FALSE PROPHETS; in allusion to the "more sure word of prophecy" spoken of in chap 2 Peter 1:19; as much as to say, I have indeed commended to you the study of the prophets; but beware of the false prophets, who will come, as in ancient times, under the guise of true prophets. THE PEOPLE; under the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WAY OF TRUTH; which the gospel reveals. SHALL BE EVIL SPOKEN OF; shall be brought into reproach and discredit by the ungodly lives of these false teachers and those who follow them.... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH FEIGNED WORDS; covering over their base ends with a fair show of godliness. MAKE MERCHANDISE; should treat them not as immortal beings for whom Christ died, but in the way in which they thought they could gain the most money out of them. SLUMBERETH NOT; is certainly and speedily coming. When... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF GOD SPARED NOT THE ANGELS; verses 2Pe 2:4-8 are all connected with verse 2 Peter 2:9, thus: "For if God spared not the angels-and spared not the old world-and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, condemned them-and delivered just Lot- _these examples show that_ the Lord knoweth,... [ Continue Reading ]
SAVED NOAH; GENESIS 7:1-24.... [ Continue Reading ]
SODOM AND GOMORRAH; GENESIS 19:16-25.... [ Continue Reading ]
When a professing Christian for worldly purposes becomes intimately connected with the wicked, he may expect them to be occasions of vexation and sorrow, if they do not prove the means of his ruin.... [ Continue Reading ]
Facts as well as the declarations of the Bible testify to the justice of God, and to the certainty that, though he may bear long with the wicked, yet if they continue in sin they will not go unpunished.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT CHIEFLY THEM; that is, but especially those of the unjust men just spoken of. DIGNITIES; such magistrates and persons in official or elevated stations as God requires should be treated with respect, and should be obeyed in all their lawful commands.... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAINST THEM; against the dignities that oppose them in the execution of God's commands. See Judges 1:9. Angels, and those who are in temper like them, will not rail even against the wicked; and those who do, show that they are wicked themselves.... [ Continue Reading ]
RIOT IN THE DAYTIME; openly and shamelessly, while common transgressors are content to riot in the night. Romans 13:13; 1 THESSALONIANS 5:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
CANNOT CEASE; not for want of natural power, but of disposition. Licentiousness and the love of money in professors of religion are decisive marks of hypocrisy, and show that those who live in these sins are heirs of destruction.... [ Continue Reading ]
BOSOR; answering to the Hebrew Beor. Numbers 22:5. WHO LOVED THE WAGES OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS; he desired permission to curse Israel that he might receive from Balak the promised reward. Numbers 22:1-41. So these false teachers have in view their own private gain, verse 2 Peter 2:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE ARE WELLS WITHOUT WATER; an apt description of these boastful false teachers who came under the guise of godly men, but who had no true goodness themselves, and could impart no profit to their followers. CLOUDS; empty and windy clouds, that promise rain only to disappoint the husbandmen. THE... [ Continue Reading ]
GREAT SWELLING WORDS OF VANITY; making, after the fashion of such men, large professions of their own light and knowledge, and large promises of good to others. THROUGH THE LUSTS OF THE FLESH-WANTONNESS; by turning the true doctrine of Christian liberty into licentiousness, and teaching men that th... [ Continue Reading ]
LIBERTY; false liberty, which gave license to fleshly lusts. See note to the preceding verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LATTER END IS WORSE WITH THEM THAN THE BEGINNING; professors of religion who go back again into sin, become worse in character and condition than they were before.... [ Continue Reading ]
Men may break off outward sins and profess religion without becoming holy. But they will be extremely apt to go back again; and when they do, they prove that they never had true religion, or were made "partakers of the divine nature." They never had a change of heart, or were "born of God.... [ Continue Reading ]