Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Peter 2:9

"the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment;" — 2 Peter 2:9 (ASV)

The Lord knoweth.—This is the main sentence to which the various conditional clauses beginning 2 Peter 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 2 Peter 2:4 with 2 Peter 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 forsakes not those who set their hope on Him, but appoints to punishment and torment those who swerve aside.” A possible, but not a certain, reference to our Epistle. (See Note below on 2 Peter 3:4.)