2 Peter 2:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Concerning Lot it is also said: "The Lord knows how to deliver the pious from temptation," and so forth. Above, the Apostle had said nothing about the righteous. He spoke only of the impious and their punishment, while mentioning the righteous in examples. He did this first to recall the history both of the destruction of the impious and of the salvation of the righteous. Second, by setting them side by side, he displayed the dreadful malice of sinners and the bright perfections of the virtuous. Finally, he wished to persuade his hearers to hate the impiety of the one group because of its punishments, and to love the virtue of the other because of its saving power.

Man does not turn aside so far that he is wholly reduced to nothing. But when he turns aside toward himself, he becomes less than he was when he cleaved to Him who possesses being in the highest degree. Therefore, to leave God and be in oneself, that is, to be satisfied with oneself, does not yet mean to be reduced to nothing. It means to draw near to nothingness. For this reason the proud in Holy Scripture are otherwise called self-pleasers. In the Synodal translation, they are called self-willed.

The lawless, he says, are kept for the day of judgment to be punished. This is not because, until the day of judgment, they are without bodily form and not yet paying the penalty for sins. Rather, a heavier torment is prepared for them at the judgment, since they will be tormented after receiving the body, and not only in the soul, as now.

From the three examples given (vv. 4-8), the apostle draws the unquestionable conclusion that the Lord, according to the context God the Father in verse 4, knows how to deal with the pious and the ungodly. This means He has both the power and the skill.

He knows how to deliver, or free, the pious, that is, all who honor God and do what is pleasing to Him, from temptations, sorrows, and afflictions. By these, as gold by fire, their faith and virtue are tested (cf. 1 Pet 1:6; 2:12; Jas 1:2 and following, and note).

He knows how to keep the lawless, who do not act according to God’s law and commandments, and therefore transgress God’s law, until the day of the last judgment for punishment. They will undergo this for lawlessness and sins in general, like the fallen angels.

As an example of God’s terrible judgment upon heretical corrupters and those corrupted by them, the apostle first cites the fallen angels. The Lord bound them with chains of Hades’ darkness and delivered them to be kept for judgment and punishment, despite their former most exalted dignity.

Second, the apostle points to the example of the ungodly world before the flood. By the justice of God, it was entirely covered by the waves of the flood. Only the household of Noah, preacher of righteousness, was preserved, eight souls in all.

The examples of the destruction of men during the flood, and likewise during the annihilation of the cities of Sodom, are given to show the certain destruction of heretics. Compared with the world before the flood and the inhabitants of Sodom and the other destroyed cities, they are both fewer in number and more guilty.

Jesus Christ Himself says that the ancient ungodly cities would have repented if they had seen what the cities contemporary with Him saw (see Mt 10:15; Lk 10:12).

But heretics could have known both the greater glory of Christ and all His sufferings for our deliverance from sins. Therefore they are more guilty than the inhabitants of the destroyed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.