The second chapter of the Epistle stands entirely by itself. It is of so peculiar a character, that some have doubted whether it belonged originally to this Epistle, or could have been written by the same hand. It abounds in uncommon or entirely exceptional phrases, and is marked by a singularly bro... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:1. BUT THERE AROSE ALSO FALSE PROPHETS AMONG THE PEOPLE. Israel is obviously meant by ‘the people' here (comp. Romans 15:11; Jude 1:5, etc.). As in the former Epistle, therefore, so here Peter regards the N. T. Church as the Israel of God, and finds in what took place within the O. T. Isra... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:2. AND MANY SHALL FOLLOW THEIR WANTONNESSES. The A. V. gives ‘pernicious ways,' following a reading which is now given up. On the noun see on 1 Peter 4:3. The same strong term is used for _following,_ as in chap. 2 Peter 1:16. It denotes completeness or closeness of pursuit. Here again the... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:3. AND IN COVETOUSNESS BY FEIGNED SPEECHES THEY WILL MAKE MERCHANDISE OF YOU. The verb rendered ‘make merchandise of' occurs but once again in the N. T., viz. in James 4:13, where it is translated ‘buy and sell.' In later Classical Greek, and also in the Septuagint (comp. Proverbs 3:14), i... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:4. FOR IF GOD SPARED NOT ANGELS WHEN THEY SINNED. This rendering (which is adopted by the R. V.) comes nearer the original than that of the A. V. It is not merely that _those_ of the angels who did sin were not spared, but that even the class of angels as such were not spared _when_ sin en... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:5. AND SPARED NOT THE OLD WORLD, BUT PRESERVED NOAH, THE EIGHTH PERSON, A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, WHEN HE BROUGHT A FLOOD UPON THE WORLD OF THE UNGODLY. The second historical instance of the penal justice of God does not appear in the companion statement of Jude. On the other hand, Jude... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:6. AND TURNING THE CITIES OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH INTO ASHES, CONDEMNED THEM WITH AN OVERTHROW, HAYING MADE THEM A TYPE OF THOSE THAT SHOULD LIVE UNGODLY. The term used for the ‘overthrow' (=catastrophe) which constituted the punishment in this third historical instance is the one which is e... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:7. AND DELIVERED RIGHTEOUS LOT, BORE DISTRESSED BY THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE LAWLESS IN WANTONNESS. Here again we have some unusual words. The verb which is rendered ‘vexed' by the A. V., but which has the stronger sense of ‘sore distressed' (as the R. V. puts it), or ‘worn down,' occurs only o... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:8. FOR BY SIGHT AND HEARING THAT RIGHTEOUS MAN, DWELLING AMONG THEM FROM DAY TO DAY, TORTURED HIS RIGHTEOUS SOUL WITH THEIR UNLAWFUL DEEDS. A parenthetical explanation of how it was that Lot was ‘sore distressed.' The Vulgate, Erasmus, etc., strangely take the ‘sight and hearing' as defini... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:9. THE LORD KNOWETH HOW TO DELIVER THE GODLY OUT OF TEMPTATION, AND TO RESERVE THE UNRIGHTEOUS UNDER PUNISHMENT UNTO THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. The _knowledge_ which is here in view is the Divine type of knowledge, which means both the perception of the way and the possession of the ability. ‘Te... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:11. WHERE ANGELS, GREATER AS THEY ARE IN STRENGTH AND POWER, BRING NOT AGAINST THEM BEFORE THE LORD A RAILING JUDGMENT. The phrase ‘before the Lord' is omitted by some good authorities, and is bracketed by the most recent editors of the text. The ‘railing' is expressed by an adjective conn... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:12. BUT THESE, AS IRRATIONAL ANIMALS, BY NATURE BORN FOR CAPTURE AND DESTRUCTION. The string of epithets here is somewhat difficult to represent adequately. The latter phrase runs literally ‘born natural,' etc., and may convey the idea either that they are not born _spiritual_ creatures, o... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:13. BUFFERING WRONG AS THE WAGES OF WRONG-DOING. The reading represented by the ‘shall _receive'_ of the A. V,, is displaced by another, meaning ‘suffering wrong,' which has the support of the oldest documents, is accepted by the R. V. and the most recent critical editors, and gives us one... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:14. HAVING EYES FULL OF AN ADULTERESS. The noun rendered ‘adultery' both by the A. V. and by the R. V. means really an _adulteress._ The phrase ‘full of' also means, at least occasionally in the Classics, ‘engrossed by.' Thus the sense may be either _having eyes for nothing else but an adu... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:15. FORSAKING THE STRAIGHT WAY THEY WENT ASTRAY, HAVING FOLLOWED THE WAY OF BALAAM THE SON OF BOSOR, WHO LOVED THE WAGES OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS (or, _wrong-doing)._ The strong verb for a _following_ which amounts to close pursuit or imitation is used here again, as in chap. 2Pe 1:16, 2 Peter 2... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:16. BUT HE WAS REBUKED FOR HIS TRANSGRESSION. The phrase means literally, ‘but he had a rebuke for his transgression.' The word used here for ‘his' _may_ mean ‘his own,' and hence some suppose that it is emphatic here, the point being that he who was a prophet to others had himself to be r... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:17. THESE ARE SPRINGS WITHOUT WATER. The noun is the same as that used of Jacob's _well_ in John 4:6. It means, however, a spring-well or fountain. It is possible that the figure points to the _apostasy_ of the men ‘who bear the semblance of teachers, just as, for a little time, a place in... [ Continue Reading ]
The description of the parties destined to spring up within the Church, which has been partially interrupted by the summary of Balaam's case, is resumed in direct terms. New points are pressed with the utmost sharpness. These are the deceitfulness of what is offered by the false teachers, and their... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:18. FOR SPEAKING GREAT SWELLING THINGS OF VANITY. The writer proceeds now to justify what he has just said, either as to the doom of the false teachers, or as to their character as pretenders and deceivers. The verb used for ‘speaking' is one which occurs in the New Testament only in Acts... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:19. PROMISING THEM LIBERTY, THEY THEMSELVES BEING (all the while) BOND-SERVANTS OF CORRUPTION. The loud-sounding engagement to give ‘liberty,' a new liberty worthy of man, would be one of the ‘great swelling things of vanity,' one of the ‘baits' with which they would ply the unwary. The _k... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:20 _._ FOR IF, HAVING ESCAPED THE POLLUTIONS OF THE WORLD IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, BUT HAVING BEEN AGAIN ENTANGLED IN THESE, THEY ARE OVERCOME, THE LAST things HAVE BECOME TO THEM WORSE THAN THE first. To whom does this description apply? Some (_e.g._ Bengel,... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:21. FOR IT WERE BETTER FOR THEM NOT TO HAVE KNOWN THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, THAN, HAVING KNOWN IT, TO TURN BACK FROM THE HOLY COMMANDMENT DELIVERED TO THEM. The ‘better' here, as in 1 Peter 3:17 (see note there), means _more_ _to their advantage._ The ‘way of righteousness' is not quite th... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 2:22. THERE HAS HAPPENED UNTO THEM THAT OF THE TRUE PROVERB. Two proverbial sayings follow. As having the same import, however, they are dealt with as if they made but one. The term is the one which is applied to the Proverbs of Solomon by the Greek Version of the Old Testament. It means any... [ Continue Reading ]