Bible Commentaries

2 Peter 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.

12Wherefore I will not be negligent ⁶ to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ¹⁷ 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 shortly ²⁰ I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. 15Moreover I will endeavour ²¹ 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 coming ²² of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were ²³ eye-witnesses of his majesty. 17For he received from God ²⁴ the Father honour and glory, when there came ²⁵ such a voice to him from the excellent ²⁶ glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven ²⁷ 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 day ²⁸ 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 holy ²⁹ men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

2 Peter 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, 2 Peter 2:1-2. Luther:—“The Christian ministry is of two kinds, as says St. Paul in Romans 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. John 14:26; 2 Timothy 2:14; Titus 3:1; 3 John 1:10; Judges 5. Paul uses the term ἐπαναμιμνήσκειν, Romans 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, 1 Peter 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 Romans 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 Romans 15:14.”—M.]

2 Peter 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, p474, 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,” 2 Corinthians 5:1, with reference to the metaphor in Isaiah 33:12 and Wisdom of Solomon 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.

[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, John 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. Luke 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.]

2 Peter 1:15. Moreover, I will endeavour, etc.—σπονδάσω for the usual σπουδάσομαι, see Winer, p101. 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, p6, 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 2 Peter 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.]

[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 1 Pe1:7; 1 Peter 1:18; 1 Peter 2:4; 1 Peter 2:21; 1 Peter 3:18, etc.; 1 Peter 4:7; 1 Peter 4:13. The reference to St. Mark’s Gospel is here out of the question. [But why any more here than in 1 Peter 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 2 Peter 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, 2 Corinthians 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, Matthew 24:3; Matthew 24:27; Matthew 24:37-39; 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8; James 5:7; 2 Peter 3:4-12; 1 John 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 1 Corinthians 16:17; 2 Corinthians 7:6-7; 2 Corinthians 10:10; Philippians 1:26; Philippians 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, 1 Peter 1:11; 1 Peter 2. Pet. 2 Peter 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, 1 Peter 2:12; 1 Peter 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, Luke 9:43; of the admired greatness and splendour of Diana, Acts 19:27. Similarly μεγαλωσύνη, Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1.

2 Peter 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 2 Peter 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. Acts 10:39; Acts 5:32, where Peter also refers to his having been an eye-witness.—τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν, see 1 Peter 1:7; Romans 2:7; Romans 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 John 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, Isaiah 9:8; Daniel 4:28, elsewhere γίγνεται, Luke 9:35-36, or ἔρχεται, John 12:30; John 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 Matthew 17:5, and Mark 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 Matthew 26:64; cf. Psalm 104:2; 1 Timothy 6:16.—Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός; the same words occur in Matthew, but with the addition: αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε, and ἐν ᾧ instead of εἰς ὃν; the latter occurs also at Matthew 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 Matthew 17:5.—M.]

2 Peter 1:18. And this voice we heard, etc.—ἡμεῖς refers specifically to the three Apostles, Peter, James and John, while the plural number in 2 Peter 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 John 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.]

2 Peter 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. 2 Peter 2:1, etc, settles this point, which is further confirmed by other references of Peter to O. T. prophecies, cf. 1 Peter 1:10; Acts 3:18; Acts 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. Acts 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, Acts 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, 1 Peter 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 2 Peter 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, p46, 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. Hebrews 2:1; Acts 8:6; Acts 8:10-11; Acts 16:14; 1 Timothy 1:4; 1 Timothy 4:1; 1 Timothy 4:13; Titus 1:14; Hebrews 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, Revelation 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. Romans 13:12; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Ephesians 5:14. The readers of this Epistle are indeed spoken of as knowing and established in the truth, 2 Peter 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 2 Peter 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, 2 Peter 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, Revelation 22:16. To him that over-cometh he promises the Morning Star, i. e., Himself and the brightness of His grace, Revelation 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, p312. But this does not imply that the use of prophecy is superfluous after the illumination has taken place, cf. Matthew 1:25; Matthew 5:18; Matthew 5:26. This is evident from the examples of the Apostles themselves.

2 Peter 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, 1 Timothy 2:1, being conscious, bearing in mind, James 1:3; Hebrews 10:34, like εἰδότες, 1 Peter 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, p185. 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. 2 Peter 2:1.—οὐκ ἰδίυς ἐπιλυσέως, happens not as matter of its own interpretation. ἐπιλύειν, Mark 4:34, to interpret, to expound, to settle, to determine, to decide, Acts 19:39.= פָּתַר‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏ Genesis 41:12; Genesis 40:8. The reference is to the origin, not to the interpretation of the prophecy, as is evident from 2 Peter 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, 1 Peter 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, Genesis 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. Genesis 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 ( 2 Peter 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.]

2 Peter 1:21. For no prophecy—Holy Ghost.—Further substantiation of the foregoing position negatively and positively.—θελήματι, Dative of the cause, cf. ad rem John 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, 2 Peter 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. Hebrews 1:1. Calov: “It relates as much to inward illumination as to outward impulse, yet not so that the prophet lost all self-control,” Psalm 45:1.—ἐλάλησαν (see Appar. Crit.) This includes also their writings, Acts 2:31; James 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. 1 Timothy 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 ( 2 Peter 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, 2 Peter 3:16.”—Chemnitz.

3. 2 Peter 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 Song of Solomon -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.”

[ 2 Peter 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 Matthew 16:28; Matthew 17:1; Beck, Lehrwissenschaft, I, 512.

5. De Wette thinks it strange that the author, in his argument, 2 Peter 1:19-21, does not quote the speeches of Christ Himself concerning His coming, as recorded by the synoptists; that 2 Peter 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., 2 Peter 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,” 2 Thessalonians 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, 1 Timothy 4:13.—Grow not weary in exhorting one another. Foremost among good works is the work of saving souls from the burning, James 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, Ecclesiastes 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, Hebrews 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, John 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 ( 2 Corinthians 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, 2 Corinthians 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, John 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 Daniel 12:4; Daniel 12:9-10, when Christ, the true Morning Star, shall arise on that great day both of judgment and light, 1 Corinthians 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 Song of Solomon, 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 Song of Solomon, Isaiah 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 Hebrews, 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 2 Peter 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: Genesis 6:3; Genesis 41:38; Numbers 6:25-26; Numbers 24:2; 1 Samuel 10:10; 2 Kings 2:9, etc.: 1 Chronicles 12:18; 2 Chronicles 15:1; Nehemiah 9:30; Ezekiel 2:2; Zechariah 7:12; Revelation 1:10; Revelation 2:7; Revelation 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 2 Peter 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. vol5 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