Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

[AD 100] Didache on 2 Peter 2:1

Not everyone who speaks in the spirit is a prophet, but only if he follows behaviorally in the path of the Lord. Accordingly, from their conduct the false prophet and the true prophet will be known.

Source: DIDACHE 11.8

[AD 220] Tertullian on 2 Peter 2:1

The character of the times in which we live is such as to call forth from us even this admonition, that we ought not to be astonished at the heresies (which abound) neither ought their existence to surprise us, for it was foretold that they should come to pass; nor the fact that they subvert the faith of some, for their final cause is, by affording a trial to faith, to give it also the opportunity of being "approved.

Source: The Prescription Against Heretics

[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on 2 Peter 2:1

And there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies."

Source: Dubious Hippolytus Fragments

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 2 Peter 2:1

It is typical of false teachers that they cannot accept the full equality of the persons of the Trinity.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 2 Peter 2:1

Peter says this so that people will not just listen to everyone who claims to be a prophet, without discerning whether they really are or not. He tells them to be careful not to listen to false prophets instead of the true ones.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:1

And they deny the Lord who bought them, etc. Concerning this buyer, Paul also says: "For you were bought at a great price; glorify and carry God in your body" (1 Cor. 6). Rightly indeed do they bring upon themselves swift destruction, who, denying their Redeemer, refuse to rightly confess Him and glorify, and by doing good, to bear Him in their own body: which all heretics do; for Arius, who says that our Redeemer is lesser than the Father in divinity, and Photinus, who says: "Christ is a man, not God," and Manichaeus, who says: "Christ is only God, not truly man," and Ebion, who says: "Christ did not exist before Mary, He took His origin from her," and Apollinaris, who says: "Christ is only God and flesh, never having taken a rational soul," and Pelagius, who says: "Christ is not the Redeemer of infants in baptism, because they, conceived without iniquities and born from their mother without sins, have no sin that must be forgiven to them, and therefore Christ is not the Savior of all the elect"; and other heretics with them indeed deny the Lord who bought them with the price of His own blood, because they proclaim Him not as truth reveals but as they themselves imagine. And therefore, made alien from the Redeemer, nothing is more certain than that they expect the pit of destruction.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:1

To their own destruction. For those who attempt to corrupt the holy Scriptures and to disturb and pervert the Catholic faith bring condemnation upon themselves in this. However, the Church of Christ, having dispelled the darkness of errors, enjoys its true light. Hence, it is well said at the end of the Apocalypse, which is the closing and, as it were, the seal of all divine Scripture: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the book of life and from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book (Apocalypse XXII). The difficult things to understand in the Epistles of Paul, which he says are distorted by the unlearned and unstable, are especially those in which he speaks about the grace of God that justifies the ungodly (Romans IV), that is, makes the ungodly righteous. For he himself says: Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Romans V). Those who did not understand this thought he was saying: Let us do evil that good may come (Romans III). But far be it from Paul to teach his listeners to do evil to achieve good, for his entire intention is to restrain from evil and to call as many as possible to do good. But when he says, Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Romans V), he thereby commends the gift of grace more strongly, which is accustomed to forgive both great sins and lesser ones when people convert. And the greater the sins committed before conversion, the greater the forgiveness received through the gift of grace. Therefore the Apostle speaks thus about the sins we have already committed, so that no one should perish from despair of forgiveness because of the enormity of his crimes; but, as the enemies interpreted, he was not urging to commit more sins to receive greater good through them. Hence the blessed Peter rightly adds by way of admonition:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on 2 Peter 2:1

Sects of perdition: That is, heresies destructive of salvation.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 2 Peter 2:2

They revile the way of truth because they have turned orthodox doctrine into heresy, or because they have rejected the rule given to them at their baptism, or because they have abandoned the way of truth.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 2 Peter 2:2

The heresy of the Nicolaitans had already appeared at that time. Peter says that it was evil in two ways. The Nicolaitans were wrong in their doctrine, and they were also wicked in their behavior. It reminds us of what was said about the Jews: “Because of you my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles.”

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:2

And many will follow their debaucheries, etc. The way of truth will be blasphemed by heretics not only in those whom they draw out to associate with their heresy, but also in those whom by their most impure deeds and sacrifices, or the execrable mysteries they perform, they provoke to hatred of the Christian name, those who are unskilled thinking all Christians to be entangled in such wickedness. To whom Scripture says: "Through you My name is blasphemed among the nations" (Isaiah 52).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 2 Peter 2:2

Peter says this in order to persuade his hearers to avoid the heresy of the Nicolaitans, who were guilty of a double sin. For not only was their doctrine most ungodly, their lives also were totally obscene.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 2 Peter 2:3

The destruction of these people comes from none other than the God of Israel, who is never idle or asleep.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 2 Peter 2:3

They were doing this for money. Excess is sometimes geared toward wickedness and sometimes toward profit, but here the addition of the word exploit makes the meaning clear. They will indeed have their reward, which is death. The phrase “of old” indicates God’s foreknowledge of what they would do. For just as God foresaw who would be good and prepared good things for them in heaven, so he also foresaw who would be evil and prepared the other place for them.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:3

Their judgment has not ceased long ago. When 'long ago' signifies a past time and 'has not ceased' is a word in the present tense, it seems to mean nothing else but that the judgment of the perdition of the impious, which has already long begun, continually torments them presently and will never cease with any end.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on 2 Peter 2:4

Fire of judgment, and the rayless scenery of gloomy Tartarus.
Wherefore, in order to teach us this, he uses the examples of Sheol (Hades), and the love of women, and hell

Source: Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments

[AD 325] Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius on 2 Peter 2:4

Of truth. But they fear the righteous,

[AD 348] Pachomius the Great on 2 Peter 2:4

The angels were in heaven and were thrown into the abyss. But on the other hand, Elijah and Enoch14 were raised into the kingdom of heaven.

Source: COMMUNION 3.25

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 2 Peter 2:4

In the third book of this work we made a passing reference to this question, but did not decide whether angels, inasmuch as they are spirits, could have bodily intercourse with women. For it is written, "Who makes His angels spirits," that is, He makes those who are by nature spirits His angels by appointing them to the duty of bearing His messages. For the Greek word ἄγγελος, which in Latin appears as "angelus," means a messenger. But whether the Psalmist speaks of their bodies when he adds, "and His ministers a flaming fire," or means that God's ministers ought to blaze with love as with a spiritual fire, is doubtful. However, the same trustworthy Scripture testifies that angels have appeared to men in such bodies as could not only be seen, but also touched. There is, too, a very general rumor, which many have verified by their own experience, or which trustworthy persons who have heard the experience of others corroborate, that sylvans and fauns, who are commonly called "incubi," had often made wicked assaults upon women, and satisfied their lust upon them; and that certain devils, called Duses by the Gauls, are constantly attempting and effecting this impurity is so generally affirmed, that it were impudent to deny it. From these assertions, indeed, I dare not determine whether there be some spirits embodied in an aerial substance (for this element, even when agitated by a fan, is sensibly felt by the body), and who are capable of lust and of mingling sensibly with women; but certainly I could by no means believe that God's holy angels could at that time have so fallen, nor can I think that it is of them the Apostle Peter said, "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." [2 Peter 2:4] I think he rather speaks of these who first apostatized from God, along with their chief the devil, who enviously deceived the first man under the form of a serpent. But the same holy Scripture affords the most ample testimony that even godly men have been called angels; for of John it is written: "Behold, I send my messenger (angel) before Your face, who shall prepare Your way." [Mark 1:2] And the prophet Malachi, by a peculiar grace specially communicated to him, was called an angel. [Malachi 2:7]

But some are moved by the fact that we have read that the fruit of the connection between those who are called angels of God and the women they loved were not men like our own breed, but giants; just as if there were not born even in our own time (as I have mentioned above) men of much greater size than the ordinary stature. Was there not at Rome a few years ago, when the destruction of the city now accomplished by the Goths was drawing near, a woman, with her father and mother, who by her gigantic size over-topped all others? Surprising crowds from all quarters came to see her, and that which struck them most was the circumstance that neither of her parents were quite up to the tallest ordinary stature. Giants therefore might well be born, even before the sons of God, who are also called angels of God, formed a connection with the daughters of men, or of those living according to men, that is to say, before the sons of Seth formed a connection with the daughters of Cain. For thus speaks even the canonical Scripture itself in the book in which we read of this; its words are: "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair [good]; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became the giants, men of renown." These words of the divine book sufficiently indicate that already there were giants in the earth in those days, in which the sons of God took wives of the children of men, when they loved them because they were good, that is, fair. For it is the custom of this Scripture to call those who are beautiful in appearance "good." But after this connection had been formed, then too were giants born. For the words are: "There were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men." Therefore there were giants both before, "in those days," and "also after that." And the words, "they bare children to them," show plainly enough that before the sons of God fell in this fashion they begot children to God, not to themselves — that is to say, not moved by the lust of sexual intercourse, but discharging the duty of propagation, intending to produce not a family to gratify their own pride, but citizens to people the city of God; and to these they as God's angels would bear the message, that they should place their hope in God, like him who was born of Seth, the son of resurrection, and who hoped to call on the name of the Lord God, in which hope they and their offspring would be co-heirs of eternal blessings, and brethren in the family of which God is the Father.

But that those angels were not angels in the sense of not being men, as some suppose, Scripture itself decides, which unambiguously declares that they were men. For when it had first been stated that "the angels of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose," it was immediately added, "And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall not always strive with these men, for that they also are flesh." For by the Spirit of God they had been made angels of God, and sons of God; but declining towards lower things, they are called men, a name of nature, not of grace; and they are called flesh, as deserters of the Spirit, and by their desertion deserted [by Him]. The Septuagint indeed calls them both angels of God and sons of God, though all the copies do not show this, some having only the name sons of God. And Aquila, whom the Jews prefer to the other interpreters, has translated neither angels of God nor sons of God, but sons of gods. But both are correct. For they were both sons of God, and thus brothers of their own fathers, who were children of the same God; and they were sons of gods, because begotten by gods, together with whom they themselves also were gods, according to that expression of the psalm: "I have said, You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High." For the Septuagint translators are justly believed to have received the Spirit of prophecy; so that, if they made any alterations under His authority, and did not adhere to a strict translation, we could not doubt that this was divinely dictated. However, the Hebrew word may be said to be ambiguous, and to be susceptible of either translation, "sons of God," or "sons of gods."

Let us omit, then, the fables of those scriptures which are called apocryphal, because their obscure origin was unknown to the fathers from whom the authority of the true Scriptures has been transmitted to us by a most certain and well-ascertained succession. For though there is some truth in these apocryphal writings, yet they contain so many false statements, that they have no canonical authority. We cannot deny that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, left some divine writings, for this is asserted by the Apostle Jude in his canonical epistle. But it is not without reason that these writings have no place in that canon of Scripture which was preserved in the temple of the Hebrew people by the diligence of successive priests; for their antiquity brought them under suspicion, and it was impossible to ascertain whether these were his genuine writings, and they were not brought forward as genuine by the persons who were found to have carefully preserved the canonical books by a successive transmission. So that the writings which are produced under his name, and which contain these fables about the giants, saying that their fathers were not men, are properly judged by prudent men to be not genuine; just as many writings are produced by heretics under the names both of other prophets, and more recently, under the names of the apostles, all of which, after careful examination, have been set apart from canonical authority under the title of Apocrypha. There is therefore no doubt that, according to the Hebrew and Christian canonical Scriptures, there were many giants before the deluge, and that these were citizens of the earthly society of men, and that the sons of God, who were according to the flesh the sons of Seth, sunk into this community when they forsook righteousness. Nor need we wonder that giants should be born even from these. For all of their children were not giants; but there were more then than in the remaining periods since the deluge. And it pleased the Creator to produce them, that it might thus be demonstrated that neither beauty, nor yet size and strength, are of much moment to the wise man, whose blessedness lies in spiritual and immortal blessings, in far better and more enduring gifts, in the good things that are the peculiar property of the good, and are not shared by good and bad alike. It is this which another prophet confirms when he says, "These were the giants, famous from the beginning, that were of so great stature, and so expert in war. Those did not the Lord choose, neither gave He the way of knowledge unto them; but they were destroyed because they had no wisdom, and perished through their own foolishness."

Source: The City of God (Book XV), Chapter 23

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 2 Peter 2:4

It is a fixed and unchanging religious truth that the devil and his angels are never to return to the life and holiness of the saints. From Scripture we know that God’s sentence implies that he dragged them down by infernal ropes to Tartarus and delivered them to be tortured and kept in custody for judgment. They will be received into everlasting fire and there tortured forever and ever.

Source: City of God 21.23

[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on 2 Peter 2:4

When Christ came from heaven, he bound the leaders of the demons in hell. This is clear from the way in which he commanded the spirits, lest they be thrown into the abyss. For he bound some and ordered others to depart, as we can see from sayings like “Look, I have given you power over unclean spirits”; “Cast out demons,” and so on. Afterwards, in order to perfect the punishment of those whom he had earlier bound, he cast them into eternal fire.

Source: CATENA

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 2 Peter 2:4

The angels sinned in three ways, by their pride, by their envy and by their lust. In this verse it is made clear that sin can occur even if it is not done overtly in the flesh. It is obvious that the essence of sin is consent to do evil.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:4

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned. For many verses here conclude with one ending: The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials. For if, he says, God did not spare the angels who sinned, but consigned them to hell to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment; if, destroying the ancient world for its crimes by the flood, He saved righteous Noah; if, punishing the enormities of Sodom, He delivered Lot, a worshiper of justice, from the unjust; it is certainly known that the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and to reserve the wicked for torment on the day of judgment. And it should be noted in what he says, that God did not spare the angels who sinned, because those evil angels were not created evil by God, but became evil by sinning.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:4

But He handed over those dragged down by the howls of hell into Tartarus, etc. Another translation has this verse as: But pushing back into the prisons of the darkness of hell, He handed them over to be reserved for punishment in judgment. Therefore, it shows that the punishment of the final judgment is still owed to the apostate angels, about which the Lord says: Go into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew XXV), even though they have already accepted this hell, that is, the lower murky air, as a prison. For as much as the sublimity of heaven is concerned, the space of this air can already be called hell, so also regarding the height of this same air, the earth which lies below can be understood as deep hell. But He calls the howls of hell the very prideful boastfulness by which the angels of His spirit swelled in arrogance against their Creator. For ropes are called howls, by which sailors hang sails so that, with the wind blowing, they leave the tranquility of the port and always trust themselves to the uncertain waves of the sea. To these appropriately howling ropes are compared the efforts of unclean spirits, who, as soon as they were raised up against the Creator, impelled by the winds of pride, were dragged into the depths of the abyss by their very efforts of elevation. Some codices have: But dragged down by the howls of hell, He handed them over into Tartarus, which signifies the voice either of utmost exaltation or of wailing in punishment. For they howl when they suffer either hunger or something else, unable to bear the excess of haughtiness, if any adversity occurs to them.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 2 Peter 2:4

If God did not spare the rebellious angels, who had stood in honor before him because of the immortality of their nature, how much less will he spare mere humans, whom he has created out of perishable matter!

Source: COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 99] Clement of Rome on 2 Peter 2:5

Let us turn to every age that has passed, and learn that, from generation to generation, the Lord has granted a place of repentance to all such as would be converted unto Him. Noah preached repentance, and as many as listened to him were saved.

Source: Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 7

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 2 Peter 2:5

Before the law, Adam spoke prophetically in respect to the woman, and the naming of the creatures; Noah preached repentance;

Source: Clement of Alexandria Stromata Book I

[AD 220] Tertullian on 2 Peter 2:5

Noah also, uncircumcised-yes, and inobservant of the Sabbath-God freed from the deluge. For Enoch, too, most righteous man, uncircumcised and in-observant of the Sabbath, He translated from this world; who did not first taste death, in order that, being a candidate for eternal life, he might by this time show us that we also may, without the burden of the law of Moses, please God.

Source: An Answer to the Jews

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 2 Peter 2:5

The ungodliness of those who lived in the time from Adam to Noah was what caused the flood.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:5

And He did not spare the original world. It is the same world in which the human race now dwells, which was inhabited by those who lived before the flood. Yet, nonetheless, that original world is rightly called another, as it is written in the following part of this Epistle that the world at that time, having been flooded by water, perished, and the heavens that existed before, meaning all the turbulent spaces of the air being consumed by the height of the increasing waters, and the earth, altered by the waters exceeding into another form. For although some mountains and valleys are believed to have been made from the beginning, they are not as significant as those now seen in the entire world. This could perhaps be denied, if we did not also now see the face of the earth changed by the subversion of the waters every year. This is believed to have happened even more so then, as the greater and more prolonged flood of waters besieging the earth flowed over it.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:5

But He preserved Noah, the preacher of righteousness, etc. It is known to all that Noah was born in the tenth generation from Adam, but he is called the eighth because eight people survived the flood, of whom he was one. He mentions the number eight to subtly imply that the time of the flood signifies the test of the final examination, when, with all the reprobates condemned, all the righteous will receive the glory of eternal life. For there are six ages of the present world, the seventh is also now conducted, in that life where the souls of the saints enjoy eternal rest in a blessed Sabbath, and the eighth is to come at the time of the resurrection of all and the universal judgment. And he surnames Noah the preacher of righteousness, because by doing works of righteousness in the sight of all, he showed how it should be lived before the Lord. For he is not found to teach anyone by word, indeed not a single word is found spoken to God or man by him, but with the greatest virtue, in the whole construction of the ark, in the coming of the flood, in the beginnings of the following age, with a silent mouth but with the most prompt devotion of the heart, he obeyed the heavenly commands.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 2 Peter 2:5

Noah was spared because he was not led astray by the ungodliness of those who lived before the flood. God honored him because he did what was right.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 99] Clement of Rome on 2 Peter 2:6-9

On account of his hospitality and godliness, Lot was saved out of Sodom when all the country round was punished by means of fire and brimstone, the Lord thus making it manifest that He does not forsake those that hope in Him, but gives up such as depart from Him to punishment and torture. [Genesis 19:15-26, 2 Peter 2:6-9] For Lot's wife, who went forth with him, being of a different mind from himself, and not continuing in agreement with him [as to the command which had been given them], was made an example of, so as to be a pillar of salt unto this day. This was done that all might know that those who are of a double mind, and who distrust the power of God, bring down judgment on themselves and become a sign to all succeeding generations.

Source: Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 11

[AD 220] Tertullian on 2 Peter 2:6

Lot, withal, the brother of Abraham, proves that it was for the merits of righteousness, without observance of the law, that he was freed from the conflagration of the Sodomites.

Source: An Answer to the Jews

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on 2 Peter 2:6

Do you want to know why these things happened? There was one sin which was more wicked and disgusting than any other which those people were committing. It was because of that that God gave them this judgment.

Source: CATENA

[AD 450] Hesychius of Jerusalem on 2 Peter 2:6

Here is proof that all the ungodly will be punished. For Peter goes over the examples of Sodom and Gomorrah so that anyone who sees this will not behave wickedly, knowing that if he does so he will suffer the same kind of punishment as they did.

Source: CATENA

[AD 500] Salvian the Presbyter on 2 Peter 2:6

God wished to proclaim the judgment that is to come when he sent fiery death from heaven upon a wicked people, setting an example for those who desire to lead wicked lives.

Source: ON THE GOVERNANCE OF GOD 1.8

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:6

And the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, etc. Because he asserts that the cities of the impious were reduced to ashes, it should be understood in two ways. Because first, through fire, he reduced them along with the adjacent lands to ashes, and when he afterwards covered the places of the fire with the waters of the Dead Sea, he still wanted to preserve the surrounding region as a specimen of ancient punishment. For very beautiful fruits indeed grow, which also generate a desire to eat for those who see them. If you pluck them, they crumble and dissolve into ashes, and raise smoke, as if they still burned. Hence, in the Book of Wisdom it is said: "This [fire] rescued the righteous man fleeing from the wicked who were perishing as the fire descended upon Pentapolis." As a testimony to whose wickedness, it is evident that a scorched earth remains deserted, and at certain times the trees have fruit (Wis. X). It can be understood: And they also remain deserted and scorched. And this is what is also added here:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 99] Clement of Rome on 2 Peter 2:7

By rescuing Lot the Lord made clear that he does not abandon those who hope in him but that he hands those who turn away over to punishment and torture.

Source: LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS 11.1

[AD 450] Hesychius of Jerusalem on 2 Peter 2:7

Peter adds the story of Lot to his other examples in order to teach us that it is possible to avoid doing evil and thus to escape from the punishment which they will receive.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:7

And just Lot, oppressed, etc. Indeed, the holy man was tormented by both the unjust deeds and words of his neighbors; seeing these things daily, he was not able to correct them at all; but nevertheless, he conducted himself so prudently that neither by witnessing their disgraceful acts nor by hearing them did he taint the gaze of his chaste mind, but with unflagging intent, he pursued the actions of his own righteousness. Or certainly, he was righteous by sight and hearing, because those present saw and heard nothing in him except the works of righteousness and words; and no fame about him spread among the absent, except what pertained to righteousness, like the example of the blessed Job, who said: The ear that heard me blessed me, and the eye that saw me testified to me (Job XIX). And it is to be noted that the blessed Peter follows the example of the Lord's teaching in this place. For the Lord Himself, speaking in the Gospel about the day of judgment, recalls the sudden advent either of the flood or of the Sodomite fire, where the righteous were delivered, but the reprobate were caught in the snare of sudden destruction. And also in another place, when He intended to restrain the minds of His disciples from the pride of arrogance, He presented the example of the angelic fall, saying, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven (Luke X).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 538] Severus of Antioch on 2 Peter 2:8

We need to be clearly convinced that our distress at such evil deeds and our compassion for those who suffer earns the greatest reward with God and guarantees acceptance with him. All the more so, because in the face of what often appears to be an overwhelming, threatening wrath, the mental equilibrium of those who are overcome with grief is lost. This is why Peter wrote about Lot in this way.

Source: CATENA

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 2 Peter 2:8

Like us, Lot saw and heard many unrighteous things which might have tempted him into doing evil, but when he gave hospitality to the angels and the men of Sodom wanted to take them away and abuse them, Lot refused to give in, in spite of what he would suffer at their hands because of that refusal.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 140] Pseudo-Clement on 2 Peter 2:9

So, then, brethren, having received no small occasion to repent, while we have opportunity, let us turn to God who called us, while yet we have One to receive us. For if we renounce these indulgences and conquer the soul by not fulfilling its wicked desires, we shall be partakers of the mercy of Jesus. Know that the day of judgment draws near like a burning oven, and certain of the heavens and all the earth will melt, like lead melting in fire; and then will appear the hidden and manifest deeds of men. Good, then, is alms as repentance from sin; better is fasting than prayer, and alms than both; "charity covers a multitude of sins," [1 Peter 4:4] and prayer out of a good conscience delivers from death. Blessed is every one that shall be found complete in these; for alms lightens the burden of sin.

Source: Second Epistle To The Corinthians (Pseudo-Clement)

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:9

The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, etc. He says the unjust are reserved for punishment on the day of judgment, not because they do not suffer torment for their merits even before the day of judgment, freed from the body, but because greater torments await them in judgment when, having received their body back, they will be punished, who are now tormented in spirit alone. Whence the Lord, reproaching those cities that refused to receive the word of the Gospel, concluded in this way: It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 2 Peter 2:9

Peter knows that God will deliver the godly from their trials and afflictions and that the ungodly are being preserved only to face their punishment on the day of judgment. Notice how all along he has been using the examples of wicked people in order to reinforce the message that the deliverance of the righteous is foreordained and thereby to comfort those who emulate the righteous by showing that they are much better off than the ungodly.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 2 Peter 2:10

Man did not fall away from the supreme Being as to be absolutely nothing, but insofar as he turned himself toward himself he became less than he was when he was adhering to him who is the supreme Being. To be no longer in God but in oneself is not to be nothing, but rather to be heading in that direction. For this reason, Holy Scripture gives another name to the proud, calling them “rash” and “self-willed.”

Source: City of God 14.13

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 2 Peter 2:10

This refers to the Simonians, who combined wicked behavior with false doctrine.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:10

Giving an example of those who are going to act impiously. For even the fire which once punished the Sodomites plainly shows that the impious are to suffer without end. And that their land remains scorched with smoke, that its most beautiful fruits have ashes within and stench, clearly signifies to all ages that carnal delight, although it may seem pleasing to the minds of fools for the present, reserves nothing for itself in the unseen but burning, so that the smoke of its torments ascends forever and ever.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:10

But especially those who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness. He speaks of fornicators, who will suffer greater torments in judgment for the guilt of their corruption than general iniquities.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:10

And despise government, daring, self-willed. He speaks of the proud and arrogant, who will also endure severer punishments than the general ones.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:10

They do not fear to introduce sects, blaspheming. He calls heretics those who, blaspheming the faith or life of the orthodox, introduce sects in their own name, that is, heresies, who themselves, with the former, will hear, for a stronger punishment awaits the stronger.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 2 Peter 2:10

These are the Nicolaitans and Gnostics, whose wickedness has appeared under different names, a confusion which reflects their evil deeds. For by inventing their own fabulous stories about the origin of the world they rejected the biblical teaching about God’s creation and providential ordering of all things. The end result was that they fell into all kinds of moral depravity.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 2 Peter 2:10

What Peter is saying here is that the evil spirits are quite prepared to curse the angels as much as they can, but these curses are not returned in kind. Rather, the angels reserve any judgment against them to the Lord, even though they are more powerful than the demons.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 258] Cyprian on 2 Peter 2:11

Of this same thing in the Epistle of Peter: "As strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; but having a good conversation among the Gentiles, that while they detract from you as if from evildoers, yet, beholding your good works, they may magnify God."

Source: Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews

[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 2 Peter 2:11

The angels who dwell in holiness are stronger than human beings, even if it is true that we are more blessed than they are. Angels look after holy people who are helped by them, since human beings cannot offer consolation to angels.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:11

Where angels, though greater in strength and power, do not bring a blasphemous judgment against themselves. When he says: Where, it signifies in that they despise dominion, that they are daring, that they are self-pleasing, that they create heresies, that is, sects, that they blaspheme. By doing these things, the angels deserved to become demons and pay the penalties for their pride. For their spiritual nature did not suffer the obscenity of carnal desire to pollute them. Unless perhaps when they lure men into this, he indicates that they are to be judged for this also, just as for the other evils that they persuade men to commit.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on 2 Peter 2:11

A railing judgment: That is, they use no railing, nor cursing sentence; not even in their conflicts with the evil angels. See St. Jude, ver. 9.

[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on 2 Peter 2:12

The inspired psalmist said this when he sang: “Man, when honored, had no understanding. He is like the beasts that perish.” Although human beings had laws, their morals were irrational, and they soon degenerated into animals whose only end was destruction.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:12

But these, like irrational animals naturally, etc. Just as it is natural for irrational animals to often ignorantly fall into traps and destruction out of the need for food, so heretics, compared to foolish beasts, out of a desire to fulfill their own corruption, blaspheming the incorrupt and sound doctrine of the Catholic Church and life, bind themselves with the snares of eternal perdition by impious recklessness. The ecclesiastical history reports that such heretics existed in the times of the apostles: the Simonians, Menandrians, Basilideans, Nicolaites, Ebionites, Marcionites, and Cerdonians, and many others. Rightly, having said of them: Blaspheming in their own corruption they shall perish, he added:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 2 Peter 2:12

These men are compared to animals because they live only by their bodily instincts and not with their mind or rational soul. For this reason they are easily ensnared by corruption and are so far gone in depravity that they do not even know when they are being cursed.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 2 Peter 2:13

Peter means that after they went astray they were able to lead others astray after them, but that in the end they will have to pay the price of their wickedness.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:13

Receiving the reward of injustice. The reward of injustice is the punishment he speaks of, which the works of injustice deserve, especially in those who, while they themselves are slaves to the corruption of the flesh, nonetheless blaspheme the conduct of those who live chastely, though they themselves are held by insane errors, they do not cease to disparage those who hold sound understanding.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:13

Thinking of the delights of the day as impurities and stains. Pleasure is taken both in a good and an evil sense. In the good sense, it is called the paradise of delight, and as it is sung in the psalm: And they shall drink from the torrent of Your pleasure (Psalm 35). In an evil sense, as Solomon says: For youth and pleasure are vain (Ecclesiastes 11). But it is also used indifferently, according to what Sarah said: After I am old, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure? (Genesis 18). Therefore, good pleasure is rightly called the delight of the day, by which the saints delight in the Lord. However, evil pleasure belongs to the night, when the wicked perversely delight in performing deeds of darkness. It is rightly said of the unjust that they think of the pleasure of the day, the delights of impurity and stain, because many are so lazy, perverse, and shameless that, whilst engaging in the most impure and detestable pleasures, they nonetheless judge these to be the best and almost luminous. Some join the first word of this verse to the preceding verse, reading thus: Receiving the reward of unrighteousness as pleasure, and expound it according to what the apostle Paul said: God gave them over to the desires of their hearts in impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves (Romans 1). And a little later: Committing shameless acts, receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error. And as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind, to do what ought not to be done (Ibid.). But we thought it right to follow the distinction we found in the works of the blessed Pope Gregory.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 2 Peter 2:13

These people have nothing pure about them. Rather, like stains on clothing they pervade everyday life and corrupt everything they touch. If they are taken to a social gathering and are able to turn it into an orgy, they are delighted because they have won others over to their lusts. Their social life is not rooted in love but in filth.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on 2 Peter 2:13

The delights of a day: that is, the short delights of this world, in which they place all their happiness.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 2 Peter 2:14

These people even greeted one another with kisses which were full of lust. What was meant to be a sign of peace was transformed into adultery by those who had turned away from God.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 2 Peter 2:14

Peter says that these people are not motivated by love. Their only interest is to find the right moment when they can seduce women.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:14

Leading astray unstable souls. Whores are usually called “enticeresses,” derived from pollution, or from the beauty of their skin by which they lure the unsuspecting. Therefore, they lead astray unstable souls who, by teaching them wrongly, bring them under the various heretical doctrines as if corrupting them with sensual pleasures.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 2 Peter 2:15

The right way is the way of Christ, who said: “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 2 Peter 2:15

As we know from the Old Testament, Balaam was hindered by God for his greed in trying to obtain a living off his prophetic spirit. He obstinately tried to run to Balak a second time, and only after he was corrected by the fear of God and the terrors which he met along the way was he able to get the word of blessing right, so that what he said was from God and not his own wicked preference. For even his tongue was not totally given over to the service of a lie.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:15

They followed the way of Balaam from Bosor, etc. Often, heretics propose such foolish doctrines and abominable sacraments that even the most dull-witted, the pagans, and those who completely lack understanding of divine knowledge, detest their madness. They refute their twisted paths and those contrary to God with healthier judgment. And what is worse, because it is more frequent, sometimes many Catholics love the reward of unrighteousness so much that they are deservedly attacked by the unlearned, by laypersons instead of clerics. These are rightly compared to the prophet who is reproached by the words of a donkey speaking against its nature, yet is not deterred from his evil path. The name of the city from which Balaam is said to have come, Bosor, meaning either of flesh or in tribulation, aptly fits such people. Excessive indulgence in luxury provides no greater reason to adulterate the word of truth for the love of money or the desire for temporal things, than when they have enslaved themselves to the lusts of the flesh, clearly unworthy of apostolic praise, which glorifies true believers saying: But you, brethren, are not in the flesh but in the spirit (I Thes. V). And thus they are placed in tribulation, not in the sense that they suffer for the Lord, but rather in that which oppresses the spirits of the weak with the perverse examples of their actions, preventing them from rising to salvation or repentance. Also, the name Balaam itself, meaning a vain or precipitating people, suits such individuals. For those who willingly desert the known path of truth are nothing but a vain people, casting their listeners into perdition by preaching not what corrects them but what delights them erroneously. About whom it is well added:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 258] Cyprian on 2 Peter 2:16

Nor is it difficult for God to open the mouth of a man devoted to Himself, and to inspire constancy and confidence in speech to His confessor; since in the book of Numbers He made even a she-ass to speak against the prophet Balaam.

Source: Treatise XI Exhortation to Martyrdom Addressed to Fortunatus

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on 2 Peter 2:16

If the grace of God could work through the animal without affecting the animal—for the ass was not saved—but only as a means of helping the Israelites, it is perfectly clear that he is prepared to work in us, which is why this story is so poignant.

Source: CATENA

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 2 Peter 2:16

The ass spoke with a human voice so that Balaam would understand what God was saying to him. He had become a madman because of his disobedience to the commandments of God, and dumb animals are wiser than that, since they observe the law of nature.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 2 Peter 2:16

The common interpretation of this is that Balaam’s ass condemned him because it obeyed the angel and submitted to him, whereas Balaam, although he heard God, did not go and warn the people, nor did he obey God’s will. Thus the ass became Balaam’s teacher.

Source: CATENA

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 2 Peter 2:17

Peter calls these people dry springs—springs, because they have received knowledge of the Lord Christ, but dry, because they do not live in accordance with that knowledge.

Source: ON FAITH AND WORKS 25 (46)

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 2 Peter 2:17

These people are empty wells of the kind that animals fall into and die in, because there is no water at the bottom.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 2 Peter 2:17

They did not have the living word of the Spirit, the channel of delights which overflows to the glory of the nations. They were not clear-sighted like the saints. They were in some sense like clouds but more like “mists” covered in darkness and ignorance, for they were governed by an evil spirit.

Source: CATENA

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:17

These are wells without water, etc. Saint Jerome, placing these verses in the book against Jovinian, explains them thus: "Does it not seem to you that the apostle has described a different kind of ignorance?" For they reveal knowledge as if from wells, because they promise the rain of doctrines which they do not have, like clouds of prophecy toward which the truth of God reaches, and they are agitated by the whirlwinds of demons and vices. They speak great things, and all their speech is pride. But every one who exalts his heart is unclean, so that they who have slightly turned away from sins return to their error and are eager for the luxuries of foods and the delights of the flesh. For who does not gladly hear: Let us eat and drink, and we will reign forever (Wis. II; Isai. XXII; I Cor. XV)? The wise and prudent call them perverse who are sweet in speech.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 2 Peter 2:18

Pride is always vain because it makes people stupid, as they are without God insofar as they are proud.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 2 Peter 2:18

They are not punished merely for their ungodliness but for the enormity of it as well.

Source: CATENA

[AD 202] Irenaeus on 2 Peter 2:19

4. For as the serpent beguiled Eve, by promising her what he had not himself,

Source: Against Heresies Book IV

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 2 Peter 2:19

When a man is said to be given up to his desires, he derives guilt from them, because, deserted by God, he yields and consents to them, is conquered, seized, attracted and possessed by them.

Source: AGAINST JULIAN 5.3.12

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 2 Peter 2:19

A man is the slave of whatever vice controls him.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 2 Peter 2:19

These men promised people freedom from deception when in fact they were encouraging others to lapse back into it.

Source: CATENA

[AD 1022] Symeon the New Theologian on 2 Peter 2:19

The one who is enslaved to any single passion is also dominated by it and is unable to obey the commandments of the Lord.

Source: DISCOURSES 27.1

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 2 Peter 2:20

It is always worse to sin knowingly than to sin in ignorance.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 461] Leo the Great on 2 Peter 2:20

We cannot fathom the depths of God’s mercy toward us. Yet we must take care not to be ensnared again by the devil’s traps and become entangled once more in the very errors which we have renounced. For the ancient enemy does not stop laying down traps everywhere and doing whatever it takes to corrupt the faith of believers.

Source: SERMONS 27.3

[AD 500] Salvian the Presbyter on 2 Peter 2:20

Look what the apostle Peter has to say about Christians who live in the mire and impurities of this world.

Source: ON THE GOVERNANCE OF GOD 4.19

[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on 2 Peter 2:20

Since we have been set free from the power of the devil through the grace of Christ and without any preceding merits of our own, dearest brothers, let us try as hard as we can, with his help, always to engage in good works, fearing what the apostle Peter proclaims in these terrible words.

Source: SERMONS 175.5

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 2 Peter 2:20

From this we learn two things. First, a person must serve the one who has overcome him, whoever that may be. Second, those who go back to their former ways after knowing the truth find themselves in an even worse state than the one from which they were originally rescued.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 2 Peter 2:21

To know the way of righteousness is to know Christ and the holy gospel. Peter is talking here about people who have been baptized after professing faith in Jesus but who have then turned away from him.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 2 Peter 2:21

Peter shows by this that these men were not liberating those who followed them from their deception but merely making that deception worse.

Source: CATENA

[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on 2 Peter 2:21

Peter is saying that the evil awaiting those who turn away from their faith is so great that it would have been better if they had never accepted it in the first place. At least that way their wickedness would seem natural, instead of being as bizarre as a dog returning to its own vomit.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on 2 Peter 2:22

There has appeared one, Noetus by name, and by birth a native of Smyrna. This person introduced a heresy from the tenets of Heraclitus. Now a certain man called Epigonus becomes his minister and pupil, and this person during his sojourn at Rome disseminated his godless opinion. But Cleomenes, who had become his disciple, an alien both in way of life and habits from the Church, was wont to corroborate the (Noetian) doctrine. At that time, Zephyrinus imagines that he administers the affairs of the Church -an uninformed and shamefully corrupt man. And he, being persuaded by proffered gain, was accustomed to connive at those who were present for the purpose of becoming disciples of Cleomenes. But (Zephyrinus) himself, being in process of time enticed away, hurried headlong into the same opinions; and he had Callistus as his adviser, and a fellow-champion of these wicked tenets. But the life of this (Callistus), and the heresy invented by him, I shall after a little explain. The school of these heretics during the succession of such bishops, continued to acquire strength and augmentation, from the fact that Zephyrinus and Callistus helped them to prevail. Never at any time, however, have we been guilty of collusion with them; but we have frequently offered them opposition, and have refuted them, and have forced them reluctantly to acknowledge the truth. And they, abashed and constrained by the truth, have confessed their errors for a short period, but after a little, wallow once again in the same mire.

Source: The Refutation of All Heresies - Book 9

[AD 325] Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius on 2 Peter 2:22

The Cyrenaics say that virtue itself is to be praised on this account, because it is productive of pleasure. True, says the filthy dog, or the swine wallowing in the mire.
The forbidding of the flesh of swine also has the same intention; for when God commanded them to abstain from this, He willed that this should be especially understood, that they should abstain from sins and impurities. For this animal is filthy and unclean.
Therefore He forbade them to use the flesh of the pig for food, that is, not to imitate the life of swine, which are nourished only for death; lest, by devoting themselves to their appetite and pleasures, they should be useless for working righteousness, and should be visited with death. Also that they should not immerse themselves in foul lusts, as the sow, which wallows in the mire;

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on 2 Peter 2:22

Repentance consists in no longer doing the same things, for he who reverts to the same sins is like a dog returning to his vomit.

Source: COMMENTARY ON JOHN 34

[AD 735] Bede on 2 Peter 2:22

For the truth of the proverb happened to them: The dog returns to its vomit, etc. He says this is a true proverb because he takes testimony from the Proverbs of Solomon, which is placed there with explanation: As a dog, he says, which returns to its vomit, so is a fool who repeats his foolishness (Prov. XXVI). And he added from his own: And the sow that was washed returns to wallowing in the mire. Therefore, when a dog vomits, it certainly expels the food that weighed down its chest. But when it returns to the vomit, it is again burdened by what it had been relieved of. And those who lament their sins certainly confess and cast away the evil which had satiated them wrongly and weighed down their innermost thoughts; when they repeat it after confession, they take it up again. But the sow, when washed in the mire, is rendered filthier. And he who laments his sins but does not forsake them subjects himself to greater punishment because he scorns the very pardon which he could have obtained by weeping, and he wallows in muddy water as it were, because by his tears he withdraws the cleanliness of life, and before the eyes of God even those very tears become filthy.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 2 Peter 2:22

What is going on here is that we have people who take delight even in things which nature has rejected and who are prepared to indulge in the very things which they themselves have corrupted. People like that are even more abominable than they were before, just as a sow looks even worse after she has covered herself in mud.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER