2 Peter 1:1

The form Συμέων is only once used elsewhere of Peter in Acts 15:14. τοῖς κ. τ. λ. The question as to who are the actual recipients of the letter, is matter for discussion in the Introduction (chap. vi. 1). The presumption is in favour of a body of non-Jewish Christians. ἡμῖν. probably means, in accordance with its use elsewhere in the chapter, the whole Christian community to which the writer belongs (see Introd. p. 49). ἰσότιμον. It is doubtful whether ἰσοτ. means “like in honour” or “like in value”. Both meanings are found (cf. Mayor, p. 80). We may compare the sense of τιμή in 2 Peter 1:17 (see note), where the sense is clearly of an honour conferred (cf. 1 Peter 1:7), which would suggest the same meaning here. ἐν δικαιοσύνη … Χριστοῦ. ἐν is instrumental., δικ. has the sense of “justice” or “impartiality,” and is opposed to προσωπολημψία. God is no respecter of persons. There is no distinction in His sight between the faith of an eyewitness, and the faith of those “who have not seen”. With this non-theological sense of δικ. cf. ἄδικος in Hebrews 6:10; also 1 John 1:9. Θεοῦ refers to Christ, cf. John 20:28. σωτῆρος, a title used by the Emperor. “Familiarity with the everlasting apotheosis that flaunts itself in the papyri and inscriptions of Ptolemaic and Imperial times, lends strong support to Wendland's contention (ZNTW, pp. 335 ff.) that Christians from the latter part of i. A.D. onward, deliberately assumed for their Divine Master the phraseology that was impiously arrogated to themselves by some of the worst of men” (i.e., the Emperors). Moulton, Proleg. p. 84 (cf. Spitta, p. 523; Chase, D. B. iii. 796). πίστιν ἐν δικ. can hardly be taken together (cf. Ephesians 1:15; 1 Timothy 3:13), as the relation of the believer to Christ in this epistle is rather that of γνῶσις or ἐπίγνωσις (cf. 2 Peter 1:2). (Cf. Zahn. Introd. ii. pp. 218 9).