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2:1 Fuerunt vero et pseudoprophetae in populo, sicut et in vobis erunt magistri mendaces, qui introducent sectas perditionis : et eum qui emit eos, Dominum negant, superducentes sibi celerem perditionem.
*H But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there shall be among you lying teachers who shall bring in sects of perdition and deny the Lord who bought them: bringing upon themselves swift destruction.


Ver. 1. Lying teachers among you, some of which were already come, and many more were to follow, who shall bring in sects, [1] (heresies) leading to perdition, and deny the Lord who bought them, denying the divinity of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer; such were the disciples of Simon, and many after them. Wi. — Sects of perdition; that is, heresies destructive of salvation. Ch.

2:2 Et multi sequentur eorum luxurias, per quos via veritatis blasphemabitur :
*H And many shall follow their riotousness, through whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.


Ver. 2. Many shall follow their luxuries, or lasciviousness, such as are related of the Nicolaites and Gnostics, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be blasphemed, or ill spoken of, by those who made no distinction betwixt true and false Christians. Wi.

2:3 et in avaritia fictis verbis de vobis negotiabuntur : quibus judicium jam olim non cessat : et perditio eorum non dormitat.
*H And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you. Whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not: and their perdition slumbereth not.


Ver. 3. They shall make merchandise of you, preaching such lying doctrine as might please the people, but through a motive of covetousness, and for their own gain. Wi.

2:4 Si enim Deus angelis peccantibus non pepercit, sed rudentibus inferni detractos in tartarum tradidit cruciandos, in judicium reservari.
*H For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower hell, unto torments, to be reserved unto judgment:


Ver. 4. If God spared not the Angels, &c. S. Peter here brings these examples of God's justice. 1. Towards the rebellious angels that fell from heaven; 2. that of the general flood, or deluge; 3. when he destroyed Sodom and those other cities. First, angels that sinned, God by his justice delivered them, drawn down with infernal ropes into hell to be tormented, and to be reserved even for greater torments after the day of judgment. This seems to be the liberal sense of this fourth verse, which is obscure, and has divers reading in the Greek. In the examples of the deluge and of Sodom, S. Peter shews not only the severity of God's judgments upon the wicked, but also his merciful providence towards the small number of the just, as towards Noe, a preacher of justice, the eighth and chief of those who were preserved in the ark, when he spared not the world that was of old, (lit. the original world) or wicked of those ancient times. When he delivered that just man, Lot, at the time he reduced Sodom and those other cities to ashes: for Lot was just both in sight and hearing, without being corrupted by what he saw and heard; chaste as to his eyes and ears, or as to all that could be seen or heard of him, when the wicked among whom he lived vexed and grieved his just soul by their impious deeds. God, therefore, who knows and approves the ways of the godly, preserves them by his providence amidst temptations. Wi.

* Footnote * Job 4 : 18 Behold, they that serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness:
* Footnote * Jude 1 : 6 And the angels who kept not their principality but forsook their own habitation, he hath reserved under darkness in everlasting chains, unto the judgment of the great day.
2:5 Et originali mundo non pepercit, sed octavum Noe justitiae praeconem custodivit, diluvium mundo impiorum inducens.
And spared not the original world, but preserved Noe, the eighth person, the preacher of justice, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.
* Footnote * Genesis 7 : 1 And the Lord said to him: Go in, thou and all thy house, into the ark: for thee I have seen just before me in this generation.
2:6 Et civitates Sodomorum et Gomorrhaeorum in cinerem redigens, eversione damnavit : exemplum eorum, qui impie acturi sunt, ponens :
And reducing the cities of the Sodomites and of the Gomorrhites into ashes, condemned them to be overthrown, making them an example to those that should after act wickedly,
* Footnote * Genesis 19 : 25 And he destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth.
2:7 et justum Lot oppressum a nefandorum injuria, ac luxuriosa conversatione eripuit :
And delivered just Lot, oppressed by the injustice and lewd conversation of the wicked:
2:8 aspectu enim, et auditu justus erat : habitans apud eos, qui de die in diem animam justam iniquis operibus cruciabant.
For in sight and hearing he was just, dwelling among them who from day to day vexed the just soul with unjust works.
2:9 Novit Dominus pios de tentatione eripere : iniquos vero in diem judicii reservare cruciandos.
*H The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly from temptation, but to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be tormented:


Ver. 9. To reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment, &c. That is, God many times does not punish the wicked in this life, he suffers them to run on in the ways of iniquity, with prosperity as to the enjoyment of a short and vain happiness in this world, but his judgments are most of all to be dreaded, when the punishments are reserved till the next life, as it will appear at the day of general judgment: and from the time of their death they shall be tormented in hell. Wi.

2:10 Magis autem eos, qui post carnem in concupiscentia immunditiae ambulant, dominationemque contemnunt, audaces, sibi placentes, sectas non metuunt introducere blasphemantes :
*H And especially them who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government: audacious, self willed, they fear not to bring in sects, blaspheming.


Ver. 10. Especially those who walk after the flesh, &c. Such were the Gnostics, and divers of the first heretics, as well as many of them in after ages, who despise authority, contemn the laws, both of church and state; self-willed, full of self-love, lovers of their own infamous pleasures; blaspheming against God, his ministers, and against those who serve God. Wi.

2:11 ubi angeli fortitudine, et virtute cum sint majores, non portant adversum se execrabile judicium.
*H Whereas angels, who are greater in strength and power, bring not against themselves a railing judgment.


Ver. 11. Whereas angels, &c. By comparing this place with what we read in S. Jude, (v. 9) he speaks of the good angels whom God employed to banish the rebellious angels out of heaven, and on other occasions, who, though they had greater strength and power given them by the Almighty, yet did not bear execrable judgment against themselves; i.e. one against another, or against those who at first had been happy spirits with them in heaven; did not exult over them with injuries and reviling reflections, but executed their commands in the name of God, saying, let the Lord command you. See Jude, v. 9. Wi. — Bring not an execrable judgment, &c. That is, they use no railing, nor cursing sentence; not even in their conflicts with the evil angels. Ch.

2:12 Hi vero velut irrationabilia pecora, naturaliter in captionem, et in perniciem in his quae ignorant blasphemantes in corruptione sua peribunt,
*H But these men, as irrational beasts, naturally tending to the snare and to destruction, blaspheming those things which they know not, shall perish in their corruption:


Ver. 12. But these men, &c. These infamous heretics of whom he speaks, like brutes, void of reason, naturally following the disorderly inclinations of their nature corrupted by sin, tend, or run headlong into the snares of the devil, to their own destruction and perdition, blaspheming against the mysteries of religion, and against what they do not understand. Wi.

2:13 percipientes mercedem injustitiae, voluptatem existimantes diei delicias : coinquinationes, et maculae deliciis affluentes, in conviviis suis luxuriantes vobiscum,
*H Receiving the reward of their injustice, counting for a pleasure the delights of a day: stains and spots, sporting themselves to excess, rioting in their feasts with you:


Ver. 13. Counting the delights of the day to be pleasure; such is their impiety and their folly, that they have no regard to all the punishments they make themselves liable to, if they can but pass their days in this short life, or even one day, in shameful pleasures and delights. They may be called the stains and blemishes, the shame and disgrace of mankind, on account of the abominations they practise in their rioting and banquetings.[3] See what S. Epiphan. relates of Gnostics. Wi. — Delights; that is, the short delights of this world, in which they place all their happiness. Ch.

2:14 oculos habentes plenos adulterii, et incessabilis delicti. Pellicientes animas instabiles, cor exercitatum avaritia habentes, maledictionis filii :
*H Having eyes full of adultery and of sin that ceaseth not: alluring unstable souls: having their heart exercised with covetousness: children of malediction.


Ver. 14. And what is still an aggravation to the weight of their sins, they entice and allure others, unstable souls, not sufficiently grounded in faith and virtue, by promising them liberty and happiness, though they themselves be miserable slaves to their passions. At the same time they make dupes of them out of covetousness, to get a share of their money and riches. Wi.

2:15 derelinquentes rectam viam erraverunt, secuti viam Balaam ex Bosor, qui mercedem iniquitatis amavit :
*H Leaving the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam of Bosor who loved the wages of iniquity,


Ver. 15. In this they are like Balaam, of Bosor, (a town of the Madianites) who coveting the reward promised him, (Judg. xi.) was willing, if God had permitted him, to have cursed the people of Israel: but God put a check to his madness, by making the ass which he rode upon speak with a human voice. Wi.

* Footnote * Jude 1 : 11 Woe unto them! For they have gone in the way of Cain: and after the error of Balaam they have for reward poured out themselves and have perished in the contradiction of Core.
2:16 correptionem vero habuit suae vesaniae : subjugale mutum animal, hominis voce loquens, prohibuit prophetae insipientiam.
But had a check of his madness, the dumb beast used to the yoke, which, speaking with man's voice, forbade the folly of the prophet.
* Footnote * Numbers 22 : 28 And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said: What have I done to thee? Why strikest thou me, lo, now this third time?
2:17 Hi sunt fontes sine aqua, et nebulae turbinibus exagitatae, quibus caligo tenebrarum reservatur.
*H These are fountains without water and clouds tossed with whirlwinds, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved.


Ver. 17. These are fountains without water. The like lively description is given of the manners of these heretics by S. Jude, so that the text of one of these apostles helps to expound the other. Wi.

* Footnote * Jude 1 : 12 These are spots in their banquets, feasting together without fear, feeding themselves: clouds without water, which are carried about by winds: trees of the autumn, unfruitful, twice dead, plucked up by the roots:
2:18 Superba enim vanitatis loquentes, pelliciunt in desideriis carnis luxuriae eos, qui paululum effugiunt, qui in errore conversantur :
For, speaking proud words of vanity, they allure by the desires of fleshly riotousness those who for a little while escape, such as converse in error:
2:19 libertatem illis promittentes, cum ipsi servi sint corruptionem : a quo enim quis superatus est, hujus et servus est.
Promising them liberty, whereas they themselves are the slaves of corruption. For by whom a man is overcome, of the same also he is the slave.
* Footnote * John 8 : 34 Jesus answered them: Amen, amen, I say unto you that whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
* Footnote * Romans 6 : 16 Know you not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are whom you obey, whether it be of sin unto death or of obedience unto justice.
* Footnote * Romans 6 : 20 For when you were the servants of sin, you were free men to justice.
2:20 Si enim refugientes coinquinationes mundi in cognitione Domini nostri, et Salvatoris Jesu Christi, his rursus implicati superantur : facta sunt eis posteriora deteriora prioribus.
*H For if, flying from the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they be again entangled in them and overcome: their latter state is become unto them worse than the former.


Ver. 20. For if flying, and been happily freed from the pollutions, the abominations, and corruptions of a wicked world, be upon your guard, and take great care not to be entangled again in these dangerous snares and nets, lest your latter condition (as Christ said, Matt. xii. 45.) be worse than the former, lest you be like a dog that returns to his vomit, or like a sow that is washed and wallows again in the mire. Wi.

* Footnote * Hebrews 6 : 4 For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
* Footnote ** Matthew 12 : 45 Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is made worse than the first. So shall it be also to this wicked generation.
2:21 Melius enim erat illis non cognoscere viam justitiae, quam post agnitionem, retrorsum converti ab eo, quod illis traditum est, sancto mandato.
For it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice than, after they have known it, to turn back from that holy commandment which was delivered to them.
2:22 Contigit enim eis illud veri proverbii : Canis reversus ad suum vomitum : et, Sus lota in volutabro luti.
For, that of the true proverb has happened to them: The dog is returned to his vomit; and: The sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
* Footnote * Proverbs 26 : 11 As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly.
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