The doctrines and precepts delivered by the prophets and apostles,
being the most effectual means of preserving the Christian converts
from being seduced by the false teachers spoken of in the preceding
chapter, the apostle begins this with informing the brethren that his
design in writing both his... [ Continue Reading ]
_Knowing this first_ That your faith in the prophetic word may not be
shaken, but that you may be armed and prepared for the trial; _that
there shall come in the last days_ The expression here used, επ '
εσχατου των ημερων, is different from υστεροις
χρονοις, _future_, or _latter_ times, (1 Timothy... [ Continue Reading ]
_Where is the promise of his coming_ To raise the dead, judge mankind,
and destroy the earth? We see no sign of any such thing. The promise
of Christ's coming we have Matthew 15:27, _The Son of man shall come
in his glory_, &c.; John 14:3, _I will come and receive you to
myself_, &c., and in many ot... [ Continue Reading ]
_But_ Though the destruction of the old world by water shows that the
present world may be destroyed, I do not say it will be destroyed by
water. No: _the heavens and the earth, which are now_ This whole
sublunary world; _by the same word_ Which at first created them, and
afterward destroyed them, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Be not ye ignorant_ Whatever they are; _of this one thing_ Which
casts much light on the point in hand; _that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day_ This is an
allusion to Psalms 90:4, where Moses had said, _A thousand years in
thy sight are as one day_, whic... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord is not slack_ Ου βραδυνει, _does not delay_, or is
not slow; _concerning his promise_ To fulfil it, as if the time fixed
for the fulfilment of it were past; for it shall surely be fulfilled
in its season; _but is long-suffering, to us-ward_ Children of men;
_not willing that any should per... [ Continue Reading ]
_But_ Notwithstanding the long-suffering of God; _the day of the Lord_
The day of the consummation of all things, and of final judgment;
_will come_, and that _as a thief in the night_ Because thieves
commonly break into houses in the nighttime, and occasion great fear
to those who are within, any s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Seeing then that all these things_ Which our eyes behold; _shall be
dissolved_ And we shall be spectators of their dissolution, being
raised from the dead before, or at the time of, its taking place;
_what manner of persons ought ye to be_ How serious, how watchful, how
free from levity and folly,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Nevertheless we, according to his promise_, &c. That is, “Though
the present frame of things shall be dissolved by fire, yet we look
for another, a more durable and perfect state; _new heavens and a new
earth_ New and everlasting abodes, which the divine mercy will then
open to our enraptured view,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore, beloved_ Bearing these great truths in your minds, give up
your whole souls to their influence; and, _seeing that ye look for
such things_ Since you expect the coming of Christ to destroy the
present mundane system, and to create a new heaven and earth, and
since death, which will confir... [ Continue Reading ]
_As also in all his epistles_ From this it appears that Peter had read
Paul's epistles; and, as he speaks not of some but of all of them, it
is probable that Paul was dead when St. Peter wrote this, namely, a
little before his martyrdom, as appears from 2 Peter 1:14. And seeing
that Paul, in his epi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore, seeing ye know these things before_ Respecting the coming
of the Lord to judgment, in what an awful manner the scene will close,
and what dreadful vengeance will be executed on all the wicked, and
especially on those that pollute the Church of Christ, into which they
have professed to en... [ Continue Reading ]