Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Peter 2:4

"For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;" — 2 Peter 2:4 (ASV)

The first example of divine judgment is that which came upon the fallen “angels.” If angels are judged, then certainly human beings will also be judged. Of which judgment of angels does Peter speak? The most common and best interpretation relates the judgment Peter speaks of with the mention of angels in Ge 6:1–4, where “sons of God” apparently means “fallen angels” (cf. Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). (1) This interpretation was common in Jewish literature. (2) The three examples (angels, Flood, and cities of the plain) all come one after another in the early chapters of Genesis. (3) The angels referred to here in 2 Peter are confined to “gloomy dungeons.” Apparently some fallen angels are free to plague human beings as demons while others are imprisoned. The connection with Ge 6:1–4 provides a reason for this phenomenon. Peter uses the verb tartaroo (lit., “to hold captive in Tartarus”; GK 5434) to tell where the sinning angels were sent. “Tartarus,” considered by the Greeks as a place under the earth that was lower than Hades where divine punishment was meted out, was also regarded this way in nonbiblical Jewish literature. The usual translation of this verb as “sent them to hell” (so NIV) only approximates the idea of a special place of confinement until the final judgment. Though “gloomy dungeons” may be correct, “chains of darkness” is an equally possible translation (cf.Jude 6).