righteous and the wicked, and He is able to deliver the one, while punishment (in whatever form) is inflicted upon the other (ver. 9). And although you should be like Noah and Lot-few and feeble, and quite overwhelmed by multitudes of the ungodly, fear not God can and will save His elect (though we may not know how) as certainly as He saved Noah and Lot.

"These examples of punishment (ver. 4-7,) and the reflection the apostle makes upon them (ver. 8, 9), may be read parenthetically; so that ver. 10 will be a resuming of the subject of the 3d verse. The sense of the apostle may be thus expressed: That you may know the characteristics of these false teachers and their followers, I here particularly note them: they will be so numerous as to constitute an apostasy, a general falling away from the faith. The apostle then proceeds to describe them (ver. 10 to 22, the end of this chapter), and a fearful description it is; yet it is evident from the last clause in the 13th verse, that the persons intended by the apostle, are within the pale of the visible Church, and in actual communion with at least some true Christians (συνευωχούμενοι ὑμιν).

66

The whole of this second chapter, then, is a digression from the chief subject of the epistle announced in chap i. 16, viz., the future coming of our Lord in power. In chapter iii. 1, he resumes this subject, and, in doing so, he repeats an expression he had employed before (διεγείρειν ὑμᾶς ἐν ὑπομνησει, i. 13, διεγείρω ὑμων ἐν ὑπομνησει, iii. 1: ‘Stir you up by putting in remembrance''stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance'). But he resumes it only for the purpose of shewing the connexion, or rather of keeping the chief topic prominently in the view of the reader; for in the next verse he recurs again to the prophecies which he had mentioned in chap. i. 19, 20, in order to connect with them another prophecy respecting the Christian dispensation. When he first mentioned the prophecies, he digressed, as we have seen, in order to predict the rising up of the false and mercenary teachers whose character he so minutely described. These would form a counterpart to the false prophets of the Old Testament dispensation. He now returns to the subject of prophecy to say, that at the ending of the days (of the Christian dispensation) persons will arise in the Church who will even call in question the great doctrine he was then enforcing (see chap. i. 16). This will be a new characteristic, distinguishing the Christian dispensation from the

former.

"These men, walking after their own lusts, and giving utterance to their own wishes and hopes, will say, 'Where is the promise of his coming, for since the fathers fell asleep all things

continue as from the beginning of the creation?' (chap. iii. 4). This is just what our Lord intimated in Luke xvii. 26-30, xviii. 8. The apostle then proceeds to charge these (eμπaiктaι, ludificatores) deriders with dishonesty; for he says, that if ignorant at all, they are willingly ignorant of the fact of the world's destruction by the deluge-an event he had already alluded to in chap. ii. 3. He then adds, the present heavens and earth (as the former were) are kept in store for the destruction of the ungodly who shall live at the end of these times; and this will occur at the coming of our Lord, which (coming) these deriders say will never occur. This future destruction of the world has been predicted by the prophets; and the destruction of the old world by a deluge of waters is at least a proof of the possibility of such an event, which these reasoners seek to get rid off, by denying the fact. Again, says the apostle, these persons commit another mistake, when they infer, from mere lapse of time, that the Lord will not come at all. They do not consider that what seems to them long is very brief in the view of the infinite and eternal God. Does one day seem to us a short time? A thousand years (which would include many generations of such ephemeral beings as we are) are, in the view of God, as one day is to us-yea, as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night (Ps. xc. 4). God executes His plans upon a scale immensely more vast than men are accustomed, or even able, to consider. As His dominions extend throughout immensity, and His being through eternity, it is folly in these men to infer, that the Lord will never execute His promise to come, and His threatening to punish, because, in their judgment, He has delayed the execution of it long. And they make a still greater mistake by supposing that God hesitates to punish them and destroy the world on account of any good He sees in the reprobate, or in the present condition of things, irrespectively of His purposes of mercy. In truth, He does not delay; rather He restrains His wrath, and so they ought to consider it (ver. 5-9).

66

Such, then, are the delusions of this class of false teachers predicted, and such the answer of the apostle to their false reasonings. He then reiterates the great doctrine of the epistle. The day of the Lord will come, and the Lord himself will come at that day unexpectedly, as a thief cometh in the night (ver. 10; 1 Thess. v. 2; Luke xvii. 24). It will come with the suddenness and splendour of lightning, as the Lord himself taught (compare ver. 2 with Luke xvii. 24, xxi. 35; Mark xiii. 32, 37, and similar passages), and these heavens will then be destroyed, and the earth with the works therein will be burned

66

(ver. 10). Yet not annihilated; for out of them, and in their place, God will create new heavens and a new earth, of such surpassing beauty, and glory, and excellence, that the heavens and the earth which now are, beautiful as they may seem to us, will not be remembered or come into the mind (Isa. lxv. 17). With this verse (13th) the apostle concludes the chief topic of the epistle. What follows is an exhortation to holy conversation and godliness, in view of the promises and hopes which depend on the Lord's coming (ver. 11-14). He recurs once more, however, to the error of the euπaiктai (scoffers), and exhorts his readers not to account for the Lord's delay as they do, but rather to regard it as a means of their salvation. Paul, he says, taught the same doctrine, though it was perverted by many, as well as the other doctrines of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. His concluding exhortation implies, that even the elect will be in danger of being led away by this error, and thereby fall from their steadfastness. This caution was suggested, perhaps, by the question put by our Lord at the conclusion of the parable of the widow (Luke xviii. 8): ' When the Son of man cometh will he find faith on the earth?' But however this may be, the apostle intimates that the error will be wide-spread and seductive, requiring watchfulness, and growth in grace and in knowledge, of those who would not be led away by it (ver. 17, 18). To sum up these observations :

"The leading doctrine of this epistle is the second coming of our Lord. The first proof of it alleged is the transfiguration, and the personal testimony of the apostle, who was an eyewitness of that scene. The second proof is derived from the prophecies of the Old Testament, and the inspired precepts or commandments of the apostles, founded, as they were, upon the precepts and predictions of the Lord himself.

"Incidentally he connects with this doctrine a collateral prophecy concerning an apostasy which must precede that great event. With this he connects a minute description of the false teachers, who were to take the lead in causing and continuing it. This prophecy and description (which occupy the second chapter) are parallel with the prophecy of Paul in 2 Thess. ii. This second chapter of 2 Peter, therefore, casts light, to some extent at least, on the prediction of Paul concerning the Man of Sin, and the two chapters should be read in connexion. Peter, in fact, refers expressly to the epistles of Paul (iii. 15, 16).

"Resuming the principal subject, the apostle soon drops it again to connect with it another prophetic announcement, which differs from that before just mentioned in this, viz., that it refers to the last times of the apostasy, which he calls the

ending of the days.' The expression in the original is peculiar: ἐπ' ἐσχατου τῶν ἡμερων, which is more precise than ύστεροις χρόνοις, in 1 Tim. iv. 1; or ἐσχαταις ἡμέραις, 2 Tim. iii. 1; or eπ' èoxXATWV тWV Xρоvwv, 1 Peter i. 20; or even than the expression in Jude 18, év éoxaτw Xpov, a parallel passage. It must, therefore, be a period of greater or less duration at the end of this dispensation, and immediately preceding the day of the Lord.

66

This second collateral or connected prophecy respects the general unbelief of the world in the chief doctrine of the epistle (chap. iii. 4; Luke xviii. 8, xvii. 26, 27; Matt. xxiv. 39). The scoffers are not represented as calling in question any other. Yet, so fundamental is this, and so many others depend upon it, that they might as well deny the whole. The omission of other errors is significant. It seems strange that the apostle should denominate them (éμπaiктai, ludificatores, deriders) scoffers, and yet not represent them as calling in question the whole of revelation. But men may commit the inconsistency of receiving the gospel as a code of morals, or even as a religion, which upon the whole is more beneficial to society than any other, and yet laugh at and deride those parts of it which foretell the destruction of that order of things which they think quite good enough, and desire to uphold and meliorate by the moral influence of the other parts of the Bible. This mutilation of the religion of Christ is not unfrequent. There are many who profess with their lips to receive the gospel with reverence, while they scoff at and deride its fundamental doctrines. The apostle seems to refer to the Gentile Churches in this prophecy; for the error of the Jews is not that the Messiah will not come, but in denying that Jesus is the Christ already come. However this may be, the extreme recklessness which he describes, and the general unbelief of the doctrine of the Lord's coming, as he taught it, is the natural fruit of the apostasy predicted in the second chapter. What is Christendom even now, but the world under the guise of a Christian profession? And what has made it such, but the false teaching and the false teachers foretold by the apostle? (chap. ii. 1). This second collateral prophecy, then, is the proper sequel or continuation of the first. Its use is to describe the peculiar characteristics of the last portion of one and the same apostasy.

"But apostasy is a harsh word, and may convey to the reader the idea of something which would be gross or revolting to the pious mind. This does not seem to be the conception of the apostle. Were the apostasy foretold to be such, there would be less danger to be apprehended from it, and less need

for the emphatic caution, chap. iii. 17 (pvλaσσeo@e-a military term denoting the action of soldiers who keep guard in fortified towns or castles.-Macknight). Rather should we conceive of it as a vast system of worldly Christianity, adorned with worldly magnificence, enriched with the world's wealth, and supported in some form by the world's power-a system which audaciously mutilates God's truth, as though it were a myth; retaining only so much of it as may be made subservient to ambitious or worldly ends. Against such a system, the apostle exhorts his readers to stand on their guard, lest they be led away and fall from their steadfastness.

"One observation more:-The word scoffer does not appear to express adequately the meaning of eμTaikтai (ver. 3). Scoffing denotes a malignant expression of contempt. It implies opprobrious language, and conduct offensive to decency. Scoffers, properly so called, would undoubtedly come within the meaning of the apostle. But does not the word éμπaiktai embrace others of less offensive note? It comes from eμπaiw (à Tais), and in its primary signification denotes the sportiveness of children. MUKTηpiw (Gal. vi. 7) is a harsher word, from which we have μukтηpioτns, a scorner, mocker, derider. But this word the apostle did not use. Houbegant, perhaps, had this word (eμπaiктαι) of Рeter in mind, when he wrote of Grotius: Ludificat (eμπaie) suo more-referring, by the remark, to his exposition of Isa. lxv. 17.—(See Isaiah iii. 4; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16; Esdras i. 51, in the LXX., for the use of éμmail and eμπаιктηs. Also, Trommius). Schaeffer (Lex.) ἐμπαίζω ἐμπαικτης. defines épais, "Ich spiele auf. Ich betrüge." It is important to ascertain accurately the full compass of this word (éμπaikтai), lest we err in giving it a too restricted application. Scoffers do not reason when they scoff-they mock. The μπαιктaι (empæctæ) intended by the apostle, do reason, but falsely. Scoffers set at naught all thoughts of decorum. The persons intended by Peter openly avow, indeed, their disbelief in the doctrine of the apostle, yet it may be sportively, or at least in a less offensive way.

"The Vulgate, Erasmus, and Castalio, translate the word illusores. Sebastian Schmidt transfers, without translating it (empæcta), probably because he did not find its exact synonym in Latin. Naebe renders it irrisores.

"PHILO."