2 Peter 2:14

having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; enticing unstedfast souls; having a heart exercised in covetousness; children of cursing;

Eyes full of adultery ... Wheaton said, "This is a compressed phrase for, 'always looking for a woman with whom to commit adultery.'"[46] Barnett understood it to mean, "Whenever they see a woman, they have licentious thoughts."[47]

Enticing unstedfast souls ... The imagery here is that of using a lure, "bait" to catch the unwary. The New English Bible (1961) translates this, "lure to their ruin unstable souls." "The metaphor is from fishing, and recurs again in 2 Peter 2:18."[48] Should not this have been expected of a fisherman?

Children of cursing ... This, although a permissible translation, is inferior to the KJV, which has "cursed children." The purpose of the change seems to have been that of obscuring the fact of the apostate teachers having been, at one time, truly born-again Christians. It is true, of course, as Vine pointed out that the construction here is the same as in "children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3, etc.)"; yet the very use of "children" in any sense in this context identifies the meaning as that favored in the KJV.[49] Of course, whether this is allowed or not, the truth surfaces in the succeeding verses any way. Fuhrman was impressed with the reading in J.B. Phillips New Testament, "cursed children," meaning "under a curse." They are under God's curse now, and are heirs of doom in the world to come.[50]

[46] Ibid., p. 1256.

[47] Albert E. Barnett, op. cit., p. 193.

[48] Michael Green, op. cit., p. 111.

[49] W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1940), 1p. 187.

[50] Eldon R. Fuhrman, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 332.