For when they speak great swelling words— For, while they utter high swelling words of vanity, they, by the lusts of the flesh, lay a bait for those who had really escaped from them that live in error. See Jude, 2 Peter 2:16. By swelling words of vanity, we are to understand the most vain and boasting, proud and high sounding words. It is observed, that here, and in many other places, these heretical teachers are represented as seducing their followers, not by the power of miracles, but by the art of address. By their artifices they laid a bait for those, who, by embracing the Christian religion, had been reformed from idolatry and vice, not almost, or a little, but really, truly, and experimentally. See 2 Peter 2:20. 1 Peter 4:3-4. These false teachers boasted that they delivered men from error and vice; whereas theyseduced into them, those who had escaped from the idolatry and wickedness of the unbelieving world.
Related Commentaries of 2 Peter 2:18
2 Peter 2:18
18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were cleane escaped from them who live in error.