Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Peter 1:19

καὶ ἔχομεν. It is best to connect this sentence with the preceding. “The vision and the voice confirmed, and still confirm to us the authority of the prophets.” Other commentators make these words the starting-point of a new topic. “We Apostles had the evidence of the vision: you have what is better, because more permanent—the evidence of Scripture.”

It is worth noting that both in Peter’s speeches in the Acts (Acts 2:3) and also in the fragments of the apocryphal but early Preaching of Peter, great stress is laid on the evidence of prophecy; so also in 1 Peter 1:10-12.

ᾧ καλῶς ποιεῖτε προσέχοντες. Josephus Ant. xi. 6. 12 again has the same phrase, οἷς ποιήσετε καλῶς μὴ προσέχοντες.

λύχνῳ φαίνοντι ἐν αὐχμηρῷ τόπῳ. There are two good instances of a similar phrase applied to an individual prophet. Our Lord says of John Baptist (John 5:35), He was ὁ λύχνος ὁ καιόμενος καὶ φαίνων: and in 4 Esdras (2 Esdras of our Apocrypha) 2Es 12:42 the people say to Esdras, “(thou alone hast survived of all the prophets) sicut lucerna in loco obscuro” (we no longer possess the book in Greek).

αὐχμηρῷ. The meaning, dark or dusky, which is undoubted here, is not the original one; the word properly means dry and parched. The Apocalypse of Peter has our phrase, clearly in the sense of dark: “I saw a τόπον … αὐχμηρότατον, and those in it had their vesture dark, σκοτεινόν … κατὰ τὸν�.”

ἕως οὗ ἡμέρα διαυγάσῃ, etc. Compare the refrain in the Song of Solomon, “Until the day break and the shadows flee away.”

φωσφόρος�. Malachi 4:2 speaks of the Sun of righteousness arising: in the Benedictus, Luke 1:79, the Christ is ἀνατολὴ ἐξ ὔψους: the ancient hymn quoted in Ephesians 5:14 says, ἐπιφαύσει σοι ὁ Χριστός. These passages (except the last) point to the Second Coming as being meant by the dawn of day. But the words in your hearts make us think of the expression of our Lord, “the Kingdom of God is within you.” The writer is addressing people who, though Christians, have not necessarily attained to the fullest understanding of the Gospel. The language should not be so pressed as to imply that it had not even dawned upon them as yet. The study of Scripture will be a help to them until God fully enlightens their hearts.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Peter 1:19

Old Testament

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