FOR IF GOD: ei gar o theos:
For
(gar) introduces the evidence that shows that God will
indeed carry out His sentence against the false teachers. Literally
Peter says "the
God" and then
declares a solemn reality as a grim message of warning. "The
God" does not
condone sin and all creation stands accountable to Him for their
actions. This simple but profound truth should cause us all to pause and
consider carefully our thoughts, words and deeds each day God grants us
to take another breath.
The "if"
(ei) in this sentence does not imply doubt but is what is
referred to as a "first class condition" which in plain English means
that the three examples of God's past judgment that follow are assumed
true. One can usually translate first class conditional statements with
"since". In this case Peter is saying that there is no doubt about
the fact that God intervened in world history to bring just judgment and
the judgment just announced (v3)
upon the false teachers is perfectly concordant with God's dealings with
evil in the past. As an aside verses (4-10a) are all one complex
sentence in the Greek and represent one of the longest in the NT. This
is significant in aiding your understanding of what Peter is saying,
because verses (4-8) compose the conditional statement and (verse
9-10a)
deal with Peter's conclusion. What Peter does in (v4-9) is to
"accumulate examples" of God's past intervention in the affairs of
mankind to make the conclusion in (v9-10a)
all that more forceful and emphatic. All three of Peter's
examples (Angels,
worldwide Flood, Sodom & Gomorrah) follow
chronologically, one after another in Genesis and clearly illustrate
that neither rank, strength nor numbers shield rebellious evil from
God's just vengeance. Little wonder that false teachers so often
deceptively attempt to ascribe the truth of Genesis to the realm of myth
or fable!
DID NOT SPARE
ANGELS: aggelon hamartesanton ouk
epheisato (AMI): (5;
Dt 29:20;
Ps 78:50;
Ez 5:11;
7:4,9;
Ro 8:32;
11:21) (angels
Job 4:18;
Lu 10:18;
Jn 8:44;
1 Jn 3:8;
Jude 1:6)
Spare (5339)
(pheidomai) means to treat leniently or withhold
punishment that their sin justly deserved.
The
aorist tense
indicates a past completed effectual action. God actually did not spare
the supernatural beings when they sinned and it follows He will not
grant clemency to the false teachers.
Peter's assertion "negates the
sentimental view of the divine character that as a God of love and mercy
He will not thus punish any of His creatures. God's holiness demands
that sin receive its just recompense. But it is eminently true that God
has ''no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Ezek 33:11,
18:23) and
therefore "He who did not
spare (pheidomai)
His
own
Son, but
delivered (paradidomi
translated "committed"
below) Him over for us
all... (Ro 8:32)
that He might freely offer forgiveness to all on the basis of His
atoning work. The expression employed is the same but how different the
activity envisioned!" (Hiebert).
"O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me! Underneath me, all
around me, is the current of Thy love Leading onward, leading homeward
to Thy glorious rest above!" (play
tune)
Angels (32)
(aggelos) (Torrey's Topic gives an excellent Scriptural
overview of "Angels")
means a messenger who speaks and/or acts in place of one who has sent
him. Although aggelos can refer to men, in this context
Peter is referring to
a transcendent being with power to carry out various missions or tasks.
Aggelos
then are created supernatural beings that attend upon or serve as a
messengers of a superior supernatural entity.
Peter's mention of "angels"
would doubtless have gotten the attention of his readers since those
with a Jewish background knew the high esteem Jews ascribed to angelic
being. And yet despite their exalted status, these supernatural beings
were not exempt from God's judgment when they sinned. Indeed some of the
false teachers may be men of an exalted status before men, but their
position in man's eyes would not relinquish them from their guilt before
a holy God. God is not impressed by what unfortunately too often
impresses men.
WHEN THEY SINNED: aggelon hamartesanton ouk epheisato
(AAPMPG):
Sinned (264)
(hamartano) means to miss the mark and in context means to
act contrary to the will and law of God. The
aorist tense
points to a completed past action, so that even if we disagree about the
nature of the angelic sin, the aorist tense clearly says "they actually
did commit sin" against God.
What event or events is Peter referring to here? When
did the angels sin? Peter does not elaborate and even the best parallel
Scripture in Jude does not totally clarify this intriguing statement.
Jude writes that
"angels
who did not
keep their
own
domain, but
abandoned their
proper
abode, He has
kept in
eternal
bonds
under
darkness for the
judgment of the
great
day,
just as
Sodom and
Gomorrah and the
cities
around them, since they in the
same
way as
these
indulged in
gross
immorality and
went
after
strange
flesh, are
exhibited as an
example in
undergoing the
punishment of
eternal
fire." (Jude
1:6-7)
This area has engendered some heated discussion and although not without
some "loopholes" many evangelical commentators feel that there was a
"special outbreak" of angelic evil in Genesis (especially
Gen 6:2):
"the
sons of
God
saw that the
daughters of
men were
beautiful and they
took
wives for themselves
whomever they
chose."
The identity of the "sons
of God" is the key term (click
here to study for yourself the 5 uses in 0T)
in unlocking this passage and although it is disputed, many conservative
commentators like
John MacArthur, et al believe
that Genesis is describing supernatural (angelic) beings who cohabited
(sexually) with human women ("daughters of men") and thus "did
not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper abode". (Jude
1:6-7)
Others, like J Vernon McGee do not accept the Genesis passage as a
reference to angels cohabitating with women.
BUT CAST THEM INTO HELL: alla seirais zophou tartarosas
(3SAAI): (Isa 14:12;
Mt 8:29;
25:41;
Mk 5:7;
Lu 8:31;
Rev 12:7-9;
20:2,3,10
20:2,3,10)
Cast...into hell is one word in the Greek, the unusual word tartaroo
(5020), which is derived from Tártaros
which describes the subterranean doleful and dark abyss of mythology
where demigods were punished.
Greek mythology taught that Tártaros was a place lower than
Hades (86)
(the NT term corresponding to the OT term
Sheol in the OT (7585)) reserved
for the most wicked of human beings, gods, and demons where divine
punishment was meted out.
Jewish apocalyptic literature described Tártaros
as the place where fallen
angels were sent as the lowest, darkest, gloomiest hell, the deepest pit
and
the most terrible place of torture and suffering. This term came later
to refer to the region of the lost dead. It is found
only once in the NT in its verbal form in this verse.
Tartarus is mentioned in the pseudepigraphal book of Enoch as the
place where fallen angels are confined. It is found only in its verbal
form in 2 Pet. 2:4 meaning to cast into or consign to Tartarus.
The use of the
aorist tense
pictures the "casting" as a completed past event. Peter seems to regard
Tártaros like
Hades/Sheol
is only a temporary place of detention for these
wicked angels who in the day
of judgment will be thrown "into the
eternal
fire which has been
prepared for the
devil and his
angels." (Mt 25:41,
cf
Rev 20:2,3,10) Although it is difficult
to state with absolute certainty, The sinning angels are being held in this netherworld dungeon until
the day of final judgment. Peter’s usage of this term by no means
suggests that Peter believed in the mythological stories about Tartarus
but only borrowed the word from their vocabulary.
AND COMMITTED THEM
TO PITS OF DARKNESS: paredoken eis krisin teroumenous
(3SAAI) seirais zophou: (cf
Job 21:30
Jude 1:6,
13)
Committed
(3860) (paradidomi
from para = alongside, beside + didomi =
give) means to give alongside, to surrender, to yield, or to deliver one
over into the hands or power of someone else. This action involves
either the handing over of a presumably guilty person for punishment by
authorities or the handing over of an individual to an enemy who will
presumably take undue advantage of the victim.
Peter's use of this verb conveys the picture
of handing these evil angels over to the jailer
for imprisonment. (cf
Acts 8:3,
12:4)
Aorist tense signifies a past completed action and indicative
is the mood of reality. This event really happened and is
a picture of what will happen to the false teachers! Woe! Paradidomi
is used 3x in Romans 1 explaining God's giving the sinful, truth
rejecting world over to the power of
"the
lusts of their
hearts to
impurity, to
degrading
passions, & to a
depraved
mind" (Ro 1:24,26,28).
Pits
of darkness
is an unusual expression and how one translates it depends on which
Greek manuscript you favor.
Hiebert
says that the
original Greek
"manuscript evidence is about evenly divided between "pits"
(sirois or seirois) and "chains"
(seirais)."
And so we see that the NET Bible (click
detailed NET note)
favors seirais translating it
"locked
them up in chains
in utter darkness".
Similarly
the KJV and NKJV translate it "chains
of darkness", whereas NASB,
Amplified ("pits of
gloom"),
NIV ("gloomy dungeons"), NLT ("in gloomy caves
and darkness") favor sirois or seirois.
The point is that neither is very attractive and both portend of the
certain fate of the false teachers, utterly separated from the light and
glory of God. This is a bleak and hopeless picture Peter is painting of
the final resting place for these wicked men (cf
2Th 1:7-9).
Woe!
Darkness
(2217)
(zophos)
(Click
in depth study on
zophos) that ranges from partial to total and conveys a
foreboding & gloom associated with the underworld, region of the lost.
RESERVED FOR
JUDGMENT: eis krisin teroumenous (PPPMPA) eis krisin:
Reserved
(5083)
(tereo)
(Click
here for an in depth word study on
tereo) means to keep one's eye on something or in this
case someone (sinning angels), keeping them in view and so guarding over
them making certain that they continually (present tense calls for a
continual action) are retained in custody in chains in the dungeon of
gloom. The idea of "reserved"
as it is translated here in the NASB is that the incarceration of these
fallen angels in Tártaros was with a view to their future
punishment. God passed judgment on them when He cast them into the
"holding tank" of Tártaros, but that is not their final "resting
place" for the "worst is yet to come" in that future day of
retribution!
