_HE FORETELLETH THEM OF FALSE TEACHERS, SHEWING THE IMPIETY AND PUNISHMENT BOTH OF THEM AND THEIR FOLLOWERS; FROM WHICH THE GODLY SHALL BE DELIVERED, AS LOT WAS OUT OF SODOM: AND MORE FULLY DESCRIBETH THE MANNERS OF THESE PROFANE AND BLASPHEMOUS SEDUCERS, WHEREBY THEY MAY BE THE BETTER KNOWN, AND AV... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THERE WERE FALSE PROPHETS— The false apostles, prophets, and teachers among the Christians, gave rise to the sects of the _Ebionites, Cerinthians, Nicolaitans, Carpocratians,_ and _Gnostics,_ of whom the primitive fathers have said so many dreadful things. They were not only exceedingly corrupt... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MANY SHALL FOLLOW THEIR PERNICIOUS WAYS, &C.— The absurd doctrines and wicked practices of professed Christians have done infinite harm, and often caused the enemies of religion to _blaspheme._ The Judaizers much infested the first Christians, and perverted many in the Churches of Corinth, Galat... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH FEIGNED WORDS, &C.— The phrase, πλαστοις λογοις, means, words formed to deceive; smooth and artful speeches, such as covetous merchants or unfair traders make use of, to put off bad goods. "They will _make merchandize of you;_ use you like cattle or slaves brought to market to be sold." Judas s... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF GOD SPARED NOT THE ANGELS— Some think the sense is suspended till we come to 2 Peter 2:9 and the reddition to be looked for there; that is, _If God spared not the angels who sinned,_ &c. _the Lord also knoweth how to deliver the godly,_ &c. This may possibly be the connection; or, if the word... [ Continue Reading ]
SPARED NOT THE OLD WORLD,— This is put by a _metonymy_ for the persons who lived before the flood, and perished in it; by way of opposition to the new world, or to mankind restored after that spreading desolation. Bishop Pearson would render the next clause, _Noah, the eighth preacher of righteousne... [ Continue Reading ]
AND TURNING THE CITIES, &C.— Strabo says, that all the ground thereabouts, was τεφρωδη, _reduced to ashes or cinders. Condemned_ is here put for punishment, which commonly follows condemnation, and is no more than a carrying of the sentence into execution. Some read this, _condemned them to a total... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DELIVERED JUST LOT— _And rescued righteous Lot,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
VEXED HIS RIGHTEOUS SOUL— The word 'Εβασανιζεν signifies the torment of the rack. It is here used as a strong figure whereby to express the unspeakable grief and anguish of mind of the righteous, at the overspreading wickedness of the times and places where they live; especially the debauchery of ba... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD KNOWETH HOW TO DELIVER, &C.— We have already taken notice, that some have thought the sense is suspended from 2 Peter 2:4 to this verse. This then would be the connection, _"If God spared not the angels that sinned,_—nor the _old world,_ nor the wicked inhabitants of _Sodom_ and _Gomorrah;_... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT CHIEFLY THEM THAT WALK AFTER THE FLESH— The Lord knoweth how to keep all the wicked unto the day of judgment, to be then punished: but (though none oftheunrighteousshallescapeunpunished,)he will more especially punish those who are debauched, &c. In 2 Peter 2:1 the prophesy is mentioned concerni... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREAS ANGELS— It is a rule of interpretation, that the plainer and larger account of any thing should be taken, to explain that which is more brief and obscure. Accordingly, Jude, 2 Peter 2:9 ought to be consulted in order to interpret this text. For, havingcondemnedsomewhopretendedto be Christian... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THESE, AS NATURAL BRUTE BEASTS,— _But these, as animals, by nature void of reason, born for capture and destruction, railing against things in which they are ignorant, shall be utterly corrupted_ [or perish] _in their own corruption._ Benson. Dr. Whitby would render it, _But these are as animals... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THEY THAT COUNT IT PLEASURE TO RIOT, &C.— Some understand St. Peter as intimating, that they lived in riot and luxury every day. Others suppose the meaning to be, that they took pleasure in that riot, which "endureth only for a day, or for a short season." The apostle seems to allude to the prove... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVING EYES FULL OF ADULTERY,— There is a prodigious strength in the original; it properly signifies their having an adulteress continually before their eyes;—_having eyes full of an adulteress._ Instead of _cannot cease from sin,_ the original should be rendered, _and that cease not from sin:_ if t... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH HAVE FORSAKEN THE RIGHT WAY,— It is called _the way of righteousness,_ 2 Peter 2:21 which leads to happiness; but turning aside to error and vice, is wandering out of the way into forbidden paths, which lead to misery and destruction. Perhaps the apostle here alluded to Numbers 22:32 when the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DUMB ASS SPEAKING, &C.— When Balaam laid aside his reason, and acted like a brute, then the brute animal, the _ass_ on which he rode, υποζυγιον, though naturally dumb, was, by the miraculous power of God, endued with a voice, like that of a man, to rebuke the madness of his master. _The madness... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE ARE WELLS WITHOUT WATER, &C.— When a thirsty person goes to a fountain to drink, and finds it dried up, and there is nothing but an empty pit, he is greatly disappointed. These false teachers pretended to be fountains of deeper knowledge and greater purity than any others; but when a man came... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHEN THEY SPEAK GREAT SWELLING WORDS— _For, while they utter high swelling words of vanity, they, by the lusts of the flesh, lay a bait for those who had really escaped from them that live in error._ See Jude, 2 Peter 2:16. By sw_elling words of vanity,_ we are to understand the most vain and bo... [ Continue Reading ]
WHILE THEY PROMISE THEM LIBERTY,— Nothing is more sweet or desirable than _liberty;_ and therefore in order to allure men to become their disciples, they _promised them liberty:_ by which they meant licentiousness, or a liberty to gratify their lusts, and to do any thing, whatever they pleased, with... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF AFTER THEY HAVE ESCAPED, &C.— _For inasmuch as having escaped._ See on 2 Peter 2:4. _The pollutions of the world, were idolatry, superstition, and vice._ By the _world_ we may understand here the unbelieving and wicked world; and more especiallythe idolatrous Gentiles. Μιασματα, _pollutions,_... [ Continue Reading ]
IT HAD BEEN BETTER FOR THEM NOT TO HAVE KNOWN, &C.— By the word _better,_ is meant the lesser evil: which, when two evils are compared together, is accounted the greatest good. _Righteousness_ in this place does not stand for _justice_ alone, but comprehends all the graces and virtues of the Christi... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IT IS HAPPENED UNTO THEM— The connection is, "It had been far better for them not to have done so:—but they have relapsed into their old vices; and that is agreeable to some ancient proverbs; nothing new, or unheard of, hath happened unto them." The ancients used to sum up their wisest and most... [ Continue Reading ]