2 Peter 2:4

‘For if God did not spare not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;

The first example is the angels who sinned before the Flood (Genesis 6:1). They had followed ‘lascivious ways'. They ‘saw that the daughters of men were fair, and took all whom they chose' (Genesis 6:2). While, apart from the Flood, we are not told of their fate in Scripture, it is well documented in Jewish literature (see below). And it is confirmed in 1 Peter 3:19 (where they were disobedient in the days of Noah); Jude 1:6 (where it is the angels who did not keep to their proper sphere) and supported in Revelation 9:1.

These angels were cast down into Tartarus, which according to the Greeks was the worst place in Hell. The word is used to signify the worst possible fate,and to distinguish it from the place of the dead. And there in pits of darkness they were reserved for judgment. The words are figurative. Spirit beings could not be kept in physical pits, and it is questionable whether literal darkness affects them. The point is simply that they are safely restrained and away from the true light, and are awaiting judgment and destruction (just as the false teachers are).

It will be noted that in contrast with what follows there were no exceptions among these angels. All were doomed. In the same way there will be no exceptions among the false teachers. (An alternative possibility is to take the text as ‘chains of darkness', but the earlier manuscripts favour ‘pits' (Aleph, A, B)).

Note On The Angels In Pits of Darkness.

It is clear that these are the angels described as ‘sons of God' in Genesis 6:1 for a number of reasons.

Firstly because Peter appears to be listing his illustrations in Biblical order, thus

· Angels that were imprisoned because of their sin (2 Peter 2:4 compare Genesis 6:1). There is no other mention in Genesis of angels sinning. Note also in respect to this how it is emphasised that both the past destruction of the Flood and the coming destruction by fire will affect ‘the heavens' as well as the earth (2 Peter 3:5; 2 Peter 3:7).

· Noah and the Flood of water that destroyed the earth (2 Peter 2:5 compare Genesis 6:5 to Genesis 8:22). Note also in respect to this 2 Peter 3:5.

· Lot and the Destruction by fire of Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Peter 2:6 compare Genesis 18-19). Note also in respect to this 2 Peter 3:10; 2 Peter 3:10.

Thus three incidents in Genesis are given in order, and in Genesis there is only one reference to angels sinning.

Jude 1:6 describes God's dealings with these angels as follows, ‘and the angels who kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, He has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.'

Furthermore a comparison of 2 Peter and Jude makes it quite clear that 1). 2 Peter used Jude in constructing his own account. Or 2). Jude used 2 Peter in constructing his account. Or 3). Both used a common source. There are too many coincidences of thought and grammar for it not to be so.

But whichever it may be we must now ask, what was the source from which this extra information was initially obtained? And Jude in fact gives us the clue. For he describes an incident from The Assumption of Moses (Jude 1:9) and cites words from the Book of Enoch (Jude 1:14). And both these books were examples of Jewish apocalyptic literature. What then can we learn from such Jewish apocalyptic literature? In fact the story of the fall of these angels and the story of Noah and the Flood are both commonly dealt with in this literature.

In the Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) we have the following description of the fall of these angels:

“And it came about, when the children of men had multiplied, that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children (6:1-3) --- And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in to them and to defile themselves with them (7:1). ---And again the Lord said to Raphael: 'Bind Azazel hand and foot, and  cast him into the darkness  (10:4) --- bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth,  till the day of their judgment  and of their consummation, till the judgment that is for ever and ever is consummated. In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire: and to the torment and  the prison in which they will be confined for ever. And whoever shall be condemned and destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together with them to the end of all generations. And destroy all the spirits of the reprobate and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind. (10:12-15) --- And  then will the whole earth be tilled in righteousness,  and will all be planted with trees and be full of blessing (10:18-19) ---. 'Enoch, you scribe of righteousness, go, declare to the Watchers of the heaven  who have left the high heaven, the holy eternal place, and have defiled themselves with women, and have done as the children of earth do, and have taken to themselves wives: "You have wrought great destruction on the earth, and you will have no peace nor forgiveness of sin, and inasmuch as they delight themselves in their children, the murder of their beloved ones shall they see, and over the destruction of their children shall they lament, and will make supplication unto eternity, but mercy and peace shall you not attain.” (12:4-6).

It will be noted that in comparison with Peter we have the ‘spirits in prison' (3:19), the ‘committing to pits of darkness to be reserved to judgment' (2:5) and ‘the new earth in which dwells righteousness' (3:13), and in comparison with Jude we have ‘the angels who left their first principality' and the ‘everlasting bonds' (Jude 1:6). Furthermore in 60:8 we have mention of ‘the seventh from Adam' (Jude 1:14).

The same incidents are described more briefly in Jubilees 4:15; 5:1ff.; Testament of Reuben 5:6-7; Testament of Naphtali 3:5; Enoch 18; etc.

We have selected only a few extracts from the text, but the full text makes quite clear that we undoubtedly have reference here to the events described in Genesis 6:1.

End of note.