2 Peter 2:3 - Exposition

And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you; rather, in covetousness. Covetousness was their besetting sin, the sphere in which they lived. St. Paul warned Titus against false teachers who taught "things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake" ( Titus 1:11 ; see also 1 Timothy 6:6 and Jud 1 Timothy 1:16 ). Simon Magus, the first heresiarch, sought to trade in holy things; the like sin seems to have been characteristic of the false teachers of apostolic times. The word translated "feigned" ( πλαστοῖς ) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament; the words of these men were not the expression of their real thoughts and feelings; they were invented, craftily contrived to deceive men, and that for the sake of money. The last words of the clause will admit another sense: "shall gain you," i.e., "shall gain you over to their party;" and this view derives some support from the use of the verb ἐμπορεύεσθαι in the Septuagint Version of Proverbs 3:14 . But the verb is often used in classical writers in the sense of making a profit out of people or things, and this meaning seems most suitable here. The false teachers will work hard, as the Pharisees did, to make proselytes; but their real motive is, not the salvation of souls, but their own selfish gain. Whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not; literally, for whom the sentence of a long time idleth not. The sentence of judgment is for them, for their condemnation; in the foreknowledge of God it has been pronounced long ago, and ever since it has been drawing near; it doth not tarry (comp. Jud Proverbs 1:4 and 1 Peter 4:17 ). The word rendered "of a long time" ( ἔκπαλαι ) occurs only here and 2 Peter 3:5 . And their damnation slumbereth not; destruction: it is the word which has been used already twice in 2 Peter 3:1 . The verb means literally "to nod," then "to slumber;" it is found elsewhere in the New Testament only in the parable of the virgins ( Matthew 25:5 ).