Page 533 - Demo

 PETER -
them the gloom of darkness has been reserved.n 18For, talking empty bombast, they seduce with licentious desires of the esh those who have barely escaped* from people who live in error.o 19They promise them freedom, though they themselves are slaves of corruption, for a person is a slave of whatever overcomes him.p 20For if they, having escaped the de lements of the world through the knowledge of [our] Lord and savior Jesus Christ, again become entangled and overcome by them, their last condition is worse than their rst.q 21For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment handed down* to them.r 22* What is expressed in the true proverb has happened to them,s “The dog returns to its own vomit,” and “A bathed sow returns to wallowing in the mire.”
IV. THE DELAY
OF THE SECOND COMING
3Denial of the Parousia.
1* This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing
to you; through them by way of reminder I am trying to stir up your sincere disposition, 2to recall the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and savior through your apostles.a 3Know this rst of all, that in the last days sco ers* will come [to] sco , living according to their own desiresb 4and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?* From the time when our ancestors fell asleep, everything has remained as it was from the beginning of creation.”c 5They deliberately ignore the fact that the heavens existed of old and earth was formed out of water and through water* by the word of God;d 6through these the world that then existed was destroyed,e deluged with water.* 7The present heavens and earth have been reserved by the same word for re, kept for the day of judgment and of destruction of the godless.f
8* But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years* and a thousand years like one day.g
Balaam Riding His Donkey, medieval Gothic art
3:5
In this chapter about the end times, Peter re ects a common thought in the ancient world, that the world began with water but would end with re.
* [2:18] Barely escaped: some manuscripts read “really escaped.”
* [2:21] Commandment handed down: cf. 2 Pt 3:2 and Jude 3.
* [2:22] The second proverb is of unknown origin, while the rst
appears in Prv 26:11.
* [3:1–4] The false teachers not only out Christian morality (cf.
Jude 8–19); they also deny the second coming of Christ and the judgment (2 Pt 3:4; cf. 2 Pt 3:7). They seek to justify their licentiousness by arguing that the promised return of Christ has not been realized and the world is the same, no better than it was before (2 Pt 3:3–4). The author wishes to strengthen the faithful against such errors by reminding them in this second letter of the instruction in 1 Peter and of the teaching of the prophets and of Christ, conveyed through the apostles (2 Pt 3:1–2; cf. Jude 17); cf. 1 Pt 1:10–12, 16–21, especially 16–21; Eph 2:20.
* [3:3] Sco ers: cf. Jude 18, where, however, only the passions of the sco ers are mentioned, not a denial on their part of Jesus’ parousia.
CHAPTER 2
n. [2:17] Jude 12–13.
o. [2:18] Jude 16.
p. [2:19] Jn 8:34; Rom 6:16–17.
q. [2:20] Mt 12:45.
r. [2:21] Ez 3:20.
s. [2:22] Prv 26:11.
* [3:4–7] The false teachers tried to justify their immorality by pointing out that the promised coming (parousia) of the Lord has not yet occurred, even though early Christians expected it in their day. They thus insinuate that God is not guiding the world’s history anymore, since nothing has changed and the rst generation of Christians, our ancestors (2 Pt 3:4), has all died by this time. The author replies that, just as God destroyed the earth by water in the ood (2 Pt 3:5–6, cf. 2 Pt 2:5), so he will destroy it along with the false teachers on judgment day (2 Pt 3:7). The word of God, which called the world into being (Gn 1; Ps 33:6) and destroyed it by the waters of a ood, will destroy it again by re on the day of judgment (2 Pt 3:5–7).
* [3:5] Formed out of water and through water: Gn 1:2, 6–8 is re ected as well as Greek views that water was the basic element from which all is derived.
* [3:6] Destroyed, deluged with water: cf. 2 Pt 2:5; Gn 7:11–8:2. CHAPTER 3
a. [3:2] Jude 17.
b. [3:3] 1 Tm 4:1; 2 Tm 3:1; Jude 18.
c. [3:4] Is 5:19.
d. [3:5] Gn 1:2, 6, 8; Ps 24:2.
e. [3:6] Gn 7:21.
f. [3:7] Is 51:6; Mt 3:12. 521