2 Peter 2:12

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; (Jude 1:10; Jude 1:19.) BUT - in contrast to the "angels" (2 Peter 2:11). NATURAL ... MADE. Transposed in 'Aleph (') A B C. 'Born natural' - i:e., born in their very nature as irrational animals, to be taken and destroyed (Greek, 'unto capture and destruction' [ fthoran (G5356), corruption], note, Galatians 6:8: cf. below). Brute...

12._But these. _He proceeds with what he had begun to say respecting impious and wicked corrupters. And, first, he condemns their loose manners and the obscene wickedness of their whole life; and then he says that they were audacious and perverse, so that by their scurrilous garrulity they insinuated themselves into the favor of many. He especially compares them to those _brute animals, _which seem to have come to existence to be ensnared, and to be driven to their own ruin by their own instinct; as though he had said, that being induced by no allurements, they of themselves hasten to throw themselves into the snares of Satan and of death. For what we render, _naturally born, _Peter has literally, “natural born.” But there is not much difference in the sense, whether one of the two has been by somebody else supplied, or by putting down both he meant more fully to express his meaning. (1...

10-16 Impure seducers and their abandoned followers, give themselves up to their own fleshly minds. Refusing to bring every thought to the obedience of Christ, they act against God's righteous precepts. They walk after the flesh, they go on in sinful courses, and increase to greater degrees of impurity and wickedness. They also despise those whom God has set in authority over them, and requires them to honour. Outward temporal good things are the wages sinners expect and promise themselves. And none have more cause to tremble, than those who are bold to gratify their sinful lusts, by presuming on the Divine grace and mercy. Many such there have been, and are, who speak lightly of the restraints of God's law, and deem themselves freed from obligations to obey it. Let Christians stand at a distance from such....

Verse 12. _BUT THESE, AS NATURAL BRUTE BEASTS_] ωςαλογαζωα φυσικα. _As those natural animals void of reason_, following only the gross instinct of nature, being governed neither by reason nor religion. _MADE TO BE TAKEN AND DESTROYED_] Intended to be taken with nets and gins, and then destroyed, because of their fierce and destructive nature; so these false teachers and insurgents must be treated; first incarcerated, and then brought to judgment, that they may have the reward of their doings. And thus, by _blaspheming what they do not understand_, they at last _perish in_ _their own corruption_; i.e. their corrupt doctrines and vicious practices....

BUT THESE, AS NATURAL BRUTE BEASTS - These persons, who resemble so much irrational animals which are made to be taken and destroyed. The point of the comparison is, that they are like fierce and savage beasts that exercise no control over their appetites, and that seeM to be made only to be destroyed. These persons, by their fierce and ungovernable passions, appear to be made only for destruction, and rush blindly on to it. The word rendered “natural,” (which, however, is lacking in several manuscripts), means “as they are by nature,” following the bent of their natural appetites and passions. The idea is, that they exercised no more restraint over their passions than beasts do over their propensities. They were entirely under the dominion of their natural appetites, and did not allow their reason or conscience to exert any constraint. The word rendered “brute,” means without reason; ir...

EXPOSITION 2 PETER 2:1 BUT THERE WERE FALSE PROPHETS ALSO AMONG THE PEOPLE; rather, as in the Revised Version, _but there arose false prophets also among the people. _The transition is simple and natural. Besides the true prophets mentioned in the last chapter, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, there arose false prophets, men who wore "a rough garment to deceive" (Zechariah 13:4), and assumed without warrant the prophetic character. Such pretenders would commonly prophesy false things; but the word ψευδοπροφῆται_ _seems principally to imply the absence of a Divine mission. By "the people" (λαός) is meant the people of Israel, as in Romans 15:

BUT THESE, AS NATURAL BRUTE BEASTS,.... So far are these men from acting like the angels, that they are sunk below their own species, and are like beasts, and become brutish in their knowledge and behaviour; are like the horse and the mule, without understanding, act as if they were without reason; yea, are more stupid and senseless than the ox, or the ass, which know their owner, and their crib; and even in those things which they might, and do know by the light of nature, they corrupt themselves; and being given up to judicial blindness, and a reprobate mind, call good evil, and evil good, and do things that are not convenient, and which even brute beasts do not; and like as they are guided by an instinct in nature, to do what they do, so these men are led and influenced by the force and power of corrupt nature in them, to commit all manner of wickedness: and like them are MADE TO BE...

NATURAL BRUTE BEASTS Natural animals without reason. (Jude 1:10)....

II. THE EVIL TO COME THROUGH FALSE TEACHERS CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The source of the evil (2 Peter 2:1)_ 2. The lessons from the past. (2 Peter 2:4) 3. The description of the apostates (2 Peter 2:11) 2 Peter 2:1 The Apostle Peter is now being used by the Spirit of God to prophesy. He predicts the coming evil for the professing church, that apostate teachers would do their vicious work. As pointed out in the introduction every other writer of the Epistles bears the same witness and that witness is mostly found in the second Epistles and in the Epistle of Jude. (See...

The sins of the false teachers are now described licentiousness (2 Peter 2:10), audacious blasphemy (2 Peter 2:10), open profligacy (2 Peter 2:13), and covetousness like that of Balaam (2 Peter 2:15). They are as worthless as springs without water, and their end is blackness of darkness. The whole section is based on Jude 1:8.* 2 P. softens the severity of Jude's language and rearranges the order. He expands the reference to Balaam and omits Cain and Korah. In 2 Peter 2:11 he omits the