There is a marked difference between the opening of this Second Epistle and that of the First. The one inscription, indeed, is not less remarkable than the other for wealth of thought and tenderness of feeling. The benediction, too, with which the readers of this Epistle are greeted, has the same pe... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:1. SIMON PETER. In the First Epistle the writer designates himself simply by the new name of grace, _Peter,_ which he received from Christ. Here he gives the combined name which is found occasionally in the Gospels (Luke 5:8; John 13:6; John 20:2; John 21:15; of also Matthew 4:18; Matthew... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:2. GRACE TO YOU AND PEACE BE MULTIPLIED. So far the opening benediction is exactly the same as in 1 Peter 1:2; see note there. IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND OF JESUS OUR LORD. This addition to the formula adopted in the previous Epistle is in admirable harmony with the scope of the letter.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:3. SEEING THAT HIS DIVINE POWER HAT GIFTED US. This verse and the next are attached by the A. V. immediately to what precedes. They are thus made part of the opening benediction. This was once almost the accepted connection. It was retained by the great critic Lachmann, and it appears to b... [ Continue Reading ]
The writer starts at once, and in a somewhat abrupt and nervous fashion, with the great theme of advance in the spiritual life. He regards this as essential. He takes it for granted that it can be made good only from the standpoint of faith. He exhibits in detail the process of such an advance, and... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:4. WHEREBY HE HAS GIFTED US. The verb is to be put thus, as already in 2 Peter 1:3, rather than in the passive form, ‘are given,' as the A. V. renders it. The ‘whereby' may refer either to the ‘all things' or to the ‘glory and virtue,' more probably to the latter. The Person said here to ‘... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:5. AND FOR THIS VERY CAUSE THEN. The A. V. erroneously renders ‘and beside this.' The formula does not introduce something which is to be added to the former statement, but makes the former statement the ground for what is next to be said. The R. V. renders it well by ‘yea, and for this ve... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:6. AND IN THE KNOWLEDGE SELF-CONTROL. This is the grace which appears also as the ‘temperance' of which Paul reasoned before Felix (Acts 24:25), and as the last thing noticed in Paul's enumeration of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23). The noun occurs only in these three cases. It d... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:7. AND IN THE GODLINESS BROTHERLY-LOVE. See note on 1 Peter 1:22. In the former Epistle the grace of brotherly-love has a still more prominent place assigned to it (1 Peter 1:22-23; 1 Peter 2:17; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 4:8). Here it is the complement to ‘godliness,' keeping it in living con... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:8. FOR THESE THINGS SUBSISTING FOR YOU AND MULTIPLYING. The A. V. throws this into the hypothetical form ‘if these things,' etc. The writer rather speaks of the graces as already in the readers, and thus gives both greater courtesy and greater force to his recommendation. The suggestive co... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:9. FOR HE WHO LACKETH THESE THINGS. This is one of two instances in which the A. V. strangely mistranslates the Greek causal particle ‘for' as ‘but.' The other is 1 Peter 4:15. In Romans 5:7 it erroneously renders the same causal particle by ‘yet.' In the present case it has followed Wycli... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:10. WHEREFORE, BRETHREN, BE THE MORE DILIGENT TO MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE. The ‘wherefore the _rather'_ of the A. V. suggests that the course now to be recommended is one to be preferred to some other course dealt with in the context. This is a legitimate interpretation, the Gre... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:11. FOR SO SHALL BE RICHLY FURNISHED FOR YOU THE ENTRANCE INTO THE ETERNAL KINGDOM OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. Another reason, and one rising far superior to the former, for the careful cultivation of these graces. ‘A good life can never be a failure. It may be a life of many sto... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:12. WHEREFORE I SHALL ALWAYS BE READY TO PUT YOU IN REMEMBRANCE REGARDING THESE THINGS. The ‘wherefore' represents the resolution now expressed as having its reason in what has been already said. That may be either the immediately preceding thought or the tenor of the previous section as a... [ Continue Reading ]
The writer next expresses his resolution to use the brief portion of life now remaining to him in recalling the attention of his readers to the great truths to which he has been referring, and in making provision for the recollection of them after his own decease. He avows the deep solicitude which... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:13. BUT I CONSIDER IT RIGHT, SO LONG AS I AM IN THIS TABERNACLE, TO STIR YOU UP IN THE WAY OF REMINDER. ‘But' represents the sense better than the ‘And' of the R. V. Although he gives them credit for knowing these truths already, and being firmly grounded in them, he deems it, _nevertheles... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:14. KNOWING THAT QUICK IS THE PUTTING OFF OF MY TABERNACLE. There is a mixture of metaphor here. The idea of a ‘putting off' (the word occurs only here and in 1 Peter 3:21), or _denuding,_ which is applicable to a _garment,_ takes the place of the _striking_ or _taking down_ which holds go... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:15. BUT I SHALL ALSO GIVE DILIGENCE (or, _diligently provide)_ THAT AT ALL TIMES YE MAY BE ABLE AFTER MY DECEASE TO CALL UP THE MEMORY OF THESE THINGS. The A. V. is slightly at fault here both as to terms and as to arrangement. ‘Moreover' less correctly conveys the idea than ‘but' or (as i... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:16. FOR WE DID NOT FOLLOW CUNNINGLY DEVISED MYTHS, WHEN WE MADE KNOWN TO YOU THE POWER AND COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. The change from the ‘I' which the writer has used through 2 Peter 1:12-15, to ‘we' here is to be noticed. He is to speak now not of his own personal resolutions and e... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:17. FOR HE RECEIVED FROM GOD THE FATHER HONOUR AND GLORY. In the original it is ‘For having received,' etc., the sentence being broken by what is said about the voice, and the writer hurrying on to the conclusion unmindful of the fact. The title ‘Father' is appropriately introduced here, a... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:18. AND THIS VOICE WE HEARD BORNE OUT OF HEAVEN, WHEN WE WERE WITH HIM IN THE HOLY MOUNT. The character of the Divine testimony to Christ is thus yet more carefully described, in respect both of its own directness and of the credibility of the report which was given of it. It came immediat... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:19. AND WE HAVE MORE SURE THE PROPHETIC WORD. Such is the literal rendering of a clause the exact point of which is not a little uncertain. The context, specially what is said in 2 Peter 1:20-21, chap. 2 Peter 2:1, shows that we are to understand by ‘the prophetic word' here (cf. the phras... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:20. KNOWING THIS FIRST, THAT NO PROPHECY OF SCRIPTURE COMES OF PRIVATE INTERPRETATION. This sentence states a fact which is to be recognised in the heed which should be given to the prophetic word, or a reason why such heed should be given earnestly. It is by no means easy, however, to det... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Peter 1:21. FOR NOT BY MAN'S WILL WAS PROPHECY BORNE AT ANY TIME. The statement is more absolute than it is made to appear in the A. V. The phrase ‘not of old time' means ‘never,' or ‘not at any time.' The verb rendered ‘came' is the one which was used already in 2 Peter 1:17-18, and means _sent_... [ Continue Reading ]