2 Peter 2

False teachers and their end

But there were false prophets also among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways. Because of them the way of truth will be slandered. 3 And because of greed they will make merchandise of you with fabricated teachings. Their condemnation uttered long ago now does not delay, and their damnation does not slumber.

God will punish evil men

4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be kept for judgment;

2:4 This is the first of three examples Peter gives to show that God is well able to punish those who will not walk in His truth.⚜

5 and did not spare the old world, but saved Noah one of eight, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if he turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes and condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example to those who afterwards would live ungodly lives, 7 and delivered righteous Lot, troubled with the filthy behavior of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man living among them, in seeing and hearing them, had his righteous soul pained day after day with their unlawful deeds),

2:6-8 See Gen 19:1-29. How then will false teachers escape?⚜

9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to keep the unrighteous for the day of judgment to be punished,

2:9 As in all former eras, so now mankind is divided into two groups – the “godly” and the “unrighteous”. In the Bible the “godly” are those who have faith in the one true and living God and are devoted to Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is His one incarnation, and so the godly believe in Him and follow Him. The unrighteous reject Him (though, some of them may say they believe in Him), and their lives reveal that they do not truly believe in Him.⚜

10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise authority. They are arrogant and self-willed, and are not afraid to speak evil of honored ones.

What these false teachers will be like

11 Whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring abusive accusations against them before the Lord.

2:11 Compare Jude 9.⚜

12 But these people, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand. And they will utterly perish in their own corruption,

2:12 Eph 4:18; Jude 10. They are not humble enough to admit they are ignorant of anything. In their arrogance they speak evil of glorious truth beyond their understanding.⚜

13 and will receive the consequences of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, delighting themselves with their own deceitfulness while they feast with you. 14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin, they entice unstable souls. They have a heart exercised with greedy practices. They are cursed children

2:14 They look at every attractive woman with lust and think how they might seduce her. They sin continually in thought, desire and deed. Compare Matt 5:28-30.⚜

15 who have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness 16 (and was rebuked for his wickedness. The dumb donkey speaking with man’s voice prohibited the madness of the prophet).

17 These people are wells without water, clouds that are carried about by a storm. The blackness of darkness is reserved for them forever. 18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much shamelessness, those who had completely escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a man that same thing brings him into 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 in them and overcome, their latter end is worse than their beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy command delivered to them.

2:21 Christ’s way is the way of righteousness, a straight and narrow way (2 Pet 2:2, 15; Matt 5:20; 7:13-14; Isa 35:8; Ps 15:1-5). It is very possible to know this way and turn back from it.⚜

22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, The dog has turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.