What Does 2 Peter 2:9 Mean?

(9) **The Lord knoweth.**—This is the main sentence to which the various conditional clauses beginning 2Peter 2:4 (see Note there) have been leading. But the construction is disjointed, owing to the eagerness of the writer, and the main clause does not fit on to the introductory clauses very smoothly. Even the main clause itself is interrupted by the insertion of “to deliver the godly out of temptations.” What the writer *specially* wishes to prove is that “the Lord knoweth how to reserve the ungodly unto the day of judgment under punishment,” as is shown by the “for” connecting 2Peter 2:4 with 2Peter 2:3. **To be punished.**—Rather, *being punished, *or *under punishment.* They are already suffering punishment while waiting for their final doom. The error in our version is parallel to that in Acts 2:47, where “such as should be saved” stands instead of “those who were being saved.” The participle is present, not future. The same double moral—that God will save the righteous and punish the ungodly—is drawn from the same historical instance by Clement of Rome (*Epistle to the Corinthians, *xi.): “For his hospitality and godliness Lot was saved from Sodom, when all the country round was judged by fire and brimstone; the Master having thus foreshown that He forsaketh not them who set their hope on Him, but appointeth unto punishment and torment them who swerve aside.” Λ possible, but not a certain, reference to our Epistle. (See Note below on 2Peter 3:4.)