Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Peter 2:3

"And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not." — 2 Peter 2:3 (ASV)

Christian teachers have the right to financial support (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:1–14; Galatians 6:6; 1 Timothy 5:17–18), but their motivation in the ministry should not be mercenary. For false teachers, however, religion will be commercialized; they will “exploit” people. With fabricated stories they will fleece the sheep. In the light of the commercialism of religious cults today, Peter’s warning is clear enough. But the popularity and prosperity of the errorists will certainly come to an end. Their judgment and doom have been announced long ago (cf. Psalms 1:5–6). “Destruction” (GK 724; cf. v.1) is now personified as “not sleeping.”