g Ps. 90. 4.

h Isa. 30. 18.

Ezek. 18. 23, 33.

& 33. 11.

Hab. 2. 3.

Rom. 2. 4.

1 Tim. 2. 4.

ver 15.

Heb. 10. 37.

1 Pet. 3. 20.

& ver. 15.

i Ps. 102. 27. Isa. 51. 6.

Matt. 24. 35, 43,

44.

1 Thess. 5. 2.

Rev. 3. 3. & 16. 15.

& & 1.

k Ps. 50. 3.

2 Thess. 1. 8.

1 Isa. 65. 17. & 60. 2.

Rev. 21. 1.

m 1 Cor. 1. 8.

Phil. 1. 10.

1 Thess. 3. 13.

& 5. 23.

n Rom. 2. 4. ver. 9.

m

n

8. μία ἡμέρα] one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. See St. Barnabas (Ep. 15), who thence takes occasion to state the opinion, that as the world was created in six days, and God rested on the seventh day, so the world will last six thousand years, and in the seventh Millennium the End will come: and cp. Irenæus i. 28, Grabe. Cp. Justin M. c. Tryphon. c. 81, who, perhaps, quotes from this passage of St. Peter as well as from Ps. xc. 4. See Joseph Mede's Works, p. 611.

9. βραδύνει τῆς ἐπαγγελίας] He is not slack concerning His promise. He does not linger behind it; ep. the phrases, ὑστερεῖν τινος, λείπεσθαί τινος. See Winer, § 30, p. 177.

μὴ βουλόμενος] because He is not desirous that any should perish, but is desirous that all should come (χωρῆσαι) to repentance; as to their proper place (xúpav). Matt. xv. 17. John viii. 37; cp. the declaration of St. Paul that " God willeth (θέλει) all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of His truth," 1 Tim. ii. 4.

10. ὡς κλέπτης] as a thief: see on 1 Thess. v. 2. Elz. adds ἐν νυκτὶ, not in A, B.

στοιχεία] elements. It has been objected to this translation,which is that of the Vulg., Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, and English versions, that Earth itself and Fire are Elements, and that the writer, according to this translation, is liable to the charge of tautology; and therefore the word σToxeîa is here rendered heavens by some, and this rendering is justified by citations from ancient Christian writers, Justin M., Theophilus of Antioch, and Polycrates. See Joseph Mede's Works, p. 614. Bengel, Alford, Hammond, Whitby, and others.

But St. Peter's meaning seems to be, that the στοιχεία, elements or rudiments, of which the Universe is composed and compacted, will be loosed; that is, the frameworks of the world will be disorganized, and this is the sense of στοιχεία in the LXX, Wisd. vii. 17; xix. 18, and in S. Hippolyt., Philos. pp. 219. 318. This dissolution is contrasted with the consistency described by the word συνεστῶσα in v. 5. The heavens are reserved for fire (v. 7), and will pass away with a rushing noise, and, being set on fire, will be dissolved (v. 12), the elements will be on fire and melt (v. 12), and be reduced to a state of confusion ; the earth, and the works therein, will be burnt up.

There does not, therefore, seem to be any cause for abandoning the common meaning of στοιχεία, the elemental principles of which the Universe is made.

11. τούτων οὖν πάντων λυομένων] Since then all things are being dissolved, that is, since this is their destiny, and, though the dissolution is future, yet is so sure that it may be regarded as present. Cp. Matt. ii. 4, ποῦ ὁ Χριστὸς γεννᾶται, and Winer, § 45, p. 306.

ὑπάρχειν] More emphatic than εἶναι. In what state ought we to be subsisting (ὑπάρχειν), since that catastrophe is so certain and so sudden? See v. 10. In what state ought it to find us?

12. σπεύδοντας] hastening the Advent of the Day of God. A remarkable expression; but not strange to the Jewish mind of those whom St. Peter is addressing, If thou keepest this precept, thou hastenest the day of the Messiah " (Debarim, R. vi. Deut. xxii. 7. See Welstein on John ix. 7). Whoever prays

"Thy kingdom come," and promotes the preaching of the Gospel to all Nations (Matt. xxiv. 14), hastens the coming of the Day of Christ. Cp. Dean Trench on the Authorized Version, p. 84, and the margin of that Version.

It is worthy of remark, that St. Peter himself, in his speech in Solomon's Porch at Jerusalem, had pressed this same truth, when he said (Acts iii. 19. 21), "Repent ye and turn to God, that your sins may be blotted out; and in order that (ὅπως ἂν) the seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, whom the heavens must receive till the times of the restitution of all things," i. e. of the new Heavens and new Earth, described by the writer here in v. 13.

This use of σπεύδειν in this passage, and the use of the ὅπως av in the words just quoted from Acts iii. 19, have been thought by Expositors to present some difficulties. But the one difficulty solves the other. And the occurrence of this remarkable thought in this Epistle, as compared with that speech of St. Peter, is another silent evidence of the genuineness of this Epistle.

13. καινοὺς δὲ οὐρανούς] But we look for new heavens and net earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. On the meaning of καινούς, made new, as distinguished from véos, see above, on Eph. iv. 23.

Concerning this future renovation, see above, Rom. viii. 2022; below, Rev. xxi. 1; and St. Peter's speech, Acts iii. 19-21. Cp. Isa. Lxv. 17; lxvi. 22.

There are frequent anticipations of this physical restoration in the Book of Enoch (x. 27; 1. 5; liv. 4, 5; xc. 17). Huther, p. 323.

St. Peter does not represent the Heavens as destined to destruction, but as hereafter to be transformed (αναστοιχειουμέ vous) to a more glorious condition. As the mortal bodies of the Saints are dissolved by death, and will not be reduced to annihilation, but will, by reason of Christ's Resurrection, and of their incorporation in Him Who is the Resurrection and the Life, be renewed to Immortality, so the heavenly bodies will be renewed by fire, and be delivered from the bondage of corruption. See Rom. vii. 20-22.

The material Creation has sympathized with us in our Fall, and it will rejoice with the righteous in their Redemption and Revivification, when their mortal bodies will rise and bloom anew, like vernal herbs and flowers, in the glorious spring-tide of the Resurrection. See Eusebius, Severus, and others here in Catená, Cramer, p. 100.

Thus the benefits of the Incarnation and the Redemption wrought by the Second Adam extend also to the Natural World. He has restored already the free use of the creatures to us (see on 1 Cor. iii. 23); and He will raise the Creation itself to a more glorious state of being.

15, 16. καθὼς καὶ ὁ ἀγαπητὸς ἡμῶν ἀδελφὸς Παῦλος] as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given unto him, wrote to you; as also in all his Epistles, speaking of these things in them; in which are some things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Part of this text is quoted by Origen de Rectâ Fide, sect. 2,

and ascribed by him without any hesitation to St. Peter. See also on i. 4; ii. 16. 19.

With regard to the reading of this passage, Elz. has Taîs before EmiσTOλaîs, but this is not in A, B, C. However, the sense is not affected by its omission: it means in all Epistles written by him.

Elz. has év ols, "in which things," and so C, G, K; but A, B have ev als, "in which Epistles," and also many Cursives, and the Arabic, Syriac, and English versions, and Lachmann; and this text is supposed to contain a reference to St. Paul's Epistles, by S. Cyril of Alexandria (in Catenâ, p. 103), Augustine (De Fide, § 22), and others. They therefore are in favour of the reading ἐν αἷs, agreeing with ἐπιστολαῖς.

The context also seems to require èv aîs, in which Epistles. For, it can hardly be said, that unlearned men wrest obscure things or mysteries-as they do "the other Scriptures"-to their own destruction. The wresting of one set of writings (i. e. of the other Scriptures) is here joined with the wresting of another set of writings, i. e. the Epistles of St. Paul: and the unlearned and unstable are said to pervert both.

This passage seems to have been in the mind of S. Polycarp when he wrote to the Philippians, i. 3, "No one like me can equal the wisdom of the blessed Paul, who being absent wrote to you Epistles (ὑμῖν ἔγραψεν ἐπιστολὰς), into which if you look diligently, you will be enabled to be built up unto the faith."

"Our beloved brother Paul wrote to you," says St. Peter here; " to you of Asia Minor, whom I address." Especially St. Paul did this in his Epistles to the Galatians and to the Ephe sians in Asia Proper, and to the Colossians in Phrygia. Compare St. Peter's inscription of his own First Epistle to those of the dispersion of Galatia, Asia, and Bithynia; and St. Peter's Second Epistle is addressed to the same persons. (2 Pet. iii. 1.)

As has been already observed, St. Peter in these two Epistles adopts much of the language and reinforces the precepts and warnings of St. Paul's Epistles to the Asiatic Churches of Ephesus and Colossæ. See above, p. 43.

To what does he specially refer when he says that there are "some things hard to be understood in St. Paul's Epistles?" S. Augustine thus replies to this question:

66

Even in the times of the Apostles, certain persons, who did not understand some of Paul's rather obscure (subobscuras) sentences, alleged that he said 'Let us do evil, that good may come,' because he had said that the Law entered in, that sin might abound; and where sin abounded, there did grace much more abound.' (Rom. iii. 8; v. 20).

•

"When the Apostle Paul says that a man is justified by faith (per fidem) without the works of the Law, he does not mean thereby, that, when a man has received and professed the Faith, he may despise the works of righteousness; but that every one may know that he may be justified by faith, although works of the law have not gone before his Faith. For works follow him that is justified, Sequuntur justificatum, non precedunt justifi

6

catum.'

"Since however the notion above mentioned had arisen at that time (viz. that works were not requisite), the other Apostolic Epistles of Peter, John, James, and Jude, specially contend against that notion; in order to maintain earnestly, that Faith without works doth not profit. Indeed Paul himself has defined Faith to be not any kind of Faith by which man believes in God; but he defines true faith to be that healthful and evangelical faith, whose works proceed from love- Faith which worketh by love.' (Gal. v. 6.) And he asserts, that the faith which some men think sufficient for salvation is so worthless, that if I have faith (he says) so as to remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing' (1 Cor. xiii. 2); and doubtless that man's life is good, where faithful love works, for he says, 'the fulfilling of the Law is love' (Rom. xiii. 10).”

This remark is specially applicable to St. Paul's own latest Epistles. See above, Introduction to the Epistles to Timothy and Titus (near the end).

"Evidently, therefore (continues Augustine), for this reason, St. Peter, in his Second Epistle, when he was exhorting to holiness of life, and was declaring that this world would pass away, and that new heavens and new earth are looked for, which are to be assigned as dwellings to the righteous; and when he was admonishing men to consider what ought to be their life in this world, in order that they may be made meet for that future habitation; and being also aware that many ungodly men had taken occasion from certain rather obscure sentences of the

Apostle Paul, to be reckless of living well, and to presume of salvation by faith, has noted that there are some things hard to be understood in St. Paul's Epistles, which men wrested, as they did the other Scriptures, to their own destruction; whereas, in truth, that Apostle (St. Paul) entertained the same opinions as the rest of the Apostles concerning everlasting salvation, and that it would not be given to any but to those who live well. Thus therefore Peter writes." Augustine thus quotes this chapter, vv. 11-18. S. Augustine, de Fide et Operibus, c. 22, ed. Bened. vi. p. 308.

Many of the Ancients supposed the Epistle of St. James, with the First of St. John, that of St. Jude, and the Second of St. Peter, to have been written against those who, mistaking the sense of St. Paul's Epistles, held that faith without good works is sufficient for salvation. Which opinion is greatly confirmed by St. Peter, where he says that in the Epistles of St. Paul may be found some things which by bad men are perverted to the worst sense, and to their own destruction. Bp. Bull, de Justif., diss. ii. ch. iv. Cp. also Bp. Bull's Examen Censuræ Strict. i. § 4, where he says "that St. Peter refers here to St. Paul's doctrine on justification by Faith hath been the judgment of most learned men." Cp. Bp. Sanderson, Prælect. ii. de Conscientiâ. § 5, and above, Introduction to the Epistle of St. James, pp. 1–3.

Observe, however, how wisely St. Peter guards against the inference which has been derived by some from his wordsespecially by Theologians of the Church of Rome-alleging that Holy Scripture is here represented by him as obscure, and that therefore it ought not to be allowed to be read by the people.

In this same chapter, St. Peter commends the "words of the holy Prophets, and the commandment of the Apostles," to the careful meditation of his readers (iii. 2); and he had said, "if any man speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God," which presupposes knowledge of those oracles (iv. 11). And he does not say here that Holy Scripture is obscure; but that there are unlearned and unstable men in the world; and that there are some things hard to be understood in some portions of Holy Scripture, which he commends to their reverent regard by saying, that they are written by "our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom that was given him." And he does not suppose that the faithful and well-grounded believer will misapprehend them; but he affirms that unlearned and unstable men wrest them, that is, put them, as it were, to the rack, and torture them, contrary to their true and natural meaning-to their own destruction; whereas, when properly understood, they are able to make wise unto salvation. He also says that this evil practice of these unlearned and unstable men is not limited to these particular portions of Holy Scripture; but that they treat the rest of the Scriptures in the same way.

These words of St. Peter possess much interest and importance, as taking their place with the other testimonies of Prophets and Apostles to the authority of Holy Scripture.

The Prophet Malachi closes the Canon of the Old Testament by a solemn appeal "to the Law of Moses, and to the Statutes and Judgments." He says, "Remember them " (Mal. iv. 4).

The Apostle and Evangelist St. John closes the four Gospels with a similar reference. "These things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, ye might have life through His Name." (John xx. 31.)

St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentile World, closes his Epistles with a testimony to the sufficiency and Inspiration of Holy Scripture. "Abide thou in those things which thou hast learnt, and wert assured of, knowing from whom thou didst learn them; and that from a child thou knowest the Holy Scriptures, which are the things that are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith that is in Christ Jesus. Every Scripture, being divinely inspired, is also profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, in order that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto every good work." (2 Tim. iii. 14-17.)

St. Peter, in like manner, closes his Epistles here with a similar exhortation, and with a warning against perversion of Scripture.

St. Jude also closes the Catholic Epistles with a memento to his readers, "Remember ye the words spoken before by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 17.)

Lastly, the Apostle and Evangelist St. John closes the Apocalypse with a promise of blessing to those who keep its

p Mark 13. 23.

sayings, and a curse on those who take from it or add to it. (Rev. | xxii. 7. 18, 19.)

Thus the duties of the Christian Church, as the Guardian of HOLY SCRIPTURE, and the duties of every member of the Church, as bound to receive, to meditate upon, and to obey the written Word of God, are solemnly inculcated by the farewell voices of Prophets and Apostles.

Prophets and Apostles pass away to another and better world. But the WORD of GOD, written by their instrumentality, endureth for ever. (1 Pet. i. 25.)

Observe, also, the importance of this passage with regard to the Epistles of ST. PAUL,

When St. Peter wrote this Epistle, he was near his death (2 Pet. i. 14), which took place in or about A.D. 68. He refers here to St. Paul's Epistles-to all his Epistles.

At the date of the present Epistle, all St. Paul's Epistles had been written, with the exception perhaps of the last Epistle, the Second to Timothy. See above, Chronological Table prefixed to St. Paul's Epistles, pp. xiv, xv.

"Peter wrote his present Epistle a very short time before his own and St. Paul's martyrdom; and St. Peter had read all Paul's Epistles." Bengel.

St. Peter here designates St. Paul's Epistles as ypacàs, Scriptures. He says that some men wrest them as they do "the other Scriptures” (τὰς λοιπὰς γραφάς).

The word ypapal is used about fifty times in the New Tes tament, and is there always applied to characterize divinely inspired writings, specially those of the Old Testament, which were received by Christ Himself as given by inspiration of God. It is never used in the New Testament to designate any other writings than those. Therefore, St. Peter here declares, that the Epistles of St. Paul are divinely inspired, and are to be received as such.

This testimony to the wisdom of St. Paul and to the divine inspiration of his Epistles, is specially interesting and valuable as coming from St. Peter.

Some persons had endeavoured to make him a rival of St. Paul. "I am of Cephas," was said in opposition to others, who said, "I am of Paul" (1 Cor. i. 12). He was the Apostle of the Circumcision, and St. Paul of the Gentiles (Gal. ii. 7). And Peter had been once prevailed upon by the Judaizing Christians at Antioch to side with them in opposition to St. Paul. (Gal. ii. 11.) On that occasion he had been openly resisted and publicly rebuked by St. Paul; and St. Paul has fully recorded the circumstances of that resistance and rebuke in one of his own Epistles to the Christians of Asia: the Christians of one of the same regions as are recited in the inscription of St. Peter's First Epistle, and to which the Second Epistle of St. Peter was addressedGalatia. (Gal. ii. 11-21.)

St. Peter, therefore, in acknowledging St. Paul's Epistles to be Scripture, that is, as written by inspiration of God, acknowledges them to be true; and therefore he owns, that what is therein recorded in St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, concerning himself, and his own conduct at Antioch, is a true history; and that he was then justly rebuked, because he was кaтeуvwoμévos, condemned. (Gal. ii. 11.)

St. Peter, therefore, here refutes the assumption of those who call themselves his successors: an assumption grounded on St. Peter's supposed infallibility (see on Matt. xvi. 18), and who allege that they themselves are infallible, and are not to be rebuked by any.

But St. Peter himself faltered, and the record of his failing is written in the Word of God; and St. Peter himself owns that

record to be true, and to be divinely inspired. Therefore, none of those who call themselves his successors, and who ground their claims on St. Peter's alleged infallibility, can be allowed to be infallible. And whoever desires to build his hopes of heaven on the rock and not on the sand, will not place his faith on the baseless foundation of such an imaginary Infallibility.

St. Peter's generosity, wisdom, and charity, are here manifest. He owns himself to have been in error. He makes public reparation for his error, in writing to those to whom his error might be a snare; the Jewish Christians of Asia. He refers to Epistles, in which that error is recorded by him who rebuked him for his error. He acknowledges these Epistles to be written by his beloved brother: to be written according to divine wisdom; he owns them to be Scripture, written by inspiration of God. He thus publicly confesses and retracts his error: he thanks him who corrected him: he shows his own wisdom. "Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee " (Prov. ix. 8).

Compare note above, at the end of Gal. ii.

St. Peter felt that he had been rightly rebuked by St. Paul; he did not indignantly spurn that rebuke as an injury, but received it thankfully as a benefit. Such is the temper of those who have learnt to be meek and lowly in heart (Matt. xi. 29); “in honour preferring one another" (Rom. xii. 10). In a like, loving, spirit, St. Peter had closed his first Epistle, saying, that he sent it by "Silvanus the faithful brother," who had been the chosen associate of St. Paul; and joining him with "Marcus his son." See note on 1 Pet. v. 12, 13.

Thus, in fine, the Apostle of the Circumcision, now ready to put off his mortal tabernacle (i. 14), is seen standing, as it were, side by side, with the Apostle of the Gentiles, who is also now "ready to be offered up, and the time of his departure is at hand (2 Tim. iv. 6), and he declares to the Churches of Asia and the world, that the Epistles of his beloved brother Paul are to be received as divinely inspired Scripture. Thus both these Apostles proclaim to the Church Universal that they are of one mind; and that the Faith is one and the same, which they have preached in their lives, and for which they are about to die.

They died as Martyrs in the same city-Rome; and as some ancient authorities relate, in the same year, and even on the same day (see Introduction to the Epistles to Timothy, at the end). However this may be, "they were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided." 2 Sam. i. 23.

17. vμeîs oûv, àɣannτol] Ye therefore, beloved, knowing these things before, take heed that ye be not led away by the error of the lawless, and fall away from your own stedfastness.

These two verses contain the sum of the whole Epistle. First, here is a warning against the errors and allurements of the false teachers with their specious claims to superior gnosis; to this he opposes the divine gnosis, which he has just supplied, and he therefore adds what follows;

18. av§ávete dé] But grow in grace, and in the knowledge (the true gnosis) of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: to Him be the glory both now and for ever,-literally, for the day of eternity, which has no night (see on Matt. xxv. 46). Observe the arrangement; true gnosis is a fruit of grace.

Here is a Doxology to Jesus Christ as God. On ʼn dóέa, cp. Rev. iv. 11; v. 13; vii. 12. He ends, as he had begun, with an assertion of the unity of the person of Jesus and Christ; and of His Lordship; and of His office as Saviour, and of His Godhead; because in opposition to the Gnostic false teachers these were the principal doctrines to be maintained.

-

àμhv] Amen. So A, C, G, K, and most cursives and Versions,