boast of angelic intelligence and power, but He who spared not the rebel Angels, will not spare them. He who overwhelmed the world with a flood, will overwhelm them. He who consumed Sodom with fire from heaven for its filthiness, will consume them for their licentiousness. And as certainly as God destroyed the ungodly, will He save you, if you are true to Him. He who saved Noah, He who delivered Lot, will rescue you, and all the righteous with you. After this warning and encouragement, the Apostle goes on with the prophetic vehemence and indignation of a true seer of God, to complete his description of the impiety and profligacy of the false Teachers. He beholds them as present before him. They follow the flesh in the pollutions of lust. They speak evil of Dominion, and blaspheme Glories'. And yet they call themselves Christians; they associate with you in your assemblies; and like Balaam, once a true prophet, but tempted to swerve from the right way by love of money and worldly honour, they leave the path of righteousness; and while they boast their superior intelligence, they degrade themselves beneath the brute creatures, whose lusts they imitate, and become like the false prophet, whose madness was rebuked by the ass upon which he rode2. The false Teachers, as described by the writer, bear a striking resemblance to those with whom Simon Peter himself, as we know from the Acts of the Apostles, and from other sources, had a personal conflict-especially Simon Magus; and this consideration supplies another argument in favour of the genuineness of this Epistle. Like Balaam, these false Teachers cast a stumbling-block in the way of God's people. They carry away with them many others, especially new converts, who had only just escaped the errors and vices of Heathenism. They allure them with the promise of liberty, being themselves slaves of licentiousness. Their latter end is worse than the beginning; for it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than when they had known it to turn away back from it, like the sow, that has been washed, to her wallowing in the mire'. The Apostle now reverts to those whom he had addressed in his First Epistle. He reminds them again of the warnings uttered by the Prophets, and of the charge delivered to them by the Apostles. They well knew, that errors such as he was denouncing had been reprobated by anticipation. They knew that in the last days would arise scoffers, striking at the root of their Christian hopes, and asking, "Where is the promise of His Coming?" Where is the end of all things? "All things remain as they were from the beginning." He refutes these mockers by pointing to the Sacred History of the Creation, and by affirming, that, as the Heaven and Earth were not from eternity, but were made by God's Word; so they would not remain for ever, but would be destroyed by the same Word; and as the antediluvian world was destroyed by water, ministered from the internal reservoirs of its own Heavens and Earth, so it will be consumed by fuel and combustion supplied and set on fire by its own Elements. He reminds them that God's ways are not as our ways; that His measure of Time is not like ours; that what is slow to us, is speedy to Him, with Whom a thousand years are as one day. But, in fine, the Day of the Lord will come. The conflagration of the World will be universal. But the faithful will survive it, and will inhabit the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness 7. On this assurance he grounds a concluding exhortation to earnestness, circumspection, and holiness. God delays His coming in long-suffering, which is salvation: for who otherwise would 1 See on ii. 10. 2 ii. 16. 3 Acts viii. 17-25, and below, on this Epistle, ii. 1. This is thus stated by the late Archdn. Hardwick, in the Manuscript note already referred to: "The same Peter (Symeon Peter) who professes to have written this Epistle, had himself confronted Simon Magus (Acts viii.) in the province of Samaria, where the soil, half heathen and half Jewish, was peculiarly prepared for such a conflict, and though stories told of their subsequent encounters are in many cases altogether fabulous, especially those recorded in the PseudoClementines, the vast importance which the Early Church attributed to Simon Magus, is receiving fresh corroboration from inquiries of the present day. "If Simon Magus himself was not the patriarch of all the Gnostic heresies, he was at least their first patron and great preHe put forth the earliest counterfeit of Christianity, and in the time of Justin Martyr he was worshipped as the first God (ws ó πрwτоs beds) by nearly all the Samaritans. cursor. "When we find him in the Acts of the Apostles, Simon, not devoid it would seem of religious sensibility, is borne along by the popular excitement; he believes and is baptized (viii. 13). Yet like the man depicted in the first chapter of our Epistle, he does not add to his faith virtue, nor place knowledge in subordination to moral goodness; he forgets that he was purged from his old sins (2 Pet. i. 9), and his last state is worse than the first (2 Pet. ii. 20). "We cannot positively affirm indeed from what has been recorded in the Acts, that Simon, immediately after his relapse, proceeded to build up a system of belief, commensurate in every point with the heresy imputed to him by Irenæus and Hippolytus. But evidence exists to prove, that most, if not all, the ingredients of Simonianism had been projected, and were actively fermenting, in the Apostolic age. The founder of this system wished to be regarded as the highest emanation of the Deity (sublimissima virtus'). He was consequently a false Christ, and even if it could be shown that he adopted Christian phraseology, he used the Gospel as a kind of magical agent, but neglected its moral power. He respected (so to say) its supernatural gifts and revelations, but threw off its salutary discipline, and did not scruple to prostitute its holy maxims to the basest and most selfish ends. This latter circumstance excited, as we know, the most emphatic reprobation of St Peter." 5 ii. 22. iii. 1. be saved? Such also had been the teaching of "his beloved brother, St. Paul," who had been represented by some' as a rival and opponent of the writer, and whose writings had been perverted by some, in favour of Antinomian licentiousness, as the rest of the Scriptures had been wrested by the unlearned and unstable, to their own ruin. Be ye therefore on your guard, for ye are forewarned. Do not swerve from your own stedfastness, but grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to Whom be Glory, both now and for ever. Amen. 1 Especially the Simonians and Ebionites. 2 See on iii. 16, and above, pp. 1-4. ΠΕΤΡΟΥ B'. I. 1 ΣΥΜΕΩΝ Πέτρος, δοῦλος καὶ ἀπόστολος ̓Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῖς ἰσότιμον ἡμῖν λαχοῦσι πίστιν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ Σωτῆρος ̓Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ· a Rom. 1. 7. 21 χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη πληθυνθείη ἐν ἐπιγνώσει τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ a John 17. 3. Κυρίου ἡμῶν. 1 Pet. 1. 2. Jude 2. b Isa. 56. 5. 3 ̔Ως πάντα ἡμῖν τῆς θείας δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ τὰ πρὸς ζωὴν καὶ εὐσέβειαν δεδωρημένης, διὰ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ καλέσαντος ἡμᾶς ἰδίᾳ δόξῃ καὶ ἀρετῇ, 45 δι ̓ ὧν τὰ μέγιστα ἡμῖν καὶ τίμια ἐπαγγέλματα δεδώρηται, ἵνα διὰ τούτων John 112 γένησθε θείας κοινωνοὶ φύσεως, ἀποφυγόντες τῆς ἐν κόσμῳ ἐν ἐπιθυμίᾳ φθορᾶς· ἐρ καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο δὲ, σπουδὴν πᾶσαν παρεισενέγκαντες, ἐπιχορηγήσατε ἐν τῇ PJohn3.2 Rom. 8. 15. 2 Cor. 3. 18. Heb. 10. CH. I. 1. Συμεών] ή (Shimeon), the Aramaic form of Simon; used by St. James at Jerusalem, when speaking of Simon Peter. Acts xv. 14. Its use here is an evidence that the Writer is addressing Jewish Christians. ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ Σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ] in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, Ye have obtained faith by the free gift and grace of God. Faith itself is a gift of God, and your faith is equally precious in His sight with our faith. On this use of ἡμῖν, compare Rev. xiii. 11, κέρατα ὅμοια ἀρνίῳ. Winer, § 66, p. 549. Ye obtained "this faith in and by the righteousness of Christ, Who is the LORD our Righteousness" (Jer. xxiii. 6; cp. 1 Cor. i. 30. 2 Cor. iii. 9. Rom. iii. 21-26; v. 20); and by virtue of His Incarnation and your Incorporation in Him, ye receive all grace from God. John i. 16. The words τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ are best rendered, of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. That they may be thus rendered, cannot be doubted (cp. Winer, p. 118, note, and De Wette here). And they are rendered thus by Beza, Hemming, Gerhard, Dietlein, and others here ; and by the Greek and Latin Fathers in the similar place of St. Paul, viz. Titus ii. 13, τοῦ μεγάλου Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, where see the note, and Wiesinger's commentary there. This declaration of the Godhead of Christ was very suitable to the commencement of this Epistle, in which the Author is speaking of the gracious dispensation by which we have become “partakers of the divine nature,” v. 4; a participation effected by the Incarnation of the Eternal Word (John i. 14), God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. iii. 16), “ God with us” (Matt. i. 23). This declaration was also very pertinent here, because this Epistle was designed to refute the errors of those who separated Jesus from Christ, and denied the Lord that bought them, and rejected the doctrine of His Divinity. See the Introduction, and below on ii. l. It is observable, that this Epistle ends in the same terms. See note below, iii. 17, 18. St. Peter's usage of the article (τοῦ) and copula (καὶ) in other places of the Epistle confirms this interpretation. Compare v. 11, τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ Σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, and ii. 20, and iii. 18; so that there appears to be good ground for the assertion of Bp. Middleton, p. 595, that “ this passage is plainly and unequivocally to be understood as an assumption that Jesus Christ is our God and Saviour," and it may be coupled with the testimony of St. Paul to the same effect, in Titus ii. 13. 2. χάρις-πληθυνθείη] Grace to you and Peace be multiplied. The same salutation as in the First Epistle of St. Peter, and not found, in the same terms, in any other Epistle. See 1 Pet. i. 2. VoL. II.-PART IV. | ἐν ἐπιγνώσει] in the mature knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. St. Peter inculcates this word ἐπί-γνωσις (v. 3. 8; ii. 20) in this Epistle, directed against the falsely called γνῶσις, or knowledge (1 Tim. vi. 20), of the Gnostic Teachers. The same thing is done by his brother Apostle St. Paul, in the Epistle to the Colossians (Col. i. 9, 10; ii. 2; iii. 10), an Epistle which, in many respects, is the best commentary on this Epistle of St. Peter. See above, Introduction, p. 70. 3. ὡς] seeing that,forasmuch as, God has done His part for your salvation, therefore now do ye yours. On this sense of &s, see I iner, ξ 65, p. 543. εὐσέβειαν] godliness; a word repeated in this Epistle (see vv. 6,7 ; iii. 11) in opposition to the ἀσέβεια of the false Teachers; and for similar reasons, reiterated by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Bishop of Ephesus, see 1 Tim. ii. 2 ; iii. 16; iv. 7, 8; vi. 3. 5, 6. 11 ; and 2 Tim. iii. 5, where he describes false Teachers as having μόρφωσιν εὐσεβείας, a furm of godliness, but denying its power. Cp. Titus i. 1. It occurs only in one other place of the New Testament. Acts iii. 12. - δεδωρημένης] having given as a δῶρον, gift,-active; so δεδώρηται, he hath given as a gift, v. 4. Cp. Rom. iv. 21, & ἐπήγγελται. Winer, § 39, p. 234. ἰδίᾳ δόξῃ καὶ ἀρετῇ] by His oun Glory and Virtue. So A, C, and Lach., Tisch., Alford. — Elz. has διὰ δόξης καὶ ἀρετῆς. Δόξα is the Glory of the Godhead in its own Essence and Nature. ̓Αρετὴ is the excellence of its moral attributes energizing in acts of Power, Wisdom, Justice, and Love. Cp. 1 Pet. ii. 9. This use of idios for suus is characteristic of St. Peter. See here, ii. 22 ; iii. 3. 16, 17 ; and 1 Pet. iii. 1. 5. This passage is cited as from "the Catholic Epistles," by Athanasius, Dialog. de Trin. i. p. 164. 4. θείας κοινωνοὶ φύσεως] partakers of the Divine Nature, by the Incarnation of the Eternal Word, and by your filial Adoption and baptismal Incorporation in Him. See John i. 12. This passage appears to be imitated by S. Hippolytus, Refut. Hæres. p. 333, γέγονας θεὸς . . . ὅσα παρακολουθεῖ Θεῷ, ταῦτα παρέχειν ἐπήγγελται Θεὸς, ὅτι ἐθεοποιήθης ἀθάνατος γενηθείς σοῦ πτωχεύει Θεὸς, καὶ σὲ θεὸν ποιήσας εἰς δόξαν αὐτοῦ. S. Hippolytus in that treatise, especially at the close, seems to have had this Epistle in his mind, see p. 338, and cp. below, ii. 4; and in his inculcation of the true ἐπί-γνωσις in opposition to the false gnosis of heretical teachers; cp. pp. 338, 339, with i. 3. 8 ; ii. 20. This passage is cited by Origen in Levit., hom. 4, as from a genuine writing of St. Peter. See also below, vv. 16. 19; and so Athanasius, c. Arian., orat. ii. 1, p. 323. 5. αὐτὸ τοῦτο δέ] But for this very reason. The de has an adversative force, as usual, which must not escape notice. M c Tit. 3. 14. d Isa. 59. 10. Wisd. 1. 17. 1 John 2. 9, 11. e 1 John 3. 19. πίστει ὑμῶν τὴν ἀρετὴν, ὃ ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀρετῇ τὴν γνῶσιν, ἐν δὲ τῇ γνώσει τὴν ἐγκράτειαν, ἐν δὲ τῇ ἐγκρατείᾳ τὴν ὑπομονὴν, ἐν δὲ τῇ ὑπομονῇ τὴν εὐσέβειαν, 7 ἐν δὲ τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ τὴν φιλαδελφίαν, ἐν δὲ τῇ φιλαδελφίᾳ τὴν ἀγάπην. 8 Ταῦτα γὰρ ὑμῖν ὑπάρχοντα καὶ πλεονάζοντα, οὐκ ἀργοὺς οὐδὲ ἀκάρπους καθίστησιν εἰς τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπίγνωσιν· 9 α ᾧ γὰρ μὴ πάρεστι 'Iŋooû ταῦτα, τυφλός ἐστι, μυωπάζων, λήθην λαβὼν τοῦ καθαρισμοῦ τῶν πάλαι αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτιῶν. e d 10 • Διὸ μᾶλλον, ἀδελφοὶ, σπουδάσατε βεβαίαν ὑμῶν τὴν κλῆσιν καὶ ἐκλογὴν ποιεῖσθαι· ταῦτα γὰρ ποιοῦντες οὐ μὴ πταίσητέ ποτε 11 οὕτω γὰρ πλουσίως The false Teachers may abuse God's grace as a plea and occasion for sin; but (de) do you regard it as a reason and encouragement for holiness. On κal-de see 1 John i. 3. As to αὐτὸ τοῦτο, for this very reason, cp. Xenophon, Anab. i. 9. 21. Plato, Protag. 310. See Winer, § 21, p. 129. Matthiæ, § 470. 7. Kühner, § 278. 2. The abundance of God's grace to us is represented by St. Peter as the reason for our diligent labour in working out our own salvation. God works with us, in us, and for us, in order that we may work for His glory and our own eternal good. Cp. Phil. ii. 12. For this very reason, of God's bounty to you, do you also do your part, contributing on your side (ñap-elevéykavtes) all diligence. ἐπιχορηγήσατε ἐν τῇ πίστει ὑμῶν τὴν ἀρετήν] contribute, or furnish forth, in your faith, virtue. 'Exopnyev is, literally, to contribute, or furnish, the requisite resources for the outfit, equipment, and training of a dramatic chorus; and perhaps è may here imply addition. Hence it means to supply means and resources generally. Cp. Gal. iii. 5. 2 Cor. ix. 10. Col. ii. 19, and Wetstein here. The preposition èv, in, indicates that the Virtues here specified are to be linked one to another, as in a chain. Seven Christian graces are here joined together hand in hand. Faith leads the Chorus, and Love completes it. St. Peter's seven correspond to St. Paul's three. (1 Cor. xiii. 13.) In each Apostolic group Faith leads, and Charity ends. To adopt another metaphor, suggested here by St. Peter's words. Faith, the gift of God (see v. 1), is the groundwork, on which all Christian virtues are to be built up, so as to be in it as in their original and actuating principle. (Theophylact.) Compare the use of er in Eph. ii. 21, 22, ἐν ᾧ πᾶσα οἰκοδομὴ συναρμολογουμένη αὔξει εἰς ναὸν ἅγιον ἐν Κυρίῳ, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ὑμεῖς συνοικοδομεῖσθε εἰς κατοικητήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν Πνεύματι. God has laid the foundation of faith; but remember, it is your faith (ioris iuwv), it is to be yours by being moulded into the whole framework of your life. God has laid this foundation, do you supply in addition (éπixopnyńσate) on your part, the materials requisite for the structure and furniture of the Christian life. Faith is the foundation; that is laid by God. Man must do his part in rearing the superstructure; he must add the successive stages of spiritual masonry, one upon another, till the fabric is complete. Another figure also, taken from the natural world, seems to to have been in the Apostle's mind. The Christian believer must put forth his spiritual energies, till the Tree of Christian Life reaches its full maturity. See note above on Luke xvii. 5, where Christ represents faith as the seminal principle from which all Christian Virtue grows. So here St. Peter. If this is done, then they will not be either like useless heaps of rubbish, or like barren trees; they will be neither apyol nor άкаржоι (v. 8; 1 Tim. v. 13. Titus i. 12; iii. 14), but the entrance to the everlasting kingdom will be richly supplied also (ènixopnynonσerai) to them (v. 11); they will be built up in the heavenly City; they will also be like trees planted by the side of the living Water, which flows from the throne of God. Rev. xxi. 19; xxii. 1. Cp. Dr. H. More on the Mystery of Godliness, b. viii. c. 3, pp. 261, 262. Thy apeτhy] supply in your faith virtue, blended with your faith. Let not your faith be a barren speculative faith, but a faith that worketh by love. Gal. v. 6. Titus iii. 8. Supply also in your virtue, knowledge; let your zeal be according to knowledge. (Cp. Rom. x. 2.) And in knowledge join temperance; let not your knowledge be a yvwots, which puffeth up, such as that of those who, to gratify the carnal appetite, did not scruple to eat things offered to idols, and professed to have more intelligence than others, whom they condemned as weak brethren. 1 Cor. viii. 1, 2. Cp. Rom. xiv. 20. 7. èv dè tỷ piλadeλpíą tǹv ảyánŋv] and in your brotherly kindness do ye supply, in addition, love. Aydan is more expressive and diffusive than piλadeλpía. It extends not only to the brotherhood (1 Pet. ii. 17), but to all men, even enemies. Therefore Love is the crown of Christian Virtues. As S. Ignatius says (ad Ephes. 14), apрxà μèv πíσTIS, Téλos dè ȧyáπn. Thus the cornu copia of Christian fruits and flowers will be filled up and flow over in plentiful abundance. 8. els Tηv- éπíyvwow] to the mature knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Knowledge is the fruit of Virtue, see John vii. 17. By Christian obedience and Christian fruitfulness ye will attain to the clear knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, v. 8; or as it is expressed by St. Paul in his parallel Epistle, that to the Colossians, "rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith" (ii. 7), being fruitful in every good work, and growing into the clear knowledge (èníyvwow) of God (i. 10). With this exhortation of St. Peter, compare St. Paul's to the Colossians, "Put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; and over all put on Charity (Love, ȧyánŋy), which is the bond of perfectness; and may the Peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also ye were called." (Col. iii. 12—14.) 9. yàp μǹ пáρeσтI тavта] for, whosoever has not these graces, that man, whatever may be his professions of knowledge, is in fact blind; and he is uvwráCwv. He is blind, because he is μvwпájwv (observe the participle), that is, because, having the inner optic nerve clouded with the films of carnal lusts, he is unable to see those heavenly things which are the true objects of spiritual vision (2 Cor. iv. 18), and which are too bright for his hazy eyesight; and he is dazzled by them, as Saul was by the glory of the light of heaven. Acts xxii. 11. And they are too distant for the range of his feeble ken, so that he cannot descry them, but they are far above out of his sight. (Ps. x. 5.) On this sense of μvwráłw, to blink, to be purblind, weaksighted, and short-sighted, see Aristot. Probl. 31, who says, that old men's vision differs from that of the uvwnάfwv in this respect,— that they see things at a distance but not near, and he sees things near and not far off. Wetstein, p. 700. The yap, for, in this text brings out the important doctrine, that unholiness is the cause of spiritual blindness; and that, consequently, increase of holiness enlarges the range of spiritual vision. See Rom. i. 22. λhony λaßúv] receiving forgetfulness, by a deliberate act of his own will. Cp. iii. 5, λανθάνει αὐτοὺς τοῦτο θέλοντας. The opposite to this is ὑπόμνησιν λαβὼν, 2 Tim. i. 5. 10. did μâλλov] Wherefore, since some have fallen away from their first faith, and have forgotten the vows and privileges of their Baptism, in which they were once enlightened (see Heb. vi. 4; x. 32), and since their eyes are now blinded (v. 9), do ye the rather on this account, taking warning from their downfall, earnestly endeavour to make your calling and election sure. us. St. Peter places our calling before our election, for so it is to God from the beginning sees us in Christ; and He foresees who will persevere to the end. But we can only infer election from vocation. By Baptism men are visibly declared to be called of God. And from the fact of their being called, and ingrafted into the body of Christ, we may suppose them to be elect. God has done His part; it remains for us to do ours; namely, so to use His grace, as to make our calling and election sure. See above, 1 Pet. i. 1, and on Rom viii. 30, and Introduction to that Epistle, p. 194. 11. ourw yάp] For thus the entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be richly supplied unto you. If you supply your part (see v. 5, ἐπιχορηγήσατε), God will richly supply His, not only in abundance of grace, but of glory also. On this text see Bp. Bull's Sermon (vii. vol. i. p. 168), who hence concludes that according to our different degrees of improvement of God's grace here, will be our different degrees of participation in His everlasting glory hereafter. Cp. above, on Matt. x. 15. Luke xix. 17. John xiv. 2. 2 Cor. ix. 6. ἐπιχορηγηθήσεται ὑμῖν ἡ εἴσοδος εἰς τὴν αἰώνιον βασιλείαν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ Σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. f g John 21. 18, 19. 2 12 Διὸ μελλήσω ἀεὶ ὑμᾶς ὑπομιμνήσκειν περὶ τούτων, καίπερ εἰδότας, καὶ ἐστηριγμένους ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ ἀληθείᾳ. 13 Δίκαιον δὲ ἡγοῦμαι, ἐφ' ὅσον εἰμὶ fch. 3. 1. tŷ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ σκηνώματι, διεγείρειν ὑμᾶς ἐν ὑπομνήσει· 14 5 εἰδὼς ὅτι ἐστιν ἡ ἀπόθεσις τοῦ σκηνώματός μου, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Χριστὸς ἐδήλωσέ μοι. 15 Σπουδάσω δὲ καὶ ἑκάστοτε ἔχειν ὑμᾶς μετὰ τὴν ἔξοδον τὴν τούτων μνήμην ποιεῖσθαι. h ταχινή Ἰησοῦς τ ἐμὴν τ. 18. τὴν 16 * Οὐ γὰρ σεσοφισμένοις μύθοις ἐξακολουθήσαντες ἐγνωρίσαμεν ὑμῖν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δύναμιν καὶ παρουσίαν, ἀλλ ̓ ἐπόπται γενηθέντες τῆς ἐκείνου μεγαλειότητος 17 λαβὼν γὰρ παρὰ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς τιμὴν καὶ 12, 13. μeλλhow] This is the reading of A, B, C, and Vulg., Copt., Sahidic, Armenian Versions, and several cursives, and is approved by Mill and Bengel, and received by Lach., Tisch., Alford. Elz. has oùк àμeλhow. The future, μeλλhow, is found in Matt. xxiv. 6, μeλλhoeтe Robe. The word signifies what is future, and often implies an intention, as (Matt. ii. 13) μέλλει Ἡρώδης ζητεῖν τὸ παιδίον. Cp. Luke xxii. 23. Acts xii. 6; xvi. 27; xx. 13. Rev. ii. 10; x. Hence Hesychius interprets μελλήσω by σπουδάσω. 4. The sense is, I shall be about to remind you always of these things, by means of this Epistle, which will be read in your ears, in your churches, after my decease; and thus I shall always remind you; and I write with this design, in order that, being soon about to be absent from you, and from this world, I may yet continue for ever to exhort you thereby, although you know these things, and have been established in the truth present with you, and therefore may seem to have less need of admonition from me, when absent from you. But (de) I deem it right, as long as I am in this mortal tabernacle of the flesh (2 Cor. v. 1), to stir you up in reminding you. Cp. iii. 1. I do not profess to teach you any thing new, but I endeavour to stir you up to recollect those things which you already know, and in which you have been already settled. Cp. note above on St. Paul's language, 2 Cor. viii. 10. 14, 15. eidús] I deem it right to stir you up, as long as I am in this tabernacle, because I know that my time is short, and that speedy is (éori) the putting off of my tabernacle. Compare St. Peter's similar language in Acts ii. 26, σáρĚ μον катασκηνώσει ἐπ' ἐλπίδι. My departure is at hand, it is now fast approaching; I have no time to lose; As also our Lord Jesus Christ declared to me. Observe the aorist here: St. Peter is showing that the writer is referring to the particular occasion, recorded by St. John, when our Lord revealed this: Christ then said, that when thou shalt grow old," literally, when thou shalt have begun to be old (öτav ynpáσns, quùm consenueris), “another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not (John xxi. 18). I have now begun to grow old, and I therefore know that my dissolution is speedy (Taxwń); cp. ii. 1. Isa. lix. 7. Hab. i. 6. St. Peter pre-announces his own death, lest his friends and readers should be perplexed and dismayed by the sufferings of an aged and faithful servant of Christ; and lest they should be tempted thereby to falter in the faith. He therefore tells them that the Lord Jesus Christ had declared to him the manner of his death. But he has not therefore failed in his love to Christ; he is not terrified by the prospect; he describes the martyrdom which awaited him by crucifixion, whereby he would follow Christ (John xxi. 19. Cp. Euseb. iii. 1), as a putting off of his tabernacle. He describes that death by a double figure; it is the putting off of a garment, to be reassumed in a more glorious form; it is also the removal of a tabernacle, to be replaced by a glorious temple in the heavenly Sion; as the itinerant tabernacle in the wilderness was succeeded by the fixed Temple in Jerusalem. In this double figure he imitates his brother Apostle, St. Paul, who had said, "we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle shall have been dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; for in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house from heaven: for we, that are in this tabernacle, do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up in life." (2 Cor. v. 1—4.) He speaks of his departure under these terms, as well knowing that by following Christ in putting off the tabernacle of the body of humiliation (see Phil. iii. 21), he will follow Him also in putting on that body of glory, which he had seen at the Trans h Matt. 17.1-5. John 1. 14. Cor. 1. 17. & 2. 1, 4, & 4. 20. 1 John 1. 1. & 4. 14. i Matt. 3. 17. & Mark 1. 11. & 9. 7. ένα κ ἴδια. Col. 1. 13. | figuration in the holy mount. He had then craved leave to make three tabernacles, and to detain Christ there (Matt. xvii. 4. Mark ix. 5. Luke ix. 33), but he had there heard Christ talking of his own departure (eçodos, Luke ix. 31), and he had seen that odos followed by the glory of the Resurrection and Ascension. The word todos may perhaps be derived by St. Peter from St. Luke's narrative of the Transfiguration (Luke ix. 31), and is happily here applied to describe his own codos in which he followed his Master according to His precept (John xxi. 22), even in the manner of his death. Here is a silent note of the genuineness of this Epistle. The same word appears to be applied to designate the death both of St. Peter and St. Paul, by S. Irenæus (iii. 1), μET à THν τούτων ἔξοδον, Μάρκος, δ μαθητὴς καὶ ἑρμηνευτής Πέτρου, καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ ὑπὸ Πέτρου κηρυσσόμενα ἐγγράφως ἡμῖν παραδέδωκεν : and perhaps St. Peter's design that his hearers should have it in their power on every occasion,-in every emergency and need, when they would require admonition and comfort,-to exercise the remembrance of these things (cp. Rom. i. 9. Eph. i. 16), after only in writing the present Epistle, but in the composition of the his own decease (μeтà Tùv ěžodov), may have been realized, not Gospel of Marcus his son (1 Pet. v. 13). 16. où yàp σeσopioμévois] for we did not follow cunningly devised fables-fables sophistically invented (#λaσroîs λóyois, ii. 3), with fraudulent purpose, like those fabricated by others, when we made known to you the power and future coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we did this, having been made spectators of His Majesty. The preposition in akoλov@hoavтes indicates that the followers of these fables had gone out of the way of truth. He contrasts his own preaching with that of those whom he refutes in this Epistle. The Gnostic teachers followed cunningly devised fables. The system of St. Peter's adversary, the Father fables; viz., that he himself was the great Power of God (Acts of the Gnostics, Simon Magus, was grounded on cunningly devised viii. 10), and that from him and his paramour, Helena, the Angels were born, who made the world. See S. Iren. i. 23. 1. S. Hippolyt. Refut. hæres. vi. p. 174. Epiphan. hær. 21. Philastr. hær. c. 29. Tillemont, ii. p. 17. Ittig, de hæres. pp. 23-34. Bp. Pearson, Vind. Ign. ii. 6. The impious fables of Simon, asserting that he himself was the "sublimissima virtus" of the Deity, the "super omnia Pater," and that he (Simon) was the dúvaμis μeyáλn of God (see on Acts viii. 10), and that the Son of God was another apparition of himself, dwelling in the man Jesus for a time, are here confuted by St. Peter's declaration concerning the δύναμιs and μεγαλειότης of Jesus Christ; and the heavenly witness of the Father to Him in the Mountain of Transfiguration (cp. Matt. xvii. 1-6. Mark ix. 2-7. Luke ix. 29–35. John i. 14). TÓTTа] spectators, as of a great Mystery, see above, 1 Pet. ii. 12; iii. 2. The three disciples, of whom St. Peter was one, were admitted to the nearest view of the arcana of that great Mystery of Godliness, God manifest in the Flesh. 1 Tim. iii. 16. 17. λαβὼν γ. π. Θ. Π. τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν] for, having received from God the Father honour and glory. Jesus Christ received honour, when the voice from Heaven said, "This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him;" and He received glory, when His face shone like the sun, and His raiment was white as the light (Matt. xvii. 2), and St. Peter, James, and John beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father." John i. 14. On the nominative λaßav, cp. 2 Cor. v. 5, 6; vii. 5. Winer, § 45, p. 314, and on væò see ibid. § 47, p. 330. Christ then received honour and glory from God the Father. Compare the remarkable resemblance of this passage and John i. 14, concerning the same event, of which St. Peter and St. John were eye-witnesses. J. W. Burgon. |