Home
2 Peter Chapter 2

2 Peter Chapter 2

(Underlining marks a quotation/allusion. [Brackets] mark a textual variant.fnWhen two (or more) different copies of an original manuscript disagree on any given word or phrase — addition, omission, word order, etc. — the disagreement is called a "textual variant". ~99% of existing textual variants are either minor (like spelling), obviously not original (often appearing only in a few late manuscripts), or don't affect meaning (like "Jesus Christ" vs. "Christ Jesus"). The ~1% that remain do not affect any central doctrine of Christianity. The BOS Bible only marks significant textual variants that affect the meaning; smaller variants that do not affect meaning won't be marked for readability.  "Love" with a caret ("^love") is agapé.fn"agapé" The Greek words ἀγάπη (agapé, noun), and ἀγαπάω (agapaó; verb) are typically translated "love".  However, unlike our English word "love" – which primarily speaks of affection and feelings — agapé centers on choice and behavior.  It’s the "love" based on will, choice, behavior, and action; not feelings.  (Feelings-based love is the Greek word φιλέω (phileó), which properly means "brotherly love/affection".)  Thus, you could hate someone passionately and still treat him with "agapé".  Agapé "love" is best understood as the pursuit of what is most beneficial to someone or something, regardless of the cost to yourself or the type of response received from the person or thing.  It can also indicate a preference for someone or something over other things. An asterisk (*) indicates a verb in the Greek perfect tense.fnThe Greek perfect tense signifies a completed action in the past with a result and/or an ongoing state that extends into the present. For example, Hebrews 12:2 says in part: "He *sat down at the right hand of the throne of God"; the verb for "sat" is in the perfect tense, indicating that He sat down once (completed action in the past), and also that He remains seated until the present moment (ongoing state).)

Glossary

Note: this glossary is currently a work in progress; entries that do not expand will be added as time permits

Ages/of ages
“ages” and “of ages” are the Greek words “αἰών” (aión, noun form) and “αἰώνιος” (aiónios, adjective form) respectively.  The adjective form is typically translated “eternal”, as in “eternal life”. The noun form refers to a whole time period, (Keizer, “Life Time Entirety”) such as a person’s lifetime (an older Greek sense), an age/epoch (e.g., 2 Cor 4:4), or even time in its entirety, making its meaning similar to “forever” (e.g., John 14:16). The adjective form is similarly context-dependent, and the New Testament context often dictates a meaning similar to “forever” (but not always: e.g. 2 Tim 1:9).  Alternately or additionally, it can indicate the quality of a time period — indicating greatness/severity — like the English idiom “of ages” (e.g. “battle of the ages”). Thus, “of ages” was chosen for the adjective form so that both the time and quality senses remain visible.

Clean/unclean

Covenant

Faith

Flesh

Forgive/forgiveness

Grace
The Greek word is “χάρις” (charis), most often translated “grace”, “gift”, or “thanks”. It was a technical term in the 1st century, referring to the Patronage system in place. The Patron (from “pater” = “father”) would give gifts or do favors (both called a charis). A charis was always given/done freely to anyone who would be grateful for it, and this person then became a “client” of the patron. The clients were expected to reciprocate by telling everyone what the patron had done, and offering their services to the patron whenever the patron needed them. This reciprocal act was also called “charis”, and the ones who reciprocated were “being faithful” by giving thanks in this way. Both were done out of gratitude, not legal obligation. A client who wasn’t faithful and grateful probably wouldn’t receive any more charis from his patron, or any other patrons. The patron was responsible for taking care of all his clients, and making sure their needs were met. New Testament usage typically casts God the Father as a Heavenly Patron, to whom Christians should be grateful and faithful because of the gifts He has given us. (e.g. salvation, provision, protection, etc.)

Holy

Justification

Law (Torah)

Make purification

Pure/Impure

Purification offering
In the Old Testament, this is typically the Hebrew “חַטָּ֖את” (khat-tat); in the New Testament, it’s typically “περὶ ἁμαρτίας” (peri hamartias), which is what the Septuagint (an ancient translation of the Old Testament into Greek) used to translate the Hebrew. It’s traditionally translated “sin offering”, but that translation has less support in high-level scholarship. The Hebrew word can mean “sin”, but it can also mean “purification” (e.g. Numbers 8:7). This offering was used to purify uncleanness, whether or not a sin was committed. Thus, it was required even when no sin was committed, such as after childbirth (Leviticus 12:1-8), for certain diseases (Leviticus 14), etc. High-level, peer-reviewed scholarship dedicated to the field (e.g. Milgrom, Levine, Gane, Sklar, Wright, Gorman, etc.) is largely united on the “purification offering” understanding. The BOS Bible has aligned itself with that high-level, peer-reviewed scholarship in its translation.

Ransom

Redemption

Repent/repentance

Righteous/righteousness

Salvation/save

Soul
“soul” is the Greek word “ψυχή/psuché” and Hebrew word “נֶפֶשׁ/nephesh”. The BOS Bible translates these words as “soul” for consistency, and so the full meaning of “soul” isn’t obscured by different translations in different places. They closely overlap in meaning and are typically translated “soul” or “life”. They refer to the animating force of a living thing, and thus can also refer to its life, or to the whole of any person or creature, including animals (e.g. fish in Revelation 8:9 and Genesis 1). They are frequently used as an emphatic reference to a person’s whole self, including longings, deep emotions, and inner life. (e.g. Ps 42:11) Note: while “soul” has significant overlap in meaning with “spirit”, the words have distinct meanings and usages throughout scripture. For example, lions tear apart a soul in Psalm 7:2, and a “dead soul” is mentioned in Leviticus 21:11; “spirit” has no analogous usages, and it returns to God at death (Ecc 12:7; Acts 7:59). The adjective forms of soul and spirit are contrasted in 1 Corinthians 2:14-15; see also: Hebrews 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Sin

Click to Collapse the Glossary
A warning about False Teachers
  1. But there were also false prophets among the people, as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies or sects,fn“heresies or sects” is one word in Greek, and it can mean either depending on the context.  In the New Testament it most often means “sects”, as in a subdivision of a particular group, and this verse is the only place it’s usually translated “heresies”. even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves.
  2. And many will follow after their wanton debaucheries, through whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
  3. And in covetousness, they will exploit you with deceitfully crafted words; men whose judgement from long ago isn’t idle, and their destruction doesn’t sleep.
  4. For if God didn’t spare angels who sinned, but having cast them into Tartarus,fn“having cast them into Tartarus” is one word in Greek, with that exact meaning.  Tartarus belongs to Greek mythology, and was originally the place where the Titans were imprisoned.  The Titans fought against the gods of Greek mythology and were thrown into Tartarus for their crimes.  If Peter was writing this letter to a Greek audience, the allusion would’ve been unmistakable. He handed them over in chains of black darkness while keeping them for judgement;
  5. and if He didn’t spare the ancient world but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others when He brought the flood on the ungodly world;
  6. and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction; (*establishing an example of what’s coming upon the ungodly by having reduced those cities to ashes)
  7. and if He rescued righteous Lot, who was being worn down by the wantonly debauched conduct of lawless men;
  8. (For while dwelling among them day by day, that righteous man was being tormented in his righteous soul by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)
  9. then the Lord *knows how to rescue the devout from temptation and how to keep disciplining the unrighteous until the day of judgement,
  10. and especially the men walking after the flesh in defiled cravingsfn“cravings” is literally “craving” and scorning divine authority; foolishly bold, self-gratifying, they don’t tremble when blaspheming glory,
  11. where even angels – being greater in strength and power – don’t bring a blasphemous judgement against themfnNote: See Jude 1:9 for context before the Lord.
  12. But like unreasoning animals, these men – *born as creatures of instinct for capture and ruinous corruption – will also be ruinously corrupted by their ruinous corruption by blaspheming what they don’t know,
  13. suffering injustice as a wage of doing injustice, considering self-indulgent extravagance in the day as pleasure, blots and blemishes reveling in their deceptions while feasting with you,
  14. having eyes full of sex with other men’s wivesfn“sex with other men’s wives” is one word in Greek. It literally means “an adulteress”, but can be used as an adjective as it is here.  It should be noted that the Greek word (and Hebrew too) is more limited in scope than our English word adultery. In English, “adultery” means illicit sex between a married person – man or woman – and someone who isn’t their spouse. In Greek (and Hebrew also), it meant “a man having sex with another man’s wife”. A married man having sex with an unmarried woman was called fornication. and incessant sin; enticing unstable souls, having a heart strenuously *trained in covetousness, cursed children,
  15. having abandoned the straight way, they wandered astray, having followed after the way of Balaam the son of Beor who ^loved the wage of unrighteousness.fnthis is likely an allusion to either Numbers 22:2-21, or possibly Numbers 31:6 which additional context to the aftermath of Balaam’s story
  16. (But he had a rebuke for his own deliberate defiance through a mute donkey, and having spoken in a man’s voice, it restrained the prophet’s madness.)
  17. These men are springs without water and mists being driven by a hurricane; men for whom the black darkness has been reserved.
  18. For while speaking arrogant vanity through fleshly cravings and wanton debaucheries, they entice the men barely escaping from the men who are walking in deviant error,
  19. promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of ruinous corruption.  For by what someone has been overcome, by that he has been enslaved.
  20. For if after having escaped the pollutions of the world through full knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Anointed, but then they are *overcome, (having been entangled in these pollutions again) the last state *is worse for them than the first.
  21. For it was better for them to not have fully known the way of righteousness than having fully known it, to turn from the holy commandment which was delivered to them.
  22. It has happened to them like the true proverb: “A dog returned to its own vomit;”fnquotation/allusion to Proverbs 26:11 and “after washing, a sow returned to her muddy wallow.”fnThis is not a scriptural quotation, but rather a reference to a relatively common proverb of the day.

 

Next: 2 Peter chapter 3

Previous: 2 Peter chapter 1

Up: The Book of 2 Peter

Up: BOS Bible Index

 

Note: If you think a word, phrase, or passage could be better translated - or is wrong - then Please Say Something. This is an open source Bible that's accountable to all Christians. See this link for details.

Legal Use: Please feel free to quote the BOS Bible, but follow the guidelines on the Legal Use page when doing so. They are easy and mostly common sense.