_But_ Now that I am speaking of the divinely-inspired Jewish prophets, whose writings you must give heed to, I must remind you that _there were also false prophets among the people_ Of Israel, whose doctrine and pretended predictions were to be disbelieved and disregarded, and whose society was to b... [ Continue Reading ]
_And many shall follow their pernicious ways_ Their destructive doctrines, and sinful practices. _By reason of whom the way of truth_ The doctrine of the gospel, and the genuine religion of Christ; _shall be evil spoken of_ By many others, who will blend all false and true Christians together, as if... [ Continue Reading ]
_For if_ Or _since_, as ει γαρ may be here rendered; _God spared not the angels that sinned_ “The angels seem to have been placed originally in a state of trial. Those who stood are called in Scripture, _the holy angels._ The sin of the angels is spoken of likewise, John 8:44, and Jude, 2 Peter 2:6,... [ Continue Reading ]
_And spared not the old_ The antediluvian; _world, but saved Noah_ Interposed amidst the general ruin for the preservation of one good man and his family; _the eighth person, a preacher_, &c. Bishop Pearson translates this clause, _the eighth preacher of righteousness;_ supposing that _Enoch_, (Gene... [ Continue Reading ]
_And turning the cities of Sodom, &c., into ashes_ When the inhabitants of those places were sunk into the lowest degeneracy; _and condemned them with an overthrow_ Punished them with utter destruction, both of their persons and habitations; _making them an ensample_ Not an example to be imitated, b... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord_, &c. This answers to 2 Peter 2:4, and closes the sense which was begun there; _knoweth how to deliver_ As if he had said, It plainly appears, from these instances, that the Lord hath both wisdom and power sufficient, or can find out ways and means, and will do so; _to deliver the godly_ T... [ Continue Reading ]
_But chiefly them that walk after the flesh_ Their corrupt nature; particularly _in the lusts of uncleanness_ Which are especially detestable in the eye of God; and the crimes they commit so much resemble those of Sodom, that it is the less to be wondered at if they share in its punishment; _and_ wi... [ Continue Reading ]
_But these_ False teachers; _as natural brute beasts_ As irrational animals, led merely by their brutish inclinations, several of which, in the present disordered state of the world, seem to be _made to be taken and destroyed_ by mankind. He speaks chiefly of savage beasts, which men for their own s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Which have forsaken the right_ Ευθειαν, _straight; way_ The way of truth and integrity, _and are gone astray_ Have wandered in dangerous and destructive paths; _following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor_ (So the Chaldeans pronounced what the Jews called _Beor,_) namely, the ways of covetousness.... [ Continue Reading ]
_But was rebuked for his iniquity_ In a very extraordinary manner; _the dumb ass_ On which he rode; _speaking with man's voice_ That is, in man's language; _forbade the madness of the prophet_ Namely, his endeavour to contradict the will of God, which might well be called _madness_, because it could... [ Continue Reading ]
_These are wells without water_, &c. Pretenders to knowledge and piety, but really destitute thereof; _clouds_ Promising fertilizing showers of instructive and edifying doctrine, but yielding none; _carried with a tempest_ Driven by the violence of their own lusts from one error and vice to another;... [ Continue Reading ]
_When they speak great swelling words of vanity_ Propose their vain and false doctrine in a lofty style, or affect sublime strains of language, which are often void of any real meaning; _they allure through the lusts of the flesh_ By allowing their hearers to live in lewd courses, or to gratify some... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 faith in him, 2 Peter 1:3; _they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end_ Their las... [ Continue Reading ]