2 Peter 2 KJV
False Teachers
2 Peter Chapter 2: False Teachers
The sole New Testament use of 'tartaroo' (rendered 'hell') in verse 4 fuses Jewish traditions of imprisoned angels with the Greek mythological abyss of Tartarus, revealing Hellenistic reshaping of eschatological punishment.
1ut there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
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:
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 manโs 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 for ever.
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.
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Did You Know?
The sole New Testament use of 'tartaroo' (rendered 'hell') in verse 4 fuses Jewish traditions of imprisoned angels with the Greek mythological abyss of Tartarus, revealing Hellenistic reshaping of eschatological punishment.
Verse 15's spelling 'Bosor' for Balaam's father diverges from the Hebrew 'Beor' and likely reflects an Aramaic or interpretive tradition that underscores Balaam's foreign, mercenary character.
The chapter's extended parallels with Jude (shared angel chains, Sodom example, 'spots in your feasts') indicate both texts adapt a common earlier source on false teachers rather than one directly copying the other.
Describing false teachers as 'wells without water' and 'clouds... carried with a tempest' repurposes Old Testament prophetic drought imagery to depict internal church deceivers as sources of spiritual barrenness.
The paired proverbs in verse 22 combine Proverbs 26:11 with an otherwise unattested sow-and-mire saying, creating a distinctive double-metaphor for apostasy's irreversible pull back to defilement.
Commentary & Study Notes Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain But โ in contrast to the prophets "moved by the Holy Ghost" (2Pe 1:21). also โ as well as the true prophets (2Pe 1:19-21). Paul had already testified the entrance of false prophetsโฆ
Classic verse-by-verse commentary on 2 Peter 2 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: False teachers to arise: them bad practices and sure destruction, from which the godly shall be delivered, as lot was.
- 1
- But โ in contrast to the prophets "moved by the Holy Ghost" (2Pe 1:21). also โ as well as the true prophets (2Pe 1:19-21). Paul had already testified the entrance of false prophets into the same churches. among the people โ Israel: he is writing to believing Israelites primarily (see on 1Pe 1:1). Such a "false prophet" was Balaam (2Pe 2:15). there shall be โ Already symptoms of the evil were appearing (2Pe 2:9-22; Jude 4-13). false teachers โ teachers of falsehood. In contrast to the true teachers, whom he exhorts his readers to give heed to (2Pe 3:2). who โ such as (literally, "the which") shall. privily โ not at first openly and directly, but by the way, bringing in error by the side of the true doctrine (so the Greek): Rome objects, Protestants cannot point out the exact date of the beginnings of the false doctrines superadded to the original truth; we answer, Peter foretells us it would be so, that the first introduction of them would be stealthy and unobserved (Jude 4). damnable โ literally, "of destruction"; entailing destruction (Php 3:19) on all who follow them. heresies โ self-chosen doctrines, not emanating from God (compare "will-worship," Col 2:23). even โ going even to such a length as to deny both in teaching and practice. Peter knew, by bitter repentance, what a fearful thing it is to deny the Lord (Lu 22:61, 62). denying โ Him whom, above all others, they ought to confess. Lord โ "Master and Owner" (Greek), compare Jude 4, Greek. Whom the true doctrine teaches to be their OWNER by right of purchase. Literally, "denying Him who bought them (that He should be thereby), their Master." bought them โ Even the ungodly were bought by His "precious blood." It shall be their bitterest self-reproach in hell, that, as far as Christ's redemption was concerned, they might have been saved. The denial of His propitiatory sacrifice is included in the meaning (compare 1Jo 4:3). bring upon themselves โ compare "God bringing in the flood upon the world," 2Pe 2:5. Man brings upon himself the vengeance which God brings upon him. swift โ swiftly descending: as the Lord's coming shall be swift and sudden. As the ground swallowed up Korah and Dathan, and "they went down quick into the pit." Compare Jude 11, which is akin to this passage.
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- follow โ out: so the Greek. pernicious ways โ The oldest manuscripts and Vulgate read, "licentiousness" (Jude 4). False doctrine and immoral practice generally go together (2Pe 2:18, 19). by reason of whom โ "on account of whom," namely, the followers of the false teachers. the way of truth shall be evil spoken of โ "blasphemed" by those without, who shall lay on Christianity itself the blame of its professors' evil practice. Contrast 1Pe 2:12.
Read all 22 notes on 2 Peter 2 โ