2 Peter 2:10 10Bold and arrogant, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11although angels, being greater in might and power, do not bring a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.
The Greek New Testament splits verse 10 and begins a new paragraph. The problem people, some of whom may have been teachers, followed their own depraved thinking and followed the path of destruction and judgment. Independence and self-initiative are not necessarily bad, but independence from God will bring destruction, heartache, and eventually judgment. Rejecting authority made these people bold and arrogant, which reveals the problem of a self allowed to follow ungodly desires. They even curse glorious ones. This reference is unclear. It is a feminine plural adjective used substantively without an article, but there is no close feminine word in the context. It may be a generic way to describe the beings of heaven. Verse 11 refers specifically to angels, which is a masculine noun (however, angels are not male in a human sense as far as Scripture implies). The problem with these unrighteous people is that they show no respect for divine or spiritual matters. Peter’s abstract statement suggests that since they live for themselves, they reject God and anything to do with God.
Angels, however, act in obedience to God. They are messengers and carry out God’s will. Evidently, they have some degree of free will because they can still rebel, as some did as verse 4 indicated. But those angels who remained faithful are models of God’s holy character. Angels will not react in selfish ways that are shown through revenge for the abuse and ridicule they receive from false prophets and teachers, as verse 10 seems to indicate. Instead, they are patient and will only bring judgment as God directs. As instruments of God’s judgment, they do only as commanded. Peter shows that the angels are models of faithfulness. They listen to God and do God’s will. Any actions beyond this will face judgment. The fallen angels rejected God’s will and will face judgment at the end. The false prophets and teachers have rejected God’s will and will likewise face judgment.
These verses continue the warning about falling prey to false teaching. As followers of God, we must remain faithful to the gospel and not be deceived by empty philosophies, endless speculations, and false teachings that float around us all the time, even in the church. We must have an anchor for our faith. That anchor is the Bible as God’s revealed will for us. We must take Peter’s warning to heart. We must be engaged with the world, which is full of people like this, but we must not let this ungodly way of thinking influence us. We must have our defenses up and be careful that our own thinking is not influenced by false teaching. We will be wise to become students of God’s Word and saturate ourselves with godly thinking and living.