2 Peter - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

First, when Peter stated that some angels were cast into hell, he used a form of the word
tartarus, which in Greek literature always meant the place of deepest conscious torment
or hell in the netherworld. It never meant nonexistence and it never meant the grave.
Second, God committed them to “pits of darkness.” This Jewish apocalyptic phrase
referred to the place of mental anguish and terror in the underworld. Third, they are
‘reserved’ in the black pits of tartarus until the day of judgment. The word ‘reserved’ is
in the present passive participle tense, which means that they are continually kept or
reserved unto judgment. It is thus grammatically impossible to avoid the clear teaching in
this passage that these angels are in conscious torment in the black pit of tartarus until
the day of judgment. (R. Morey) Second Peter’s comparison to angels is significant. If
even angels were not spared, neither shall be those who have been part of the people of
God. Faith should not be confused with presumptuousness. (D. McCartney)
The chains consist in darkness; the pits are in darkness. (B. Caffin) The sin of these more
daring angelic rebels deprived them of freedom and positions under Satan as
principalities, powers, rulers of this darkness, and wicked spirits in the heavenlies (Eph.
6:12), and resulted in God’s casting them down to Tartarus, delivering them “into pits of
darkness to be reserved unto the judgment.” Since they chose to leave their own realm
and to break the bounds and God-ordained laws of two worlds, to work havoc and
vicious confusion, God wiped out the results of their disorder with a flood, and dashed
them down to the lowest dungeons (Tartarus) to deprive them forever of the opportunity
of causing further derangement. The region of their imprisonment appears to be a more
doleful and terrible place of confinement than Hades, and is clearly distinguished (Rev.
19:20, 20:10) from Gehenna. (M. Unger) This metaphor intimates that they are held
bound in darkness until the last day. (J. Calvin) Satan and his demons are free to hurt us
only to the length of their chain, like a chained dog. Darkness is their chain. (R.
Jamieson)
Blackout is that state in which the left lobe of the mentality of the soul (nous), devoid of
doctrine, is attacked directly by evil concepts and ideas. Blackout of the soul is produced
directly by the malfunction of the grace apparatus for perception through willful
rejection of doctrine and indirectly by the believer’s participation in previous stages of
reversionism. In the mechanics, negative volition toward doctrine opens a vacuum in the
left lobe called mataiotes in the Greek of Ephesians 4:17. Translated “vanity” in the KJV
and “futility” in the NAS Bible, mataiotes is a technical word which must be correlated
with the context. In this case, since it pertains to the soul, it refers to “emptiness” in the
soul. Into this void are drawn thoughts contrary to divine viewpoint – satanic
propaganda, the “doctrine of [from] demons” and every aberration of human viewpoint in
life. Demons function as communicators in this vaccum and they transmit evil. Satan’s
sphere, the kingdom of darkness, is thus transferred into darkness in the soul of the
believer. (R.B. Thieme, Jr.)
When satanic doctrine or evil moves to the right lobe, the kardia, and corrupts the entire
thought pattern, the believer is under demon influence. Since the body of the believer is
permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit, he can never be demon possessed. But the