2 Peter 2:13

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 of those ‘emphatic and vehement repetitions of words' which are recognised as distinctive of this Epistle (see Humphry, ut sup.). It is observed that the phrase ‘wages of unrighteousness' is peculiar to Peter (here, in 2 Peter 2:15, and in his speech in Acts 1:18).

reckoning luxurious living in the day a pleasure. It is doubtful whether the first noun here can mean altogether so much as either the ‘riot' of the A. V. or the ‘revel' of the R. V. It occurs once again in the N. T., viz. in Luke 7:25, where it is translated ‘live delicately.' The cognate verb, too, is translated ‘live in pleasure' in James 5:5. The term denotes luxurious or delicate living. The phrase ‘in the day' is understood by some (Beza, the Dutch and Italian Versions, etc.) to mean daily. But that is erroneous. Others (the Vulgate, Schott, Huther, Calvin, Alford, etc.) take it to mean for a day, or the temporal, transient, so that the idea would be ‘reckoning the luxurious living which lasts but the little day of man's life a pleasure.' The best interpretation, however, makes the phrase equivalent to in the daytime (Hofmann, etc.). The sentence then exhibits these men as pressing day and night alike into the service of luxurious delights. It is also in harmony with Peter's own statement in Acts 2:15 on the scandalous profligacy which would be implied in men becoming drunken by ‘the third hour of the day.' Compare also Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians 5:7. The train of participles, nouns, and adjectives which begins here and goes on through the next verse may be connected either with what precedes (so Huther and the majority) or with what follows (so Hofmann, etc.). In the former case they bring out the shamelessness of the ‘unrighteousness' or ‘wrongdoing' for which they are to receive their wares. In the latter case they begin a new sentence which finds its verb in the ‘have forsaken' of 2 Peter 2:15, and runs on to the end of 2 Peter 2:16. They form a ‘series, or rather torrent, of short exclamatory clauses' (Lillie), disclosing the dark elements of the reprobate character which makes such a judgment as has been asserted inevitable.

spots and blemishes. The former term occurs again only in Ephesians 5:27, although another form of the same is found in Jude 1:12. The verb, too, occurs in the ‘spotted' of Jude 1:23 and the ‘defile' of James 3:6. The latter term, which means properly blame, and then blemish, occurs only here. Its verb is found in 2 Corinthians 6:3; 2 Corinthians 8:20. We have the negatives of these two terms in the description of the lamb ‘without blemish and without spot' in 1 Peter 1:19.

sporting in their own deceits, while they feast with you. The ‘sporting,' as the A. V. gives it, is expressed by a compound verb connected with the noun rendered ‘luxurious living' above. It may be translated, therefore, luxuriating. There is a remarkable variation among ancient documents between two readings, differing from each other only by a single letter. One of these means ‘deceits,' as the A. V. gives it, or ‘deceivings' as it is put in the margin of the R. V.; the other means ‘love-feasts,' as it is given in the text of the R. V. In the latter case it is meant that these men pervert to their own advantage and enjoyment even the social meals, the agapa or ‘loves,' as they came to be called, which were the expression of Christian brotherhood. That abuses crept into this institution at a very early period, simple as in all probability it was, appears from 1 Corinthians 11:2. In the former case (and the balance on the whole is on that side) the idea is that they luxuriate in deceits by which they seek their base ends, for this purpose taking advantage even of opportunities unsuspectingly offered them of social intercourse and entertainment with the Christian brotherhood.