2 Peter 2:9

Context

2 Peter introduces itself at the outset as a letter written in the name of the apostle Peter (2 Peter 1:1). It has traditionally been regarded as a letter Peter wrote late in his life. Many modern scholars, however, consider it a later work written under Peter's name.

Chapter 2 warns against false teachers who have entered the church. Beginning in verse 4, a long conditional sentence unfolds, citing three examples:

• God did not spare the angels who sinned (v. 4).
• When he judged the ancient world by the Flood, he preserved Noah (v. 5).
• When he judged Sodom and Gomorrah, he delivered righteous Lot (vv. 6-8).

Verse 9 is the conclusion to this "if he did…" construction. Drawing on past examples in which judgment and deliverance occurred together, it declares that present readers stand under the same divine judgment. Similar examples appear in Jude 1:5-7, and the relationship between the two passages is frequently discussed.

Interpretation

• As a comfort: Lot was vexed daily among his lawless neighbors, yet he was ultimately delivered (v. 8). On this view, the verse is not a promise that trials will never come; rather, it gives assurance that God will finally deliver the godly person who is in the midst of trials.
• As a warning: This reading places the emphasis on the second half of the verse. It takes the verse to mean that the judgment of the false teachers, though it may seem delayed, will surely come, and it connects this with the answer given in chapter 3 to the scoffing claim that judgment is slow in coming.
• The expression "knoweth": The Greek has the form "the Lord knoweth how to deliver…" The Korean New Korean Revised Version preserves this construction in its rendering. The expression is understood to emphasize not the timing of deliverance but God's power and sovereignty to bring it about.

Disputed Questions

• "To reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished": Readings divide over the verb form in the original. One side takes it to mean that the unjust are already under punishment while being held until the Last Judgment; the other takes it to mean that they are kept to be punished on the day of judgment. English translations are likewise divided between these two directions. The weight given to this verse also varies depending on how one understands the intermediate state after death.
• The meaning of "temptation": The Greek word rendered "temptation" here can denote both an enticement to sin and a trial coming from outside. On the basis of Lot's example, many interpret it in this verse as a trial, and some translations in fact render it "trial."
• Citation out of context: The verse is sometimes cited merely as a promise that the godly will avoid hardship. In response, some point out that Noah and Lot also suffered and that the focus of the passage as a whole is the judgment of false teachers.

Related Passages

• 2 Peter 2:4-5
• Genesis 19:15-16
• Jude 1:6-7
• 1 Corinthians 10:13
• James 1:12-14