The verb to mock is empaizo (1702) is used 13 times in the NT (Mt 2:16 = Herod "tricked" = empaizo; Mt 20:19; 27:29, 31" class="scriptRef">31, 41; Mk 10:34; 15:20, 31; Lk 14:29; 18:32; 22:63; 23:11, 36). Most of the NT uses of empaizo describe the mocking of our Lord Jesus Christ, to make fun of by pretending that He is not what He is or by imitating Him in a distorted manner. It is therefore little surprise that if evil men mocked Him at His first coming, they would mock the sure promise of His Second Coming (Jn 14:3)! These individuals "trifle" with the things of God dealing with them as if they are of no temporal or eternal import. They show their contempt for Christ's return by ridiculing and deriding that certainty, their derision motivated by their insolence, disrespect, incredulity and desire to justify their ungodly behavior. If you are not looking for Him, you will hardly be motivated to be living for Him! Empaizo - to ridicule, to make fun of, to mock, to deceive, to trick, to taunt, to treat outrageously, to treat someone contemptuously in an insolent and arrogant way, to treat abusively. To to play a game with. Friberg - (1) as expressing verbal mockery and derision ridicule, make fun of, mock someone (MT 27.29); absolutely (MT 20.19); (2) as outwitting someone make a fool of, trick, deceive (MT 2.16) Vine - empaizo — emp-aheed'-zo - a compound of paizo, "to play like a child" (pais), "to sport, jest," prefixed by en, "in" or "at," is used only in the Synoptists, and, in every instance, of the "mockery" of Christ, except in Matthew 2:16 (there in the sense of deluding, or deceiving, of Herod by the wise men) and in Luke 14:29 , of ridicule cast upon the one who after laying a foundation of a tower is unable to finish it. The word is used (a) prophetically by the Lord, of His impending sufferings, Matthew 20:19 ; Mark 10:34 ; Luke 18:32 ; (b) of the actual insults inflicted upon Him by the men who had taken Him from Gethsemane, Luke 22:63 ; by Herod and his soldiers, Luke 23:11 ; by the soldiers of the governor, Matthew 27:29,31 ; Mark 15:20 ; Luke 23:36 ; by the chief priests, Matthew 27:41 ; Mark 15:31 . Empaizo - 19v in non-apocryphal Septuagint - Ge 39:14, 17 (= make sport); Ex 10:2 (Use of God mocking the Egyptians); Nu 22:29; Jdg 19:25; 1Sa 6:6; 31:4; 1Chr 10:4; 2Chr 36:16; Ps 104:26; Pr 23:35; 27:7; Isa 33:4; Jer 10:15; Ezek 22:5; Nah 2:3; Hab 1:10; Zech 12:3 1 Samuel 31:4 (1Chr 10:4) Then Saul said to his armor bearer, "Draw your sword and pierce me through with it, otherwise these uncircumcised will come and pierce me through and make sport of (Lxx = empaizo) me." But his armor bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it. 2 Chronicles 36:16 but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy. Empaizo in Classic Greek - Homer uses the group for games and dancing. Lack of seriousness is sometimes meant, e.g., when it is asked whether Socrates is speaking in jest. Ships are seen to be playthings of the winds, and humans of fate or the gods. Mockery may be suggested, or the thought of what is frivolous or futile. (TDNT) Mocking implies an underlying unyielding pride and a hardness toward God and His holy word. The scoffer refuses to submit to God's Word and stirs up trouble wherever he goes. Proverbs instructs us to... Drive out the scoffer, and contention will go out, even strife and dishonor will cease. (Pr 22:10) Scoffers treat lightly and with profanity that which ought to be taken seriously and with holy awe. They have no desire to find out truth but take up the Bible merely with the design of ridiculing it. Woe to this brood of vipers! It is interesting that when the scoffers denied “the power and coming” (2Peter 1:16-note) of Jesus Christ, they were denying the truth of the both the Old and New Testament for His coming is amply foretold in both testaments! The people in Noah’s day scoffed at the idea of a judgment, and the citizens of Sodom scoffed at the possibility of fire and brimstone destroying their sinful city. If you have tried to witness for Jesus, you have no doubt met people who scoff at the idea of hell or a future day of judgment. Spurgeon expounds on scoffers (scorners) in Psalm 1:1 where we read "blessed is the man who does not...sit in the seat of scoffers"... The seat of the scorner may be very lofty, but it is very near to the gate of hell; let us flee from it, for it shall soon be empty, and destruction shall swallow up the man who sits therein. Mark the gradation in the first verse: He walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor SITTETH in the SEAT of SCORNFUL. When men are living in sin they go from bad to worse. At first they merely walk in the counsel of the careless and ungodly, who forget God -- the evil is rather practical than habitual -- but after that, they become habituated to evil, and they stand in the way of open sinners who wilfully violate God's commandments; and if let alone, they go one step further, and become themselves pestilent teachers and tempters of others, and thus they sit in the seat of the scornful. They have taken their degree in vice, and as true Doctors of Damnation they are installed, and are looked up to by others as Masters in Belial. But the blessed man, the man to whom all the blessings of God belong, can hold no communion with such characters as these. He keeps himself pure from these lepers; he puts away evil things from him as garments spotted by the flesh; he comes out from among the wicked, and goes without the camp, bearing the reproach of Christ. O for grace to be thus separate from sinners. Adam Clarke - The scorner (mocker, scoffer) has brought, in reference to himself, all religion and moral feeling to an end. He has sat down -- is utterly confirmed in impiety, and makes a mock at sin. His conscience is seared, and he is a believer in all unbelief. Now, blessed is the man who sits not down in his SEAT. Martin Luther had this to say of scoffers... With respect to the term "seat," to sit in the seat, is to teach, to act the instructor and teacher; as in Matthew 23:2, "The scribes sit in Moses' chair." They sit in the seat of pestilence, who fill the church with the opinions of philosophers, with the traditions of men, and with the counsels of their own brain, and oppress miserable consciences, setting aside, all the while, the word of God, by which alone the soul is fed, lives, and is preserved. FOLLOWING AFTER THEIR OWN LUSTS: kata tas idias epithumias auton poreuomenoi (PMPMPN): (2Pet 2:10; 2Co 4:2; Jude 16 Jude 1:18) These are "men whose only guide in life is what they want for themselves" (Phillips), "sarcastic scoffers whose life is ruled by their passions" (New Jerusalem Bible), "being propelled by their own evil urges" (NET), "going where their own passions lead" (Goodspeed), "behaving in line with their own lusts" (Berkley), for they are "men governed by their own passions." (Weymouth). What a miserable description. Spurgeon rightly notes that "Errors of doctrine are almost always attended with errors of practice, and certainly’ they legitimately lead that way. Those who scoff according to the lusts of their intellect are very likely to live according to the lusts of their flesh. The two things are congruous; they are born from the same cause, they flourish for the same reasons, and they tend to the same ends: “Walking after their own lusts,” As alluded to earlier, what a person believes is intimately related to how he or she lives. If one refuses to follow Christ, the only other option is to follow self. And so Peter explains why they "mock" -- they want to continue living in their sins. Mockery and lust will go together. Peter says that these things are a sign of the last days, days when men's and women's own pleasure is the sole "law" governing their behavior. They follow after their own lusts because they are unrestrained by a reverential, holy fear of God. Paul's description of unbelievers in Romans 3 depicts the essence of these mockers... THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES. (Ro 3:18-note).  If one's lifestyle contradicts the Word of God, he or she must either change their lifestyle or "change" the Word of God and these mockers choose the latter path. They scoffed at the doctrine of God's righteous judgment especially the judgment that is associated with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. John vividly describes this event writing... And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." (see notes Revelation 19:11;12; 13; 14; 15; 16) A primary motivation for righteous living is the expectation of the return of the Righteous One, as John explained... Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1John 3:2-note, 1Jn 3:3-note) The delay in the Lord's return produced (and still produces) scoffers who mocked His coming, because they desired to live in ways that fulfilled their self-indulgent desires. Times have not changed much, except that we are one day closer to His return! It is interesting to note that this section in the Greek text is introduced by the preposition kata which means down, down upon, down in. This preposition thus pictures the lusts of these mockers as marking out the downward course along which they wantonly proceed. In short, mockers are on a broad road of destruction, the "highway to hell" instead of the narrow way, the "highway of holiness" which Peter describes towards the end of chapter 3. Following (poreuomai) means literally going from one place to another, in this case from one passion to another (chasing, journeying). It speaks of their predominant way of conduct, the prevalent course of their life. What a vivid picture of their blatant disregard of God's holy word and His righteous judgment. Present tense marks their action as habitual (as their lifestyle) and middle voice conveys a reflexive sense (they themselves following after). Having rejected the knowledge of God (and right fear of God), they fearlessly seek to indulge their fleshly appetites, advocating permissiveness with total disregard of any impending judgment. Peter says that the ungodly in the last days, will be almost entirely motivated by self-interest (2Timothy 3:1-note, Torrey's Topic Selfishness) and will be unconcerned about God's purposes (which is a good working definition of "ungodliness"). "Copy and paste the address below into your web browser in order to go to the original page which will allow you to access live links related to the material on this page - these links include Scriptures (which can be read in context), Scripture pop-ups on mouse over, and a variety of related resources such as Bible dictionary articles, commentaries, sermon notes and theological journal articles related to the topic under discussion." http://preceptaustin.org/2_peter_31-7.htm#mo