The Apostle Peter concluded verse three by assuring his readers of God’s judgment upon false teachers. Now he will back that statement with several examples beginning in verse four…
“For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment” (2 Peter 2:4).
This passage implies that certain demonic entities have been confined to imprisonment until the time of their final sentence. That leads us to the following conclusion: if God intends to punish sinful angels who surpass human beings in power and ability, then false teachers will not evade such consequences, either.
This brings us to an interesting aspect of this passage. You see, most Biblical references to “hell” are derived from the word Gehenna in the original language of the New Testament. Gehenna is the Greek form of a Hebrew word that means “the valley of Hinnom.” In Israel, the Hinnom Valley once served as the place where the ancient Israelites sacrificed their infant children to a pagan deity named Molech. (1)
In the New Testament era, the Hinnom Valley was used as a designated landfill for the city of Jerusalem. All the refuse generated by the city eventually found its way to that location. It also functioned as a place of final disposal for dead animals, the bodies of executed criminals, and the human waste generated by the residents of the city. Fires burned continuously within the valley in order to consume that tremendous amount of daily refuse. Taken together, these elements made the Hinnom Valley suitable for use as an illustration of hell. All that is unfit for heaven will eventually find its way there.
However, the word translated “hell” here in 2 Peter 2:4 is unique to this passage. That word is tartarus, a word borrowed from Greek mythology. Tartarus was depicted in ancient literature as a realm that was far below Hades, the abode of those who had passed from this life. It was there within the depths of Tartarus that the most vile and wicked beings received eternal punishment for their deeds.
Tartarus was portrayed as a dark abyss, a place of torment, incarceration, and eternal darkness. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, this is the word-picture that Peter associated with the ultimate fate of false teachers. Though God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11), His justice (2 Thessalonians 1:5–9) requires punishment for false teaching- and 2 Peter 2:4 illustrates the severity of that penalty.
(1) See Leviticus 20:1-5, 2 Chronicles 28:1-3, and 2 Kings 23:10 for references to this practice.