2 Peter 1:15

Moreover I will endeavour that you may be able after my decease The word "endeavour" in the modern sense is perhaps slightly too weak, the Greek verb implying diligent and earnest effort. In the Greek word for "decease" (exodos), we meet with another suggestive coincidence with the history of the Transfiguration. When the Apostle had seen the forms of Moses and Elijah, they had spoken of the "decease" which Christ should accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). It may be noted that this use of the word, as an euphemistic synonym for "death," is entirely absent from Greek classical writers, and that probably the two passages referred to are the earliest instances of its use in that sense. It occurs, however, a little later in Josephus (Ant. iv. 8, § 2) and in Wis 3:2 ("Their departurewas taken for misery"), probably the work of a contemporary. In the intention thus expressed we may fairly see a confirmation of the tradition which speaks of St Mark's acting as the "interpreter" or amanuensis of St Peter, in writing his Gospel, recording, at the request of the Apostle's disciples, what they had heard orally from him. (Euseb. Hist. ii. 15, iii. 39, Iren. iii. 10, § 6.)

Another interpretation of the words may be noticed as deserving a place among the curiosities of exegesis. Roman Catholic commentators, Cornelius a Lapide and others, have connected the words "after my decease" with the verb "I will endeavour," and have thus construed the Apostle's words into an argument for his continued watchfulness and superintendence over the development of the Church's doctrine.