1. His piety; desirous to bring them to the forementioned kingdom.
2. His vigilance; admitting no neglect of their souls, what discouragements soever affront him.
3. His modesty; professing that he doth rather remind than teach them.
4. His fidelity; he will do it “always,” without weariness of that which may tend to their edification and comfort.
5. His sincerity; he doth not incite them to vain and unnecessary things, but “these things” that build them up to salvation.
II. The people’s proficiency.
1. Their illumination.
2. Their confirmation. No man runs so fast but he may need some spurring. There is still something that he would teach and they should learn. The horse that would run well of his own mettle doth yet mend his pace by the rider’s encouragement. (Thos. Adams.)
The writer’s diligence and his feeders’ obedience
I. The writer’s diligence.
1. “Wherefore.” Because the foundation of eternal life is to be laid here, and in this life an entrance must be made to that everlasting kingdom, or there will be no fruition hereafter; therefore I will take all possible pains to prepare your souls for it. The state future follows the former, as the upper building follows the foundation.
2. “I will not be negligent.” His diligence is well furthered by his sedulity.
3. “To put you in remembrance.” We must often be stirred up, line upon line, etc.
4. “Always.” This duty of assiduity cannot be performed by any minister of the gospel without a constant abiding among his people.
5. “Of these things”--i.e., such as may save your souls. The minister must labour neither for praise nor for purse, but for conscience; he must fish for souls, not for riches. There are too many that seek the Church goods rather than the Church’s good.
II. The people’s obedience.
1. The apostle takes for granted that they understood these things already, and were constant in the assurance of the truth of them. A happy progress! If your mind be established in understanding, your heart in affecting, your life in obeying, blessed are you; your minister shall praise you, the Church will praise you, the angels praise you, yea, you shall be praised of Christ Himself.
2. This concession makes way for a further imposition. Though you know these things, and be established, yet you must admit a further confirming (Rom_15:14-15). The cessation of remembrancing may easily lapse us to forgetfulness. (Thos. Adams.)
Constant remembrance
I. A satisfactory position. They are commended--
1. For proper knowledge. “Ye know them,” i.e., the practical bearings of the Christian religion.
2. For genuine faith. “Established--settled--in the truth.”
II. A hazardous condition. The higher a man rises, the more Satan desires to sift him.
1. The natural tendency of fallen nature.
2. The many and urgent temptations to leave even what we know.
III. A judicious precaution. “I will … put you always in remembrance.”
1. The necessity for this course ought to reconcile us to the constant repetition of even the most elementary truths of religion.
2. Christianity consists of two parts--faith and practice. Both are easily forgotten or neglected. Other things absorb the mind. (Homilist.)
Ministers as remembrancers
The very inwardness of the principal truths of religion makes our being frequently reminded of them so much the more necessary, and renders the ministrations of a Christian pastor so essential to our spiritual welfare. Nay, further, our very familiarity with Christian truths makes the office of the minister as a remembrancer not less necessary. Even the more we know of them, the more we need to be reminded of them. But why is this continual remembrance of religious truths so essential to the Church, that Christ has not only appointed a special order of remembrancers, but has also instituted holy mysteries as sacraments of commemoration? Because only as truths live within the mind can they be influential on the heart and conduct. And only as we are continually reminded of them do they gain this life within us. It is not enough to have received truths, we must feel them. We are living daily in a world of sense; we need to be transferred continually into the world of spirit. We see around us the vanities of time; we need to have heaven opened to our gaze, that we may behold the grand realities of eternity. The grand obstacle to all religion and holiness is sense--the living in the present and the visible, and therefore for the present and the visible. The grand method of deliverance, therefore, from this obstacle is faith. I put you in remembrance that you are the creatures of the one living and true God. I put you in remembrance that before this God, to whom you are thus accountable, you stand charged by His most righteous law as guilty sinners. I put you in remembrance that this same God, whom yon have thus displeased, and before whom you stand guilty, is very holy and yet very merciful. I put you in remembrance that in consequence of this compassion this same God--so holy, yet so merciful--sent down His only-begotten Son into the world to take your place, to bear your sins. I put you in remembrance that this pursuit of personal moral excellence and holy character can be successfully begun, continued, and completed by you only as you obtain the influence and help, the life, the love, and the power of God’s Holy Spirit. (T. Griffith, M. A.)
Established in the present truth.--
Present truth
I. The gospel speaks of a present reconciliation of God to man.
II. Christianshave a present life in Christ.
III. Present reconciliation in the present life means present confession.
IV. We have a present heaven. (A. J. Gordon, D. D.)
Shortly I must put off this my tabernacle.
The shortness of our life
I. From this notion of putting off our bodies it will appear that--we do in reality consist of body and soul, which is the foundation of all religion. If we were all body, the pleasures and interests of the body would be our supreme happiness; but since we have a soul to govern the motions of the body, it must be our wisdom and our interest to take diligent heed of that soul, and not suffer the body to engross all our care. A creature that is made of two distinct parts cannot be completely happy by providing for one part only. Our care of the life of the soul will oblige us to take care of any hurt or mischief that may befall it, as we see it does in our bodies. Again, do we bestow much time and labour upon adorning our bodies, it is abundantly more for our interest that we spare a portion of them to the soul, in exalting that with wisdom and holiness.
II. This observation that we are to put off our bodies will instruct us in the dignity and superiority of the soul above the body. The soul herself suffers nothing by this separation, but is made more glorious by it. The soul is the seat of knowledge and sensation, and the body is very insignificant without it. The soul, therefore, is the best part of us. The body has no life without the soul, but the soul has life though it be stripped of body. How, then, can we justify our neglect of the soul and our unmeasurable, our most unreasonable affection for the body?
III. Are we constantly apprehensive that we must leave our bodies? This should teach us not to value ourselves upon any bodily accomplishments and qualifications, nor to allow too large a snare of our pains and time in searching after them, But to purify both soul and body, and to prepare them for a happy reception into the other world. It is absurd to boast or grow proud of things which we are soon to part with, or be very eager to obtain what we are sure we cannot hold for a long time. The ornaments of sobriety and temperance, humility and meekness, charity, wisdom, and holiness, will stand us in greatest stead when our bodies have left us. And nothing but they will do us service. (R. Warren, D. D.)
The shortness of human life
1. “I know”--not perhaps precisely the day, or the place, or the manner. But death is not a stranger to my thoughts; my account is cast up, I am ready.
2. “That I must put off,” or lay down; willingly, not on compulsion; not pulled down, but laid down. It is a metaphor drawn from a wager; the faithful man doth wager, and pawn his soul to God.
3. “This my tabernacle”--not my castle, or strong tower, or standing house; but a tent, a movable, a tabernacle.
4. “Shortly.” The time is not so far off that I dream not of it; not likely to happen in another age, and creeping on by slow degrees. The sun is not descending, but ready to set; the messenger knocks at the door; the clock runs upon the last minute; the epilogue is on the stage; the taper at the last glimpse; the oak falling under the latest blow of the axe.
5. “As the Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me.” It is a shame for me to be unprepared when such a Prophet hath certified me, both in prediction and example showing the way.
I. A resolution. “Knowing.” The assurance of unavoidable death is a doctrine well known. Make a virtue of necessity; offer God that for a gift, which you are bound to pay as a debt.
II. A dissolution.
1. Personal. “I”--though a preacher, an apostle, etc. These singular deductions out of universal propositions, are profitable to men, and acceptable to God.
(1) Seeing we must die, do you pray for us, that we may do your souls good while we live (Eph_6:18-19).
(2) Seeing our life is so short, do you apprehend the means while it lasteth (Heb_3:15).
2. Necessary. “I must.” If heaven were to be had upon earth, saints should not dwell in tabernacles.
3. Voluntary. “Put off.” The apostle calls himself a depository, that hath a jewel committed to him on trust, which he is willing to surrender.
4. Instant. “Shortly.”
(1) The less space a man hath allowed for his business, the more he should ply it. The fewer days, the fruitfuller lessons.
(2) The words of dying men have been most emphatical, most effectual. The last words of good men are best, as the last glare of the sun going down most clear. An admonition uttered by such a teacher, at such a time, to such an auditory, challenges good attention, great devotion.
III. A revelation. “Even as our Lord,” etc.
1. Those who refer it to the manner, conceive this revelation to be given him (Joh_21:18-19).
2. They that refer it to the time of his dying, understand it thus: That Peter should die, he knew in general; that he should die a martyr, he knew in particular; but that he should die shortly he could not know, except by some later revelation, in special. It is probable that where Peter wrote this Epistle, even there he received this revelation.
3. Now howsoever an apostle had some special premonstrance of the nearness of his end, yet this is not common, though old age and consumptions be certain forewarners of approaching death. We, too, have the more preparation, by how much we have the less revelation concerning the time and circumstances of our death. (Thos. Adams.)
Putting off the bodily tabernacle
1. His exemplary industry and diligence in his ministerial work.
(1) The quality of his work, which was “to stir them up by putting them in remembrance,” to keep the heavenly flame of love and zeal lively upon the altar of their hearts. He well knew what a sleepy disease the best Christians are troubled with, and therefore he had need to be stirring them up, and awaking them to their duty.
(2) The constancy of his work, “As long as I am in this tabernacle.” The body is called a tabernacle, in respect of its moveableness and frailty, and in opposition to that house, “eternal in the heavens.” And it is observable how he limits his serviceableness to them. Death puts an end to all our ministerial usefulness; but till that time he judged it meet to be aiding their faith; our life and labour must end together.
2. The motive stimulating him to this diligence; “knowing that I must shortly put off this tabernacle, even as the Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me,”
(1) He reflects upon the speediness or near approach of his death. “I must (shortly) put off this my tabernacle “(2Ti_4:6).
(2) The necessity of his death: It is not I may, but I must put off this my tabernacle.
(3) The voluntariness of his death; for voluntariness is consistent enough with the necessity of the event. He saith not, “I must be torn, or rent, by violence from it”; but “I must depose, or lay it down.” The law of mortality binds all, good and bad, young and old, the most useful and desirable saints whom the world can worst spare, as well as useless and undesirable sinners (Rom_8:10).
The continuance of these our tabernacles, or bodies, is short, whether we consider them absolutely or comparatively.
1. Absolutely. If they should stand seventy or eighty years, which is the longest duration (Psa_90:10), how soon will that time run out!
2. Comparatively. Let us compare our time in these tabernacles.
(1) Either with eternity, or with Him who inhabits it, and it shrinks up into nothing (Psa_39:5). Or
(2) with the duration of the bodies of men in the first ages of the world, when they lived many hundred years.
The reasons of putting off the earthly tabernacle so soon, are--
1. The law of God, or His appointment.
2. The providence of God ordering it suitably to this appointment. And both these in pursuance of a double design.
(1) By dissolving the tabernacles of wicked men, God pays that debt of justice owing to the first Adam’s sinful posterity (Rom_6:23).
(2) By cutting off the lives of good men, God pays to Christ the reward of His sufferings, the end of His death which was to bring many sons to glory (Heb_2:10).
Inference1. Must we put off these tabernacles? Is death necessary and inevitable? Then it is our wisdom to sweeten to ourselves that cup which we must drink; and make that as pleasant to us as we can which we know cannot be avoided.
Inference2. Must we put off these tabernacles of flesh? How necessary is it that every soul look in season, and make provision for another habitation?
Inference3. Must we put off our tabernacles, and that shortly? What a spur is this to a diligent redemption and improvement of time? You have but a little time in these tabernacles; what pity is it to waste much out of a little!
Inference4. Must we shortly put off these our tabernacles? Then slack your pace and cool yourselves; be not too eager in the prosecution of earthly designs.
Inference5. If we must shortly put off these tabernacles, then the groaning and mourning time of all believers is but short; how heavy soever their burden be, yet they shall carry it but a little way.
Inference6. Must you shortly put off those tabernacles? Then spare them not whilst you have them, but employ them for God with all diligence.
Inference7. Look beyond this embodied state, and learn to live now as you hope to live shortly; begin to be what you expect to be. (John Flavel.)
Man’s earthly mode of being
I. Here is a felt duty connected with this mode of being. “I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up,” etc. The spiritual excitation of the Christian soul. He sought to put Christians in mind of five things which he refers to in the context: That spiritual excellence is the great end of Christianity (2Pe_1:3-4); that spiritual excellence is progressive in its nature (2Pe_1:5; 2Pe_1:7); that it requires very diligent cultivation (2Pe_1:5; 2Pe_1:10); that it is the only guarantee of salvation (2Pe_1:9); and that it will ultimately meet with a glorious reward (2Pe_1:11). Now there are three important things implied in the apostle’s aim--
1. A paramount necessity for the Christian ever to feel these things. His own progress and the conversion of the world depend upon this.
2. A sad tendency in the Christian to forget thesethings.
3. An obligation which one Christian has to endeavour spiritually to excite others by these things.
II. A destined change that awaits this mode of being. “Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle.”
1. The nature of thechange. It is a putting off the tabernacle.
2. The nearness of the change. “Shortly.”
3. The assurance of the change. “Knowing.” It is not a subject of doubt.
III. A glorious cause that must outlive this mode of being. “More over I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.” Three things implied:
1. The necessity of Christianity to posterity. All generations require it; therefore it must be handed down.
2. The felt interest of the good in posterity. They are far more anxious to bequeath truth and godliness than estates or empires.
3. The capacity of men to help posterity. Through a holy life, and instructions oral or written. Properly estimate thy mortal mode of life. Thou art dwelling in a tabernacle. I would not have thee ascetically to despise thy body, for it is the workmanship of God; an exquisite instrument of the soul; the inlet of the material, and the outlet of the spiritual. But I would have thee to remember that it is not thyself, but a temporary habitation of that soul of thine, which is identified with a gospel in which the universe is interested, and upon which the salvation of thy race depends, Realise the vastness of the work thou hast to do while in thy frail tabernacle, and do it. (Homilist.)
That ye may be able, after my decease.--
A noble endeavor and desire
I. The apostle’s endeavour.
1. The first thing required to this endeavour is learning.
(1) They are dangerous teachers, that never were learners. While they will not be scholars of truth, they become masters of error. They must know their winds, ebbings and flowings, creeks and sea-marks, that will be fishers. Wherein consists this learning? Not in a theory of divers arts, but in the sober use and discreet application of divinity.
(2) Some think a minister hath no great need of learning, because he is to speak to the unlearned (Heb_5:11-12).
2. The next thing required to this endeavour is an honest and religious life. If this have been bad before thy calling, redeem it now. The minister that spends himself like a taper to light others, must not himself go out with an ill savour. An innocent life is a silent testimony of a good minister.
3. The last thing required to perfect this endeavour is constant labour. Pray the Lord to send forth labourers, not loiterers, into His harvest.
II. The apostle’s purpose.
1. “That ye may be able.” All is for your sakes, this preaching, this remembering, this writing, all for you.
2. “After my decease,” etc. The apostles did not only preach to us vocally while they lived, but even now also exemplarily by their former conversation, and still doctrinally by their holy rules. The words of a preacher die not with him, but live in the hearers’ hearts, and shall either convert them here, or convince them hereafter. (Thos. Adams.)
The Christian’s usefulness in and after death
It is worthy of remark how frequently the inspired writers insist on fundamental doctrines. They had, indeed, evidently no desire to tie down either themselves or their converts to any one set of truths, whilst there were others which God’s Spirit was ready to unfold. On the contrary, they speak reprovingly of that indolence or indifference which made men rest in first principles when it became them to go on to perfection; but nevertheless they had no idea of men abandoning the first principles, as though they were not necessary to the more advanced inquirer. Now, the first thing we wish to point out is the sincere desire for the glory of God in the salvation of sinners, which must have animated the man who could breathe the language of our text. We read in such language an entire forgetfulness of self, the indication of a pure zeal for the welfare of the Church. If carnal motives had actuated the apostle, he would probably have desired that his departure might be injurious to the Church. Suppose that, having been kept sound in the faith, so long as he ministered amongst them, numbers were afterwards to decline, what testimony would seem to be given to his power and faithfulness as contrasted with those of his successors in office! Something of the same kind is frequently occurring in the world. The felt injury which results from the loss of an individual causes him greater glory than even all the benefits which he may have been enabled to effect. When, for example, a statesman, who has guided with a master hand the vessel of the commonwealth through the breakers and shoals, is withdrawn from his post whether by death or intrigue, and the rudder is given into a feebler grasp, what, if he sought only his own reputation, would that statesman more desire than that dangers should threaten and shipwreck to the state seem inevitable? It would be by the proud inferiority of those who filled his place, that his own greatness would become most conspicuous. And we are not without examples off the same kind in regard of the ministers of Christ. Now, we have hitherto simply argued upon the evidence which we think is furnished by our text to the humility of the apostle, of the readiness of St. Peter to be counted nothing, and less than nothing, provided the cause of Christ might prosper and prevail. But now we wish to take a somewhat different view of the passage. We have already said, that in all probability the apostle was not reckoning upon what might be done by his successors towards preserving in his converts the remembrance of the truths he had taught. He appears rather to have calculated upon the permanence of his own instructions, when himself should have been withdrawn by death. This is very observable. He announces his determination of putting the Church in remembrance as long as he lived; arguing, manifestly, that it would never be safe for him to relax in his work; nevertheless he reckons on the Church retaining the remembrance, when death should have silenced his monitory voice. You will perceive there is here something like a contradiction. If it were necessary to be always putting them in remembrance whilst he lived, how could he hope that there would not be forgetfulness when he was dead? We think it possible that the apostle had reference to what was likely to be the power of his death; and if so, there is a beauty and a pathos in the passage which is not to be surpassed in the whole range of Scripture. There is often practically far more of power in the death than in the life of a religious individual. There is something so hallowed around the memory of the dead, something so spiritual and unearthly, that the most hardened are more touched by the remembered words of the departed than by all the utterances of the living. When memory syllables to us the admonitions of those who lie mouldering in the dust, it is almost as if a spectre spoke, and we start and shrink as if in contact with a messenger from the invisible world. Neither is this the only or the chief reason why death gives this impressiveness and this permanence to inculcated truth. It is in death that a man puts to the proof the worth of the principles which he has spent life in recommending and enforcing; and if he be enabled, during the taking down of the “earthly house of this tabernacle,” to give evidence of a joy and a peace of spirit which are to be accounted for only by the truth of what he has taught, why there is yet more in his tranquillity and assurance than in all the fervour and power which he may have thrown into his lessons to convince men that he has followed no cunningly devised fable. It is this which lays so great a weight of responsibleness upon those who are much with the righteous in the season of their sickness and death. Yes, more, far more, may be done by dying than has been effected by living. It is a blessed thought, and appears in no common degree to strip death of its repulsiveness, and even invest it with beauty. This is what I call victory in death. Even as the Captain of our salvation is said to have destroyed death, so may we, treading humbly in his footsteps, use it to undermine the empire of Satan. Of this the Church teems with proof. Thus was it that confessors and martyrs prevailed. Oh! it should mightily encourage us to persevere in enduring to the end, to know that when we shall be weakest then we may be strongest. In place of feeling when we lie down on our death-bed that all is over, and we can do nothing more, we may feel that if the dying statesman cannot benefit the state, nor the expiring warrior beat down the foe, the departing Christian may fight the battle of God, and speed the march of Christianity. We shall not die as teachers; we shall, God helping, teach in dying. The tears which are wept over us shall be from the fountains of the heart broken up by our removal. Our memory shall haunt the scene of our labours. Now, suppose we take another view of this text. It is not unlikely that St. Peter had respect to his writings when he announced that he would endeavour to instruct after death. He preached to one generation; he wrote for every future. It was his hope and endeavour, as announced in our text, to instruct after death. He did not wish to be forgotten, so that when he passed away from earth he might survive in his writings, and still be instrumental in winning souls to Christ. There is something very grand and ennobling about this ambition. It seems to me that the man who entertains and accomplishes the wish of doing the work of an evangelist after death, triumphs over death in the highest possible sense. I could almost dare to say that he never dies. There is many a private Christian who is long remembered and venerated, whose example is efficacious long after his decease, and whose lessons operate when the tongue which delivered them has mouldered into dust. And we call it the destruction, the abolition of death, when man may thus do good notwithstanding his decease. This is true immortality; for such as these the curse is wholly done away. They know no pause in the highest employments. And may it not be lawful to desire and to strive for the being thus held in remembrance after death? As Christians, we should pant to bring glory to God. We should not be willing to be circumscribed by life. The battle is to go on, and we should long to take part. The Church is to be edified, and we should crave for employment; yea, it might be as pure and as humble a wish as ever was breathed, though it might sound like that of one eager for human distinction, if it did not suffice us to be useful to others whilst we tabernacled amongst them, but if, throwing onwards our thoughts to yet distant days, we were to address our fellow-men in the words of the apostle: “We will endeavour that ye may be able after our decease to have these things always in remembrance.” Now, we cannot conclude without pointing out to you the exquisite composedness with which St. Peter speaks of death, and without breathing a prayer that when our last hour shall be near we may as placidly expect its approach. The apostle evidently contemplates without apprehension his dissolution, though he knew that he must die a cruel and ignominious death. And his only anxiety is for the welfare of those from whom he should be separated. It only argues terror of death when men shrink from making arrangements in anticipation of their dissolution. I love to hear the dying Christian speak calmly of the churchyard where he wishes to be buried, of the distribution of his property, of the place where his children are to live, I feel that he is ready for his last dread account, when he can thus, without flinching, direct all which has concern to his being numbered with the dead; but the noblest thing of all is when the dying Christian shows that his last thoughts are on the welfare of the Church and the glory of God. The wounded warrior, as the life-blood ebbs away, will sometimes kindle at the noise of the battle. He will half raise himself from the earth, listen to the distant shout, and forget his anguish as he fancies that he hears the triumph of his comrades in arms. Yes, chivalry has such stories to tell; but Christianity has nobler. The servants of Christ, when they can no longer join the war, will breathe out the soul in longings for its success. They will think on the yet vast powers of heathenism--on the aboundings of vice--on the spreadings of infidelity; and, though about to put off their armour and enter into rest, will give their last thought to the struggle, and their last prayer for the triumph of the hosts of the Lord. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
A good man’s endeavor to compensate for the limitations of a mortal life
Itis one of the noblest protests of man against mortality. “I will endeavour that after my decease,” etc. Many have been the protests of man against mortality, or his efforts to modify its effect. One toils night and day life through to establish a reputation; another a business; another to bequeath a fortune; another, like Peter, to leave behind an influence which shall ennoble other lives (Gen_11:4; Job_19:23-24, etc.).
1. Here observe the desire is not that after Peter’s decease people should remember him as much as “the things “he had taught them. To the true minister the message is of infinitely more importance than himself.
2. The ambition of Peter is that he should aid the memories of his brethren in the best direction and for the highest purpose.
3. There is another law which Peter recognises, namely, that by which the utterances of a teacher are not unfrequently best remembered when he is gone--“after my decease.” Peter himself had remembered his Lord’s words best at such a time (Mat_26:75; Luk_22:61; see also Joh_2:22; Joh_12:16, etc.). Now what are those things which Peter considers of such importance for men to remember? (See 2Pe_1:8-10; 2Pe_1:12.)
(1) The largeness of the Divine provision--“All things that pertain unto life and godliness.”
(2) The promise of its bestowal--“Exceeding great and precious promises.”
(3) The ultimate end of all--“That ye may become,” etc. Now we come to the bearing of all this upon human consecration--“Add to your faith virtue,” etc. Here is a summary of Divine grace and human duty. These are the things which he wishes them to remember. “These things” are the conditions of “fruitfulness,” vision, and steadfastness, and these are the things that make human life great. Now, he would not have them think that this progressiveness in the Divine life was an easy task. Again, observe that he who asks diligence of them pledges himself also in our text, “Yea, I will give diligence,” etc. Now, these are the words of an aged man--a man who during life has undergone much discipline, and, consequently, who has been matured and ennobled. How closely such lives are knitted with the lives of others, and how far-reaching their influence! This is one of the great redeeming features of the brevity of human life: that it projects its force into the ages, yea, into eternity. Death can do nothing to such a man except to transfigure him. (D. Davies.)
