Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

2 Peter 1:12

2 Peter 1:12. Wherefore I shall always be ready to put you in remembrance regarding these things. The ‘wherefore' represents the resolution now expressed as having its reason in what has been already said. That may be either the immediately preceding thought or the tenor of the previous section as a whole. The motive lies in the responsibilities connected with the endowment of grace received from Christ, or, more particularly, in the consideration that the entrance into the eternal kingdom of Him who bestows that endowment can be ‘richly furnished' only to those who do the things which have been recommended. The phrase ‘these things' is taken by some to refer to what follows, namely, the statement in 2 Peter 1:16 about the Lord's Advent; by others its reference is limited to one particular subject, such as the graces enumerated in 2 Peter 1:5-7 (Hofmann), or the kingdom and its future (de Wette). It is best taken, however, as pointing back to the whole burden of the opening statement the duty of Christian progress, the necessity of Christian diligence, the blessings secured by the right course, the loss entailed by the opposite. The writer professes his constant readiness (the ‘always' qualifies the ‘ready' rather than the ‘put in remembrance') to preserve in them a loving recollection of these facts and responsibilities. Greater point, too, is given to the resolution by adopting, instead of the negative reading of the A. V. and the Received Text, ‘I will not be negligent,' the positive, and far better supported, reading of the R. V. and most critical editors, ‘I shall be ready,' or, as it also may be rendered, ‘I shall be sure,' ‘I shall proceed.' The formula occurs only once again in the N. T., viz. in Matthew 24:6, where the A. V. translates it simply ‘ye shall hear.'

though ye know them, and are established in the truth which is with you. Again, as in 2 Peter 1:8, with something like the courteous tact of Paul (comp. e.g. Romans 15:14, etc.) and John (1 John 2:21), the writer speaks as if his anxiety after all were superfluous. The term rendered ‘established' is the one which we have already had in 1 Peter 5:10. It is the word which Christ used in forewarning Peter (Luke 22:32, although the A. V. varies the translation there ‘when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren'). The cognate noun appears in the word rendered ‘stedfastness' in 2 Peter 3:17. The A. V., by adopting the literal translation of the last words, ‘the present truth,' is apt to suggest an erroneous idea. What is meant is neither the truth which specially suits the present time, nor the truth which is at present under consideration, nor even (as Bengel puts it) the fulfilled truth of O. T. promise and prophecy, but the truth which is present with you, which has come into their possession through the preaching of the Gospel. The idea is much the same as that expressed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:1. The phrase occurs again in Colossians 1:6, where ‘the word of the truth of the Gospel' is spoken of as that ‘which is come unto you.'

Continues after advertising

BibliaPlus

Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

2 Peter 1:12

Old Testament

New Testament