2:18 For when they speak great {q} swelling [words] of vanity, they {r} allure through the lusts of the flesh, [through much] wantonness, those that were {s} clean escaped from them who live in error.
(q) They deceive with vain and swelling words.
(r) They take them, as fish are taken with the hook.
(s) Unfeignedly and indeed, clean departed from idolatry.
2:18 For when they speak great swelling [words] of vanity. This shows how they promise great things and disappoint. They offer great swelling words, and entice those who are about to be delivered from error.
2:18 They ensnare in the desires of the flesh - Allowing them to gratify some unholy desire. Those who were before entirely escaped from the spirit, custom, and company of them that live in error - In sin.
2:17-22 The word of truth is the water of life, which refreshes the souls that receive it; but deceivers spread and promote error, and are set forth as empty, because there is no truth in them. As clouds hinder the light of the sun, so do these darken counsel by words wherein there is no truth. Seeing that these men increase darkness in this world, it is very just that the mist ofdarkness should be their portion in the next. In the midst of their talk of liberty, these men are the vilest slaves; their own lusts gain a complete victory over them, and they are actually in bondage. When men are entangled, they are easily overcome; therefore Christians should keep close to the word of God, and watch against all who seek to bewilder them. A state of apostacy is worse than a state of ignorance. To bring an evil report upon the good way of God, and a false charge against the way of truth, must expose to the heaviest condemnation. How dreadful is the state here described! Yet though such a case is deplorable, it is not utterly hopeless; the leper may be made clean, and even the dead may be raised. Is thy backsliding a grief to thee? Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.
