Wesley's Explanatory Notes
2 Peter 2:21
The commandment — The whole law of God, once not only delivered to their ears, but written in their hearts.
The commandment — The whole law of God, once not only delivered to their ears, but written in their hearts.
Verse 21. _FOR IT HAD BEEN BETTER FOR THEM NOT TO HAVE KNOWN_] For the reasons assigned above; because they have sinned against more mercy, are capable of more sin, and are liable to greater punishmen...
FOR IT HAD BEEN BETTER FOR THEM ... - Compare the notes at Matthew 26:24. It would have been better for them, for: (1)Then they would not have dishonored the cause of religion as they have now done;...
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)...
Uttering vain words they snare in the lusts of the flesh those who were just escaping (or, had actually escaped) from heathen vices, promising them liberty, while all the time they are themselves the...
FALSE PROPHETS (2 Peter 2:1) _ 2:1 There were times when false prophets arose among the people, even as amongst you too there will be false teachers, men who will insidiously introduce destructive he...
These people are waterless springs, mists driven by a squall of wind; and the gloom of darkness is reserved for them. With talk at once arrogant and futile, they ensnare by appeals to shameless, sensu...
NOT. App-105. KNOWN. App-132. TURN. turn back. FROM. App-104. UNTO. to....
_For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness_ The verb for "known" is, like the noun in the preceding verse, that which implies the fullest form of knowledge, as in 1 Co...
ΤῊΝ ὉΔῸΝ ΤΗ͂Σ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΣΎΝΗΣ occurs in the _Apocalypse of Peter_, §§ 7, 13. It is not a common phrase....
ΚΡΕΪ́ΤΤΟΝ (G2909) _сотр. от_ ΆΓΑΘΌΣ хороший; _сотр._ лучше, ΈΠΕΓΝΩΚΈΝΑΙ _perf. act. inf. от_ ΈΠΙΓΙΝΏΣΚΩ (G1921) знать. _Inf._ поясняет, что лучше, ΈΠΙΓΝΟΎΣΙΝ _aor. act. part. от_ ΈΠΙΓΙΝΏΣΚΩ (G1921)...
DISCOURSE: 2425 APOSTATES IN A WORSE STATE THAN EVER 2 Peter 2:20. If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again ent...
IT HAD BEEN BETTER FOR THEM NOT TO HAVE KNOWN, &C.— By the word _better,_ is meant the lesser evil: which, when two evils are compared together, is accounted the greatest good. _Righteousness_ in this...
2 PETER 2:21-22 FOR IT WERE BETTER FOR THEM NOT TO HAVE KNOWN THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, THAN, AFTER KNOWING IT, TO TURN BACK FROM THE HOLY COMMANDMENT DELIVERED UNTO THEM. IT HAS HAPPENED UNTO THEM AC...
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. THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS - "the way...
VERSE 21. FOR IT HAD BEEN BETTER. Such as apostatize would have been better off had they never heard the gospel of Christ, for by their apostasy their sin is made the greater and the chains with which...
The program of prophecy has gradually become clearer with added revelation. The preexile prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah know only...
2:21 known (b-10) known (b-17) _ Epignosis_ , see Note i, ch. 1.3....
WARNING AGAINST A THREATENED PLAGUE OF BRUTAL FALSE TEACHERS As of old there were false as well as true prophets, so it will be now. This leads the Apostle to speak about the false teachers, who if th...
TURN] RV 'turn back.'...
‘The wicked ways of the world’ refers to all the people, societies and governments in the world who oppose God. The false teachers had once escaped from these wicked ways. They had learned about the *...
JESUS WILL RETURN PETER’S SECOND LETTER _HILDA BRIGHT AND HELEN POCOCK_ CHAPTER 2 FALSE TEACHERS Much of this chapter is similar to the letter of Jude. Some of the words are almost the same. Pe...
IT HAD BEEN BETTER FOR THEM NOT TO HAVE KNOWN. — There are many things of which the well-known lines. “’Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all,” do not hold good. To have...
CHAPTER 25 ALTOGETHER BECOME ABOMINABLE 2 Peter 2:17 THE Apostle now describes these traitors to the cause of Christ under another aspect. They proffer themselves as guides and teachers. As such the...
ὁδὸν τῆς δικαιοσύνης. Also called “the way of truth,” 2 Peter 2:2, “the straight way,” 2 Peter 2:15. ἐντολῆς. Elsewhere in N.T. the singular is used to mean a particular precept. _Cf._ Romans 7:12;...
_The consequences of falling away_. “The case of their victims is a serious one. They have escaped from the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and are once more entangled a...
THE DARK WAY OF ANIMALISM 2 Peter 2:12 The description of these false teachers is terrific! They are slaves to their brute instincts. They are as abusive as they are ignorant. They destroy and will b...
Turning to the subject of the perils threatening the Church, two are referred to - false teachers, and a materialization of mind which follows on such teaching. As in old days there were false prophet...
BEWARE OF EMPTY PROMISES The false teachers, about whom Peter warned, used big words that sounded good but were empty. They lured those who had just escaped back into the ways of sin. Christians certa...
"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 unclean...
In the second Epistle of Peter (and here I must be brief, because of the hour; and I may be brief because Jude will afford us a further consideration of it) we have the same substantial truth of God's...
21.By saying that having forsaken _the commandment delivered unto them, _they returned to their own pollutions, he intimates first, how inexcusable they were; and secondly, he reminds us that the doct...
The next two Chapter s set before us, on the other hand, the two forms of evil that characterise the last days the false and corrupt teaching of bad men, and the unbelief which denies the return of th...
FOR IT HAD BEEN BETTER FOR THEM,.... Not that ignorance is good, or to be excused; but it would have been a lesser evil, and not so much aggravated: NOT TO HAVE KNOWN THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS; the sa...
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. Ver. 21. _It had been better_] _No...
_For if after they_ The persons here spoken of as deluded; _have escaped the pollutions of the world_ The sins which pollute those who know not God; _through the knowledge of Christ_ That is, through...
The spiritual slavery of the false teachers and its consequences:...
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....
But the true government of God has been hated and rejected -even by men claiming to be Christian. Peter, a true prophet, has forewarned of this in this chapter; and the day has come of which he has pr...
_ 2 Peter 2:21 ‘For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them.'_ ‘FOR IT WOULD BE BETTER….N...
17-22 The word of truth is the water of life, which refreshes the souls that receive it; but deceivers spread and promote error, and are set forth as empty, because there is no truth in them. As clou...
IT HAD BEEN BETTER FOR THEM NOT TO HAVE KNOWN; their sin had been less if they had not known the truth, but now they sin against knowledge, and therein their apostacy is much worse than their ignoranc...
2 Peter 2:21 For G1063 been G2258 (G5713) better G2909 them G846 not G3361 known G1921 (G5760) way...
‘For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.' And the sad thing for many of these people...
ALL NEED TO CONSIDER WHAT FOLLOWING THIS TEACHING INVOLVES (2 PETER 2:20). It is often debated as to whether these following verses are spoken about the false teachers, or about both them and their fo...
The description of the parties destined to spring up within the Church, which has been partially interrupted by the summary of Balaam's case, is resumed in direct terms. New points are pressed with th...
2 Peter 2:21. FOR IT WERE BETTER FOR THEM NOT TO HAVE KNOWN THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, THAN, HAVING KNOWN IT, TO TURN BACK FROM THE HOLY COMMANDMENT DELIVERED TO THEM. The ‘better' here, as in 1 Peter...
IT WERE BETTER (κρειττον ην). Apodosis of a condition of second class without αν, as is usual with clauses of possibility, propriety, obligation (Matthew 26:24; 1 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 7:7;...
CONTENTS: Warnings concerning apostate teachers. CHARACTERS: God, Christ, Noah, Lot, Balaam. CONCLUSION: Where God sends His true messengers with His Word, the devil always sends some to seduce and...
2 Peter 2:1. _False teachers who bring in damnable heresies._ Sects leading to perdition, and to the extreme of punishment. Who were they? They were yet to come, in part; the roots only began as yet t...
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN. Compare 1 Timothy 4:2. If a man is ignorant of truth, you can give him truth more easily, than if he already knows it and has renounced it! If a man gives up the Christian life-sty...
_These are wells without water._ FALSE TEACHERS I. Their un-profitableness. “Wells without water.” 1. Pastors are like wells-- (1) For constancy. They keep their residence; men know where to find...
2 PETER—NOTE ON 2 PETER 2:20 IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER for these false teachers never to have ESCAPED the world in the first place. They had the KNOWLEDGE OF... CHRIST. They then r
2 PETER—NOTE ON 2 PETER 2:1 Evaluation of False Teachers. In this third main section of his letter, Peter criticizes the false teachers, using biblical illustrations to do so....
_CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES_ 2 Peter 2:10. DESPISE GOVERNMENT.—Dominion. Both self-restraint and restraint of good rules and wise authorities. Those who own no superior. EVIL OF DIGNITIES.—Lit. “Th...
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 na...
False prophets have always been around. Now they don't wear signs, "I'm a false prophet". They come in sheep's clothing. They look like sheep. They come sometimes dripping with love and phrases of lov...
1 Thessalonians 4:2; Ezekiel 18:24; Ezekiel 23:13; Ezekiel 3:20;...
TIMELY WARNINGS 2 Peter 2:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS It has been said that "to be forewarned is to be forearmed." If God had not told us the things which would surely come, to pass, we would not be prepa...
As if the apostle had said, The sin and misery of these men had been far less, if they had never known the way of righteousness revealed by the gospel of Christ, than after they have known it, to fors...