“and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:5).
2 Peter 2:5 offers another illustration of the fate that awaits false teachers: God did not spare the wicked inhabitants of the ancient world, but saved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, along with seven others.
The Old Testament book of Genesis tells us that humanity had reached an unprecedented level of wickedness in the period leading up to Noah’s flood. For instance, Genesis 6:5 tells us, “…the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” God was so grieved by this relentless display of evil that He resolved to eliminate the entire human population by means of a catastrophic flood.
Genesis 6:17 records that decision: “I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.” The only exception was “…Noah [who] found favor in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8). So the idea is this: if God punished the ancient world with such severity, there is no reason to believe that He would spare these false teachers from a similar fate.
Much like the angelic illustration given to us in the previous verse, the account of Noah’s flood serves as a precedent. It illustrates the fate of those who distort God’s Word to suit their preferences or amass financial and material wealth. This adds to the significance of Jesus’ message from Matthew 24:38-39….
“For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away…”
Even though 2 Peter 2:5 identifies Noah as a “preacher of righteousness,” the people of his day were indifferent to his message. Instead, they went about the normal affairs of daily life without consideration for God or His will for their lives. As a result, they never saw His judgment coming until it was too late. Thus, we are reminded of a important cautionary message from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes…
“Remember your Creator while you are young, before the bad times come–before the years come when you say, ‘I have wasted my life'” (Ecclesiastes 12:1 ERV).