The Apostle cautions Christians against false teachers; 315 quit their dissolving tabernacles likewise, and to follow their pious SECT. leaders into the joy of their Lord. ii. 17, 18 It must undoubtedly yield us an inconceivable satisfaction as Ver. Christians, that we have not followed cunningly devised fables; that 16 the persons on whose testimony we rely as an authentic evidence to the truth of our holy religion, were eye-witnesses of the illustrious facts on which it is founded; and particularly, that important oracle, the voice from heaven, by which the true and living God declared Jesus of Nazareth to be his well-beloved Son, and re. commended him to the obedient regard of all who reverence his own outhority, was, on the mount of transfiguration, distinctly heard by Peter, James, and John; who at the same time were eye-witnesses of his glory. Yet are we bound to acknowledge the Divine oracles of the Old Testament,and the numerous and various. prophecies they contain, to be to us a superior, and more sure and incontestible evidence: let us therefore take heed to it, as a glorious light to our feet, and lamp to our paths. And let what is particularly said of the ancient prophets recommend to our regard the whole sacred volume; namely, that it was not written by pri 20 vate impulse, but by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Let us receive it with the profoundest humility, not as the word of man, but as it is indeed and in truth the word of God, which is able to make us wise unto salvation; and let us follow its sacred illumination, 21 till at length it conduct us to the dawning of an eternal day, and to the rising of that bright and morning star, which will shine out hereafter with the full glory of the Sun of righteousness. SECT. III. The Apostle cautions Christians against false teachers; mentioning the judgments which God executed on the fallen angels, on the old world, and on Sodom, and the deliverance of Noah and of Lot, as consideratious which should, on the one hand, terrify the ungodly, and on the other, comfort and establish the hearts of good men. 2 Peter II. 1—9. 2 PETER II. 1. BUT there were false prophets also among the people, even I 2 PETER II. 1. SECT. iii. HAVE observed to you, that it was by a Divine impulse that the prophets delivered and as there shall be false wrote their predictions in former times ; but 2 Peter teachers among you, they were not always regarded in a becoming II. le who privily shall bring in manner; for there were also false prophets among the 316 2 Peter Who should be punished like the fallen angels: SECT. the people of the Jews, as there shall also be in damnable heresies, among you, the disciples of a greater Master that bought them, and cven denying the Lord than Moses; false teachers, who will make par- bring upon themselves II.1. ties among you, and privately introduce perni- swift destruction. cious and destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought and redeemed them; as those false prophets denied the God who had redeemed Israel from its bondage and misery; but they will at last be found in the same dreadful circumstances, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And yet many will persist to follow their pernicious courses, by means of whom the way of truth, the cause of genuine and uncorrupted Christianity, will by many others be blasphemed; as if the errors and madness of those members who are corrupted, were to be charged on those who are not infected with their disorders, or the vices of a few, were to be im 2 And many shall follow their pernicious whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. ways, by reason of now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth 3 puted to all. And as for the false teachers I 3 And through core- C a There were also false prophets among the people.] Dr. Sherlock, the late bishop of London,) has observed in his first dissertation, at the end of his discourses on prophecy, that there is a sensible difference, not so much between the first and second epistles of Peter, as between this second chapter, when compared with the first and third. This chapter abounds in pompous words and expressions. It is a description of false teachers, and seems to be extracted from some Jewish writer, who had given a description of the false prophets, either those of his own time, or those who had lived before him. This remark accounts for the great resemblance between this chapter and the epistle of Jude; as was observed in the Introduction. He supposes it might be be transcribed, or translated by them, from some Jewish or Hebrew book that remained among them. See the epistle of Jude, note c. the not. b As there shall also be among you.] Hence Mr. Mede, I think somewhat precariously, infers a similitude between the errors propagated by the false prophets among the Jews, and those which were to over-run the Christian church; and instances in image-worship, and the worship of departed saints and heroes, customary in the church of Rome. Mede in loc. Dr. Whitby applies all these things to the Nicolaitans, and Gnosticks, who were a branch of them. c Does not slumber.] Mr. Blackwall observes,that this is a most beautiful figure, representing the vengeance that shall destroy such incorrigible sinners, as an angel of judgment, pursuing them upon the wing continually approaching nearer and nearer, and in the mean time keeping a watchful eye upon them, that he may at length discharge an unerring blow. See his Sacred Classics, Vol. I. p. 297. And in like manner as the cities of the plain. of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; e iii. 317 4 For if God spared the alarm: For if God did not spare the angels SECT. not the angels that that sinned but, having cast d [them] down sinned, but cast them down to hell, and de- from heaven, and sunk them to the abyss of 2 Peter livered them into chains hell delivered [them] to be reserved in chains II. 4. of darkness, to the judgment of the great and terrible day of account; we may from hence reasonably conclude, that he will find out a proper season to punish wicked men, the confederates and instruments of those rebellious spirits. 5 And spared not And indeed the history of mankind furnishes us 5 the old world, but with many awful instances of this kind; and person, a preacher of one, in which almost the whole human species righteousness, bringing was made the monument of Divine displeasure; in the flood upon the for when God had been long insulted and proworld of the ungodly; voked by their continued wickedness, we know saved Noah the eight verse. that he spared not the inhabitants of the old an- d Did not spare the angels, &c.] Some have imagined this to be an imperfect sentence: I think it complete in the 9th But as the length of the sentence is so necessarily increased, by such a method of paraphrasing as I have chosen, (though brought into the narrowest limits, which were judged consistent with answering the end,) I have thought it proper here, and in many other instances, to divide what, in the original, makes one sentence, into several; else I must have left many passages of the sacred writings far more intricate than I found them. e Cast [them] down to hell.] Mr. Mede would translate the words, When God had condemned the angels that sinned to the punishment of hell, he delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved to judgment. I cannot but think that the word Taplapwoas is illustrated by the description given of Tartarus in Homer (Iliad., Lin. 13 25,) as a deep gulph under the earth, where there are iron gates, and a brazen entrance. It is derived from a word expressive of terror, and signifies the doleful prison in which wicked spirits are reserved, till they should be brought out to public condemnation and execution. In chains of darkness.] It has been queried, how the confinement of these unhappy spirits in chains of darkness, is con ousness sistent with their wandering up and down g The eight [person] a preacher of righte and the first world, as Noah was in the second, 318 SECT. iii. Reflections on the destruction of the old world, &c. ousness, and seven others, who were with him in the ark, when he brought the irresistible de2 Peter struction of the universal deluge upon the whole II. 5. world of the ungodly, and destroyed all the impious wretches who had derided the admonitions. of that faithful patriarch. 7 6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unshould live ungodly; to those that after 7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of 6 And in a succeeding age, when the inhabit- the wicked: ous 8 (For that righteman dwelling among them, in see ing and hearing, vex 9 The Lord know IMPROVEMENT. THERE is no church so pure, but some false members, and Ver. 1 even false teachers, may insinuate themselves into it; yet it is our duty to watch and pray, that the churches to which we re and what excellent instructions both might spectively of persons that were with him, Noah with seven others, or Noah one of eight; and accordingly I have determined it to this sense in the paraphrase. The Bishop bath produced several passages in the Greek classics in support of this sense of the word: and others may be seen in Raphelius. Compare also i Peter iii. 20. Reflections on the destruction of the old world, &c. 319 iii. spectively belong, may be guarded against their pernicious insi- SECT. nuations, and especially against the destructive heresies of those who deny the Lord who bought them. As we regard the edification of the church, and the salvation of our own precious and immortal souls, let us guard against whatever may justly deserve Ver. such an imputation as this. Woe be to those teachers who are 3 actuated with a covetous spirit, who teach things which they ought not for the sake of filthy lucre, and make merchandise of the souls of their hearers! How swiftly does their damnation approach, though they perceive not the gradations by which it advances; and with what irresistible terror will it at length overwhelm them! That our hearts may be preserved under an awful impression 4 of the Divine judgments, let us often meditate on those displays of them of which the scripture informs us. And let us, in particular, reflect on the fall of the apostate angels, who were for their first offence precipitated from heaven, and reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day; and while we contemplate this awful dispensation, let us adore that distinguishing grace and compassion which laid hold on apostate man, and provided an all-sufficient Saviour for him. Let us call to remem- 5, 6 brance the dissolution of the old world, by a deluge of water, and the tremendous destruction of the cities of the plain by fire from heaven; and let us fear that God, who can at pleasure break open the fountains of the great deep, and open the windows of heaven, and emit from these his various magazines, deluges of water, or torrents of burning sulphur, to execute his vengeance. Who can flee from his pursuing hand? or who can be secure and happy but under his almighty protection? Yet awful as the terrors of his indignation are, his eyes are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. What a noble support and encouragement 7, 8 may it therefore be to the small remnant, who from day to day are vering their righteous souls at the ungodly deeds of the wicked among whom they dwell, to reflect on the deliverance of Noah, and of Lot, from that general destruction with which they were surrounded. A more perfect and complete deliverance will be at length accomplished for all the faithful servants of God, and there will be no possibility of doubting any more of his ability, or his willingness to rescue them from every evil; for he will make the day of his vengeance on his enemies, a day of complete and everlasting salvation to his saints. And the Lord grant that we may all find mercy of the Lord in that important day. SECT. |