Commentaries:
When God cast them back down to earth, He placed restrictions on their powers and limited them to "their proper domain" or "first estate," that is, the earth. Here, they await their judgment for their rebellion. "Hell" in II Peter 2:4 is tartaroo, a place of restraint for the wicked. Though Satan himself may appear before God's throne in heaven, he and his demons can do only what God allows (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7).
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Basic Doctrines: Satan's Origin and Destiny
"Hell" comes from the Greek tataroo, and it means "a place of restraint." God did not spare the angels, but He cast them down to a place of restraint, a kind of prison.
In Greek mythology, Tartarus was the lowest hell, the place where the Titans (who rebelled against Zeus) were restrained. It is described as being as far below Hades as heaven is high above the earth. As far as we can apply Greek mythology, we can understand that these angels were cast so far down as to be out of sight. Their place of restraint was so far down that one would think they would never be able to crawl out.
God is trying to get across that the angels have been defeated—cast down from heaven to the earth, as Revelation 12 shows. The earth, then, is a place of restraint, a prison, for them.
To add to the imagery, they are bound in "chains of darkness." This amplifies the thought that Peter is making: The demons are restrained. There is some disagreement among scholars whether Peter uses the word that is translated here as "chains" or whether he means "silo." Almost everyone understands what a silo is. To an American, it is a tall, cylindrical object in which grain is stored. To the Greek, a silo was an underground pit in which grain was stored. Nevertheless, whether it is a chain or a silo, it does not matter. God is trying to get across to us that the demons have been restrained.
They are being restrained because they are facing judgment. Unfortunately for us, they are restrained in the place where we live! The earth is the silo, the storage bin. We are sharing this place with them. Worse, as they would see it, we are intruders in their space. They consider us invaders.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Satan (Part 1)
God is unbending in regard to His law. Peter shows this by illustrating that it does not matter who sins or when he sins. Before God ever created man, angels broke the law of God. God, being just and holy, could do only one thing. Because He cannot permit sin to abide in His Kingdom, He had to follow through with the punishment.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 16)
Notice what A Dictionary of the Bible, edited by James Hastings, says about the use of the word "hell" in the Old and New Testaments. Keep in mind, as you read this, that the Old Testament was originally written in the Hebrew language, and that the New Testament was originally written in the Greek language.
In our Authorized Version the word "hell" is unfortunately used as the rendering of three distinct words, with different ideas [or meanings]. It represents, 1) the sheol of the Hebrew Old Testament, and the hades in the New Testament. . . . It is now an entirely misleading rendering, especially in the New Testament passages. The English revisers, therefore, have substituted hades [going back to the original Greek word] for "hell" in the New Testament. . . . In the American revision the word "hell" is entirely discarded in this connection. . . .
The word "hell" is used 2) as equivalent to [the Greek word] tartaros (II Peter 2:4) . . . and, 3) . . . as the equivalent of [the Greek word] gehenna. . . .
So we see that the real meanings of three different Greek words—hades (equivalent to the Hebrew sheol of the Old Testament), tartaros, and gehenna—have been confused with each other because translators have attempted to make the one English word "hell" cover the definitions of all three words! No wonder confusion has reigned in the minds of millions.
What do these words really mean?
The original Old Testament Hebrew word sheol and the New Testament Greek word hades mean the same thing—simply the grave. These original words have been translated "grave" in many places in the Bible. "Hell" is an old English word, and over 350 years ago when the Authorized Version was translated, the people of England commonly talked of "putting their potatoes in hell for the winter"—a good way of preserving potatoes—for the word then meant merely a hole in the ground which was covered up—a dark and silent place—a grave! But pagan teachings gaining popular acceptance have caused people to misapply the old English word "hell" to the lurid imaginations of Dante.
The second Greek word, tartaros, which has also been translated into the English word "hell," occurs only once in the New Testament (II Peter 2:4), and does not refer to humans, but to the restrained condition of fallen angels. Its meaning, translated into English, is "darkness of the material universe," or "dark abyss," or "prison."
But what about gehenna? This Greek word, as all authorities admit, is derived from the name of the narrow, rocky Valley of Hinnom which lay just outside Jerusalem. It was the place where refuse was constantly burned up. Trash, filth, and the dead bodies of animals and despised criminals were thrown into the fires of gehenna, or the Valley of Hinnom. Ordinarily, everything thrown into this valley was destroyed by fire—completely burned up. Therefore, Christ used gehenna to picture the terrible fate of unrepentant sinners!
What Is Hell?
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Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Psalms 55:15
Psalms 55:15
Isaiah 14:12-15
Mark 9:43-47
Mark 9:43-47
Acts 2:31
Acts 2:31
1 Corinthians 6:2
1 Peter 3:18-20
2 Peter 2:4
2 Peter 2:4
2 Peter 2:4
Jude 1:6
Revelation 20:4
Library resources that contain this verse:
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