Andreas of Caesarea — Commentary on Scripture

2 Peter 2:2

The heresy of the Nicolaitans had already appeared at that time. Peter says that it was evil in two ways. The Nicolaitans were wrong in their doctrine, and they were also wicked in their behavior. It reminds us of what was said about the Jews: “Because of you my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles.”

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2 Peter 2:3

They were doing this for money. Excess is sometimes geared toward wickedness and sometimes toward profit, but here the addition of the word exploit makes the meaning clear. They will indeed have their reward, which is death. The phrase “of old” indicates God’s foreknowledge of what they would do. For just as God foresaw who would be good and prepared good things for them in heaven, so he also foresaw who would be evil and prepared the other place for them.

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2 Peter 2:10

This refers to the Simonians, who combined wicked behavior with false doctrine.

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2 Peter 2:13

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.

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2 Peter 2:14

Peter says that these people are not motivated by love. Their only interest is to find the right moment when they can seduce women.

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2 Peter 2:15

As we know from the Old Testament, Balaam was hindered by God for his greed in trying to obtain a living off his prophetic spirit. He obstinately tried to run to Balak a second time, and only after he was corrected by the fear of God and the terrors which he met along the way was he able to get the word of blessing right, so that what he said was from God and not his own wicked preference. For even his tongue was not totally given over to the service of a lie.

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2 Peter 2:16

The common interpretation of this is that Balaam’s ass condemned him because it obeyed the angel and submitted to him, whereas Balaam, although he heard God, did not go and warn the people, nor did he obey God’s will. Thus the ass became Balaam’s teacher.

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2 Peter 2:17

They did not have the living word of the Spirit, the channel of delights which overflows to the glory of the nations. They were not clear-sighted like the saints. They were in some sense like clouds but more like “mists” covered in darkness and ignorance, for they were governed by an evil spirit.

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2 Peter 2:18

They are not punished merely for their ungodliness but for the enormity of it as well.

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2 Peter 2:19

These men promised people freedom from deception when in fact they were encouraging others to lapse back into it.

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2 Peter 2:21

Peter shows by this that these men were not liberating those who followed them from their deception but merely making that deception worse.

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2 Peter 3:13

It is not just we, says Peter, but the whole creation around us also, which will be changed for the better. For the creation will share in our glory just as it has been subjected to destruction and corruption because of us. Either way it shares our fate.

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2 Peter 3:14

Everything in creation was made for our enjoyment, and it will be remade along with us.… This new life is for all who believe, and not just for Israel, for the Lord has exalted the Gentiles, lifting us up by the cross toward himself. Has he not provided for believers? Indeed he has. He has lifted them up and carried them and placed them in the many mansions which there are in the Father’s presence.

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2 Peter 3:15

This is a reference to what Paul said when he wrote: “Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”

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2 Thessalonians 1:8

by a flame of fire
The fire is either a visible fire as happened to the two commanders of fifty men in the presence of Elijah (2 Kgs 1:9-11) or the coming of Christ in glory will destroy them by the breath of his mouth (Is 11:4), and the aforementioned nations, also devouring their general, the devil, and He (Christ) will deliver the devil to the lake of fire together with the Antichrist and the false prophet to be tortured forever and ever.

3 John 1:1

John writes this letter to encourage some fellow believers. He writes to Gaius and testifies to his great hospitality, which he praises. He says that someone who does such good is from God. He goes on to tell him to expel Diotrephes, who has not learned to do the same thing. He also praises Demetrius for doing the same as Gaius and mentions his faith as a testimony to his virtue. His main purpose for writing is the same as it was in his second letter.

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3 John 1:8

John teaches us that we should not wait for such needy people to come to us but should rather go out and look for them, for that is what Lot and Abraham did.

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3 John 1:12

In my opinion this Demetrius is the same man who made silver idols of Artemis and who once led a riot against the apostle Paul.

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Daniel 8:26

“Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and after these things write.” This shows that what is now undisclosed is to be explained through experience and the course of the events themselves. And from the heavenly voice the Evangelist learned that the voices are to be imprinted on the mind, but that the final understanding and the clear interpretation of them is reserved for the last times. Also Daniel learned that such words are to be sealed and locked away.

COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 10:4

James 1:3

When our Lord and God taught his disciples that they must pray to be delivered from temptation, he meant the kind of temptation which we readily and willingly fall into and which does not contain any kind of trial. But James is talking about the kind of trials which are unwanted and teaches that those who struggle for the truth should not be discouraged by them.

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