2 Petrus 2:2-3

2:2 And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. ¹  Because of these false teachers, ²  the way of truth will be slandered. ³  2:3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their ⁴  condemnation pronounced long ago ⁵  is not sitting idly by; ⁶  their ⁷  destruction is not asleep.

2 Petrus 2:11-13

2:11 yet even ⁸  angels, who are much more powerful, ⁹  do not bring a slanderous ¹⁰  judgment against them before the Lord. ¹¹  2:12 But ¹²  these men, ¹³  like irrational animals – creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed ¹⁴  – do not understand whom ¹⁵  they are insulting, and consequently ¹⁶  in their destruction they will be destroyed, ¹⁷  2:13 suffering harm as the wages for their harmful ways. ¹⁸  By considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight, ¹⁹  they are stains and blemishes, indulging ²⁰  in their deceitful pleasures when they feast together with you.

2 Petrus 3:3

3:3 Above all, understand this: ²¹  In the last days blatant scoffers ²²  will come, being propelled by their own evil urges ²³ 

2 Petrus 3:16

3:16 speaking of these things in all his letters. ²⁴  Some things in these letters ²⁵  are hard to understand, things ²⁶  the ignorant and unstable twist ²⁷  to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures. ²⁸ 

[2:2]  ¹ tn “Debauched lifestyles” is literally “licentiousnesses,” “sensualities,” “debaucheries.”

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

[2:2]  ³ tn Or “blasphemed,” “reviled,” “treated with contempt.”

[2:3]  ⁴ tn Grk “to whom,” introducing a subordinate relative clause.

[2:3]  ⁵ tn Grk “the ancient judgment.”

[2:3]  ⁶ tn Grk “is not idle.”

[2:3]  ⁷ tn Greek has “and their.” As introducing a synonymous parallel, it is superfluous in English.

[2:11]  ⁸ tn Grk “whereas.”

[2:11]  ⁹ tn Grk “who are greater in strength and power.” What is being compared, however, could either be the false teachers or “the glorious ones,” in which case “angels” would refer to good angels and “the glorious ones” to evil angels.

[2:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or “insulting.” The word comes from the same root as the term found in v. 10 (“insult”), v. 12 (“insulting”), and v. 2 (“will be slandered”). The author is fond of building his case by the repetition of a word in a slightly different context so that the readers make the necessary connection. English usage cannot always convey this connection because a given word in one language cannot always be translated the same way in another.

[2:11]  ¹¹ tc ‡ Some witnesses lack παρὰ κυρίῳ (para kuriw; so A Ψ 33 81 1505 1881 2464 al vg co), while others have the genitive παρὰ κυρίου (para kuriou; so Ì⁷² 1241 al sy^ph,h**). The majority of witnesses (including א B C P 1739 Ï) read the dative παρὰ κυρίῳ. The genitive expression suggests that angels would not pronounce a judgment on “the glorious ones” from the Lord, while the dative indicates that angels would not pronounce a judgment on “the glorious ones” in the presence of the Lord. The parallel in Jude 9 speaks of a reviling judgment against the devil in which the prepositional phrase is entirely absent. At the same time, in that parallel Michael does say, “The Lord rebuke you.” (Hence, he is offering something of a judgment from the Lord.) The best options externally are the dative or the omission of the phrase, but a decision is difficult. Internally, the omission may possibly be a motivated reading in that it finds a parallel in Jude 9 (where no prepositional phrase is used). All things considered, the dative is to be preferred, though with much reservation.

[2:12]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “born for capture and destruction.”

[2:12]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “with [reference to] whom.”

[2:12]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “considering carousing in the daytime a pleasure.”

[2:13]  ²⁰ tn Or “carousing,” “reveling.” The participle ἐντρυφῶντες (entrufwnte") is a cognate to the noun τρυφή (trufh, “carousing”) used earlier in the verse.

[3:3]  ²¹ tn Grk “knowing this [to be] foremost.” Τοῦτο πρῶτον (touto prwton) constitute the object and complement of γινώσκοντες (ginwskonte"). The participle is loosely dependent on the infinitive in v. 2 (“[I want you] to recall”), perhaps in a telic sense (thus, “[I want you] to recall…[and especially] to understand this as foremost”). The following statement then would constitute the main predictions with which the author was presently concerned. An alternative is to take it imperativally: “Above all, know this.” In this instance, however, there is little semantic difference (since a telic participle and imperatival participle end up urging an action). Cf. also 2 Pet 1:20.

[3:3]  ²² tn The Greek reads “scoffers in their scoffing” for “blatant scoffers.” The use of the cognate dative is a Semitism designed to intensify the word it is related to. The idiom is foreign to English. As a Semitism, it is further incidental evidence of the authenticity of the letter (see the note on “Simeon” in 1:1 for other evidence).

[3:3]  ²³ tn Grk “going according to their own evil urges.”

[3:16]  ²⁴ tn Grk “as also in all his letters speaking in them of these things.”

[3:16]  ²⁵ tn Grk “in which are some things hard to understand.”

[3:16]  ²⁶ tn Grk “which.” The antecedent is the “things hard to understand,” not the entirety of Paul’s letters. A significant principle is seen here: The primary proof texts used for faith and practice ought to be the clear passages that are undisputed in their meaning. Heresy today is still largely built on obscure texts.

[3:16]  ²⁷ tn Or “distort,” “wrench,” “torture” (all are apt descriptions of what heretics do to scripture).

[3:16]  ²⁸ sn This one incidental line, the rest of the scriptures, links Paul’s writings with scripture. This is thus one of the earliest affirmations of any part of the NT as scripture. Peter’s words were prophetic and were intended as a preemptive strike against the heretics to come.