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1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: 2That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us1 the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: 3Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days2 scoffers,3 walking after4 their own lusts, 4And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were5 from the beginning of the creation. 5For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of Grod the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:6 6Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word7 are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with8 the Lord as a thousand 9years, and a thousand years as one day.9 The10 Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward,11 not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
In both which I rouse, etc.— Ἐí áἷò , the pronoun is in the Plural, because äýï is implied in äåõôÝñáí , Winer, p. 154.— Äéåãåßñù , it seems, must be taken as a Conjunctive for ἵíá ἐí áὐôáῖò . On the sense see 2Pe_1:13.— Ὑìῶí may be connected with ὑðïìíÞóåé or äéÜíïéáí ; the latter seems preferable.— Åἰëéêñéíῆ , see Php_1:10 from åἵëç (sun-light) and êñßíù , something attentively examined in the light of the sun and found genuine, hence pure, clear, unmixed, [unadulterated.—M.] ÄéÜíïéá , 1Pe_1:13, “this pure mind is at once opposed to errors in doctrine and to excuses for the practice of vices. A man of a pure mind believes and loves the truth, and grows holy in the truth.” Roos. Such a mind can only be roused in the case of those, who are not in the truth, cf. Joh_18:37; Joh_3:21; 1Jn_1:6. A principal means thereto is the remembrance of the revelations of God, deposited in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles.
Ver 2. That ye should remember the words, etc.—Here, as in 1Pe_1:10-12 and 2Pe_1:19, great weight is attached to the word of prophecy, which is brought into most intimate connection, with the Apostolical doctrines.— Ἁãßùí ðñïöçôῶí , see 2Pe_1:21.— Ἐíôïëῆò , 2Pe_2:21.— Ἡìῶí apposition with ἀðïóôüëùí as in Act_10:41. The author here repeatedly describes himself (as in 2Pe_1:1) as an Apostle, just as he describes himself in 2Pe_3:1 as the Author of the first Epistle.— Ìíçóèῆíáé , further definition of ἐí ὑðïöçôῶí . The Infinite of intention or of further definition, Winer p. 341.— Ôïῦ êõñßïõ êáὶ óùôῆñïò ; de Wette makes these words to be governed by the Infinitive and gives the ungrammatical rendering “of our Apostles.” But it is more natural to connect ôïῦ êõñßïõ with ἐíôïëῆò . This has a double Genitive; cf. Winer, pt. 3:30. The one of these Genitives relates to the announcement, the other to the origin of the doctrine.—In the parallel passage, Judges 17, the reference to the Prophets is omitted.—De Wette’s interpretation being manifestly incorrect, we need not stop to refute his inference that the non-apostolical author here betrays himself and acts out of his character.
2Pe_3:3. Knowing this first that in the last of the days scoffers shall come.—2Ti_3:1; cf. 1Ti_4:1. They are to consider it as a principal point of the prophetical and apostolical word that— ãéíþóêïíôåò . Here we should expect the Accusative, governed by ìíçóèῆíáé . Such, probably intentional, anacolutha are of frequent occurrence. Conceptions expressed by the casus recti of Participles, are exhibited with greater prominence, Winer, p. 594; cf. Act_15:23; Eph_4:2; Eph_3:17.
Shall come, cf. 2Pe_2:1; Mat_24:5; Mat_24:11; Mat_24:24; Mat_7:15; Mat_7:22; 1Jn_4:1. The parallel passage Judges 18 is almost identical; ὅôé ἐí ἐó÷Üôῳ ÷ñüíῳ ἔóïíôáé ἐìðáῖêôáé , êáôὰ ôὰò ἑáõôῶí ἐðéèõìßáò ðïñåõüìåíïé , with the addition ôῶí ἀóåâåñῶí .— Ἐð ’ ἐó÷Üôïõ ôῶí ἡìåñῶí . The Adjective Neuter is often used emphatically instead of the Substantive. Winer, p. 248. At the end of these present days of the world. [But as ἐó÷áôþí is the best supported reading, cf. App. Crit., it is better to translate “in the last of the days”; there is perhaps no difference in meaning, but the Plural seems to extend the expression over a wider space, so Alford; Wordsworth: “From this reference, it appears that St. Jude wrote his Epistle after the present Epistle, and that he owned this Epistle to be the work of an Apostle, and therefore an authentic writing; and if authentic, then it must be also genuine, for it asserts itself to be written by St. Peter, 2Pe_1:1; 2Pe_1:17, where the writer describes himself as present at the transfiguration, at which only three Apostles were present, viz.: Peter, James and John.”—M.]— Ἐìðáῖêôáé (from ἐìðáßæù to play, sport in or on) scoffers, deceivers; cf. LXX. in Isa_3:4, for úַּòֲìåּìִéí , petulantiæ, petulantes, people that jest about things of the greatest importance. Here we encounter another class of adversaries of Christ, different from the false prophets and teachers described in the second chapter. The two classes have this in common, that they are Epicurean and Antinomian. in mind, cf. 2Pe_3:17; 2Pe_2:18-19. The appearance of such men is predicted Act_20:29; 1Ti_4:1; 2Ti_3:2, etc. If the reading ἐí ἐìðáéãìïíῇ is retained, it is necessary to use a mark of distinction after the latter word, rendering: “they shall come in the spirit of scoffing, as scoffers, walking, etc.” [“They will not only be scoffers, but they will come in scoffing, like those of whom the Psalmist says, that their delight is in cursing, and that they clothe themselves with it, as it were, with a raiment (Psa_109:16-17); and the contrast is striking to the Divine words åὐëïãῶí åὐëïãÞóù , Gen_22:17, cf. Eph_1:3, ὁ åὐëïãÞóáò ἡìᾶò ἐí ðÜóῃ åὐëïãßᾳ and Clem. Rom_1:24.” Wordsworth.—M.]
Walking after their own lusts.—They no longer appear in sheep’s clothing, but exhibit their wolf-nature.— Êáôὰ ôὰò ἰäßáò áὑôùí . Ἰäßáò brings out the self-will and opposition of these men to the law of God.— Ἐðéèõìßáò ðïñåõüìåíáé . Bengel: “This is the origin of error, the root of libertinism.” Luther: “These are our Epicureans and Sadducees, who believe neither one thing nor the other, who live as they think best and walk after their own lusts, considering permitted whatever suits their pleasure: examples of such are met on every hand.”— Ðïñåõüìåíïé , see 1Pe_4:3.
2Pe_3:4. Where is the promise of His coming?—Similar to the daring words of the scoffers in Mal_2:17 : “Where is the God of judgment?” The same form of speech occurs in Luk_8:25; Psa_42:4; Psa_79:10. Where is it? e. g., Where is its fulfilment? It is nowhere to be found.
The promise.—They use the language of believers, to whom the coming of their Lord is the most cherished desire, cf. Luk_21:28.
Of His coming.— ðáñïõóßáò . Used here in a more special sense than in 2Pe_1:16, of the visible coming of Christ to the judgment of the wicked and to the consummation of His Kingdom, Mat_24:3; Mat_24:27; Mat_24:37; 1Th_2:19; 1Th_3:13; 2Pe_3:12.— Áὐôïῦ , they do not take His name on their lips, so much do they disdain it. [Polycarp, 100:7: “Whosoever does not confess the suffering of the cross, is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither resurrection nor a judgment,—he is the first-born of Satan.”—M.]
For since the fathers fell asleep.— Ἀö ’ ἧò ãὰñ scil. ἡìÝñáò . De Wette is wrong in saying: “The author appears to assume these scoffers, as present and that prediction as fulfilled.” No; this appearance springs solely from critical prejudices. Peter puts himself into the time of the fulfilment of that prediction, when the first generation of believers had already fallen asleep; most of them had expected the visible coming of the Lord as immediately connected with the destruction of Jerusalem; but after that catastrophe had taken place without the expected visible coming of the Lord, the scoffers took occasion to deny the coming of the Lord altogether. This Peter foresees in the Spirit. The word fathers denotes therefore not the Patriarchs, the ancestors of the Jewish people, nor (as Dietlein maintains) any preceding generation standing to that immediately succeeding it in the relation of fathers, but the fathers of the second generation of Christians. Otherwise the sentence would be pleonastic, because ἀð ’ ἀä÷ῆò follows after.— ἘêïéìÞèçóáí like ἐðáããåëßá , to be understood in a mocking sense, as imitating the language of believers.
All things remain thus from the beginning of the creation.— ÄéáìÝíåé , they remain without intermission, the whole world remains according to its old constitution, in the consistence which it has once for all, it remains through all mutations. Huther arbitrarily inserts the idea, “since the fathers …. hath come to pass; all things continue thus.…”—Others supply ὡò ἦí , as it was from the beginning of creation, which is equally arbitrary. The construction is pregnant: “All things from the time of our fathers remain in a general way, as they are; yea, from the beginning of creation all things remain essentially the same.” Bengel gives to ïὕôù a pregnant force: “All things remain thus as they remain from the beginning of the world.” [Sic permanent, ut permanent.”—M.] Dietlein makes these erring spirits speculative philosophers who advance the proposition that “the history of creation is endless; the destiny of the human race is not one that actually occurs at a given time and terminates the course of the world, but it fulfils itself in an untemporal (unzeitlich) manner (it is immanent, to use the language of modern speculation); and this they infer from the circumstance, that one generation passes away after another, and is dispatched as they suppose, and that therefore it cannot be otherwise with all succeeding generations.” There is no reason to assume such a system in the case of these trifling Epicureans, and ἀð ’ ἀñ÷ῆò is absolutely in conflict with such an assumption.—Luther explains the inference of the false teachers as follows: “The world has stood so long, and has always remained thus; should it now at last become otherwise?” We must however add in the sense of those scoffers: The coming of Christ and the destruction of the world were long since predicted as connected with the destruction of Jerusalem without coming to pass; where then is now the word of the Scripture?
2Pe_3:5. For it is hidden to them, because they thus will it.—Refutation of the assertion that all things remain in the same condition by the fact of the flood.— Ôïῦôï belongs to ὅôé , not to èÝëïíôáò , as in 2Pe_3:8, and èÝëåéí denotes not “to choose a view” (eine Ansicht belieben, as Dietlein maintains), for this meaning cannot be verified. Huther, indeed, cites a passage from Herodotus, but it is isolated and proves nothing for the New Testament. It denotes “a guilty ignorance,” as Luther translates; they are wilfully ignorant of it; they are wilfully blind to the consideration of the flood. Winer, p. 489, note [says: In 2Pe_3:5, ëáíèÜíåé ôïῦôï èÝëïíôáò I prefer the rendering: latet eos hoc (what follows) volentes, i. e., volentes ignorant, to the other: latet eos (what follows) hoc (what precedes) volentes, i. e., contendentes. The former brings out more clearly the guilt of the mockers. Neither in Col_2:18, is èÝëùí to be taken as an adverb.—M.]
That the heavens and an earth were from of old, etc.— Ïὐñáíïß , as usual in the Plural like ùָîַéִí , cf. 2Co_12:2.— Ἔêðáëáé , from of old, from the first origin of all things.— Ἦóáí , de Wette, Huther, al., refer it primarily to ïὐñáíïß , but then also to ãῆ óõíåóôῶóá . This might pass grammatically (Winer, p. 368), but how are we to conceive the heavens to consist out of and through water? De Wette, indeed, observes that the conception that the heavens (the firmament) were made out of water, may be justified by Gen_1:6, but he is conscious of the unsatisfactoriness of this exposition, since he proposes to refer ἐê to the earth and äéÜ to the heavens (through the water). This is very forced, and in no event applicable to the starry heavens, which are of course included in ïὐñáíïß . According to the representation of the Bible, the firmament ( øָ÷ִּéòַ ) consists not out of water, but forms a wall of partition between the waters above and the waters below, Gen_1:7-8.—The earth originated out of water, out of the dark matter in which it was comprehended, and through water, i. e., (as Winer, p. 438, explains it) through the agency of water, which partly descended into the lower parts of the earth, and partly formed the clouds in the sky. The earth, moreover, manifoldly received its diversified form through the water, consists in a great measure in water and this element, as already noticed by Oecumenius, holds it together and cements it.—The Indo-Ægyptian cosmogonies, to which de Wette refers, and which are said to contain an account of a chemical origin of the world out of water, are altogether irrelevant. [Bengel: “Gradatio, aqua terram texerat: ex aquis terra emersit: et aqua inserviit, ut terra consisteret, sicut Creator eam formavit et collocavit. Aqua ceteroqui levior est, et terra inferiores partes petit, usque eo, ut omnis aqua, in linea recta a superficie ad centrum orbis hujus sive rotundi systematis, terram semper sub se habeat: sed in ipsa superficie terra passim supra aquas plus minusve eminet; et vel hunc aqua locum quasi invita, et potentissimo jussu divino coacta, terræ concessit et reliquit. Exo_20:4; Psa_24:2; Psa_104:5-8; Psa_136:6; Job_38:10.”—The assertion that the earth arose out of the water is opposed to the dogma of Simon Magus, that it was engendered from fire. Wordsworth referring to Hippolyt., Refut. haer, p. 165.—M.]
By the word of God may refer both to the heavens and to the earth, cf. Gen_1:6; Gen_1:9. But we may also join these words more intimately with óõíåóôῶóá , which appears to be preferable, as it gives greater prominence to the thought, that it does not consist a moment longer than God permits. Bengel: “By the word of God is defined the duration of all things, so that it cannot be longer or shorter.” [The reference here is to the creative energy of the Divine Logos. The Jewish readers of Peter’s Epistle were familiar with that doctrine, which was opposed to the error of the Gnostics who held that the universe was made by angels or by the demiurge opposed to the supreme God. Irenæus I., 19, declares, that the world was not made by angels, nor by any powers separated from God, but by His Word, i. e., Christ. Psa_32:6; Joh_1:3. The same author says, II., 2 Peter 2 : “All things which God made, He made by the indefatigable Word, even as John the disciple of the Lord declares concerning Him, Joh_1:3.”—M.]
2Pe_3:6. Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.— Äé ’ ὧí cannot possibly refer to ὕäáôïò (Huther), more especially because ὕäáôé follows after; nor can it signify: quapropter, nor “through which circumstances it also came to pass that. …” (Dietlein), still less “yet” (dennoch—Luther). It evidently belongs to ïὐñáíïὶ êáὶ ãῆ . It was just the heavens and the earth which became the instruments of destruction of the then êüóìïò , i. e., for the then existing world of human beings and animals. Peter uses êüóìïò in precisely the same sense, 2Pe_2:5. The heavens became such an instrument of destruction, when their windows were opened and it rained as never before since the creation of the world, Gen_7:11. The earth which had been founded upon the waters and risen out of the water, Psa_24:2, in obedience to the command of God was compelled to pour forth its treasures of water, Gen_8:2, in order to destroy man and beast. Who would have believed this before the flood came? Who would have supposed that the heavens and earth did contain within them such powers of destruction, seeing that they consisted so long before? Every attempt of taking êüóìïò in another sense, understanding it of the whole world, of the universe (Huther, al.), or more particularly of the earth (Calov), fails to bring out the full force of ἀðþëåôï which was then to be circumscribed to such an extent as to denote a great mutation, which conflicts with grammatical usage. But here we must take a retrospective view of ἔêðáëáé , 2Pe_3:5, in order to understand the full refutation of the antagonistic proposition. l. Ἔêðáëáé should be joined not only with ïὐñáíïß , but also with ãῆ . The heavens and the earth even in the time of Noah had consisted from of old, upwards of 1600 years; from this circumstance the men of that time might have drawn the inference that all things in the world of man would ever remain, even as they were; but how fallacious was that inference! 2. With this is connected the thought, that considering that the earth came into existence and does consist by the Word of God, the people of that time might surely have been able to understand that it could be destroyed by the self-same Word. 3. The event has shown, that the world of man was destroyed just by the heavens and the earth, which to them had the appearance of an imperishable existence. 4. Now the heavens and the earth, as intimated in 2Pe_3:7, underwent also a change in that catastrophe. That flood which covered the whole earth would be inexplicable without an extraordinary influence exerted by God upon the heavens and the earth, whereby their condition was changed. Gen_9:11; cf. Gen_10:25, where reference is made to an extraordinary terrestrial catastrophe, expressly testify that the earth was destroyed by the flood, and that it presented in many respects an appearance very different from that which it had before that mighty revolution.
2Pe_3:7. But the heavens and the earth which are now, by His word are kept in store.— Ïἱ äὲ íῦí ïὐñáíïß . Íῦí belongs also to ãῆ and presupposes a change wrought upon the heavens and the earth by the flood; according to our exposition, it is not in antithesis with ὁ ôüôå êüóìïò .— Ôῷ áὐôïῦ ëüãῳ . The same Divine omnipotence which commanded the water to destroy men and to lay waste the earth, will hereafter destroy the present world by fire, and not only change the surface of the earth. [Irenæus calls the last conflagration, “diluvium ignis.” Bengel: “Ignis confutabit empæctas.”—M.]
Kept in store.— èÞóáõñßæåéí , properly, to lay up in store, to treasure up, e. g., grain or a treasure. The meaning is not, that the present world is only a treasure gathered together and saved from the deluge, merely a remnant of the original world-totality. Such an idea belongs not to èçóáõñüò . But the reference is doubtless partly to the promise (Gen_9:15), and partly to the redemption in Christ. Calov:—“The world, for a certain time, is as yet in store and left unhurt, like treasure stored up in a chest, as yet untouched.” Huther justly rejects Dietlein’s notion that the idea of profit must be held fast, in the sense that the heavens and the earth are the materials stored up for the exercise of punishment, yet so that they shall perish under the punishment.
Reserved unto fire, etc.— Ðõñὶ must not be connected with ôåèçóáõñéóìÝíïé , but with ôçñïýìåíïé . Just as fire is even now an instrument of punishment to the world, so it will be used as an instrument of the destruction of the world in the final judgment, cf. Gen_19:24; Amo_7:4; Isa_66:15; Dan_7:9; 2Th_1:8; Mat_3:12; Mat_25:41; Rev_19:20; Rev_20:10. This is enlarged upon in 2Pe_3:10.— Ôçñïýìåíïé , used several times by Peter, 1Pe_1:4; 2Pe_2:4; 2Pe_2:9; 2Pe_2:17.— Ἀðùëåßáò .—Calov:—“Not perfect destruction, but perdition and eternal death.”— Ôῶí ἀóåâῶí ἀíèñþðùí .—Dietlein applies this to the whole human race, because with the exception of the converted, it is ungodly. [But he is here, as so often, inaccurate and unreliable. The reference is simply to the ungodly among men. The following passage from an oration by Melito, Bp. of Sardis, in the second century, published from the Syriac by Cureton, is an interesting relic of ancient exegesis: “There was a flood of water, and all men and living creatures were destroyed by the multitude of waters, and the just were preserved in an ark of wood by the ordinance of God. So also it will be at the last time; there will be a flood of fire, and the earth will be burnt up, together with its mountains, and men will be burnt up with the idols which they have made; and the sea together with the isles will be burnt, and the just shall be delivered from the fury (of the fire), as their fellows in the ark (were saved) from the waters in the deluge”.—M.]
2Pe_3:8. But let this one thing not escape you, etc.—This is not a second refutation of the scoffers, but the removal of an obstacle which believers might find in the protracted delay of Christ’s advent.
That one day is before the Lord.—The shortest space of time before Him, is in His sight long enough for the execution of events, which in our computation would require a thousand years, and the longest space of time before Him passes away as rapidly as does a day to us. In order to occupy the right stand-point with respect to the coming of Christ, we must apply the standard of eternity, and not use human measures of time. The second clause of the proposition is taken from Psa_90:4. Time is not absolutely denied in the case of God, but His relation to time is very different from that sustained by us men, the creatures of a day. Bengel:—“God’s ænologium (time-piece for eternity) differs from the horologium (time-piece for hours) of mortals. But how shall we understand this? If we could understand it, Moses and Peter would not have been under the necessity of adding “with the Lord.”—Stier:—“He who created the heavens and the earth in six days, because He thus willed it, may also suddenly accomplish in one day that which under other circumstances would require a thousand years; in like manner He may ordain thousands of years to be to the world week-and-work-days before His great Sabbath begins to dawn. The longest time is only brief after God’s measure; yet it hastens and rushes irresistibly into eternity, just because it is time.”—Thiersch:—“The internal development of mankind, which must have reached its consummation before the end of the world, is so entirely dependent on the Divine disposal that at one time there may occur a step forward so mighty that we should hardly have expected it to take place in a thousand years, while at another time, the course of development, retarded by God, does not progress in a thousand years any further than at other times in a day.” This is as incorrect as Dietlein’s view, that God will punish in one day the sin of thousands of years, and thus equalize the great disfiguring which by so long a duration had come into eternity; that otherwise the duration of time with God is of great, though not of necessary, importance, because a thousand years are before Him as one day.—The Fathers, as is well known, have drawn from this passage the inference that the world is to last six thousand years, especially as Heb_4:9 speaks of a Sabbath-time of the people of God, but without sufficient reason.
2Pe_3:9. The Lord is not tardy.— Ïὐ âñáäýíåé ὁ êýñéïò . B ñáäýíù , to delay, to postpone [to be late.—M.], usually construed with the Accusative, but here with the Genitive. See Winer, § 30.—De Wette:— âñáäýíåé is not taken in relation to a definite point of time, according to human expectation, as in 1Ti_3:15, but with reference to the purpose and counsel (of God); for although with reference to the former the author admitted a delay, he denied the title to such an expectation, according to 2Pe_3:8, because God’s views of time (as well as His thoughts and ways, cf. Isa_55:8) are different from men’s. Similarly, Sirach , 35, 22; cf. Hab_2:3.—Calov:—“Although it seems as though He were tardy (Rev_6:10), He is not tardy after the manner of men, from procrastination or neglect, but from long-suffering, for, as Justin observes, He prefers repentance to punishment.”— Êýñéïò , as in 2Pe_3:8, denotes God the Father.— ὡò ôéíὲò âñáäõôῆôá . The reference here is not to scoffers, who deny the coming of Christ, but to weak believers.
But He is long-suffering towards us, etc.— ìáêñïèõìåῖ . He is long-suffering, putting off His punishment for a long time, Mat_18:26; Mat_18:29; Luk_18:7; 1Th_5:14. Åἰò ἡìᾶò , towards us, the called, then to us all, to men in general. Âïýëåóèáé , to will, as the result of conscious deliberation, but not with irresistible coercion. Calov:—“As an earthly king would desire to see all his subjects happy, as far as they are his subjects, not as far as they are malefactors.”— ×ùñåῖí åἰò , to go into, to enter, Mat_15:17; cf. Eze_18:23; Eze_33:11; 1Ti_2:4.—The adherents of the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination wrongly restrict this passage to the elect. Calvin himself explains it of the will of God revealed in the Gospel as contrasted with His hidden counsel.
2. Peter in making mention of the last days, draws no distinction between the second and third coming of Jesus, as made prominent in the Revelation of John, and alluded to in 1Co_15:23-24. This circumstance deserves to be noticed in connection with the inquiry relating to the date of this Epistle.
3. “The Word of God composed in writing is the instrument of our conversion and illumination, the store-house of all salutary knowledge and wisdom, and the armory against all sorts of enemies.” Gerhard.
4. Although we must identify the scoffers primarily as those deceivers, who arose at the end of the Apostolic age, the prophecy, nevertheless, is ever undergoing new fulfilments in the course of time, and will have its most fearful fulfilment in the last times. In ancient times, Simon Magus is cited as denying the end of the world (in the Pseudo-Clementine Recogn., 2Pe_3:3); in the middle ages, a heresy sprung up, which maintained the imperishableness of the world. v. Meyer asks whether that portrait of the future does not perfectly apply to the rebellious liberty and wanton licentiousness of the corrupt priesthood and monastic orders of the middle ages and later times? “The Hegelian school of philosophers (at least those of the left side) deride the Church’s faith in a visible advent of Christ, in the judgment and the end of the world, as a pietistic notion. They see in the dominant influence of the idea (Begriff), brought about by the Hegelian philosophy, Christ returned, and regard the end of pietism, of orthodox Christianity as heretofore existing, to be the end of the world.” Richter.
5. “It is an old trick of the devil to oppose the course of nature to the word and promises of God, seeing that God is the Author of nature, and able at His pleasure to change or wholly destroy it.” Gerhard.
6. The traditions of other nations also contain the hypothesis that the world originated out of water. The Chinese and the Egyptians teach that water is the oldest element. The Vedas of the Hindoos declare that this world was originally water; the code of Manu declares that water was the first thing which God created; Ramayana reports that originally all things were water, and that the earth was formed out of it. But this, so far from being a ground of suspicion against the teaching of Scripture, in connection with other reasons, constitutes a proof in its favour.
7. In like manner all nations have their legends of the great deluge, of which the highest mountains, the graves and caverns of the earth bear testimony. The deluge, according to Scripture, was not partial and local, but universal; but natural science, to be sure, is incompetent to account for it by natural causes.
8. The preservation of the world, as well as its beginning, depends altogether on the will, the word and the direction of God. “The word of God is not only the architect of the heavens and the earth, but also the prop and foundation of this edifice, Heb_1:3.” Gerhard.
9. The statements of Peter respecting the world being reserved unto fire, are partly connected with the sayings of Christ, Mar_9:44; Mat_3:10; Mat_3:12; Mat_25:41; Mat_13:40; Mat_13:42; Mat_6:22, and partly, where he goes beyond them, to be regarded as a revelation which he had received. The religions of the pagans and the philosophemes of the Greeks and Romans, frequently describe fire as the end of the world. Zoroaster assumed a dissolution of the mountains by the action of fire. The Orphic cosmogony, Heraclitus and the Stoics, the Epicureans, Pliny, Ovid, the Gallicans and the Scandinavians coincide in this respect. The Mexicans describe the fourth age of the world, as the age of fire. The Hindoos also teach the future burning of the world. “This fact proves nothing against the truth of this doctrine. On the contrary, it can only deepen the overpowering impression of the sacred revelations of the final judgment.” Dietlein.—“As men are melted and purified by the fire (of the law, the love of God and the sufferings of Christ), so it will fare with the earth which goes the course of man. In the time of Tycho de Brahe, according to the opinion of some, another solar system met perhaps a similar fate.” Richter.
10. Although time was created simultaneously with the creature, it is nevertheless to God also a reality, otherwise He would not interfere with time and be conscious of what occurs in time; but He is superior to the river of time and controls it. A thousand years with Him are as one day, similar, (so Bengel puts it), as a thousand flourins are with a rich man as a farthing.
11. Even before Justin and other fathers gave currency to the opinion that the world should last six thousand years, the ancient Etruscans taught from tradition that the world’s duration was fixed at 6000 years, that the sixth millennium would bring the end and the great year.
12. Calov rightly declares 2Pe_3:9 to be an unanswerable proof against the absolute decree of Calvin, and quotes also 1Ti_2:4. God wills to save all men only in Christ and in the order of repentance and faith.
[13. Bp. Conybeare on 2Pe_3:5 : “The truth of the case is, God does not interpose in a miraculous manner upon every instance of sin: as He hath made men free agents, so He doth not interrupt the use of this liberty by breaking in upon the common order of causes and effects. Hence nature goes on for the most part in one uniform course; and exemplary punishments are reserved only for extraordinary occasions. Yet still God hath not left Himself without witness: many predictions of His prophets have been already confirmed by fact; the old world was destroyed by a miracle, and Sodom and Gomorrah are set forth for an example, having suffered the vengeance of eternal fire.” Instances of this kind, it must be confessed, are rare: however, those few which have been afforded us are enough to alarm the sinner. Men should not flatter themselves that their crimes are forgotten, because they are yet unpunished: but rather dread the delays of vengeance. Though mercy spares them for the present, yet this very mercy, if slighted, will increase their future ruin.—M.]
Starke:—As frail men grow soon tired and are overcome of sleep, so it is with Christians; hence it is necessary that they should be constantly stirred, shaken and roused, Heb_12:1.—The works of our bad Christians show that they believe neither in heaven nor hell, neither in angels nor in the devil, but the truth will come home to them, Zep_1:12.—Only see, how deeply man can fall through the violence of his lusts; deeper than the devil himself, who denies neither God nor His judgment, but trembles at it, Mat_8:29; Jam_2:19.—Ignorance in things human or Divine is never good, but malicious ignorance, which refuses to hear and to know the truth, is worthy of hell-fire, Isa_1:11.—The present world will be more severely visited than the former world, which was laid waste by water; but this world will be burnt up by a consuming fire, which the Lord Himself will kindle, 2Th_1:7-8.—The long-suffering of God is accompanied by tender love, looking to the salvation of men; hence He does not overtake them with His judgment of wrath, but gives them time enough to repent, Eze_33:11; Eze_2:1.
V. Herberger:—1. How Peter answers five questions relating to the last day. 2. How thoroughly he instructs us as to the manner of our preparing for it. Ad 1. a. Whether we are yet to wait confidently for the last day? b. When and at what time it will come? c. Why Jesus has not come for so long a time? d and e. How and in what manner the last day will come? f. What the Lord Jesus will do and perform on the last day? Ad 2. a. In holy conversation and godliness, b To wait and haston unto the coming of the day of the lord, c. To give all dillgence that we may be found of Him without spot and blameless.
J. C. Storr:—The waiting of believers for the coming of the day of God: 1. What they wait for; 2. who are they who wait? 3. How do they wait?
Stier:—The Apostle’s word concerning the expectation of the last day: 1. The certainty of its coming; 2. The manner of its coming; 3. The preparation for it.
Kapff:—The beginning and completion of the Kingdom of God: 1. The beginning in the creation of the world and man; 2. The completion in the renovation of man and of the world.
Lisco:—The completion with which the citizens of the kingdom comfort themselves. The emptiness of the objections against the Bible-dogma of the Lord’s coming to judgment.
Staudt:—The destruction of the world: 1. The reasons why many do not believe it; 2. How does the destruction of the world affect us?
Sharp:—[O what confusion will this be to all unbelievers and impenitent sinners, when they shall see that very Person, of whom they thought so meanly, and whose offers of salvation they often despised, appearing in the clouds of heaven with ten thousand glorious angels about Him, and coming in the most terrible manner that can be imagined, to call them to account for their lives past, and to execute judgment upon all ungodly men! They will not then any longer, with the scoffers, that Peter tells us should be in the last days, say, “where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation;” for they shall be convinced that, however His coming was for good reasons deferred, yet He shall then come to purpose; to the everlasting confusion of their faces, that opposed, or despised, or neglected Him and His religion. Then shall they say, Yonder He is, whom we slighted, whose religion we denied, whose servants and followers we took to be no better than a company of credulous fools! Lo, yonder He is in the clouds, whose tenders of mercy we have refused, whose counsels we have rejected, to whose Spirit we have done despite! Yonder He is: but no longer “a carpenter’s son;” no longer “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;” no longer a mean, obscure Galilean; no longer a crucified God, as we in derision called Him: but the everlasting Son of the everlasting Father; the Sovereign of angels! the Judge of mankind and of devils; the Lord of all things both in earth and heaven.—M.]
[Cf. Joseph Mede’s Paraphrase and Exposition of St. Peter. 2. Epistle, 2 Peter 3. Works, II. 753.
Additional Sermon-Themes:
2Pe_3:3. Ridicule in matters of religion. Modern infidelity. Some prophecies are daily fulfilling.
2Pe_3:4. Miracles now neither necessary to the conviction of unbelievers, nor the conversion of sinners, (Fiddes). Consistency between the efficacy of prayer and the uniformity of nature. (Chalmers).
2Pe_3:8. God’s eternity in reference to the suspension of his promised purposes, (R. Hall).—M.]
Footnotes:
2Pe_3:1. [German: “This Epistle, beloved, I now write you as the second in order to rouse in it [as also in the former] your pure mind by way of remembrance”.—M.]
2Pe_3:2. [ Lachmann and Tischendorf read ὑìῶí . According to the testimony of most of the authorities this must be considered the original reading. [ ἡìῶí , Rec. Oec; ὑìῶí A. B. C. K. L., Cod. Sin.—M.]
Translate: That ye should remember the words spoken before by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour given by your Apostles. Alford.….and the commandment of the Apostles of their Lord and Saviour. Wordsworth. Fronmüller agrees with Alford in the construction but, retaining ἡìῶí , renders:.… and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour, given to you by us the Apostles.—As the authorities are overwhelmingly against ἡìῶí , Alford’s rendering is the most correct and grammatical.—The construction is difficult, but the sense is clear and ὑìῶí so far from affecting the genuineness of the Epistle, is an evidence for its genuineness. A forger would certainly have used ἡìῶí , but a real Apostle may content himself with modestly saying ὑìῶí .—M.]
2Pe_3:3. Lachmann and Tischendorf read ἐó÷Üôùí . [ ἐó÷Üôïõ Rec. K. L. ἐó÷Üôùí . A. B.C*., Cod. Sin., Vulg., Copt., al., Alf., Words.—M.]
[German: “at the end of the days.” Translate: “in the last of the days.”—M.]
2Pe_3:3.[ Omit ἐí ἐìðáéãìïíῇ , Rec., K. L., insert A. B. C., Vulg., Copt., Syr., al.—M.] Griesb., Lachm., Tischend., ἐìðáéãìïíῇ another ἃðáî ëåãüì . [Scholz., Alf., Wordsw.—M.]
2Pe_3:3. [ Translate: Scoffers in scoffing, or (mockers in mockery.) Lillie.—M.] [ áὐôῶí before ἐðéèíìßáò Rec, A., al., Oec.—M.] áὐôῶí after ἐðéèõìßáò [B. C. K. L.] Griesbach. [Alford.]
2Pe_3:4. [ German:.…. all things remain thus from the beginning of the creation. Better than “continue as they were from,” etc., in E. V.—M.]
2Pe_3:5. [ German: For it is hidden to them, because they thus will it, that the heavens and an earth were from of old out of water and by means of water consisting by the word of God.
Translate: For this escapes them of their own will, that the heavens were from of old, and the earth out of water and by means of water consisting by the word of God.—M.]
2Pe_3:7. Lachmann reads ôῷ áὐôῷ , by the same word, as in 2Pe_3:6. But Tischendorf with B. C. K. L. reads ôῷ áὐôïῦ .
[Translate with German: “by His word.” With this single, but important variation, the E. V. cannot be improved here.]
2Pe_3:8. [ ðáñὰ êõñßïõ . Cod. Sin.—M.]
2Pe_3:8. [ German: But let not this one thing be hidden to you, beloved, that one day is before the Lord as a thousand years, etc.
Translate: But let this one thing not escape you, (with allusion to 2Pe_3:5), beloved, that one day, etc.—M.]
2Pe_3:9. [ Insert ὁ before êýñéïò , Rec., K. L., al.; omit A. B. C., Cod. Sin.] Lachm. and Tischendorf.
2Pe_3:9. Lachmann reads äἰ ὑìᾶò , for your, the believers’, sake; but Tischend., with many anthorities gives åἰò ὑìᾶò . [Cod. Sin. äἰ ὑìᾶò .—M.]
[German: The Lord delayeth not with the promise, ae some consider it a delay, but He hath patience with us, not willing that some should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.
Translate: The Lord is not tardy concerning His promise, as some account tardiness, but He is longsuffering towards us, etc. Alford.—M.]