What Does 2 Peter 2:2 Mean?
And many follow their unbridled acts, and through them the way of truth is spoken against.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.THE KEY
The Greek calls their “pernicious ways” unrestrained conduct, then uses a different word for truth’s way: their behavior makes that path a target of slander.
THE MEANING
Many follow unrestrained desires, and the way of truth is spoken against because of them. The verse shows that what people associate with the truth shapes what they say about it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the public reputation of the truth is untouched by the conduct of those associated with its way.
THE ROOT
ἀσελγείαις
aselgeiais
GROWS FROM
ἀσελγ-
aselg-
Licentious, unrestrained conduct.
“unbridled acts” in this verse is aselgeiais. The English “ways” sounds like a path, but this Greek word names unrestrained behavior. The verse uses a different Greek word for “the way of truth,” sharpening the link: the conduct is what gives rise to slander against the path.
ALSO GROWS
aselgeia: Licentiousness or debauchery.
ἀσέλγεια
This is the singular form of the conduct many follow.
aselgēs: Licentious or unrestrained.
ἀσελγής
This related adjective describes the character of the behavior named in the verse.
ὁδός
hodos
GROWS FROM
ὁδ-
hod-
A road, path, or course of travel.
“way of truth” in this verse is hodos. Here, truth has a way: a course that is traveled, not only a statement that is affirmed. The contrast with ἀσέλγεια (aselgeia, unrestrained conduct) shows how people’s actions can bring reproach on that course.
ALSO GROWS
hodēgeō: To lead or guide.
ὁδηγέω
A guide directs someone along a path, making the way something traveled.
hodoiporeō: To travel or journey.
ὁδοιπορέω
This compound carries the path into the act of making a journey.
βλασφημηθήσεται
blasphēmēthēsetai
GROWS FROM
βλασφημ-
blasphēm-
To speak injuriously of; to defame or slander.
“spoken against” in this verse is blasphēmēthēsetai. The Greek names public injury through speech: the way of truth itself becomes the object of reproach because of the conduct associated with it. The same verb family appears when Romans says God’s name is blasphemed “through you.”
ALSO GROWS
blasphēmeō: To speak abusively of or blaspheme.
βλασφημέω
This is the verb family behind the form translated “evil spoken of.”
blasphēmia: Slander or blasphemy.
βλασφημία
This noun names the injurious speech that the verse says the way of truth will receive.
THE PATTERN
Conduct associated with a divine name or way shapes what others say about it.
Now therefore, what have I here, says the LORD, that my people is carried off for nothing? Those who rule over them make them howl, says the LORD, and continually, every day, my name is spurned.For the nature of God is spoken against among the nations through you, as it stands written.To be sound-minded, clean, workers of the house, good, placing themselves under their own husbands, that the word of God not be harmed by speech.THE THREAD
For the nature of God is spoken against among the nations through you, as it stands written.Romans uses the same verb family, βλασφημέω (blasphēmeō, to speak abusively of or blaspheme). Together, the verses show that conduct associated with the truth can become the reason people speak against its way and its name.
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