2 Peter 2:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
2 Peter 2:13
And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
a stain or blemish · noun — nominative plural masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
blemishes
μῶμοι,mōmoi
G3470
a flaw or blot · noun — nominative plural masculine
themselves
ἐντρυφῶντεςentruphōntes
G1792
to revel in · verb — present active participle, nominative plural masculine
with
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
own
αὐτῶνautōn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
deceivings
ἀπάταιςapatais
G539
delusion · noun — dative plural feminine
with
συνευωχούμενοιsuneuōchoumenoi
G4910
to entertain sumptuously in company with · verb — present middle or passive deponent participle, nominative plural masculine
you
ὑμῖνhymîn
G5213
to (with or by) you
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Romans 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Romans 2:8-9 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
Hebrews 2:2-3 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
Philippians 3:19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
Ephesians 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and withou…
1 Peter 4:4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:
Jude 1:12-16 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried…
1 Thessalonians 5:7-8 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Peter 2:10–end
The apostle's design being to warn us of, and arm us against, seducers, he now returns to discourse more particularly of them, and give us an account of their character and conduct, which abundantly justifies the righteous Judge of the world in reserving them in an especial manner for the most severe and heavy doom, as Cain is taken under special protection that he might be kept for uncommon vengeance. But why will God thus deal with these false teachers? This he shows in what follows.
I. These walk after the flesh; they follow the devices and desires of their own hearts, they give up themselves to the conduct of their own fleshly mind, refusing to make their reason stoop to divine revelatio…
receive--"shall carry off as their due."
reward of--that is, for their "unrighteousness" [ALFORD]. Perhaps it is implied, unrighteousness shall be its own reward or punishment. "Wages of unrighteousness" (Pe2 2:15) has a different sense, namely, the earthly gain to be gotten by "unrighteousness."
in the daytime--Translate as Greek, "counting the luxury which is in the daytime (not restricted to night, as ordinary revelling. Or as Vulgate and CALVIN, "the luxury which is but for a day": so Heb 11:25, "the pleasures of sin for a season"; and Heb 12:16, Esau) to be pleasure," that is, to be their chief good and highest enjoyment.
Spots--in themselves.
blemishes--disgraces: bringing blam…
They that count it pleasure to riot in the day time - Most sinners, in order to practice their abominable pleasures, seek the secrecy of the night; but these, bidding defiance to all decorum, decency, and shame, take the open day, and thus proclaim their impurities to the sun.
Spots - and blemishes - They are a disgrace to the Christian name.
Sporting themselves - Forming opinions which give license to sin, and then acting on those opinions; and thus rioting in their own deceits.
With their own deceivings - Εν ταις απαταις. But instead of this, AB, and almost all the versions and several of the fathers, have εν ταις αγαπαις, in your love feasts, which is probably the true reading.
While they…
The Church Fathers
Peter means that after they went astray they were able to lead others astray after them, but that in the end they will have to pay the price of their wickedness.
Receiving the reward of injustice. The reward of injustice is the punishment he speaks of, which the works of injustice deserve, especially in those who, while they themselves are slaves to the corruption of the flesh, nonetheless blaspheme the conduct of those who live chastely, though they themselves are held by insane errors, they do not cease to disparage those who hold sound understanding.
Thinking of the delights of the day as impurities and stains. Pleasure is taken both in a good and an evil sense. In the good sense, it is called the paradise of delight, and as it is sung in the psalm: And they shall drink from the torrent of Your pleasure (Psalm 35). In an evil sense, as Solomon says: For youth and pleasure are vain (Ecclesiastes 11). But it is also used indifferently, according to what Sarah said: After I am old, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure? (Genesis 18). Therefore, good pleasure is rightly called the delight of the day, by which the saints delight in the Lord. However, evil pleasure belongs to the night, when the wicked perversely delight in performing deeds of darkness. It is rightly said of the unjust that they think of the pleasure of the day, the delights of impurity and stain, because many are so lazy, perverse, and shameless that, whilst engaging in the most impure and detestable pleasures, they nonetheless judge these to be the best and almost luminous. Some join the first word of this verse to the preceding verse, reading thus: Receiving the reward of unrighteousness as pleasure, and expound it according to what the apostle Paul said: God gave them over to the desires of their hearts in impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves (Romans 1). And a little later: Committing shameless acts, receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error. And as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind, to do what ought not to be done (Ibid.). But we thought it right to follow the distinction we found in the works of the blessed Pope Gregory.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Jude, Epistle of — The author was “Judas, the brother of James” the Less (Jude 1:1), called also Lebbaeus (Matt. 10:3) and Thaddaeus (Mark 3:18). The genuineness of this epistle was early questioned, and doubts…
Love Feasts — (Agape), (2 Peter 2:13; Jude 1:12) an entertainment in which the poorer members of the church partook, furnished from the contributions of Christians resorting to the eucharistic celebration, but…
Amusements And Pleasures, Worldly · Punishment of — Punishment of
Amusements And Worldly Pleasures · Punishment of — Punishment of
Anarchy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Deceit · Sport themselves with — Sport themselves with
Doctrines · 13:9; — 13:9;
Lovefeasts · Assemblies of Christian fellowship — Assemblies of Christian fellowship
Pleasure · WORLDLY — WORLDLY
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness,.... Due punishment, both in body and soul, for all their injustice to God and men; which will be a just recompense of reward they shall receive at the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his works: the justice of which appears by what follows,
as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime; who place all their satisfaction and happiness in sensual delight, in rioting and drunkenness, in chambering and wantonness, day after day; putting away the evil day far from them, supposing that tomorrow will be as this day, and that there will be no future judgment nor state; and therefore do not take the night for…
2 Peter 2:12-16
12. But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
12. Isti autem tanquam bruta animalia, naturaliter genita in capturam et perniciem, in quibus nihil intelligunt maledicentes, in sua corruptione peribunt
13. And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
13. Recipientes mercedem injustitiae, pro voluptate ducentes in diem frui deliciis, labes et maculae, deliciantes in erroribus suis, conviven…
They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals: Cp. Jude 1:12. Christians often ate fellowship meals together in celebration of the Lord (see Acts 2:46; 6:1). The false teachers were using these mealtimes as opportunities to deceive true believers. Some manuscripts read They delight (or revel, or carouse) in their fellowship meals as they eat with you. If this reading is correct, they were using the fellowship meals for self-indulgence (cp. 1 Cor 11:20-22).
