Bible Commentaries

2 Peter 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.”

2 Peter 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 (Jeremiah 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. 1 Kings 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. Jeremiah 27:9; Isaiah 8:19). The cardinal distinction between the true and the false prophet lay in the moral character of their teaching (Jeremiah 23:21-22). ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι. The characteristics of their teaching are well-marked in this Epistle. See Introduction, pp. 115 ff. Compare Php 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 1 Corinthians 11.; also Galatians 2:4, 2 Corinthians 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 (2 Peter 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, 2 Peter 1:5. The idea of stealth is present in παρεισάκτους (Galatians 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 Galatians 5:20, 1 Corinthians 11:19, the sense is “dissensions,” arising from such diversity of opinion. It is used in the sense of “sect” in Acts 5:17; Acts 15:5; Acts 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. Mark 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 (2 Samuel 7:23). The reference here, however, is to Christ (cf. Mayor, p. 17.). The N.T. use of ἀγορ. is illustrated in 1 Corinthians 6:20, where reference might be to God; but in 2 Samuel 7:23 reference is clearly to Christ. So in Revelation 5:9. Cf. our Lord’s words in Mark 10:45, about “giving his life a ransom” and Jude 2 Peter 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 2 Peter 1:14. ἐπάγοντες. The middle might have been expected. cf.v. 5, where the active is suitably used.

2 Peter 2:2. ἀσελγείαις. are “acts of lasciviousness”. ὁδὸς τῆς ἀληθείας. ἀληθεία contains the root-idea of “genuineness”. It combines the ideas of the knowledge of God and His purposes in Christ; and of the human obligation to right living that springs from it. “He that doeth truth cometh to the light.” The writer of 2 Peter is, as always, concerned to oppose a merely intellectual Gnosticism, which has its ultimate fruit in immorality. Cf. Psalm 119:29-30. βλασφημηθήσεται. The whole Church suffered in reputation because of these men. Cf. Romans 2:24, 1 Timothy 6:1.

2 Peter 2:3. ἐν is causal. πλεονεξίᾳ = “covetousness”. Cf. Luke 12:15. πλαστοῖς: here only in N.T., “manufactured,” “feigned,” “artificial”. ἐμπορεύσονται Originally used in intrans. sense = “go a-trading”. Cf. Jam 4:13. Then = “import,” in trans. sense. Here = “make gain of,” “exploit”. Cf. 2 Corinthians 2:17, 1 Timothy 6:5.

οἶς τὸ κρίμα ἔκπαλαι οὐκ ἀργεῖ: ‘whose judgment has for long not been nactive,” although there is an appearance of delay. This delay is the argument used by the false teachers. ἔκπαλαι occurs in O.G.I.S., 5845 (ii. A.D.) διʼ ὧν ἔκπαλαι αὐτὴν (sc. τὴν πατρίδα) εὐεργέτ[ησεν]. (Cf. 2 Peter 3:4 and 2 Peter 2:1, ἐπάγοντες ἑαυτοῖς ταχινὴν ἀπώλειαν.) For ἀργεῖ see note on 2 Peter 1:8. The judgment has long been gathering, and is impending. νυστάζει. The word used of the slumbering virgins in Matthew 25:5. In Isaiah 5:27 it is used of the instruments of God’s anger employed against those guilty of social abuses.

2 Peter 2:4-10 a. A historical illustration of the Divine judgment on the wicked, and care of the righteous.

“God spared not angels who sinned, but having cast them into Tartarus, gave them over to chains of darkness, reserving them for judgment. He spared not the ancient world, but guarded Noah, with seven others, while the impious world was overwhelmed by a flood. So Divine judgment was extended to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were overwhelmed by ashes, and overthrown by earthquake, as an example of what is in store for impious persons, while righteous Lot was delivered, grieved and wearied as he was by the profligate life of the lawless. For day after day this man with his righteous instincts, in his life among them, was vexed with the sight and sound of their lawless deeds. In all this we have a proof that the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of trial, and to keep the ungodly under discipline until the day of judgment, especially those who follow the polluting lusts of the flesh and despise authority.”

2 Peter 2:4. εἰ γὰρ ὁ θεός … introducing a series of conditional sentences. The apodosis is found in οἶδεν κύριος … of 2 Peter 2:9. σειραῖς. No doubt a rendering of δεσμοῖς in Judges 1:6, agreeably to the practice of this writer, who is somewhat fond of using rarer words, instead of the more commonplace. σειρά usually means a “cord” or “rope” (Homer, Il. xxiii., 115, Od. xxii., 175). It would seem to mean “a golden chain” in Il. viii., 19, 25, cf. Plato. Theatetus, i. 53 C. The meaning “fetters” is peculiar to 2 Peter (for var. lect. σειροῖς, see textual note). ταρταρώσας = “cast into Tartarus”. The verb is a ἅπαξ λεγ. τάρταρος occurs in three passages of LXX. (Job 40:15 (Job 40:20), Job 41:22 (Job 41:23), Prov. 24:51 (Proverbs 30:16): but in none of these is there any corresponding idea in the Hebrew. The word also occurs in Enoch xx. 2, where Gehenna is the place of punishment for apostate Jews, and Tartarus for the fallen angels. In Homer (e.g. Il. viii. 13) Hades is the place of confinement for dead men, and Tartarus is the name given to a murky abyss beneath Hades in which the sins of fallen Immortals (Kronos, Japetos, and the Titans) are punished (cf. Salmond, H.B.D. 2:344 a). Hence 2 Peter uses this word in agreement with the Book of Enoch and Greek mythology, because he is speaking of fallen angels and not of men. As regards the cosmology that is here implied, it has been suggested that the earth is not regarded as flat, but the universe is conceived as two concentric spheres, the outer heaven, the inner the earth. The nether half of heaven is Tartarus, and the nether half of the earth is Hades (St. Clair, Expositor, July, 1902). The use of the word by 2 Peter is remarkable as implying an atmosphere of Greek thought in the circle in which he moved, and for which he wrote. ζόφος in Homer is used of the gloom of the nether world, Od. xx. 356, cf. Hebrews 12:18. Also Hebrews 12:17 and Judges 1:6; Judges 1:13. It is implied that fallen angels and unrighteous men alike undergo temporary punishment until the day of their final doom, cf. Judges 1:9. Enoch x. 4, 12, lxxxviii. 2.

2 Peter 2:5. ἀρχαίου κόσμου. The article is omitted, which is not a mark of illiteracy. This chapter is prophetic in form, and the omission of the article is characteristic of that style. Cf. Job 3:10, Jdg 5:5. (See Mayor, Ed. xxxiv. xxxv.). δικαιοσύνης κήρυκα. κηρ. in this sense is used in N.T. only here, and in 1 Timothy 2:7, 2 Timothy 1:11. 2 Peter again borrows from Jewish tradition as to the preaching of Noah. Cf. Jos. Antiq. i. 3, 1, Clem. Rom. i. 7. κατακλυσμόν, cf. Matthew 24:38-39, Luke 7:27, Genesis 6:17. ἐπάξας. Aorist participle implies co-incident action. “He saved N.… while he sent, etc.” ἐπάγω is used of “setting-on,” “letting loose,” e.g. “dogs”. Odyssey, xix. 445, Xen. Cyr. x. 19. ὄγδοον. “with seven others”. Classical Greek usage is to add αὐτόν. There is much difficulty as to the significance of the numeral. The reference is no doubt to the number of Noah’s family. The numeral is placed in a prominent place in the sentence to lay stress on the small number saved out of the inhabited world, as a striking example of mercy in the midst of judgment, cf. 1 Peter 3:20. Cf. P. Petr. iii. 28. ὅτι ἐδραγματοκλέπτει τρίτος ὤν (bis), cf. Abbott, J. G §. 562

2 Peter 2:6. πόλεις Σοδ. καὶ Γομορρ. Not genitive of apposition, but cities of the district, where Sodom and Gomorrah were situated. cf. Judges 1:7. Σ. καὶ Γ. καὶ αἱ περὶ αὐτὰς πόλεις καταστροφῇ κατέκρινεν. καταστροφῇ is dative of instrument, “condemned them by overthrow”. Genesis 19:24-25 seems to imply some further destruction after the fire. Perhaps an earthquake is meant, a common accompanying phenomenon of volcanic disturbance. ὑπόδειγμα … τεθεικώς, “constituting them an example to ungodly persons of things in store for them.” With μελλ. cf. Hebrews 11:20, Colossians 2:17. τεφρώσας = “cover up with ashes” (not “reduce to ashes”)—found in a description of the eruption of Vesuvius. (Dio. Cass. lxvi. p. 1094).

2 Peter 2:7. καταπονούμενον, the word applied to the condition of the slave whom Moses delivered, Acts 7:24. It implies outward discomfort. ἀθέσμων. Cf. 2 Peter 3:17, “a stronger word than ἄνομος, because θεσμός is used especially of a divine ordinance, a fundamental law” (Mayor).

2 Peter 2:8. βλέμματι γὰρ καὶ ἀκοῇ. Two interpretations are possible (1) Instrumental dative after ἐβασάνιζεν. “He vexed his righteous soul by what he saw and heard.” The objections are (a) the long interval that separates βλ. κ.τ.λ. from ἐβασάνιζεν, (b) that βλέμμα is never elsewhere used of the thing seen, but is used of sight from the subjective, emotional, and volitional point of view. Hence (2), reading δίκαιος without the article, and taking βλ. κ.τ.λ. with that word, we may translate with the Vulgate “aspectu et auditu Justus”. His instincts of eye and ear were nobler than those of the society around him. ἡμέραν ἐξ ἡμέρας. “Day in, day out.” Cf. ἡμέρα καθ ἡμέραν in Psalm 68:19. ἐβασάνιζεν. It is somewhat peculiar that the active should be used. “He vexed, distressed his righteous soul.” May it not be that in the use of the active a certain sense of personal culpability is implied? Lot was conscious that the situation was ultimately due to his own selfish choice (cf. von Soden).