3:4

Peter said that the people who were scoffing would say that Christ still had not returned, even though he had promised to. They would say that, although he had said that there would be various signs and wonders immediately before he returned (see Mark 13:24–26), these had not happened. There had been no change, and the world was the same as it had always been since God created it. The scoffers would claim that this proved that Christ would not return at all.

3:4a

Where is the promise of His coming?: This is a rhetorical question which means: “He promised to come back, but he has not come.” Many languages use rhetorical questions like this to emphasize something negative that someone is saying, but even if you can use a rhetorical question in this way, you may need to change the form of the question. Good News Translation may be a helpful model: “He promised to come, didn’t he? Where is he?” If you translate it as a statement, and not as a question, you must use a vivid expression. Some suggestions are:

“He promised to return, but those were merely empty words!”
-or-
“When he promised to return, he was lying!”

The source of this promise is both in Old Testament prophecies (see 1:19) and in the words of Christ himself (see Matthew 24).

3:4b–c

This part of the verse tells the reason that the people who are scoffing will give when they say that Christ will not return. The Greek text shows the relationship by using the word gar, “for.” Berean Standard Bible and other versions leave the link implicit. In the Display line for 3:4b, there is an example of how to show the relationship between 3:4b and the previous sentence.

our fathers: Literally “the fathers.” In Greek, as in many other languages, the word “father” means not only a biological father, but can mean “an ancestor,” “respected leader who lived in the past,” “the originator of something,” and “a person older than the speaker.” Because Peter spoke here of “the fathers,” he was probably referring to a specific and respected group of people who lived before the scoffers and to whom they were referring. There are different opinions about which group Peter meant:

(1) the first generation of Christians,

(2) the generation that preceded the generation of which the scoffers were a part,

(3) the patriarchs and prophets,

(4) the ancestors of the human race.

Although elsewhere in the NT the word usually refers to the important leaders in the OT, in the present context Peter probably meant interpretation (1), the first generation of Christians.

Jesus himself seemed to have said that he would return in the lifetime of the first disciples (see Matthew 10:23; Mark 9:1; John 21:21–22); angels from God promised Jesus’ disciples that he would return (see Acts 1:11); and his disciples expected him to return while they were still alive. So when the first Christians began to die and Christ had still not returned, some people, like the people in this verse, started to doubt that he would come back at all.

fell asleep: This is a euphemism for “dying.” If you have a euphemism for “dying” in your language, you could use it here.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

2:11a

greater in strength and power: These two expressions mean almost the same thing, so they are probably a pair of words that Peter used together in this sentence in order to emphasize how powerful the angels that he is talking about are. Then this expression means, “have much greater power.”

In the Greek it is not clear whom Peter was saying the angels were stronger than, but in many languages it will be necessary to state this. Many scholars think that Peter meant to say that the angels were stronger than the false teachers. Others think he meant that the angels were stronger than the celestial beings. If your language requires that you say whom the angels are stronger than, we recommend that you say that they are stronger than the false teachers. For example:

so much stronger and mightier than these false teachers (Good News Translation)

2:11b

dare to bring such slanderous charges against them: Peter said that the angels do not bring slanderous accusations against them. Here is another way to translate this:

do not pronounce a reviling judgement upon them. (Good News Translation)

It is not clear to whom Peter was referring when he used the word them.

(1) In some translations, them refers to the heavenly beings of verse 10c. If this is the correct interpretation, then the meaning is that the false teachers insult the heavenly beings, but the angels, who are even more powerful, do not.

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), New English Bible, The Jerusalem Bible)

(2) In the Good News Translation, them refers to the false teachers. If this is the correct interpretation, then Peter was contrasting the false teachers, who insult the heavenly beings, with the angels. Even when the angels are telling God about the wrong things the false teachers have done, they do not use insulting language to do so.

It is recommended that you follow the first interpretation (1).

Lord: This is referring to God, not Christ, in this verse. See note on 2:9a.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

2:12

There are a couple of places in this verse where scholars understand the Greek in different ways. These Notes follow one widely accepted interpretation. Peter compared the false teachers to wild animals who behave according to their instinct. They act without thinking, according to what they want to do. God will destroy these false teachers in the same way that men catch and kill wild animals.

2:12a

like irrational animals, creatures of instinct: This is probably a pair of words that Peter used together in this sentence in order to emphasize how much like animals these false teachers were. The false teachers did only what the desires of their bodies drove them to do, like animals who do not think about what they do.

blaspheme: In English this word means “to say bad things about holy things or people.” But the Greek word it translates here can also mean “to say bad things about ordinary people or things.” Some scholars think Peter was talking about saying bad things about “glorious beings” (see 2:10c). But others think he meant saying bad things about church or government leaders.

2:12b

like such creatures, they too will be destroyed: Literally, “in their destruction they will be destroyed.” Scholars have interpreted this in many different ways, so it is difficult to be sure what Peter intended to say. Versions translate differently according to the interpretation they follow. For example:

(1) Since the false teachers behave like wild animals, God will destroy them in the same way as people destroy wild animals. Peter used the same Greek word here for “destroy” as he used in 2:12a when talking about the animals being born “only to be caught and destroyed.” For exapmle:

They will be destroyed like wild animals (Good News Translation)

(Berean Standard Bible, Good News Translation, New International Version (2011 Revision), New English Bible, and Revised Standard Version follow this interpretation.)

(2) The wicked behavior of the false teachers will cause their own destruction. For example:

They will certainly destroy themselves by their own work of destruction (The Jerusalem Bible)

(The Jerusalem Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English also follows this interpretation.)

It is recommended that you follow the first interpretation (1).

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

2:13a

It is better to include 13a in this paragraph which begins at verse 10b, rather than follow Berean Standard Bible which starts the new paragraph at the beginning of verse 12, because 13a continues to speak of how God will punish the false teachers.

The harm they will suffer is the wages of their wickedness: There is a problem in the Greek text here.

(1) Some manuscripts have a verb (adikoumenoi), which Berean Standard Bible translates as The harm they will suffer. This is the text most English versions follow.

(2) Other manuscripts have a different verb (komioumenoi) “received.” For example:

And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness (King James Version)

It is recommended that you follow the first interpretation (1) like Berean Standard Bible and the majority of English versions.

Paragraph 2:13b–16

The false teachers’ main pleasure was to feast and to get as much of food, things to drink, and sex as they wanted. It is bad to behave this way at any time, but these people were so shameless they didn’t even try to hide what they were doing by waiting until night. Instead they were doing these things in the daytime, when everyone could see them behaving in such a way. So the false teachers brought shame on the Christians when they joined them for meals together.

Peter compared the false teachers to the prophet Balaam. Read the story of Balaam in Numbers 22–24. Balak, the king of the country of Moab, offered to reward Balaam if he would curse the people of Israel. Balaam was greedy to get the reward which Balak had offered him. That is why he tried three times to curse the people of Israel, even though he knew God didn’t want him to do it. But each time he tried to curse the people of Israel, he failed, because God caused him to bless them instead.

When Balaam was first going to Balak, God sent his angel to block Balaam’s way. Balaam could not see the angel, but the donkey he was riding could see him and refused to go on. Balaam then beat the donkey, and so God gave the donkey the ability to speak and it protested against the unfair way that Balaam had treated it.

2:13b

carouse: The Greek word which Berean Standard Bible translates carouse means “luxury.” It can have a good sense, “delight,” but here Peter used it to mean “self indulgence,” that is, eating and drinking too much at feasts without any self-control.

2:13c

blots and blemishes: These two words are very similar in meaning. Both spoil the garment or face where they are. Peter used the words figuratively. He meant that the false teachers were like blots and blemishes because the disgraceful way that they behaved when they were eating together with the Christians spoiled the reputation of the whole group.

reveling in their deception: The Greek word which Berean Standard Bible translates as reveling is connected to “carouse” in 13b, and it means to enjoy oneself by eating, drinking and behaving immorally without any self-control.

deception: The word Peter used here (apatais (There is also a problem with the Greek manuscript at this point. Some manuscripts have the Greek word agapais instead of apatais. This word is usually translated as “love feasts” and refers to the meals the early Christians used to eat together. It is also the word Jude used in the parallel section in his letter (Jude 12). No major English version translates “love feasts” in the text, though some do mention it in a footnote.)) literally means “deceits.” However in some contexts, the word can mean “pleasure that involves doing wrong.” Here is another way to translate this verse part:

They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you (New International Version (2011 Revision))

While the false teachers ate with the Christians, they enjoyed indulging themselves.

The Meaning Line in the Display follows Berean Standard Bible. If you want to follow New International Version (2011 Revision), see the translation given above.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

2:14a

Their eyes are full of adultery: The literal meaning of the Greek is “eyes full of an adulteress.” This may mean:

(1) They are always looking for a woman who is willing to have sex with them, or

(2) They cannot look at any woman without wanting to have sex with her.

It is recommended that you follow the first interpretation (1).

2:14b

their desire for sin is never satisfied: They never get tired of sinning. Here is another way to translate this:

they never stop sinning (New International Version (2011 Revision))

2:14c

they seduce the unstable: Because of the wrong things they were teaching and the way they were behaving, these false teachers persuaded people who were not strong Christians to give up the true way Christ taught them to live and to follow them in the wrong way. Some other ways to translate “unstable people” are “people who are not sure about what they believe about Jesus,” or “people who quickly change their thinking,” or “people whose loyalty to Christ is weak.”

2:14d

accursed children: Literally the Greek says “children of a curse.” This is a way of saying they are people whom God has cursed. What Peter implied by these words is that these false teachers were extremely wicked, so wicked that God had cursed them. People usually think it is wrong to curse anyone. But this verse does not mean that God has done something wrong. It means that God has declared that these people will go to hell and he will punish them there because they have sinned against him. You must translate these words carefully. If in your language the word for cursing always means doing something evil, it would be better to say “God will punish them.”

2:14e

hearts trained in greed: The literal meaning of the Greek is “having been trained in greed.” The verb “to train” usually refers to a person training himself for a race. Here these false teachers trained themselves to become more and more greedy.

greed: This means “desiring too strongly to have more and more of something.”

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

2:15

See the paragraph under the Paragraph heading for more about the story of Balaam.

loved the wages of wickedness: Balaam wanted so much to get the things that King Balak offered to pay him that he was willing to do wrong to get them.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

2:16

God caused the donkey Balaam was riding to speak to him in a human voice, and this stopped Balaam at that time from doing something which would have been foolish.

2:16c

prophet: Peter called Balaam a prophet because Balaam predicted things that would happen to Israel and to other nations (read Numbers 24).

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

Paragraph 2:17–22

Peter continued to describe the wicked way that the false teachers behaved. Because they were so wicked, God was reserving a place in hell for them.

Peter used many metaphors and other figures of speech in this paragraph. This makes his words very vivid. You may not be able to use the same figurative language in your translation, but try to find other ways of making your translation as vivid as the original.

2:17

Peter compared the false teachers to two things: firstly, to springs of water which have dried up, and secondly, to mists or clouds which the wind drives away during a storm and so no rain falls. Both examples refer to events that disappoint people. In the same way the false teachers disappointed people, because their teachings were worthless. People expected to learn from a teacher how to live in the way God wanted them to, but instead these teachers taught them the wrong way.

2:17c

Blackest darkness: Because the false teachers did this, God had reserved a place in deep darkness for them. Use whichever words you have in your language to best explain how intense the darkness was.

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Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.