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among the angels, which, by reason of the context, compels us to fix upon Gen. 6: as
the date and occasion of their fall.
The two passages are here set out side by side that they may be better compared:
II Peter 2: 4 - 6.
Jude 6, 7.
"For if God spare not the angels that
"And the angels which kept not their
sinned, but cast them down to hell, and
first estate, but left their own
delivered them into chains of darkness, to
habitation, He hath reserved in
be reserved unto judgment; and spared not
everlasting chains under darkness unto
the old world, but saved Noah the eighth
the judgment of the great day. Even as
person, a preacher of righteousness,
Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities
bringing in the flood upon the world of the
about them in like manner, giving
ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom
themselves over to fornication, and
and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them
going after strange flesh, are set forth
with an overthrow, making them an
for an example, suffering the
ensample unto those that after should live
vengeance of eternal life.
ungodly."
Let us note in some measure of detail the extraordinary features of these two passages.
These angels `sinned', they `kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation'. The
reader is aware that the basic meaning of `sin' is `to miss the mark' (Judges 20: 16), and
it is evident by the expansion of their sin given by Jude, that some of the angels appear to
have `kept not' and `left' the position allotted to them by God and to have transgressed
bounds which He, the Creator, had set.
The word translated `to keep' in Jude 6 is tereo. It is employed by Paul when he
speaks of keeping one's `virginity' (I Cor. 7: 37); keeping one's self `pure'
(I Tim. 5: 22); being preserved `blameless' (I Thess. 5: 23); Jude uses the word 5 times
as follows:
"Preserved in Jesus Christ"; "The angels which kept not"; "He hath reserved in
everlasting chains"; "To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness"; and "keep
yourselves in the love of God".
The angels therefore failed to keep themselves pure, they failed to preserve their
integrity, they failed to keep the trust committed to them. Jude specifies the particular
failure that was their sin, thus:
"They kept not their first estate."
Alford translates this "Those which kept not their own dignity". Weymouth reads:
"Those who did not keep the position originally assigned to them"; and Moffatt renders
the passage "the angels who abandoned their own domain". The word translated in these
various ways is the Greek arche `beginning' (John 1: 1); which in the plural is translated
`principalities' (Eph. 1: 21).
These angels `left their own habitation'. There are two words that are translated `to
leave' in the N.T. One aphiemi, which means to send away or dismiss; the other, various