2 Peter 2:14

Depravity of False Teachers

12 But these, ^alike natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,

13 ^aand will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure ^bto carouse in the daytime. ^cThey are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while ^dthey feast with you,

14 having eyes full of¹ adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. ^aThey have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.

15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of ^aBalaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

17 ^aThese are wells without water,¹ clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness² forever.

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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2 Peter 2:14

Having eyes full of adultery - · Of an adulteress; being ever bent on the gratification of their sensual desires, so that they are represented as having an adulteress constantly before their eyes, and that their eyes can take in no other object but her. But instead of of an adulteress, the Codex Alexandrinus, three others, with the Coptic, Vulgate, and one copy of the Itala, together with several of the fathers, have , of adultery.

Cannot cease from sin - Which cease not from sin; they might cease from sin, but they do not; they love and practice it. Instead of , which cannot cease, several MSS. and versions have , and this requires the place to be read, Having eyes full of adultery and incessant sin. The images of sinful acts were continually floating before their disordered and impure fancy. This figure of speech is very common in the Greek writers; and Kypke gives many instances of it, which indeed carry the image too far to be here translated.

Beguiling unstable souls - The metaphor is taken from adulterers seducing unwary, inexperienced, and light, trifling women; so do those false teachers seduce those who are not established in righteousness.

Exercised with covetous practices - The metaphor is taken from the agonistae in the Grecian games, who exercised themselves in those feats, such as wrestling, boxing, running, etc., in which they proposed to contend in the public games. These persons had their hearts schooled in nefarious practices; they had exercised themselves till they were perfectly expert in all the arts of seduction, overreaching, and every kind of fraud.

Cursed children - Such not only live under God' s curse here, but they are heirs to it hereafter.

Other Adam Clarke entries containing 2 Peter 2:14:

Matthew 5:28

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2 Peter 2:15 >>

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Depravity of False Teachers

A Verse and a Thought,Every Morning

A Verse and a Thought,
Every Morning