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False prophets and false teachers (1–3). The inevitability of God’s punishment on them is based on previous examples of God’s punishment (4–9). Detailed characteristics of false teachers (10–15). Balaam's sin (15–16). The wickedness of false teachers and the destruction that awaits them (17–22). 2Pet.2:1. There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will introduce destructive heresies and, denying the Lord who bought them, will bring upon themselves quick destruction. Having in mind to depict, for the purpose of warning readers, the moral character of false teachers, some of whom had already appeared at the time of the written epistle, and some who had special power to emerge later, the Apostle puts these false teachers in parallel with the Old Testament false prophets, Ψευδοπροφήται, whose name he also assigns to the false teachers of Christian times. “By false teachers the Apostle means like-minded Nicholas and Cerinthos, and in the name of prophecy, generally given to both prophets and false teachers, he warns believers not to listen to false prophets” (Blessed Theophilus). The signs of ancient false prophets were: their self-proclaimed assumption of the prophetic ministry, although they insisted on their Divine calling (Jer 23:21, 27:12); proclamation of predictions based on the types of self-interest and man-pleasing (1 Kings 22:10–13, 19–23), the falsity of predictions, the insignificance of miracles (Ezek. 13:3 et seq., etc.), the main feature: preaching not in the Name of the Secret True God and pure service to Him, but in the name of other gods (Deut. 13:1–5, 18:20 and etc.). Likewise, the false teachers of the apostolic and post-apostolic times, according to the Apostle, “will introduce destructive heresies, and by denying the Lord who redeemed them, they will bring upon themselves quick destruction.” 2 Peter 2:2. And many will follow their depravity, and through them the path of truth will be reproached. 2 Peter 2:3. And out of covetousness they will entice you with flattering words; judgment has long been ready for them, and their destruction does not sleep. False teachers spread their destructive teaching among the people, guided by motives of greed, and will have success that threatens the death of both them and their deceived followers. “To show that they are completely alien to divine teaching, he says that they use flattering words” (Blessed Theophilus). 2 Peter 2:4. For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but, having bound them in the bonds of hellish darkness, handed them over to be judged for punishment; 2 Peter 2:5. and if he did not spare the first world, but in eight souls he preserved the family of Noah, the preacher of righteousness, when he brought the flood upon the world of the wicked; 2 Peter 2:6. and if, having condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, he turned them into ashes, setting an example for future wicked people, 2 Peter 2:7. and righteous Lot, tired of being treated among violently depraved people, delivered 2 Peter 2:8. (for this righteous man, living among them, was tormented daily in his righteous soul, seeing and hearing lawless deeds) - In support of the idea of ​​the inevitability of judgment and destruction on false teachers, the Apostle points out three examples of such a judgment of God from the history of the ancient world: judgment over the fallen angels (v. 4), over pre-flood humanity, except for Noah and his family (v. 5, see Gen. 6–8), and over the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 6, Gen. 19), except for righteous Lot (vv. 7–8). The sin of the angels here spoken of, v. 4, Ap. Peter, as well as Ap. Jude in his epistle (v. 6), many interpreters of ancient and modern times understood in the sense of the carnal fall of angels, and the narrative of Genesis 6:4 was interpreted in a unique way, in accordance with some codes of the LXX, Josephus and Flavius (Antiquit. I, III, 1), Philo (De Gigant. § 2), the book of Enoch (chap. 6-10) and many Jewish and ancient Christian interpreters. But this explanation does not reconcile with the spirit of all biblical angelology (see in the book of Prof. Priest A. Glagolev - “The Old Testament Biblical Teaching about Angels.” Kyiv, 1900, pp. 201–205 notes). According to John 8:44, the sin of the devil consisted of apostasy or falling away from the truth and stubborn adherence to lies. From 1 Timothy 3:6 they concluded by analogy that the original sin of the devil was pride, and according to the guess of some teachers of the Church, it was precisely in relation to the Son of God (cf. Heb. 1:6). “Hellish darkness”, glory. "captives of darkness", Greek. σειραί ζόφου, is a synonym for the abyss Luke 8:31. In the second (v. 5) and third (v. 6) examples, the Apostle turns the reader’s thoughts to the biblical history of mankind, and next to the punishment of the wicked he also points out the salvation of the pious. “Why does he add examples of good people to the examples of bad people?.. The Apostle seems to be saying this: God knows how to inevitably punish those who live in sin, just as he punished the angels who sinned, the people of the pre-flood, the city of Sodom. He knows how to reward those who do the truth, as he rewarded Noah and Lot” (Blessed Theophilus). 2 Peter 2:9. then, of course, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly from temptation, and to preserve the wicked for the day of judgment, for punishment, From the examples given in 2 Peter 2:4–8, the Apostle draws a moralizing conclusion in the spirit of the generally biblical view of Divine reward and retribution for people (cf. Ps. 34:20; Proverbs 16:4; 1 Cor. 10:13; Rev. 3:10). Everything was said by the Apostle “in order, firstly, to remember together the story of the destruction of the wicked and the salvation of the righteous; secondly, in order to, through comparison of them, expose the terrible malice of sinners and the bright perfections of the virtuous; finally, in order to convince his listeners to hate the wickedness of some because of the punishments for it and to love the virtue of others because of its salvation” (Blessed Theophilus). 2 Peter 2:10. and especially those who follow the evil lusts of the flesh, despise authorities, are bold, self-willed and are not afraid to speak evil of those above, 2 Peter 2:11. whereas the Angels, surpassing them in strength and power, do not pronounce a reproachful judgment on them before the Lord. 2 Peter 2:12. They, like dumb animals, led by nature, born to be caught and destroyed, slandering what they do not understand, will be destroyed in their corruption. 2 Peter 2:13. They will receive retribution for their iniquity, for they delight in daily luxury; disgraces and defilers, they enjoy their deceptions, feasting with you. 2 Peter 2:14. Their eyes are filled with lust and incessant sin; they seduce unsteady souls; their hearts are accustomed to covetousness: they are the sons of the curse. 2 Peter 2:15. Leaving the straight path, they got lost, following in the footsteps of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, Having given his readers guidance regarding caution regarding the temptations of false teachers, the Apostle now proceeds to describe these latter in more detail. Moral laxity with a tendency toward unnatural carnal vices (vv. 10, 14) and insolence in relation to all authority (vv. 10-11) especially stand out in the dark characterization of false teachers. “The meaning (of the whole characteristic) is this: they, says the Apostle, have nothing characteristic of cleanliness, but stick to a clean society, like stains on clean clothes. When they seduce someone and manage to make the husbands and wives caught in their net unclean, they consider this deed a pleasure, complementing their corruption. Even when they feast with you, they do so not out of love and communication with others, but because they find this time convenient for seducing women. For they, having eyes, look at nothing else but lust, and constantly having this in mind and sinning, like sons of the curse, they deceive unsteady souls. For their heart is accustomed to nothing else but covetousness, i.e. to debauchery or self-interest, and through both, abandoning the path that could lead them to salvation, they lost their way from it” (Blessed Theophilus). 2 Peter 2:16. but he was convicted of his iniquity: the dumb donkey, speaking in a human voice, stopped the madness of the prophet (Numbers 22:23–24). The moral laxity and greed of the contemporary apostle and future false teachers is explained here, as in Ap. Judah (Jude 1:11) and in the Apocalypse (Rev. 2:14), comparing them with Balaam, who also turned out to be guilty of covetousness (Num. 22:5 et seq., Num. 22:22, 23–34) and, in addition, who led the Israelites into the temptation of communicating with the Midianite women (Num. 25:1, 31:16 ). At the same time, Ap. Peter remembers, v. 16, about the supernatural admonition given by God through a dumb donkey to the prophet. “From here we learn that Balaam, having once received a prohibition from God to go to Balak, was again prompted to do so by his arrogant passion, which he fed with his frantic sorcery, but curbed by the fear of God and the terrible signs that happened along the way, he did not change the word of blessing, which was not the work of sorcery. For prophets pronounce their messages with consciousness. That is why the Apostle called him a “prophet”, as one who knew, for he spoke... So, his blessing was not a matter of sorcery, but of the power of God” (Blessed Theophilus). 2 Peter 2:17. These are waterless springs, clouds and mist, driven by a storm: the darkness of eternal darkness is prepared for them. 2 Peter 2:18. For, uttering inflated idle talk, they ensnare those who are barely behind those in error into carnal lusts and debauchery. 2 Peter 2:19. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for whoever is conquered by someone is his slave. Continuing and finishing his characterization of false teachers, the Apostle likens them to waterless springs and empty clouds. “He compares them to waterless springs because they have lost the purity of preaching and the sweet water of life. He compares them to clouds driven by the wind, meaning an opposing wind, which is why he called it a storm, since the storm brings what it drives into complete disorder. They, he says, are not light clouds, like the saints, but dark, full of darkness” (Blessed Theophilus). In Art. 18–19 figurative speech art. 17 is revealed in terms of its meaning and significance. False teachers “out of vanity utter inflated speeches, drawing through carnal lust into depravity those who have completely avoided it, or, if they were once in error, then subsequently submitted themselves to the Lord. They themselves, he says, being slaves of the mentioned uncleanness, which they rightly called corruption, promise freedom to those who are seduced. And why they promise freedom, while themselves being slaves of sin, provides an excellent proof of this: whoever is overcome by any passion is its slave” (Blessed Theophilus). 2 Peter 2:20. For if, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome by them, then the latter is worse for them than the first. 2 Peter 2:21. It would be better for them not to know the path of righteousness than, having learned it, to turn back from the holy commandment handed down to them. 2 Peter 2:22. But what happens to them is according to the true proverb: the dog returns to his vomit, and the washed pig goes to wallow in the mud. Wanting to express that important thought that “those who know the truth, but again adhere to their former wickedness, fall into evil worse than the former” (Blessed Theophilus), the Apostle explains his thought in Art. 22 by two comparisons, the first of which is borrowed from Proverbs 26:11, and the second, probably, from a current parable of the unwritten. “The meaning of the speech is this: if those who, through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, have escaped the defilements of the world, are again entangled in them and overcome by them, then they, without a doubt, are enslaved by them, and their situation becomes worse than it was before the knowledge of slavery, for Satan is strenuously trying to make them fall into greater evil. That is why the Apostle says that in such a future, for those who voluntarily return to evil, it would be better for them not to know (the truth), rather than, having learned it, to fall into greater evil. Because a dog that returns to its vomit is even more disgusting, just like a pig that seeks to wash itself from dirt, if it does it in the dirt, it turns out to be even dirtier than before” (Blessed Theophilus). This formidable and warning thought of the Apostle applies both to false teachers and to those deceived by them, and to all Christians who sin and through sin fall “from the holy commandment handed down to them” (v. 21). But this apostolic rebuke is especially applicable to false teachers; It is to them, or more precisely to a special group of false teachers who denied the reality of the second coming of the Lord, that the Apostle Peter now passes (2 Pet. 3:3-4). You might be interested in: