These, then, are "springs without water," those to whom men look for something but find nothing of what they want -"obscuring mists," driven by the storm of their own passions, with divine judgment at the back, unto whom the gloom of darkness is reserved forever. Such is the description of those of whom God’s warning voice would remind men during the time of His longsuffering endurance of them. None must think that He is deceived, or that the judgment which He predicts is a thing that may be slighted or trifled with.

{*Note the contrast here between the unfallen angels and Satan, and presumably all his hosts. He is the "accuser of the brethren." Man, alas, shows his kinship with this arch railer by doing what the mighty angels do not dare to do. -S.R.}

4. And now the effect of all this upon others is specially marked. "Speaking great swelling words of vanity, they allure with the lusts of the flesh those just escaping from those that live in error," men under a certain power of the truth, convicted in their own conscience, while, after all, the heart is not drawn to or satisfied with the things of God. Men are forced from evil by the conviction of judgment at hand, and this is the well-known character of so many apparent conversions under the chastening hand of God. They are, after all, driven, not drawn; and thus the lusts of the flesh still allure them. They would love to have the liberty which these men promise them, although, indeed, they are but themselves the mere slaves of corruption, least their own masters when they think most surely that they are that. But thus those who "have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" may be again entangled and overcome, men at heart halting between two opinions, although the truth has so far prevailed with them as to compel their separation from the very things that still invite them. We must note carefully here that those of whom the apostle has spoken in the first chapter are those who have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. This is the real Christian character. The heart is satisfied, and satisfied with Christ; and thus they have in them a principle of stability which those spoken of here have none of. They have escaped the pollutions of external things. They have never had their own inner malady healed. Thus, though it be the "knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" that has done this, they are but dogs that turn back to their forsaken vomit, and, like the washed sow, which one surely knows, spite of her washing, will go back to the mire she loves. It is plain, therefore, that the apostle is, in all this, not contemplating that which could be a possibility to any real Christian. They have reformed, as men say; they know the way of righteousness. They are convinced of that which the light has thus discovered to them; but that is all, and it is plain how in such a condition, when in spite of this they turn back to that which they have left, their last state has become worse than the first. Such, then, is the spreading character of this canker of evil, while at the same time we are made carefully to know how God, has provided for and shields His own.

F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 23

THE LORD KNOWETH HOW TO DELIVER

2Pe_2:1-9

THIS second chapter contains much more of a direct description of the heretical teaching and practices from which the converts were in danger, and is full of warning and comfort, both alike drawn from that Old Testament prophecy to the light of which St. Peter has just been urging them to take heed. The chapter has many features and much of its language in common with the Epistle of St. Jude. But the opening of the chapter seems a suitable place to call attention to a difference of motive which is manifested in this Epistle and in that. They resemble one another greatly in the illustrations which they have in common, but St. Peter makes a twofold use of them: while showing that the ungodly will assuredly be punished, he comforts the righteous with the lesson that, be they ever so few, even as the eight who were saved at the Deluge, or as Lot, with his diminished family, at the overthrow of Sodom, the Lord knows how to deliver His servants out of trials. Of this latter side of the prophetic picture St. Jude shows us nothing. The evil doings of the tempters must have waxed grosser in his day, and he is only concerned to preach the certainty of their condemnation. The unbelievers in the wilderness, the angels who sinned, the Cities of the Plain, the error of Balaam, and the overthrow of Korah are all cited in proof that the wicked shall not escape; but he has no word about the deliverance of those whose souls are tortured by the wicked doing of the sinners among whom it is their lot to live.

"But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction." It is as though the Apostle would say, Be not unduly dismayed. The lamp of Old Testament prophecy shows that yours is a lot which has befallen others. As Israel of old was Gods people, so the Church of Christ is now And among them again and again false prophet arose, not only those of Baal and Asherah, not only those who served the calves at Dan and Bethel, but those who called themselves by Jehovahs name, and of whom He says to Jeremiah, "The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake I unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart." {Jer_14:14} The picture is exactly repeated for these Asian Churches. False teaching had attached itself to the true, used its language, and professed to be at one with it, except in so far as it was superior. For the history of corruptions in the faith repeats itself, and-

"Wherever God erects a house of prayer,

The devil always builds a chapel there."

It is the most perilous aspect of error when it parades itself as the truest truth. Hence the name by which St. Peter calls this dangerous teaching: "destructive heresies." They beguile unstable souls to their ruin. Their exponents choose the name of Christ to call themselves by, but cast aside the doctrine of the Cross both in its discipline for their lives, and as the altar of human redemption; And the men to whom St. Peter alludes were either among the teachers, or put themselves forward to teach; and there was a danger lest their authority should be recognized. They accepted Christ, but not as He loves to be accepted. He has called Himself Lord and Master, and has paid the price which makes Him so; but by their interpretations both of His nature and His office these men in very deed renounced and deserted His service, ignored their relation as His bondservants, and in this way denied the Master that bought them. Soon they chose other masters and became the slaves of the world and the flesh. Thus they entered on the path that leads to destruction, and soon it will come upon them. They who destroyed others shall themselves be destroyed. The lords whom they serve have all their empire in this life; and when the end thereof comes, it comes all too soon, and is a dread overthrow of everything they have set store by. On their lot the lamp of prophecy sheds its light: "How suddenly do they perish and come to a fearful end."

"And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of." St. Jude, who had seen the results of such teaching, says these men turned the very grace of God into lasciviousness; they perverted the teachings of the Gospel concerning the freedom which is in Christ, and their phraseology they made to have a Pauline ring about it. Did he not teach how Christ had made men free? Had they not heard from him that men should cast off trust in the bondage of the Law? In this wise they taught a doctrine of lawless self-indulgence, which they extolled as the token of entire emancipation and of a loftier nature on which the taint of sins could leave no defilement. In the blindness of their hearts, self-chosen blindness, of which they boasted as knowledge, they gave themselves over to the flesh, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

St. Peter knows that baits of this sort appeal to the natural man; that there is within the citadel of the heart a traitorous weakness which is ready to betray it to the enemy. So, with prophetic foresight, he laments, Many shall follow after them. And such sinners do not gin unto themselves: their falling away brings calamity on the whole Church of Christ. It did so then; it does so still. The faithful cannot escape from the obloquy which is due to the faithless; and the world, which cares little for Christ, will readily point to the evil lives which it sees in the renegade brethren, and draw the conclusion that in secret the rest run to the same excess of riot. Evil-speaking of this kind became abundantly common in the first Christian centuries, and furnishes the object of many Christian apologies.

"And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you." St. Paul in writing to Timothy gives a comment which throws much light on these words. He tells of men who consent not to sound words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, thus denying the Master that bought them. He speaks of them as bereft of the truth, supposing that godliness is a way of gain; and he adds, "They that desire to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows". {1Ti_6:3-10} From the first days of the Churchs history we see, from the instances of Ananias and Sapphira, and of Simon, with his offer of money to the Apostles, that both among the disciples and the would-be teachers covetousness made itself very apparent. The communistic basis on which the society was constituted lent itself to the schemes of those who desired to make a gain of their Christian profession. In the time when St. Peter wrote the evil had spread. Teachers were discovering that, by a modification or adaptation of the Christian language and doctrines, they could draw after them many followers. These were the feigned words to which the Apostle alludes, and the contributions of their satisfied hearers were proving a gainful merchandise. The Gnostic teachers were of various sorts, but of all alike the language was boastful as coming of superior insight; great, swelling words they spake, having mens persons in regard because of the prospects of advantage. The evil was a sore one, and is so wherever it finds entry. And later ages have also known somewhat of its mischief. It is the wisdom of all Christian communities so to order themselves that their teachers and guides may be safe from this temptation. For such teachers do not stop at small beginnings of error, hut prophesy smooth things, and close their eyes at evil; nay, in this case they seem to have encouraged sensual living, as though it were an indication of the freedom of which they boasted.

"Whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not." In thought the Apostle reads the book of prophecy. It is as if he said, "It is written in the prophetic word." And when the overthrow of the sinners comes to pass, those who behold it may say, "Thus is the prophecy fulfilled." The doom of such sinners is sure. They may seem to live their lives with impunity, for a while, as though Gods eternal law were inoperative; but the issue is certain. None such escape. Gods mills grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small. And the lot of such men is destruction. Of illustrations the Apostle chooses three, applying each to a different vice of these teachers of error. These men were proud; so were the angels that sinned, but their pride was only a prelude to their fall. These men were disobedient; so were the antediluvian sinners, and would neither hearken nor turn, and so the Flood came and swept them all away. These men were sensual; so were the dwellers in the Cities of the Plain, and their overthrow remains still a memorial of Gods wrath against such sinners. Verily the sentence of all such men is written from of old.

"For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." To each of the three instances St. Peter adduces the reader is left to supply the unmistakable conclusion, "Neither will He spare the sinners of today." The sentences are all the more solemn from their incompleteness. Some have thought that the reference in this verse is to the narrative found in Gen_6:3; but that account is very full of difficulties, and there is no mention of a judgment upon those who offended. It seems more sound exposition to take the Apostles words as spoken of him concerning whom Christ has told us {Joh_8:44} that he was a murderer from the beginning and stood not in the truth, and of the condemnation of whose pride St. Paul speaks to Timothy. {1Ti_3:6} For him and for his fellow-sinners the Gospel teaches us {Mat_25:41} that eternal fire was prepared, and an apostle {Jam_2:19} says that "the devils believe and shudder," it must be in apprehension of a coming judgment. All that St. Peter here says is implied in these Scriptural allusions to Satan and his fall; and it is more prudent to apply to them the highly figurative language of the Apostle here, which is exactly after his manner, than to seek for fanciful interpretations of the Mosaic story. We may rest assured by the way in which these things are spoken of, though but dimly, by Christ and His Apostles, that they formed a portion of Jewish religious teaching and constituted part of the faith of St. Peter and his contemporaries, though there is but little mention of the fallen angels in the Old Testament.

"And spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly." Here the Apostle points to a consolation for the converts amid their trials. The ungodly do not escape, be their multitude ever so great. A world full of sinners is involved in one common overthrow. Nor are the righteous forgotten, though their number be but few. The lamp of prophecy sheds much light here. Amid all Gods dispensations toward Israel, His faithful ones were the remnant only; but these were saved by the grace of the Lord, they were brought out from the destruction, and not forsaken, and had a promise that they should take root downward and bear fruit upward. The words in which St. Peter describes the chief person of the few saved in the Deluge appear intended to point out that feature in Noahs history which most resembled the lot of the Asian Churches. They were now, as he was of old. Gods heralds in the midst of a naughty world; and to bring to their minds the thought of his long-sustained opposition and mockery could hardly fail to nerve them to stand fast. What lot could be more desperate than the Patriarchs? For a hundred and twenty years by action and by word he published his message, and it fell on deaf ears; yet God was guarding him (εφυλαξεν) through it all, and words could not express more complete safety than when the early record tells us, ere the Flood came, "The Lord shut him in."

"And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly." These cities stood in a land fair enough to be likened to the garden of the Lord. To Lot himself their fertile fields had been a temptation, and by yielding thereto he brought on himself a plenitude of sorrow; and the sacred record counts his deliverance-rather to the faith and righteousness of Abraham than to himself. God remembered Abraham, and brought Lot out of the overthrow. One of the fairest parts of His world God condemned for the wickedness of them that inhabited it. Nature was defaced for mans sin, and still lies desolate as a perpetual homily against such ungodly living as often comes of wealth and fullness of bread. After such a state were these false teachers seeking while they made their gain of their disciples; and in the later times of which St. Jude speaks, having fostered all that was carnal within and around them, in those things which they understood naturally, there they cast themselves away.

"And delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their lawless deeds)." The thrice-named righteousness of Lot is perhaps thus set down because of the struggle which it must have been to maintain the fear of Abrahams God among such sinful surroundings. Lot was in the land of the enemy, and his deliverance is pictured as a very rescue: he was saved, yet so as by fire. He had gone down into the plain with thoughts of a life of abundance, and it may be of ease, a contrast to the wandering life which he had hitherto shared with Abraham. Instead of this he found anguish and distress of mind, which no amount of temporal prosperity could alleviate; and to this would be added self-reproach. It was of his own choice that he was dwelling among them. The Apostle points his misery in the strongest terms. He was distressed; and of the sights and sounds on every side, and never ceasing, he made a torture to his soul. It was no mere offence to him that these things were so. It was very anguish to see men setting at defiance every law human and Divine. To behold the evils of a lascivious life waxing rampant in the midst of the Christian Churches, and countenanced by those who assumed the office of teachers, must have been an agony to the faithful akin to that with which Lot tortured himself. St. Peter would strengthen the drooping hearts of the brethren; and no greater comfort could there be found than this which he offers, taking the lamp of prophecy and shedding its rays of hope into the dark places of their lives.

"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation." Already he has given the lesson {2Pe_1:6} that true godliness must have its root in patience. It is a perfect trust, which rests securely on the Fathers love, and willingly waits His time. The hearts of the faithful ones must have found solace in the thought which he here joins to his former teaching. The trials they endure are grievous, but "The Lord knows" is an unfailing support. The floods of ungodliness make His servants many a time afraid; but when they feel that there, as amid the raging ocean, the Lord ruleth, they are not overwhelmed. They are protected by Omnipotence; and the tiny grains of sand, which check the fierce tide, are an emblem of how out of weakness He can ordain strength. Hence there comes a knowledge to the struggling saint which makes him full of courage, whatever trials threaten. The world has its wrathful Nebuchadnezzars, whose threats at times are as a fiery furnace; but he is proof against them all who can say and feel, "The Lord knows." I am not careful nor disturbed; my God, in whom I trust, is able to deliver me, and He will deliver me. The Lord knoweth the way of the godly, and His knowledge means safety and eternal deliverance.

"And to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the Day of Judgment." The unrighteousness, over them too God keeps ward. They cannot hide themselves from Him, and through their conscience He makes life a continuous chastisement. They may seem to men to walk on heedlessly, but they have hidden tortures of which their fellows can take no count. Even the offender against human laws, who dreads that his sin will be found out, carries in his bosom a constant scourge. Fear hath torment (κολασιν εχει), and this it is of which the Apostle speaks. And if the dread of mans judgment can work terror, how much sorer must their alarm be who have the fiery indignation of the wrath of God in their thoughts and stinging their soul. Such men are kept all their life long under punishment. Yet in this constant anguish we trace Gods mercy: He sends it that men may turn in time. His blows on the sinful heart are meant to be remedial; and those who disregard His chastisements to the last will go away, self-condemned, selfdestroyed, despisers of Divine love, to a doom prepared, not for them, but for the devil and his angels.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

2:1-3 Alongside authentic prophets (1:20-21), there have always been false prophets who receive God’s judgment.

2:1 They will: Peter’s use of the future tense in 2:1-3 does not imply that false prophets had not yet come, but it alludes to Jesus’ prediction that false teachers would arise (Matt 24:11, 24; Mark 13:22; cp. Acts 20:29-31; 2 Tim 3:1-6). The false teachers who had arisen fulfilled that prediction. • deny the Master who bought them: The false teachers might have been overtly renouncing Christ, but it is more likely that their immoral conduct constituted a denial of Christ (cp. Titus 1:16).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Pe 2:1. Ἐγένοντο δὲ καὶ ψευδοπροφῆται, But there were also false prophets) An antithesis to the true prophets of the Old Testament, concerning whom see ch. 2Pe 1:19. Καἰ, also.—λαῷ, among the people) of Israel. He is writing to Israelites. An example of a false prophet is given, 2Pe 2:15.—ἔσονται) there shall be; and even at that time there had begun to be. A prophecy, already given, is now repeated, ch. 2Pe 3:2; Jud 1:4; Jud 1:14.—ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι, false teachers) Antithetical to the true teachers of the New Testament.—παρεισάξουσιν, shall privily bring in) παρὰ, beside the salutary doctrine respecting Christ.—αἱρέσεις ἀπωλείας) heresies, not only bad, but of the worst character, ruinous or abandoned.—καὶ) even. The epithet swift, added to the word perdition, which is repeated, is suitable.—τὸν ἀγοράσαντα αὐτοὺς, Him who bought them) To the confession of whom they ought to have been devoted, even to death: ch. 2Pe 1:16.—δεσπότην) whom the true doctrine testifies to be Lord.—ἀρνούμενοι, denying) in doctrine and works: Jud 1:4. They deny that He truly came in the flesh, and thus they take away altogether the mystery of redemption: 1Jn 4:2-3.—ἐπάγοντες, bringing on) Man brings upon himself: God brings upon him, as an avenger: 2Pe 2:5.—ταχινὴν, swift) On account of the speedy coming of the Lord.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Pe_2:1. From here onwards: a description of the false teachers, who were to arise in the church, and a warning against them.

ἐγένοντο δὲ καὶ ψευδοπροφῆται] δέ: antithesis to what goes before. καί: also, that is, besides the true prophets mentioned in chap. 2Pe_1:21. The expression: ψευδοπροφήτης, already in the O. T. LXX., e.g. Jer_6:13, frequently in the N. T., not after the analogy of ψευδολόγος: one who prophesies falsely, but: one who falsely gives himself out for a prophet, on the analogy of ψευδάδελφος, ψευδαπόστολος.

ἐν τῷ λαῷ] i.e. among the people of Israel. These words are in form a principal clause, but in thought a secondary clause: as there were false prophets in Israel, so will there be also among you, etc.

ὡς καὶ … ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι] ἔσονται; designates the ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι as such, who would arise only in the future. They are afterwards pictured as actually present; see on this, the Introd. § 2, p. 281. The expression ψευδοδιδ. is in the N. T. ἅπ. λεγ.; Wiesinger and Brückner interpret: such as teach lies; Dietlein and Fronmüller: such as lyingly pretend to be teachers. The analogy of ψευδοπροφ., with which it is here contrasted, makes the last the preferable interpretation (thus, too, Hofmann). Both result in the same sense (Schott); what the ψευδοπροφῆται were in the O. T., the ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι are in the N. T.

οἵτινες] equivalent to quippe qui, such as.

παρεισάξουσι] cf. Jud_1:4 : to introduce by the side of, with the secondary idea of secrecy.[61]

αἱρέσεις ἀπωλείας] αἱρέσεις, according to N. T. usage, party-divisions, cf. 1Co_11:19 (synonymous with σχίσματα); Gal_5:20 (synonymous with διχοστασίαι); also Tit_3:10, which have their origin in false doctrine; thus Brückner, Wiesinger, Schott, etc.; Hofmann, too, says that the word is to be taken in no sense different from that which it has elsewhere in the N. T., but then interprets it as equivalent to particular systems of opinion, thus attributing to it a meaning which it has nowhere else. Others take αἵρεσις here to mean false doctrine, heresy (Bengel, de Wette, Fronmüller). This interpretation is better suited to the connection, and especially to the verb παρεισάγειν. In the N. T., doubtless, the word has not this meaning, yet Ignatius already uses it with this force. ἀπωλείας (which is not to be resolved into the adject. destructive) designates the heresies as those which lead to ἀπώλεια; cf. 2Pe_2:2-3.

καὶ τὸν ἀγοράσαντα … ἀπώλειαν] Winer (5th ed. p. 399 f.) translates: since they also, denying the Lord, draw upon themselves swift destruction; but the connection of καί with ἐπάγοντες, so far removed from it by τὸν ἀγοράσαντα κ.τ.λ., cannot be justified. Fronmüller connects the member of the clause beginning with καί not with the relative clause οἵτινες, but with ἔσονται ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι. This construction was formerly supported in this commentary, with the remark, however, that a particular species of false doctrine was not, as Fronmüller assumes, indicated here, but that the participial clause more nearly defined the ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι, καί being here put in the sense of: and withal; this construction, however, is anything but natural. The καί must undoubtedly be connected with the clause immediately preceding, though not as a simple copula, but in the sense of also; thus de Wette and Wiesinger,[62] taking καί as an intensification, equivalent to even: whilst they deny even the Lord who bought them. On the other hand, Hofmann does not admit any such intensification, and takes καί as equivalent to also, in the sense of addition, and interprets: with their particular systems they break up the unity of the church, which, however, they do not do without at the same time denying the Lord. But, on this interpretation, it is not clear why the author did not put the finite verb instead of the partic. ἀρνούμενοι; the thought, too, that they break up the unity of the church, is simply imported. The participle shows that this clause is meant to serve as an explanation or a more precise definition of what goes before. De Wettes view, accordingly, is to be preferred to that of Hofmann; it is, however, also possible that Schott is right in assuming an irregularity of the construction, in that the author, led astray by the participle ἀρνούμενοι, wrote the participle ἐπάγοντες instead of the finite verb ἐπάξουσι; in which case καί must be taken as a simple copula.

The participle ἐπάγοντες is connected in a loose fashion with what precedes, in the sense: by which they, etc. The ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι are more precisely characterized as: τὸν ἀγοράσαντα αὐτοὺς δεσπότην ἀρνούμενοι; with ἀρνούμενοι, cf. Jud_1:4; Bengel correctly: doctrina et operibus. By δεσπότην Christ is here meant; the author speaks of Him thus, in order to lay stress on the fact that they deny that Christ is the Lord; ἀγοράσαντα αὐτούς is added by way of emphasis: they deny the Lord who bought them, i.e. procured them for Himself by paying the purchase price. This does not only serve to emphasize more strongly what is reprehensible in the ἀρνεῖσθαι, but points out also that they deny the act to which allusion is made, and by which He has become their Lord. With ἀγοράζειν, cf. 1Co_6:20; 1Co_7:23; Rev_5:9; the blood of Christ must be thought of as the purchase price.

ἐπάγοντες ἑαυτοῖς ταχινὴν ἀπώλειαν] With ἐπάγ. ἑαυτοῖς, cf. 2Pe_2:5, as also Act_5:28. ἑαυτοῖς indicates that they prepare an ἀπώλεια not only for others (αἱρέσεις ἀπωλείας), but for themselves.

With ταχινήν, see chap. 2Pe_1:14, not: a speedy ἀπώλεια; Hornejus correctly: inopinatam et inexspectatam; the destruction will come over them suddenly, and before they are aware of it (Schott, Fronmüller, Hofmann).

[61] Hofmann is wrong in asserting that in classical Greek παρεισάγειν has not the secondary meaning of secrecy; the verb occurs both with this secondary meaning and without it, see Pape, s.v.

[62] Winer (6th ed. p. 314 [E. T. 441], 7th ed. p. 329) says: Both participles, ἀρν. and ἐπάγ., are connected with παρεισάξουσιν; they are not, however, co-ordinate with each other, but ἐπάγοντες is annexed to the clause οἵτινες … ἀρνούμενοι; he does not state how καί is to he understood.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Pe 2:1-3 . The False Teachers and their Judgment . “Yet there were also false prophets in the ancient community, just as among you there will be false teachers. They will not hesitate to introduce alongside the truth corrupting heresies, even denying their Redeemer, and bringing on themselves swift destruction. Many will imitate their vicious example, and thereby the way of truth will be discredited. Nay, further, actuated by covetousness, they will make merchandise of you by lying words. Yet you must not think that the judgment passed on all such long ago is inactive. Their destruction is awaiting them.”

2Pe 2:1 . ψευδοπροφῆται ἐν τῷ λαῷ . ἐν τῷ λαῷ is used for the chosen people in LXX. ψευδοπροφῆται . A class of False Prophets is frequently mentioned in the O.T. In the earlier ages it is not suggested that there was conscious deceit on the part of the prophet. His prophecy is false, if it is proved so by the event (Jer 28:9 ). “When a prophet lies, without being inspired by a false or impotent god, it is because God in His anger against Israel’s sin means to destroy him, and therefore put into the prophets ‘a lying spirit’ ”. (Schulz. O.T. Th. i. 257). Cf. 1Ki 22:5 ff. These are the prophets who cry “peace, peace,” when God is really going to bring judgment. In the later period superstitious acts and pagan practices, such as spiritualism, ventriloquism, professional soothsaying, became common ( e.g. Jer 27:9 ; Isa 8:19 ). The cardinal distinction between the true and the false prophet lay in the moral character of their teaching (Jer 23:21-22 ). ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι . The characteristics of their teaching are well-marked in this Epistle. See Introduction, pp. 115 ff. Compare Phi 3:18 f., “enemies of the Cross,” who brought tears of shame to the eyes of the Apostle; the abuses of the Lord’s Supper in 1Co 11 .; also Gal 2:4 , 2Co 11:13 .

παρεισάξουσιν . What is the force of παρα -? The idea of “stealth” or “secrecy” “stealthily to introduce” is hardly in accord with their character described elsewhere as τολμηταὶ αὐθάδεις , δόξας οὐ τρέμουσιν βλασφημοῦντες (2Pe 2:10 ). Rather the idea seems to be of the introduction of false teaching alongside the true, whereby the ὁδὸς ἀληθείας is brought into disrepute. Cf. παρεισενέγκαντες , 2Pe 1:5 . The idea of stealth is present in παρεισάκτους (Gal 2:5 ). αἱρέσεις . Clearly αἵρεσις here is used in original sense of “tenet” (“animus,” “sententia”) (So Spitta, von Soden, Weiss; but cf. Zahn., op. cit. ii. 233). In Gal 5:20 , 1Co 11:19 , the sense is “dissensions,” arising from such diversity of opinion. It is used in the sense of “sect” in Act 5:17 ; Act 15:5 ; Act 24:5 . The ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι were within the Church. Even the “Alogi,” who disputed the fourth Gospel in second century, were not excommunicated. They were, as Epiphanius says, “one of ourselves”. Cf. MME., Expos. Feb. 1908. αἱρέσεις ἀπωλείας . The Genitive contains the qualifying idea “corrupting tenets”. Our identification with a great cause may be maintained, as in the case of the false teachers, but personal motives may sadly deteriorate, and the influence of the life may breed corruption. Cf. Ignat. Trall. vi. 1; Eph. vi. 2. καὶ τὸν ἀγορ .… ἀρνούμενοι . καὶ = “even”. Cf. Mar 1:27 . If the ordinary use of δεσπότης in early Christian writers is followed here, viz. , as referring to God, ἀγοράζω would also be used of God, who redeemed Israel out of Egypt (2Sa 7:23 ). The reference here, however, is to Christ ( cf. Mayor, p. 17.). The N.T. use of ἀγορ . is illustrated in 1Co 6:20 , where reference might be to God; but in 2Sa 7:23 reference is clearly to Christ. So in Rev 5:9 . Cf. our Lord’s words in Mar 10:45 , about “giving his life a ransom” and Jude 2Pe 2:4 . The “denial” seems to have consisted in an inadequate view of the Person and Work of Christ, and their relation to the problem of human sin. Cf. Epp. of Peter , J. H. Jowett, pp. 230 ff. ταχινὴν . See note on 2Pe 1:14 . ἐπάγοντες . The middle might have been expected. cf. v. 5, where the active is suitably used.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chap.

2:1-22.] Description of erroneous teachers who should arise: their ungodly practices, and certain destruction. On the close parallelism with Jud 1:4-19, see in Prolegg. The fact will necessitate continual reference to that Epistle.

1.] Transition to the new subject. But (contrast to last verse) there were false prophets also (as well as the true prophets, just spoken of) among the people (of Israel. These words, more than any that have preceded, define the prophecies spoken of before as O. T. prophecies), as there shall be among you also (καί with ἐν ὑμῖν. On ἔσονται, Bengel says “et jam esse cœperunt tunc.” It was so, see vv. 9 ff.: still the future in ἔσονται is simple, and this first declaration a pure prophecy) false teachers (teachers of falsehood: cf. ψευδόλογος. In the case of ψευδοπροφῆται, the ψευδο- is ambiguous, whether subjective, pretenders to be prophets when they were not, or objective, prophesiers of false things: cf. for the latter Jer 14:14, LXX, ψευδῆ οἱ προφῆται προφητεύουσιν …; ib. 15; 23:25, al. fr.), the which (οἵτινες, of a class: not simply identifying the individuals) shall introduce (shall bring in by the side of that teaching which ye have received. There is a hint of secrecy and unobservedness, but not so strong as in E. V. “shall privily bring in.” It is stronger in the παρεισέδυσαν of Jud 1:4) heresies (αἱρέσεις here rather in the sense in which we now understand the word, new and self-chosen doctrines, alien from the truth: not sects (vulg.), which may be founded, but can hardly be said to be introduced) of destruction (whose end is destruction, Php 3:19. The expression is not to be resolved as E. V. (after Beza, as usual) by an adjective, “damnable heresies,” as it thereby loses its meaning, merely conveying the writer’s own [judgment of] condemnation), and denying (a remarkable word from St. Peter) the master (compare τὸν μόνον δεσπότην καὶ κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν χριστὸν ἀρνούμενοι, Jud 1:4) who bought them (reff. Ne, assertion of universal redemption can be plainer than this. “Ex hoc loco bene colligitur,” says Estius, endeavouring to escape the inference, “Christum redemisse quosdam reprobos, nimirum illos, qui redemptionis ejus secundum aliquos effectus facti sunt participes: cujusmodi erant hi, de quibus Petrus loquitur: utpote per fidem in baptismo regenerati, et peccatorum veniam consecuti, licet postea in veterem peccati servitutem lapsi.… Sed ne hino colligas, ad omnes omnino homines effectum redemptionis extendi.” Calvin passes it without a word. It may be noted that by the use of this particular predication for Christ here, those heresies seem especially to be aimed at, which denied or explained away the virtue of the propitiatory sacrifice of our Lord, by which He has bought us to Himself), bringing upon themselves (the construction is not very plain. Of the two participial clauses, … ἀρνούμενοι, and ἐπάγοντες …, one must be taken as equivalent to a finite verb, corresponding to παρεισάξουσιν above: unless indeed we understand καί to mean “even,” and make both participial clauses follow παρεισάξουσιν … as epexegetical of it. This, however, would leave the ἐπάγοντες awkwardly pendent, and requiring “and” to fill it up, as in E. V. As regards then the alternative before proposed, Huther thinks it most natural to regard ἐπάγοντες as a finite verb: “who, by denying &c., bring on themselves &c.:”—Winer, § 45. 6. a, prefers making both depend on παρεισάξουσιν, regarding them however not as co-ordinate, but ἐπάγοντες as a sequel added to the sentence οἵτινες.… ἀρνούμενοι. I much prefer taking καί as the simple copula, and regarding ἀρνούμενοι as standing in the place of a finite verb, co-ordinate with παρεισάξουσιν followed, as a consequence, by ἐπάγοντες κ.τ.λ.) swift (see note on ref., not speedy, but as Horneius in Huther, “inopinatam et inexspectatam”) destruction [cf. αἱρέσεις ἀπωλείας above]:

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Under the Law, while the state and policy of the Jews was yet standing.

As in times past there were two kinds of Prophets, the one true, the other false, so Peter fortelleth them that there shall be some true and some false teachers in the Church, insomuch that Christ himself shall be denied by some, who notwithstanding shall call him redeemer.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

I. In the end of the former chapter there is mention made of holy men of God, who lived in the times of the Old Testament, and were used as the amanuenses of the Holy Ghost, in writing the sacred oracles; but in the beginning of this he tells us they had, even at that time, false prophets in the church as well as true. In all ages of the church, and under all dispensations, when God sends true prophets, the devil sends some to seduce and deceive, false prophets in the Old Testament, and false Christs, false apostles, and seducing teachers, in the New. Concerning these observe, 1. Their business is to bring in destructive errors, even damnable heresies, as the business of teachers sent of God is to show the way of truth, even the true way to everlasting life. There are damnable heresies as well as damnable practices; and false teachers are industrious to spread pernicious errors. 2. Damnable heresies are commonly brought in privily, under the cloak and colour of truth. Those who introduce destructive heresies deny the Lord that bought them. They reject and refuse to hear and learn of the great teacher sent from God, though he is the only Saviour and Redeemer of men, who paid a price sufficient to redeem as many worlds of sinners as there are sinners in the world. 4. Those who bring in errors destructive to others bring swift (and therefore sure) destruction upon themselves. Self-destroyers are soon destroyed; and those who are so hardened as to propagate errors destructive to others shall surely and suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

II. He proceeds, in the second verse, to tell us the consequence with respect to others; and here we may learn, 1. Corrupt leaders seldom fail of many to follow them; though the way of error is a pernicious way, yet many are ready to walk therein. Men drink in iniquity like water, and are pleased to live in error. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the people love to have it so. 2. The spreading of error will bring up an evil report on the way of truth; that is, the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. The Christian religion is from the God of truth as the author, leads to true happiness in the enjoyment of the true God as the end, and works truth in the inward part as the means of acceptably serving God. And yet this way of truth is traduced and blasphemed by those who embrace and advance destructive errors. This the apostle has foretold as what should certainly come to pass. Let us not be offended at any thing of this in our day, but take care that we give no occasion to the enemy to blaspheme the holy name whereby we are called, or speak evil of that way whereby we hope to be saved.

III. Observe, in the next place, the method seducers take to draw disciples after them: they use feigned words; they flatter, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple, inducing them to yield entirely to the opinions which these seducers endeavour to propagate, and sell and deliver themselves over to the instruction and government of these false teacher, who make a gain of those whom they make their proselytes, serving themselves and making some advantage of them; for all this is through covetousness, with a desire and design to get more wealth, or credit, or commendation, by increasing the number of their followers. The faithful ministers of Christ, who show men the way of truth, desire the profit and advantage of their followers, that they may be saved; but these seducing teachers desire and design only their own temporal advantage and worldly grandeur.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

CHAPTER II.

False teachers foretold, who shall bring in destructive

doctrines and shall pervert many, but at last be destroyed by

the judgments of God, 1-3.

Instances of God's judgments in the rebellious angels, 4.

In the antediluvians, 5.

In the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, 6-8.

The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly, as well as to punish

the ungodly, 9.

The character of those seducing teachers and their disciples;

they are unclean, presumptuous, speak evil of dignities,

adulterous, covetous, and cursed, 10-14.

Have forsaken the right way, copy the conduct of Balaam, speak

great swelling words, and pervert those who had escaped from

error, 15-19.

The miserable state of those who, having escaped the corruption

that is in the world, have turned back like the dog to his

vomit, and the washed swine to her wallowing in the mire,

20-22.

NOTES ON CHAP. II.

Verse 1. But there were false prophets] There were not only holy men of God among the Jews, who prophesied by Divine inspiration, but there were also false prophets, whose prophecies were from their own imagination, and perverted many.

As there shall be false teachers among you] At a very early period of the Christian Church many heresies sprung up; but the chief were those of the Ebionites, Cerinthians, Nicolaitans, Menandrians, and Gnostics, of whom many strange things have been spoken by the primitive fathers, and of whose opinions it is difficult to form any satisfactory view. They were, no doubt, bad enough, and their opponents in general have doubtless made them worse. By what name those were called of whom the apostle here speaks, we cannot tell. They were probably some sort of apostate Jews, or those called the Nicolaitans. See the preface.

Damnable heresies] αιρεσεις απωλειας. Heresies of destruction; such as, if followed, would lead a man to perdition. And these παρεισαξουσιν, they will bring in privately-cunningly, without making much noise, and as covertly as possible. It would be better to translate destructive heresies than damnable.

Denying the Lord that bought them] It is not certain whether God the Father be intended here, or our Lord Jesus Christ; for God is said to have purchased the Israelites, Ex 15:16, and to be the Father that had bought them, De 32:6, and the words may refer to these or such like passages; or they may point out Jesus Christ, who had bought them with his blood; and the heresies, or dangerous opinions, may mean such as opposed the Divinity of our Lord, or his meritorious and sacrificial death, or such opinions as bring upon those who hold them swift destruction. It seems, however, more natural to understand the Lord that bought them as applying to Christ, than otherwise; and if so, this is another proof, among many, 1. That none can be saved but by Jesus Christ. Z. That through their own wickedness some may perish for whom Christ died.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1. But there were. As weak consciences are usually very grievously and dangerously shaken, when false teachers arise, who either corrupt or mutilate the doctrine of faith, it was necessary for the Apostle, while seeking to encourage the faithful to persevere, to remove out of the way an offense of this kind. He, moreover, comforted those to whom he was writing, and confirmed them by this argument, that God has always tried and proved his Church by such a temptation as this, in order that novelty might not disturb their hearts. “Not different,” he says, “will be the condition of the Church under the gospel, from what it was formerly under the law; false prophets disturbed the ancient Church; the same thing must also be expected by us.”

It was necessary expressly to shew this, because many imagined that the Church would enjoy tranquillity under the rein of Christ; for as the prophets had promised that at his coming there would be real peace, the highest degree of heavenly wisdom, and the full restoration of all things, they thought that the Church would be no more exposed to any contests. Let us then remember that the Spirit of God hath once for all declared, that the Church shall never be free from this intestine evil; and let this likeness be always borne in mind, that the trial of our faith is to be similar to that of the fathers, and for the same reason — that in this way it may be made evident, whether we really love God, as we find it written in Deuteronomy 13:3.

But it is not necessary here to refer to every example of this kind; it is enough, in short, to know that, like the fathers, we must contend against false doctrines, that our faith ought by no means to be shaken on account of discords and sects, because the truth of God shall remain unshaken notwithstanding the violent agitations by which Satan strives often to upset all things.

Observe also, that no one time in particular is mentioned by Peter, when he says there shall be false teachers, but that all ages are included; for he makes here a comparison between Christians and the ancient people. We ought, then, to apply this truth to our own time, lest, when we see false teachers rising up to oppose the truth of God, this trial should break us down. But the Spirit reminds us, in order that we may take the more heed; and to the same purpose is the whole description which follows.

He does not, indeed, paint each sect in its own colors, but particularly refers to profane men who manifested contempt towards God. The advice, indeed, is general, that we ought to beware of false teachers; but, at the same time, he selected one kind of such from whom the greater danger arose. What is said here will hereafter become more evident from the words of Jude, [Jude 1:4,] who treats exactly of the same subject.

Who privily shall bring in. By these words he points out the craftiness of Satan, and of all the ungodly who militate under his banner, that they would creep in by oblique turnings, as through burrows under ground. The more watchful, then, ought the godly to be, so that they may escape their hidden frauds: for however they may insinuate themselves, they cannot circumvent those who are carefully vigilant.

He calls them opinions of perdition, or destructive opinions, that every one, solicitous for his salvation, might dread such opinions as the most noxious pests. As to the word opinions or heresies, it has not, without reason, been always deemed infamous and hateful by the children of God; for the bond of holy unity is the simple truth. As soon as we depart from that, nothing remains but dreadful discord.

Even denying the Lord that bought them. Though Christ may be denied in various ways, yet Peter, as I think, refers here to what is expressed by Jude, that is, when the grace of God is turned into lasciviousness; for Christ redeemed us, that he might have a people separated from all the pollutions of the world, and devoted to holiness and innocency. They, then, who throw off the bridle, and give themselves up to all kinds of licentiousness, are not unjustly said to deny Christ by whom they have been redeemed. Hence, that the doctrine of the gospel may remain whole and complete among us, let this be fixed in our minds, that we have been redeemed by Christ, that he may be the Lord of our life and of our death, and that our main object ought to be, to live to him and to die to him. He then says, that their swift destruction was at hand, lest others should be ensnared by them.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

1. But there were false prophets also among the people] The section of the Epistle which now opens contains so many parallelisms with the Epistle of St Jude that we can scarcely avoid the conclusion that one was derived from the other, or both from a common source. For a discussion of the questions which thus present themselves see Introduction. As regards the meaning of the words it is again an open question whether the Apostle refers to the remoter past of the history of Israel, to the false prophets of the days of Ahab (1Ki_22:12), or Isaiah (Isa_9:15, Isa_28:7), or Jeremiah (Jer_14:14; Jer_27:10), or Ezekiel (Eze_13:3), or Zechariah (Zec_13:4), or to those who in his own time had deceived the “people” (the distinctive term for “Israel”) in Jerusalem. The warnings against false prophets in our Lord’s discourses (Mat_7:22; Mat_24:24), and the like warnings in 1Jn_4:1, make it probable that he had chiefly the latter class in view. In the Greek compound noun (pseudo-didaskaloi) for “false teachers” we have another word peculiar to St Peter. The word was, perhaps, chosen as including in its range not only those who came with a direct claim to prophetic inspiration, but all who without authority should appear as teachers of a doctrine that was not true, and, as such, it would include the Judaizing teachers on the one side, the Gnosticizing teachers on the other. Comp. the distinction between “prophets” and “teachers” in Eph_4:11; 1Co_12:29.

who privily shall bring in] The verb is that from which was formed the adjective which St Paul uses for the “false brethren unawares brought in” (Gal_2:4). Are we justified in thinking that St Peter speaks of the same class of Judaizing teachers, or that he uses the word as indicating that it was applicable to others also, who were, it might be, at the opposite extreme of error?

damnable heresies] Literally, heresies of destruction. The word “heresy,” literally, “the choice of a party,” was used by later Greek writers for a philosophic sect or school like that of the Stoics or Epicureans, and hence, as in Act_5:17; Act_15:5; Act_24:5; Act_26:5; Act_28:22; 1Co_11:19, for a “sect” or “party” in the Church, and thence, again, for the principles characterizing such a sect, and so it passed to the ecclesiastical sense of “heresy.” The English adjective “damnable” hardly expresses the force of the Greek genitive, which indicates that the leading characteristic of the heresies of which the Apostle speaks was that they led men to “destruction” or “perdition.” Comp. the use of the same word in 1Ti_6:9. It may be noted that it is a word specially characteristic of this Epistle, in which it occurs six times; twice here, and in 2Pe_2:2-3, and chap. 2Pe_3:7; 2Pe_3:16.

even denying the Lord that bought them] The word for Lord (despotes), literally, a master as contrasted with a slave (1Ti_6:1-2), is used of Christ here, in the hymn, which we may fairly connect with St Peter, in Act_4:24, in Rev_6:10, and, in conjunction with the more common word for Lord (Kyrios), in Jdg_1:4. Here the choice of the word was probably determined by the connexion with the idea of “buying,” as a master buys a slave. The use of that word presents a parallelism with the thought of 1Pe_1:18, and here, as there, we have to think of the “precious blood of Christ” as the price that had been paid. No words could better assert the truth that the redemption so wrought was universal in its range than these. The sin of the teachers of these “heresies of perdition” was that they would not accept the position of redeemed creatures which of right belonged to them. The “denial” referred to may refer either to a formal rejection of Christ as the Son of God, like that of 1Jn_2:22-23, or to the practical denial of base and ungodly lives. The former is, perhaps, more prominently in view, but both are probably included. We cannot read the words without recollecting that the writer had himself, in one memorable instance, denied his Lord (Mat_26:69-75). In his case, however, the denial came from a passing cowardice and was followed by an immediate repentance. That which he here condemns was more persistent and malignant in its nature, and was as yet unrepented of.

bring upon themselves swift destruction] The adjective, which is peculiar to St Peter in the New Testament (here and in chap. 2Pe_1:14), implies the swift unlooked-for manner of the destruction that was to be the end of the false teachers rather than the nearness of its approach. The Apostle seems to contemplate either some sudden “visitation of God,” or possibly some quick exposure of their falsehood and baseness before men, ending in their utter confusion.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But there were false prophets also among the people,.... As well as holy men of God, who gave out prophecies, by the inspiration and impulse of the Holy Spirit; that is, among the people of the Jews, God's professing people, whose God was the Lord, and who had chosen them to be a special and peculiar people, above all people of the earth; and had distinguished them by his favours from all others: among these, though the Syriac version reads "in the world", there were false prophets, who ran, and were not sent; and who prophesied, and the Lord spake not to them: of these there were many in Jeremiah's time, and in the times of Ezekiel; and in Ahab's time, besides the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, slain by Elijah, there were four hundred that called themselves the prophets of the Lord; among whom went forth a lying spirit, encouraging Ahab to go up to Ramoth Gilead, promising him prosperity and success; Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah, with whom Micaiah, the true prophet, had much contention, was at the head of them; and such there were among that people in all ages, until the times of Christ, and in his likewise; see Mat 7:15 now from these, by an easy transition, the apostle proceeds to another part of his design in this epistle, to describe the characters of false teachers under the present dispensation, that saints may beware, and avoid their pernicious principles and practices:

even as there shall be false teachers among you; which need not to be wondered at, or stumble any, it being no new or strange thing, but what was always more or less the case of the people of God. This is a prophecy of what should be, and agrees with the prediction of our Lord, Mat 24:11 and which regards not only the times immediately following, in which it had a remarkable fulfilment, for false teachers now began to arise, and appeared in great numbers in the age succeeding the apostles, but to all periods of time from hence, to the second coming of Christ; and these were to spring from, and be among such that bore the Christian name, and so regards not Mahometans and Deists; and it is to be observed, that the phrase is varied in this clause, and these are called not "prophets" but "teachers": because as prophecy was more peculiar to the former dispensation, so is teaching to the present:

who privily shall bring in damnable heresies: errors in the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel; such as relate to a trinity of persons in the Godhead; and to the person of Christ, to his proper deity, distinct personality, eternal sonship, and real humanity; and to his office as Mediator, rejecting him as the true Messiah, and as the only Saviour of sinners; denying his sacrifice and satisfaction, and the imputation of his righteousness; and to the Holy Spirit, his deity, personality, and divine influences and operations: these are "damnable", or "destructive", or "heresies of destruction"; which lead to eternal destruction both those that introduce and propagate them, and those that embrace and profess them; for they remove, or attempt to remove, the foundation of eternal life and happiness: the manner in which these are usually introduced is "privily"; at unawares, secretly, under a disguise, and gradually, by little and little, and not at once, and openly; and which is the constant character and practice of such men, who lie in wait to deceive, creep into churches at unawares, and into houses privately; and insinuate their principles under specious pretences and appearances of truth, using the hidden things of dishonesty, walking in craftiness, handling the word of God deceitfully, and colouring things with false glosses and feigned words: and even denying the Lord that bought them; not the Lord Jesus Christ, but God the Father; for the word is not here used, which always is where Christ is spoken of as the Lord, but and which is expressive of the power which masters have over their servants (i), and which God has over all mankind; and wherever this word is elsewhere used, it is spoken of God the Father, whenever applied to a divine person, as in Luk 2:29 and especially this appears to be the sense, from the parallel text in Jde 1:4 where the Lord God denied by those men is manifestly distinguished from our Lord Jesus Christ, and by whom these persons are said to be bought: the meaning is not that they were redeemed by the blood of Christ, for Christ is not intended; and besides, whenever redemption by Christ is spoken of, the price is usually mentioned, or some circumstance or another which fully determines the sense; see Act 20:28 whereas here is not the least hint of anything of this kind: add to this, that such who are redeemed by Christ are the elect of God only, the people of Christ, his sheep and friends, and church, and who are never left to deny him so as to perish eternally; for could such be lost, or deceive, or be deceived finally and totally by damnable heresies, and bring on themselves swift destruction, Christ's purchase would be in vain, and the ransom price be paid for nought; but the word "bought" regards temporal mercies and deliverance, which these men enjoyed, and is used as an aggravation of their sin in denying the Lord; both by words, delivering out such tenets as are derogatory to the glory of the divine perfections, and which deny one or other of them, and of his purposes, providence, promises, and truths; and by works, turning the doctrine of the grace of God into lasciviousness, being disobedient and reprobate to every good work; that they should act this part against the Lord who had made them, and upheld them in their beings and took care of them in his providence, and had followed them with goodness and mercy all the days of their lives; just as Moses aggravates the ingratitude of the Jews in Deu 32:6 from whence this phrase is borrowed, and to which it manifestly refers: "do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise! is not he thy Father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?" nor is this the only place the apostle refers to in this chapter, see Pe2 2:12 compared with Deu 32:5 and it is to be observed, that the persons he writes to were Jews, who were called the people the Lord had redeemed and purchased, Exo 15:13 and so were the first false teachers that rose up among them; and therefore this phrase is very applicable to them:

and bring upon themselves swift destruction; either in this life, being suddenly cut off in the midst of their days, and by the immediate hand of God, as Arius and other heretics have been; or eternal damnation in the other, which their tenets lead unto, and which will swiftly come upon them when they are promising themselves peace and safety.

(i) Vid. Ammonium , in voce

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

Ver. 1. Who privily shall bring in] παρεισαξουσιν, or, fraudulently foist in false doctrines under the title of truth, and pretext of piety. Some truths shall teach, the better to persuade to their falsehoods. Together with the gold, silver, and ivory, orthodox tenets, they have store of apes and peacocks, as Solomon’s ships had. Sunt mala mista bonis, sunt bona mista malis.

Denying the Lord that bought them] Or, freed them, viz. from their former idolatries and enormities, ut verbum αγοραζειν frequentius significat, saith one. Or that bought them, as they conceited, and others charitably imagined; but it proved otherwise, as appeared by their apostasy. Christ is said to buy reprobates, in the same sense wherein it is said that the gods of Damascus smote or plagued Ahaz, 2Ch 28:23, that is, in his opinion they did so: for an idol is nothing in the world, and can do neither good nor evil, Jer 10:5; 1Co 8:4. Or, that bought them, viz. in laying down a sufficient price for all sinners, in taking upon him the common nature of all men, and in preaching to them in the gospel that he died for sinners indefinitely, offering salvation, and beseeching them to receive it.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But there were false prophets also among the people - In the previous chapter, 2Pe 2:19-21, Peter had appealed to the prophecies as containing unanswerable proofs of the truth of the Christian religion. He says, however, that he did not mean to say that all who claimed to be prophets were true messengers of God. There were many who pretended to be such, who only led the people astray. It is unnecessary to say, that such men have abounded in all ages where there have been true prophets.

Even as there shall be false teachers among you - The fact that false teachers would arise in the church is often adverted to in the New Testament. Compare Mat 24:5, Mat 24:24; Act 20:29-30.

Who privily - That is, in a secret manner, or under plausible arts and pretences. They would not at first make an open avowal of their doctrines, but would, in fact, while their teachings seemed to be in accordance with truth, covertly maintain opinions which would sap the very foundations of religion. The Greek word here used, and which is rendered “who privily shall bring in,” (παρεισάγω pareisagō,) means properly “to lead in by the side of others; to lead in along with others.” Nothing could better express the usual way in which error is introduced. It is “by the side,” or “along with,” other doctrines which are true; that is, while the mind is turned mainly to other subjects, and is off its guard, gently and silently to lay down some principle, which, being admitted, would lead to the error, or from which the error would follow as a natural consequence. Those who inculcate error rarely do it openly. If they would at once boldly “deny the Lord that bought them,” it would be easy to meet them, and the mass of professed Christians would be in no danger of embracing the error. But when principles are laid down which may lead to that; when doubts on remote points are suggested which may involve it; or when a long train of reasoning is pursued which may secretly tend to it; there is much more probability that the mind will be corrupted from the truth.

Damnable heresies - αἱρέσεις ἀπωλείας haireseis apōleias. “Heresies of destruction;” that is, heresies that will be followed by destruction. The Greek word which is rendered “damnable,” is the same which in the close of the verse is rendered “destruction.” It is so rendered also in Mat 7:13; Rom 9:22; Phi 3:19; 2Pe 3:16 - in all of which places it refers to the future loss of the soul The same word also is rendered “perdition” in Joh 17:12; Phi 1:28; 1Ti 6:9; Heb 10:39; 2Pe 3:7; Rev 17:8, Rev 17:11 - in all which places it has the same reference. On the meaning of the word rendered “heresies,” see the Act 24:14 note; 1Co 11:19 note. The idea of “sect” or “party” is that which is conveyed by this word, rather than doctrinal errors; but it is evident that in this case the formation of the sect or party, as is the fact in most cases, would be founded on error of doctrine.

The thing which these false teachers would attempt would be divisions, alienations, or parties, in the church, but these would be based on the erroneous doctrines which they would promulgate. What would be the particular doctrine in this case is immediately specified, to wit, that they “would deny the Lord that bought them.” The idea then is, that these false teachers would form sects or parties in the church, of a destructive or ruinous nature, founded on a denial of the Lord that bought them. Such a formation of sects would be ruinous to piety, to good morals, and to the soul. The authors of these sects, holding the views which they did, and influenced by the motives which they would be, and practicing the morals which they would practice, as growing out of their principles, would bring upon themselves swift and certain destruction. It is not possible now to determine to what particular class of errorists the apostle had reference here, but it is generally supposed that it was to some form of the Gnostic belief. There were many early sects of so-called “heretics” to whom what he here says would be applicable.

Even denying the Lord that bought them - This must mean that they held doctrines which were in fact a denial of the Lord, or the tendency of which would be a denial of the Lord, for it cannot be supposed that, while they professed to be Christians, they would openly and avowedly deny him. To “deny the Lord” may be either to deny his existence, his claims, or his attributes; it is to withhold from him, in our belief and profession, anything which is essential to a proper conception of him. The particular thing, however, which is mentioned here as entering into that self-denial, is something connected with the fact that he had ““bought”” them. It was such a denial of the Lord “as having bought them,” as to be in fact a renunciation of the uniqueness of the Christian religion. There has been much difference of opinion as to the meaning of the word “Lord” in this place - whether it refers to God the Father. or to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek word is Δεσπότης Despotēs. Many expositors have maintained that it refers to the Father, and that when it is said that he had “bought” them, it means in a general sense that he was the Author of the plan of redemption, and had causeD them to be purchased or redeemed. Michaelis supposes that the Gnostics are referred to as denying the Father by asserting that he was not the Creator of the universe, maintaining that it was created by an inferior being - Introduction to New Testament, iv. 360. Whitby, Benson, Slade, and many others, maintain that this refers to the Father as having originated the plan by which men are redeemed; and the same opinion is held, of necessity, by those who deny the doctrine of general atonement. The only arguments to show that it refers to God the Father would be,

(1)That the word used here Δεσπότην Despotēn is not the usual term (κύριος kurios) by which the Lord Jesus is designated in the New Testament; and,

(2)That the admission that it refers to the Lord Jesus would lead inevitably to the conclusion that some will perish for whom Christ died.

That it does, however, refer to the Lord Jesus, seems to me to be plain from the following considerations:

(1) It is the obvious interpretation; that which would be given by the great mass of Christians, and about which there could never have been any hesitancy if it had not been supposed that it would lead to the doctrine of general atonement. As to the alleged fact that the word used, Δεσπότης Despotēs, is not that which is commonly applied to the Lord Jesus, that may be admitted to be true, but still the word here may be understood as applied to him. It properly means “a master” as opposed to a servant; then it is used as denoting supreme authority, and is thus applied to God, and may be in that sense to the Lord Jesus Christ, as head over all things, or as having supreme authority over the church. It occurs in the New Testament only in the following places: 1Ti 6:1-2; Tit 2:9; 1Pe 2:18, where it is rendered “masters;” Luk 2:29; Act 4:24,; Rev 6:10, where it is rendered “Lord,” and is applied to God; and in Jud 1:4, and in the passage before us, in both which places it is rendered “Lord,” and is probably to be regarded as applied to the Lord Jesus. There is nothing in the proper signification of the word which would forbid this.

(2) The phrase is one that is properly applicable to the Lord Jesus as having “bought” us with his blood. The Greek word is ἀγοράζω agorazō - a word which means properly “to market, to buy, to purchase,” and then to redeem, or acquire for oneself by a price paid, or by a ransom. It is rendered “buy” or “bought” in the following places in the New Testament: Mat 13:44, Mat 13:46; Mat 14:15; Mat 21:12; Mat 25:9-10; Mat 27:7; Mar 6:36-37; Mar 11:15; Mar 15:46; Mar 16:1; Luk 9:13; Luk 14:18-19; Luk 17:28; Luk 19:45; Luk 22:36; Joh 4:8; Joh 6:5; Joh 13:29; 1Co 7:30; Rev 3:18; Rev 13:17; Rev 18:11 - in all which places it is applicable to ordinary transactions of “buying.” In the following places it is also rendered “bought,” as applicable to the redeemed, as being bought or purchased by the Lord Jesus: 1Co 6:20; 1Co 7:23, “Ye are ‘bought’ with a price;” and in the following places it is rendered “redeemed,” Rev 5:9; Rev 14:3-4. It does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament. It is true that in a large sense this word might be applied to the Father as having caused his people to be redeemed, or as being the Author of the plan of redemption; but it is also true that the word is more properly applicable to the Lord Jesus, and that, when used with reference to redemption, it is uniformly given to him in the New Testament. Compare the passages referred to above.

It is strictly and properly true only of the Son of God that he has “bought” us. The Father indeed is represented as making the arrangement, as giving his Son to die, and as the great Source of all the blessings secured by redemption; but the “purchase” was actually made by the Son of God by his sacrifice on the cross. Whatever there was of the nature of “a price” was paid by him; and whatever obligations may grow out of the fact that we are purchased or ransomed are due particularly to him; 2Co 5:15. These considerations seem to me to make it clear that Peter referred here to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he meant to say that the false teachers mentioned held doctrines which were in fact a “denial” of that Saviour. He does not specify particularly what constituted such a denial; but it is plain that any doctrine which represented him, his person, or his work, as essentially different from what was the truth, would amount to such a denial.

If he were Divine, and that fact was denied, making him wholly a different being; if he actually made an expiatory sacrifice by his death, and that fact was denied, and he was held to be a mere religious teacher, changing essentially the character of the work which he came to perform; if he, in some proper sense, “bought” them with his blood, and that fact was denied in such a way that according to their views it was not strictly proper to speak of him as having bought them at all, which would be the case if he were a mere prophet or religious teacher, then it is clear that such a representation would be in fact a denial of his true nature and work. That some of these views entered into their denial of him is clear, for it was with reference to the fact that he had bought them, or redeemed them, that they denied him.

And bring upon themselves swift destruction - The destruction here referred to can be only that which will occur in the future world, for there can be no evidence that Peter meant to say that this would destroy their health, their property, or their lives. The Greek word (ἀπώλειαν apōleian) is the same which is used in the former part of the verse, in the phrase “damnable heresies.” See the notes. In regard, then, to this important passage, we may remark:

(1) That the apostle evidently believed that some would perish for whom Christ died.

(2) If this is so, then the same truth may be expressed by saying that he died for others besides those who will be saved that is, that the atonement was not confined merely to the elect. This one passage, therefore, demonstrates the doctrine of general atonement. This conclusion would be drawn from it by the great mass of readers, and it may be presumed, therefore, that this is the fair interpretation of the passage.

(See the supplementary 2Co 5:14 note; Heb 2:9 note for a general view of the question regarding the extent of the atonement. On this text Scott has well observed: “Doubtless Christ intended to redeem those, and those only, who he foresaw would eventually be saved by faith in him; yet his ransom was of infinite sufficiency, and people are continually addressed according to their profession.” Christ has indeed laid down such a price as that all the human family may claim and find salvation in him. An unhappy ambiguity of terms has made this controversy very much a war of words. When the author here says, “Christ died for others besides those who will be saved,” he does not use the words in the common sense of an actual design, on the part of Christ to save everyone. The reader will see, by consulting the notes above referred to, how much disputing might be saved by a careful definition of terms.)

(3) It follows that people may destroy themselves by a denial of the great and vital “doctrines” of religion. It cannot be a harmless thing, then, to hold erroneous opinions; nor can men be safe who deny the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. It is truth, not error, that saves the soul; and an erroneous opinion on any subject may be as dangerous to a man’s ultimate peace, happiness, and prosperity, as a wrong course of life. How many men have been ruined in their worldly prospects, their health, and their lives, by holding false sentiments on the subject of morals, or in regard to medical treatment! Who would regard it as a harmless thing if a son should deny in respect to his father that he was a man of truth, probity, and honesty, or should attribute to him a character which does not belong to him - a character just the reverse of truth? Can the same thing be innocent in regard to God our Saviour?

(4) People bring destruction “on themselves.” No one compels them to deny the Lord that bought them; no one forces them to embrace any dangerous error. If people perish, they perish by their own fault, for:

(a)Ample provision was made for their salvation as well as for others;

(b)They were freely invited to be saved;

(c)It was, in itself, just as easy for them to embrace the truth as it was for others; and,

(d)It was as easy to embrace the truth as to embrace error.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

as this Greek word sometimes signifies; witness Aristotle, 4. Eth. where he puts as apposite, Greek: kata doxan, kai kat aletheian.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

But there were false prophets also: the apostle having been exhorting them to continuance and progress in faith, admonishes them here of such as might labour to draw them from it; and having made mention of the Old Testament prophets, holy men of God, he hereby takes occasion to tell them of, and caution them against, false teachers which would be among themselves. This also in the text plainly relates to what went before: q.d. Together with those prophets which were sent by God, there were likewise false prophets, such as were not sent of him.

Among the people; the people of Israel.

Even as there shall be false teachers; teachers of false doctrine, Mat 7:15; Act 20:29.

Among you; among you Jewish, as well as among the Gentile Christians; or, among you as Christians and God’s people under the New Testament, in opposition to the people of God under the Old.

Who shall privily bring in: the Greek word signifies either to bring in slily and craftily, under specious pretences, and without being observed, Gal 2:4; Jud 1:4; or, to bring in over and above, or beside the doctrine of the gospel, which they did not renounce; or both may be implied.

Damnable heresies; Greek, heresies of destruction, i.e. destructive, such as lead to destruction, viz. eternal, or damnation.

Even denying; either in their words or their practices, either directly, or by consequence of their doctrines or actions; they that profess they know God, but contradict that profession in their lives, are said to deny him, Tit 1:16.

The Lord; either:

1. God the Father, so called, Luk 2:29; Act 4:24, &c., and probably Rev 6:10; nor is there any necessity, but, Jud 1:4, the word may be understood of God the Father. Or rather:

2. Christ.

That bought them: if we understand it of God the Father, the sense is, either:

1. Denying God that bought them, or acquired them and made them his, viz. by calling them out of the darkness and gross wickedness of the world, to the knowledge of Christ and the gospel, and the fellowship of his church. In this general sense the word buying is sometimes taken, Isa 55:1; Rev 3:18. Or:

2. Denying God that bought the people of Israel (whereof these false teachers that should be among the Christian Jews were to be a part) out of Egypt, to make them his peculiar people, whereof they would boast themselves, and yet by their wicked practices deny that God that bought them; the words seem to be taken out of Deu 32:6; Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee? As likewise from 2Pe 2:5 of that chapter. Peter calls them spots, 2Pe 2:13 of this chapter.

But if we understand it of Christ, which seems most probable, the sense is, either:

1. That Christ bought or redeemed them, (in which sense the word is sometimes taken), in that by his death he purchased the continuance of their lives, and the staying of their execution, and rescued them from that present destruction which, without Christ’s interposition, had seized on them, as it had likewise on the whole visible creation immediately upon the apostacy of mankind. Or:

2. This is spoken not only of their pretences, that they should profess themselves redeemed by Christ, but in the style of the visible church, which should judge them to be so till they declared the contrary by their wicked actions; and it likewise holds true in a forensical or judicial style, according to which whosoever professeth himself to be redeemed by Christ, and yet denies him in his deeds, is said to deny the Lord that bought him; it being alike as to the greatness of the crime, whether he be really redeemed, or, professing himself to be so, denies his Redeemer.

And bring upon themselves swift destruction; shall hasten their own destruction, it may be temporal in this world; to be sure, eternal in the other. It may be called

swift, as coming upon them unawares, and when they think least of it, as 1Th 5:3.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

But there were false prophets also among the people; rather, as in the Revised Version, but there arose false prophets also among the people. The transition is simple and natural. Besides the true prophets mentioned in the last chapter, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, there arose false prophets, men who wore "a rough garment to deceive", (Zec_13:4) and assumed without warrant the prophetic character. Such pretenders would commonly prophesy false things; but the word yeudoprofhtai seems principally to imply the absence of a Divine mission. By "the people" (laov) is meant the people of Israel, as in Rom_15:11; skaloi Jud_1:5, etc. It is plain from these words that St. Peter, at the end of the last chapter, was speaking of the prophets of the Old Testament. Even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies. By the false teachers, again (the word yeudodida) is peculiar to St. Peter), may be meant men whose teaching was false, or men who falsely claimed the teacher"s office. St. Peter describes them as such as (oitinev) shall bring in damnable heresies. The verb (pariesaxousin) is found only here in the New Testament; the adjective derived from it is used by St. Paul indusan, Gal_2:4, "false brethren unawares brought in." It means "to bring in by the side of," as if these false teachers brought in their errors by the side of the true doctrine; it implies also the secondary notion of secrecy. Compare St. Jude"s use of the verb pareise) compounded with the same prepositions (verse 4); and notice the difference of tenses St. Jude using the past where St. Peter looks forward to the future; but St. Peter passes to the present tense in verse 10, and maintains it for the rest of the chapter. We may, perhaps, infer that the false teaching referred to was already beginning to affect the Churches of Asia Minor; but the errors were not so much developed there, the" false teachers had not gained so much influence as it seems they had in the Churches which St. Jude had principally in his thoughts. The literal translation of the words rendered "damnable heresies" is "heresies of destruction," the last word being the same which occurs again at the end of the verse. These heresies destroy the soul; they bring ruin both to those who are led astray and to the false teachers themselves. The word for "heresy"(airesiv), meaning originally "choice," became the name for a party, sect, or school, as in Act_5:17, "the sect of the Sadducees;" Act_15:5, "the sect of the Pharisees;". (Act_24:5 in the mouth of Tertullus) "the sect of the Nazarenes;" then, by a natural transition, it came to be used of the opinions held by a sect. The notion of self-will, deliberate separation, led to its being employed generally in a bad sense (see especially Tit_3:10, "A man that is a heretic, (aiJretikov)"). Even denying the Lord that bought them; literally, as in the Revised Version, denying even the Master that bought them. The word for "Master" (despothv) implies that the deniers stand to the Lord in the relation of slaves, bondservants. The Lord had bought them; they were not their own, but his, bought with a price, "not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ" 1Pe_1:18; see also the parallel passage. (Jud_1:4) These words plainly assert the universality of the Lord"s redemption. He "tasted death for every man", (Heb_2:9) even for those false teachers who denied him. The denial referred to may have been doctrinal or practical; most of the ancient forms of heresy involved some grave error as to the Person of Christ; and the germs of these errors appeared very early in the Church, (see 1Jn_2:22, 1Jn_2:23) denying sometimes the Godhead of our Lord, sometimes the truth of his humanity. But St. Peter may mean the practical denial of Christ evinced in an ungodly and licentious life. The latter form of denial appears most prominent in this chapter; probably the apostle intended to warn his readers against both. It is touching to remember that he had himself denied the Lord, though indeed the price with which our souls were bought had not then been paid; but his denial was at once followed by a deep and true repentance. The Lord"s loving look recalled him to himself; his bitter tears proved the sincerity of his contrition. And bring upon themselves swift destruction; literally, bringing. The participial construction unites the two clauses closely; the latter expresses the consequence of the former: they bring heresies of destruction into the Church, and by so doing bring upon themselves swift destruction. The word for "swift" (tacinov) is used by no other New Testament writer. There is an apparent allusion to this verso in Justin Martyr ("Cum Tryph.," 82), and the first clause of it is quoted in a homily ascribed to Hippolytus of Portus. Notice St. Peter"s habit of repetition, he repeats the word ajpwleia three times in verses 1-3; dikaiov three times in verses 7, 8; the verb prosdokaw three times in 2Pe_3:12-14, etc.

Vers. 1-9.

Warning against false teachers.

I THE NEED OF WATCHFULNESS.

1. There must be false teachers. There had been false prophets in Israel, like Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah, who flattered Ahab and lured him to his death. There was a traitor among the chosen twelve. "In the visible Church the evil are ever mingled with the good, and sometimes the evil

2. have chief authority in the ministration of the Word and sacraments." The Lord himself had said that it would be so. "Beware of false prophets," he had said in his sermon on the mount; the apostle echoes the Master"s words. It seems very sad that there should be the taint of evil even in the chief places of the Church, that ungodly men should assume the character of teachers, and abuse the form of religion for their selfish and wicked ends. The divisions of the Church, the strange diversities of opinion among Christians, seem a great hindrance to the progress of the gospel, and furnish to some an excuse for unbelief. But when we remember Judas Iscariot, we feel that the Church must be always liable to this great misfortune; if in its very infancy, in the very presence of the incarnate Saviour, one whom he had chosen could betray his Lord for money, it is not to be expected that all those who serve in the ministry of the Church should be pure and holy. False teaching, too, made its appearance very early in the history of the Church. We soon meet with the name of the first heresiarch, Simon Magus; he was one of the converts of Philip the deacon at Samaria, one of the first candidates for confirmation. The existence of false teaching is a great trial of our faith; but, like other trials, it is overruled for good to those who in sincerity seek to know the truth.

1. The character of their teaching. All false doctrine is pernicious. The ancient forms of heresy stood in direct opposition to the great truths of Christianity: they denied the distinction of Persons in the one God, or the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, or the truth of his manhood, or the reality of his precious death; they separated Jesus from the Christ, and the God of Christians from the God of the Old Testament; while others, as apparently the Nicolaitanes of the Revelation, indulged in licentious practices, and maintained that the mind might be pure, though the body was defiled. These and such like heresies were heresies of destruction; they led to the spiritual destruction both of the teachers and the taught; they were privily brought in, set alongside of the truths of the gospel, and so corrupted the gospel of Christ, and deprived it of its saving power. For these false teachers denied the Master that bought them, some by rejecting either his Divinity or his humanity, or the truth of his atonement, some by the practical denial of a licentious life. He had bought them to be his own: they were redeemed, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ; and they denied the Master that bought them with that stupendous price. Alas! we have all at some time and in some sense denied him by spiritual sloth and actual sin; we knew that he died that we should die unto sin, and rose again that we should rise to newness of life; and knowing this, we have sinned again and again, yielding ourselves to be

2. servants of sin rather than of Christ. St. Peter himself had thrice denied the Lord; confident in his own steadfastness, he had maintained that he at least would be faithful even unto death; but his courage failed him in the hour of temptation. He must have remembered his own great sin when he wrote these words. He repented; the bitter tears, the holy life that followed, proved the sincerity of his repentance. May we feel the power of the Lord"s loving look fixed on us, and be led, like Peter, to repentance. These false teachers were persisting in their willfulness, and bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

3. The sad results of it. They will not be without followers; many will be drawn away from the truth, and will follow these false teachers this way and that, to strange heresies or to licentiousness of life. Men hanker after novelty; they dislike strictness of life; they are easily led to embrace systems which offer some new phase of error, or permit laxity of morals. And thus the way of truth is evil spoken of. Men rail at Christianity because Christians are split up into so many sects and schools; they speak against religion because so many of its professors live unworthy lives. It was so in the early days of the Church; it is so still. The evil lives of professing Christians give occasion to much scoffing and blasphemy at home; while abroad the progress of the gospel in heathen countries is sadly checked by the same unhappy cause.

1. The motive of the false teachers. They do not care for the souls of men; they want their money. Their words are fair, but they do not spring out of strong conviction; they are carefully thought out, cunningly devised to attract attention and to ensnare men. And so they make a gain of their followers, reversing St. Paul"s practice, "I seek not yours, but you." For they care nothing for the flock, but only for their own sordid gain. Very terrible is the guilt of those unhappy men who seek the ministry with such miserable objects. Their teaching is but hollow hypocrisy, their whole life is a falsehood. Thus to deal with sacred things is awful exceedingly.

2. Their damager. God"s sentence of condemnation is already gone out against them; it idleth not; it is active and energetic. They have brought in heresies of destruction, doing what they could to destroy the souls of men. But the Lord most holy gave himself to die for those precious souls. These false teachers are doing what they can to frustrate the grace of God, to slay the souls for whom the Lord endured the cross. His wrath, except they repent, must come upon them to the uttermost; that utter destruction which they are bringing upon themselves, slumbereth not; it will fall upon them suddenly and consume them in a moment. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

II GOD"S WRATH AGAINST THE FALSE TEACHERS: EXAMPLES OF HIS AWFUL JUDGMENTS.

1. The judgment of the angels that sinned. Even angels sinned; so strange and awful is the mystery of evil. We must not be surprised that there are sinful men in the visible Church, sometimes, alas! in its highest offices, when we read that there was sin in heaven, that angels of God sinned against their King. The power of evil must be very terrible, wide-reaching, and alluring, if it could draw angels from their allegiance to the Creator. What need have we men to watch and pray, if even angels fell from the grace of God! St. Peter bids us remember their punishment. God spared them not; he is of purer eyes than to behold evil; the sinful cannot abide in his presence. He cast out even angels when they sinned; Tartarus, not heaven, was henceforth their fitting abode; he delivered them to chains of darkness. Holy Scripture gives us no details concerning the sin of the angels or its punishment. We do not know the measure of restraint under which they are now kept; we do not know whether this description applies to all angels who sinned, or only to some. Those evil angels of whom St. Peter is here speaking are under some restraint and suffering some punishment; and they are reserved for the judgment of the great day. Their fall is cited for our warning; if God spared not evil angels, he will not spare evil men.

1. The judgment of the antediluvians. Satan, the prince of the devils, brought sin into the world; it spread with fearful rapidity, all flesh corrupted his way upon the earth. God had created man after his own image; but now the wickedness of man was great, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually an awful picture of the corrupting power of sin. The fixed immutable laws of the Divine government require the punishment of sin. God brought the Flood upon the world of the ungodly. But in wrath he remembered mercy; he guarded Noah, the just man who walked with God, the preacher of righteousness. Noah had proclaimed the blessings of righteousness, the misery of sin; the ark itself had been a silent preacher during the many years which elapsed while it was being built; the long labour showed the faith of Noah, and proved that his preaching came from deep conviction. His neighbours would not listen; but his preaching, though it saved not them, returned into his own bosom:

2. God knoweth how to deliver the godly. Only eight souls were saved in that tremendous visitation. Let us take warning and fear,

1. The judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. "The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven." That tremendous overthrow is a solemn warning to the ungodly of all time. God will by no means spare the guilty; if men will pollute God"s earth and their own bodies by sin and uncleanness, the heavy wrath of God must sooner or later sweep them into utter ruin. But even that frightful catastrophe showed how precious the souls of the righteous are in the sight of God. Had there been ten such in that wicked city, he would have spared it for the ten"s sake. How little the rulers of the earth think that the course of this world is ordered for the sake of the faithful; that empires are saved from ruin, and wars averted, for the salvation of the few chosen souls! Two angels were sent to save the one righteous man in the cities of the plain; they laid hold upon his hand while he lingered, and brought him out with wife and daughters almost against his will. As now there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth, so then two holy angels rescued the one servant of God. The Lord knoweth them that are his; he knows them all and each each individual soul that believes and repents. Lot was not wholly blameless; he had tempted God by exposing himself to temptation; God had not led him there. He saw that the plain of" Jordan was well watered everywhere, "even as the garden of the Lord;" he did not consider that "the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." The children of light ought to be wiser than this; they ought to regard their spiritual interest as far more momentous than their temporal; but alas! the error of Lot is common still. He soon found how grievous his mistake had been. He preserved his integrity; he was saved, yet so as by fire. He passed through a fiery trial of distress and persecution; he lived in the midst of licentiousness and uncleanness; day by day evil sights were present to his eyes, evil sounds polluted his ears; he saw nothing but sin, he heard nothing but filthiness and blasphemy. He tortured his righteous soul with their unlawful deeds; he saw the dishonour done to God; he knew something of the tremendous condemnation that must engulf those ungodly men; his whole soul revolted from the vice and filth among which he lived. He knew that his own act had brought him to Sodom, and he tortured his soul day by day in repentance, we may be sure, for his thoughtless and worldly choice, in anxious dread of coming retribution, in bitter sorrow for the awful danger of those willful sinners, and for their outrages against the holy Law of God; he was crushed down, worn out with their wicked behaviour and abominable licentiousness. He had greatly erred;

2. but this sorrow of heart, this self-torture, showed that he was sincerely penitent, that he was not corrupted by the fearful wickedness which surrounded him. And the Lord delivered him.

3. What these examples prove. God"s love and God"s justice.

(1) He careth for the righteous. He knows them; he knows how to deliver them. He delivered Lot first from the temptations which surrounded him, then from the ruin which overwhelmed the wicked. So now he bids us pray," Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil." He can save us from being exposed to temptation, if he knows that the temptation is too great for us; he can deliver us out of the midst of temptation, however strong and overwhelming that temptation may be. We may be set amongst ungodly men, we may have nothing but evil examples all around us; we may seem left alone, like Elijah of old, in a tumult of corruption and rebellion. But" the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers;" he can keep his people safe; he can deliver them. Only let them keep themselves pure, and try by his grace to lead a godly life in an ungodly world.

(2) He will punish the unrighteous. The day of judgment must come; then shall the King say to the wicked, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels." Even now the angels that sinned are in Tartarus, in chains of darkness; the men of Sodom and Gomorrah suffer the punishment of eternal fire. (Jud_1:7) Whether that punishment is in some cases corrective (as the word kolasiv would imply in the language of the Greek philosophers (see note on verse 9); whether there is a place for repentance in "that prison" where those who once were disobedient are now confined; this is one of those secret things which belong unto the Lord our God. Holy Scripture seems here and there to give us some gleams of a possible restoration. We may be very thankful for those gracious hints, and cherish for others the hope which they suggest. But we must not be presumptuous; the danger is tremendous. That aeonian fire, even if it be corrective, has a very fearful meaning; and beyond that fire lies the awful day of judgment, for which the souls of the ungodly are now kept in that mysterious" prison "of which so little is revealed.

LESSONS.

1. The Lord bought us; we are his. It is awful guilt to deny him whoransomed us with his most precious blood.

2. It is a fearful sacrilege for an ungodly man to intrude himself into thesacred ministry for the sake of gain.

3. There must be false teachers in the Church. "Believe not every spirit, buttry the spirits whether they be of God.

4. God"s justice will surely overtake all who sin, whether angels or men.

5. But God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked; he cares forevery righteous soul.

6. Learn from the case of Lot that worldliness must lead to suffering in thisworld, if not in the world to come.

HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON Ver. 1.

Denying the Master.

Neither our Lord Jesus nor his apostles indulged in sanguine expectations and glowing predictions concerning the immediate results of the proclamation of the gospel. It was well understood in the early Church, by all but fanatics, that the difficulties with which Christianity had to contend were very formidable, and that, added to those encountered from without, were others more insidious and dangerous arising from within. Of these, false teachers, corrupters of doctrine, and preachers of licentiousness in the name of the holy Saviour, are denounced as proofs of the power of sin, and as signs of a coming judgment.

I THE WAYS IN WHICH PROFESSING CHRISTIANS DENY THEIR MASTER.

1. Some take an unscriptural and dishonouring view of his nature, and deny him by denying his claims to Divine dignity and authority. From the early Gnostics onwards there were those who assailed Christ"s account of himself, and his inspired apostles" account of him. It is well known that many of the early heresies related to the Person of Christ, and that early Councils were occupied with defining dogmatically the Divine and human natures. By way of opposition and correction, it may be said that to errors of the kind referred to we are indebted for our precious heritage, the

2. Nicene Creed, in which orthodox doctrine was finally and sufficiently fixed. Still, the general determination of truth is no bar to the continuance of sin and error; and there has been, perhaps, no age in which there have not arisen either individuals or communities who have denied their Master.

3. Some repudiate Christ"s rightful authority. There are many who have notthe theological interest which would lead them to discuss Christ"s nature, who nevertheless resent the claim advanced on his behalf to be the Legislator and Judge of human society. The Church, on the one hand, the individual reason on the other, may be put into competition with the Lord Christ.

1. Some deny Christ by practically disobeying his precepts. To such asthese Jesus referred when he asked, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" Profession of allegiance only renders real rebellion the more hateful to our Lord.

II THE UNREASONABLENESS AND GUILT OF THOSE WHO THUS DENY THEIR MASTER.

1. In view of the claim established by redemption, such are guilty of baseingratitude. The introduction of the clause, "the Master that bought them," gives point to the condemnation. They who deny Christ deny One who lived, suffered, and died for them, and whom accordingly they ought to regard and treat with a tender and reverential gratitude. They are like enfranchised slaves turning round upon their liberator, speaking of him with scorn and derision, treating him with neglect and indifference, if not with hatred and hostility.

2. In view of their own profession of subjection and indebtedness to him,there is gross inconsistency.

3. In view of the doom declared against deniers of Christ, their conduct isthe uttermost degree of infatuation. They bring upon themselves swift destruction. The time shall come when they who deny him shall be denied by him. J.R.T.

HOMILIES BY U.R. THOMAS Vers. 1-22.

False teachers.

Archdeacon Farrar here finds "the burning lava of the apostle"s indignation." The chapter is indeed in a style that well suits its theme. It is strong, not to say rough and rugged; wild, not to say weird and ghastly. It might be interesting to deal with the many metaphors he here employs, but probably an analysis of the whole chapter will better convey its teaching.

I THE DOCTRINES OF FALSE TEACHERS. They are not definitely denoted, but one word probably indicates them all: "heresies" (verse 1) self chosen doctrines, developing into endless varieties.

1. Self-indulgence of intellect.

2. Self-indulgence of passion. They are similar to the corresponding sinswith which Paul and Jude deal in their Epistles.

II THE CONDUCT OF FALSE TEACHERS. More is said here, much more, of their conduct than of their error. Their conduct is described:

1. In its relation to their teaching. That conduct is

(1) cunning (verse 1);

(2) treacherous (verse 3);

(3) daringly insolent (verse 11);

(4) coveteous (verses 14-16);

(5) deluding (verse 19), promising liberty: "O Liberty, what crimes have been wrought in thy name!

2. In its relation to their own life. it is

(1) bitterly disappointing (verse 17);

(2) enslaved and enslaving (verse 19);

(3) degraded and yet ever degrading (verse 22).

III THE PUNISHMENT OF FALSE TEACHERS.

1. It is sure (verse 3). Lingereth not, is not idle, slumbereth not; justice is sleepless.

1. It is in harmony with God"s past dealings. The apostle cites other ages and other worlds. Their punishment is in harmony with God"s dealings

1. with angels;

2. with the ancient world Noah, Sodom, Gomorrah.

IV THE CHIEF SIN OF FALSE TEACHERS. Its central evil is "denying even the Master that bought them.

1. In itself most guilty. Peter"s memory burnt that lesson into him.

2. Leads to terrible woe (verses 1-21). "The man who turns his back onwell-known ways of righteousness, and leads others from those ways, is of all men in the most pitiable and terrible condition. U.R.T.

HOMILIES BY R. FINLAYSON Vers. 1-22.

False teachers.

I OBJECTS OF PUNISHMENT.

1. On account of their anti-christian character. "But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction." The connection of thought seems to be the following: There were prophets that" spake from God;" but there arose false prophets also among the people, i.e., in ancient Israel; as in that which was typified by ancient Israel, viz. in the New Testament Church, there were to be false teachers. Where, then, those teachers are, there is generally an imperfect condition of religious society which gives rise to them. Under similar conditions, similar manifestations may be expected. The false teachers rising up among them ("of your own selves shall men arise,", (Act_20:30) these would have the opportunity of (literally) bringing in by the side of, i.e., by the side of the authoritative teachings, their heresies. The authoritative teachings they would not openly seek to combat; for that might lead to their being silenced, even in their speedy ejection from the Christian communities. Their policy would rather be to keep up connection with the Christian circle, and to bring in a spurious Christianity, having resemblance in form, but denial in substance. The authoritative teachings were of a saving nature; what these would seek to bring in would be heresies of destructions, i.e., not put forward with the professed intent to destroy, but from their nature fitted to conduct men to destruction. Their heresies would be soul-destroying; for they would "deny even the Master that bought them." The language is altogether remarkable. Christ is regarded as having paid the purchase money, which is not here mentioned, but is to be under stood, according to 1Pe_1:19, of his precious blood. By that buying he has become Possessor and Master, i.e., with the right to command. The startling thing is that he is represented as the Master, through purchase or redemption, of the heretical workers of destruction. Nothing could more signally set forth the world-wide character of the atonement. The Master that bought them they, having once acknowledged, were to deny, to put away from them, to supplant by a counterfeit Christ. But it is dangerous to deny Christ; by doing so, in the counter-working of providence, they would only "bring upon themselves swift destruction." It is true that Christ represents the Divine slowness to wrath. Peter knew that every denial does not bring instantaneous destruction. It is only when it has been made abundantly clear that the denial is the settled habit of the mind, that swift, or rather sudden, destruction descends.

2. On account of their sensuality followed to the prejudice of Christianity. "And many shall follow their lascivious doings: by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of." It was to be an aggravating element in their punishment, that they were to be successful in spreading immorality. Sensuality is the charge which Peter brings up again and again. They were to allow themselves illicit gratification; and their example would be followed by many. This would be greatly to the prejudice of Christianity; for it would lead to its being misrepresented as pointing out the way of truth, i.e., the way of life, corresponding to the truth. Men outside, unable to distinguish between what properly belonged to it and what did not properly belong to it, would very naturally say of it, from what they saw in its professed representatives, that it encouraged licentiousness.

3. On account of their mercenary character. "And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not." Money is needed for the purchase of illicit pleasure. Covetousness was to surround the false teachers as an atmosphere. Continually breathing it, they were as teachers to use feigned words not bound fast to the truth, but artfully adapted to man"s prejudices. The end of teaching is to do good; it was to be to the disgrace of the false teachers that they were to have as their end to make merchandise of those over whom they obtained influence. But these teachers, who were to add to their other faults their being mercenary, would not go unpunished. Peter, in impassioned language, represents punishment as already on the way to them. "Their sentence now from of old lingereth not, i.e., the sentence against such has gone forth from of old, and, not delaying, it will in its course overtake them; and" their destruction slumbereth not," i.e., not delayed by sleep, as it were, it will follow hard on the sentence. Let them not think, then, that they will escape.

II ANCIENT EXAMPLES OF PUNISHMENT.

1. Stated conditionally.

(1) The fallen angels. "For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." This was the most ancient example that there was to go back upon. Peter does not say what the sin of the angels was. Jude is more informing, and suggests that they did not place the right value on their own principality, on their proper habitation. There was something else that they placed before what they had, and, reaching after it, they fell from their high estate. God, it is said here, spared them not when they sinned, near though they were to him, but cast them down to Tartarus. This is, strangely, a word connected with heathen mythology, and is to be understood of that division of Hades which is the place of preliminary punishment, as distinguished from Gehenna, which is the place of final punishments. In Tartarus God "committed them to pits of darkness." There was an irony in the appointment. They loved not the brightness in which there was no feeling of being wailed in; and so they were cast down to be wailed in on every side by gloom. In Tartarus they are waiting judgment; and if they are imprisoned in gloom before judgment, what must their state after judgment be! There is no relieving of the picture here as in the other two examples that follow.

(2) The Flood. The dark background. "And spared not the ancient world." This ancient example comes home to us, as relating to our own flesh and blood. It is the most disastrous thing that has happened in the history of the race; it was so extensive and overwhelming in its sweep. God spared not the ancient world. Men multiplied on the earth for sixteen or seventeen centuries, and then the Flood swept them away as though they had never been. The darkness relieved. "But preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly." The antediluvians were ungodly, i.e., had lost a salutary impression even of the existence of God, and had cast off Divine restraints. They did eat and drink; they lived a life within the world of sense. There was one notable exception. This was Noah, who is here styled "a preacher of righteousness," i.e., in the midst of the prevailing ungodliness he had so much of the fear of God on his mind as to credit and proclaim, by word and act, that, if they did not repent of their ungodliness, the righteousness of God would be manifested against them in their destruction by water. And so God preserved Noah, and seven others on account of their connection with him, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.

(3) The overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. The dark background. "And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly." The description in Genesis is, "The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities." Peter marks punitiveness in the completeness of the work of destruction. God turned the cities into ashes, and thus punitively overthrew them, i.e., so that they were obliterated as cities. Nor was this an exceptional procedure. God dealt thus with the cities because of their ungodliness, and he dealt thus with them that the ungodly of after-times might know what to expect from ungodliness. The darkness relieved. "And delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their lawless deeds)." There is not brought into view the fact that Lot made choice of Sodom from considerations of worldly advantage, and without considering religious privileges. He was to blame for being in Sodom, and yet, though he should never have been there, he is called righteous Lot, i.e., one who strived to live according to Divine rule. He was righteous in the midst of those who had no regard for law either human or Divine, as seen especially in their sensual behaviour. This had a wearing-down or wearing-out effect on righteous Lot. That righteous man, dwelling among them, was forced to see and hear things which tormented his righteous soul, and so he was worn out. When one has put himself in a wrong position, it is often difficult to get out of it. But because Lot did not allow his godly sensibilities to be blunted, God, with a certain sharpness, effected for him a deliverance.

2. Conclusion drawn.

(1) The bright side. "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation." Peter has been dwelling on the bright side, so as to throw the thought out of form; he now puts the bright side into the conclusion. Noah and Lot were godly; their temptation lay in their being in the neighbourhood of the ungodly. But the Lord found ways and means of delivering them; the one deliverance involving the preservation of the human family, and the other deliverance signifying rectification of position. The Lord that delivered Noah and Lot out of their temptation will deliver all that, like them, are godly out of their temptation, whatever it is, when he sees it to be for his glory.

(2) The dark side. "And to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment." Three classes have been instanced of the unrighteous, i.e., those not right toward God. The Lord found ways and means of checking them; so all like them will be checked. The time will come when God will place them under punishment, to be kept under it unto the day of judgment. Let us, then, be warned off the rocks on which men long ago perished and are perishing still.

III OBJECTS OF PUNISHMENT.

1. On account of sensuality. "But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement." This is connected with the thought of punishment. The teachers are now thought of as already present. The evil had already commenced, though it had not reached its height. They are singled out for punishment on account of their walking after the flesh in the lust whose object is that which defiles.

2. Or, account of lawlessness.

(1) The lawlessness described. "And despise dominion. Daring, self-willed, they tremble not to rail at dignities." They arc next singled out for punishment on account of their lawlessness. There is the same association in Jude. They "despise" (Jude"s word means "set at naught") dominion or lordship (especially in Christ). In their objection to be ruled they go great lengths ("daring"), making self their rule ("self-willed"). In their presumption and self-assertion they tremble not though it should make them tremble to rail at dignities (adopting Jude"s expression). The reference seems to be to dignities belonging to the heavenly world. They pay no regard, in what they say, to rank bestowed by God.

(2) The lawlessness condemned. "Whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not a railing judgment against them before the Lord." Here Peter seems to assume acquaintance with what Jude says. Michael the archangel, with all self-restraint, and having regard to the original dignity of Satan, in contending with him simply said, "The Lord rebuke thee." Peter brings forward the angels (good) generally as greater in might and power than men are, and asserts that they do not retaliate upon the railers in what they bring up before the Lord.

(3) The lawlessness punished. "But these, as creatures without reason, born mere animals, to be taken and destroyed, railing in matters whereof they are ignorant, shall in their destroying surely be destroyed, suffering wrong as the hire of wrong-doing." Here Peter flashes out against the false teachers. He thinks of irrational brutes, born with nothing higher than an animal nature, to be taken and destroyed. They are also irrational in railing in matters beyond them, and shall have a similar fate. In their destruction as responsible beings they shall surely be destroyed, getting their reward in wrong inflicted on them for wrong done by them (in railing).

1. On account of luxurious living. "Men that count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and blemishes, reveling in their love-feasts while they feast with you." The reference is to luxurious living. Such living shows

2. itself chiefly in banquets whose natural time is the night. To regard banqueting in the daytime with peculiar zest was the sign of a very diseased state of mind. It was a more serious thing to connect luxurious living with the love-feasts. That made the false teachers spots of dirt, blemishes, at those holy gatherings at which they were present, while they feasted with Christ"s people.

3. On account of sensuality. "Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; enticing unsteadfast souls." There was the sensual look, apparently, even at the love-feasts. This was accompanied by r estlessness in sin, reflected also in the eye. Those to whom the bait was held out, and who became their prey, were souls not yet established in faith and the pursuit of pure pleasure men, according to the after-representation, only a few paces from heathenism.

4 Or, account of covetousness.

(1) How their covetousness is regarded. "Having a heart exercised in covetousness; children of cursing." Here, again, greed follows on sensuality. Spiritual gymnastic is needed to counteract the greed of the heart; gymnastic was employed by these teachers to the increase of the greed of the heart. As greed increased, the blight came down on their spiritual nature. The ripe result was that, in the ravenousness of greed, they became "children of the curse." That is the Hebrew way of saying that the curse found its way deep into their nature.

(2) Comparison with Balaam. "Forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beer, who loved the hire of wrong-doing; but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a dumb ass spake with man"s voice and stayed the madness of the prophet." Balaam, forsaking the right way, went astray. It was wrong for him ever to think of going to Barak, who wished him to curse Israel. Thy way," he was told, "is perverse before me." tie was swayed from the right way by loving the hire of wrong-doing. "And God"s anger was kindled because he went." He was rebuked for what was not forced upon him, but was his own transgression. It was a telling rebuke to be stayed in his mad journey by the dumb animal speaking with man"s voice. Like Balaam, these men were prostituting their powers in the service of gain, and would not fare better in the end.

5. On account of false promises.

(1) Comparisons. "These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved." Under strong feeling, Peter seizes on natural imagery to describe the false teachers. To a traveler in a desert nothing can be more grateful than the appearance of a well; but, when he comes up to it, and finds it without water, he receives a bitter disappointment. In a protracted drought the farmer keenly scans the face of the sky; a misty cloud is hailed by him, and he watches its changes and course, but it is driven past by the storm-wind, and not a drop of rain descends. So those false teachers held out promises which they did not fulfill; and in another natural appearance he sees their end foreshadowed a meteor seen for a little, and then passing into the blackness of darkness.

(2) Sensual promises. "For, uttering great swelling words of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live in error." Their words are regarded as swollen out beyond the ordinary size, while they are filled with emptiness. It is in a sensual condition of mind that they use their swollen words. The bait they hold out is sensual gratification. "Their guilt is exhibited as aggravated by the fact that the persons whom they plied with the vile bait of sensual indulgence were those least fit to resist it; not men who were established in the new faith, but men who had but recently broken off from the ranks of heathenism, or who had as yet got but a few paces, as it were, in the process of separating themselves from their old pagan life" (Salmond).

(3) Promising liberty, while themselves bound. "Promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he also brought into bondage." In swollen language they promised liberty: but were they themselves free? No; they were the bondservants of destructive lusts. When their lusts were destroying them, and they could not cease gratifying them, what was that but bondage?

6. On account of their apostasy.

(1) Last state worse than the first. "For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first." Peter thinks of them, in conclusion, as punished in their moral degradation. They were once the prey of the miasmata the defilements of the world. There supervened a blessed time of escape. This was when they had knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (the name being appreciatingly dwelt upon). The word is used which means "appreciative knowledge;" and it would seem to be implied that there was reality in their spiritual experience. But the time came when they were again entangled in the miasmata of the world, and overcome by them. In that case they were the worse for the experience through which they had come. We cannot have conviction of sin and appreciation of Christ, and put away from us that experience, without our bringing evil into our nature far beyond what we were capable of in our former state. Judas was a worse man that he had come into such nearness to Christ, than he would otherwise have been. Therefore let us be careful how we treat visitations of the Spirit, solemn experience.

(2) Preferable evil state. "For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them." The false teachers again are represented as having known the new life of Christianity, as having turned to the holy commandment delivered to them. Better that they had remained in heathenism than, after knowing the new life, to turn back from the holy commandment upon which it depends. Therefore let us be careful how we treat Christian rules of conduct. There is a sacredness about them which is not to be trifled with.

(3) Proverb explanatory of relapse. "It has happened unto them, according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire." This double proverb is not explanatory of the last state being worse than the first, but simply of the being again entangled and overcome. Though they knew the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they were not beyond temptation to sensuality. Their relapse took place in their giving the old nature the ascendency. The comparisons employed are not complimentary. The false teachers are compared to the dog and the sow animals abhorred in the East. They have returned to the filth of heathenism as the dog to its vomit, as the sow that had washed to its wallowing in the mire. Therefore let us be careful not to give in to the old nature. R.F.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But there were false prophets also - As well as true. Among the people - Of Israel. Those that spake even the truth, when God had not sent them; and also those that were truly sent of him, and yet corrupted or softened their message, were false prophets. As there shall be false - As well as true. Teachers among you, who will privately briny in - Into the church. Destructive heresies - They first, by denying the Lord, introduced destructive heresies, that is, divisions; or they occasioned first these divisions, and then were given up to a reprobate mind, even to deny the Lord that bought them. Either the heresies are the effect of denying the Lord, or the denying the Lord was the consequence of the heresies. Even denying - Both by their doctrine and their works. The Lord that bought them - With his own blood. Yet these very men perish everlastingly. Therefore Christ bought even them that perish.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

A Warning against the False Teachers of All Times.

The false teachers and their judgment:

v. 1. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

v. 2. And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

v. 3. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you; whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

Having emphasized the excellence of the true prophecy, the apostle now gives a description of false teaching, whose characteristics in the various ages of the world do not change: But there appeared also false prophets among the people, as also among you there will be false teachers, such men as will introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master that redeemed them, and bringing upon themselves swift destruction. That there were true prophets, such as had actually been sent by the Lord, among the people of Israel in former days, the apostle had stated in the first chapter. But there were also such as were not sent by the Lord, in whose mouth there was a lying spirit, against whom the Lord was obliged to hurl His bitter curses. History repeats itself in this respect. Also in the New Testament, the apostle declares, there would be false teachers, men who would falsely claim a commission from the Lord, who would not hesitate to introduce corrupting, destructive heresies, doctrines that would be sure to lead the people professing them to eternal damnation. Such heights would their pretensions reach that they would even deny and disown the Master, the Lord who redeemed also their souls with His own precious blood. The result and punishment, in their case, would therefore be a sudden destruction; damnation would strike them before they would be aware of their extreme peril. The description is too general to permit an identification of the particular sect to which the apostle had reference, there being such bodies as the Ebionites, the Nicolaitans, and the Gnostics in existence before the end of the first century; but he undoubtedly had in mind also the Judaizing teachers, in whose opinion the redemption of Christ was not sufficient, but had to be supplemented by a fulfillment of the Law. Note: The redemption of Christ, as here expressly stated, was not only for those that would believe and remain faithful to the end, but it was gained and is ready even for those that reject the salvation through His blood.

The apostle now states a truth with regard to these false teachers which experience has amply demonstrated to be true: And many will follow their acts of lasciviousness, on account of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed; and in avarice, with lying words, they will make merchandise of you, to whom the sentence from long ago is not delaying, and their destruction is not sleeping. It seems strange, but history has amply confirmed the fact, that the characteristic of many false teachers is lascivious behavior, combined with a calm insolence that resents all interference. On account of their behavior the truth, the pure doctrine of the Gospel, is blasphemed by the unbelievers. For the latter judge by outward appearances, not knowing the difference between true and false believers; and since these men invariably have the audacity to appropriate and use the designation "Christian" for themselves, the outsiders judge the entire Christian religion by the example offered here, Act 9:2; Act 19:9-23; Act 22:4. What is particularly strange, however, is this, that such people will always find adherents, and in no small numbers at that, and that these followers will permit themselves to be systematically exploited, to be made gain of. It is peculiar to such sects (Dowieites, Christian Scientists) that their leaders are covetous, that they set out to make money from their adherents, and that they succeed in this beyond the dreams of avarice. But, as Peter says, their sentence of condemnation, which was really passed long ago, is not delaying, it is coming slowly, but surely; and their destruction, their damnation, is wide awake upon their trail. They may believe themselves altogether secure, but the time is coming when they will find out to their sorrow that God will not permit such blasphemy to go unpunished; they are steadily moving forward to their impending doom.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Pe 2:4

We get but few glimpses into other worlds. What we have seen of them suggests that their moral history strongly resembles our own. Sin and suffering, holiness and joy—these seem to be the words which measure all moral development, and describe all moral conditions.

I. Angels sinned: then (1) earthly circumstances are not the cause of rebellion; (2) the flesh is not the only occasion of sin; (3) nearness to God is not inviolable safety.

II. "God spared not," etc.: then (1) righteousness is not a variable quantity; (2) law is not partially administered; (3) suffering can never be dissociated from sin.

Parker, City Temple, vol. i., p. 61.

References: 2Pe 2:4.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi., p. 931; vol. xxxi., No. 1820; Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 108.

2Pe 2:6

I. Our text shows that God’s severity on sin is an awful fact. St. Peter points (1) to the vengeance He executed on the sinning angels. Every argument which can be applied against the ultimate punishment of men applies with equal force against the punishment of the sinful angels. (2) To the destruction that fell upon the old world. It has been computed that the population of the world at that time was as great as now, owing to the longevity of the race; and yet the waters rose until the eight who rode in the Ark were the sole remnant of a world that God had made. (3) To the destruction of the cities of the plain. There were eight saved from the Flood; but in the case of the cities of the plain only four were rescued, and out of the four one was turned into a pillar of salt because she looked back.

II. This particular act of severity mentioned in our text is to be an example for all ages. This is not to be shelved as a bit of past history. It is customary to describe the views of future punishment held by most of us as mediæval, and to declare that our ideas are mainly gleaned from what monks wrote and said and from pictures to be found in old galleries. I have never yet seen any picture from hand of mediæval artist half so dreadful as some of the descriptions that fell from our Lord’s lips. Neither Paul nor Peter, nor any of the Apostles, ever uttered such words as leaped from the lips of the Man of sorrows. When God smites Judah, it is that Israel should take warning; and He who hurled the angels from heaven to hell, and drowned the world, and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, has power still to smite.

A. G. Brown, Penny Pulpit, New Series, No. 1004.

References: 2Pe 2:8.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 546. 2Pe 2:15.—J. Edmunds, Sixty Sermons, p. 189. 2Pe 2:17.—J. P. Hutchinson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 92.

2Pe 2:18

False Theories of our Life.

I. There is the epicurean or pleasure theory: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Let us see how this creed narrows down our life to a very point, stripping it of all that is distinctive and elevating, both in range and duration, and shutting us up within the miserable limits of time and sense. (1) It takes all soul out of life. For the soul is its enemy, and a regard for its interests would be the very death of such a life. (2) It takes all heart out of our life. The sensual man is of necessity selfish. He is the enemy of society, the propagator, and patron, and pattern of evil. If all were to follow his example and live as he lives, the world would soon be such that even he could not live in it. (3) It takes also the intellect out of our life. For its own sake at least, there is no recognition of it. It is the minister of sense, the convenient purveyor for its appetites, the demon in the herd of swine, impelling us down the steep of ignominious concession into the foul sea of sensuality and indulgence. (4) It takes all the future out of our life. There is nothing of a pilgrimage here; the man is at home. There is nothing of a warfare here; it is all concession together, all drifting down with the stream.

II. The ascetic theory. As the former theory robs life of its future, this one robs it of its present. The one makes the body everything; the other makes it nothing. That the ascetic view of life is an entirely false view I need scarcely wait to demonstrate. (1) It is not prescribed. The God that made us does not require it. (2) It springs from self-righteousness, and is deeply rooted in spiritual pride. (3) It proceeds on a totally mistaken idea of what sin really is, and of what the Divine Being really intended in making us what we are. (4) It fails to accomplish its professed design.

III. The pantheistic theory. (1) It destroys all individual responsibility in man. (2) It tends to cancel all duty.

IV. The perfectionist theory, or that which teaches the ultimate recovery of all creatures to the perfection of their nature and the highest happiness of which they are capable, and all this, too, it must be remembered, as a matter of necessity, not as dependent on the will of man, but as a certain result of the constitution of the universe. There is no limit to the all things that are to work together for good to the proper persons; but there is a limit to the persons, and that limit is formed by the very nature of God, which binds Him over by an absolute necessity to put a mighty difference between the good and the evil, between him that serveth Him and him that serveth Him not.

V. The theory that ascribes too much importance to circumstances. (1) It tends to make God the Author of sin. (2) It confounds temptation with coercion.

A. L. Simpson, The Upward Path, p. 169.

References: 2Pe 2:19.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 45; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 129. 2Pe 2:20.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 189.

The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, 1. How the apostle foretels the coming of false teachers into the gospel-church, as there had been false prophets in the Jewish church; no age of the church ever was or will be free of them; but the run of the last times is most likely to have most of these sour dregs. There shall be false teachers among you, false teachers then may find a Scripture-prophecy for their being in the church, but they will hardly find a Scripture-warrant for their being there.

Observe, 2. The doctrines which they will teach; and they are damnable heresies.

Where note, That Almighty God never intended a certain remedy against heresy, any more than he did against sin and vice: It is certain, that there is no certain and effectual remedy against either of them; God does what he sees best and fittest, not what we think to be so.

Note also, That infallibility itself is no effectual remedy against heresy; the apostles were certainly infallible, and yet they could neither prevent nor extinguish heresy, which never more abounded than in the apostles times; St. Paul says, there must be heresies, 1Co 1:19 St. Peter here says, that there shall be false teachers: Now, if there must be heresies and false teachers, either the church is not infallible, or infallibility is no effectual remedy against heresy.

Observe, 3. That Christ is here called the Lord that bought these men who brought destruction upon themselves, denying the Lord that bought them; because none should perish for want of a sufficient sacrifice for sin; Christ by his blood purchased for them pardon and life, to be theirs, upon condition of believing acceptance.

Observe lastly, As the seeds-men, false teachers, and the seed they sow, damnable heresies, so the crop they shall reap, and that is swift destruction; as damnable heresies are brought in privily, so the blasphemous heretic, the seducing heretic, the seditious heretic, brings upon himself swift destruction; sometimes temporal destruction in this world, certainly eternal, without repentance, in the next.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2 Peter Chapter 2

The next two chapters set before us, on the other hand, the two forms of evil that characterise the last days-the false and corrupt teaching of bad men, and the unbelief which denies the return of the Lord on the ground of the stability of the visible creation. The former really denies the Master who bought them. It is no question here as to the title of the Lord, nor of redemption. The simile is of a master who has purchased slaves at the market, and they disown and refuse to obey him. Thus among the converted Jews there would be false teachers, who disowned the authority of Christ-His rights over them. Many would be led away by them; and as they bore the name of Christians, the way of truth would be bought into disrepute by their means; while in fact, by their covetousness and hypocritical words, they would make merchandise of Christians for their private gain, count them as mere instruments of it. But the resource of faith is always in God. Judgment would overtake them. The examples of the fallen angels, of Noah and the deluge, of Lot and Sodom, proved that the Lord knew how to deliver the righteous out of their trials, and to reserve the unrighteous for the day of judgment.

That which would characterise this class of evildoers would be the unbridled license of their conduct. They would indulge their carnal lusts, and despise all authority in a way that angels would not dare to do. Still they would call themselves Christians and associate with Christians in their love-feasts, deceiving their own hearts, addicting themselves continually to evil, promising liberty to others, but themselves the slaves of corruption.

Now, to be thus re-entangled in evil, after having escaped it through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour, was worse than if they had never known any thing of the way of truth. But it was according to the true proverb-The dog had returned to his own vomit, and the sow that had been washed, to her wallowing in the mire. They were apostates therefore, but here the Spirit of God does not so much point out the apostacy as the evil, because the government of God is still in view. In Jude the apostacy is the prominent thing. Peter tells us that the angels sinned; Jude, that they kept not their first estate. But God will judge the wicked.

John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1–3. There arose false prophets among the people. In 1:19 the true prophets are referred to. Here the false prophets are spoken of in contrast. By “the people” Israel is meant. The term “false prophet” occurs several times in the Old Testament. For example, see Jer. 6:13. Christ foretells the rise of false prophets (Matt. 24:24). There shall be false teachers. Teachers of false doctrines. Paul often warns against such teachers. See Acts 20:30. Damnable heresies. “Destructive heresies” in the Revision. Party divisions caused by false teaching. A heresy is a schism, or that which tends to produce schism. Denying the Lord that bought them. This is the culmination of false teaching in the church and has been fulfilled by those professedly Christian teachers who reject the divinity of Christ and the atoning power of his blood. Swift destruction. Sudden destruction.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

Peter begins to warn the believers about false teachers.

False prophets came to the people, and false teachers will also come to you

Just as false prophets came deceiving Israel with their words, so will false teachers come teaching lies about Christ.

destructive heresies

The word "heresies" refers to opinions that are contrary to the teaching of Christ and the apostles. These heresies destroy the faith of those who believe them.

the master who bought them

The word "master" here refers to a person who owns slaves. Peter speaks of Jesus as the owner of people whom he has bought, the price being his death. (See: Metaphor and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

sensuality

immoral sexual behavior

the way of truth will be blasphemed

The phrase "way of truth" refers to the Christian faith as the true path to God. This can be stated in active form. AT: "unbelievers will blaspheme the way of truth" (See: Active or Passive)

exploit you with deceptive words

"convince you to give them money by telling you lies"

their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction is not asleep

Peter speaks of "condemnation" and "destruction" as if they are persons who act. The two phrases mean basically the same thing and emphasize how soon the false teachers will be condemned. (See: Personification and Parallelism)

their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction is not asleep

You can translate these phrases with verbs in positive terms. AT: "God will soon condemn them; he is ready to destroy them" (See: Double Negatives and Abstract Nouns)

translationWords

false prophet

people group

teach

lord

true

blasphemy

profit

deceive

condemn

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

But. Introducing a contrast with those who spake by the Holy Ghost (ch. 1 21).

There were [εγενοντο] . Rev., better, there arose.

There shall be. Note that Peter speaks of them as future, and Jude 1:4) as present.

False teachers [ψευδοδιδασκαλοι] . Only here in New Testament.

Who [οιτινες] . Of that kind or class which, etc.

Privily shall bring in [παρεισαξουσιν] . Only here in New Testament. The kindred adjective occurs in Gal 2:4, "false brethren privily brought in" [παρεισακτους] . The metaphor is of spies or traitors introducing themselves into an enemy 's camp. Compare Jude 1:4, crept in unawares. The verb means, literally, to bring [αγειν] into [εις] by the side of [παρα] .

Damnable heresies [αιρεσεις απωλειας] . Lit., heresies of destruction. Rev., destructive heresies. Heresy is a transcript of airesiv, the primary meaning of which is choice; so that a heresy is, strictly, the choice of an opinion contrary to that usually received; thence transferred to the body of those who profess such opinions, and therefore a sect. So Rev., in margin, sects of perdition. Commonly in this sense in the New Testament (Act 5:17; Act 14:5; Act 28:22), though the Rev. has an odd variety in its marginal renderings. See Act 24:14; 1Co 11:19; Gal 5:20. The rendering heretical doctrines seems to agree better with the context; false teachers bringing in sects is awkward.

Denying. A significant word from Peter.

The Lord [δεσποτην] . In most cases in the New Testament the word is rendered master, the Rev. changing Lord to master in every case but two - Luk 2:29; Act 4:24; and in both instances putting master in margin, and reserving Lord for the rendering of kuriov. In three of these instances the word is used in direct address to God; and it may be asked why the Rev. changes Lord to Master in the text of Rev 6:10, and retains Lord in Luk 2:29; Act 4:24. In five out of the ten occurrences of the word in the New Testament it means master of the household. Originally, it indicates absolute, unrestricted authority, so that the Greeks refused the title to any but the gods. In the New Testament despothv and kuriov are used interchangeably of God, and of masters of servants.

Swift [ταχινην] . Used by Peter only. See on ch. 2Pe 1:14.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.