Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth. I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. Yes, I will make every effort that you may always be able to remember these things even after my departure. For we didn’t follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
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Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth. I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. Yes, I will make every effort that you may always be able to remember these things even after my departure. For we didn’t follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
Parallel Translations
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Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth.
I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you,
knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.
Yes, I will make every effort that you may always be able to remember these things even after my departure.
For we didn’t follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
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Wherfore I will not be necgligent to put you allwayes in remembraunce of soche thinges though that ye knowe them youre selves and be also stablisshed in the present trueth.
Notwithstodinge I thynke that mete (as longe as I am in this tabernacle) to stere you vp by puttynge you in remembraunce
for as moch as I am sure howe that the tyme is at honde that I must put of my tabernacle even as oure lorde Iesus Christ hath shewed me.
I will enfource therfore that on every syde ye myght have wherwith to stere vp the remembraunce of these thynges after my departynge.
For we folowed not decevable fables when we openned vnto you the power and commynge of oure lorde Iesus Christ but with oure eyes we sawe his maieste:
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Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you alwayes in remembrance of these things, though that ye haue knowledge, and be stablished in the present trueth.
For I thinke it meete as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stirre you vp by putting you in remembrance,
Seeing I knowe that the time is at hand that I must lay downe this my tabernacle, euen as our Lord Iesus Christ hath shewed me.
I will endeuour therefore alwayes, that ye also may be able to haue remembrance of these things after my departing.
For we followed not deceiuable fables when we opened vnto you the power, and comming of our Lord Iesus Christ, but with our eyes we saw his maiestie:
Cross-references (74)
- 1 John 4:14 (v16) We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.
- John 1:14 (v16) The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
- 1 Timothy 1:4 (v16) and not to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which cause disputes, rather than God’s stewardship, which is in faith—
- 1 John 2:21 (v12) I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
- Romans 15:14-15 (v12) I myself am also persuaded about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to…
Show all 71 cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 2:4 (v16) My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
- Philippians 3:1 (v12) Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not tiresome, but for you it is safe.
- 2 Timothy 4:6 (v14) For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come.
- 1 John 1:1-3 (v16) That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands…
- Luke 9:28-32 (v16) About eight days after these sayings, he took with him Peter, John, and James, and went up onto the mountain to pray. As he was praying,…
- Ephesians 4:14 (v16) that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in…
- 1 Timothy 4:7 (v16) But refuse profane and old wives’ fables. Exercise yourself toward godliness.
- John 21:18-19 (v14) Most certainly I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch…
- Mark 9:1-2 (v16) He said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste death until they see God’s Kingdom come…
- 1 Corinthians 1:17 (v16) For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn’t be made void.
- Colossians 2:7 (v12) rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.
- 2 Peter 3:1 (vv12–13) This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you,
- Titus 1:14 (v16) not paying attention to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.
- 2 Peter 1:14 (v13) knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.
- 2 John 1:2 (v12) for the truth’s sake, which remains in us, and it will be with us forever:
- Jude 1:5 (v12) Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward…
- Revelation 1:7 (v16) Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn…
- 2 Peter 1:13 (v12) I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you,
- 2 Peter 3:3-4 (v16) knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?…
- Deuteronomy 4:21-22 (v14) Furthermore Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in to that…
- Deuteronomy 31:14 (v14) Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, your days approach that you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may…
- Deuteronomy 31:19-29 (v15) “Now therefore write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a…
- Psalms 71:18 (v15) Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to…
- Malachi 3:2 (v16) “But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderers’ soap;
- Matthew 28:18 (v16) Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
- 1 Corinthians 1:23 (v16) but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks,
- 2 Corinthians 2:17 (v16) For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 4:2 (v16) But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the…
- Hebrews 13:3 (v13) Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you are also in the body.
- Hebrews 13:9 (v12) Don’t be carried away by various and strange teachings, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not by food, through which…
- 1 Peter 5:10 (v12) But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect,…
- 1 Peter 5:12 (v12) Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true…
- 2 Peter 1:15 (v12) Yes, I will make every effort that you may always be able to remember these things even after my departure.
- 2 Peter 3:17 (v12) You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away with the error of the wicked, you fall from your…
- Jude 1:3 (v12) Beloved, while I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you exhorting you to contend…
- Jude 1:14 (v16) About these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones,
- Jude 1:17 (v12) But you, beloved, remember the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 2 Timothy 1:6 (vv12–13) For this cause, I remind you that you should stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
- 2 Peter 1:12 (vv13, 15) Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth.
- Joshua 23:14 (v14) “Behold, today I am going the way of all the earth. You know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all…
- Joshua 24:24-29 (v15) The people said to Joshua, “We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to his voice.” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that…
- 1 Kings 2:2-3 (v14) “I am going the way of all the earth. You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man; and keep the instruction of Yahweh your God, to…
- Malachi 4:5 (v16) Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.
- Matthew 16:28–17:8 (v16) Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death, until they see the Son of Man coming in his…
- Matthew 24:3 (v16) As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of…
- Matthew 24:27 (v16) For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
- John 17:2 (v16) even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
- Acts 20:25 (v14) “Now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I went about preaching God’s Kingdom, will see my face no more.
- Romans 1:4 (v16) who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our…
- 1 Corinthians 1:7 (v16) so that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;
- 1 Corinthians 2:1 (v16) When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
- 1 Corinthians 5:4 (v16) In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
- 2 Corinthians 5:8 (v13) We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
- 2 Corinthians 12:16-17 (v16) Even so, I myself didn’t burden you. “But, being crafty, I caught you with deception.” Did I take advantage of you by anyone of those whom…
- Philippians 3:21 (v16) who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to…
- 1 Thessalonians 2:19 (v16) For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Isn’t it even you, before our Lord Jesus at his coming?
- 2 Thessalonians 2:9 (v16) even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
- Hebrews 10:32 (v12) But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings;
- 1 Chronicles 29:1-20 (v15) David the king said to all the assembly, “Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great; for…
- Haggai 1:14 (v13) Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the…
- Luke 9:31 (v15) who appeared in glory, and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
- 2 Corinthians 5:1-4 (v13) For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the…
- 1 Timothy 4:6 (v12) If you instruct the brothers of these things, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the…
- 2 Timothy 2:2 (v15) The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same things to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
- Hebrews 11:4 (v15) By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God…
- 2 Peter 1:4-7 (v15) by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine…
71 distinct cross-references across this passage (74 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (26 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 16 12. Wherefore I will not be negligent. As we…
12. Wherefore I will not be negligent. As we seem to distrust either the memory or the attention of those whom we often remind of the same thing, the Apostle makes this modest excuse, that he ceased not to press on the attention of the faithful what was well known and fixed in their minds, because its importance and greatness required this.
“Ye do, indeed,” he says, “fully understand what the truth of the gospel is, nor have I to confirm as it were the wavering, but in a matter so great, admonitions are never superfluous; and, therefore, they ought never to be deemed vexatious.” Paul also employs a similar excuse in Romans 15:14,
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“I am persuaded of you, brethren,” he says, “that ye are full of knowledge, so as to be able to admonish one another: but I have more confidently written to you, as putting you in mind.”
He calls that the present truth, into the possession of which they had already entered by a sure faith. He, then, commends their faith, in order that they might remain fixed in it more firmly.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 16 An amplifying of the conclusion joined with a modest…
An amplifying of the conclusion joined with a modest excuse, wherein he declareth his love towards them, and foretelleth them of his death, which is at hand.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put…
12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
Ver. 12. I will not be negligent] Ministers must carefully watch and catch at all opportunities of benefiting the people. Dr Taylor, the martyr, preached at Hadleigh his charge on any day, as often as he could get the people together; and once a fortnight at least went to the almshouse, and there exercised his charity both spiritual and corporal.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12–16 I will not be negligent; i.e. I will be…
I will not be negligent; i.e. I will be diligent and careful.
Though ye know them: he prevents an objection; q.d. Though ye know these things already, yet being things of great moment, and you being beset with temptations, encompassed about with infirmities, and, while you are on the earth, being in a land of forgetfulness, it is necessary to put you in mind of what you know, that ye may remember to do it. See the like, Rom 15:14,15; 1Jo 2:21.
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The present truth; the truth of the gospel now revealed to you; that which was the great subject of the apostles’ preaching and writings, that Jesus Christ was the Christ; that redemption was wrought by him; that he was risen from the dead; that whosoever believeth on him, should receive remission of sins, &c.; the promise made to the fathers being now fulfilled, Act 13:32,33, and what was future under the Old Testament being present under the New.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv12, 16 Observe here, 1. The persons to whom the apostle…
Observe here, 1. The persons to whom the apostle gave the foregoing exhortation to progressiveness and proficiency in holiness, they were knowing persons, yea, established persons, they were both informed and confirmed in the truth; but were they knowing, yet they wanted farther information: were they established, yet might they want farther confirmation.
It is a very dangerous notion that some have taken up, that a Christian in this life may live above ordinances, and outgrow counsels and exhortations, as if he need not hear, or pray, or the like. St. Peter thought otherwise; these were grown Christians to whom he writes, yet he tells them three several times together here, in four verses, that he would not be negligent to put them in remembrance, even of those things which they knew already.
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Observe, 2. The exemplary diligence and industry of the apostle in his ministerial work, together with his constancy therein, as long as I am in this tabernacle: that is, as long as I live in this world, I will endeavour to keep the heavenly flame of love and zeal burning very lively upon the altar of your hearts.
Observe, 3. The motive or consideration provoking him to this diligence, and that is, the certainty of his approaching dissolution, I must shortly put off this tabernacle, as my Lord hath shewed me.
Where note, 1. He calls his body a tabernacle in regard of its moveableness and fraility, and in opposition to that house made without hands, eternal in the heavens.
Note, 2. How familiarly our apostle speaks of death, I must put off this tabernacle; he makes no more of putting off his body by death, than a man does of putting off his clothes at night.
Note, 3. The necessity of putting off the body, I must, I may, and I must shortly; intimating, that how strong soever the affections and inclinations of souls are to the fleshly tabernacles they now live in, yet they must put them off, and that speedily.
Note, 4. How the consideration of the certainty and suddenness of St. Peter’s removal by death did excite and provoke him to the utmost industry and diligence in his ministerial work, where he lived; the apprehensions of approaching death must quicken to utmost diligence.
Lastly, that ministers must never give over pressing known truths as long as they live, that their people may have them in remembrance after their decease; I will endeavour that after my decease you may have these things always in remembrance.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv12, 16 I. The importance and advantage of progress and perseverance…
I. The importance and advantage of progress and perseverance in grace and holiness made the apostle to be very diligent in doing the work of a minister of Christ, that he might thereby excite and assist them to be diligent in the duty of Christians. If ministers be negligent in their work, it can hardly be expected that the people will be diligent in theirs; therefore Peter will not be negligent (that is, at no time or place, in no part of his work, to no part of his charge), but will be exemplarily and universally diligent, and that in the work of a remembrancer. This is the office of the best ministers, even the apostles themselves; they are the Lord's remembrancers (Isa 62:6); they are especially bound to make mention of the promises, and put God in mind of his engagements to do good to his people; and they are the people's remembrancers, making mention of God's precepts, and putting them in mind of the doctrines and duties of Christianity, that they may remember God's commandments, to do them. And this the apostle does, though some persons might think it needless, inasmuch as they already knew those thing that he writes about, and were established in the very truth that he insists upon. Observe, 1. We need to be put in mind of what we already know to prevent our forgetting it, and to improve our knowledge, and reduce all to practice. 2. We must be established in the belief of the truth, that we may not be shaken by every wind of doctrine, and especially in that which is the present truth, the truth more peculiarly necessary for us to know in our day, that which belongs to our peace, and which is more especially opposed in our time. The great doctrines of the gospel, that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, that those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved, and all that believe in God must be careful to maintain good works - these are truths the apostles insisted on in their day; these are faithful sayings, and worthy of all acceptation in every age of the Christian church. And, as these must be constantly affirmed by ministers (Tit 3:8), so the people are to be well instructed and established therein, and yet must, after all their attainments in knowledge, be put in mind of such things as cannot be too clearly known nor too firmly believed. The most advanced Christians cannot, while in this world, be above ordinances, nor beyond the need of those means which God has appointed and does afford. And, if the people need teaching and exhortation while they are in the body, it is very meet and just that ministers should, as long as they are in this tabernacle, instruct and exhort them, and bring those truths to their remembrance that they have formerly heard, this being a proper means to stir them up to be diligent and lively in a course of gospel-obedience.
II. The apostle, being set upon the work, tells us (Pe2 1:14) what makes him earnest in this matter, even the knowledge he had, not only that he must certainly, but also that he must shortly, put off this tabernacle. Observe, 1. The body is but the tabernacle of the soul. It is a mean and movable structure, whose stakes can be easily removed, and its cords presently broken. 2. This tabernacle must be put off. We are not to continue long in this earthly house. AS at night we put off our clothes, and lay them by, so at death we must put off our bodies, and they musts be laid up in the grave till the morning of the resurrection. 3. The nearness of death makes the apostle diligent in the business of life. Our Lord Jesus had shown him that the time of his departure was at hand, and therefore he bestirs himself with greater zeal and diligence, because the time is short. He must soon be removed from those to whom he wrote; and his ambition being that they should remember the doctrine he had delivered to them, after he himself was taken away from them, he commits his exhortation to writing. The apostle had not any great opinion of oral tradition. This was not so proper a means to reach the end he was in pursuit of. He would have them always to remember these things, and not only to keep them in mind, but also to make mention of them, as the original words import. Those who fear the Lord make mention of his name, and talk of his loving-kindness. This is the way to spread the knowledge of the Lord and this the apostle had at heart: and those who have the written word of God are thereby put into a capacity to do this.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Wherefore I will not be negligent,.... The apostle having…
Wherefore I will not be negligent,.... The apostle having made use of proper arguments to excite the saints he writes to regard the exhortation he had given, to the diligent exercise of grace, and discharge of duty, proceeds to give the reasons of his own conduct, why he gave such an exhortation to them, and pressed it, and continued to do so, and determined for the future to go on with it, as particularly the usefulness and profitableness of it; and therefore, seeing it would be attended with so many advantages before mentioned, he was resolved that he would not be careless, nor omit any opportunity that should offer:
to put you always in remembrance of these things; of the exercise of the above graces, and the performance of the above duties, which saints are too apt to forget, and therefore should be reminded of; and it is the duty and business of the ministers of the word frequently to inculcate those things:
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though ye know them, and be established in the present truth; for those that know the most, know but in part; and may have their knowledge increased; and those that are the most established in the truths of the Gospel, may be confirmed yet more and more. This the apostle mentions as an apology for himself, and to prevent an objection that might be made, as if he had suggested that they were ignorant and unstable; or which might insinuate that there was no necessity of such frequent putting in remembrance; since they were both knowing and stable: by "the present truth" may be meant, either the whole scheme of the Gospel, which was now come by Christ, in opposition to the exhibition of it under the former dispensation, by promise and type; and it being so called, shows that it is always now, and new; that there will be no alteration in it, nor addition to it, it being like the author of it, the same yesterday, today, and for ever, and will not give place to another scheme of things; or else the particular truth of the coming of Christ, either to take vengeance on the Jewish nation, or to judge the world in righteousness, and introduce his own people into the new heavens, and new earth, Pe2 3:1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Wherefore - Since everlasting destruction attends your sloth, everlasting…
Wherefore - Since everlasting destruction attends your sloth, everlasting glory your diligence, I will not neglect always to remind you of these things - Therefore he wrote another, so soon after the former, epistle. Though ye are established in the present truth - That truth which I am now declaring.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Verse 12. Wherefore I will not be negligent] He…
Verse 12. Wherefore I will not be negligent] He had already written one epistle, this is the second; and probably he meditated more should he be spared. He plainly saw that there was no way of entering into eternal life but that which he described from the 5th to the 10th verse; 2Pet 1:5-10 and although they knew and were established in the present truth, yet he saw it necessary to bring these things frequently to their recollection.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 16 2Pe 1:12-14. Wherefore — Considering the evil consequent on…
2Pe 1:12-14. Wherefore — Considering the evil consequent on the want or neglect of these graces, and the benefit which will arise from the exercise of them; since everlasting destruction would be the consequence of your lukewarmness and sloth, and everlasting glory will be the fruit of your earnestness and diligence, I will not be negligent, &c. — Therefore he wrote another letter so soon after the former; to put you in remembrance of those things, though, as I am aware, you already know them in a great measure, and are established in the present truth — The truth which I am now declaring; yea, I think it meet — Δικαιον, just or reasonable, as long as I am in this tabernacle — Or tent. See on 2Co 5:1. How short is our abode in the body! how easily does a believer pass out of it! To stir you up — To seek an increase of all Christian graces, and to practise all the Christian virtues; by putting you in remembrance — That they are necessary to your entrance into Christ’s kingdom; knowing — As if he had said, I am the more earnest in this, because I know that I must shortly put off, &c. — That my death is soon to happen; even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me — By an express prophecy; meaning the revelation which Christ made to him, Joh 21:18-19. And it is not improbable that Christ had showed him by a late revelation that the time was now drawing nigh.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Wherefore I will not be negligent - That is,…
Wherefore I will not be negligent - That is, in view of the importance of these things.
To put you always in remembrance - To give you the means of having them always in remembrance; to wit, by his writings.
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Though ye know them - It was of importance for Peter, as it is for ministers of the gospel now, to bring known truths to remembrance. Men are liable to forget them, and they do not exert the influence over them which they ought. It is the office of the ministry not only to impart to a people truths which they did not know before, but a large part of their work is to bring to recollection well-known truths. and to seek that they may exert a proper influence on the life. Amidst the cares, the business, the amusements, and the temptations of the world, even true Christians are prone to forget them; and the ministers of the gospel render them an essential service, even if they should do nothing more than remind them of truths which are well understood, and which they have known before. A pastor, in order to be useful, need not always aim at originality, or deem it necessary always to present truths which have never been heard of before. He renders an essential service to mankind who “reminds” them of what they know but are prone to forget, and who endeavors to impress plain and familiar truths on the heart and conscience, for these truths are most important for man.
And be established in the present truth - That is, the truth which is with you, or which you have received - Robinson’s Lexicon on the word πάρειμι pareimi. The apostle did not doubt that they were now confirmed in the truth as far as it had been made known to them, but he felt that amidst their trials, and especially as they were liable to be drawn away by false teachers, there was need of reminding them of the grounds on which the truths which they had embraced rested, and of adding his own testimony to confirm their Divine origin. Though we may be very firm in our belief of the truth, yet there is a propriety that the grounds of our faith should be stated to us frequently, that they may be always in our remembrance. The mere fact that at present we are firm in the belief of the truth, is no certain evidence that we shall always continue to be; nor because we are thus firm should we deem it improper for our religious teachers to state the grounds on which our faith rests, or to guard us against the arts of those who would attempt to subvert our faith.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12–16 I will begin.[3] That is, by the Greek, I…
I will begin.[3] That is, by the Greek, I will take care. (Witham)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Incipiam, Greek: ouk ameleso, non omittam, non negligam, &c.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v12 Analysis:—The Apostle enforces his exhortation to holiness by the…
2Pe_1:12-21
Analysis:—The Apostle enforces his exhortation to holiness by the consideration of the expected nearness of his departure, confirming the certainty of the doctrine in which his readers had been instructed, a, by the eye-witness of him self and all the Apostles; b, by the word of prophecy.
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12Wherefore I will not be negligent16 to put you always in remembrance of these things, though17 ye know them,18 and be established in the present truth. 13Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;19 14Knowing that shortly20 I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. 15Moreover I will endeavour21 that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. 16For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming22 of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were23 eye-witnesses of his majesty. 17For he received from God24 the Father honour and glory, when there came25 such a voice to him from the excellent26 glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven27 we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. 19We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day28 dawn, and the daystar arise in your hearts: 20Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. 21For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy29 men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
2Pe_1:12. Wherefore.—The connection is as follows: In order that this glorious consummation [of participation in the blessings and glories of Christ’s Kingdom, Alf.—M.] may be yours, I will not fail to exhort you to the zealous cultivation of holiness, more particularly, because my departure is close at hand. Here we have the tendency of the whole Epistle. The Apostle’s aim is neither dogmatical instruction nor the refutation of false teachers, but the strengthening and encouragement in the practice of good, the growth of a virtuous disposition and of a virtuous life on the part of those to whom he writes. He mentions first the vital knowledge of God and Christ as the chief means to that desirable end.
I will not be negligent, etc.—οὐκ ἀμελήσω. [See Appar. Crit.—M.] His anxious care for their encouragement and confirmation is made more intense by ἀεί. Bengel:—“I will always think of the one thing, that it is my duty to stir you up (admonish you).”—This was doubly necessary, because of the danger of their being seduced by false prophets, 2Pe_2:1-2. Luther:—“The Christian ministry is of two kinds, as says St. Paul in Rom_12:7-8. Teaching is laying the foundation of faith, and preaching it to those who are ignorant of it. Exhorting, or, as St. Peter says, reminding, is preaching to those who know and have heard (the Gospel), admonishing and stirring them up to recollect what they know, to continue and increase therein.”—ὑπομιμνήσκειν, cf. Joh_14:26; 2Ti_2:14; Tit_3:1; 3Jn_1:10; Judges 5. Paul uses the term ἐπαναμιμνήσκειν, Rom_15:15
Although ye know them and have been established.—εἰδότας sc. ταῖτα.—ἐστηριγμένους; στηρίζω to set fast, establish. The truth was preached to you, 1Pe_1:12, confirmed by me, ,5:12, and you are fully convinced of it.—ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ, the truth has been brought near to you, yea it is present in your hearts. Similarly, Paul in Rom_10:8, “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart.” [Calvin: “Vos quidem, inquit, probe tenetis quænam sit evan-geliæ veritas, neque vos quasi fluctuantes confirmo, sed in re tanta monitiones nunquam sunt supervacuæ, quare nunquam molestate esse debent. Simili excusatione utitur Paulus ad Rom_15:14.”—M.]
2Pe_1:13. But I deem it right—reminding.—δὲ is often used by way of explanation, γάρ might have been used, but on account of the preceding εἰδότας and ἐστηριγμένους we have an adversative conjunction. Winer, p. 474, 475.—σκήνωμα like σκηνή,στῆνος, tent, tabernacle. Thus the Doric poets and Pythagorean philosophers call the body the σκῆνος of the soul. Plato calls σῶμα the σῆμα of the soul, its prison, or grave. Paul makes use of the phrase, “earthly house of tabernacle,” 2Co_5:1, with reference to the metaphor in Isa_33:12 and Wis_9:15. Bengel:—“It denotes the immortality of the soul, the brevity of its stay in this mortal body, and the facility of its departure in faith.” We may add that it also describes Christians as strangers and warriors, who use tents or huts instead of houses.—διεγείρειν. Intensive form of ἐγείρειν, thoroughly to arouse from sleep and Sleepiness through every impediment.
2Pe_1:14. Knowing that—hath declared me.—Our Lord had announced to St. Peter the manner of his death, death upon the cross when he should have grown old, Joh_21:18-19. old age had now set in, but he seems to have received another particular revelation respecting the nearness and suddenness of his death; this may also have been the case with St. Paul, 2Ti_4:6. Grotius observes that similar revelations were made to Cyprian and Chrysostom.—ταχινή, suddenly and quickly, ἐν τάχει, as in Luk_18:8; Rev_1:1. [Vulgate:—“Certus quod velox est depositio tabernaculi mei.” Bengel:—“Repentina est. Præsens, qui diu ægrotant, possunt alios adhuc pascere. Crux id Petro non erat permissura. Ideo prius agit, quod agendum est.”—M.]—ἀπόθεσις seems to apply to the figure of a garment, but suits also that of a tent, because this is laid aside after having served its purpose. In the following verse, the Apostle calls death an exodus (a going out), just as our Lord spoke of it as a going to the Father, Joh_14:2, etc. A proof of the calmness with which the Master and the disciple contemplated the violent and painful death of the cross. [ἔξοδος in connection with σκήνωμα seems to be associated with the history of the Transfiguration, cf. Luk_9:31-33, and contain incidental internal evidence of the genuineness of the Epistle, as such an association would hardly have occurred to any but an eye-witness of that memorable event.—M.]
2Pe_1:15. Moreover, I will endeavour, etc.—σπονδάσω for the usual σπουδάσομαι, see Winer, p. 101. I will take pains, that ye may have, etc., similar to the Latin studeo with Infin.—ἑκάστοτε, every time, on every occasion of necessity or emergency.—ἐχειν μνήμην ποιεῖσθαι ἔχω with Infin., as in the Classics, to be able to exercise the memory. As to the subject matter, it may relate to the present Epistle; but the conjecture of Richter “that the Apostle here holds out to them the hope of a fixed, written Gospel, the Gospel according to Mark being considered Peter’s Gospel,” may not be improbable. Cf. Lange on Mark, p. 6, etc. On this supposition only the true import of this verse is realized, for otherwise it would seem to be rather pleonastic. So Michælis, Pott, and al. De Wette thinks that Peter here holds out the promise of other Epistles, but 2Pe_1:14 renders this conjecture improbable.—μνήμην ποιεῖσθαι.—Romish interpreters discover here falsely an intimation of Peter’s intercession in heaven, but such an interpretation is even grammatically impossible. [This is not all; the Papists not only twist this passage into the intercession of saints, but use it in support of their doctrine of the invocation of saints. As a sample of such perversion of Holy Writ take the interpretation of Corn.–a Lap.: “ἔχειν, habere scilicet in mente et memoria mea ut crebro vestri sim memor apud Deum, cumque pro vobis orem, ut horum monitorum meorum memoriam vobis refricet… Hinc patet S. Petrum et Sanctos vita functos curare resmortalium, ideoque esse invocandos.” See the judicious note of Alford.—M.]
2Pe_1:16. For we did not follow cunningly-devised fables, etc.—μῦθοι, myths, legends, fictions, according to the exposition of the ancients: lying stories dressed up in the garb of truth. [Pott:—“fabulæ ad decipiendos hominum animos artificiose excogitate atque exornatæ.”—M.]—σοφίζω=to devise cunningly, invent artificially. Oecumenius mentions the fictions of the Valentinians, which belong, however, to the second century. Calov:—“They were perhaps Jewish and heathen fables, such as are found in Hesiod and Ovid, taken up by those false teachers,” cf. 2Pe_2:3.—ἐξακολουθήσαντες, to follow up, pursue with great care, 2Pe_2:2; 2Pe_2:16. [Bengel:—τὸ ἐξ errorem notat. Talis error in hac re nullus.—M.]
When we made known to you.—,Where? Partly orally, partly in the first Epistle, cf.1Pe_1:7; 1Pe_1:18; 1Pe_2:4; 1Pe_2:21; 1Pe_3:18, etc.; 1Pe_4:7; 1Pe_4:13. The reference to St. Mark’s Gospel is here out of the question. [But why any more here than in 1Pe_1:15 ? Such a reference is far from improbable.—M.]
The power and appearing refer to the chief epochs of His life, as indicated in 2Pe_3:18, etc. Not by hendiadgs=the power visible at His appearing, but two different though closely connected ideas. δύναμις embraces the riches of His whole life and salvation, the whole treasure of the Divine power centred in Him, His wonderful works, His power over the hearts of men, His power as Teacher and Redeemer, His resurrection in power after His crucifixion in weakness, 2Co_13:4, His descent to the realms of death, His ascension and His supreme dominion.—παρουσία, the presence, appearing, coming. It is used of Christ coming to judgment, Mat_24:3; Mat_24:27; Mat_24:37-39; 1Co_15:23; 1Th_2:19; 1Th_3:13; 1Th_5:23; 1Th_4:15; 2Th_2:1-8; Jam_5:7; 2Pe_3:4-12; 1Jn_2:28. In this sense it might be taken here (so Gerhard, Huther, de Wette); but seeing that παρουσία is used of the present in 1Co_16:17; 2Co_7:6-7; 2Co_10:10; Php_1:26; Php_2:26, that the present and the future interpenetrate each other in the previous passages, that, moreover, the sequel refers to the past, it is perhaps best to adopt the exposition of Hahn, who blends the two: “His manifestation in the flesh accompanied by miraculous power, and His expected future appearing in glory.” We have here also an antithesis to the economy of the Old Testament, under which salvation and the Author of salvation were only promised, but had not yet appeared in reality, 1Pe_1:11; 1 Peter 2. Pet. 2Pe_1:19. Calov:—“The Epistle is directed against those who denied the power and the first advent of Christ.”
But were eye-witnesses of His majesty.—ἐπόπται, sometimes used of those who were admitted to the third and highest degree of initiation in the Eleusinian mysteries; the verb is also used in this sense. Peter, to whom the word is peculiar, 1Pe_2:12; 1Pe_3:2, does not advert to its technical sense, but uses it in the sense of careful and close inspection and observation. Huther says that reference is made to the circumstance that the μεγαλειότης of Christ has a mystery concealed from the others.—μεγαλειότης=might and greatness, majesty, used of the mighty power of God, and exhibited in the miracles of Christ, Luk_9:43; of the admired greatness and splendour of Diana, Act_19:27. Similarly μεγαλωσύνη, Heb_1:3; Heb_8:1.
2Pe_1:17. For He received from God the Father honour and glory.—λαβὼν γάρ. An anacoluthon, to which ἐτύγχανε may be supplied. The construction is interrupted by the parenthesis. The sentence, “He was declared to be the Father’s beloved Son.” Winer, 368, 369. [But this construction, although possible, is not that recommended by Winer, who gives Fronmüller’s in a note, but says in the text: “The structure is interrupted by the parenthetical clause φωνῆς—εὐδόκησα; and the Apostle continues in 2Pe_1:18 with καὶ ταύτην τὴν φωνὴν ἡμεῖς ἠκούσαμεν, instead of saying ἡμᾶς εἰχε ταύτην τὴν φωνὴν ἀκούσαντας , of something similar.” To give this in English render, “For having received from God the Father honour and glory, (when a voice was borne to Him—well pleased), and this voice ye heard, etc.”—M.] The transfiguration of Jesus on the mount is produced as an example of the personal experience of the Apostle of the power and appearing of Christ, cf. Act_10:39; Act_5:32, where Peter also refers to his having been an eye-witness.—τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν, see 1Pe_1:7; Rom_2:7; Rom_2:10. The former may apply to His mission, the latter to His person. [Or perhaps, better, and less far fetched, τιμήν may refer to the voice which spoke to Him, and δόξαν to the light that shone from Him; so Alford. Burgon calls attention to the remarkable resemblance of this passage and Joh_1:14 concerning the same event, of which St. Peter and St. John were eyewitnesses.—M. ]
When there came to Him such a voice—well pleased.—ἐνεχθείσης indicates the manner how He received honour and glory: φέρεται φωνή=נָפַל, Isa_9:8; Dan_4:28, elsewhere γίγνεται, Luk_9:35-36, or ἔρχεται, Joh_12:30; Joh_12:28, denotes the objective, unmistakable, important character of the voice. It was not a dream or an imaginary illusion, like many fables, but it was a voice sounding from on high. The word is repeated with emphasis in the next verse. According to Mat_17:5, and Mar_9:7, it came out of a bright cloud, but Peter carries us higher up to the μεγαλόπρεπὴς δόξα, of which the cloud was only the symbol. The last words seem to be a periphrasis of God Himself (so Gerhard, de Wette, Huther and al.), such as δύναμις is used in Mat_26:64; cf. Psa_104:2; 1Ti_6:16.—Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός; the same words occur in Matt., but with the addition: αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε, and ἐν ᾧ instead of εἰς ὃν; the latter occurs also at Mat_12:18.—εἰς indicates the direction of the Divine pleasure on Him from before the foundation of the world; according, to Dietlein, the historical motion of the Divine plan of salvation with reference to Him. [Wordsworth:—The originality of the reading εἰς ὅν εὔδόκησα may be remarked as an argument for the genuineness of the Epistle. A forger would have copied the reading in Mat_17:5.—M.]
2Pe_1:18. And this voice we heard, etc.—ἡμεῖς refers specifically to the three Apostles, Peter, James and John, while the plural number in 2Pe_1:16 includes also the other Apostles. The celestial declaration was not reported to us by others, but we heard it, being with Him at the time, with our own ears.
On the holy mount.—Not on Mount Zion, as Grotius maintains, connecting it erroneously with the incident recorded in Joh_12:28. Calvin: “Wherever the Lord comes, He hallows (because He is the fountain of all holiness) everything by the fragrance of His presence.” The mountain of transfiguration is generally identified with Mount Tabor, about two hours’ distance from Nazareth, in the north-eastern part of the plain of Jezreel; but because Mount Tabor was fortified, and consequently not a solitary place, and because Jesus at that time had retired to the head-waters of the river Jordan, the mountain of transfiguration is placed by others in the neighbourhood of Hermon. See Zeller, Biblisches Wörterbuch II. 710. [The epithet “holy,” applied to that mount, affords evidence that the history of the transfiguration was well known at the time when Peter wrote this Epistle. The inference of de Wette, that it indicates a belief of the miraculous, is neither logically correct nor creditable to his estimate of Apostolical Christianity.—M.]
2Pe_1:19.—Here follows the second testimony for the glory of Christ and the irrefragable certainty of his doctrine, viz.: the word of prophecy. The reference here is evidently to the prophecies of the Old Testament, which are taken as a connected whole, and not to the prophecies of the New Testament, as Griesbach alleges. 2Pe_2:1, etc., settles this point, which is further confirmed by other references of Peter to O. T. prophecies, cf. 1Pe_1:10; Act_3:18; Act_10:43. Bengel: “The words of Moses, Isaiah and all the prophets really constitute only one word (sermo) exhibiting a perfect agreement in all its parts.”
And we have the prophetic word as more sure.—ἔχομεν. “We possess,” not, “We hold it surer.” βεβαιότερον, not “fast” or “very fast,” as Luther and Beza. The force of the comparative must be brought out. Gerhard: “The testimony of the prophets is declared to be more sure than that of the Apostles concerning the voice of the Father in heaven and the transfiguration of Christ. Not more sure per se and absolutely, but in respect of the readers of the Epistle. Among these were converts from Judaism who paid the utmost reverence to the prophetical writings and did not set so high a value on the preaching of the Apostles.” Cf. Act_18:11. So (substantially) Augustine, Bede and al. But Peter was hardly prepared to subordinate the testimony of his eyes and ears to that of the prophets. The view of de Wette is forced, “the prophetic word is more sure to us now (that we have seen and heard these things, Act_10:17-18).” Nor can we approve of Huther’s exposition, that in respect of the Christian’s hope the word of prophecy is more sure and certain than the testimony of the transfiguration, which presented only the glory of Christ in the days of His flesh, but did not directly confirm His future coming in glory (this is the sense in which he takes the παρουσία), whereas the prophetic word does point to the future coming of Christ. Oecumenius gives the right sense, saying that the truth of the promise was confirmed by its fulfilment, and that this has made the prophetic word more sure and certain now than it was before. So Grotius, Bengel, Dietlein. “We possess now the prophecies of the Old Testament as more sure than they were before.” Gerlach: “The fulfilment of the chief burden of the prophecies, viz., the manifestation of Jesus Christ, has now confirmed them altogether more fully to us than before.” [But although Fronmüller endorses the view of Oecumenius, Grotius, Bengel, Dietlein, as the right view, we have to object, that the Apostle has no such reference to now and then; but which is the right view? Alford seems to come nearest; he adheres to the grammatical force of the comparative, and renders “We have, i. e., we possess, more sure,” etc.; and explains the comparison of the word of prophecy and the incidents of the transfiguration. The Apostle calls the former more sure than the latter, because of its wider range, embracing not only a single testimony to Christ, as that Divine voice did, but τὰ εἰς χριστὸν παθήματα καὶ τὰς μετὰ ταῦτα δόξας, 1Pe_1:11; as presenting a broader basis for the Christian’s trust, and not only one fact, however important.—To this may be added the fact that the voice from heaven and the vision of the transfiguration were vouchsafed to the three Apostles only, but the testimony of the word of prophecy, as the concurrent testimony of many inspired persons in different ages, is vouchsafed to the whole Church and to every individual believer.—M.] Hence the increased responsibility of those who despise it.—Others refer the comparison to the myths, mentioned in 2Pe_1:16, so Semler; but saying that the word of prophecy is more sure than those myths, would be saying very little indeed.
Whereunto ye do well—dark place.—ᾦ καλῶς ποιεῖτε προσέχοντες, to which ye do well that ye take heed. The Participle is used because they had already begun to do so (Winer, p. 46, 1). De Wette remarks that this seems to apply to Jewish Christians, but it applies still better to Gentile Christians, because it was self-evident in the case of the former.—προσέχοντες sc. νοῦν, to give attention, bend the mind, give heed to a thing, cf. Heb_2:1; Act_8:6; Act_8:10-11; Act_16:14; 1Ti_1:4; 1Ti_4:1; 1Ti_4:13; Tit_1:14; Heb_7:13.—ὡς λύχνῳ φαίνοντι; λύχνος, a light, a lantern, a candle used at night, Bengel takes φαίνοντι as the Imperfect on account of διαυγάσῃ; but better take it as a Present.—αὐχμηρὸς=dry, arid, rough, dusty, dirty, dim, dark, because filth and darkness are often found together. What is meant by this dark place cannot be determined until we have ascertained the sense of the words following.
Until the day shall have dawned.—ἕως οὖ belongs to προσέχοντες, not to φαίνοντι. Many commentators understand the day of the blissful eternity. So Calvin: “This darkness I extend to the whole course of earthly life, and interpret that that day shall dawn when we shall see face to face that which we now see only through a mirror and in a riddle. Christ indeed shines on us in the Gospel as the Sun of Righteousness, yet so that our spirit, in part at least, remains shrouded in the darkness of death until we shall enter heaven from this carnal prison house. Then shall dawn the splendour of the day, when no mists and clouds of ignorance and error shall shut out from us the clear view of the Sun.” Similarly Dietlein: “The moment of Christ’s coming,” τόπος αὐχμηρός would accordingly denote not only the whole pre-christian era, but also the whole of this present life, the world not yet illumined by the glorious coming of Christ, and the hearts of believers, as yet not seeing, but only longing for the glory of Christ. This gives a beautiful meaning, and we may certainly call even the time of the New Testament, night, as contrasted with the future era, in which the glory of God shall light the heavenly Jerusalem and the Lamb shall be the light thereof, Rev_21:23. But Gerhard rightly objects to this interpretation, that if the day referred to were the day of a blissful eternity, ἡμέρα ought to have the article, and that such a description of the day of Christ’s advent to glory, or of the last judgment is against all analogy. Others interpret the verse of the contrast between the time of the Old Testament and that of the New. But it is against this view that the time of the N. T. had already dawned in a general sense, while the Conj. Aor. points to something future and possible. The reference, as Calvin observes, is rather to the antithesis between the state of nature and the state of grace. The day dawns in the heart, when man awakes from his dream-life, when the light of the holiness and justice of God shines into his heart, and enables him clearly to perceive his sinfulness; the morning star arises, when thereupon he is profoundly and vitally moved by the mercy of God in Christ, and faithful to the leadings of grace, gradually attains to a knowledge of Christ and the Divine mysteries, which is continually growing, expanding and developing into greater clearness and perfection, cf. Rom_13:12; 2Co_4:6; Eph_5:14. The readers of this Epistle are indeed spoken of as knowing and established in the truth, 2Pe_1:12, but immediately before it is also said that they stand in need of constant reminding. This involves not any more a contradiction than does the language of Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians, where, at 2Pe_1:18, he prays that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened, although he had said before that God had abounded toward them in all wisdom and prudence, 2Pe_1:8-9. The majority of the readers of this Epistle we may consider to have stood only in the outer court of the sanctuary, at the beginning of true conversion; they believed the external evidences, held to the word of prophecy, separated themselves from the world, but had not yet attained a vital knowledge of Christ and entered into intimate communion with Him.—[This is substantially the view of Huther and Alford; see the latter, whose notes are very full on this passage.—M.]
And the morning star shall have arisen in your hearts.—φωσφόρος, light-bringing sc. ἀστήρ, the morning star. Hesych. understands by it the Sun. [This is a tradition among commentators, which has been set aside by Alford, who, instead of quoting from the commentators, quotes Hesych., who merely says: φωσφόρος,φωτοδότης, λαμπρὸς ἀστὴρ, light-bringer, light-giver, bright star.—M.], but the word is not used in this sense elsewhere, whereas Christ calls Himself the bright Morning Star, that heralds the eternal sunrise, Rev_22:16. To him that over-cometh he promises the Morning Star, i. e., Himself and the brightness of His grace, Rev_2:28.—διαυγάζειν used of dawn. Huther quotes a passage from Polybius [ἅμα τῷ διαυγάζειν.—M.] ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις, in the hearts touched by grace, not in the world generally. Now we perceive clearly what is meant by the dark place (αὐχμηρῷ τόπῳ); it is, as Bengel explains it, our heart, which before conversion, is unclean, dry and dark. But considering that the same state of heart is everywhere in the world, the world in general may be described as an arid, desert and dark place.—ἕως οὖ with Aor. Conj. denotes the duration of an action, until the possible event has actually taken place. Winer, p. 312. But this does not imply that the use of prophecy is superfluous after the illumination has taken place, cf. Mat_1:25; Mat_5:18; Mat_5:26. This is evident from the examples of the Apostles themselves.
2Pe_1:20. Knowing this first of all.—The Apostle having exhorted them to give heed to prophecy, now further reminds them of the origin of prophecy, and that it must be interpreted in the same spirit, out of which it proceeded.—τοῦτο belongs to what follows.—πρῶτον, not as Bengel, “before I say it” [priusquam ego dico], but first and foremost, 1Ti_2:1, being conscious, bearing in mind, Jam_1:3; Heb_10:34, like εἰδότες, 1Pe_1:18.
That all prophecy of the Scripture is not matter of its own interpretation.—It is not necessary to understand here a Hebraism, Winer, p. 185. The preceding shows that the reference is to the prophecies contained in the Old Testament. The prophecy of the Scripture is opposed to the false prophets. 2Pe_2:1.—οὐκ ἰδίυς ἐπιλυσέως, happens not as matter of its own interpretation. ἐπιλύειν, Mar_4:34, to interpret, to expound, to settle, to determine, to decide, Act_19:39.= פָּתַר Gen_41:12; Gen_40:8. The reference is to the origin, not to the interpretation of the prophecy, as is evident from 2Pe_1:21. Even as to its origin it is not matter of its own interpreting. “The prophets, receiving the prophecies, were passive: a vision, a painting appeared before their mind, which they described to their hearers and readers as they saw it, without understanding all it signified, so that they themselves searched what or what manner of time the Spirit did signify, 1Pe_1:10-12.”—“A prophecy only expresses that which God had communicated to the seer, and is consequently as much an object of search and deciphering to him as it is to us.” Gerlach.—Ἰδίας is most simply construed with θελήματι ἀνθρώπου; that which depends on the exercise of the natural power and will of man. De Wette cites the following passage from Philo: “A prophet utters nothing of his own.” Dietlein’s interpretation is too full: “No prophecy occurs in the Scripture that could be regarded as already possessing its own interpretation; all prophecy has rather the significance and interpretation of history, and therefore must not be treated allegorically, but has its fulfilment in the facts of history and thence also its interpretation.” Huther institutes a comparison with Joseph’s interpretation of dreams, Gen_40:8. The words in which Joseph foretells the prisoners their fate constitute the προφητεία; this presupposes, on the part of Joseph, an ἐπίλυσις, an interpretation of those dreams; but Joseph ascribes that power to God, cf. Gen_41:15-16. Better take those dreams as προφητεία, the interpretation of which was communicated to Joseph from on high. Bengel defines ἐπίλυσις as the interpretation in virtue of which the prophets were enabled to unlock to men things previously locked up.
[Alford shows that the reference here is to the prophets themselves, who were unable to solve or interpret. He quotes from Oecumenius; τουτέστιν ὅτι λαμβάνουσι μὲν ἀπὸ θεοῦ οἱ προφῆται τὴν προφητείαν, ἀλλ’ οὐχ ὡς ἐκεὶνοι βούλονται,’αλλ’ ὡς τὸ κινοῦν αὐτοὺς ἐνεργεῖ πνεῦμα. καὶ ᾔδεσαν μὲν καὶ συνίεσαν τὸν καταπεμπόμενον αύτοῖς προφητικὸν λόγον, οὐ μέντοι καὶ τὴν ἐπίλυσιν αὐτοῦ ἐποιοῦντο…… καίπερ εἰδότες οὐ χρείαν εἶχον ἑρμηνεύειν τὰ ὑπ’ αὐτῶν, ἀλλ’ ἑτέροις διηκόνουν ταὺτα ἡμῖν γάρ. De Wette adds that this is said to excuse the difficulty of the interpretation of prophecy, and to remove occasion of unbelief and scoffing (2Pe_3:3). Alford agrees with Huther that the last purpose is not only not indicated in the context, but is quite out of the question; the Apostle referring to prophecy not as difficult of interpretation, but as a candle shining in a dark place, nay, as being even more firm and secure than external proofs of the same truth. Huther’s view arises from the consideration that ἐπίλυσις is not the subsequent interpretation of a prophecy already given, but the intelligent apprehension of the meaning of the prophecy out of which (but not ἰδίας on the part of those by whom it is sent), the prophecy itself springs. This Alford considers much confirmed by γίνεται, which with a Genitive, as here, is not=ἐστιν, but rather seems to denote origin. So that the sense will be, that prophecy springs not out of human interpretation, i. e., is not a prognostication made by a man knowing what he means when he utters it; but, etc. This seems also to be the view of Bengel.—M.]
2Pe_1:21. For no prophecy—Holy Ghost.—Further substantiation of the foregoing position negatively and positively.—θελήματι, Dative of the cause, cf. ad rem Joh_1:13. The pleasure, the arbitrary will of man as opposed to the Spirit of God.—The sense: The production of a true prophecy does not depend upon the exercise of man’s own power, as it was attempted in the case of heathen divination—ἠνέχθη answers to ἐνεχθείσης φωνῆς, 2Pe_1:17-18, and denotes not the utterance (so De Wette), but the origin.—φερόμενοι corresponds to the classical terms θεοφόρητος, θεοφορούμενος. They were impelled, borne along by the Holy Ghost, like a ship before a strong wind. Under this influence they remained passive, although they were fully conscious. Josephus says of Balaam, that he was moved by the Divine Spirit, cf. Heb_1:1. Calov: “It relates as much to inward illumination as to outward impulse, yet not so that the prophet lost all self-control,” Psa_45:1.—ἐλάλησαν (see Appar. Crit.) This includes also their writings, Act_2:31; Jam_5:10. Their written words were determined by the Holy Ghost not only as to their contents, but, in a certain manner, also as to their form.—ἅγιοι θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι, cf. 1Ti_6:11, particular instruments of the Holy Ghost, prophets or other holy men. This proves the security and the venerable character of the testimony of prophecy. But it is also to suggest the conclusion, that due regard being had to the matter, prophecy must not be arbitrarily interpreted, but in the sense of the Holy Ghost. Bernard says: “With the same spirit in which the Holy Scripture is written, it must be read and understood.” For the Holy Ghost is the best interpreter of His words.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The evangelical Church rests upon the double foundation of the pure, unadulterated word of God and the great truth of the sinner’s justification through faith in the saving merit of Christ. “It is remarkable,” says Besser, “that in the first chapter of this Epistle, written with the design of fortifying the Church against false teaching the Apostle extols first that precious faith whereby we possess righteousness and exhibit virtue, and then the precious Scriptures, the light of the world in a dark place.”
2. Mark the Apostle’s anxious care to leave to believers a written testimony of the fundamental truths of the Gospel directed against the many false teachers, who even then began to stir themselves. “Peter therefore was not of opinion that oral tradition could preserve the memory of Apostolical teaching. It was for this very reason that he wrote; yea, he foretells, that the truth would be perverted by feigned words (2Pe_2:3); to these he opposes Holy Scripture, that is, the sure prophetic word of the Old Testament and the Apostolical eye- and ear-witness of Jesus Christ, which is written in the books of the New Testament, 2Pe_3:16.”—Chemnitz.
3. 2Pe_1:16 and the following verses contain strong evidence of the genuineness of our Epistle. Stier: “The presumption that words, dogmas, testimonies like those contained in the second Epistle of Peter from beginning to end, could have originated in the mind of a forger, that such power and illumination, such assurance of speech could have coëxisted in the same soul alongside of a so-called pious fraud,—that this μυθολόγος, should intentionally personate in a “second Epistle” the Apostle exhorting, confessing and prophesying before his death, and yet have the audacity of expressly renouncing all σεσοφισμένους μύθους, and withal endowed with such extraordinary knowledge, and using such bold original language—such an hypothesis contradicts the whole psychology of thi Christian consciousness, and the real defenders of the genuineness Of the Epistle should not be ashamed to confess it openly out of their Christian consciousness.”
[2Pe_1:19. Wordsworth: “A forger, personating St. Peter, would have magnified the importance of the supernatural visions vouchsafed especially to him whose character he assumed. He would have exalted those revelations above prophecy. But the Apostle, whose characteristic is humility, is not “elated by the greatness of his revelations,” but wisely and soberly commends the ordinary means of grace, which all Christians, of every age and country, possess in the sacred Scriptures, as of more cogency and value for their assurance and growth in grace, than any extraordinary visions which were vouchsafed personally to himself.”—M.]
4. We should consider the Transfiguration of Jesus not only as a miraculous testimony in favour of His Divine mission for the disciples, but also as a seal set to His glory for Himself. See Stier, II., 198; Lange on Mat_16:28; Mat_17:1; Beck, Lehrwissenschaft, I., 512.
5. De Wette thinks it strange that the author, in his argument, 2Pe_1:19-21, does not quote the speeches of Christ Himself concerning His coming, as recorded by the synoptists; that 2Pe_3:16, shows that he must have been acquainted with them, and that he passes them by because the rapid succession of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the advent of Christ announced in them, had not been verified. But this remark proceeds on wholly false premises, and it formed part of the Apostle’s plan to advert not to the testimony of Christ, which might have been disputed by the scoffers, and of which the adversaries, at all events, did not think very highly, but to the testimony of eye-witnesses of Christ.—Delitzsch, Psychol., 2Peter 312: “ The manner of the revelation of prophecy is not always ecstatic; it may also consist only in that the willing, the thinking and the feeling Spirit-life of the prophet in a state of full and waking self-power is raised and borne along by a gentle, Divine influence, which he (and this is indispensable) is able clearly to distinguish from the working of his own spirit.”
6. Those who, like many adherents of separatistic tendencies, take so one-sided a view of prophecy that they place it alongside, or even above the work of Christ, prove that the day has not yet dawned to them, and that the morning-star has not yet risen in their hearts. But the pretext that the day has dawned, says Roos, should not cause men to despise the word of prophecy; they should rather inquire whether it is day ?
[7. Wordsworth: “Herein consists the probationary use of prophecy, viz., to try the faith and exercise the vigilance and patience of believers, and to make unbelievers themselves to become witnesses to the truth, and instruments in establishing it. If prophecy had been ἰδίας ἐπιλύσεως, if its interpretation had been declared at the same time with its delivery, then none of those moral and probationary purposes would have been answered. The fulfilment of prophecy in a manner contrary to all previous expectation, proves the prophecy to be Divine.”—M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The Apostle’s motto is that of his Master: “I must work…. while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work.”—The nearness of departure a powerful motive of working for the Lord.—“Those who in unbelief despise the revelation of God, fall superstitiously into fables,” 2Th_2:11, Besser.—Christianity is objectively given and revealed from on high, and infinitely remote and different from all human devices, subjective opinions, and personal imaginings.—The testimony of the prophets and the Apostles two immoveable pillars for the support of the truth of the Gospel.—Dawn in the conversion of a sinner.—When does the morning-star arise in the heart? The true key to understanding the word of prophecy.—The secret of the true interpretation of the sacred Scriptures.
Starke:—Teachers must not desist from teaching, exhorting and admonishing, 1Ti_4:13.—Grow not weary in exhorting one another. Foremost among good works is the work of saving souls from the burning, Jam_5:19-20. The opportunity is daily at hand; we must not wait for to-morrow.—There is nothing more certain than death, nothing more uncertain than the time of death. Happy is the man who daily lives as if he were to die to-day, Ecc_9:12.—It cannot be denied that God by some peculiar grace announces to some the time of their death, not indeed in virtue of immediate revelation, but in virtue of some deep impression conveyed to the heart; but this happens hardly to one in a thousand: dear friend, wait not for it, but prepare betimes.—The good which hearers have heard from their teachers, or seen in them, they should diligently remember after their decease, Heb_13:7.—Those who run after will-o’-the-wisps, will sink into morasses. Christians are on their guard against such lights. Christ and His word the true Light on our ways, Joh_8:31.—Those who seek to glorify Christ in others, and desire to fill worthily the office of glorifying Him in a manner worthy of the Holy Ghost, must have experienced with Christ (although in an inferior degree, and in a different yet true manner,) the power and glory of Christ in themselves, and be able to speak according to the Holy Scripture from their own experience (2Co_4:6).—With those who suffer themselves to be found in Christ through faith, God is as well pleased as with Christ Himself. For He has been made righteousness unto us, so that in Him we are considered righteous, 2Co_5:21.—O man, that art by nature dark, suffer thyself to be made a bright and shining light through the right use of the word of God, or thou wilt not see the light of heaven, Joh_5:35.—Whatever remains as yet dark to us in the word of prophecy, shall hereafter become all light, if not in this present time, yet, according to the promise in Dan_12:4; Dan_12:9-10, when Christ, the true Morning Star, shall arise on that great day both of judgment and light, 1Co_13:12.—It is enough to have learnt something from the word of God. As the light of day grows more bright after dawn, so also the knowledge of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ must grow and increase.—Holy Scripture does not contradict itself. Though it seem so, it is not so. Compare the one with the other, and you will find the most beautiful agreement.—God uses holy (sanctified) men in His service, so that those who would be His instruments, must also be His temples and work-shops.—Reasonable proof of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost: He spake of future things by the prophets, which things, for the most part, have come to pass; but this is solely a work of the omniscient God.
Gerhard:—There is no other access to reconciliation with God and to forgiveness except through the Son, Isa_13:1; for Christ’s sake and through Christ only are we made partakers of those blessings.
Roos:—Woe to him, whose works, words and writings cause others to sin, even after his death. Happy he, whose works, words and writings bear good fruit, even after his death. Such an one’s reward of grace will be great.
Lisco:—Pastoral fidelity even unto death.—The legacy of a departing pastor.—The firm foundation of the citizenship of the heavenly kingdom.
Kapff:—The firm reason of our faith. This reason rests, 1. on the outward testimony of the Apostles and the miracles of Christ; 2. on the inward testimony of the Holy Ghost.
Staudt:—How firmly Christians may step forward in their faith, 1. in all that depends on the coming of Jesus in the flesh; 2. in all that depends on the coming of Jesus to glory.
[On 2Pe_1:15.—Illustration:—When Socrates was about to take the poison, to which the Athenian judges had condemned him, Crito asked him, “But how shall we bury thee?” Socrates replied, “As you please, if you can take me, and I do not elude your pursuit.” Then gently smiling and looking at us he said: “Friends, I cannot persuade Crito that I am that Socrates who now converses with you.…, but he thinks that I am he whom he shall shortly see dead, and asks me how I would be buried. I have already declared that after I have drunk the poison, I should no longer remain with you, but shall depart to certain felicities of the blessed.” Plato, Phædon, 64.—M.]
[Secker:—We find in multitudes of places, from the earliest book of Scripture to the latest, supernatural impulses and illuminations ascribed to the Spirit of God: Gen_6:3; Gen_41:38; Num_6:25-26; Num_24:2; 1Sa_10:10; 2Ki_2:9, etc.: 1Ch_12:18; 2Ch_15:1; Neh_9:30; Eze_2:2; Zec_7:12; Rev_1:10; Rev_2:7; Rev_4:2, etc.; we cannot doubt, therefore, but they proceed from Him always, though sometimes it is not expressly affirmed. So that we are to honour the third Person as the immediate inward instructor of men from the foundation of the world; as Him who hath admonished, reproved and striven with the wicked; who hath warmed and cheered the hearts of the pious in all times with the manifestations of God’s will, with declarations of His favour, with precautions against unseen dangers, with promises of deliverance from the heaviest afflictions, with His presence and guidance in the most intricate difficulties.”—M.]
[On 2Pe_1:21.—See Bp. Hurd’s Sermon on False Ideas of Prophecy, and the whole volume will be found a most valuable aid to students of the difficult subject of prophecy. It is entitled “An Introduction to the Study of the Prophecies,” etc. vol. 5 of the works, but also published separately. See also Dr. McCaul’s Essay on Prophecy in “Aids to Faith,” Bp. Ellicott’s Essay on Scripture and its Interpretation, in the same volume, and Canon Wordsworth’s Essay on the Interpretation of Scripture, in the volume “Replies to Essays and Reviews.”—M.]
Footnotes:
[16] 2Pe_1:12.[διὸ μελλἠσω ἀεὶ περ.τούτ.ὑπομ.ὑμᾶς Cod. Sin. ὑμᾶς before ἀεὶ Rec. A. διὸ μελλ.ἀεὶ ὑμᾶς ὑπομ.περ.τούτ. B. C. Lachmann, Tisch., Alf., al.—M.]
[Lachmann reads μελλήσω, therefore I shall always be about to, always be ready to remind you; so Tischendorf. The sense is the same.—M.]
[17]2Pe_1:12. [καίπερ εἰδ—διεγείρ ὑμ. omitted in Cod. Sin.; but the omission is doubtful.—M.]
[18] 2Pe_1:12. [German “it.”—M.]
[German:.… always to remind you of these things, although ye know it, and are established in the truth which is present in you.
Translate:.… present with you.—M.]
[19] 2Pe_1:13. [ἐν τῆ ὑπομνήσει A. Cod. Sin.—M.]
[German: But I think it right.…. to stir you up in such reminding.—M.]
[20] 2Pe_1:14. [German “ploetzlich kommt, “comes suddenly.”—M.]
[Knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle comes suddenly,.…
Translate:. … tabernacle is swift. ….—M.]
[21] 2Pe_1:15. [σπουδάζω, Cod. Sin.; minusc.—M.]
[German:.… that after my departure ye may always be able to have these things in remembrance…Translate:. … to call these things to mind.—M.]
[22]2Pe_1:16 [παρουσίαν, German “Erscheinung,” appearing.—M.]
[23] 2Pe_1:16. [So German; literally with Passive force “having been made or admitted eye-witnesses. The last preferable on account of the faint allusion to initiated admittance to the Eleusinian mysteries.” See Exegetical and Critical.—M.]
[Translate: “For we had not.… when we made known.… but had been.… Lillie. On the use of the Aorist for the Pluperfect see Buttmann, § 137. 3. 6. Winer, § 41. 5.—M.]
[24]2Pe_1:17. [παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ Cod. Sin. C. minusc.—M.]
[25]2Pe_1:17. [So German; more correctly Peile and Alford, “When a voice was borne to Him of such a kind,” viz., as is stated in what follows.—M.]
[26]2Pe_1:18. [ὑπὸ τῆς μεγ. δόξης. “by the sublime glory.”—M.]
[27] 2Pe_1:18. [ἐκ τοῦ οὐρ. Cod. Sin. A.—M.]
[German: And this voice we heard coming from heaven, when; …
Translate: And this voice we heard borne from heaven, when. ….—M.]
[28] 2Pe_1:19. [ἡ ἡμέρα Cod. Sin. minusc.—M.]
[German: And we have the prophetic word as a more sure one.… until the day shall have dawned, and the morning star shall have arisen in your hearts.
Translate: And we have the prophetic word more sure.….as unto a lamp.….until the day dawn, etc.—M.]
2Pe_1:20. [German: Knowing this first of all, that all prophecy of the Scripture is not matter of its own interpretation.—M.]
[29] 2Pe_1:21. [Rec. οἰ ἅγιοι;ἅγιοι τοῦ A. Cod. Sin. (ἀπὸ Θεοῦ without οἱ ἅγιοι) B. Tisch., Alf.—M.]
[German: For no prophecy was at any time brought forth out of the will of man, but holy men of God spake, being borne along by the Holy Ghost.
Translate: For prophecy was never brought by the will of man, but men spake from God, borne along by the Holy Ghost.—M.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Wherefore--as these graces are so necessary to your abundant…
Wherefore--as these graces are so necessary to your abundant entrance into Christ's kingdom (Pe2 1:10-11).
I will not be negligent--The oldest manuscripts read, "I will be about always to put you in remembrance" (an accumulated future: I will regard you as always needing to be reminded): compare "I will endeavor," Pe2 1:15. "I will be sure always to remind you" [ALFORD]. "Always"; implying the reason why he writes the second Epistle so soon after the first. He feels there is likely to be more and more need of admonition on account of the increasing corruption (Pe2 2:1-2).
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in the present truth--the Gospel truth now present with you: formerly promised to Old Testament believers as about to be, now in the New Testament actually present with, and in, believers, so that they are "established" in it as a "present" reality. Its importance renders frequent monitions never superfluous: compare Paul's similar apology, Rom 15:14-15.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12–16 4. Hence, this his solemn apostolic reminder, specially in…
4. Hence, this his solemn apostolic reminder, specially in view of his near decease, 2Pe_1:12-15.
12. Wherefore—Because the only way for you to heaven is that above set forth.
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I… not… negligent—The best texts have μελλησω, I shall be about to, nearly equivalent to, I shall be careful. Here speaks the faithful pastor.
These things—The things already written and those connected with them. They already had his first epistle, and would soon receive the present one, by which they would always be reminded of these vital truths.
Ye know—Yet need the reminder.
Established—With firm conviction.
The present truth—Not the truth herein set forth, but the truth already received and present with them.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12. Wherefore I will not be negligent] Many of…
12. Wherefore I will not be negligent] Many of the better MSS. have the reading “I will proceed to put you in remembrance,” but the Received Text is fairly supported. The words in either case indicate the anxiety with which the Apostle looked on the threatening dangers of the time. In the addition of “though ye know them” we trace a touch of humility and courtesy, like that of St Paul in Rom_1:12. In assuming previous knowledge, the Apostle finds, as the greatest of Greek orators had found before him (Demosth. p. 74. 7), the surest means of making that knowledge at once clearer and deeper.
in the present truth] The translation, though quite literal, is for the English reader somewhat misleading, as suggesting the thought that the Apostle is speaking of some special truth, not of the truth as a whole. Better, therefore, in the truth which is present with you. So taken the words furnish a suggestive parallel to 1Pe_5:12, as a recognition of the previous work of St Paul and his fellow-labourers in the Asiatic provinces.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–16 (12) I will not be negligent.—According to the right…
(12) I will not be negligent.—According to the right reading, I shall be sure to; because on your doing these things depends your entrance into Christ’s kingdom.
Though ye know them.—We find the same affectionate delicacy in Rom_15:14-15 (see Notes there); 1Jn_2:21; Jud_1:5.
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And be established in the present truth.—Comp. “This is the true grace of God wherein ye stand” (1Pe_5:12), to which it is not impossible that this verse refers; the “always” here looks like a half apology for what his readers might think needless repetition. “The present truth” is an instance of a translation being misleading through its very literalness. The three Greek words are exactly represented, but the sense is misrepresented. The meaning is, not the truth that we are now discussing, the truth before us, but the truth of the gospel that is come unto you (Col_1:5-6), and is present with you: “the faith once for all delivered unto the saints” (Jud_1:3).
(12-15) Transition from the exhortation just concluded to the argument that follows, closely and naturally connected with both.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Wherefore I will net be negligent to put you…
Wherefore I will net be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things; rather, as in the Revised Version, wherefore I shall be ready. This reading (mellhsw) is better supported than that of the T.R. (oujk ojmelhsw). (For this use of mellein with the infinitive almost as a periphrasis for the future, compare, in the Greek, (Mat_24:6) The apostle will take every opportunity of reminding his readers of the truths and duties which he has been describing, and that because faith in those truths and the practice of those duties is the only way to Christ"s eternal kingdom. Though ye know them, and be established in the present truth; better, as in the Revised Version, and are established in the truth which is with you. These words seem to imply that St. Peter knew something, through Silvanus, (see 1Pe_5:12) of those to whom he was writing; they were not ignorant of the gospel; now they had read his First Epistle, and earlier they had heard the preaching of St. Paul or his companions. (comp. Rom_1:13) (For the word rendered "established" (ejsthrigmenouv), comp. (1Pe_5:10; 2Pe_3:16, 2Pe_3:17) St. Peter seems to have kept ever in his thoughts the solemn charge of the Saviour, "When thou art converted, strengthen (sthrixon) thy brethren". (Luk_22:32) For "the truth which is with you" (paroush), comp. Col_1:6.
Vers. 12-21.
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Reasons for diligence in his apostolic work.
I THE TIME IS SHOUT.
1. We need continually to be aroused. We may know all things necessary for salvation; we have known them, it may be, all our lives; we are firmly convinced of their truth; but we need to keep that knowledge vividly before our hearts, to bring it to bear upon the circumstances of our daily lives. Few of us have this recollectedness, this persevering watchfulness; we need constant exhortation. St. Peter"s readers had the knowledge of the gospel; they had heard it from St. Paul and his companions. St. Peter gladly acknowledges it exhortation is better received when it is expressed in kindly terms. But he has a duty to perform; he felt, like St. Paul, that he was a debtor both to Jews and Greeks; that he must do his utmost to preach the gospel of Christ, and to keep alive the flame of holy love in those who knew the truth. So he will take all opportunities of arousing those whom he is addressing; he will never relax his efforts as long as he lives; he knows that they will always need the word of exhortation; he knows that it will always be his duty to exhort them. St. Peter is an example to all Christian ministers. They must watch for souls; they must never weary in their work; at all times and in all places they should strive, sometimes by word, always by example, to arouse men to a sense of the momentous importance of the things which belong to their peace. They are never "off duty," as men are in other occupations; they should be always on the watch for opportunities of saving souls, of building up believers in their most holy faith, of comforting the feebleminded, of arousing the careless, of warning, guiding, encouraging, according to the needs of those with whom they have to do.
2. "The night cometh when no man can work. St. Peter looks forward to his death with sweet and holy calmness; he knew that it would be swift the sharp death of martyrdom. He may have felt that it was near at hand; for he was an old man now, and the hour of which the Lord had spoken (Joh_21:18, Joh_21:19) could not be long delayed. He calls it the putting off of his tabernacle. His earthly body was but as a tent, perishable, temporary; the tent was old, worn out; it could not last long. The apostle knew, like St. Paul, that he had "a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," and, knowing this, he could calmly await the dissolution of the earthly house of this tabernacle. But the approach of death, the thought that, when it came, it would be speedy, was a reason for more earnest work while there was time. It is good for us to keep the thought of our approaching death in continual remembrance, to accustom ourselves to reflect calmly and thoughtfully upon it. Such meditation throws a clear light upon the solemn meaning of our earthly life, on the deep importance of finishing the work which God has given us to do. Sometimes we can do that work all the better when the shadow of approaching death is falling upon us. Our testimony seems more real, deeper, and more convincing, when it comes from men who are on the point of departure, whose immediate future is in the world beyond the grave. The thought of coming death will make true Christians all the more eager to work for God; they wilt pray that Christ may be magnified in them, whether it be by life or by death; they will pray for a holy, peaceful death, not only for their own sakes, but also that others, seeing how Christian men can die, may be led to follow their faith. They will work for the salvation of souls even on their death-bed, and they will do what lies in their power to leave behind them a legacy of holy example and holy memories, or, it may be, of holy writings, which may benefit those who remain. To such holy souls death is a departure, an exodus, out of a life of sorrows into the land of promise, the heavenly Canaan. The Lord who died for them is with them when they die; he accomplished his decease at Jerusalem for them. His death hath destroyed the power of the king of terrors, and taken away the sting of death; his death was a departure out of humiliation into glory. He told Peter once that he could not follow whither he was going then, but that he should follow him afterwards. And so now it is his will that all those whom the Father hath given him should be with him where he is.
II THE CERTAINTY OF THE TRUTHS OF THE GOSPEL.
1. They are not fables. There were many strange stories current, some among Jews, some among Gentiles; there were many legends, many myths. But the gospel history stands apart from all these in its unimpeachable truthfulness. It contains many wonderful works of power, many wonders of grace; it announces the future advent of our Saviour Jesus Christ. But all these are related with a simplicity which has the stamp of truth. The gospel speaks to us as with a voice from heaven; it awakens echoes in our hearts; it brings with it its own evidence.
1. They have the testimony of eye-witnesses. There were many eyewitnesses of the Lord"s life and works five hundred brethren at once had seen him after he was risen from the dead. But there were three who
2. had received an august initiation into the holiest mysteries, who had been eye-witnesses of his majesty when the splendour of the Divine glory flashed through the veil of human flesh, and saints long ago departed from the world came to do him homage, desiring, as the blessed angels desire, to look into the mysteries of redemption, and to understand something of the blessed and awful meaning of his most precious death.
3. The direct testimony of God the Father. On the day of the Transfiguration sure and irresistible proof of the Saviour"s Divine majesty was vouchsafed to eye and ear alike. That radiant glory came from God the Father; the highly favoured three had then a foretaste of the glorious vision which the blessed shall behold in heaven according to the Saviour"s prayer, "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me." That great sight was to prepare them for the awful agony that was to follow. God gives from time to time glimpses of the blessedness of heaven to his saints; the Saviour manifests himself to his chosen as he doth not unto the world. And sometimes those who are most highly favoured with the vision of his love are called to be in a special manner partakers of his suffering, to bear about with them in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. But the three apostles did not only behold the glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father; a further heavenly witness was vouchsafed. A voice uttered by the excellent glory was borne out of the bright cloud to the transfigured Lord; it was borne along towards him, as if riding on the cherubim, flying on the wings of the wind; it came like a living thing, a strange startling reality, a voice such as no other man had heard except the holy Baptist. Borne along in majestic course, it came to the transfigured Jesus, and recognized him as the eternal Son. "This is my Son, my Beloved, in whom I am well pleased." None other than God the Father could have uttered that voice; the emphatic I (ejgw) announced his presence. He was well pleased in the adorable Son; ever from all eternity had the love of the Father beamed upon the everlasting Son of God. Now, in his incarnation, in his voluntary humiliation, the Father was well pleased; he had declared his good pleasure at the baptism, he declared it again at the Transfiguration. The Lord Jesus might be despised and rejected of men; he was owned by the Lord God Omnipotent as the Son of God most holy. And surely, as God was well pleased in him who humbled himself and became obedient even unto death, so he is well pleased now with those to whom the only begotten Son hath given power to become the children of God, when they abase themselves, when they learn of the Lord Christ humility and submission of will, and pray in his holy words, "Father, not my will, but thine be done." The chosen three heard that august voice as it was borne from heaven; they heard it, as the emphatic hJmeiv signifies, themselves, with their own ears; there was no room for doubt, no possibility of error. The voice was borne from heaven; it was borne to Christ; the three chosen witnesses heard it, as they were with him in the holy mount. We have their testimony, the testimony of eye-witnesses, who declare unto us that which they saw and heard. The witnesses were men whose truthfulness could not be impeached. They had nothing to gain in this world, but everything to lose; all were persecuted, two of them suffered the death of martyrdom. We may well thank God for the strength and certainty of the evidence of Christianity.
4. The testimony of prophecy. The Law and the prophets testified of Christ. The Lord himself appealed to that testimony when, "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded the things concerning himself. (Luk_24:27) All the varied testimony of all the prophets converges in the Person of Christ, and finds its fulfillment there. No other deliverer has arisen answering to ancient prediction; in the Lord Christ only meet all the voices of the prophets. Many recognized the power of this testimony in apostolical times: the eunuch who was reading the great prophecy of Isaiah when Philip drew near to his chariot; the multitudes who listened to the apostles as they persuaded them out of the prophets, witnessing, as they did again and again, that "all the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days." This testimony of the prophets, so convincing in itself, so especially weighty and sacred to Hebrew believers, was rendered surer by the most august and authoritative of all testimonies, the direct testimony of God the Father, given in the voice that was borne from heaven. None who heard that voice could entertain one moment"s doubt that the Lord Jesus was indeed he "of whom Moses in the Law, and the prophets, did write.
5. The value and use of prophecy. It is good to give heed to prophecy, to study the prophetic Word. The external evidences of our religion are very helpful to inquirers after truth; ancient prophecy is an important factor of those external evidences. It is like a lamp that shineth in a dark place. The world is a dark dreary place; we could not find the strait path and narrow way that leadeth unto life without the guiding light of the holy Word of God. The heart is a dark place, gloomy, dry, and squalid, when it is not illumined by the Holy Spirit, of God. In that dark place the light of prophecy shineth. It guided the steps of many an anxious inquirer in the early days of Christianity; doubtless the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah led many thoughtful men, besides the Ethiopian eunuch, to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That chapter, like so much more of Old Testament prophecy, appeals to the deepest yearnings of the awakening heart, to the sense of sin, the feeling of need, the longing for atonement, the reaching forth of the soul for a personal Saviour. Prophecy is a "burning and a shining light," as John the Baptist was; his office was to lead men to Christ, to say, "Behold the Lamb of God!" Such is the office of prophecy. Its guiding lamp is precious; but more precious far to the individual soul is the revealed presence of that Saviour of whom all prophecy speaks. His presence, manifested according to his promise into the Christian heart, is the dawn of the spiritual day. He is the Day-star, the Light-bringer; for he is the Light, the Light of the world. Precious above all price is the clear brightness of that holy day; precious, therefore, is prophecy, as it guides us onward through the encircling gloom till the dawning of the day, and the rising of the Bright and Morning Star. And we shall value the guidance of prophecy the more when we consider the source from which it comes. The prophecies of Holy Scripture are not the result of human thought. The prophet did not himself unravel the mysteries of the future. It was not Joseph who interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh, or Daniel who interpreted the visions of Nebuchadnezzar. It was not for the prophet to interpret the revelation presented to himself. Interpretation as well as vision comes from God. "It is not in me," said Joseph: "God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." "There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets," said Daniel to the king. Prophecy came from heaven, like the voice which spake at the Transfiguration; it was borne to the prophet, as that voice was borne to the Lord. The holy men who uttered the prophecies were borne along by the Holy Spirit of God. God who spake at the Transfiguration is the God who spake by the prophets. Both forms of testimony come from him; both are sure and certain; the one makes the other surer.
LESSONS.
1. St. Peter looked forward calmly to the approach of death; we shouldlearn to do the like. He regarded the nearness of death as an incentive to earnest work; we should follow his example.
2. The external evidence of our religion is sure; we have the testimony ofeye-witnesses, who themselves had the testimony of God. We have the testimony of prophets who were inspired by the Holy Spirit.
3. But the surest evidence to each individual soul is the manifestation ofChrist, the Day-star, rising in the heart. "Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
Vers. 12-14.
An old man"s aim.
I AN AIM FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF OTHERS. Peter is desiring that "these things" should be remembered by others for their benefit and blessing. "These things" probably comprehend not only all the exhortations and promises the letter had already contained, but the great facts in the great biography to which ever and again, with the vividness of an eyewitness, Peter had referred.
II An aim for the highest good of others AFTER HIS OWN DEATH. He would not simply be of service to those among whom he lived, whilst he was with them, but to them after he had lee this world, and to the generations afterward. All must exert posthumous influence; the true disciple of Christ cares intensely that that posthumous influence shall tell for good, and for good only.
III An aim PURSUED WITH ALL THE MORE INTENSITY BECAUSE OF APPROACHING DEATH.
1. Peter felt death was near. The cords and skins of "the tabernacle" wereloosening and shaking.
2. He had had a prediction from his Master about his death: "Another shallgird thee," etc. All this stimulated his eager zeal to do the most he could while he lived. U.R.T.
Vers. 12-21.
Putting in mind.
I THE TIME OF PUTTING IN MIND.
1. Putting in mind as long as he was in this tabernacle. "Wherefore I shall be ready always to put you in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and are established in the truth which is with you. And I think it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me." Because of the importance of the things dealt with in the previous verses, Peter declares that he would be ready always, i.e., would take every opportunity, to put them in mind of them. "In matters of such importance reminders can never be superfluous; wherefore they should never be troublesome" (Calvin). In one way there was not need for putting them in mind; for he bears testimony courteously to their knowing these things, and being established, i.e., having a firm standing, in the truth that was with them (not the present-day truth, as is suggested by the old translation). Feeling their importance himself, he thought it right to tell them the same things again and again, thereby to stir them up, i.e., to a due sense of their meaning. It is important to enlarge the circle of human knowledge to get new thoughts, new facts, new combinations of facts; but it is a thousand times more important to have the complete realization of one or two things that we know. Even with those who knew and were established Peter laboured, by reiteration, to stir them up to give them a deeper impression of a few simple gospel truths. He was resolved to stir them up by putting them in mind, as long as he was in this tabernacle. This is a familiar designation of the body in relation to the soul. (in 2Co_5:1 it is "tabernaclehouse The body is a covering to the soul; it keeps it from being exposed to the glare of the world. "Tabernacle" also suggests that which can be quickly taken down; (in Isa_38:12 there is the association of death with the removal of a shepherd"s tent) the connection of the body with the soul is not so close but that it can be quickly removed as a shepherd"s tent. Peter was incited to action by the knowledge of what our Lord Jesus Christ had signified unto him. There is unmistakable reference to Joh_21:18,
1. Our Lord, according to what is recorded there, signified to Peter thathe was to die a martyr"s death. Let Peter"s language here be observed. There was to be not the striking of his tent, but still, not out of keeping with the idea of a tent as a temporary soul-covering, the putting of it off. And swift or sudden was the manner in which it was to be put off. We are not to think of the swiftness of death"s approach (unless in the use of the present tense), but of death"s swift work when it did come. He was to end his life by a violent death. Our Lord had signified to him that he was not to die soon; it was only when he became old that he was to stretch forth his hands, and another was to gird him, and carry him whither he would not. He was now old, without the assurance he had once had of living long; and as our Lord had signified to him that not much time was to be occupied in the putting off of his tabernacle, so long as he was in it he would let slip no opportunity of putting them in mind. "Teachers who are long sick can still feed others. The cross was not to permit that to Peter. So he sees to doing beforehand what required to be done" (Bengel).
2. Putting in mind as affected by his decease. "Yea, I will give diligence that at every time ye may be able after my decease to call these things to remembrance." "Decease" is literally "departure," which, from the context, we may take to be departure out of the tabernacle of the body. In view of what follows, it is to be remarked that both "tabernacle" and "decease" are words associated with the Transfiguration-scene. How were they to be provided for after his decease? He was to use diligence, that they would then be able, as occasion arose, to call these things to mind. We can think of Peter here reflecting the Divine thoughtfulness. The apostles were not to live alway; so God saw to the important things being put down in a permanent form in the New Testament. Peter, now an old man, was to die swiftly; so, as the servant of God, he was to see to the important things being put down in writing, that, as occasion arose, they might be able to call them clearly to mind.
II PUTTING IN MIND WITH REFERENCE TO THE SUBJECT OF THE SECOND COMING.
1. The certainty of the coming. "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." There are two important points to be noticed here. In the first place, Peter, writing in the name of the other apostles, declares that they were careful in what they admitted into the historical basis of their religion. They saw the putting forward of cunningly devised fables stories without foundation in reality, cleverly concocted, so as to impose on the ignorant, and to keep up the influence of the priesthood or the false teachers. They did not follow this lead; but were careful to exclude all mythical elements, and to admit only well-established fact. In the second place, Peter and the other apostles made known unto the persons addressed the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The first exhibition of power was when Christ rose from the dead; its full exhibition was to be at the coming. It is true that in this Epistle there is no direct reference to the weakness and death of Christ; this is to be explained by the circumstances in which Peter wrote. There are times when we need to pass on from the humiliation, and to allow our minds to be occupied with the exaltation.
2. The attesting power of the Transfiguration to the coming.
(1) Eye-testimony. "But we were eye-witnesses of his majesty." The reference, as is seen from what follows, is to the Transfiguration. The three who were admitted as witnesses were Peter and James and John: they were admitted, while others were excluded. What they saw was not his ordinary earthly form, but that form transfigured what is here called his majesty. "His garments," according to the graphic account of Mark, "became glistering, exceeding white; so as no fuller on earth can whiten them." This remarkable manifestation, which was out of the ordinary course in Christ"s earthly life, which was not for the common gaze, testified to the coming, inasmuch as it was to be regarded as the glorifying of Christ beforehand. It was Christ seen as he was to be after his ascension. It was Christ as he was afterwards seen by the prisoner of Patmos in his actually glorified condition.
(2) Ear-testimony.
(a) What was heard. "For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." In the original the verse begins, "for having received," and is interrupted before its close. The honour and glory from God the Father are to be associated with the voice, but with the voice as expressive of the majesty that was seen by the eye. The voice is represented as borne to him, not from, but by, the excellent glory, which is putting for God the excellent glory in which he dwells, so as to raise an impression of the magnificence of the scene. The voice was such as this, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." There is only a slight variation from the words given in Matthew, the effect of which is to present the good pleasure of the Father as on his beloved Son, so as to abide and not to leave him. This was fitted to encourage Christ in prospect of the decease which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. As testimony to the coming, it is to be taken along with the change presented to sight. In that anticipation of glory was to be read how the good pleasure of God was to find manifestation.
(b) The hearing. "And this voice we ourselves heard come out of heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount." This helps to emphasize the reality of the voice. There was no possibility of deception; the voice was heard borne in upon them, borne in from heaven. There was present the condition of three witnesses, by which it is established as a fact. This also helps to connect the thought distinctly with the Transfiguration. The voice was heard when they, the three, were with him in the holy mount the mount rendered holy by the association.
3. The attesting power of the prophetic Word to the coming.
(1) The greater attesting power of the prophetic Word. "And we have the Word of prophecy made more sure." The literal translation is preferable, "And we have more sure the prophetic Word." By "the prophetic Word" we are to understand the Bible, with special reference to what it has to say about the future in its connection with Christ. It must be recognized that a comparison is instituted. The comparison is not between the voice from heaven and the prophetic Word, but rather between the Transfiguration (with the accompaniment of the voice) and the prophetic Word in their attesting power to the second coming. The fact was significant; but there is greater satisfaction in having definite statements as to Christ"s coming. It is the old prophetic Word that Peter seems to have in his mind; but we may regard it as elucidated and filled up by New Testament statements. From these statements we can have some conception of the scene. The Lord descends from his heavenly throne in majesty. The moment that the Lord descends, the archangel marshals his innumerable host, giving the shout of command with the living voice. Having marshaled his hosts to move in harmony with the descending Lord, he at a subsequent stage gives another shout of command, this time not with the living voice, but with the trump of God. At the trumpet-call the dead arise. The Christian dead, raised with reconstituted bodies, join the Christian living, whose bodies are transformed, making one company, and, caught up in the enveloping, upbearing clouds, they meet their descending Lord with the marshaled army of angels in the air. The Lord descends to earth; before him are gathered all nations, and, as Judge, he separates them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats. The wicked receive their desert; the righteous ascend in the triumphant retinue to heaven, to be for ever with the Lord.
(2) On account of its certainty we are to take heed to it. "Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts." We do well to take heed to what the Bible says about the issues of life as connected with the coming of Christ. The prophetic Word is here compared to an amp, on account of the clear light it sheds. It is true of the Bible as a whole that it is as a lamp. "This lamp from off the everlasting throne mercy took down." The dark place in which it shines is the world. How dark would the world be but for the light it casts upon God and upon the future! It is to continue to shine until the day dawn, and the day-star arise. This bringing in of the full day is to be regarded as Christ"s coming. Then the Bible, in its earthly form, will have served its purpose; it will give place to the great Teacher himself. The relation of all to that coming is not to be joyful; to some it will only be the time of exposure, the time of discomfiture and el consignment to darkness. But it is to come with a blessed certainty in the hearts of Christ"s people. It is the beginning of a long bright day to them in the presence of their Lord.
(3) The ground of the certainty on account of which we are to take heed to it. "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost." The statement, declared to be of prime importance, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation, was long obscure; and Roman Catholic theologians took advantage of the obscurity to assert that its meaning is that Scripture can only be interpreted by the Church, and not by private Christians. There is now clearness as to its meaning, which is that the prophet did not proceed on his own private interpretation of things. For, it is added, no prophecy ever came by the will of man, i.e. originated in mere human determination. Men indeed spoke (and not always holy men, as in the case of Balsam); there was thus the exercise of the human mind to a certain extent, there was the human form in what they spoke, there were even individual characteristics brought out; but the higher causal account of it was that they spoke from God, and because they were borne along unresistingly by the Holy Ghost. There was thus, which is the point here, secured certainty, infallibility in what they spoke. We do well, then, to take heed to what they say to us, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith. R.F.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv12, 16 To put you always in remembrance.
2Pe_1:12-15
To put you always in remembrance.
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Pastor and people
I. The pastors informing.
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 peoples 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 riders encouragement. (Thos. Adams.)
The writers diligence and his feeders obedience
I. The writers 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 Churchs good.
II. The peoples 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 Gods 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. Christians have 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 Adams 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).
Inference 1. 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.
Inference 2. Must we put off these tabernacles of flesh? How necessary is it that every soul look in season, and make provision for another habitation?
Inference 3. 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!
Inference 4. 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.
Inference 5. 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.
Inference 6. Must you shortly put off those tabernacles? Then spare them not whilst you have them, but employ them for God with all diligence.
Inference 7. 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.)
Mans 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 apostles 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 these things.
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 the change. 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 apostles 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 apostles 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 Christians 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 Gods 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 mans endeavor to compensate for the limitations of a mortal life
It is 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 Peters 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 Lords 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.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v12 Chapter 21
Chapter 21
THE VOICE HEARD IN THE HOLY MOUNT
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2Pe_1:12-18
UP to this point the Apostle has spoken of Gods abundant grace and the consequent duties of believers. And he has set forth these duties in the most encouraging language. He has pictured first the gift of Divine power, and the precious promises of God, whereby men may be helped to walk onward and upward; and when the labor is ended he has pointed to the door of Christs eternal kingdom, open to admit the saint to His everlasting rest. Now he turns to describe the duty which he feels to be laid upon himself, and faithful is he in the discharge thereof. "Strengthen thy brethren," is constantly ringing in his ears. "Wherefore," he says, "I shall be ready always to put you in remembrance of these things." He dreads that taking hold of forgetfulness-that ληθην λαβων-of which he has spoken before, and against which constant diligence is needed. So far as in him lies, the perilous condition shall come upon none of them. The verb in the best texts expresses far more than that which is rendered in the Authorized Version, "I will not be negligent." It implies a sense of duty and the intention of fulfilling it; it bears within it, too, the thought (which is strengthened by the word "always") that there may be need for such reminding, if not from internal weakness, yet by reason of external dangers. And to bring to the mind of the Churches the gracious bounty of God in Christ, and to set down the steps whereby the graces bestowed should be fostered and increased, is a subject worthy of an Apostle, a theme which no amount of exhortation can exhaust, and one which ought to prompt the hearers to gratitude and obedience.
"Though ye know them, and are established in the truth which is with you." Knowledge of things that pertain unto godliness is barren unless it be wrought out in the life. Yet knowledge and practice do not always go hand in hand. This was one of the lessons taught by Jesus as He washed the disciples feet: "If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them." {Joh_13:17} St. Peter longs that the converts should make this blessedness their own. His lifes work is to watch for them, that they be not remiss in doing. To none can such a duty more peculiarly belong than to him who holds Christs special commission to feed the flock. By "the truth which is with you" the Apostle appears to be alluding to the varying degrees of advancement which there must be among the members of the Churches. All have traveled some way along the road which he has shown them; all have some of the truth within their grasp. They have set their feet on the path, though they be planted with different degrees of firmness. What is needed for each and all is to press forward, not to rest in the present, but to hasten to what lies beyond. For the truth of God is inexhaustible.
Perhaps, too, he thought, as he spake of the truth present with them, that he was of necessity absent and would soon be removed altogether, and the only way by which he could serve them was by his epistle. He could never forget that among those to whom he was writing were the Galatians, over whose falling back from the truth St. Paul had so greatly lamented: who had run well, but had fainted ere the course was over; who had received some truth to be present with them, even the faith of the crucified Jesus, but had been beguiled into letting it slip. Thought of these things shapes his words as he writes, "I shall be ready always to put you in remembrance." He rejoices that they are "established," but yet sends them an admonition. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
"And I think it right." The word marks the solemn estimate which the Apostle takes of his duty. It is a just and righteous work. Danger is abroad, and he has been made one of Christs shepherds. Many motives prompt him to write his words of counsel and warning. First, his love for them as his brethren, some of them, perhaps, his children in Christ. Like St. Paul, he has them in his heart. Then, he will fulfill to the utmost the charge which the Lord gave him. He is conscious, too, that opportunities for the fulfillment of his trust will soon come to an end. "As long as I am in this tabernacle," he says. It is but a frail home, the body; and with St. Peter age was drawing on. He saw that the time of his departure could not be far off, and this left no excuse for remitting his admonitions. He must be urgent so long as he can. "To stir you up by putting you in remembrance." The work of the Apostle will be thoroughly done(διεγειρειν), and be of that nature for which the Holy Ghost was promised to himself and his fellows. "He shall bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you". Thus {Joh_14:26} would St. Peter, like St. Paul, impart unto the converts some spiritual gift, that he, with them, may be comforted, strengthened, each by the others faith. So he proceeds to dwell on that Divine manifestation by which his own belief had been confirmed. And there would be memories of St. Pauls lessons also to call to their minds, and many of these would be awakened by an appeal like this. The falling away of the Galatians had been from a different cause, but the memory of the past would warn, and might strengthen, them all in the future against their new dangers.
"Knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me." Such a motive makes the appeal most touching. He will soon be removed. To this he looks forward without alarm. His concern is for them, not for himself. He regards his death as the stripping off of a dress: when its use is past it is parted with without regret. To him, as to his brother Apostle, to die would be gain. But he must have had constantly in mind the Masters prophecy, "When thou art old, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not". {Joh_21:18} And in the word "swiftly" he no doubt alludes, not only to the old age in which the end would naturally come, but also to some sharp stroke by which his departure would be brought to pass. The stretching out of his hands would be a preliminary to the prison and the cross. In the Gospel it is said that Christs words give the sign (σημαινων) the indication, by what death he should die, The Apostle employs a stronger word (εδηλωσε) here: "made it evident." The English version renders both verbs by "signify," but St. Peters own expression marks how growing age had made clearer to him the manner in which his death should be accomplished. And the mention of Jesus brings vividly before him the thought of the scene he is about to describe, so vividly that some of the language of the Transfiguration scene is reproduced by him.
"Yea, I will give diligence that at every time ye may be able after my decease to call these things to remembrance." Jesus is related {Luk_9:31} to have conversed with Moses and Elias of His decease (εξοδος), which He should accomplish at Jerusalem. The word is rare in this sense, being commonly used, as in Heb_11:22, of the departing of the children of Israel from Egypt. But it is deeply printed in St. Peters mind; and he, who looks forward to drinking of his Masters cup and dying somewhere as He died, employs the same word concerning his own end. And the word is another indication of the calm with which he can look forward to his death. As with Christ, there is no reluctance, no shrinking. The change will be but a departure, a passing from one stage to another, the putting off the worn garment of mortality to be clothed upon by the robe which is from heaven.
His letters are the only means whereby he can speak after he has been taken from them. Hence his earnestness in writing. "I will give diligence." I have urged diligence on you; I will apply the lesson to myself, and make it possible that afterwards on every occasion you may have it before you. When dead, he will yet speak to them; so that in each new trial, in each time of need, they may strengthen their faith or be warned of their danger. "At every time," he says; and thus his strengthening words of admonition are a legacy through the ages to the Church for evermore. "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables." Here the Apostle speaks in the plural number, and it may well be that he means to include St. Paul with himself and James and John. For the evidence which converted that Apostle, though not the same as that vouchsafed to St. Peter, was of the same kind. The Lord had appeared unto him in the way, had made His glory seen and felt, and fixed for ever in the Apostles heart the reality of His power and presence. His cry, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" came from a heart conquered and convinced. He too followed no cunningly devised fable.
By the word (σεσοφισμενοι), which is rendered "cunningly devised" we are reminded of the (σοφια) wisdom which St. Paul so earnestly disclaims in his first letter to the Corinthians. "I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom," he says; "my preaching was not in persuasive words of wisdom, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." The wisdom which he speaks is not of this world, but Gods wisdom in a mystery. {1Co_2:1-7} St. Paul also warns against giving "heed to fables, which minister questionings rather than a dispensation of God which is in faith." {1Ti_1:4; of. also 1Ti_4:7 and 2Ti_4:4} In another place {Tit_1:14} he calls them "Jewish fables," a name which is of the same import as the "Jewish vanities" of Ignatius, a name by which he intimates that they darken and confuse the mind. The legends of the Talmud, the subtleties of the rabbinical teaching, and the allegorizing interpretations of Philo are the delusions to which both the Apostles refer. The evidence on which they ask credence for their teaching is of another kind. "That which was from the beginning," is the testimony of another Apostle, "that which we heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the word of life that declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us". {1Jn_1:1-3} St. Peter had seen, and so had St. Paul; and they constantly appealed to, and rested their teaching on, facts and the historic reality of Christs life and work. "When we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is the contrast to that mythic and allegorical teaching to which he has just alluded. From it men could derive neither help in the present, nor hope for the future. It generated superstition, and its followers believed a lie. Often it denied the continuity of revelation, and cast aside all the records thereof. Like theosophic dreams in every age, it was always unprofitable, nearly always pernicious. On the other hand, the teaching of Christs Apostles proclaimed a power which could save men from their sins, and imparted a hope that stretched out beyond the present, looking for the time when the Lord would reappear. All power Is given unto Christ. He is made Redeemer and Lord, and is to be at last the Judge of men. The assurance of His coming had been proclaimed by St. Peter in his former letter as a consolation under affliction. Faith, tried by suffering, will be found unto praise, and glory, and honor, at the revelation of Jesus Christ. {1Pe_1:7} This is the climax of the glad tidings of the Gospel. But Christ comes to His people through all the days; and they are conscious of His coming, and inspired thereby and enabled for their work.
"But we were eye-witnesses of His majesty." He has already {1Pe_3:22} spoken of the fact of Christs ascension; he is now about to describe what was seen on the holy mount. These things are facts and verities, and not fables. But yet there was more revealed in them than either eye could grasp, or tongue could tell. They were Gods truth in a mystery, which supplied new thought for a whole lifetime. So for "eye-witnesses" the Apostle uses a word akin to that which twice over he employs in the former Epistle {1Pe_2:12} to describe the effect which Christian lives, when fully scanned, shall have upon the unbeliever. They shall have power to stop the mouths of opponents and to win them to the faith which before they maligned. Such deep insight into the power, and work, and glory of Jesus was imparted to the Apostles at the Transfiguration. They were initiated into the wisdom of God, and henceforth became prophets of the Incarnation; they were convinced that the Jesus with whom they companied was very God manifest in the flesh. The voice from heaven proclaimed it; it was attested by the glorified presence of Moses and Elijah, and by the majesty which for a moment broke through the veil of Christs flesh. Later on they saw Him risen from the dead, beheld His ascension into glory, and heard from the angels the promise of His return. Not without much meaning does the Apostle use a special pronoun (εκεινου) as he dwells on this scene of His majesty. For he would impress on his converts the identity of that Jesus whom he had known in the flesh with the very Son of God sent down from heaven.
"For He received from God the Father honor and glory." For the bright cloud which overshadowed them on the mountain-top was the visible token of the presence of God, as of old the cloud of glory had been, where God dwelt above the cherubim; while the honor and glory of Jesus were manifested when He was proclaimed to be the very Son of God. "When there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. "To express the magnificence of the glory which he beheld, the Apostle uses a word not found elsewhere in the New Testament. The Septuagint has it to describe the splendor of Jeshuruns God, who rideth in His "excellency" on the skies. {Deu_33:26} And it is this outward brightness of the shroud of the Godhead which tells all that human powers can receive of the majesty which it hides, just as His palace, the heavens, declares constantly the glory of God. The words spoken by the heavenly voice vary here from the records of each of the three Gospels. In one case the variation is slight, but there is no precise agreement. Had the Epistle been the work of some forger of a later age than St. Peters, we may rest assured that there would have been complete accord with one Evangelist or the other. There is a like diversity in the records of the words of the inscription above Christs cross. Substantial truth, not verbal preciseness, is what the Evangelists sought to leave to the Church; and their fidelity is proved by nothing more powerfully than by the diverse features of the Gospel narratives.
"And this voice we ourselves heard come out of heaven, when we were with Him in the holy mount." We learn here why the Apostles were taken with Jesus to witness His transfiguration. Just before that event we find {Mat_16:21; Mar_8:31; Luk_9:22} it recorded by each of the Synoptists that Jesus had begun to show unto His disciples how He must suffer and die at Jerusalem. To Peter, who, as at other times, was the mouthpiece of the rest, such a declaration was unacceptable; but at his expression of displeasure he met the rebuke, "Get thee behind Me, Satan." He, and the rest with him, felt no doubt that such a death as Jesus had spoken of would be, humanly speaking, the ruin of their hopes. What these hopes were they did not formulate, but we can learn their character from some of their questionings. Now, on the top of Tabor, these three representatives of the apostolic band behold Moses and Elias appearing in glory, and Christ glorified more than they; and the subject of which they spake was the very death of which they had so disliked to hear: the decease which He was about to accomplish (πληρουν) in Jerusalem. {Luk_9:31} The verb which the Evangelist uses tells of the fulfillment of a prescribed course, and thus St. Peter was taught, and the rest with him, to speak of that death afterwards as he does in his former letter. "Christ was verily foreordained" to this redeeming work "before the foundation of the world." They heard that He who was to die was the very Son of God. The voice came from the glory of heaven; and from henceforth their hearts were still, even Peters voice being less heard than before. Down from the mountain they brought much illumination, much solemn pondering. We can feel why it was that "they held their peace, and told no man in those days any of the things which they had seen"; we can feel, too, that from henceforth the scene of this vision would be the holy mount. Gods voice had been heard there attesting the Divinity of their Lord and Master; the place whereon they had thus stood was forevermore Holy Ground.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12–15. Wherefore. The language that follows anticipates his speedy…
12–15. Wherefore. The language that follows anticipates his speedy decease (verse 15).
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv12, 16 2Pe_1:12. Present truth.—Not some particular phase of truth, but…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
2Pe_1:12. Present truth.—Not some particular phase of truth, but the truth which you have and hold.
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2Pe_1:14. Showed me.—The reference cannot be to Joh_21:18, as John’s gospel was written later than the epistle. It may, however, be to the incident narrated in that gospel.
MAIN HOMILETICS ON THE PARAGRAPH.—2Pe_1:12-15
Completing a Life-Work.—St. Peter could not fail to realise how important to the young Christian Churches was his own personal influence, and his authoritative teaching, as well as those of St. Paul. It is singular that he makes no reference to his friend St. John, and we can only conclude that at this time St. John had not found the opportunity for setting forth in writing his womanly, mystical conceptions of the person and gospel of Christ. It was befitting that St. Peter should make provision for the continuance of his life-influence, and that he should comfort his disciples with the assurance that he would have this in mind. In a sense the necessity was specially laid on St. Peter, as the most prominent of the apostles. But it is a duty which should be duly considered by every good man, and especially by every good teacher. No man has any right to allow his influence to be a merely temporary and passing thing. He ought to do all that in him lies to make it permanent. The relation of the apostolic developments of the Christian truth to the original revelations of those truths in the Person, teaching, and work of the Lord Jesus, needs very careful consideration. More especially in view of the fact that on the revelation rests the absolute Divine stamp, but on the developments only a Divine assistance, which worked through the particular knowledge, and peculiar characteristics, of individual minds; so that we have respectively the Petrine, Pauline, and Johannine settings of the truth. And St. Peter is in no way to blame if, in his anxiety for the preservation of Christ’s truth, there blended an anxiety to preserve also the Petrine stamp upon it. It would have been an unworthy thing if St. Peter had cherished the idea of founding a Petrine school or sect; but a man may be jealous about conserving the particular settings of truth which have been revealed to him, and have come to him with power.
I. Christian truth, and thought, and life, may become too dependent on individuals.—The controversies of the Christian ages would have been mildertoned if the various settings of truth could have been dissociated from their authors, and considered simply upon their merits. Personal feeling comes in when we think of Cerinthus, and Arius, and Augustine, and Calvin, and Wesley, and there is a kind of jealousy for the system, out of respect to the man. Sectarianism, in nine cases out of ten, has grown out of the personal influence of some man. That is a perfectly legitimate force—one which God abundantly uses for the spread of His truth. But the response to it often becomes exaggerated and excessive, and men accept on the authority of the man rather than on the evidence of the truth. Following particular men is one of the grave weaknesses of our time. When a Christian life is really no more than personal attachment to an individual, and repeating after him, it is placed in the gravest peril when that man’s influence is removed. So often the man has come to stand in front of the Christ.
II. Because of this undue dependence, Christian teachers are often removed by death or otherwise.—We can easily see that the prolonged influence of individuals must grow perilous. When pastors continue into old age in the same church, there are certain serious evils which become rife. If Calvin or Wesley, or any other leader, had lived on, how surely they must have been mischief-makers to the Church! And so often in smaller spheres, popular men carry people away, wisely and well, or otherwise, but always at the peril of quiet, sober Christian thinking and Christian living. And God’s providence is always actively at work for their removal at fitting times. It is for the world’s good that apostles die. Their work can only be for a while. It is for the Church’s good that her thought-leaders and her popular leaders never stay very long in any one sphere. Sectarianism may be useful, but exaggerated sectarianism would not fail to secure the Church’s moral ruin.
III. The truth of all true teachers abides when they have passed away.—No living seeds of truth sown in the souls of men ever really fail. It may very well be that we fail to recognise the fruitage. It often is a fruitage in life, in character, in triumph over sin, in good cheer, in comfort, in the soul’s renewed power. We err in thinking so much of the results of Christian teaching and influence in the purely intellectual spheres. And yet, what every man has truly taught surely goes to make up the whole of truth for the ages. Time does, indeed, try all settings of truth, and relegate some that seemed for a time very prominent, to the background and obscurity. And it is singular to notice how the spheres of Christian truth that interest men are constantly changing, and so what seemed to be lost settings of truth come into view and power again, and when they come are often unrecognised, and so they are freely talked of as the fresh discoveries of the new age. Every true teacher may honourably show an anxiety that the truth given to him to teach should be preserved; and this is best done by committing it to writing, as St. Peter did. Out of the writings the personal element soon fails, and the opinions and views come to stand on their own merits alone. Beginning with the holy gospels, what a splendid heritage of Christian literature has come to us! But this is not so fully recognised as it should be—the literature of each age belongs to each age, is adapted to each age, and fades with its age; but the literature of the next age is really its resurrection—its thoughts and truths re-translated, re-dressed, and re-expressed, to fit the moods of the new generation. The apostles and their immediate successors live on in every age. They have gone. Age after age their successors, too, have gone; but their teachings, a thousand times translated and adapted, are the Church’s possessions to-day. And what is true of them is true of every man to whom is given grace to put a personal stamp on any side or aspect of the revealed truth of God. Dead—he lives.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
2Pe_1:12. The Present Truth.—This is a suggestive phrase. There is a present truth for every age—that which God emphasises by His providence, which history emphasises by human need, and which doctrine emphasises by the extremes of error. In this day the present truth which is of supreme importance is the supernatural. The drift is towards naturalism in philosophy and materialism in practice. We must lay stress on the Divine and supernatural element in the Word of God, the nature of man, the history of the race, and the work of the Spirit.
I. As to the Word of God.—We must assert its inspiration and infallibility. Inspiration must be more than genius, or illumination which depends on internal consciousness, while inspiration has external attestation of prophecy and miracle. Any theory of inspiration that leaves out infallibility, destroys the value of the Bible as God’s book, for it takes away the court of final appeal. Reason and conscience are ordinarily safe guides, but when they err we need an infallible standard by which to correct their variations, as the best watch needs to be adjusted by God’s celestial clock.
II. As to the Divine image in man.—It is defaced, but not effaced, like a shattered mirror whose fragments still reflect your image. Development is at bottom a denial of the descent of man from God, and substitutes his ascent from the oyster. To make a man a mere animal leaves gaps unfulfilled—the beginnings of life, consciousness, intelligence, conscience. Moreover, it leads to the caste spirit, to the undervaluation of man as man, and the erection of barriers to human progress, and begets carelessness of his condition. It classes dogs and Hottentots together, and led the French governor of the isle of Bourbon to rank the Malagasy with asses.
III. As to the hand of God in history.—To make history atheistic is to make humanity anarchistic. If human history is but an accident or a fate, then, as there is no God in it to rectify it, man’s only hope is to right his own wrongs. To believe in a Providence behind human affairs leads to patience and long-suffering; but if there be no adjusting power, why consent to injustice? The alarming developments of Society to-day, which threaten all government with ruin, are direct results of infidel teaching.
IV. As to the Spirit of God.—Reformation is not regeneration. Transformations of character and communities which are radical and permanent are the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Nothing less than creative power can be equal to a new creation; and for the highest success in any true work for God and man, the Spirit of God is a necessity. Genius, learning, and philanthropy, come to their limits. The moral and spiritual nature of man refuse to yield until some mightier force is at work than man can bring to bear.—Homiletic Magazine.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v12 12. This letter indicates a higher experience than the…
ARGUMENT 2
THE LORD’S COMING AND THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE SAINTS
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12. This letter indicates a higher experience than the former. Here he addresses them as not only knowing but established in these glorious experiences.
13, 14. Peter, like Paul, had a divine presentiment of his martyrdom, which occurred very quickly after this writing.
15. Peter emphasized the great importance of having God’s Word revealed through his instrumentality well circulated and faithfully preached after his departure.
16. “For not having followed cunningly devised fables,” i.e., human creeds and uninspired dogmata and counterfeit religions, “have we made known unto you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, but having been eye-witnesses of His majesty.” The Greek parousia, translated “coming,” literally means presence, revealing the fact that our Lord will come to stay. Of course, as in His former presence on the earth, He will appear and disappear ad libitum. Power, in this passage is dynamite, Paul’s definition of “Gospel.” Rom 9:16. Hence the burden of Apostolic preaching was this heavenly dynamite to blow all the sins out of the heart and completely transform the spiritual being and the great culminating fact that our Lord is coming back to this world to conquer and to reign. The scene on the Mount of Transfiguration was a prelude of the Lord’s coming, when His saints will be transfigured like Jesus, Moses and Elijah, when Peter, James and John saw them on the Mount.
17, 18. This transfiguration in which Peter heard the voice of God was not only a perfect confirmation of the redemptive scheme and God’s full and satisfactory approval, but the transfiguration of the saints when the Lord comes to reign on the earth. This testimony is invaluable to Christ’s suffering, expectant Bride.
19. “To which you do well, giving heed as to a light shining in a dark place.” Notwithstanding our Lord has plainly revealed His second coming in multitudinous prophecies, yet it is all dark till the Spirit reveal it to the heart. “Until the day may dawn and the morning star rise in your hearts.” Everything in the plan of salvation is double, corresponding with the human and divine hemispheres of the Christhood. The spiritual Christ comes in regeneration, and comes again in sanctification, so the literal Christ came once and is coming again. Just as that second coming to the world will inaugurate the millennium, so His second coming into your heart gives you the millennium in your heart. Unsanctified people have no true and clear light on the Lord’s second coming. The sanctified experience is the dawn of the millennial day in your heart and the clear light of the morning star. The present holiness movement is the morning star preceding the glorious Sun of Righteousness, destined to rise upon the “world with healing in His wings.” It is wonderful with what rapidity the dawn, of God’s glorious millennial day is increasing, and the morning star rising in the hearts of God’s people.
20. Peter sweeps away the popular heresies of expounding prophecies by silly isolated exegesis.
21. As all prophecies have a divine origin, therefore God will attend to their fulfillment.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v12 The Reliability of the Gospel and of the Prophecy.
The Reliability of the Gospel and of the Prophecy.
The apostles as witnesses of Christ’s majesty:
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v. 12. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them and be established in the present truth.
v. 13. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance,
v. 14. knowing that shortly I must put off this tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me.
v. 15. Moreover, I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
v. 16. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His majesty.
v. 17. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent Glory, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
v. 18. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with Him in the holy mount.
That Peter had not forgotten the commission of the Lord given to him on the shores of the Sea of Galilee is shown in the solicitude which he here displays for the spiritual welfare of his readers: Therefore I shall be careful that you be reminded concerning these things, although you do know them and are established in the truth which is present with you. That was the conception which Peter had of his pastoral office, as it should be the idea of every true pastor, to make it his care, his business, ever and again to remind the believers of all these facts concerning their justification and sanctification. It is true, indeed, the Christians have learned these facts, they know them, but it remains true at the same time that they cannot learn them too well and that the eagerness of the true Christian to hear the fundamental truths over and over again will not diminish. They were established in the truth of the Gospel, they were firmly grounded in the fundamental doctrines of Christianity as they concerned their spiritual life, but they needed the strengthening influence of the apostolic admonition from day to day. Note: We need a better realization of these facts in our day, when so many professing Christians are showing the symptoms of spiritual satiety, which almost invariably is the forerunner of spiritual decay.
The apostle now repeats his statement and gives a reason for the urgency of his appeal: But I consider it proper, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by such reminding, knowing that swift is the folding up of my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has revealed to me. While Peter had life and breath, while the Lord continued to add to the days of his life, he considered it the right and proper thing for him to do to keep right on with his reminding and admonishing, to keep the minds of his readers awake to the wonderful glories of the Gospel and to the obligations which accompanied these privileges. He compares his body to a tent, or tabernacle, giving but a weak and temporary shelter to his soul. He knew that it would not be long before the Lord would cause him to fold up his tent; his body, which had so long housed his soul, would be claimed by death. This the Lord had revealed to him, the reference probably being to the incident on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Joh 21:18-19. Here is an instance of true faithfulness, since Peter did not wait idly for the death which, he knew, was soon to come, was imminent, as he expresses it, but continued his work with unabated vigor and diligence, the care of the souls being his chief concern to the last.
But he is looking forward also beyond the immediate future: But I shall use diligence that you also after my departure may always be able to call these things to mind. Not only for the present, and while his own life lasts, is Peter solicitous for the spiritual welfare of his readers, but he also wants to make it his business to have them keep the truth after his death. That is one of his reasons for writing this letter, to have it serve as a permanent reminder of the doctrine which he taught them. Whenever they were in need of definite, authentic information as to the truth, they had but to consult this letter, have their memory refreshed, and thereafter could be all the surer in their Christian life.
That the Christians should not feel the slightest hesitation about accepting the doctrine which Peter taught them is shown in the next verses: For we did not follow cleverly constructed fables in making known to you the power and appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we mere made eye-witnesses of His majesty. What Peter and the other apostles had taught, also in the congregations of Asia Minor, was not a system of spiritual fables cleverly invented to bring them into subjection, after the manner of many false teachers; he was not writing down any human speculations and philosophies in giving them the proper information concerning the power and advent of Christ the Lord, of His return at the end of time, when He will be clothed with full majesty and power, in order to establish His kingdom forever. What Peter had been teaching with regard to this one fact was the truth, for which he could vouch with all the power at his command because he had been privileged to be an eye-witness of the glorification, of the majesty, of Christ.
The apostle states to which event he has reference: For He received from God the Father honor and glory when a voice was borne to Him of such a kind from the sublime Glory, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. That was the culminating incident in the happening on the Mount of Transfiguration, Mat 17:1-9: Mar 9:2-8. Jesus, the poor, despised Prophet of Nazareth, who had come into His own and His own received Him not, was invested with honor and glory from His heavenly Father Himself. For while the three disciples, Peter, James, and John, were still lying upon the ground, almost stupefied by the miraculous brightness which surrounded them from heaven, they nevertheless could hear plainly the words which came down out of the cloud, the voice of God Himself, acknowledging Jesus as His true Son, His beloved Son, upon whom His good pleasure rested in full measure. Concerning this Peter testifies: And this voice, borne from heaven, we heard when we were with Him on the holy mountain. Although the mountain was not in itself holy, this wonderful manifestation of the sublime, the splendid glory of God, sanctified and hallowed it for the time being. What Peter means to emphasize in this connection is this, that they, to whom was vouchsafed such a wonderful manifestation of the glory of God, were reliable witnesses, and therefore their Gospel could and should be accepted without question as the truth of the Lord. Mark: This is one of the reasons why we also accept the Gospel as recorded by the apostles as the truth, because God would hardly have revealed Himself in such a manner to men that were hypocrites and swindler,
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 16 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Peter tells the believers about his obligation to continue reminding them and teaching them.
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you may be always able to remember these things
Here the words "these things" refers to everything that Peter has said in the previous verses.
you are strong in the truth
"you strongly believe the truth of these things"
to stir you up by way of reminder
Here the word "stir" means to awaken someone from sleep. Peter speaks of causing his readers to think about these things as if he were waking them from sleep. AT: "to remind you of these things so that you will think about them" (See: Metaphor)
as long as I am in this tent ... the putting off of my tent will be soon
Peter speaks of his body as if it were a tent that he is wearing and will take off. Being in his body represents being alive, and taking it off represents dying. AT: "as long as I am in this body ... I will soon take off this body" or "as long as I am alive ... I will die soon" (See: Metaphor and Euphemism)
after my departure
Peter speaks of his death as if he were leaving one place to go to another. AT: "after my death" or "after I die" (See: Metaphor and Euphemism)
translationWords
true
tent
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 14, 16 1:12-15 Peter was writing at the end of his…
1:12-15 Peter was writing at the end of his life, and 2 Peter is similar to works that belong to a popular Jewish genre called the testament, in which an old and respected leader gives final instructions to his children or others on his deathbed (cp. Deut 31–33; Josh 24). This genre is especially well known from a Jewish work called The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.