2 Peter 1:14

ταχινή “imminent,” cf. 2 Peter 2:1. A poetical word peculiar to 2 Peter in N.T. The process described by ἀπόθεσις can hardly be “sudden,” Plat. Rep. 553 D, but there is always an impression of suddenness to the onlooker, who lifts up his eyes some morning, and finds the tent or the encampment gone where he had seen it yesterday. An inscription in C.I.A. III. 1344 3, reads ζωῆς καὶ καμάτου τέρμα δραμὼν ταχινόν, where sense can only be “brief” (but see discussion in Zahn. Introd., ii., pp. 212 f.). ἀπόθεσιν τοῦ σκην. ἀποτίθεμαι is used of “putting off a garment” (Acts 7:58); and might here be connected with the idea of taking off a tent-cover (So Spitta). Probably “removal” is the proper translation. In B.G.U. 606 (4. A.D.) [πρὸς ἀ] πόθεσιν ἀχύρου (for removal of a chaff-heap) is found. cf. 1 Peter 3:21, οὐ σαρκὸς ἀπόθεσις ῥύπου. καθὼς καὶ.… ἐδήλωσέν μοι. There seems no reason to doubt the reference here to John 21:18-19, as Spitta and others have done (see Introduction, pp. 96 f.).