It is natural to most of us on a first reading to assume that the _first_ Epistle here alluded to must be what we know as 1 Peter; but this has been denied by critics of eminence, who hold that 1 Peter does not answer to the description before us: and further that 2 P. speaks of personal intercourse... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΝΗΣΘΗ͂ΝΑΙ Κ.Τ.Λ. He is specially anxious to hold his readers fast to their first beliefs in view of the new false teaching. ἉΓΊΩΝ ΠΡΟΦΗΤΩ͂Ν as in the _Benedictus_, Luke 1:70. ΚΑῚ ΤΗ͂Σ ΤΩ͂Ν�. ΚΥΡ. Κ. ΣΩΤΗ͂ΡΟΣ. The array of genitives has its awkwardness, but is not obscure. ΤΩ͂Ν�: ἡμῶν (a very nat... [ Continue Reading ]
With this verse we return to the borrowing from Jude (Jude 1:17) ὑμεῖς δέ, ἀγαπητοί, μνήσθητε τῶν ῥημάτων τῶν προειρημένων ὑπὸ τῶν�. κυρ. ἡμ. Ἰ. Χ. ΤΟΥ͂ΤΟ ΠΡΩ͂ΤΟΝ ΓΙΝΏΣΚΟΝΤΕΣ, above, 2 Peter 1:20. The grammar is loose. ὍΤΙ ἘΛΕΎΣΟΝΤΑΙ κ.τ.λ., the last considerable borrowing, from Jude 1:18 ἐπʼ ἐσχά... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΟΥ͂ ἘΣΤῚΝ Κ.Τ.Λ. They ask the question, not as those who long for the fulfilment of the promise, but as disbelieving that it will ever be fulfilled: and therefore they are at liberty to indulge their passions (πορευόμενοι, etc.). ΠΑΡΟΥΣΊΑΣ, above 2 Peter 1:16. ΟἹ ΠΑΤΈΡΕΣ. Cf. ἐπὶ τῶν πατέρων in t... [ Continue Reading ]
ὍΤΙ ΟΥ̓ΡΑΝΟῚ ἯΣΑΝ Κ.Τ.Λ. There were of old heavens and an earth, (the latter) having its being out of water (it rose out of the water over which the Spirit brooded) and διʼ ὕδατος. This difficult expression I am inclined to interpret as “between the waters,” supported on water, according to Jewish b... [ Continue Reading ]
NOTE ON THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD BY FIRE The passage 2 Peter 3:5-13 is the only one in the New Testament which speaks of the destruction of the world by fire. The coming of Christ, the Resurrection, and the Final Judgment are dwelt upon by other writers, but of a general conflagration nothing i... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙʼ ὮΝ. I am inclined (in spite of the fact that the word is rather remote in position) to think that οὐρανοί is the antecedent of ὧν. “There were heavens … by means of which the old world was deluged.” The other alternative, that the two “waters” are the antecedent, also yields a fairly good sense.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἹ ΔῈ ΝΥ͂Ν ΟΥ̓ΡΑΝΟΊ. He seems to speak of the Flood as if it had destroyed heaven and earth (in the Book of Enoch hyperbolical language of that kind is used of the Flood lxxxiii. 3, in a vision “the heaven collapsed and was borne off and fell to the earth”): and it may have been his view that the up... [ Continue Reading ]
ὙΜΑ͂Σ, emphatic, opposed to αὐτούς in 2 Peter 3:5. Not only are the mockers mistaken as to the immutability of the world: they forget also (but you must not) that time is nothing in God’s sight. He delays His vengeance in mercy, but it will come. ΜΊΑ ἩΜΈΡΑ κ.τ.λ. The words go back to Psalms 90:4 χ... [ Continue Reading ]
ΒΡΑΔΎΝΕΙ with a genitive only here: it is compared with the use of ἁμαρτάνω, ὑστερεῖν, λείπεσθαι. ΜΑΚΡΟΘΥΜΕΙ͂. Cf. 1 Peter 3:20 ἀπειθήσασιν ὅτε�. ΕἸΣ ὙΜΑ͂Σ. Evidence is divided here both as to the preposition and the pronoun. εἰς BCKLP Armenian, one Egyptian version. διʼ אA 3 good cursives, Lati... [ Continue Reading ]
ἭΞΕΙ ΔῈ ἩΜΈΡΑ ΚΥΡΊΟΥ ὩΣ ΚΛΈΠΤΗΣ. This must have been a commonplace of Apocalyptic prophecy. We have the image in the eschatological discourse of our Lord, Matthew 24:43 “If the goodman of the house had known in what watch (of the night) the thief would come” and again in Luke 12:39. In 1 Thessalonia... [ Continue Reading ]
ΛΥΟΜΈΝΩΝ possibly implies that creation is even now declining to its fall: but compare the present tenses of τήκεται, κατοικεῖ below. ΠΟΤΑΠΟΎΣ, a late form and use: ποδαπός “of what nation” is the classical word. Our word occurs elsewhere in N.T. and in the _Apocalypse of Peter_. ὙΠΆΡΧΕΙΝ, how oug... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΠΕΎΔΟΝΤΑΣ. The thought is well compared with Peter’s words in Acts 3:19. Repent … ὅπως ἂν ἔλθωσιν καιροὶ�. As sins (cf. 2 Peter 3:9) delay the coming, so righteousness will accelerate it. ΘΕΟΥ͂ ἩΜΈΡΑΣ, usually ἡμ. Κυρίου. In Revelation 16:14 we have “the great day of God Almighty.” ΔΙʼ ἫΝ. ἑν ᾗ a... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΙΝΟῪΣ ΔῈ ΟΥ̓ΡΑΝΟΎΣ Κ.Τ.Λ. The new heaven and earth are prophesied in the concluding Chapter s of Isaiah 65:17 ἔσται γὰρ ὁ οὐρανὸς καινὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ καινή, Isaiah 66:22 ὄν τρόπον γὰρ ὁ οὐρανὸς καινὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ καινὴ ἂ ἐγὼ ποιῶ, cf. Isaiah 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, etc. The prediction is... [ Continue Reading ]
Cf. Jude 1:24 στῆσαι κατενώπιον τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ�. The use of εὐρεθῆναι is rather like that in Philippians 3:9 “that I may be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,” etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΘῺΣ ΚΑῚ Ὁ�. It has been usual to take καθὼς as referring to the topic of the end of the world, and to suppose that the Epistles to the Thessalonians are specially indicated. But others (incl. Mayor) would refer καθώς to the sentence immediately preceding about μακροθυμία, and point to certain pass... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ ΠΆΣΑΙΣ ἘΠΙΣΤΟΛΑΙ͂Σ. πάσαις ταῖς is read by אKLP: ABC omit the article, and are followed by Westcott and Hort. The phrase reads very awkwardly without it. There is no great difference in sense, whether we read “in all letters” or “in all his letters.” ἘΝ ΑἿΣ ἘΣΤῚΝ ΔΥΣΝΌΗΤΆ ΤΙΝΑ Κ.Τ.Λ. Not speciall... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΘΈΣΜΩΝ, ΠΛΆΝΗΙ, 2 Peter 2:7; 2 Peter 2:18. ΣΥΝΑΠΑΧΘΈΝΤΕΣ as Galatians 2:13, Βαρνάβας συναπήχθη αὐτῶν τῇ ὑποκρίσει.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΑΥ̓ΞΆΝΕΤΕ ἘΝ ΧΆΡΙΤΙ, cf. 2 Peter 1:8 πλεονάζοντα. αὐξάνω is oftener than not intransitive in N.T. but in classical Greek transitive, and so in 1 Corinthians 3:6 (ὁ θεὸς ηὔξανεν). ΕἸΣ ἩΜΈΡΑΝ ΑἸΩ͂ΝΟΣ. An uncommon phrase: Sir 18:10 is quoted: as a drop of water out of the sea, or a grain of sand, οὕτω... [ Continue Reading ]