The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Peter — Section 59

meah{ng j and beyond thl\t flre lies the awful d"y or juclgm1mt, for which the aou\s of the ungodly are now kept in that mysterious" prison" of which Ro little is rovealed. LEBBONB, 1. The Lord bought us; we are his. It is awful guilt to deny him who ransomed us wHh his most precious blood. 2. It is a foarrul sacrilege for an ungodly man to intrude himself into the sacred ministry for the sake of gain. 3. There must be false teachers in the Church. "Boliove not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God." 4. God's justice will surely overtake all who sin, whether angels or rnon. 6, But God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked; he cares for every righteous soul. 6. Learn from the case of Lot that worldliness must lead to suffering in this world, if not in the world to come. Vera. 10-22.-Description of the false teacher,. I. THEIR PRESUMPTION. 1. They despise government. Living an evil life, they will not endure restraint of any kind. Self-willed end daring, they despise every form of authority, end speak evil of those who are better, or nobler, or loftier than themselves. Reverence is an important element in personal religion. Reverence for God inclines men to obey those who by God's pro- vidence ere set over them; especially it leads them to respect the beauty of holinesi1 which comes from God, to speak with due reverence of that holiness wherever it is manifested-whether in saints living or departed, or in the Angels of God in heaven. 2, Contrast between their conduct and that of the elect angels. God's holy angels are very high in power and might, but they do not rail even at the evil. It is their appointed duty to pronounce the sentence of God against the angels that sinned; they do it solemnly and sadly. These presumptuous men rail at the things which they understand not-both nt the holy angels end at the fallen angels. It is not good to rail even at these Inst. Fools make a mock at sin; and the sin of the angels, as it is most mysterious, so it is also most awful. Men often talk lightly and idly about the devil nnd hie wiles. Holy Scripture teaches us a. very different lesson. We are engaged in a. lifelong straggle against him. The conflict is deadly, awful; its issues a.re most momentous-life or death, heaven or hell. The soldiers of the cross must be in earnest, for they "wrestle, not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness." To talk lightly of the enemy, to jest about matters so tremendous, is not only unseemly; it is dangerous. It puts men off their~. and exposes them to the insidious assaults of the tempter. Thus these wicked- me11, of whom St. Peter writes, talked wildly and presumptuously about things above their comprehension. They behaved like irrational creatures in the presence of great peril, and their end must be destrnction. This is the due reward of their unrighteousness, and this they shall receive. They had counted on far other rewords; but the master to whom they bad sold themselves is a. liar. He chests his wretched slaves; he lures them to the forbidden fruit. It seems pleasant to the eye and good for food, but it proves to be a deadly poison (see reading adopted by the Revised Version). IL Tm:ra SENSUALITY. 1. Their gluttony and drunkenness. These men loveG luxurious living. They were won;e than their heathen neighbonrs. The heathen could wait for the night, the usual time for bacquetings. 'l'hey began their revelry early; they gave the business hours of the day (comp. Horace, ' Odes,' I. i. 20, "Partem solido demere de die") to self-indulgence. They joined, it seems, in the love-feasts of the Christians, but their love was only a pretence. As far as they were concerned, the love-feasts were but hollow hypocrisies, occasions for excess. They were spots anJ blemishes on the assemblies of the godly. Christians must imitate the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb without blemis'!i and without spot. They must be strictly temperate in all things; for temperance is one of the blessed fruits of the Spirit, while drunkenness is one of those works of the flesh which destroy the sou1 2. Their impurity. The Lord Jesus Christ teaches his followers to be pure in heart. These men indulged openly in vice. Some of their successors even taught that, as the sea is not polluted by the impurities which it receives, so the true Gnostic might take his 611 of sensual pleasure and yet not be defiled. It wns no great thing, some of them said, to abstain from lust if it had not been tasted; the triumph was to live in sensual enjoyments, and yet to keep the mind untainted by the defilement of the body. The holy apostle ste:-nly con- demns this horrible heresy. These men, he says, are enticing souls to ruin. ".\'hey are  THE SECOND EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. [ctt. n. 1-22.