2 Peter 2:9

Context

2 Peter presents 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, though many modern scholars 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 asserts 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 assures the godly person in the midst of trials that God will finally deliver him.
• 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 links this to the response in chapter 3 to those who scoff that judgment is slow in coming.
• The expression "knoweth": The Greek takes the form "the Lord knows how to deliver…" The New Korean Revised Version preserves this construction in its rendering, as does the KJV: "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations." The expression is understood to emphasize not the timing of deliverance but God's power and sovereignty to accomplish it.

Disputed Questions

• "To reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished": Interpreters differ over the verb form in the original. Some read it to mean that the unjust are already under punishment while being held until the Last Judgment; others read it to mean that they are kept to be punished on the day of judgment. English translations are likewise divided between these two readings. The weight given to this verse also depends on how one understands the intermediate state after death.
• The meaning of "temptation": The Greek word rendered "temptation" here can denote either an enticement to sin or 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 simply as a promise that the godly will escape hardship. Critics respond 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