2 Peter 2:4–5

Context

2 Peter is a letter written in the name of the apostle Peter. Chapter 2 warns of "false teachers" (2:1) who will arise within the church. In the original Greek, verses 4 through 10 form a single long conditional sentence. After listing examples of past judgment introduced by "if God spared not …," the passage reaches its conclusion in verse 9: "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished."

The passage offers three examples: the angels who sinned (v. 4), the flood of Noah (v. 5), and Sodom and Gomorrah (vv. 6–8). The first example mentions only judgment, but the latter two record the rescue of the righteous (Noah and Lot) alongside the judgment. A similar list appears in Jude 6–7, and the two passages are often compared.

Interpretation

• Reading in connection with Genesis 6: This reading appeals to the fact that the flood is mentioned immediately after the angels. It identifies the angels of verse 4 with the "sons of God" in Genesis 6:1–4 who took the daughters of men. Its proponents see in the background the Jewish work 1 Enoch, which interprets that account as the fall and imprisonment of angels; this book bears the name of Enoch pseudonymously and is quoted in Jude 14–15.
• Reading as the primordial fall: Traditional doctrinal teaching in the church has read this verse as referring broadly to the original fall of Satan and the angels who followed him. Interpreters who understand the "sons of God" in Genesis 6 as human beings, such as the descendants of Seth, generally adopt this reading.
• Reading concerning Noah: Genesis never says that Noah preached, yet this verse calls him "a preacher of righteousness." Some interpreters hold that his very life of building the ark was itself a testimony. Others hold that the verse reflects Jewish and early Christian traditions that Noah called people to repentance. The early Christian writing 1 Clement likewise states that Noah preached repentance. The phrase rendered in the Korean Revised Version as "his seven family members" reads in the original "Noah the eighth person" (as in the KJV), referring to the eight people who survived in the ark (1 Peter 3:20).

Debates and Issues

• The translation "hell": "Cast them down to hell" translates a Greek verb meaning "to cast into Tartarus," which occurs only here in the New Testament. In Greek mythology, Tartarus was the prison in the lowest depths. Interpreters therefore differ as to whether this is the same as the place of punishment after the Last Judgment or a place of confinement until the judgment. Because the text says the angels are "reserved unto judgment," many commentaries favor the latter sense. This topic is also treated in the article Heaven and Hell.
• "Pits" or "chains": Manuscripts vary between a word read as "pits" and a word read as "chains"; the difference involves two words of similar spelling. The Korean Revised Version renders it "pits," while the King James Version renders it "chains."
• Imprisoned angels and active demons: The Gospels depict demons as active. Proposed explanations include the view that only some angels are imprisoned and the view that "imprisonment" is a figure of speech meaning that their judgment has already been determined. Some interpreters also connect the "spirits in prison" of 1 Peter 3:19 with these angels.

Related Passages

• Jude 1:6–7
• Genesis 6:1–8
• 1 Peter 3:19–20
• Matthew 24:37–39