2 Petrus 2:1-2

The False Teachers’ Ungodly Lifestyle

2:1 But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. ¹  These false teachers ²  will ³  infiltrate your midst ⁴  with destructive heresies, ⁵  even to the point of ⁶  denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring ⁷  swift destruction on themselves. 2:2 And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. ⁸  Because of these false teachers, ⁹  the way of truth will be slandered. ¹⁰ 

2 Petrus 2:12-19

2:12 But ¹¹  these men, ¹²  like irrational animals – creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed ¹³  – do not understand whom ¹⁴  they are insulting, and consequently ¹⁵  in their destruction they will be destroyed, ¹⁶  2:13 suffering harm as the wages for their harmful ways. ¹⁷  By considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight, ¹⁸  they are stains and blemishes, indulging ¹⁹  in their deceitful pleasures when they feast together with you. 2:14 Their eyes, ²⁰  full of adultery, ²¹  never stop sinning; ²²  they entice ²³  unstable people. ²⁴  They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children! ²⁵  2:15 By forsaking the right path they have gone astray, because they followed the way of Balaam son of Bosor, ²⁶  who loved the wages of unrighteousness, ²⁷  2:16 yet was rebuked ²⁸  for his own transgression (a dumb donkey, ²⁹  speaking with a human voice, ³⁰  restrained the prophet’s madness). ³¹ 

2:17 These men ³²  are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness ³³  have been reserved. 2:18 For by speaking high-sounding but empty words ³⁴  they are able to entice, ³⁵  with fleshly desires and with debauchery, ³⁶  people ³⁷  who have just escaped ³⁸  from those who reside in error. ³⁹  2:19 Although these false teachers promise ⁴⁰  such people ⁴¹  freedom, they themselves are enslaved to ⁴²  immorality. ⁴³  For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved. ⁴⁴ 

[2:1]  ¹ sn There will be false teachers among you. Peter uses the same verb, γίνομαι (ginomai), in 2 Pet 2:1 as he had used in 1:20 to describe the process of inspiration. He may well be contrasting, by way of a catchword, the two kinds of prophets.

[2:1]  ² tn Grk “who”; verse 1 is one sentence in Greek, the second half constituting a relative clause.

[2:1]  ³ sn By the use of the future tense (will infiltrate), Peter is boldly prophesying the role that false teachers will have before these Gentile believers. It was necessary for him to establish both his own credentials and to anchor his audience’s faith in the written Word before he could get to this point, for these false teachers will question both.

[2:1]  ⁴ tn Grk “will bring in,” often with the connotation of secretiveness; “your midst” is implied.

[2:1]  ⁵ tn Or “destructive opinions,” “destructive viewpoints.” The genitive ἀπωλείας (apwleia") could be taken either attributively (“destructive”) or as a genitive of destination (“leading to destruction”). Although the preferable interpretation is a genitive of destination, especially because of the elaboration given at the end of the verse (“bringing swift destruction on themselves”), translating it attributively is less cumbersome in English. Either way, the net result is the same.

[2:1]  ⁶ tn Grk “even.” The καί (kai) is ascensive, suggesting that the worst heresy is mentioned in the words that follow.

[2:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “bringing.” The present participle ἐπάγοντες (epagonte") indicates the result of the preceding clause.

[2:2]  ⁸ tn “Debauched lifestyles” is literally “licentiousnesses,” “sensualities,” “debaucheries.”

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Grk “because of whom,” introducing a subordinate clause to the first part of the verse.

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “blasphemed,” “reviled,” “treated with contempt.”

[2:12]  ¹¹ tn 2 Pet 2:12 through 16 constitute one cumbersome sentence in Greek. It is difficult to tell whether a hard break belongs in the middle of v. 13, as the translation has it, or whether the compounding of participles is meant in a loosely descriptive sort of way, without strong grammatical connection. Either way, the sentence rambles in a way that often betrays a great “vehemence of spirit” (A. T. Robertson, Grammar, 435). The author is obviously agitated at these false teachers who are to come.

[2:12]  ¹² tn The false teachers could conceivably be men or women, but in v. 14 they are said to have eyes “full of an adulteress.” This can only refer to men. Hence, both here and in v. 17 the false teachers are described as “men.”

[2:12]  ¹³ tn Grk “born for capture and destruction.”

[2:12]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “with [reference to] whom.”

[2:12]  ¹⁵ tn There is no conjunction joining this last clause of v. 12 to the preceding (i.e., no “and consequently”). The argument builds asyndetically (a powerful rhetorical device in Greek), but cannot be naturally expressed in English as such.

[2:12]  ¹⁶ tn This cryptic expression has been variously interpreted. (1) It could involve a simple cognate dative in which case the idea is “they will be utterly destroyed.” But the presence of αὐτῶν (autwn; their, of them) is problematic for this view. Other, more plausible views are: (2) the false teachers will be destroyed at the same time as the irrational beasts, or (3) in the same manner as these creatures (i.e., by being caught); or (4) the false teachers will be destroyed together with the evil angels whom they insult. Because of the difficulties of the text, it was thought best to leave it ambiguous, as the Greek has it.

[2:13]  ¹⁷ tn There is a play on words in Greek, but this is difficult to express adequately in English. The verb ἀδικέω (adikew) as a passive means “to suffer harm,” or “to suffer an injustice.” The noun ἀδικία (adikia) means “unrighteousness.” Since the Greek verb has a wider field of meaning than the English, to translate it as suffer an injustice is unwarranted, for it implicitly attributes evil to God. As R. Bauckham notes, “in English it is impossible to translate ἀδικούμενοι as a morally neutral term and ἀδικίας with a morally pejorative term, while retaining the play on words” (Jude, 2 Peter [WBC], 265).

[2:13]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “considering carousing in the daytime a pleasure.”

[2:13]  ¹⁹ tn Or “carousing,” “reveling.” The participle ἐντρυφῶντες (entrufwnte") is a cognate to the noun τρυφή (trufh, “carousing”) used earlier in the verse.

[2:14]  ²⁰ tn Grk “having eyes.” See note on “men” at the beginning of v. 12.

[2:14]  ²¹ tn Grk “full of an adulteress.”

[2:14]  ²² tn Grk “and unceasing from sin.” Some translate this “insatiable for sin,” but such a translation is based on a textual variant with inadequate support.

[2:14]  ²³ tn Grk “enticing.” See note on “men” at the beginning of v. 12.

[2:14]  ²⁴ tn “People” is literally “souls.” The term ψυχή (yuch) can refer to one’s soul, one’s life, or oneself.

[2:14]  ²⁵ tn Grk “having hearts trained in greediness, children of cursing.” The participles continue the general description of the false teachers, without strong grammatical connection. The genitive κατάρας (kataras, “of cursing”) is taken attributively here.

[2:15]  ²⁶ tn Although many modern translations (e.g., NASB, TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT) read “Beor” here, this is due to harmonization with the OT rather than following a variant textual reading. The Greek text of NA²⁷ reads “Bosor,” an otherwise unattested form of the name of Balaam’s father.

[2:15]  ²⁷ tn “Wages of unrighteousness” in Greek is the same expression found in v. 13, “wages for harmful ways.” The repetition makes the link between the false teachers and Balaam more concrete.

[2:16]  ²⁸ tn Grk “but he had a rebuke.”

[2:16]  ²⁹ tn The Greek word ἄφωνος (afwno") means “mute, silent” or “incapable of speech.” For reasons of English style the word “dumb” was used in the translation. Despite the potential for misunderstanding (since “dumb” can refer to a lack of intellectual capability) more dynamic glosses were judged to be inelegant.

[2:16]  ³⁰ tn Grk “a voice of a (man/person).”

[2:16]  ³¹ sn Balaam’s activities are detailed in Num 22—24 (see also Num 31:8, 16).

[2:17]  ³² tn Although some translations have simply “these” or “these people,” since in v. 14 they are described as having eyes “full of an adulteress,” men are in view.

[2:17]  ³³ tn Grk “utter darkness of darkness.” Verse 4 speaks of wicked angels presently in “chains of utter darkness,” while the final fate of the false teachers is a darker place still.

[2:18]  ³⁴ tn Grk “high-sounding words of futility.”

[2:18]  ³⁵ tn Grk “they entice.”

[2:18]  ³⁶ tn Grk “with the lusts of the flesh, with debauchery.”

[2:18]  ³⁷ tn Grk “those.”

[2:18]  ³⁸ tn Or “those who are barely escaping.”

[2:18]  ³⁹ tn Or “deceit.”

[2:19]  ⁴⁰ tn Verse 19 is a subordinate clause in Greek. The masculine nominative participle “promising” (ἐπαγγελλόμενοι, epangellomenoi) refers back to the subject of vv. 17-18. At the same time, it functions subordinately to the following participle, ὑπάρχοντες (Juparconte", “while being”).

[2:19]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “them.”

[2:19]  ⁴² tn Grk “slaves of.” See the note on the word “slave” in 1:1.

[2:19]  ⁴³ tn Or “corruption,” “depravity.” Verse 19 constitutes a subordinate clause to v. 18 in Greek. The main verbal components of these two verses are: “uttering…they entice…promising…being (enslaved).” The main verb is (they) entice. The three participles are adverbial and seem to indicate an instrumental relation (by uttering), a concessive relation (although promising), and a temporal relation (while being [enslaved]). For the sake of English usage, in the translation of the text this is broken down into two sentences.

[2:19]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “for by what someone is overcome, to this he is enslaved.”