2 Peter 1:16

σεσοφισμ. μύθ. Cf. σεσοφισμένη μήτηρ.: “suppositious mother”. Greg. Nyss. i. 171 D. This is evidently the character attributed to the facts of the Christian Gospel by the False Teachers. They specially sought to discredit the outlook for the Second Advent. μῦθοι is often used in the Pastoral Epistles or the fanciful Gnostic genealogies (1 Timothy 1:4; 1 Timothy 4:7; Titus 1:14). ἐγνωρίσαμεν. Used in N.T. of preaching the Gospel (e.g. 1 Corinthians 15:1). δύναμιν καὶ παρουσίαν. For collocation of words, cf. Matthew 24:30; Mark 9:1. For δύναμις, see note on 2 Peter 1:3. παρουσίαν. Chase (op. cit. 797 a) regards the word here as denoting the first coming of Christ, because (1) the context speaks of history and not of prophecy; (2) the word itself naturally bears this meaning. He admits, however, that elsewhere in the N.T and in this Epistle it is used of the Second Coming (cf. Ignat. Philad. 9). Justin (Dialogue 32) distinguishes “two advents, one in which He was pierced by you; a second, when you shall know Him, Whom you have pierced”. There is, however, no real difficulty here in taking παρ. in the usual sense, which, indeed, is more in harmony with the context. The Transfiguration itself, as used by this writer, is regarded as a basis for belief in the Second Advent, against the False Teachers.

Dr. Milligan, in his recent edition of Thessalonians, gives a valuable note on παρουσία (p. 145). He mentions that it occurs frequently in the Papyri as a kind of terminus technicus with reference to the visit of the king, or some other official. (P. Petr. 2:39 (e), 18 (iii. B.C.). P. Tebt. 48, 13 f. (2. B.C.), 116 (ii. B.C.). P. Gren., 2 Peter 2:14 (b), 2 (iii. B.C.). Dittenberger, Sylloge, 226, 84 ff. (iii. B.C.). τῶν δὲ ἀρχόντων συναγαγόντων ἐκλησίαν καὶ τήντε παρουσίαν ἐμφανισάντωντοῦ βασιλέως. “We fall back upon” these examples of the word “the more gladly because for this particular sense of the word the Jewish sacred writings give us little help” (ibid.). The word must, therefore, have come into use, in this application to the Second Advent, in apostolic times, as faithfully representing the meaning of Jesus Himself (cf. Matthew 24:3; Matthew 24:27; Matthew 24:37; Matthew 24:39). The usual classical sense of the word as “presence” must not be disregarded. Taken together with the other meaning illustrated by the Κοινή, παρουσία would thus seem to combine in itself the meaning of “actual presence,” and a near “coming”. This combination of meaning in the consciousness of the early Church, with its perplexity as to the interpretation of our Lord's promise, would seem to be reflected in John 16:16-18. ἐπόπται : used of those who had attained the highest degree of initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries. Judging from the use of ἐποπτεύω in 1 Peter, the word may have passed into ordinary speech, but no doubt is used here to enhance the splendour of the vision, and the honour done the disciples, at the Transfiguration “admitted to the spectacle of His grandeur' (Moffat, H. N. T. p. 600). ἐπόπτης is applied to God in Esther 5:1 2Ma 7:35, cf. O.G.I.S., 666 τὸν Ἥλιον Ἅφμαχιν ἐπόπτην καὶ σωτῆρα (reference to an Egyptian Sun-god). Hofmann holds that the reference is rather to the Resurrection and Ascension. μεγαλείοτητος. Cf. Luke 9:43; Acts 19:27.