彼得后书 2:21

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

既然認識了義路，竟又背棄傳給他們的聖誡命，對他們來說，倒不如不認識好得多了。

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
他 们 晓 得 义 路 ， 竟 背 弃 了 传 给 他 们 的 圣 命 ， 倒 不 如 不 晓 得 为 妙 。

Contextual Overview

¹⁰ That punishment is especially for those who live by doing the evil things their sinful selves want and who hate authority. These false teachers are bold and do anything they want. They are not afraid to speak against the angels. ¹¹ But even the angels, who are much stronger and more powerful than false teachers, do not accuse them with insults before the Lord. ¹² But these people speak against things they do not understand. They are like animals that act without thinking, animals born to be caught and killed. And, like animals, these false teachers will be destroyed. ¹³ They have caused many people to suffer, so they themselves will suffer. That is their pay for what they have done. They take pleasure in openly doing evil, so they are like dirty spots and stains among you. They delight in deceiving you while eating meals with you. ¹⁴ Every time they look at a woman they want her, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lead weak people into the trap of sin, and they have taught their hearts to be greedy. God will punish them! ¹⁵ These false teachers left the right road and lost their way, following the way Balaam went. Balaam was the son of Beor, who loved being paid for doing wrong. ¹⁶ But a donkey, which cannot talk, told Balaam he was sinning. It spoke with a man's voice and stopped the prophet's crazy thinking. ¹⁷ Those false teachers are like springs without water and clouds blown by a storm. A place in the blackest darkness has been kept for them. ¹⁸ They brag with words that mean nothing. By their evil desires they lead people into the trap of sin—people who are just beginning to escape from others who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, but they themselves are not free. They are slaves of things that will be destroyed. For people are slaves of anything that controls them.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

it had: Matthew 11:23, Matthew 11:24, Luke 12:47, John 9:41, John 15:22

the way: Proverbs 12:28, Proverbs 16:31, Matthew 21:32

to turn: Psalms 36:3, Psalms 36:4, Psalms 125:5, Ezekiel 3:20, Ezekiel 18:24, Ezekiel 23:13, Zephaniah 1:6

holy: Romans 7:12, 1 Thessalonians 4:2

Reciprocal: Numbers 14:4 - General Numbers 15:31 - his iniquity Deuteronomy 5:32 - ye shall not Ezra 9:14 - we again Psalms 78:41 - Yea Psalms 101:3 - them Psalms 107:7 - he led Proverbs 21:16 - wandereth Ezekiel 46:9 - he that entereth in Matthew 5:13 - if John 15:10 - ye keep Acts 1:16 - which the 1 Timothy 1:13 - because 1 Timothy 5:24 - General 2 Peter 2:2 - ways 2 Peter 3:2 - and of 1 John 2:19 - went out

Cross-References

Genesis 15:12
As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep. While he was asleep, a very terrible darkness came.

1 Samuel 26:12
So David took the spear and water jug that were near Saul's head, and they left. No one saw them or knew about it or woke up, because the Lord had put them sound asleep.

Job 4:13
It was during a nightmare when people are in deep sleep.

Job 33:15
He speaks in a dream or a vision of the night when people are in a deep sleep, lying on their beds.

Proverbs 19:15
Lazy people sleep a lot, and idle people will go hungry.

Daniel 8:18
While Gabriel was speaking, I fell into a deep sleep with my face on the ground. Then he touched me and lifted me to my feet.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For it had been better for them,.... Not that ignorance is good, or to be excused; but it would have been a lesser evil, and not so much aggravated:

not to have known the way of righteousness; the same with "the way of truth", 2 Peter 2:2, and "the right way", 2 Peter 2:15, the Gospel, which points out the way and method of a sinner's justification before God, which is not by the works of the law, but by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, and received by faith; and which teaches men to live soberly, righteously, and godly; and a large, notional, though not an experimental knowledge, these apostates had of the word and doctrine of righteousness, and indeed of the whole of the Christian religion, which may truly go by this name:

than after they have known [it]; owned, embraced, and professed it:

to turn: the Vulgate Latin version, and some copies, as the Alexandrian and others, add, to that which is behind; to their former lusts, or errors, or worse, which they had turned their backs upon externally:

from the holy commandment delivered unto them; by the commandment is meant the Gospel also, see 2 Peter 3:2; called holy, because of its nature and influence, and in opposition to the pollutions of the world; and which is the faith once delivered, Judges 1:3, and which they received, as delivered to them; and, particularly, the ordinances of it, which they once submitted to, kept, and observed, as they were delivered to them, but now relinquished, or corrupted: wherefore, it would have been better for them to have been in their former ignorance, either in Judaism, or in Gentilism, since proportionate to a man's light is his guilt, and so his punishment, see Romans 2:12.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For it had been better for them ... - Compare the notes at Matthew 26:24. It would have been better for them, for:

(1)Then they would not have dishonored the cause of religion as they have now done;

(2)They would not have sunk so deep in profligacy as they now have; and,

(3)They would not have incurred so aggravated a condemnation in the world of woe. If people are resolved on being wicked, they had better never pretend to be good. If they are to be cast off at last, it had better not be as apostates from the cause of virtue and religion.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 21. For it had been better for them not to have known — For the reasons assigned above; because they have sinned against more mercy, are capable of more sin, and are liable to greater punishment.

The holy commandment — The whole religion of Christ is contained in this one commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; and thy neighbour as thyself." He who obeys this great commandment, and this by the grace of Christ is possible to every man, is saved from sinning either against his God or against his neighbour. Nothing less than this does the religion of Christ require.