2 Peter 2:4

For if God spared not the angels that sinned..... By whom are meant the devil and his angels; who are spirits created by God and as such were good; their first estate which they left was pure and

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; If. The consequent member of the sentence is virtually contained in 2 Peter 2:9.

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell: elsewhere called the deep, , and the bottomless pit, 11:7 17:8 20:1,3. This implies a change: 1. Of the state of those sinning angels, that whereas before it was the highest among the creatures, now it is the lowest. 2. Of their place, that whereas they were before the throne of God with the rest of the angels, they are now thrust down into a lower place, agreeable to their sin and misery. What place that is we find not expressed in Scripture, and therefore we are not to be over curious in our inquiries after it; but may rest satisfied, that they are excluded from the place of their primitive happiness, and are in a place where they are afflicted with the pain both of loss and sense. And delivered them into chains of darkness: either to be bound, or held with darkness as with chains; or kept in chains under darkness, as ; where darkness may imply the misery and horror of their condition, and chains, their obduracy in their wickedness, their despair of deliverance, their expectation of future judgment, , together with the providence and power of God, watching over and holding them in that condition, till final vengeance come upon them. It is a metaphor taken from malefactors condemned, who are bound in chains, and kept in the dungeon till execution. To be reserved; so kept that they cannot escape. Unto judgment; viz. that of the last day, the time of their full torment, in which the wrath of God, which they feel in a great measure now, will come upon them to the utmost.

4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; Ver. 4. If God spared not the angels] Though but for one sin only, and that in thought only. It sprang from the admiration of their own gifts, it was confirmed by pride and ambition, it was perfected by envy, stirred by the decree of exalting man’ s nature above angels in and by Christ. Some say it was a transgression of some commandment in particular (not expressed), as Adam was.

(4-8) Three instances of divine vengeance, proving that great wickedness never goes unpunished.

Verse 4. For if God spared not the angels] The angels were originally placed in a state of probation; some having fallen and some having stood proves this. How long that probation was to last to them, and what was the particular test of their fidelity, we know not; nor indeed do we know what was their sin; nor when nor how they fell. St. Jude says they kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation; which seems to indicate that they got discontented with their lot, and aspired to higher honours, or perhaps to celestial domination. The tradition of their fall is in all countries and in all religions, but the accounts given are various and contradictory; and no wonder, for we have no direct revelation on the subject. They kept not their first estate, and they sinned, is the sum of what we know on the subject; and here curiosity and conjecture are useless. But cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness] Αλλασειραιςζοφουταρταρωσαςπαρεδωκενειςκρισιντετηρημενους· But with chains of darkness confining them in Tartarus, delivered them over to be kept to judgment; or, sinking them into Tartarus, delivered them over into custody for punishment, to chains of darkness. Chains of darkness is a highly poetic expression. Darkness binds them on all hands; and so dense and strong is this darkness that it cannot be broken through; they cannot deliver themselves, nor be delivered by others. As the word Tartarus is found nowhere else in the New Testament, nor does it appear in the Septuagint, we must have recourse to the Greek writers for its meaning. Mr. Parkhurst, under the word ταρταροω, has made some good collections from those writers, which I here subjoin. "The Scholiast on AESCHYLUS, Eumen., says: Pindar relates that Apollo overcame the Python by force; wherefore the earth endeavoured ταρταρωσαι, to cast him into Tartarus. Tzetzes uses the same word, ταρταροω, for casting or sending into Tartarus; and the compound verb καταταρταρουν, is found in Apollodorus; in Didymus' Scholia on Homer; in Phurnutus, De Nat, Deor., p. 11, edit. Gale; and in the book περιποταμων, which is extant among the works of Plutarch. And those whom Apollodorus styles καταταρταρωθεντας, he in the same breath calls ριφθενταςειςταρταρον, cast into Tartarus. Thus the learned Windet, in Pole's Synopsis. We may then, I think, safely assert that ταρταρωσας, in St. Peter, means not, as Mede (Works, fol., p. 23) interprets it, to adjudge to, but to cast into, Tartarus; ριπτεινειςταρταρον, as in Homer, cited below. And in order to know what was the precise intention of the apostle by this expression, we must inquire what is the accurate import of the term ταρταρος. Now, it appears from a passage of Lucian, that by ταρταρος was meant, in a physical sense, the bounds or verge of this material system; for, addressing himself to ΕΡΩΣ, Cupid or Love, he says: ΣυγαρεξαφανουςκαικεχυμενηςαμορφιαςΤΟΠΑΝεμορφωσας, κ. τ. λ.

4. For if God spared not the angels that sinned] Better, spared not angels, there being no article in the Greek. Here the nature of the sin is not specified. We may think either of a rebellion of angels headed by Satan, such as Milton has represented in Paradise Lost, or of the degradation of their spiritual nature by sensual lust, as in Genesis 6:2. Looking to the more definite language of Jude, 2 Peter 2:6-8, where the guilt of the angels is placed on a level with that of Sodom, it seems probable that the Apostle had the latter in his thoughts.but cast them down to hell] Literally, cast them into Tartarus. The use of a word so closely bound up with the associations of Greek mythology is a phenomenon absolutely unique in the New Testament. A compound form of the same word had been used of Zeus as inflicting punishment on Cronos and the rebel Titans. (Apollodorus, Bibl. 1. 1.) Here it is used of the Almighty as punishing rebellious angels.delivered them into chains of darkness] The MSS. present two readings, one giving a word which literally means a “rope,” as in the LXX. of Proverbs 5:22, and may, therefore, rightly be rendered “cords,” “bonds,” or “chains,” so agreeing with the thought of Wis 17:17 (“they were bound with a chain of darkness”) and Jude, 2 Peter 2:6, and the other a noun which has probably the meaning of “dens” or “caves.” The latter is the best supported, having A, B, C and ΰ in its favour. The two words differ but by a single letter, (1) σειραῖς, and (2) σειροῖς, and as (2) was the less familiar of the two and (1) agreed better with the “everlasting chains” (or “bonds”) of Jude 2 Peter 2:6, the change was a natural one for transcribers to make.to be reserved unto judgment] Literally, being reserved. The judgment in Jude, 2 Peter 2:6, is defined as that of the “great day.” Here it is left undefined, but it is natural to refer it to the same great day of doom. As far as the text goes, it indicates a difference of some kind between the angels who are thus imprisoned, and the “demons” who torment and harass men on earth, but it would be hazardous to dogmatise with undue definiteness, on the strength of this passing allusion, as to the condition of these inhabitants of the unseen world.

For if God spared not the angels that sinned - The apostle now proceeds to the proof of the proposition that these persons would be punished.

2. The certainty of their punishment maintained from three historic precedents, 2 Peter 2:4-12.a. First case—The fallen angels.4. Angels that sinned—When, why, how, or how many, we are nowhere informed.