Peter next described the consequences that follow false teaching to help his readers see the importance of avoiding it.
"Verses 4-10a form one long, complex conditional sentence; verses 4-8 form the conditional statement, and verses 9-10a the conclusion. This long sentence skillfully combines the different aspects involved in God's judicial dealings with mankind."85
"Now Peter will give us three examples of apostates in the past. His first example is of the angels who sinned (v. 4), and it is an example of how the Devilworks. His second example is that of the world of Noah's day (v. 5), and it is the example of the world. The third example (v. 6) is the turning of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, and that is the example of the flesh."86
2:4 We could translate the "ifs"in verses 4, 6, and 7 "since."87Angels are in many respects superior to humans, yet God judged even them for sinning by consigning them to tartarosas(hell). This is the only reference to "Tartarus"in the Bible. This term evidently originated in Greek mythology.88This is probably the same angelic rebellion to which Jude referred (Jude 6). Tartarus is evidently a holding place of darkness and bondage.89God will send these angels from Tartarus to the lake of fire, their terminal place of punishment, after He judges them finally (cf. Matt. 25:41). These angels appear to be those that rebelled with Satan. However since they are in bondage now they are evidently not the demons that assist Satan in his work on earth now.90We should probably not equate these angels with the "sons of God"that Moses wrote about in Genesis 6:1-4.91
2:5 God did not spare the sinners in the ancient world of Noah's day. Consequently there is no basis for supposing that He will spare any sinner in the world today. Both types of sinners are ungodly. Peter called Noah a herald of righteousness here (cf. 1 Pet. 3:19). By his words and deeds Noah proclaimed righteousness to his ungodly neighbors. By referring to seven others whom God saved with Noah (i.e., his family members), Peter was probably hinting that he was the beginning of a new creation.
"The reason for this stress is perhaps to be found in the eschatological symbolism of the number eight, which represented an eighth day of new creation, following the seven days of the old creation's history (cf 2 Enoch33:1-2; Barn. 15:9). Early Christians associated this symbolism with Sunday, the eighth day' (Barn. 15:9: Justin, Dial. 24.1: 41.4; 138.1). Sunday was the eighth day because it was the day of Christ's resurrection in which the new creation was begun . . .
"Noah, preserved from the old world to be the beginning of the new world after the Flood, is a type of faithful Christians who will be preserved from the present world to inherit the new world after the judgment."92
Many Bible students believe that the pattern of Noah's deliverance before the Flood prefigures the pretribulation rapture of Christians.
2:6 God already demonstrated that He would judge ungodly sinners with fire when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. The ungodly from then on should not expect to escape the same fate, though the fire that will judge them will be eternal. God also delivered Lot and his family before He brought fiery judgment on his world (cf. the pretribulation rapture; 1 Thess. 5:9-10).
"Undoubtedly the author sees the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire as a pattern for the fiery judgment of the ungodly at the Parousia (3:7)."93
"It has well been said that if God spares today's cities from judgment, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah."94
All three of Peter's examples (vv. 4-6) deal with unbelievers. These were the primary focus of Peter's warning. If there were some believers among the false teachers, Peter undoubtedly intended that they should take these warnings to heart even though they would not suffer the same eternal judgment as unbelievers.
2:7-9 This example shows that God will not only punish the wicked but He will also extricate the righteous from the judgment He will send on the ungodly that surround them. This example, as well as the example of Noah (v. 5), assured Peter's faithful readers that God would not lose them in the mass of sinners whom He would judge. The destruction of Jerusalem was going to destroy the unbelieving Jews living there in A.D. 70.95However the primary warning deals with eschatological deliverance and punishment at the return of Christ.96
Of course, many righteous people have died along with the ungodly in what have appeared to be God's judgments. One example of this is the faithful remnant in Israel who died in the wars that resulted in Israel and Judah's captivities. Note that Peter said God is ableto deliver the righteous. He did not say that He woulddo so in every case. This is still a ground for comfort. If the will of God be so, the righteous will not suffer with the wicked. In the end God will separate these two groups eternally, and no righteous person will suffer eternal judgment (cf. Matt. 13:30).
Had Peter not told us Lot was a righteous man we might have concluded otherwise. This strengthens Peter's illustration.
"Righteous' is a relative term; and in this case we must look at Lot both in comparison with the defective morality of the age and also with the licentiousness of those with whom he is here contrasted. Moreover, in the midst of this corruption he preserves some of the brighter features of his purer nomad life."97
We cannot always tell who the righteous are, but God knows. How a person behaves may be misleading. Not only may some unbelievers appear to be saints, but some believers, such as Lot, appear to be unsaved. If every genuine believer gives evidence of his salvation by his good works, as some interpreters assert, then Lot was the exception to the rule. It seems more likely that Lot was what the New Testament calls a carnal believer.
"It is possible for a Christian to live close to sin, but he may barely escape with his life."98
2:10a Here is another indication that the false teachers Peter warned of indulged their fleshly passions (v. 2). To do so they had to despise the authority of the apostles, the teaching of their Bibles, and God. However, Peter's reference to "authority"is probably a general one indicating the principle of authority.99
"Those who subject themselves to the flesh cannot be subject to the Lord."100
"False teaching and false behaviour ultimately always produce suffering and disaster, be it in Lot's day, in Peter's, or in our own."101
"The main idea in these verses comes across clearly: God judges those who obstinately disregard his commands while he protects those who stay faithful to him."102
