Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Peter 2:9
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
9. the godly the unjust ] Both adjectives are in the Greek without the article.
out of temptations ] The word includes the trial of conflict with evil, as well as its alluring side. See note on 1Pe 1:6.
to be punished ] Literally, under punishment. The participle is in the present tense, and has no future or gerundial force. The ungodly are represented as being already under a penal process of some kind. If we take the Greek word for “punished” in the sense in which it was received by the Greek ethical writers (Aristotle, Rhet. i. 10), who distinguish between kolasis, as punishment inflicted for the good of the sufferer, and timria as inflicted for the satisfaction of justice, the word chosen by St Peter at least admits the idea of the punishment being corrective. In the only other passage in which the word occurs (Act 4:21) the verb implies a penalty inflicted in order to bring about a desired result. Looking to the fact that the words obviously refer to the case of Noah as well as that of Lot, we may find in them a point of contact with 1Pe 3:19; 1Pe 4:6. Those who are here said to be under punishment are the same as the “spirits in prison,” who were “judged” in order that they might “live.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Lord knoweth … – That is, the cases referred to show that God is able to deliver his people when tempted, and understands the best way in which it should be done. He sees a way to do it when we cannot, though it is often a way which we should not have thought of. He can send an angel to take his tempted people by the hand; he can interpose and destroy the power of the tempter; he can raise up earthly friends; he can deliver his people completely and forever from temptation, by their removal to heaven.
And to reserve the unjust – As he does the rebel angels, 2Pe 2:4. The case of the angels shows that God can keep wicked men, as if under bonds, reserved for their final trial at his bar. Though they seem to go at large, yet they are under his control, and are kept by him with reference to their ultimate arraignment.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly] The preservation and deliverance of Lot gave the apostle occasion to remark, that God knew as well to save as to destroy; and that his goodness led him as forcibly to save righteous Lot, as his justice did to destroy the rebellious in the instances already adduced. And the design of the apostle in producing these examples is to show to the people to whom he was writing that, although God would destroy those false teachers, yet he would powerfully save his faithful servants from their contagion and from their destruction. We should carefully observe, 1. That the godly man is not to be preserved from temptation. 2. That he will be preserved in temptation. 3. That he will be delivered out of it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Lord knoweth; according to the common rule, that words of knowledge in Scripture connote affections, as Psa 1:6. Gods knowing here implies not only his infinite wisdom, whereby he is never at a loss, but knows all the various ways whereby the godly may be delivered; but likewise his love and good will to them, whereby he is ready to do it, hath a heart for it: so the word is taken, Ecc 4:13; Amo 3:10; the text reads, will no more be admonished, the margin, knows not, &c.
How to deliver the godly; those that walk in the steps of just Lot and Noah, who was perfect in his generation. This concludes what the apostle began, 2Pe 2:4; the sum is: If God spared neither wicked angels nor wicked men, destroying the old world and Sodom, but delivered Lot and Noah, righteous persons; he still hath wisdom, power, and will to deliver other godly men, and punish other wicked men.
Out of temptations; afflictions, Jam 1:2,12.
And to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: the Greek word is in the present tense, which may be understood, either:
1. As put for the future, and then the sense is as in our translation, that though God many times lets the wicked alone in this world, so that they escape present punishment, yet they shall not escape future torment; they are a while spared, but never pardoned; and when free from temporal evils, are reserved for eternal vengeance. Or:
2. It may be understood as in the present tense, which agrees well with the instances of Gods vengeance before mentioned, which was executed on wicked men in this world; and then the sense is: The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations when he sees fit, even in this life, and how to reserve those wicked men, whom he punisheth with temporal judgments here, to a much more severe and dreadful punishment at the day of judgment hereafter.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. knoweth howHe is at noloss for means, even when men see no escape.
out ofnot actuallyfrom.
temptationstrials.
to be punishedGreek,“being punished”: as the fallen angels (2Pe2:4), actually under sentence, and awaiting its final execution.Sin is already its own penalty; hell will be its full development.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ver. 9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly,…. That “fear him”, as the Syriac version renders it; or that “rightly worship”, as the Arabic; such as Noah and Lot, men that know God in Christ spiritually and experimentally; that believe in him, love him, fear him, worship him in spirit and truth, and live soberly, righteously, and godly. This verse is a conclusion from the preceding instances and examples, respecting both the mercy and justice of God; the mercy of God in delivering the godly and righteous “out of temptations”; by which are meant, not the temptations of Satan to sin, distrust, and despondency, though the Lord knows how, and is both able and willing to, and does deliver them from them; but afflictions and tribulations, such as Noah and Lot were exposed to; and which are so called, because they try the graces, particularly the faith and patience of the godly; and to deliver from these is the Lord’s work: he grants his presence in them; he supports under them; he sanctifies them to them, and in his own time delivers out of them; for he knows how, and by what means, and when to do it, and is both able and willing: he has determined to do it, for the nature, measure, and duration of afflictions are fixed by him, and in his providence he does do it, as the instances before given prove.
And to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. This is that part of the conclusion from the above premises, respecting the justice of God; and by “the unjust” are designed, persons without a righteousness, and that are full of all unrighteousness, and take pleasure in it, and live unrighteous lives, committing acts of injustice, both with respect to God and men; and the Lord, that has reserved the fallen angels in chains of darkness unto judgment, knows how to reserve “in prison”, as the Arabic version renders it, the souls of those in hell, and their bodies in the grave “unto the day of judgment”; of the last and general judgment, when Christ shall judge both quick and dead, and bring every secret thing to light, which that day shall declare, God has appointed to judge the world in; in order “to be punished” in soul and body, with everlasting and complete destruction, which, as yet, is not. This phrase, “the day of judgment”, is used in Judith and is a Jewish one.
“Woe to the nations that rise up against my kindred! the Lord Almighty will take vengeance of them in the day of judgment, in putting fire and worms in their flesh; and they shall feel them, and weep for ever.” (Judith 16:17)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Lord knoweth how ( ). The actual apodosis of the long protasis begun in verse 4. God can deliver his servants as shown by Noah and Lot and he will deliver you. The idiomatic use of and the infinitive ( present middle and see verse 7) for knowing how as in Matt 7:11; Jas 4:17.
The godly (). Old anarthrous adjective (from and , to worship), in N.T. only here and Acts 10:2; Acts 10:7 (by Peter). For
temptation () see Jas 1:2; Jas 1:12; 1Pet 1:6.
To keep (). Present active infinitive of after .
Unrighteous (). As in 1Pe 3:18.
Under punishment (). Present passive participle of , old verb (from , lopped off), in N.T. only here and Ac 4:21. Present tense emphasises continuity of the punishment. See in Mt 25:46.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Godly [] . Used by Peter only. Compare Act 10:2, 7. The reading at Act 22:12, is eujlabhv, devout. See on ch. 2Pe 1:3. Temptation [] . See on 1Pe 1:6.
To reserve [] . See on 1Pe 1:4. Rev., keep, is not an improvement.
To be punished [] . Only here and Act 4:21, where the narrative probably came from Peter. The participle here is, lit., being punished, and therefore the A. V. is wrong. Rev., rightly, under punishment. Compare Mt 25:46.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “The Lord knoweth how.” The Lord (Master) (Greek oiden) knows or perceives (how)
2) “To deliver the godly out of temptation. (Greek reuesthai) “to deliver, of His own will or accord,” (Greek eusebeis ek peirasmou) “pious or godly men out of trials or testings.” He delivered Daniel, the Hebrew children, Peter and John.
3) “And to reserve the unjust.” (de terein) “but to hold in reserve, keep, or guard” – – (Greek adikous) unjust ones, the unrighteous – – men and angels, Heb 2:1-3.
4) “Unto the day of judgment to be punished:” (eis hemeran keiseos) “For a day of judgment” (Greek kolazomenos) “being punished” or in a state of punishment, suffering, in hell now until they are cast into the lake of fire and brimstone; Rev 20:14-15; Rev 22:11.
Peter affirms that the God who judged 1) angels that rebelled, 2) the pre-flood rebellious men, and 3) the licentious immoral of Sodom and Gomorrha, will not permit lying prophets and teachers to escape judgment for their wicked deeds in defiance of Him. Rev 21:8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
9. The Lord knoweth. What first offends the weak is, that when the faithful anxiously seek aid, they are not immediately helped by God; but on the contrary he suffers them sometimes as it were to pine away through daily weariness and languor; and secondly, when the wicked grow wanton with impunity and God in the meantime is silent, as though he connived at their evil deeds. This double offense Peter now removes; for he testifies that the Lord knows when it is expedient to deliver the godly from temptation. By these words he reminds us that this office ought to be left to him, and that therefore we ought to endure temptations, and not to faint, when at any time he defers his vengeance against the ungodly.
This consolation is very necessary for us, for this thought is apt to creep in, “If the Lord would have his own to be safe, why does he not gather them all into some corner of the earth, that they may mutually stimulate one another to holiness? why does he mingle them with the wicked by whom they may be defiled?” But when God claims to himself the office of helping, and protecting his own, that they may not fail in the contest, we gather courage to fight more strenuously. The meaning of the first clause is, that this law is prescribed by the Lord to all the godly, that they are to be proved by various temptations, but that they are to entertain good hope of success, because they are never to be deprived of his aid and help.
And to reserve the unjust. By this clause he shews that God so regulates his judgments as to bear with the wicked for a time, but not to leave them unpunished. Thus he corrects too much haste, by which we are wont to be carried headlong, especially when the atrocity of wickedness grievously wounds us, for we then wish God to fulminate without delay; when he does not do so, he seems no longer to be the judge of the world. Lest, then, this temporary impunity of wickedness should disturb us, Peter reminds us that a day of judgment has been appointed by the Lord; and that, therefore, the wicked shall by no means escape punishment, though it be not immediately inflicted.
There is an emphasis in the word reserve, as though he had said, that they shall not escape the hand of God, but be held bound as it were by hidden chains, that they may at a certain time be drawn forth to judgment. The participle κολαζομένους, though in the present tense, is yet to be thus explained, that they are reserved or kept to be punished, or, that they may be punished. For he bids us to rely on the expectation of the last judgment, so that in hope and patience we may fight till the end of life.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
2Pe. 2:10. Despise government.Dominion. Both self-restraint and restraint of good rules and wise authorities. Those who own no superior. Evil of dignities.Lit. They tremble not while railing at glories. These men deny the existence of, or irreverently speak slightingly of, those spiritual agencies by means of which God conducts the government of the world.
2Pe. 2:11. Angels.See Jude, 2Pe. 2:9. Allusion is evidently to some tradition which has not been otherwise preserved. (But see Zec. 3:1-2.)
2Pe. 2:12. Brute beasts.R.V., as creatures without reason, born mere animals, to be taken and destroyed. Omit natural. A denunciation of final ruin against these covetous and corrupting teachers.
2Pe. 2:13. Spots.In a moral sense. Sporting themselves.Making great show and boasting, as if they were the favourites of heaven.
2Pe. 2:14. Beguiling.Enticing. Decoying as with a bait. Covetous practices.Plans of fraud and extortion. Cursed children.Children of the curse: or children of malediction. They are devoted to execration.
2Pe. 2:15. Bosor.R.V., Beor. From which it is only a dialectical variation.
2Pe. 2:16. Rebuked.Lit. But bad a conviction of his own transgression; was convicted of it. Madness.Infatuation; conscious and voluntary perversion of mind.
2Pe. 2:18. Great swelling words of vanity.Exaggeration, unreality, boastfulness, emptiness, are expressed by this phrase. Clean escaped.Better, who are just escaped, almost escaped. Such were in special peril of these evil things.
2Pe. 2:19. Servants.Bond-slaves. (See Rom. 6:16; Rom. 8:21.)
2Pe. 2:20. They have escaped.It is not clear whether the deluded ones, or those who delude them, is meant. Probably the latter. The fullest clearness of spiritual vision had not protected these heresiarchs from the temptations of their sensuous natures.
2Pe. 2:22. The form of the proverbs is participial. The dog returned to his own vomit; the washed sow to her wallowing in the mire (see Pro. 26:11). In both cases stress is laid on the fact that there had been a real change. The dog had ejected what was foul; the sow had washed herself; but the old nature had returned in both cases. These who after their baptism returned to the impurities they had renounced, were, in the apostles eyes, no better than the unclean beasts. In the union of the two types of baseness we may, perhaps, trace a reminiscence of our Lords teaching in. Mat. 7:6 (Plumptre).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.2Pe. 2:9-22
Denunciations of the Libertines.
I. Confidence in Gods over-ruling.The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly. This involves His recognition of the ungodly, and visitation of them in judgment. The sway and triumph of evil in the world is most perplexing to Gods people; it would be altogether overwhelming if they could not be sure of the Divine overruling with a patience that can wait for fitting opportunities. Delayed judgment is never any sign of indifference, nor is delayed deliverance. As Christ said to impatient disciples, so God again and again says to His people, My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready. The overruling of God is even more important than His ruling. It meets us just where we feel our chief difficulty.
II. Denunciation of vices.The things which naturally follow as the outcome of false teaching
(1) impurity,
(2) self-assertion,
(3) railing,
(5) wanton and luxurious living,
(5) covetousness. These denunciations can only with great difficulty be made subjects of pulpit exercise. They must be classed with the imprecatory Psalms. There may come times and fitting occasions for publicly denouncing the characteristic iniquities of a nation or a generation; but such work can only be done wisely by specially fitted men, and men who have gained the right to speak. In small spheres of pulpit service, the denunciation of public sins is apt to be taken as directed to certain individuals; and the personal element produces bitterness rather than conviction.
III. The law that increases Divine judgments.Privilege enjoyed deepens responsibility. When privilege is abused; when men know and do not; when men who have come out of their sinful life go back to it;then it is as though the stone on which they might have fallen fell on them. The weight of woe heaps up for those who were once fair for the celestial city, but turned back to wilfulness and sin.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
2Pe. 2:9. The Godly Deliveredthe unjust reserved unto judgment. There are only two great classes of people in the worldthe godly and the unjust. The godly are those who have been born again, made partakers of the Divine nature, and live unto God. The unjust are those who are ungodly, who live to themselves and to the world. God deals very differently with the two classes.
I. His treatment of the godly.
1. He allows them to fall into temptations, as
(1) solicitations to sin, and
(2) as trials. This he permits (a) to manifest the reality of His grace, (b) to condemn the world, (c) that we may be conformed to Christ.
2. The Lord knows how to deliver them. It matters not what form the temptation may take.
II. His treatment of the unjust.God knoweth how to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment to be punished.
1. The end of all the ungodly is to be punished.
2. God knoweth how to reserve; He is not in haste to punish.R. M. McCheyne.
Gods Judgments.In a general way it may be said that the Old Testament is the book of Gods judgments, and the New Testament the book of Gods mercies. There are stories of judgment in the New Testament (Judas, Ananias, Elymas), and there are stories of Gods mercies in the Old; but this distinction marks off the characteristic of each Dispensation. Few hearers get much good from the histories of Gods judgments read to them from the Old Testament, because they are not felt to be matters of personal concern.
1. We ought to learn from them that God will not forget any godly man whatever, but will save him amid the destruction of all around him.
2. With the ungodly it will be otherwise; for them, so long as they continue in their ungodliness, there is neither mercy nor hope, but a certain looking forward to wrath and punishment at the hand of a mighty and offended God. There is no mercy for the obstinate and impenitent sinner. The two great lessons to be learnt from such histories are: the extent of Gods most fearful judgments, and their certainty. For as the word of Gods mercy is sure, so is the word of His wrath. And who are the cursed? All who are living in any known sin; all who are living in forgetfulness of God; all who are not Christs people; all who are not showing forth the blessed fruits of the Spirit in their daily lives. Many trust they shall do well, if they keep from the grosser works of the flesh. Some may say, This is the old story we have heard so often. But that should give double cause for trembling, seeing the gospel has been slighted so often and so long. God sends merciful invitations to repentance, that men may be saved from the ruin of a wicked world. It is He who will bring to pass the threatenings of His word against all manner of unrighteousness, and ungodliness, and sin.A. W. Hare, A.M.
2Pe. 2:15. Perversion as Shown in the Character of Balaam.Repulsive as Balaams character is, seen at a distance, when it is seen near it has much in it that is human, like ourselves, inviting compassion, even admiration; there are traits of firmness, conscientiousness, nobleness. And yet the inspired judgment of his character as a whole is one of unmeasured severity. Our main lesson in Balaams history must ever be to trace how it is that men, who to the world appear respectable, conscientious, honourable, gifted, religious, may be in the sight of God accursed, and heirs of perdition. Balaam illustrates perversion.
I. Perversion of great gifts.The inspiration of Balaam was from God. In him Divine powers were perverted
1. By turning them to purposes of self-aggrandisement. Gods true prophets make no effort to show themselves different from others. Balaam does everything to fix attention on himself. His enchantments were a priests man-uvres, not a prophets. He was a self-seeker. Balak struck the key-note of his character when he said, Am I not able to promote thee unto honour?
2. By making those gifts subservient to his own greed. His very vaunts show that Balaam half suspected his failing. Brave men do not vaunt their courage, nor honourable men their honesty. By Balaam spiritual powers were degraded in order to make himself a vulgar man of wealth. (Compare the case of Simon Magus.)
II. Perversion of conscience.Shown in his second appeal to God. He ought to have been satisfied with his first answer. In duty first thoughts are best; they are more fresh, more pure, have more of God in them. Balaams problem was how to go to Balak, and yet not offend God. He went to God to get his duty altered, not in simplicity to know what it was. All this rests on the idea that the will of God makes right, instead of being right. The second stage is full of hideous contradictions. God permits him to go, and then is angry with him for going. We notice in him the evidences of a disordered mind and heart. In Balaam we see an attempt to change the will of God. His feeling was, God is mutable. What was wanting for Balaam to feel was, God cannot change; what he did feel was only this: God will not change. See also his attempt to blind himself. We see perfect veracity with utter want of truth. He does not deceive Balak with a spell. He would not utter a falsehood, but tries to get away from seeing the truth. Balaam tried a last expedient, and recommended Balak to use the fascination of the daughters of Moab to entice Israel into idolatry; and a more diabolical wickedness could hardly be conceived. The root of Balaams sin was selfishness. Balaams selfthe honour of Balaam as a true prophet; therefore he will not lie. The wealth of Balak for himself; therefore the Israelites must be sacrificed. Even in his sublimest aspirations he never forgets himself.
1. Learn the danger of great powers. It is an awful thing, this conscious power to see more, to feel more, to know more, than our fellows.
2. Mark well the difference between feeling and doing. A man may be going on finely, uttering orthodox words, and yet be rotten at heart.F. W. Robertson.
2Pe. 2:16. Balaam and the Ass.An excellent old writer, speaking of Balaam, to whom St. Peter refers in the text, compares him to Redwald, the first Saxon king who professed Christianity, and who set up, in the same church, one altar for the Christian religion, and another for sacrificing to devils. Balaam, beyond, perhaps, any Scriptural personage, was the double-minded man, signalised by the apostle James. Balaam was neither an impostor nor a hypocrite. He rather seems to have been a man heartily and honestly bent on the doing of what our Lord declares can never be done: the serving of two masters. We must admit that God communicated directly with Balaam, not only giving him orders and prohibitions, but actually furnishing him with the words he was to utter over the Israelites. Perhaps full justice has not been done to Balaam. He had good impulses, which were only unserviceable and abortive because outweighed and counter-matched by covetousness and the love of money. He had a conscience vigorously at work, under whose chastisement his sufferings must have been terrible. Balaam is the nominal Christian of these times, sincerely anxious to stand fair, and to keep terms with disciples of Christ and with men of Belial. When we see men devout in church, and something very different on week-days, we must not set them down as necessarily hypocrites. There is a bona fide struggle to compound with conscience, and run together in the life, man of God and man of the world, as warp and woofvery foolish, no doubt, and impracticable, but not base, not dishonest.
I. Recall to memory the few facts of this miracle.Whether what happened to Balaam happened to him in vision, or in literal historical fact, the moral and spiritual lessons are exactly the same. There is something to be learned from that strange group on the highway, considered merely as a fact: a wicked man being obstructed in the pursuit of his wickedness by a prodigy. We learn how gracious God is in making the way of transgressors a hard one; just as when Pilate was warned by the dream of his wife, and Saul was warned on the road to Damascus. Regarding the narrative as an allegory, we may see that this is not the only place in the Bible where proud man is humbled and brought to confusion by being outdone and excelled by one of the beasts of the field. How came it that the eyes of the mere brute on which the prophet rode saw the vision of the angel before the prophet himself? There is here a portrait of what takes place in the world, day after day, in all generations. There is hardly a wider gulf between the animal and the man than there is between some unlettered believer in sacred truth and the philosophic doubter or denier of that truth. The difficulty of difficulties in the present state of things is not to exert but to control the faculties of our reason, to persuade ourselves where reason cannot follow, that there reason ought not to try to follow. Faith is the problem of the militant Church. The province of the human mind is to humble itself, to keep the ear wide open, and to be contented that the eye shall remain closed through excess of light. Only when, by nature or through a struggle, the mind prefers listening to understanding, can the glory of Christ crucified be spiritually discerned.
II. This miracle of the text is virtually repeated whenever pride or prescription takes to lording it over some lower rank, guilty of no sins but natural disadvantages.Illustrated in the history of British colonisation. For many years we considered black and brown and red men to be brutes, and treated them accordingly. Illustrated in our resistance of Providence. We make a miserable blunder whenever we try to force Divine providence, or to urge the events of our lives dead against the angel. If we want to go one way, and our destiny, controlled by guardian angels, is forcing us into another way, our wisdom will lie in succumbing at once. We shall take nothing by contesting it. Things like that living thing under Balaam will crush our foot against the wall, so that we cannot even dismount and walk. Providence will maim us for every pathway but its own.Henry Christopherson.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
2Pe. 2:19. Slavery of Sin.Men would rather be sins drudges than Gods freemen, and neglect that service wherein is perfect freedom for that wherein there is intolerable slavery. They will disturb their consciences, violate their reason, impair their health, in contradicting the laws of God, and prefer a sensual satisfaction, with toil here and eternal ruin hereafter, before the honour of God, the dignity of their nature, or happiness, or peace and health, which might be preserved with a cheaper expense than they are at to destroy them.Charnock.
2Pe. 2:22. The Habits of the Sow.There is no regeneration for the sow in any amount of washing by water; the ablution over, away she wends again to her wallowing in the mire. Like the canine race (dishonouredly characterised in the same proverb) the porcine is of ill account in Holy Writ. As the flesh of the swine is formally prohibited as unclean in Leviticus, so in Isaiah the offering of swines blood is, by implication, denounced as almost inconceivably abominable, and the eating swines flesh, and the abomination and the mouse, are with execration connected together (Isa. 66:3; Isa. 66:17). Of the Mohammedans we are assured that nothing in the creed or practice of Christians does so much to envenom the hatred of Mohammedans against them as the fact of their eating pork. Besides its being an offence to their religion, their aversion to the flesh of the unclean beast resembles an instinctive antipathy, such as the idea of uncleanness, when once it sinks into the feelings, seems always to excite in those whose personal habits are scrupulously cleanly.
The Backsliders Fate.The Greek poet tells us of Hecuba not daring for shame so much as to lift up her eyes, or look Polymnestor in the face, because she had been a queen, but was then a poor captive. Common captives can easily lift up their eyes and cry to those who are in prosperity for relief and help, whereas others who have lived at ease can with more ease starve than beg. As a downfall from a seeming height in spirituals into the mire of sin hath more wickedness in it than a bare continuance in sin, so a downfall from a real height in temporals into the mire of misery hath more trouble in it than a bare continuance in misery. They who have made a fair show, or an outward flourish, in the faith, and afterwards fall back, are worse than those who never made any show at all. It is sad for any one to live openly in sin; but for such as have made an open profession of godliness to apostatise, and fall back to sinthis is matter of saddest lamentation.Caryl.
CHAPTER 3
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
2Pe. 2:9 the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment;
Expanded Translation
(From the preservation of Noah and Lot with their families, remember that) the Lord knows how to rescue (save, deliver. Literally, draw, drag) the pious, godly, and devout out of temptation, and (or, but) keep the unrighteous under guard while being punished, unto the Judgment Day.
_______________________
the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation
As one may see from the previous examples cited. A key question here is, in what sense is the word temptation (peirasmos) to be taken? Evidently in the broad sense of trials, afflictions, or troubleincluding the idea of direct inducement to sin, but not limited to it. It is the same word that is translated trial in 1Pe. 4:12, but certainly refers to a direct temptation to sin in Luk. 4:13, 1Co. 10:13.[66]
[66] See notes under 1Pe. 1:6-7 where the same word is again rendered trials. It has a number of meanings; in each of its occurrences the context must be carefully considered.
Here again we see the apostle encouraging the Christians to steadfastness, even as he so often does in the first epistle.
and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment
The word keep, (tereo) meant properly to guard a prisoner or one who was in a prison, Act. 12:5 (kept) Act. 16:23-24, etc. These unrighteous ones would be confined in Tartarus (as the angels who sinned, 2Pe. 2:4) a place of punishment, unto (eis, literally, into, that is, until) the Judgment Day when they would receive Gods sentence of doom and be abandoned to the fires of hell.
Punishment (kolazo) means properly, to prune or lop, as trees or wings. Thus it began to assume the meaning of checking, curbing, or restraining, and eventually to chastise or punish. In what way is Tartarus or Hades a place of punishment?
1.
It is a place of torments (Luk. 16:28).
2.
It is a place of anguish (Luk. 16:24).
3.
It is a place of extreme thirst (Luk. 16:24).
4.
It is a place of flame (Luk. 16:24).
5.
It is a place of complete separation from God and his people (Luk. 16:26).
6.
It is a place of blackness, darkness, and gloom (2Pe. 2:4; 2Pe. 2:17).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(9) The Lord knoweth.This is the main sentence to which the various conditional clauses beginning 2Pe. 2:4 (see Note there) have been leading. But the construction is disjointed, owing to the eagerness of the writer, and the main clause does not fit on to the introductory clauses very smoothly. Even the main clause itself is interrupted by the insertion of to deliver the godly out of temptations. What the writer specially wishes to prove is that the Lord knoweth how to reserve the ungodly unto the day of judgment under punishment, as is shown by the for connecting 2Pe. 2:4 with 2Pe. 2:3.
To be punished.Rather, being punished, or under punishment. They are already suffering punishment while waiting for their final doom. The error in our version is parallel to that in Act. 2:47, where such as should be saved stands instead of those who were being saved. The participle is present, not future.
The same double moralthat God will save the righteous and punish the ungodlyis drawn from the same historical instance by Clement of Rome (Epistle to the Corinthians, xi.): For his hospitality and godliness Lot was saved from Sodom, when all the country round was judged by fire and brimstone; the Master having thus foreshown that He forsaketh not them who set their hope on Him, but appointeth unto punishment and torment them who swerve aside. possible, but not a certain, reference to our Epistle. (See Note below on 2Pe. 3:4.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. The conclusion from for if, of 2Pe 2:4.
The Lord knoweth how And has both the power and will to do it, as he has showed.
To deliver As he did Noah and Lot, and as he always will his faithful people.
Temptation Any state of trial into which they are brought, by which their faith and obedience are proved. No exemption from temptation is promised; but we have the pledge of safety in it, and deliverance out of it. The Lord knoweth, also, equally well, with the same power and will, how to reserve the unrighteous, keeping them in custody unto the day of judgment, when their doom will be judicially pronounced.
To be punished Better, Under punishment, as the rich man in hades, (Luk 16:23,) and the fallen angels, (2Pe 2:4,) in a penal state, and awaiting full and final punishment in the great day. Such terms exclude the possibility of a second day of grace after death.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment (or ‘while continuing their punishment’) in readiness for the day of judgment,’
Thus these examples demonstrate that God knows how to deliver the godly out of testing and temptation, while at the same time keeping the unrighteous under sentence of punishment in readiness for the day of judgment. Strictly speaking, however, the present participle may suggest not just sentence of punishment but continuing punishment as they are kept ready for the day of judgment. The thought may be of the continuing punishment in the intermediate state as in Luk 16:22-23.
Note the threefold reference to ‘righteous’ with reference to Lot – righteous Lot (2Pe 2:7), that righteous man (2Pe 2:8), righteous soul (2Pe 2:8) – and note the previous reference to the ‘preacher of righteousness’ (2Pe 2:5). Here that becomes ‘the godly’. The righteous and the godly are those whose hearts are right towards God, and who are not caught up in the lusts and evil desires of the world.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Pe 2:9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver, &c. We have already taken notice, that some have thought the sense is suspended from 2Pe 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; and if, on the other hand, he saved the holy angels, and also Noah and Lot who were righteous men; then the Lord knoweth how to deliver, &c.” Dr. Heylin, beginning each of the verses foregoing with SinceSince God did not spare, begins the present verse: It appears from these instances, that the Lord will deliver, &c. From the distinction which God hath already made in many cases between the righteous and the wicked, the apostle infers a righteous judgment to come, or a state of universal and exact retribution.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Pe 2:9 . This verse in thought, though not in form, constitutes the apodosis to the preceding clauses beginning with . The thought, however, is expressed in a more extended and general manner; the special application follows in 2Pe 2:10 .
] Knowledge is conceived at the same time as a divine power.
] i.e. God, 2Pe 2:4 .
, like Noah and Lot.
] cf. 1Pe 1:6 .
] like the fallen angels, etc.
] . is not used here with a future force: cruciandos (Bengel, Calvin, Winer, who, in his 5th ed. p. 405, resolves the clause thus: . ( ) , and others), but it must be taken as a real present; it refers to the punishment which they suffer even before the last judgment unto which they are kept ( ); cf. on 2Pe 2:4 . Thus also Wiesinger, Schott, Brckner.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: (10) But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. (11) Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. (12) But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; (13) And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; (14) Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: (15) Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; (16) But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet. (17) These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever. (18) For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. (19) While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in 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 therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. (21) For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. (22) But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”
I admire this very beautiful, and gracious scripture, introduced in this place, as a blessed relief to the mind, in the midst of the many judgments. Reader! do not overlook it. Amidst all the exercises of the present awful day, do not lose sight of this; the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations. Here is enough for a child of God to repose in forever! But the Holy Ghost is engaged in this Chapter in an awful subject, and the Lord pursues it again. I do not think it necessary to dwell particularly upon the several features of character which the Holy Ghost hath drawn, of ungodly men. They are all of them very strong and expressive. Balaam is introduced, to shrew what convictions of head-knowledge there may be, void of all heart-influence. This monster of iniquity, while convinced in head-knowledge, that the Israel of God was blessed of God in Christ; hired himself out for the sake of gain, to curse them. And, when he found all would not do to accomplish this end, he recommended Moab to a plan which he thought would effectually answer. By advising the Moabites to invite the sons of Israel to come to their sacrifices, they laid a trap to catch Israel with the beauty of Moab’s daughters; and this he knew, would lead Israel into idolatry, which would do more to the ruin of Israel than all the curses of Balaam. Compare Num 23:24-25 with Rev 2:12-17 .
I shall only detain the Reader with a short observation, on the close of this Chapter, in the three last verses of it. If the Reader will diligently attend to what is here said, he will discover, that the Holy Ghost, by the Apostle, is speaking all along of mere nominal professors, as distinguished from the Lord’s own people. The outward form of godliness had done enough to induce, in mere professors, a wish for an outward, garb of godliness. The reputation of being somewhat religious, had an effect to restrain them from the open commission of more daring offences before men. They had set up somewhat of a reform, observed perhaps family prayer, attended ordinances, and now and then the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. But here it ceased. No awakening by grace, no regeneration of the heart, no union with Christ. Hence, though they had escaped the open and notorious acts of pollution which were in the world, yet no work of saving grace was ever wrought in the heart; and therefore, what begins only in nature, can arise no higher, neither will it ever end in grace. The dog, when sick, and vomits up, soon returns and swallows down again what must everlastingly make sick. And the sow, however you may wash her, will not be easy until she return to wallow again in her favorite mud. It is her nature, and nature never ariseth above her own element. The sheep may fall into the mire, but it will never lay there. But the sow is in her native soil. When there, neither can any keep her from it. Oh! how sweet is distinguishing grace!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
Ver. 9. The Lord knoweth how ] He hath ways of his own, and commonly goeth a way by himself, such as we think not of; helping them that are forsaken of their hopes. Peter (if any man) might well say, “The Lord knoweth how to deliver his;” for he had been strangely delivered, Act 12:4-11 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9 .] ( Apodosis ; the last verse having been quasi-parenthetical, explanatory of . See above on 2Pe 2:4 ) the Lord knoweth how (reff. The expression indicates both the apprehension of the manner of the act and the power to perform it) to rescue godly ( men ) out of temptation (as in ref. 1 Pet., where see note, trials, persecutions, and the like), and to reserve unrighteous ( men ) under punishment (not as most, cruciandos : “ to be punished ,” E. V.: but as in 2Pe 2:4 , actually in a penal state, and thus awaiting their final punishment) to the day of judgment (the great final, doom: see reff.):
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Pe 2:9 . , . . . Apodosis to protasis begun in 2Pe 2:4 . . See Mayor’s note on Jas 1:2 . The idea here is primarily of those surroundings that try a man’s fidelity and integrity, and not of the inward inducement to sin, arising from the desires. Both Noah and Lot were in the midst of mockers and unbelievers. This is the atmosphere in which faith is brought to full development. It was a condition even of the life of Jesus. (Luk 22:28 ). It is the word used by St. Luke of the Temptation (Luk 4:13 ). On the one hand, is not to be lightly sought (Luk 11:4 ), or entered into carelessly (Mar 14:38 ); the situation of may itself be the result of sin (1Ti 6:9 ). On the other hand, it is a joyous opportunity for the development of spiritual and moral strength (Jas 1:2 ; Jas 1:12 ). becomes sin only when it ceases to be in opposition to the will. The word is peculiar to the N.T. : “to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment”. The reference may be the same as in 1Pe 3:19 , , if we interpret “spirits in prison” as meaning those who had disobeyed the preaching of Noah, and to whom Christ preached. Cf. Book of Enoch, x. 4 f. . This day is also the day of Parousia. The same expression is used in 2Pe 3:7 . It is called (2Pe 3:10 ); (2Pe 3:12 ). Three great results are brought about on that day. (1) The ungodly will suffer (2Pe 3:7 ; cf. 2Pe 2:1 , 2Pe 3:16 ). It is noteworthy that the ultimate fate of the fallen angels is not described except as (2Pe 2:4 ). (2) Dissolution of the material universe by fire (2Pe 3:11 , 2Pe 3:7 , 2Pe 3:12 , 2Pe 3:10 ). (3) The righteous are promised “new heavens and a new earth”. In this new universe, or environment, righteousness has its home (2Pe 3:13 ). The difficult passage (2Pe 1:19 ), about the day-star, has reference to this , when the great Day shall dawn, and the sign of it shall cheer the hearts of the faithful, and the lamp of prophecy will be no longer needed.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Lord. App-98.
knoweth. App-132.
godly. Greek. eusebes. See Act 10:2.
out of. App-104.
temptations = temptation. See 1Pe 1:6.
the = a.
punished. Compare Job 21:30.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
9.] (Apodosis; the last verse having been quasi-parenthetical, explanatory of . See above on 2Pe 2:4) the Lord knoweth how (reff. The expression indicates both the apprehension of the manner of the act and the power to perform it) to rescue godly (men) out of temptation (as in ref. 1 Pet., where see note,-trials, persecutions, and the like), and to reserve unrighteous (men) under punishment (not as most, cruciandos: to be punished, E. V.: but as in 2Pe 2:4, actually in a penal state, and thus awaiting their final punishment) to the day of judgment (the great final, doom: see reff.):
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Pe 2:9. ) knows, and remembers: even when men know not any aid. The instances alleged show this. There is no doubt as to the will of the Lord.-, the godly) such as Noah and Lot, godly and righteous men.-, to rescue) There are more examples, Jer 39:11; Jer 39:18; Jer 45:5.-) the unrighteous and ungodly: such as many, who have been lately mentioned.-) to be punished: a future event, and yet expressed in the present; because the punishment is certain and imminent.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
knoweth: Job 5:19, Psa 34:15-19, 1Co 10:13
the godly: Psa 4:3, Psa 12:1, Psa 32:6, 2Ti 3:12, Tit 2:14
and: 2Pe 2:4, Job 21:30, Pro 16:4, Jud 1:14, Jud 1:15
unto: 2Pe 3:7, Rom 2:5, 2Co 5:10, 2Co 5:11
Reciprocal: Gen 7:23 – and Noah Gen 19:12 – Hast Gen 19:16 – brought 1Sa 20:1 – fled 1Sa 29:10 – General 1Ki 14:13 – there is found Job 4:7 – who ever Job 27:13 – the portion Job 36:6 – preserveth Psa 37:33 – will not Psa 94:13 – until the pit Psa 119:121 – leave me Pro 12:13 – but Ecc 8:12 – a sinner Isa 27:4 – Fury Eze 9:4 – that sigh Eze 14:14 – deliver Dan 2:18 – of the God of heaven Nah 1:2 – reserveth Mat 6:13 – lead Mat 10:15 – in the Mat 11:22 – the day Mat 26:41 – enter Mar 6:11 – in the day Luk 17:34 – two Luk 21:22 – the days Act 12:11 – and hath Rom 2:16 – God Rom 9:22 – endured 1Co 5:13 – God 2Co 1:10 – General 2Th 3:3 – and 2Ti 3:11 – but 2Ti 4:17 – and I Tit 2:12 – godly Heb 2:18 – them Jam 1:2 – divers Jam 5:11 – and have 2Pe 2:3 – whose 1Jo 4:17 – the day Rev 3:10 – I also
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Pe 2:9. This verse resumes the thought that was introduced at verse 4, but was interrupted with a list of facts set forth as a basis for the present passage. The argument is that if God was able and also disposed to do all the things referred to, He is able and determined also to do the following. Deliver the godly out of temptation. God does not promise to work a miracle to keep the trials from coming, but if a disciple is faithful He will care for him and hell) him overcome them (1Co 10:13). Reserve the unjust indicates that the punishment of the unjust is to be at a future time. This spoils a wishful-thinking notion that “a man will get all of his ‘hell’ in this life.” Wicked men as well as wicked angels will not be given their final sentence until the judgement at the last day.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Pe 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. Temptation is used here in the sense which it has in 1Pe 1:6 (on which see Note), as including not only temptation in the limited sense, but all species of trial. The to be punished which the A. V. gives (in this following the Vulgate) is an incorrect reading. The participle is present, and the idea is that the unrighteous are sustaining now a certain measure of punishment, in the state in which they are held in reserve for the final judgment of the great day. This sentence gives, in a somewhat free form, the conclusion which is expected for the series of conditional statements which began with 2Pe 2:4. It is as if the writer had said, If it has always happened, as I have stated it to have happened in these several historical instances with which all are familiar, is it not plain that the Lord will act on the same principle with these false teachers? But while the previous context would lead us to look simply for a statement of the penal side of Gods righteousness, Peter introduces here the other side as well. His notice of Gods righteous care for the godly, however, is only for the moment. In the next verse he takes up only the punitive principle, and proceeds to make a pointed application of that to a particular class.
2Pe 2:10. but chiefly those who go after the flesh in the lust of pollution, and despise lordship. Dares, self-willed, they tremble not in speaking evil of dignities. The parties aimed at appear to be the false teachers. Formerly they were described as only about to arise. They are spoken of now as already existing. The change from the future to the present may be due simply to the definite realization of the future in the writers prophetic vision. But it is to be accounted for rather by the fact that the first movements of the evil, which was afterwards to prove so great, were already discerned within the Church. Peter, therefore, brings the general principle which he has illustrated to bear above all upon a class now under his own eye. These were the men, he means, for whom there could least be exemption from the sweep of Gods punitive judgments. He proceeds to complete his account of what these men are, adding stronger colours to the picture of their scorn of law, their hostility to Christ, their covetousness, their sensuality. The description of their immorality is made more general than in Jude (Jud 1:7) by the omission of the epithet strange which qualifies the flesh in the latter. The phrase go after occurs in the literal sense in Mar 1:20, and in the metaphorical in Jud 1:7; Jer 2:5. The lust of pollution (the latter word occurs only here) means the lust which pollutes. The term which the A. V. renders presumptuous, and which occurs again only in Tit 1:7, means rather daring, or darers. Instead of presumptuous are they, self-willed (which latter adjective occurs only here), therefore, we should translate either self-willed darers, or (with R. V.) daring, self-willed. The difficulty is in determining the sin alluded to in the two phrases despise lordship and speaking evil of dignities, which reappear in almost the same terms in Jud 1:8. Many interpreters, specially those of older date, have understood the offence to be that of contemptuous disregard of human authority, whether of that generally in all its forms, or of ecclesiastical rule, or of civil and political rule (Calvin, Erasmus, etc.), in particular. Recent commentators, again, have for the most part taken other than human authorities to be intended. Some, e.g., think that good angels are referred to in both the lordship and the dignities; others, that evil angels are denoted by both; others, that God or Christ is meant by the former, and either good angels (Ritschl) or evil angels (Wiesinger) by the latter. In the only other N. T. occurrence of this term lordship or dominion (Eph 1:21; Col 1:16), it is used of angels. In Jud 1:8 (the only other instance of the word in such an application) the term dignities is put, along with the whole statement, in immediate connection with what is said of Michael. The present passage, too, leads at once to direct mention of angels. These facts give probability to the view that by both terms angelic powers, in the character of Gods agents in the authoritative administration of earthly things, are intended. All that is meant, however, may be a general mention of authority as such, and of the contempt of that, in all its forms, human, angelic, and Divine, as a characteristic mark of the class dealt with. In Rom 13:1-2, we find the word power in an equally indefinite, though perhaps less extensive, sense.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
From the particular example of Lot, and his gracious preservation in Sodom’s destruction, the apostle draws this general conclusion, “That Almighty God knows how to preserve his own faithful servants from the evil of temptations and trials, which they here meet with, in the world, and from the world, and can and will reserve the wicked to the day of judgment to be punished.”
Note here, 1. That the Lord has a perfect and exact knowledge both of the righteous and the wicked, and of their several ways and doings.
2. That God knoweth many ways how to deliver the righteous, (but considering the tenor of his revealed will), he knoweth no way how to deliver the wicked, they having refused all ways of his appointment for their own deliverance.
3. That although the wicked sometimes escape trouble, yet they are never delivered from it; all their preservations from evil are but reservations for future and farther evil; the wicked are not so much preserved from, as reserved unto future wrath: Thus we see how Almighty God very well knows how to perform all those things which he has promised to the godly, and threatened to the wicked: The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly, but reserveth the wicked, &c.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
2Pe 2:9. The Lord, &c. This answers to 2Pe 2:4, and closes the sense which was begun there; knoweth how to deliver As if he had said, It plainly appears, from these instances, that the Lord hath both wisdom and power sufficient, or can find out ways and means, and will do so; to deliver the godly Those who now suffer persecution; out of temptations
That is, trials and afflictions of various kinds; and to reserve Or, keep in ward, as it were; (so seems here to signify;) the unjust The unrighteous, or ungodly; unto the day of judgment Temporal and eternal; to be punished In a most signal manner, or with a severity becoming their guilt and wickedness. The multitude of the inhabitants of the old world, and of the cities of the plain, was, in the eye of God, no reason for not destroying them. He destroyed them all at once. On the other hand, the few godly persons among them were not overlooked by God because they were few, but preserved by an immediate interposition of his power. This last observation Peter makes to show that, notwithstanding God permits false teachers to arise and deceive many, he will preserve the sincere from being deluded by them, and at length will destroy them out of the church. By Gods keeping the unrighteous in ward to be punished at the day of judgment, we are taught that the punishment inflicted on the wicked in this life, will not hinder them from being punished in the next. The principal part of their punishment will be that which they shall suffer after the judgment.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 9
The Lord knoweth, &c. This is the inference from what precedes. That is, if the Lord spared not the rebel angels, nor the old world, nor the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, but brought terrible judgments upon them for their sins, while he saved Noah and his family, and Lot,–then the Christian might be assured that he would still continue to protect the good and condemn the wicked.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
2:9 The Lord {i} knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
(i) Has been long practised in saving and delivering the righteous.