2 Peter 2:13

2 Peter 2:13

And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

a. NLT: Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception[fn] even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. ASV: Suffering wrong as the hire of wrong-doing; men that count it pleasure to revel in the day-time, spots and blemishes, revelling in their deceivings while they feast with you;  [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. YLT: About to receive a reward of unrighteousness, pleasures counting the luxury in the day, spots and blemishes, luxuriating in their deceits, feasting with you, [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

d. Classic Amplified: Being destined to receive [punishment as] the reward of [their] unrighteousness [suffering wrong as the hire for their wrongdoing]. They count it a delight to revel in the daytime [living luxuriously and delicately]. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their [a]deceptions and carousing together [even] as they feast with you. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

1. “And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness…”

a. [And shall] receive [Strong: 2865. komizo kom-id'-zo from a primary komeo (to tend, i.e. take care of); properly, to provide for, i.e. (by implication) to carry off (as if from harm; genitive case obtain):--bring, receive.] [Thayer: to care for, take care of, provide for, to take up or carry away in order to care for and preserve, to carry away, bear off, to carry, bear, bring to, to carry away for one's self, to carry off what is one's own, to bring back, to receive, obtain: the promised blessing, to receive what was previously one's own, to get back, receive back, recover.]

b. [the] reward [Strong: 3408. misthos mis-thos' apparently a primary word; pay for service (literally or figuratively), good or bad:--hire, reward, wages.] [Thayer:  dues paid for work, wages, hire, reward: used of the fruit naturally resulting from toils and endeavours, in both senses, rewards and punishments, of the rewards which God bestows, or will bestow, upon good deeds and endeavours, of punishments.]

c. [of] unrighteousness [Strong: 93. adikia ad-ee-kee'-ah from 94; (legal) injustice (properly, the quality, by implication, the act); morally, wrongfulness (of character, life or act):--iniquity, unjust, unrighteousness, wrong.

1). The corresponding verse is found in Jude.

a). Jude 12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are with water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

2.  “…as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time.”

a. [as they that] count it [Strong: 2233. hegeomai hayg-eh'-om-ahee middle voice of a (presumed) strengthened form of 71; to lead, i.e. command (with official authority); figuratively, to deem, i.e. consider:--account, (be) chief, count, esteem, governor, judge, have the rule over, suppose, think.]

b. pleasure [Strong: 2237. hedone hay-don-ay' from handano (to please); sensual delight; by implication, desire:--lust, pleasure.] [Thayer:  pleasure, desires for pleasure.]

c. [to] riot [Strong:5172. truphe troo-fay' from thrupto (to break up or (figuratively) enfeeble, especially the mind and body by indulgence); effeminacy, i.e. luxury or debauchery:--delicately, riot.] [Bullinger: “a breaking down, especially of the mind, and making effeminate; hence, luxury, indulgence,…”] [Zodhiates: to break up or enfeeble by luxury which destroys the integrity of body and mind.]

1). This definition of riot intrigues me. Could it be that the passage in 2 Timothy 3:4, that describes the religious people there as, “lovers of pleasure more that lovers of God”, and the fact that they are “incontinent” i.e., unable to govern one’s own appetites, be related. Does this explain all the “addiction” usage in our vocabulary, where we are addicted to everything from chocolate to video games to pornography to whatever? Is our pleasure loving, hedonistic culture producing a bunch of weak, feeble people who can’t control any of their desires, including Christians? The answer I believe is a definite Yes!

d. in [Strong: 1722. en en a primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or constructively), i.e. a relation of rest (intermediate between 1519 and 1537); "in," at, (up-)on, by, etc.:--about, after, against, + almost, X altogether, among, X as, at, before, between, (here-)by (+ all means), for (... sake of), + give self wholly to, (here-)in(-to, -wardly), X mightily, (because) of, (up-)on, (open-)ly, X outwardly, one, X quickly, X shortly, (speedi-)ly, X that, X there(-in, -on), through(-out), (un-)to(-ward), under, when, where(-with), while, with(-in). Often used in compounds, with substantially the same import; rarely with verbs of motion, and then not to indicate direction, except (elliptically) by a separate (and different) preposition.]

e. the [Strong: 3588. [ten] ho ho, including the feminine he hay, and the neuter to to in all their inflections; the definite article; the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom):--the, this, that, one, he, she, it, etc.] [Thayer: [ten] ὁ, ἡ, τό, originally τος, τῇ, τό (as is evident from the forms τοι, ται for οἱ, αἱ in Homer and the Ionic writings), corresponds to our definite article the (German der, die, das), which is properly a demonstrative pronoun, which we see in its full force in Homer, and of which we find certain indubitable traces also in all kinds of Greek prose, and hence also in the N. T.]

f. daytime [Strong: 2250. hemera hay-mer'-ah feminine (with 5610 implied) of a derivative of hemai (to sit; akin to the base of 1476) meaning tame, i.e. gentle; day, i.e. (literally) the time space between dawn and dark, or the whole 24 hours (but several days were usually reckoned by the Jews as inclusive of the parts of both extremes); figuratively, a period (always defined more or less clearly by the context):--age, + alway, (mid-)day (by day, (-ly)), + for ever, judgment, (day) time, while, years.] [Thayer: the day, used of the natural day, or the interval between sunrise and sunset, as distinguished from and contrasted with the night, in the daytime, metaphorically, "the day" is regarded as the time for abstaining from indulgence, vice, crime, because acts of the sort are perpetrated at night and in darkness, of the civil day, or the space of twenty four hours (thus including the night), Eastern usage of this term differs from our western usage. Any part of a day is counted as a whole day, hence the expression "three days and three nights" does not mean literally three whole days, but at least one whole day plus part of two other days, of the last day of this present age, the day Christ will return from heaven, raise the dead, hold the final judgment, and perfect his kingdom, used of time in general, i.e. the days of his life.]

3. “…Spots they are and blemishes…”

a. Spots [they are] [Strong: 4696. spilos spee'-los of uncertain derivation; a stain or blemish, i.e. (figuratively) defect, disgrace:--spot.] [Zodhiates: a spot or stain, figuratively in a moral sense.] [Vines? Metaphorically of lascivious persons.]

b. and [Strong: 2532. kai kahee apparently, a primary particle, having a copulative and sometimes also a cumulative force; and, also, even, so then, too, etc.; often used in connection (or composition) with other particles or small words:--and, also, both, but, even, for, if, or, so, that, then, therefore, when, yet.]

c. blemishes [Strong: 3470. momos mo'-mos perhaps from 3201; a flaw or blot, i.e. (figuratively) disgraceful person:--blemish.] [Thayer:  blemish, blot, disgrace, censure, insult, of men who are a disgrace to society.]

1). The Greek definitions here and in Jude agree that the spots and blemishes are individuals. This puts a clearer light upon a passage in Ephesians.

a). Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

b). This verse is not referring to sins in our lives that we haven’t overcome yet in our devotion to Jesus. It is referring to individuals who are totally given over to lust

4. “…sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you.”

a. sporting [themselves] [1792. entruphao en-troo-fah'-o from 1722 and 5171; to revel in:--sporting selves.] [Thayer:  to live in luxury, live delicately or luxuriously, to revel in, to take delight in.]

1). Albert Barnes NT Commentary: The Greek word here means to live delicately or luxuriously; to revel. The idea is not exactly that of sporting, or playing, or amusing themselves; but it is that they take advantage of their views to live in riot and luxury. Under the garb of the Christian profession, they give indulgence to the most corrupt passions.

b. with [Strong: 1722. en en a primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or constructively), i.e. a relation of rest (intermediate between 1519 and 1537); "in," at, (up-)on, by, etc.:--about, after, against, + almost, X altogether, among, X as, at, before, between, (here-)by (+ all means), for (... sake of), + give self wholly to, (here-)in(-to, -wardly), X mightily, (because) of, (up-)on, (open-)ly, X outwardly, one, X quickly, X shortly, (speedi-)ly, X that, X there(-in, -on), through(-out), (un-)to(-ward), under, when, where(-with), while, with(-in). Often used in compounds, with substantially the same import; rarely with verbs of motion, and then not to indicate direction, except (elliptically) by a separate (and different) preposition.]

c. [their] own [Strong:  846. autos ow-tos' from the particle au (perhaps akin to the base of 109 through the idea of a baffling wind) (backward); the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative 1438) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other persons:--her, it(-self), one, the other, (mine) own, said, (self-), the) same, ((him-, my-, thy- )self, (your-)selves, she, that, their(-s), them(-selves), there(-at, - by, -in, -into, -of, -on, -with), they, (these) things, this (man), those, together, very, which.] 

d. deceivings [Strong: 539. apate ap-at'-ay from 538; delusion:--deceit(-ful, -fulness), deceivableness(-ving).] [Thayer:  deceit, deceitfulness.]

1). [NLT] “They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals.”

2).[Young’s Literal Translation] “luxuriating in their deceits, feasting with you”

d. feast [Strong: 4910. suneuocheo soon-yoo-o-kheh'-o from 4862 and a derivative of a presumed compound of 2095 and a derivative of 2192 (meaning to be in good condition, i.e. (by implication) to fare well, or feast); to entertain sumptuously in company with, i.e. (middle voice or passive) to revel together:--feast with.]  [syneuocheomai; sun-together;eu-well; echo-to have sustenance].

e. [with] you [Strong: 5213. humin hoo-min' irregular dative case of 5210; to (with or by) you:--ye, you, your(-selves).]

1). Bible scholars believe this is either a reference to the Lord’s supper or a communal Christian meal. In any event these apostate believers have a demonic boldness to sin without fear even in these holy gatherings, as Jude writes, “when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear.”