Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - 2 Peter 1:13 - 1:14
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
2Pe_1:13-14. δίκαιον δὲ ἡγοῦμαι ] “I consider it right and reasonable” (Dietlein: “as a duty”); cf. Php_1:7; 2Pe_1:14 states the reason.
ἐφʼ ὅσον εἰμὶ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ σκηνώματι ] σκήνωμα , like σκῆνος , 2Co_5:1, “the tabernacle,” a figurative designation of the human body; cf. Wis_9:15 : τὸ γεῶδες σκῆνος . There can hardly be here any direct reference to the nomadic life in tents (Hornejus).
διεγείρειν ὑμᾶς ἐν ὑπομνήσει ] “to stir you up by reminding you, i.e. to encourage you.” The same combination takes place in chap. 2Pe_3:1; διεγείρειν is to be found elsewhere only in the Gospels, and there in its strict signification.
ἐν ὑπομνήσει points back to ὑπομιμνήσκειν in 2Pe_1:12, which, in the aim of it, διεγείρειν serves to define more nearly. In de Wette’s opinion, these words are written with special reference to the advent of Christ; but there is nothing to indicate any such limitation of them. It cannot, with Dietlein, be concluded that this letter is linked on to the First Epistle of Peter, from the circumstance that in 1Pe_5:8-9, γρηγορήσατε is to be found followed by στερεοί .—2Pe_1:14. εἰδώς ] “since I know,” gives the reason for the δίκαιον ἡγοῦμαι , 2Pe_1:13.
ὅτι ταχινή ἐστιν ἡ ἀπόθεσις τοῦ σκηνώματός μου ] The expression ἀπόθεσις is to be explained by “a mingling of the figure of a garment and that of a tent” (de Wette).
ταχινή is taken by most commentators (as also by Wiesinger and Brückner) to mean “soon.” Accordingly some (de Wette, Fronmüller, and others) think that in the subsequent words the writer does not refer to the prediction of Christ contained in Joh_21:18 ff., but to a later revelation vouchsafed to Peter (such as is mentioned by Hegesippus, De Excid. Jerosolym. iii. 2, and by Ambrose, Ep. 33); but Bengel already translated ταχινή ἐστιν correctly by repentina est; observing: Praesens; qui diu aegrotant, possunt alios adhuc pascere. Crux id Petro non erat permissura. Ideo prius agit, quod agendum erat.[45] In chap. 2Pe_2:1 also, ΤΑΧΙΝΌς means “sudden, swift” (Vulg. velox), not “soon.” Peter says here that he will end his life by a sudden (i.e. violent) death; so too Steinfass, Schott, Hofmann; the adjective ταχινή states, not the time, but the manner of the ἈΠΌΘΕΣΙς . Accordingly the assumption of a later revelation has no foundation in this passage.[46]
The particle ΚΑΊ after ΚΑΘΏς , for the most part left unnoticed, shows that the words ΚΑΘῺς Κ . Τ . Λ . are added in confirmation of Peter’s certainty as to his sudden death, equivalent to “even as indeed.” With ἐδήλωσεν , cf. 1Pe_1:11.
[45] Besser: “The Lord had communicated to him that a quick and sudden putting off of the tabernacle of the body awaited him.”
[46] Even if ταχινή meant “soon,” it would not be necessary to understand this here; for as Joh_21:18 expressly says: ὅταν δὲ γεράσῃς , Peter could, if writing this epistle in his old age, appeal to those words of Christ as corroborating his expectation of a speedy death.