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.
2 Peter 2:4We 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: 2 Peter 2:4.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi., p. 931; vol. xxxi., No. 1820; Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 108.
2 Peter 2:6I. 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: 2 Peter 2:8.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 546. 2 Peter 2:15.—J. Edmunds, Sixty Sermons, p. 189. 2 Peter 2:17.—J. P. Hutchinson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 92.
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: 2 Peter 2:19.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 45; Preacher's Monthly, vol. iv., p. 129. 2 Peter 2:20.—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. i., p. 189.
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.
And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
For if after they have 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 beginning.
For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
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 Deu 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, [Jud 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. (163) 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 wordopinions 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. (164)
(163) “Peter intimated that the heresies of which he speaks were to be introduced under the color of true doctrine, in the dark. as it were, and by little and little; so that the people would not discern their real nature.” — Macknight.
(164) The word here for “Lord” is δεσπότης, which is more expressive of power and authority than Κύριος, commonly rendered “Lord.” This seems to intimate the character of the men alluded to: they denied Christ as their sovereign, as they rendered no obedience to him, though they may have professed to believe in him as a Savior. — Ed
2. And many shall follow. It is, indeed, no slight offense to the weak, when they see that false doctrines are received by the common consent of the world, that a large number of men are led astray, so that few continue in true obedience to Christ. So, at this day, there is nothing that more violently disturbs pious minds than such a defection. For hardly one in ten of those who have once made a profession of Christ, retains the purity of faith to the end. Almost all turn aside into corruptions, and being deluded by the teachers of licentiousness, they become profane. Lest this should make our faith to falter, Peter comes to our help, and in due time foretells that this very thing would be, that is, that false teachers would draw many to perdition.
But there is a double reading even in the Greek copies; for some read, “lasciviousness,” and others, “perdition.” I have, however, followed what has been mostly approved. (165)
By reason of whom the way of truth. This I consider to have been said for this reason, because as religion is adorned when men are taught to fear God, to maintain uprightness of life, a chaste and virtuous conduct, or when at least the mouth of the wicked is closed, that they do not speak evil of the gospel; so when the reins are let loose, and every kind of licentiousness is practiced, the name and the doctrine of Christ are exposed to the reproaches of the ungodly. Others give a different explanation — that these false teachers, like filthy dogs, barked at sound doctrine. But the words of Peter appear to me on the contrary to intimate, that these would give occasion to enemies insolently to assail the truth of God. Though then they would not themselves assail the Christian faith with calumnies, yet they would arm others with the means of reproaching it.
(165) Few copies have “perdition,” or perditions, for the word is in the plural number; and very many have “lasciviousness,” and also the Vulg. and Syr. versions. Having before mentioned their destructive opinions or heresies, which involved the denial of the Lord who bought them, he now refers to the immorality which accompanied their false doctrines; and that immorality is here referred to is evident from this, that the way of truth would be evil spoken of or calumniated. — Ed.
3. With feigned words. Peter endeavors by all means to render the faithful displeased with ungodly teachers, that they might resist them more resolutely and more constantly. It is especially an odious thing that we should be exposed to sale like vile slaves. But he testifies that this is done, when any one seduces us from the redemption of Christ. He calls those feigned words which are artfully formed for the purpose of deceiving. (166) Unless then one is so mad as to sell the salvation of his soul to false teachers, let him close up every avenue that may lead to their wicked inventions. For the same purpose as before he repeats again, that their destruction delayed not, that is, that he might frighten the good from their society. For since they were given up to a sudden destruction, every one who connected himself with them, must have perished with them.
(166) Either “feigned” or “invented” may be meant by πλαστοῖς : if “feigned,” then they were words used not conveying their real sentiments, but adopted for the purpose of alluring others, as is the case with those who pretend great zeal for truth and great love for souls, when their object is to gain adherents for filthy lucre’s sake. But if “invented” be adopted, then λόγοι must mean narratives or fables, — “invented (or fictitious) fables,” or tales. And this is the rendering of Macknight. And he says, that the Apostle had probably in view the fables concerning the visions of angels and the miracles performed at the sepulchres of departed saints, which the false teachers in the early ages, and the monks in latter times, fabricated, to draw money from the people. Similar are the devices of superstitious men, greedy of gain, in every age. — Ed.
4. For if. We have stated how much it behoves us to know that the ungodly, who by their mischievous opinions corrupt the Church, cannot escape God’s vengeance; and this he proves especially by three remarkable examples of God's judgment, — that he spared not even angels, that he once destroyed the whole world by a deluge, that he reduced Sodom to ashes, and other neighboring cities. But Peter thought it sufficient to take as granted what ought to be never doubted by us, that is, that God is the judge of the whole world. It hence follows that the punishment he formerly inflicted on the ungodly and wicked, he will now also inflict on the like characters. For he can never be unlike himself, nor does he shew respect of persons, so as to forgive the same wickedness in one which he has punished in another; but he hates injustice and wrong equally, whenever it is found. (167)
For we must always bear in mind that there is a difference between God and men; for men indeed judge unequally, but God keeps the same course in judging. For that he forgives sins, this is done because he blots them out through repentance and faith. He therefore does not otherwise reconcile himself to us than by justifying us; for until sin is taken away, there is always an occasion of discord between us and Him.
As to the angels. The argument is from the greater to the less; for they were far more excellent than we are, and yet their dignity did not preserve them from the hand of God; much less then can mortal men escape, when they follow them in their impiety. But as Peter mentions here but briefly the fall of angels, and as he has not named the time and the manner and other circumstances, it behoves us soberly to speak on the subject. Most men are curious and make no end of inquiries on these things; but since God in Scripture has only sparingly touched on them, and as it were by the way, he thus reminds us that we ought to be satisfied with this small knowledge. And indeed they who curiously inquire, do not regard edification, but seek to feed their souls with vain speculations. What is useful to us, God has made known, that is, that the devils were at first created, that they might serve and obey God, but that through their own fault they apostatized, because they would not submit to the authority of God; and that thus the wickedness found in them was accidental, and not from nature, so that it could not be ascribed to God.
All this Peter declares very clearly, when he says that angels fell, though superior to men; and Jude is still more express when he writes, that they kept not their first estate, or their pre-eminence. [Jud 1:6.] Let those who are not satisfied with these testimonies have recourse to the Sorbonian theology, which will teach them respecting angels to satiety, so as to precipitate them to hell together with the devils.
Chains of darkness. This metaphor intimates that they are held bound in darkness until the last day. And the comparison is taken from malefactors, who, after having been condemned, suffer half of their punishment by the severity of the prison, until they are drawn forth to their final doom. We may hence learn, not only what punishment the wicked suffer after death, but also what is the condition of the children of God: for they calmly acquiesce in the hope of sure and perfect blessedness, though they do not as yet enjoy it; as the former suffer dreadful agonies on account of the vengeance prepared for them.
(167) The “if” at the beginning of the verse requires a corresponding clause. Some, as Piscator and Macknight, supply at the end of 2. e 2:7, “he will not spare thee,” or, “will he spare thee?” But there is no need of this, the corresponding clause is in 2. e 2:9; and this is our version. The deliverance of the just is there first mentioned, as that of Lot was the subject of the previous verse, and then the reservation of the unjust for judgment, examples of which he had before given. This sort of arrangement is common in Scripture. — Ed.
5. The old world. The import of what he says is, that God, after having drowned the human race, formed again as it were a new world. This is also an argument from the greater to the less; for how can the wicked escape the deluge of divine wrath, since the whole world was once destroyed by it? For by saying that eight only were saved, he intimates that a multitude would not be a shield against God to protect the wicked; but that as many as sin shall be punished, be they few or many in number.
But it may be asked why he calls Noah the preacher of righteousness. Some understand that he was the preacher of the righteousness of God, inasmuch as Scripture commends God's righteousness, because he defends his own and restores them, when dead, to life. But I rather think that he is called the preacher of righteousness, because he labored to restore a degenerated world to a sound mind, and this not only by his teaching and godly exhortations, but also by his anxious toil in building the ark for the term of a hundred and twenty years. Now, the design of the Apostle is to set before our eyes God’s wrath against the wicked, so as to encourage us at the same time to imitate the saints. (168)
(168) There is a difference of opinion as to the word “eighth:” some think that the sense is, that Noah was the eighth person who was saved at the deluge, being one of the eight who were preserved. Others render the words, “Noah, the eighth preacher of righteousness,” calculating from Enos, in whose time as it is said, “men began to call upon the name of the Lord.” (Gen 4:26.) Lightfoot and some others, have held the latter opinion, though the former has been more generally approved. — Ed.
6. The cities of Sodom. This was so memorable an example of Divine vengeance, that when the Scripture speaks of the universal destruction of the ungodly, it alludes commonly to this as the type. Hence Peter says, that these cities were made an example. This may, indeed, be truly said of others; but Peter points out something singular, because it was the chief and a lively image; yea, rather, because the Lord designed that his wrath against the ungodly should be made known to all ages; as when he redeemed his people from Egypt, he has set forth to us by that one favor the perpetual safety of his Church. Jude has also expressed the same thing, calling it the punishment of eternal fire. [Jud 1:7.]
8. In seeing and hearing. The common explanation is, that Lot was just in his eyes and ears, because all his senses abhorred the crimes of Sodom. However, another view may be taken of his seeing and hearing, so as to make this the meaning, that when the just man lived among the Sodomites, he tormented his soul by seeing and hearing; for we know that he was constrained to see and hear many things which greatly vexed his mind. The purport of what is said then is, that though the holy man was surrounded with every kind of monstrous wickedness, he yet never turned aside from his upright course.
But Peter expresses more than before, that is, that just Lot underwent voluntary sorrows; as it is right that all the godly should feel no small grief when they see the world rushing into every kind of evil, so the more necessary it is that they should groan for their own sins. And Peter expressly mentioned this, lest when impiety everywhere prevails, we should be captivated and inebriated by the allurements of vices, and perish together with others, but that we might prefer this grief, blessed by the Lord, to all the pleasures of the world.
9. The Lord knoweth. What first offends the weak is, that when the faithful anxiously seek aid, they are not immediately helped by God; but on the contrary he suffers them sometimes as it were to pine away through daily weariness and languor; and secondly, when the wicked grow wanton with impunity and God in the meantime is silent, as though he connived at their evil deeds. This double offense Peter now removes; for he testifies that the Lord knows when it is expedient to deliver the godly from temptation. By these words he reminds us that this office ought to be left to him, and that therefore we ought to endure temptations, and not to faint, when at any time he defers his vengeance against the ungodly.
This consolation is very necessary for us, for this thought is apt to creep in, “If the Lord would have his own to be safe, why does he not gather them all into some corner of the earth, that they may mutually stimulate one another to holiness? why does he mingle them with the wicked by whom they may be defiled?” But when God claims to himself the office of helping, and protecting his own, that they may not fail in the contest, we gather courage to fight more strenuously. The meaning of the first clause is, that this law is prescribed by the Lord to all the godly, that they are to be proved by various temptations, but that they are to entertain good hope of success, because they are never to be deprived of his aid and help.
And to reserve the unjust. By this clause he shews that God so regulates his judgments as to bear with the wicked for a time, but not to leave them unpunished. Thus he corrects too much haste, by which we are wont to be carried headlong, especially when the atrocity of wickedness grievously wounds us, for we then wish God to fulminate without delay; when he does not do so, he seems no longer to be the judge of the world. Lest, then, this temporary impunity of wickedness should disturb us, Peter reminds us that a day of judgment has been appointed by the Lord; and that, therefore, the wicked shall by no means escape punishment, though it be not immediately inflicted.
There is an emphasis in the word reserve, as though he had said, that they shall not escape the hand of God, but be held bound as it were by hidden chains, that they may at a certain time be drawn forth to judgment. The participle κολαζομένους, though in the present tense, is yet to be thus explained, that they are reserved or kept to be punished, or, that they may be punished. For he bids us to rely on the expectation of the last judgment, so that in hope and patience we may fight till the end of life.
10. But chiefly them. He comes here to particulars, accommodating a general doctrine to his own purpose; for he had to do with men of desperate wickedness. He then shews that dreadful vengeance necessarily awaited them. For since God will punish all the wicked, how can they escape who abandon themselves like brute beasts to every kind of iniquity? To walk after the flesh, is to be given up to the flesh, like brute animals, who are not led by reason and judgment, but have the natural desire of their flesh as their chief guide. By the lust of uncleanness understand filthy and unbridled gratifications, when men, having cast away every virtuous feeling, and shaken off shame, are carried away into every uncleanness.
This is the first mark by which he brands them, that they are impure men, given up to wickedness. Other marks follow, that they despised government, and feared not to calumniate and reproach men whom God had favored with honorable stations in life. But these words refer to the same thing; for after having said that they held government in contempt, he immediately points out the fountain of this evil, that they were presumptuous, or audacious, and self-willed, or refractory; (169) and lastly, that he might more fully exhibit their pride, he says that they did not fear nor tremble when they treated dignities with contempt. For it is a monstrous arrogance to regard as nothing the glory which shines forth in dignities appointed by God.
But there is no doubt but that in these words he refers to the imperial and magisterial power; for though there is no lawful station in life which is not worthy of respect, yet we know that the magisterial office excels every other, because in governing mankind God himself is represented. Then truly glorious is that power in which God himself appears.
We now perceive what the Apostle meant in this second clause, even that they of whom he speaks were frantic men, lovers of tumults and confusion; for no one can introduce anarchy (ἀναρχίαν) into the world without introducing disorder (ἀταξίαν.) Now, these with bold effrontery vomited forth reproaches against magistrates, that they might take away every respect for public rights; and this was openly to fight against God by their blasphemies. There are also many turbulent men of this sort at the present day, who proudly declare that the power of the sword is heathen and unlawful, and furiously attempt to subvert all government. Such furies Satan excites, in order to disturb and prevent the progress of the gospel. But the Lord hath dealt favorably with us; for he hath not only warned us to beware of this deadly poison, but hath also by this ancient example fortified us against this scandal. Hence the Papists act very dishonestly, when they accuse us, and say that seditious men are made so by our doctrine. The same thing might indeed have been alleged against the apostles formerly; and yet they were as far as possible from encouraging any such wickedness.
(169) Rather, “self-pleasing,” αὐθάδεις, whose ruling principle was to please and gratify themselves, without regarding God's will or the good of others whose god was self. In a second sense, the word designates those who are haughty, arrogant, supercilious, refractory; and such is commonly the character of selfish men. — Ed.
11. Whereas angels. He hence shews their rash arrogance, because they dared to assume more liberty than even angels. But it seems strange that he says that angels do not bring a railing accusation against magistrates; for why should they be adverse to that sacred order, the author of which they know to be God? Why should they oppose rulers whom they know to be exercising the same ministry with themselves? This reasoning has made some to think that the devils are meant; but they do not thus by any means escape the difficulty. For how could Satan be so moderate as to spare men, since he is the author of every blasphemy against God? And further, their opinion is refuted by what Jude says. [Jud 1:9.]
But when we consider the circumstances of the time, what is said applies very suitably to holy angels. For all the magistrates were then ungodly, and bloody enemies to the gospel. They must, therefore, have been hateful to angels, the guardians of the Church. He, however, says, that men deserving hatred and execration, were not condemned by them in order that they might shew respect to a power divinely appointed. While such moderation, he says, is shewn by angels, these men fearlessly give vent to impious and unbridled blasphemies.
12. But these. He proceeds with what he had begun to say respecting impious and wicked corrupters. And, first, he condemns their loose manners and the obscene wickedness of their whole life; and then he says that they were audacious and perverse, so that by their scurrilous garrulity they insinuated themselves into the favor of many.
He especially compares them to those brute animals, which seem to have come to existence to be ensnared, and to be driven to their own ruin by their own instinct; as though he had said, that being induced by no allurements, they of themselves hasten to throw themselves into the snares of Satan and of death. For what we render, naturally born, Peter has literally, “natural born.” But there is not much difference in the sense, whether one of the two has been by somebody else supplied, or by putting down both he meant more fully to express his meaning. (170)
What he adds, speaking evil of the things that they understand not, refers to the pride and presumption he mentioned in the preceding verse. He then says that all excellency was insolently despised by them, because they were become wholly stupefied, so that they differed nothing from beasts. But the word I have rendered for destruction, and afterwards in corruption, is the same, φθορὰ; but it is variously taken: but when he says that they would perish in their own corruption, he shews that their corruptions would be ruinous or destructive.
(170) The words may be thus rendered, —
“But these, as natural unreasoning animals, born for capture and destruction, speaking evil of things which they understand not, shall utterly perish through their own corruption.”
They are compared to animals which are by nature without reason, and such as live on prey, wild and rapacious, which seem to have been made to be taken and destroyed; and they are often taken and destroyed while committing plunder. So these men, their wickedness would be the means of ensnaring and destroying them. — Ed.
13. Count it pleasure (171) As though he had said, “They place their happiness in their present enjoyments.” We know that men excel brute animals in this, that they extend their thoughts much farther. It is, then, a base thing in man to be occupied only with present things. Here he reminds us that our minds ought to be freed from the gratifications of the flesh, except we wish to be reduced to the state of beasts.
The meaning of what follows is this, “These are filthy spots to you and your assembly; for while they feast with you, they at the same time luxuriate in their errors, and shew by their eyes and gestures their lascivious lusts and detestable incontinency.” Erasmus has rendered the words thus, “Feasting in their errors, they deride you.” But this is too forced. It may not unaptly be thus explained, “Feasting with you, they insolently deride you by their errors.” I, however, have given the version which seems the most probable, “luxuriating in their errors, feasting with you.” He calls the libidinous such as had eyes full of adultery, and who were incessantly led to sin without restraint, as it appears from what is afterwards said.
(171) It is better to connect the first words of this verse, “receiving the reward of unrigrhteousness,” with the foregoing, and to begin another period with this clause, and to render this verse and the following thus, —
“Counting (or, deeming) riot in the day-time a pleasure, they are spots and stains, rioting in their own delusions, feasting together with (14) you; having eyes full of adultery and which cease not from sin, ensnaring unstable souls, having a heart inured to covetous desires, being children of the curse.”
The various things said of them are intended to shew that they were “spots and stains,” disgraceful and defiling: they rioted in carnal pleasure, and rioted in delusion, and associated with the faithful, feasting with them; they were libidinous, and led unstable souls to follow their ways; they were covetous, and shewed that they were heirs to the curse of God. — Ed.
14. Beguiling, or baiting, unstable souls. By the metaphor of baiting he reminds the faithful to beware of their hidden and deceitful arts; for he compares their impostures to hooks which may catch the unwary to their destruction. By adding unstable souls he shews the reason for caution, that is, when we have not struck firm roots in faith and in the fear of the Lord: and he intimates at the same time, that they have no excuse who suffer themselves to be baited or lured by such flatteries; for this must have been ascribed to their levity. Let there be then a stability of faith, and we shall be safe from the artifices of the ungodly.
An heart they have exercised with covetous practices, or, with lusts. Erasmus renders the last word, “rapines.” The word is of a doubtful meaning. I prefer “lusts.” As he had before condemned incontinence in their eyes, so he now seems to refer to the vices latent in their hearts. It ought not, however, to be confined to covetousness. By calling them cursed or execrable children, he may be understood to mean, that they were so either actively or passively, that is, that they brought a curse with them wherever they went, or that they deserved a curse.
As he has hitherto referred to the injury they did by the example of a perverse and corrupt life, so he again repeats, that they spread by their teaching the deadly poison of impiety, in order that they might destroy the simple. He compares them to Balaam, the son of Bozor, who employed a venal tongue to curse God’s people. And to shew that they were not worthy of a long refutation, he says that Balaam was reproved by an ass, and that thus his madness was condemned. But by this means also he restrains the faithful from associating with them. For it was a dreadful judgment of God, that the angel made himself known to the ass before he did to the prophet, so that the ass, perceiving God displeased, dared not to advance farther, but went back, when the prophet, under the blind impulse of his own avarice, pushed forward against the evident prohibition of the Lord. For what was afterwards answered to him, that he was to proceed, was an evidence of God's indignation rather than a permission. In short, as the greatest indignity to him, the mouth of the ass was opened, that he who had been unwilling to submit to God's authority might have that as his teacher. And by this miracle the Lord designed to shew how monstrous a thing it was to change the truth to a lie.
It may be here asked, by what right Balaam had the name of a prophet, when it appears that he was addicted to many wicked superstitions. To this I reply, that the gift of prophecy was so special, that though he did not worship the true God, and had not true religion, he might yet have been endued with it. Besides, God has sometimes caused prophecy to exist in the midst of idolatry, in order that men might have less excuse.
Now, if any one considers the chief things which Peter says, he will see that his warning is equally suitable to the present age; for it is an evil which prevails everywhere, that men use scurrilous raillery for the purpose of deriding God and the Savior; nay, they ridicule all religion under the cloak of wit; and when addicted, like beasts, to their own lusts, they will mingle with the faithful; they prattle something about the gospel, and yet they prostitute their tongue to the service of the devil, that they may bring the whole world, as far as they can, to eternal perdition. They are in this respect worse than Balaam himself, because they gratuitously pour forth their maledictions, when he, induced by reward, attempted to curse.
17. These are wells, or fountains, without water. He shews by these two metaphors, that they had nothing within, though they made a great display. A fountain, by its appearance, draws men to itself, because it promises them water to drink, and for other purposes; as soon as clouds appear, they give hope of immediate rain to irrigate the earth. He then says that they were like fountains, because they excelled in boasting, and displayed some acuteness in their thoughts and elegance in their words; but that yet they were dry and barren within: hence the appearance of a fountain was fallacious.
He says that they wereclouds carried by the wind, either without rain, or which burst forth into a calamitous storm. He thereby denotes that they brought nothing useful, and that often they were very hurtful. He afterwards denounces on them the dreadful judgment of God, that fear might restrain the faithful. By naming the mist or the blackness of darkness, he alludes to the clouds which obscure the air; as though he had said, that for the momentary darkness which they now spread, there is prepared for them a much thicker darkness which is to continue for ever.
18. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity. (172) He means that they dazzled the eyes of the simple by high-flown stuff of words, that they might not perceive their deceit, for it was not easy to captivate their minds with such dotages, except they were first besotted by some artifice. He then says that they used an inflated kind of words and speech, that they might fill the unwary with admiration. And then this grandiloquence, which the ample lungs of the soul send forth, (as Persius says, (173)) was very suitable to cover their shifts and trumperies. There was formerly a craft of this kind in Valentinus, and in those like him, as we learn from the books of Irenaeus. They made words unheard of before, by the empty sound of which, the unlearned being smitten, they were ensnared by their reveries.
There are fanatics of a similar kind at this day, who call themselves by the plausible title of Libertines or free-men. For they talk most confidently of the Spirit and of spiritual things, as though they roared out from above the clouds, and fascinate many by their tricks and wiles, so that you may say that the Apostle has correctly prophesied of them. For they treat all things jocosely and scoffingly; and though they are great simpletons, yet as they indulge in all vices, they find favor with their own people by a sort of drollery. The state of the case is this, that when the difference between good and evil is removed, everything becomes lawful; and men, loosed from all subjection to laws, obey their own lusts. This Epistle, therefore, is not a little suitable to our age.
They allure, or bait, through the lusts of the flesh. He strikingly compares to hooks the allurements of the ungodly, when they make anything they please lawful; for as the lusts of men are headstrong and craving, as soon as liberty is offered, they lay hold on it with great avidity; but soon afterwards the strangling hook within is perceived. But we must consider the whole sentence of the Apostle.
He says that they who had really escaped from the society of those in error were again deceived by a new kind of error, even when the reins were let loose to them for the indulgence of every sort of intemperance. He hereby reminds us how dangerous are the wiles of these men. For it was already a dreadful thing that blindness and thick darkness possessed almost all mankind. It was, therefore, in a manner a double prodigy, that men, freed from the common errors of the world, should, after having received the light of God, be brought back to a beastly indifference. Let us be reminded of what we ought especially to beware of, after having been once enlightened, that is, lest Satan entice us under the pretense of liberty, so as to give ourselves up to lasciviousness to gratify the lusts of the flesh. But they are safe from this danger who seriously attend to the study of holiness.
(172) The words are, —
“For uttering bombasts of vanity, they allure,” etc.
The word ὒπέρογκα, being a neuter plural, may be rendered as a noun; literally, “overswellings of vanity;” but when applied to words, it means what is pompous, inflated, bombastic; but these bombasts were those of vanity, being empty, useless, unprofitable; or as some render the words, they were the bombasts of falsehood, according to the meaning of the word as used often in the Sept. ; they spoke false things in a bombastic and inflated strain. — Ed.
(173) Sat. 1:14.
19. While they promise them liberty. He shews their inconsistency, that they falsely promised liberty, while they themselves served sin, and were in the worst bondage; for no one can give what he has not. This reason, however, does not seem to be sufficiently valid, because it sometimes happens that wicked men, and wholly unacquainted with Christ, preach usefully concerning the benefits and blessings of Christ. But we must observe, that what is condemned here is vicious doctrine, connected with impurity of life; for the Apostle's design was to obviate the deceptive allurements by which they ensnared the foolish. The name of liberty is sweet, and they abused it for this end, that the hearer, being loosed from the fear of the divine law, might abandon himself unto unbridled licentiousness. But the liberty which Christ has procured for us, and which he offers daily by the gospel, is altogether different, for he has exempted us from the yoke of the law as far as it subjects us to a curse, that he might also deliver us from the dominion of sin, as far as it subjects us to its own lusts. Hence, where lusts reign, and therefore where the flesh rules, there the liberty of Christ has no place whatever. The Apostle then declares this to all the godly, that they might not desire any other liberty but that which leads those, who are set free from sin, to a willing obedience to righteousness.
We hence learn that there have ever been depraved men who made a false pretense to liberty, and that this has been an old cunning trick of Satan. We need not wonder that at this day the same filth is stirred up by fanatical men.
The Papists turn and twist this passage against us, but they thereby betray their ridiculous impudence. For in the first place, men of the filthiest life, in public-houses and brothels, belch out this charge, that we are the servants of corruption, in the life of whom they cannot point out anything reproachful. In the second place, since we teach nothing respecting Christian liberty but what is derived from Christ and his Apostles, and at the same time require the mortification of the flesh, and the proper exercises for subduing it, much more strictly than they do who slander us, they vomit forth their curses, not so much against us as against the Son of God, whom we have as our certain teacher and authority.
For of whom a man is overcome. This sentence is derived from military law; but yet it is a common saying among heathen writers, that there is no harder or a more miserable bondage than when lusts rule and reign. What then ought to be done by us, on whom the Son of God has bestowed his Spirit, not only that we may be freed from the dominion of sin, but that we may also become the conquerors of the flesh and the world?
20. For if after. He again shews how pernicious was the sect which led men consecrated to God back again to their old filth and the corruptions of the world. And he exhibits the heinousness of the evil by a comparison; for it was no common sin to depart from the holy doctrine of God. It would have been better for them, he says, not to have known the way of righteousness; for though there is no excuse for ignorance, yet the servant who knowingly and wilfully despises the commands of his lord, deserves a twofold punishment. There was besides ingratitude, because they wilfully extinguished the light of God, rejected the favor conferred on them, and having shaken off the yoke, became perversely wanton against God; yea, as far as they could, they profaned and abrogated the inviolable covenant of God, which had been ratified by the blood of Christ. The more earnest then ought we to be, to advance humbly and carefully in the course of our calling. We must now consider each sentence.
By naming the pollutions of the world, he shews that we roll in filth and are wholly polluted, until we renounce the world. By the knowledge of Christ he no doubt understands the gospel. He testifies that the design of it is, to deliver us from the defilements of the world, and to lead us far away from them. For the same reason he afterwards calls it the way of righteousness. He then alone makes a right progress in the gospel who faithfully learns Christ; and he truly knows Christ, who has been taught by him to put off the old man and to put on the new man, as Paul reminds us in Eph 4:22 (174)
(174) The end of this verse is not explained, but the words of the version, facta sunt illis postrema pejora prioribus , seem to mean, that their last pollutions would become worse to them than their former pollutions; and this is the rendering of Macknight. The sentence is commonly taken in the same sense as in Mat 12:45, but the words are somewhat different. — Ed.
21. By saying that having forsaken the commandment delivered unto them, they returned to their own pollutions, he intimates first, how inexcusable they were; and secondly, he reminds us that the doctrine of a holy and virtuous life, though common to all and indiscriminately belonging to all, is yet peculiarly taught to those whom God favors with the light of his gospel. But he declares that they who make themselves slaves again to the pollutions of the world fall away from the gospel. The faithful also do indeed sin; but as they allow not dominion to sin, they do not fall away from the grace of God, nor do they renounce the profession of sound doctrine which they have once embraced. For they are not to be deemed conquered, while they strenuously resist the flesh and its lusts.
22. But it has happened unto them. As the example disturbs many, when men who had submitted to the obedience of Christ, rush headlong into vices without fear or shame, the Apostle, in order to remove the offense, says that this happens through their own fault, and that because they are pigs and dogs. It hence follows that no part of the sin can be ascribed to the gospel.
For this purpose he quotes two ancient proverbs, the first of which is found as the saying of Solomon in Pro 26:11. But what Peter meant is briefly this, that the gospel is a medicine which purges us by wholesome vomiting, but that there are many dogs who swallow again what they have vomited to their own ruin; and that the gospel is also a laver which cleanses all our uncleanness, but that there are many swine who, immediately after washing, roll themselves again in the mud. At the same time the godly are reminded to take heed to themselves, except they wish to be deemed dogs or swine.
2Pe 2:1. But there were false prophets- The false apostles, prophets, and teachers among the Christians, gave rise to the sects of the Ebionites, Cerinthians, Nicolaitans, Carpocratians, and Gnostics, of whom the primitive fathers have said so many dreadful things. They were not only exceedingly corrupt and vicious themselves, but great corrupters of others: they now began to shew themselves; but afterwards waxed worse and worse. Their character is drawn in this chapter in very livelycolours, and it was highly proper to guard the Christians against such pernicious men. As their heresies were foretold, such a disagreeable event would be the accomplishment of a prophesy, and thereby become an evidence of the truth of the apostolic doctrine. The clause who privily shall bring in, &c. may be rendered, who will privately or subtily introduce destructive heretics. The word Δεσποτην, rendered Lord, signifies a sovereign, or arbitrary monarch, and consequently, applied to Jesus Christ, is a high testimony of his Divinity. See Jude, 2Pe 2:4. Observe, these wicked men brought perdition upon themselves; it was not God who did it by his eternal and unconditional decrees, or by withholding effectual grace, or by making impossible conditions of acceptance:-no: it was their own fault alone; by their vices they brought upon themselves swift destruction. Again, from the text it appears, that those may perish, whom the Lord hath bought, or for whom Christ hath died. See Mat 13:21. Rom 14:15. 1Co 8:11. In this and the two following verses it would be better to read will than shall, where that word occurs; as the original will full as well bear to be translated will as shall.
2Pe 2:2. And many shall follow their pernicious ways, &c.- The absurd doctrines and wicked practices of professed Christians have done infinite harm, and often caused the enemies of religion to blaspheme. The Judaizers much infested the first Christians, and perverted many in the Churches of Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, and Crete. The Nicolaitans, Carpocratians, and Gnostics succeeded them, being exceedinglyimpious in their principles, and obscene in their lives; and they occasioned great scandal to the Christian name. As the Jews and Heathens took little pains to distinguish between Christians who did or did not live according to the rules of the gospel, hence mankind were imposed upon, and both the populace and governors greatly incensed against them. The church of Rome has succeeded them, and caused Jews and all manner of Infidels to speak evil of Christianity. It was highly proper that the apostles should forewarn the Christians of this event, that they might not give heed to licentious doctrines, nor be shocked when such things happened; but be the more confirmed in the faith, when the accomplishment so exactly answered to the prediction.
2Pe 2:3. With feigned words, &c.- The phrase, πλαστοις λογοις, means, words formed to deceive; smooth and artful speeches, such as covetous merchants or unfair traders make use of, to put off bad goods. "They will make merchandize of you; use you like cattle or slaves brought to market to be sold." Judas sold his Master for what the Jews would give him: false teachers sell their doctrine for what they can get by it; so did the Gnostics, &c. in the first ages; so have all false teachers done in all ages. But, above all, the church of Rome, with the smooth and plausible words of unity, uniformity, a catholic church, universality, antiquity, and the like, has traded in all kinds of merchandise; and, among other things, in the souls ofmen: hence they are called the merchants of the earth: Rev 18:11; Rev 18:24. The character of the Bishops of Rome has answered much more exactly to this prediction of St. Peter, than to that character which they have assumed of the successor's of St. Peter, and the vicars of Christ upon earth. Whose judgment now of a long time, is rendered much better by Heylin; But their condemnation long since resolved or threatened. In Jude, 2Pe 2:4 they are spoken of as persons who had been described of old as liable to, or deserving this condemnation: see Deu 32:35. Mr. Blackwall observes, that the latter part of this verse contains a most beautiful figure, representing the vengeance which shall destroy such incorrigible sinners, as an angel of judgment pursuing them upon the wing; continually approaching nearer and nearer, and, in the mean time, keeping a watchful eye upon them that he may at length discharge an unerring blow.
2Pe 2:4. For if God spared not the angels- Some think the sense is suspended till we come to 2Pe 2:9 and the reddition to be looked for there; that is, If God spared not the angels who sinned, &c. the Lord also knoweth how to deliver the godly, &c. This may possibly be the connection; or, if the words ει γαρ are taken affirmatively for since-inasmuch as-there will be no occasion for a reddition afterwards. From this verse to the end of 2Pe 2:8 are contained three remarkable instances of divine judgments formerly inflicted upon transgressors; which are mentioned by the apostle here in confirmation of what he denounces against those heretics who then infested the Christian churches. The literal translation of the latter clause of this verse is; But confining them in Tartarus, in chains of darkness, he hath delivered them to be reserved unto judgment. The word Ταρταρουν, in St. Peter, is the same as Ριπτειν ες Ταρταρον, to throw into Tartarus, used by Homer; only rectifying the poet's mistake of Tartarus being in the bowels of the earth; and recurring to the true sense of the word, namely, the thick darkness that bounds this created system; which, when applied to spirits, must be interpreted spiritually. And thus the word ταρταρωσας will import, that God cast the apostate angels out of his presence into that blackness of darkness, (Jud 1:13.) where they will be for ever excluded from the glorious light of his countenance. See Parkhurst on the word Ταρταροω .
2Pe 2:5. Spared not the old world,- This is put by a metonymy for the persons who lived before the flood, and perished in it; by way of opposition to the new world, or to mankind restored after that spreading desolation. Bishop Pearson would render the next clause, Noah, the eighth preacher of righteousness, but it seems very difficult, if not impossible, to make out that Noah was the eighth preacher. The Bishop adds, that if we are not disposed so to translate, it may be understood as denoting, not the order in which Noah was ranked, but merely the number of persons who were with him: Noah, with seven others; or Noah, one of the eight. And as this is true, so the calling him theeighth, in this sense, may be illustrated by authorities taken from several Greek writers. Heylin reads it, and preserved only eight persons, whereof the principal was Noah. God made more account of one righteous family, than of a whole generation of wicked persons. How could the false teachers and their wicked disciples hope to escape, when neither strength nor multitudes could defend the ungodly of former ages?-Or what need was there for the faithful to be terrified, when they were under the protection of that God, who had formerly delivered the righteous, how weak or few soever?
2Pe 2:6. And turning the cities, &c.- Strabo says, that all the ground thereabouts, was τεφρωδη, reduced to ashes or cinders. Condemned is here put for punishment, which commonly follows condemnation, and is no more than a carrying of the sentence into execution. Some read this, condemned them to a total destruction. Doddridge renders the verse, And he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with destruction, reducing them to ashes, &c.
2Pe 2:7. And delivered just Lot- And rescued righteous Lot, &c.
2Pe 2:8. Vexed his righteous soul- The word 'Εβασανιζεν signifies the torment of the rack. It is here used as a strong figure whereby to express the unspeakable grief and anguish of mind of the righteous, at the overspreading wickedness of the times and places where they live; especially the debauchery of bad men, their open profaneness, and their rage against the just. Grotius takes notice, that after Lot parted from Abraham, he lived sixteen years in Sodom;-a long time to abide in the most outrageously wicked city in the world, and not be tainted with their vices.
2Pe 2:9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver, &c.- We have already taken notice, that some have thought the sense is suspended from 2Pe 2:4 to this verse. This then would be the connection, "If God spared not the angels that sinned,-nor the old world, nor the wicked inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah; and if, on the other hand, he saved the holy angels, and also Noah and Lot who were righteous men; then the Lord knoweth how to deliver, &c." Dr. Heylin, beginning each of the verses foregoing with Since-Since God did not spare, begins the present verse: It appears from these instances, that the Lord will deliver, &c. From the distinction which God hath already made in many cases between the righteous and the wicked, the apostle infers a righteous judgment to come, or a state of universal and exact retribution.
2Pe 2:10. But chiefly them that walk after the flesh- The Lord knoweth how to keep all the wicked unto the day of judgment, to be then punished: but (though none oftheunrighteousshallescapeunpunished,)he will more especially punish those who are debauched, &c. In 2Pe 2:1 the prophesy is mentioned concerning the rise of false teachers in the Christian church: that prophesyhad been delivered some time before by our Lord and his apostles. See chap. 2Pe 3:2-3. Mat 24:24. Now from this and the following verses it appears, that some of these false teachers began to rise up and fulfil the prophesy;for here is a description of persons who now existed. What is here called flesh, is by St. Jude, 2Pe 2:7 called other, or strange flesh: by which may be meant all the foul and unnatural crimes of uncleanness. It appears abundantly from Josephus and other writers, that the Jews despised dominion, and spoke evil of all the dignities or magistrates, but those of their own nation; - notions which the Judaizing teachers were very apt to infuse. From which it seems most probable, that the word κυριοτητος, both here, and in Jud 1:8 is used in its proper sense for dominion or government; and that the word Δοξας, which follows, is by a metonymy put for the persons, as it is in other places. So that the meaning seems to be, "They despised dominion or government, as thinking themselves in all, respects sui juris, or not subject thereto, but at liberty to indulge their vicious appetites: as a consequence of which, they speak evil of magistrates, who restrain them by laws, which threaten to punish such immoralities as break in upon civil order. Whereas the good angels pay a regard to the divine order and regulation appointed among themselves, and use no indecent expressions towards the evil angels; not even when they see reason to oppose them." So that what is here said of the angels, is spoken by way of comparison, and brought in only for illustration.
2Pe 2:11. Whereas angels- It is a rule of interpretation, that the plainer and larger account of any thing should be taken, to explain that which is more brief and obscure. Accordingly, Jude, 2Pe 2:9 ought to be consulted in order to interpret this text. For, havingcondemnedsomewhopretendedto be Christians, for despising dominion, and railing against dignities, as St. Peter does in the preceding verse, he adds, Whereas, when Michael the archangel, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he dared not to bring against him a railing accusation; but said, The Lord rebuke thee: and as what follows in Jude agrees with what follows here, 2Pe 2:12 there can be no doubt of their treating of the same thing. This therefore seems to be the connection: "If the holy angels, who are greater in strength and power than the fallen angels, dare not allow themselvesto rail against them, when they justly reprove and condemn their wicked actions, but behave with the greatest modesty and decency; how unjust is it, that men, who are possessed of no power or authority, should allow themselves such a liberty of railing against princes and magistrates, who are exalted to power and dignity, and are the ministers of God set over men for the common good?"-See Jud 1:9.
2Pe 2:12. But these, as natural brute beasts,- But these, as animals, by nature void of reason, born for capture and destruction, railing against things in which they are ignorant, shall be utterly corrupted [or perish] in their own corruption. Benson. Dr. Whitby would render it, But these are as animals void of reason, &c. Indeed it is evident, that it must be explained as a general assertion relating to some violence of temper; as no sin of the tongue (which is immediately afterwards spoken of) could be the resemblance of a brute. It may refer to their running headlong into extremedanger,towhich their licentious manner of speech, especially when attacking the characters of governors, might very naturally expose them. See Jude, 2Pe 2:10. The word φθοραν, corruption, is twice used in this verse: in the first place, for a natural corruption, or destruction: in the last for moral corruption, or vice. Their moral corruption, if persisted in, would bring on their natural corruption; or, in other words, vice would lead them to misery and ruin, They were like brute animals in being governed by sense and appetite; and, like them, they would fall into a snare. They were like brutes, and were, in respect to the present life, to perish like brutes.
2Pe 2:13. As they that count it pleasure to riot, &c.- Some understand St. Peter as intimating, that they lived in riot and luxury every day. Others suppose the meaning to be, that they took pleasure in that riot, which "endureth only for a day, or for a short season." The apostle seems to allude to the proverbial saying, 1Th 5:7. They that are drunken, are drunken in the night: whereas these wicked Christians had cast off all shame, and were so abandoned, as to practise their vices in the open daylight. Isa 3:9. They are called spots and blemishes, in allusion to a spot upon a garment, or a blemish in the human body. These words are applied to moral stains or blemishes. See Deu 32:5 and 1Pe 1:19.
2Pe 2:14. Having eyes full of adultery,- There is a prodigious strength in the original; it properly signifies their having an adulteress continually before their eyes;-having eyes full of an adulteress. Instead of cannot cease from sin, the original should be rendered, and that cease not from sin: if they could not have ceased from sin, it would have been no crime in them; but they were men of most insatiable desires, and in their eyes one might have read the wickedness of their hearts. In this sentence the apostle represents them as wicked in their own practice; in the next, as laying baits for unstable souls. He paints them in lively colours, and gives all their remarkable features, that true Christians might easily know and carefully avoid them. See on 2Pe 2:18 ch. 2Pe 3:16 and the note on Jam 1:14. As the word πλεονεξιαις, rendered covetous practices, is in the plural number, Wolfius and others would understand thereby every immoderate desire, whether of riches or sensual pleasures. So understood, it will connect with what goes before and what follows: for in what goes before, they are charged with debauchery of heart and life; and, in what follows, with covetous practices. Cursed children, or children of a curse, means exposed to a curse, as being vicious themselves, and endeavouring to ensnare others into vice. See Mat 25:41. 1Pe 1:14 and Longinus on the Sublime, sect. 4: ad fin.
2Pe 2:15. Which have forsaken the right way,- It is called the way of righteousness, 2Pe 2:21 which leads to happiness; but turning aside to error and vice, is wandering out of the way into forbidden paths, which lead to misery and destruction. Perhaps the apostle here alluded to Num 22:32 when the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, Thy way is perverse before me. The wages of unrighteousness are called the rewards of divination, Num 22:7 namely, the riches and honour which he sought by wicked methods. When God would not allow him by the Spirit of prophesy to curse Israel, he gave Balak the most diabolical advice; namely, that by the beautiful Midianitish women he should tempt the Israelites, first to debauchery and then to idolatry, as the most likely way to expose them to a curse. Jude, 2Pe 2:12. Rev 2:14. Now as Balaam, through covetousness, corrupted the people of Israel, and thereby exposed them to the judgment of God, so did those false teachers, through covetousness, corrupt the Christians, giving them liberty to indulge the lusts of the flesh; and thereby exposed them to the righteous judgment of God.
2Pe 2:16. The dumb ass speaking, &c.- When Balaam laid aside his reason, and acted like a brute, then the brute animal, the ass on which he rode, υποζυγιον, though naturally dumb, was, by the miraculous power of God, endued with a voice, like that of a man, to rebuke the madness of his master. The madness of the prophet, signifies, his mad attempt to oppose the divine will. The Jerusalem Targum and Ben Uzziel, on Num 22:30 introduce the ass saying to Balaam, "Woe unto thee, Balaam! thou art mad!" His madness was voluntary, and consequently criminal; and all wickedness will in the end, according to the degree and aggravation of it, appear to be madness; for in every act of wickedness, men so far oppose the will of God. See on Num 22:28.
2Pe 2:17. These are wells without water, &c.- When a thirsty person goes to a fountain to drink, and finds it dried up, and there is nothing but an empty pit, he is greatly disappointed. These false teachers pretended to be fountains of deeper knowledge and greater purity than any others; but when a man came thirsting after truthandrighteousness,howgreat must be his disappointment when he found nothing but emptiness and vanity! In this comparison is pointed out their ostentation and hypocrisy: they made a show of something profitable and refreshing; but it was only a mere show. They were altogether empty and unprofitable; all appearance, but no reality. They made great pretences to extraordinary holiness, but were very wicked. Theyinvited men to come and drinkat the inexhaustible fountain of their knowledge, but not one drop of the water of life could be found there. 2Ti 3:5. Again, he compares them to light or small clouds, carried about with a whirlwind: so the Arabs compare persons who put on the appearance of virtue, when yet they are destitute of all goodness, to a light cloud, which makes a show of rain, and afterwards vanishes. When clouds arise in a dry and thirsty land, they give men hopes of refreshing showers; but when the promising appearance ends in a tempest, it proves hurtful, and destroys the fruits of the earth: in like manner these false teachers promised to be fruitful clouds, and to refresh men with their uncommon knowledge and piety; but they were only empty and delusive promises, and ended in the harm of such as regarded them. In this comparison the apostle might probably intend to denote their levity and inconstancy, as well as their hypocrisy. They were carried about with every wind of doctrine: they were dark as a mist, light as a cloud, empty as a thin vapour; shadow without substance; pernicious, instead of being profitable and useful. The mist of darkness, means the thickest and most horrible darkness. The allusion here seems to be to a most dark and dismal prison or dungeon. They were like dark clouds, and they were to be punished in extreme darkness: they endeavoured to spread darkness over the minds of others, and darkness was to be their portion. See 2Pe 2:4 and Jude, 2Pe 2:6; 2Pe 2:13.
2Pe 2:18. For when they speak great swelling words- For, while they utter high swelling words of vanity, they, by the lusts of the flesh, lay a bait for those who had really escaped from them that live in error. See Jude, 2Pe 2:16. By swelling words of vanity, we are to understand the most vain and boasting, proud and high sounding words. It is observed, that here, and in many other places, these heretical teachers are represented as seducing their followers, not by the power of miracles, but by the art of address. By their artifices they laid a bait for those, who, by embracing the Christian religion, had been reformed from idolatry and vice, not almost, or a little, but really, truly, and experimentally. See 2Pe 2:20. 1Pe 4:3-4. These false teachers boasted that they delivered men from error and vice; whereas theyseduced into them, those who had escaped from the idolatry and wickedness of the unbelieving world.
2Pe 2:19. While they promise them liberty,- Nothing is more sweet or desirable than liberty; and therefore in order to allure men to become their disciples, they promised them liberty: by which they meant licentiousness, or a liberty to gratify their lusts, and to do any thing, whatever they pleased, without any fear of an invisible Governor, and a future punishment. That, as they pretended, was the true Christian liberty: God saw no sin in those who understood and believed aright. If they had true knowledge, or right faith, they were free to do any thing; they were restrained by no laws of marriage; the civil magistrate had nothing to do with them; the fear of God was superstition and the greatest servitude. See Irenaeus, lib. 1. 100: 5. Thus they turned the grace of God into wantonness, and, promising liberty, were themselves the slaves of corruption. See Gal 5:13. 1Pe 2:16. Jude, 2Pe 2:4.
Heylin renders the last clause very well; For every one is a slave to that which subdues him. Benson's paraphrase is, "For by whatever a man is conquered, to that he may very properly be called a bond-slave."
2Pe 2:20. For if after they have escaped, &c.- For inasmuch as having escaped. See on 2Pe 2:4. The pollutions of the world, were idolatry, superstition, and vice. By the world we may understand here the unbelieving and wicked world; and more especiallythe idolatrous Gentiles. Μιασματα, pollutions, is not found elsewhere in the New Testament. It was used by the ancient physicians for the pestilential infection in the plague, which spreads secretly and insensibly, and affects many. Nothing pollutes or infects the minds of men like vice and wickedness: the world, or multitude, being generally infected, is apt to infect others. The knowledge of Jesus Christ, here implies not only knowledge in the Christian religion, in a general sense, but in Christian experience and practice. They who live in vice, do not know Christ; but by the true knowledge of Christ men are freed from vice. Joh 8:36. The Christian religion is, through divine grace, of a purifying nature: ch. 2Pe 1:4. Joh 15:2-3. The word ευπλακεντες, rendered entangled, signifies taken in a toil, or snare; see Pro 28:18 in the LXX. and 2Ti 2:4. Through a pretence of Christian liberty, they were again entangled in the vices of the heathen world. In the word overcome, there is a reference to what is said, 2Pe 2:19. St. Peter, in the last clause, is not speaking of the false teachers alone, but of those Christians also who were seduced by them; and in this verse, compared with 2Pe 2:18; 2Pe 2:21-22. Eze 33:12; Eze 33:33 and many other texts of scripture, it is plainly supposed to be a possible thing for true believers, or those who have been once regenerated and purified, totally and finally to fall away: so far is it from being true, "that God sees no sin in believers;" that, if they fall away, they will be involved in greater guilt, and exposed to a severer punishment than the ignorant or unbelieving.
2Pe 2:21. It had been better for them not to have known, &c.- By the word better, is meant the lesser evil: which, when two evils are compared together, is accounted the greatest good. Righteousness in this place does not stand for justice alone, but comprehends all the graces and virtues of the Christian life. See 1Pe 2:24. The two evils here compared are, their having remained idolatrous Heathens, in ignorance, infidelity, and vice; and their having once been enlightened and regenerated by the Spirit of God, and afterwards relapsing into the greatest and most scandalous vices. The latter is reckoned the greater evil, and therefore it is said, that they had better have continued in their former state. The commandment was called holy, because the observation of it rendered men holy, through divine grace, or freed them from the pollutions of the world. The holy commandment is that great commandment which runs through the whole gospel, and which insists upon holiness of heart and life as absolutely necessary to everlasting salvation: for the gospel is not a collection of unconditional promises; it contains commandments also, which, through almighty grace, must be obeyed by all those who would inherit the promises.
2Pe 2:22. But it is happened unto them- The connection is, "It had been far better for them not to have done so:-but they have relapsed into their old vices; and that is agreeable to some ancient proverbs; nothing new, or unheard of, hath happened unto them." The ancients used to sum up their wisest and most useful observations in short, nervous, and expressive proverbs; which are more easily understood, and better remembered, than long, laboured discourses. The two following proverbs teach us, that a well-regulated life can proceed from nothing but constant watchfulness, through grace, over our tempers and actions, and a steady regard to the divine law. The former of these is found, Pro 26:11 the latter is said to have been also a common proverb among the ancients. Gataker takes these two proverbs to have a poetical turn, and to have been a distich of Iambics. Horace has a plain reference to both these proverbs, lib. 1: Ephesians 2 line 26 where he is speaking of the travels of Ulysses, and says, "If he had been conquered by the charms of Circe,
Vixisset canis immundus, vel amica luto sus.
He had lived like an impure dog, or a sow that is fond of the mire." Surely these proverbs will not be thought coarse or unpolite in the holy apostle, when some of the most elegant writers of classic antiquity have made use of, or referred to them
Inferences.-There is no church so pure, but some false members, and even false teachers, may insinuate themselves into it; yet it is our duty to watch and pray, that the churches to which we respectively belong, may be guarded against their pernicious insinuations, and especially against the destructive heresies of those who deny the Lord who bought them. As we regard the edification of the church, and the salvation of our own precious and immortal souls, let us guard against whatever may justly deserve such an imputation as this. Woe be to those teachers who are actuated with a covetous spirit, who teach things which they ought not for the sake of filthy lucre, and make merchandise of the souls of their hearers! How swiftly does their damnation approach, though they perceive not the gradations by which it advances; and with what irresistible terror will it at length overwhelm them!
That our hearts may be preserved under an awful impression of the Divine judgments, let us often meditate on those displays of them of which the scripture informs us. And let us, in particular, reflect on the fall of the apostate angels, who were precipitated from heaven, and reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day; and while we contemplate this awful dispensation, let us adore that grace and compassion which laid hold on apostate man, and provided an all-sufficient Saviour for him. Let us call to remembrance the dissolution of the old world by a deluge of water, and the tremendous destruction of the cities of the plain by fire from heaven; and let us fear Him, who can at pleasure break open the fountains of the great deep, and open the windows of heaven, and emit from these his various magazines, deluges of water, or torrents of burning sulphur, to execute his vengeance. Who can flee from his pursuing hand? or who can be secure and happy but under his almighty protection? Yet awful as the terrors of his indignation are, his eyes are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry.-What a noble support and encouragement may it therefore be to the truly pious, who from day to day are vexing their righteous souls at the ungodly deeds of the wicked among whom they dwell, to reflect on the deliverance of Noah, and of Lot, from that general destruction with which they were surrounded. A more perfect and complete deliverance will be at length accomplished for all the faithful servants of God, and there will be no possibility of doubting any more his ability, or his willingness, to rescue them from every evil; for he will make the day of his vengeance on his enemies, a day of complete and everlasting salvation to his saints. And the Lord grant that we may all find mercy of the Lord in that important day.
Again. It is matter of grievous lamentation, that such wretches as those who are described in this chapter, should be any-where found in the Christian church. Let us be the less surprised, if any such spots and blemishes are discovered among us, on whom the ends of the world are come; but let the licentious character, here drawn, be noted with a just abhorrence, that if any such persons are found, they may with becoming indignation be put away. Many there are who seem to be as irrational and ravenous as brute beasts, and are far more pernicious to society than the race of savage or poisonous animals. They are indeed children of a curse, and they will inherit the curse, who thus contrive to make their lives one scene of iniquity; whose eyes, and lips, declare more wickedness in their hearts than they have power to execute. But it should be remembered, they are accountable to God, not only for all they do, but all they desire and wish to do; and they are incessantly aggravating that terrible account. These disciples of Balaam will surely receive his reward; those dark clouds will quickly, if they continue thus to obscure with their crimes the horizon in which they ought to shine as stars, be doomed to blackness of darkness for ever. May persons of such a character, how specious soever the form which they wear, be universally detected and disgraced; may none of their swelling words of vanity entice and ensnare those who appear just escaping from the delusions of error and the fetters of vice; and may none permit themselves to be seduced by promises of liberty from such mean and miserable slaves of corruption!
Finally, let us learn, by the awful conclusion of this chapter, to guard against all temptations to apostasy; may we never, after having long escaped the pollutions of the world, be entangled again, and overcome by them! Those expressive similes, taken from such loathsome and detestable animals, would not be sufficient to paint out the degree, in which we should ourselves be loathsome and odious, in the sight of that God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and cannot look upon evil (Hab 1:13.). May we therefore, with the righteous, hold on our way; and, taking care to preserve the cleanness of our hands and hearts, may we daily wax stronger and stronger, (Job 17:9.) and shine with an increasing lustre! for the path of the just should be as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. (Pro 4:18.)
REFLECTIONS.-1st, False teachers in the church have ever been more dangerous and destructive than all the persecutions of the enemies without. Against those the apostle warns the people.
1. He describes them. But there were false prophets also among the people of Israel of old, even as there shall or will be false teachers among you, who privily shall or will bring in damnable heresies, craftily perverting the word of God, and adulterating the doctrines of the gospel; even denying the Lord that bought them, disowning him as over all, God blessed for ever, or otherwise impugning his merit, dignity, and offices; as the others denied him who redeemed them from Egypt with his mighty hand, and by a long succession of miracles repeatedly delivered them out of the hands of their enemies, Deu 32:6 yet they both doctrinally and practically renounced and disowned him: and, as the dreadful consequence of their disobedience, these latter apostates, like the former, bring upon themselves swift destruction, which shall quickly come upon them to the uttermost. And many shall follow their pernicious ways, seduced by their cunning and ill examples; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of, and blasphemed by the enemies of the Christian name: and through covetousness shall or will they with feigned words make merchandize of you, influenced by the detestable principles of avarice, and, amidst all their specious professions, making religion their trade, and designing wholly their secular advantage.-Note; They who enter the ministry for gain, must needs be deceivers, and perish in their wickedness.
2. He foretels their destruction. Whose judgment, now of a long time suspended, yet lingereth not; and their damnation slumbereth not, but soon shall it terribly overtake them in the midst of their security and sensuality. Note; Vengeance against sinners is often slow, but always sure. Three awful instances are here produced of God's judgments.
(1.) The fallen angels. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, though creatures of a higher rank than men; and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment at the great day: much less will he spare these obstinate offenders.
(2.) The antediluvian world. And God spared not the old world, when abandoned to wickedness; but saved Noah, the eighth person, with whom only seven more escaped in the ark, a preacher of righteousness, both of the righteousness of faith, and that moral righteousness to which he exhorted the men of his generation, calling them to repent of their iniquities: and, when they continued obstinate against his warnings, God issued forth the dread decree, opening the windows of heaven, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, and swallowing them up in the mighty waters. If therefore he executed such vengeance upon them, let not other incorrigible sinners think at present to escape.
(3.) The destruction of Sodom. And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, he condemned them with an overthrow, raining fire and brimstone upon them; making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly, that, taking warning by their fearful punishment, they may avoid or repent of their crimes before it be too late; otherwise, the same wrath shall still seize upon the ungodly and the sinner.
3. For the encouragement of the faithful, he mentions the wonderful escape of Lot from the flames. When God destroyed the cities where he dwelt, he delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, grieved for the dishonour brought thereby upon God, and for the ruin which must infallibly descend upon their devoted heads: for that righteous man, dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds, enduring the most painful reflections, in the view of their wickedness, and the vengeance which hung over them. The Lord knoweth, as is evident by this instance, how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and he will do it in his own good time; and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished, who, though they should escape any signal stroke of divine vengeance in this life, are reserved unto the last dreadful day, when their iniquities shall receive their just reward.
2nd, The apostle,
1. At large describes the seducing teachers, whose practices were similar to those of the vilest of those ungodly workers of former times, and who with them must perish. But chiefly them will God reserve unto judgment, that walk after the flesh, in the lust of uncleanness, like the men of Sodom; and despise government, seditious, refractory, unwilling to submit to any restraint: presumptuous are they, and self-willed; they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities, reviling both the ministers and apostles of Christ, and the civil magistrates set over them for the restraint of evildoers. Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might than every earthly potentate, yet bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord, reviling their persons and government. But these, despisers of God's ordinances, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed by men for whose use they were created, speak evil of the things that they understand not, reviling persons and things civil and religious, of whose excellence they have not the least knowledge; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption, abandoned to their wicked hearts, and left to their ruin: and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day-time, daring and impudent in sin, not even waiting for the night to cover their shame. Spots they are, and blemishes, a reproach to the name of Christian which they presume to bear; sporting themselves with their own deceivings, while they feast with you; they live in the indulgence of their sins, while they outwardly appear to maintain communion with you; having eyes full of adultery, whose wanton looks bespeak the impurity of their hearts; and that cannot cease from sin, enslaved by their sensual appetites, and insatiate in the indulgence of them; beguiling unstable souls, as Satan beguiled Eve through his subtilty, and tempting them to comply with their corrupt desires. An heart they have, exercised with covetous practices, all their contrivances and pursuits being to amass wealth: cursed children, under the wrath of a holy God; which have spoken the right way of salvation by Jesus Christ, and are gone astray from the paths of truth and holiness, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, and, notwithstanding his specious professions to Balak's messengers, really coveted the king of Moab's offers; but was rebuked for his iniquity in a very signal manner; the dumb ass, on which he rode, speaking with man's voice, by miraculous power, forbad the madness of the prophet, in presuming to go, after the warnings to the contrary which he had received, or to attempt the cursing of that people whom the Lord had blessed. These are wells without water, pretending to piety, but disappointing those who, like the thirsty traveller, come to them for the water of life; clouds that are carried with a tempest, that promise rain, but prove noxious vapours: to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever, going from the darkness of sin and error to the horrible and eternal darkness of hell. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, pretending to high flights of science, and boasting their vast attainments, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, by temptations suited to the corrupt inclinations of their hearers, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error-who had experienced a real reformation and renovation of heart, but now relapse into their former abominations. While they promise them liberty, a carnal liberty to do as they list, without restraint, they themselves are the servants of corruption, the veriest slaves in nature to base and vile affections: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage; and no bondage is so dreadful as that of sin and Satan. Note; (1.) The sins of lewdness are the dreadful rocks, on which multitudes of unstable souls make shipwreck of the faith. (2.) They who have hearts set on their covetousness, are hardly turned away from their vile pursuits, though conscience, like the faithful monitor of Balaam, often startles and accuses them. (3.) None are so far escaped from the world, but they have need to watch and pray that they fall not into temptation. (4.) However speciously the snare may be laid, and whatever liberty we may promise ourselves in sin, we shall find the dire delusion to our cost, if we yield to temptation; and shall prove how fearful is the bondage of corruption.
2. He warns them, by all the dreadful consequences of apostacy, to beware of these seducers. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ-have embraced and received the gospel in its divine power and efficacy-they are again entangled therein and overcome, so as to become again slaves to their lusts and appetites, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning, and their state more guilty than when they lay before in utter darkness, ignorance, and error. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, or to have received Christ and his salvation, than, after they have known it,-have experimentally enjoyed it,-to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them, according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and, the sow, that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire. Note; None perish with such aggravated guilt, as those who were once cleansed from their guilt and renewed in grace, and afterwards fail in their course, and relapse finally into iniquity. Woeful will be the end of apostates.
