Bede — Commentary on Scripture

2 Peter 2:10

But especially those who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness. He speaks of fornicators, who will suffer greater torments in judgment for the guilt of their corruption than general iniquities.

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2 Peter 2:10

And despise government, daring, self-willed. He speaks of the proud and arrogant, who will also endure severer punishments than the general ones.

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2 Peter 2:10

They do not fear to introduce sects, blaspheming. He calls heretics those who, blaspheming the faith or life of the orthodox, introduce sects in their own name, that is, heresies, who themselves, with the former, will hear, for a stronger punishment awaits the stronger.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

2 Peter 2:10

Giving an example of those who are going to act impiously. For even the fire which once punished the Sodomites plainly shows that the impious are to suffer without end. And that their land remains scorched with smoke, that its most beautiful fruits have ashes within and stench, clearly signifies to all ages that carnal delight, although it may seem pleasing to the minds of fools for the present, reserves nothing for itself in the unseen but burning, so that the smoke of its torments ascends forever and ever.

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2 Peter 2:11

Where angels, though greater in strength and power, do not bring a blasphemous judgment against themselves. When he says: Where, it signifies in that they despise dominion, that they are daring, that they are self-pleasing, that they create heresies, that is, sects, that they blaspheme. By doing these things, the angels deserved to become demons and pay the penalties for their pride. For their spiritual nature did not suffer the obscenity of carnal desire to pollute them. Unless perhaps when they lure men into this, he indicates that they are to be judged for this also, just as for the other evils that they persuade men to commit.

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2 Peter 2:12

But these, like irrational animals naturally, etc. Just as it is natural for irrational animals to often ignorantly fall into traps and destruction out of the need for food, so heretics, compared to foolish beasts, out of a desire to fulfill their own corruption, blaspheming the incorrupt and sound doctrine of the Catholic Church and life, bind themselves with the snares of eternal perdition by impious recklessness. The ecclesiastical history reports that such heretics existed in the times of the apostles: the Simonians, Menandrians, Basilideans, Nicolaites, Ebionites, Marcionites, and Cerdonians, and many others. Rightly, having said of them: Blaspheming in their own corruption they shall perish, he added:

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2 Peter 2:13

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…

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.

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2 Peter 2:13

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.

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2 Peter 2:14

Leading astray unstable souls. Whores are usually called “enticeresses,” derived from pollution, or from the beauty of their skin by which they lure the unsuspecting. Therefore, they lead astray unstable souls who, by teaching them wrongly, bring them under the various heretical doctrines as if corrupting them with sensual pleasures.

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2 Peter 2:15

They followed the way of Balaam from Bosor, etc. Often, heretics propose such foolish doctrines and abominable sacraments that even the most dull-witted, the pagans, and those who completely lack understanding of divine knowledge, detest their madness. They refute their twisted paths and those contrary to God with healthier judgment. And what is worse, because it is more frequent, sometimes many Catholics love the reward of unrighteousness so much that they are deservedly attacked by the unlearned, by laypersons instead of clerics. These are rightly compared to the prophet who is reproached by the words of a donkey speaking against its nature, yet is not deterred from his evil path. The name of the city from which Balaam is said to have come, Bosor, meaning either of flesh or in tribulation, aptly fits such people. Excessive indulgence in luxury provides no greater reason to adulterate the word of truth for the love of money or the desire for temporal things, than when they have enslaved themselves to the lusts of the flesh, clearly unworthy of apostolic praise, which glorifies true…

They followed the way of Balaam from Bosor, etc. Often, heretics propose such foolish doctrines and abominable sacraments that even the most dull-witted, the pagans, and those who completely lack understanding of divine knowledge, detest their madness. They refute their twisted paths and those contrary to God with healthier judgment. And what is worse, because it is more frequent, sometimes many Catholics love the reward of unrighteousness so much that they are deservedly attacked by the unlearned, by laypersons instead of clerics. These are rightly compared to the prophet who is reproached by the words of a donkey speaking against its nature, yet is not deterred from his evil path. The name of the city from which Balaam is said to have come, Bosor, meaning either of flesh or in tribulation, aptly fits such people. Excessive indulgence in luxury provides no greater reason to adulterate the word of truth for the love of money or the desire for temporal things, than when they have enslaved themselves to the lusts of the flesh, clearly unworthy of apostolic praise, which glorifies true believers saying: But you, brethren, are not in the flesh but in the spirit (I Thes. V). And thus they are placed in tribulation, not in the sense that they suffer for the Lord, but rather in that which oppresses the spirits of the weak with the perverse examples of their actions, preventing them from rising to salvation or repentance. Also, the name Balaam itself, meaning a vain or precipitating people, suits such individuals. For those who willingly desert the known path of truth are nothing but a vain people, casting their listeners into perdition by preaching not what corrects them but what delights them erroneously. About whom it is well added:

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2 Peter 2:17

These are wells without water, etc. Saint Jerome, placing these verses in the book against Jovinian, explains them thus: "Does it not seem to you that the apostle has described a different kind of ignorance?" For they reveal knowledge as if from wells, because they promise the rain of doctrines which they do not have, like clouds of prophecy toward which the truth of God reaches, and they are agitated by the whirlwinds of demons and vices. They speak great things, and all their speech is pride. But every one who exalts his heart is unclean, so that they who have slightly turned away from sins return to their error and are eager for the luxuries of foods and the delights of the flesh. For who does not gladly hear: Let us eat and drink, and we will reign forever (Wis. II; Isai. XXII; I Cor. XV)? The wise and prudent call them perverse who are sweet in speech.

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2 Peter 2:22

For the truth of the proverb happened to them: The dog returns to its vomit, etc. He says this is a true proverb because he takes testimony from the Proverbs of Solomon, which is placed there with explanation: As a dog, he says, which returns to its vomit, so is a fool who repeats his foolishness (Prov. XXVI). And he added from his own: And the sow that was washed returns to wallowing in the mire. Therefore, when a dog vomits, it certainly expels the food that weighed down its chest. But when it returns to the vomit, it is again burdened by what it had been relieved of. And those who lament their sins certainly confess and cast away the evil which had satiated them wrongly and weighed down their innermost thoughts; when they repeat it after confession, they take it up again. But the sow, when washed in the mire, is rendered filthier. And he who laments his sins but does not forsake them subjects himself to greater punishment because he scorns the very pardon which he could have obtained by weeping, and he wallows in muddy water as it were, because by his tears he withdraws the cleanl…

For the truth of the proverb happened to them: The dog returns to its vomit, etc. He says this is a true proverb because he takes testimony from the Proverbs of Solomon, which is placed there with explanation: As a dog, he says, which returns to its vomit, so is a fool who repeats his foolishness (Prov. XXVI). And he added from his own: And the sow that was washed returns to wallowing in the mire. Therefore, when a dog vomits, it certainly expels the food that weighed down its chest. But when it returns to the vomit, it is again burdened by what it had been relieved of. And those who lament their sins certainly confess and cast away the evil which had satiated them wrongly and weighed down their innermost thoughts; when they repeat it after confession, they take it up again. But the sow, when washed in the mire, is rendered filthier. And he who laments his sins but does not forsake them subjects himself to greater punishment because he scorns the very pardon which he could have obtained by weeping, and he wallows in muddy water as it were, because by his tears he withdraws the cleanliness of life, and before the eyes of God even those very tears become filthy.

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

2 Peter 3:3

In the last days, in deception, mockers will come, mocking, namely, the faith and hope of Christians, as they promise to themselves in vain that the time of the resurrection will come.

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2 Peter 3:3

Walking according to their own desires, etc. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, says, "I beseech you, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of the Lord is at hand" (II Thess. II). Therefore, blessed Peter reproves and calls mockers those who assert that the coming of the Lord and His promises are delayed; Paul restrains those who believe that the day of the Lord is imminent. Hence, it is clear to all who love His coming that they should temper their mind in this opinion, so as not to suspect either that the same day of the Lord is near and will come sooner, nor again that it will come later, but we should only diligently ensure that, whether He comes sooner or later, He may find us prepared when He comes.

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2 Peter 3:5

For this is hidden from them willingly, that the heavens existed long ago and the earth, out of water, etc. The earth consists out of water, for at the beginning of creation God said: "Let the waters be gathered together in one place, and let the dry land appear;" and it was so (Gen. I). It consists also by water by the word of God, because by divine arrangement the veins of water fill the whole depth within, just as we see the bodies of living creatures overflowing with veins of blood, lest they fail in dryness if the irrigation of water ceases. Finally, we see that with the heat of summer, the lands with their absorbed moisture wither away, and soon are turned into dust which the wind casts. Another Edition has: "The heavens existed long ago out of water and through water." But it signifies this humid and cloudy air. For Scripture is accustomed to call this air, and sometimes the heavens. Whence it is written: "The hawk in heaven knows its appointed time" (Jerem. VIII).

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2 Peter 3:6

At that time the world perished, being flooded by water. At that time, referring to the heavens and the earth which he had previously mentioned. For through these things the world that had existed was destroyed. For the higher parts of the world were in no way touched by the flood. Therefore the earth perished, because being submerged and covered by waters, it not only lost the state of fruitfulness inherent to it for such a long time, but also, as we have taught above, in many places it received a different face from that which it had initially. The heavens likewise perished to the extent of this airspace. "For the water increased," as Saint Augustine says, "and occupied this entire space where birds fly." And thus certainly the heavens close to the earth perished, as it is said "the birds of the heavens." But there are also (he says) the heavens of the heavens higher in the firmament, but whether they too are to perish by fire, or if only these which perished by the flood will do so, is a rather more precise debate among the learned.

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2 Peter 3:7

But the heavens and the earth which are now, etc. Therefore it is clear from the view of blessed Peter that the earth and those heavens which perished in the flood, and were restored after the flood, are affirmed to be destroyed by final fire.

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2 Peter 3:8

But this one thing, beloved, do not let it escape your notice, that one day with the Lord, etc. Some think this statement should be understood as though the day of judgment has such a length as a span of a thousand years, not considering that he does not simply say there will be one day like a thousand years, but: One, he says, day with the Lord is like a thousand years. Because in the knowledge of divine power, the past, the future, and the present equally abide. And the courses of time which seem long to us and those which seem short are of equal measure to the Creator of time, according to the Psalmist: For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night (Psalm 89), which are as nothing, their years will be. For just as it is understood that the Psalmist equates a thousand years not with the future day of judgment, but with the past day that has passed in the sight of the Creator, indeed he likens all our years, that is the whole time of this age, to a watch in the night, which is a fourth part of the night, so blessed Peter equate…

But this one thing, beloved, do not let it escape your notice, that one day with the Lord, etc. Some think this statement should be understood as though the day of judgment has such a length as a span of a thousand years, not considering that he does not simply say there will be one day like a thousand years, but: One, he says, day with the Lord is like a thousand years. Because in the knowledge of divine power, the past, the future, and the present equally abide. And the courses of time which seem long to us and those which seem short are of equal measure to the Creator of time, according to the Psalmist: For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night (Psalm 89), which are as nothing, their years will be. For just as it is understood that the Psalmist equates a thousand years not with the future day of judgment, but with the past day that has passed in the sight of the Creator, indeed he likens all our years, that is the whole time of this age, to a watch in the night, which is a fourth part of the night, so blessed Peter equates each day of the present age as a thousand years and a thousand years to each day with the Lord, that is, he asserts they are of the same measure. Because evidently he sees all things, both small and great, equally. And indeed, if Peter wanted this to be understood only about the day of judgment, that it truly would be of such length as a thousand of our years, he could certainly have indicated his opinion more openly, nor would there be any need to add, with the Lord, because if that last day were of such length, it would appear to all men when it arrived. But the Apostle remembers these things to convince those whom he had mentioned earlier saying: Where is the promise of his coming? showing that the Lord is by no means forgetful of his promise or coming, to judge the living and the dead. But as he thus embraces each day of our age with His eternal memory, like a circuit of a thousand years, so he surveys a thousand years as the span of one day without effort, it is manifestly to be understood that He surely knows the end of all these days and years, and without any doubt He has also foreseen this, when the glory of His coming is to be revealed, when the promises are to be returned to the saints. Therefore it is rightly added:

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2 Peter 3:9

The Lord does not delay His promise, etc. Therefore, He who knows all times, the latest and the ancient, does not delay His promise, but indeed shows this at the time which He predestined before all times to come. And therefore He still defers, so that the full number of the elect, which He decreed with the Father before the ages, may be fulfilled. Hence, in the Apocalypse, the souls of the martyrs who longed for the coming of His judgment and resurrection heard that they should rest yet a little time, until the number of their fellow servants and brethren should be completed. But those who understand the aforementioned judgment of blessed Peter as if he were saying that the day of judgment would last as long as a thousand years, refer this to the cause that it is necessary for those who depart from the body with some sins, yet are predestined to the lot of the elect, to be purged by fire for such a time, and then finally, with all sins forgiven, to come to life. But these do not see how impudent it is to believe that such a great company of the perfect and just, having received bles…

The Lord does not delay His promise, etc. Therefore, He who knows all times, the latest and the ancient, does not delay His promise, but indeed shows this at the time which He predestined before all times to come. And therefore He still defers, so that the full number of the elect, which He decreed with the Father before the ages, may be fulfilled. Hence, in the Apocalypse, the souls of the martyrs who longed for the coming of His judgment and resurrection heard that they should rest yet a little time, until the number of their fellow servants and brethren should be completed. But those who understand the aforementioned judgment of blessed Peter as if he were saying that the day of judgment would last as long as a thousand years, refer this to the cause that it is necessary for those who depart from the body with some sins, yet are predestined to the lot of the elect, to be purged by fire for such a time, and then finally, with all sins forgiven, to come to life. But these do not see how impudent it is to believe that such a great company of the perfect and just, having received blessed and immortal bodies in the blink of an eye, would have to wait in the air or on earth for the end of the judgment for a space of a thousand years, and then finally, with their companions fully prepared, to hear the long-desired judgment: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom" (Matt. XXV).

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2 Peter 3:10

But the elements will be dissolved by heat. There are four elements by which this world consists: fire, air, water, and earth, all of which that great fire will consume. However, it will not consume everything to the extent that they will not exist fundamentally, but it will consume two to that extent, and it will restore two to a better appearance. Hence, it says in the following:

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