2 Peter 2:1-22
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways;a by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 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;
7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government.b Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against themc before the Lord.
12 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;
13 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;
14 Having eyes full of adultery,d and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were cleane escaped from them who live in error.
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
20 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.
21 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.
22 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.
The program of prophecy has gradually become clearer with added revelation. The preexile prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah know only one advent. In the post-exile prophets the second advent is distinguished from the first, and Israel's dispersion comes in between. Ezekiel, however, sees still further, and predicts an end to the Messianic kingdom. This is also the farthest range of Peter in his epistles and John in the Unveiling. But Paul goes far beyond, and sees a conclusion to the post-Messianic eon, when kingly government is brought to an end and the Son abdicates because all need for rule has disappeared. Then God becomes All in all. This is the climax of prophecy. It explains its purpose and solves its enigmas.
4 The "gloomy caverns" of Tartarus are distinct from the unseen, from gehenna, and from the lake of fire. They are the temporary dungeon of spirits.
4 Peter recounts the ancient judgments of God with a view to establishing the certainty of the impending judgments of the end time. That, also, will be a judgment on spirit beings, for Satan will be bound. It will be visited on a world which has reverted to the wickedness which drew down the deluge, and which is guilty of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. Then, too, the righteous shall be delivered, as Lot out of Sodom, and as Noah through the flood.
10 No one acquainted with the world as it is, and especially the tendency of the times, but will conclude that Peter's epistles will have a very special fulfillment in the dreadful days that are to come. Even now, the revolt against authority has overthrown vast empires, and undermines all established government. Millions "despise dominion", and are drifting toward a worse despotism than any the world has ever seen. But this is most evident in the sphere of religion, The sovereignty of God is unknown and unrecognized. Whole nations defy the Deity and seek to deny His existence. And this leads to the second great sin of the end time. Loosed from the restraints of even formal religion, the world is plunging into the defilements of the flesh. The marriage bond is slack or slighted altogether. Divorces are becoming more and more frequent. The world is rapidly ripening for the time when these sins will have the sanction of religion and the worship of the wild beast will be encouraged by the gratification of the lowest lusts of the flesh.
15 The story of Balaam (Num. 22-25) shows the fearful lengths to which men will go for reward, even in the face of divine displeasure. They are lower than the brute beasts in their rejection of God's revealed will, if it leads to preferment or pecuniary advantage.
17 This paragraph brings before us some of the same characters which are found in the sixth and tenth Chapter s of Hebrews. There were and will be apostates among the Circumcision who will go great lengths in following the Messiah, even as Judas did, yet finally they fall away and repudiate their profession. Our Lord had many such followers who left Him. Recognition of the truth concerning Christ may prevail with men for a time so as to compel separation from defilements that still allure. The apostle is not contemplating such as have become participants of the divine nature, and so flee the corruption that is in the world by lust; but those whose inner malady is not healed, who have reformed under the influence of truth, and who are still curs and swine.