The second epistle of St. Peter : the second and third epistles of St. John and the epistle of St. Jude

Front matter

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Division = BS44 | Section yest \ va ‘ THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST PETER THE SECOND AND THIRD EPISTLES OF ST JOHN THE EPISTLE OF 8ST JUDE

Preface

Tax general aim that has been before the writer of the following pages is already indicated in the preface to a previous volume in this Series, the Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Titus.

Just as in that work, the intention here also has been to render some aid to the devout and careful English reader. The text of our Revised Version has been taken as the material for explanation, questions of variant readings and of verbal points that call for discussion in connection with the Greek text of the respective Hpistles, only being mentioned in cases of necessity.

Various methods have been hitherto employed of commenting upon the Sacred text. In some cases the notes accompany the text at the foot of the page; in others, they stand apart at the end of the volume; in others, again, the notes are unaccompanied by a continuous text. The attempt is here made to mingle text and commentary indicating the words of Scripture by distinctive type, and interspersing such words of explanation as may help to make more clear the connection of the argument, and at the same time may serve to bring out the background of life and thought that lies behind the words. It is hoped that in this way the significance of the writers’ words both for their age and for ours may be more fully realized.

CONTENTS The Second Epistle of St Peter i: GREETING AND ENUMERATION oF Gop’s Gracious Girts 19

PAGH

II

Our CORRESPONDING OBLIGATION . : “ : eee ITI.

Our CALLING AND ELECTION TO BE MADE SuRB . : 34 IV.

Tue TESTIMONY OF CHRIST’S TRANSFIGURATION . Bleue: te V.

Tus TESTIMONY oF PROPHECY - A Z . ae hs VI.

Tue Comina or Fase TEACHERS ‘ . ; : 47 VII.

Tue PUNISHMENT OF SINNERS AND THE SAVING OF THE RIGHTEOUS . r ; ; : x : : 52 Vitl Tun WIOKEDNESS OF THE FALSE TEACHERS AND ITS Evin INFLUENCE. ; F ; ; é : ; 60 Des Tun Harm, EsPEcIALLY TO THE RHOENTLY CONVERTED. 64 xX.

Tun Dancer or APOSTASY . : , : ; = 66

Contents XI.

Ton Mookina QUESTION

XII.

THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION .

XIII.

THE COMPASSIONATE DELAY OF GOD

XIV.

THE Frnat CoNFLAGRATION OF THE WORLD .

XV.

THE CHRISTIANS EXPECTATION AND HIS Duty THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST JOHN THE THIRD EPISTLE OF ST JOHN THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF ST JUDE

Bale

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THE SECOND EPISTLE GENERAL OF ST PETER

THE question of the authorship of 2 Peter is one ofthe difficult problems of New Testament criticism. Was the Epistle written by St. Peter, or by an unknown writer of the second century ? To some it may appear that there is no problem at all. The Epistle opens with the words “ Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ”; a little later, the writer, speaking of the Transfiguration, says : ““ We were with Him in the holy mount”; and, at the opening of the third chapter, he says: ‘‘ This is now, beloved, the second epistle that I write unto you”’. The combination of these passages seems to amount to a perfectly clear claim that St. Peter was the writer, and the plain man is inclined to say: “ It either was written by St. Peter or it is a forgery, and a very deliberate one at that.” To put the alternative in this way is misleading and unfair. It ignores the fact that the ancient conception of authorship was different from our modern one ; that it was not unusual for a writer to assume the name of a great teacher in order to gain a hearing for his book; that if he succeeded in giving a fair presentment of the teaching of the man whose name he had assumed, there was not the slightest disposition to charge him with bad faith, or to invest him with the odium associated in our minds with “forgery”. It may be helpful, in this connection, to recall some very wise words of Dr. Plummer, himself a stalwart upholder of the Petrine authorship. The — words occur in his Introduction to 2 Peter in Ellicott’s New Testament Commentary for English Readers. “The question,” he says, “ of the genuineness of the Epistle is one of immense interest and no small importance ; but there is no terrible alternative before us. If, after all, we have to admit that the Epistle is possibly, or probably, or certainly, not the work of St. Peter, the spiritual value of the contents, both in themselves and in having received the stamp of the Church as canonical will remain absolutely unchanged; although, possibly, our own views of God’s providence in relation to the canon of Scripture may require reconsideration and readjustment.” In fact, to talk of “forgery” in this connection is entirely beside the point.

The present writer is one who would gladly welcome a convincing demonstration of the Petrine authorship, but who cannot resist the conclusion that the preponderating weight of evidence is on the other side. It may, perhaps, be of interest to indicate in brief outline, the considerations which seem to point to this conclusion. They are concerned with the external evidence, the style and language, the relation to St. Jude, and certain passages in the Epistle itself.

(1) It is generally agreed that, however the fact be explained, the external testimony to the Epistle is, compared with the case of most of the other New Testament books, very weak. There is very little reference to it in early patristic literature, the first clear mention being by Origen, who himself regarded it with suspicion. Husebius, who has preserved for us the record of Origen’s view,’ himself says: “As to the writing of Peter, one of his epistles, called the first, is acknowledged as genuine .. . But that which is called the second we have not indeed received by tradition to be in the canon ; yet as it appeared useful to many, it was studiously read with the other Scriptures.” The Epistle was not acknowledged as canonical till the Council of Carthage in 397. The fuller details about the external testimony must be sought in larger works. But there is general agreement as to its comparative paucity, even on the part of those who make careful attempts to account for the fact.

(2) The evidence of the style and language can only be properly appreciated by those who read the Epistle in Greek. The style is rather grandiose and often obscure. The late Professor Moulton, than whom no one had a better right to speak on this aspect of the question, explains it thus: “2 Peter is unique in the character of its Greek.” The writer “uses a Greek which appears to be learnt from rhetoricians or from books, an artificial dialect of big and unusual words, applied without the sure touch of a native”’. He further adds: “ The instinct of the Church was well guided when through this fantastic dialect she heard accents which made good the claim that one little writing of the second century spoke truly and representatively of the first age of Christianity.” It is of interest in this connection to note that some who maintain St. Peter’s authorship are so impressed by the difference of style between 1 Peter and 2 Peter

that they are compelled to postulate a difference of amanuensis. The difference, indeed, from 1 Peter is not only one of style. The extent of it has been well summed up by Professor Mayor: ‘“ On the whole the difference in style is less marked than the difference in vocabulary, and that, again, less marked than the difference in matter, while above all stands the great difference in thought, feeling, and character, in one word, personality.” 1

(3) The relation of 2 Peter to the Hpistle of St. Jude, is a point of vital importance. That there is literary connection between them is certain; the question is, which writer has used the work of the other? It is not superfluous, here, to bear in mind that 2 Peter is the longer of the two Epistles. It has 61 verses, whereas St. Jude has only 25. It is, on general grounds, more likely that the writer of the longer work has expanded the contents of the shorter one, than that the writer of the shorter one has contracted the material of the larger one. It may help the reader to grasp better the points of contact between the two Epistles if the relevant passages are printed side by side.

JUDE 2 PETER

4. For there are certain men ii, 1-2. But faa," false crept in privily, even they who prophets also among the were of old set forth unto this people, as among you also condemnation, ungodly men, there shall be false teachers turning the grace of our God who shall privily bring in into lasciviousness, and deny- destructive heresies, denyi ing our only Master and Lord, even the Master that bought Jesus Christ. them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And

1 Mayor, St. Jude and 2 St. Peter, p. ev. 14

JUDE

6. And angels, which kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgement of the great day.

7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornification, and gone after strange fiesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

8. Yet in like manner these also in their dreamings defile the flesh, and set at nought dominion, and rail at dignities,

9. But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing Judgement, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

10. But these rail at whatsoever things they know not: and what they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things are they destroyed.

11. Woe unto them! for they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire.

many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of.

4. For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them unto pits of darkness to be reserved unto judgement ;

6. And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly.

10. But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise dominion. Daring, selfwilled, they tremble not to rail at dignities :

11. Whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not a railing Judgement against them before the Lord.

12. But these, as creatures without reason, born mere animals to be taken and destroyed, railing in matters whereof they are ignorant, shall in their destroying surely be destroyed.

15. Forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the hire of wrong-doing.

JUDE

12, These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds ; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots ;

13. Wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own-shame ; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved for ever.

16. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their lusts (and their mouth speaketh great swelling words), showing respect of persons for the sake of advantage.

17. But ye, beloved, remember ye the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ ;

18. how that they said to you, In the last time there shall be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts.

13. men that count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and blemishes, revelling in their love-feasts while they feast with you.

17. These are springs without water, and mists driven | by a storm ;

for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved.

18. For, uttering great swelling words of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live in error.

iii, 1. This is now, beloved, the second epistle that I write unto you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by putting

2. you in remembrance ; that ye should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles :

3. knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts.

A study of the commentaries on the two Epistles reveals the different conclusions that are drawn from . this comparison of passages, some holding Jude to be the earlier work, others 2 Peter. To the present writer it seems that the evidence points to the priority of Jude. The two sets of compared passages which especially point in this direction are (a) Jude 6—2 Peter 4, where 2 Peter is vague and indistinct, whereas Jude gives clearly the ground of the condemnation of the angels ; and (b) Jude 9—2 Peter ii. 11, where the 2 Peter is almost unintelligible without Jude, which gives the clear specific instance to which reference is made, the case of Michael contending with the devil.

If the conclusion, as to the priority of Jude, be _ sound, then the likelihood of 2 Peter being by St. Peter is much diminished. It is very improbable that one of the leading apostles would plagiarize in such a way as to absorb almost the whole of an Epistle, by such a comparatively unknown writer as St. Jude. There is also the matter of the dates. If Jude was written about or after 65 a.p. and 2 Peter some time later, then the latter writing cannot well be brought within the lifetime of the apostle.

(4) The view that St. Peter was not the writer is reinforced by certain passages in the Epistle. The expressions “‘ divine power’ (i. 3) and “ partakers of the divine nature” (i. 4) do not quite seem to belong to the first generation of Christian writers. The great concern, manifested in chapter iii to reestablish belief in our Lord’s second coming, seems to be the mark of an age after that of the Apostles. It was after St. Peter and his fellow apostles had passed from the scene that such stinging point could be given to the derisive question: “‘ Where is the promise of His coming?” And, if “ the fathers ”’ in the phrase “from the day that the fathers fell asleep ”’ be taken to refer to the Apostles and original Evangelists, it would seem to indicate that they were dead when the

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Epistle was written. Finally, the putting of St. Paul’s Epistles on a level with the Old Testament Scriptures, as the writer seems to do in ili. 16, seems to belong more naturally to the second century than the first.

The view here propounded is maintained by Dr. Chase in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible, and by Professor Mayor. Those who wish to see strong and scholarly vindication of the Petrine authorship may do so in Salmon’s Introduction to the New Testament, Plummer’s commentary in Ellicott’s New Testament Commentary for English Readers and Bigg’s edition in the International Critical Commentary. The view of Chase and Mayor may fairly be said to be winning general acceptance on the part of more recent scholarship. If the whole history of the debate be taken into account, from the time of Origen till the present day, it may be truly said that the genuineness of this Epistle has been more questioned than that of any book in the New Testament.

Chapter I I Greeting And Enumeration Of God’s Gracious Gifts

** Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that his divine power have granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue; whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises ; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.”—2 Prrer i. 1-4.

Reference has been made, in the Introduction, to 2 Peter i. the difficulties that arise in connection with the 2s ghas question of the authorship of this Epistle. In the er tse i following attempt to explain its contents to the

reader of the English version the standpoint

there adopted will be maintained ; we shall assume

that the Epistle is the work of some unknown Christian teacher who wrote about the middle of the

second century A.D., using the name and authority

of St. Peter to controvert the erroneous doctrines

and practices then prevalent. The Christian Church

has made this writer’s teaching her own by giving

it a place in the Canon of sacred Scripture. It will therefore be our wisdom, as it is our privilege, to

study and to profit by it.

2 Peter i.

I-4.

A Servant of Jesus Christ.

In the opening sentence St. Peter is described as the servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. The margin of the R.V. by its rendering “‘ bondservant ” indicates that the meaning of the original Greek is stronger than our English word “servant”. Itmeans “slave”. The apostle of Jesus Christ is also His slave.

The words “slave” and “slavery ’”’ have, for us, very evil associations, and they seem by common consent to have been avoided in our English versions. And yet they serve to convey truths that should not be ignored or forgotten by the faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.

There is the truth, for example, of absolute ownership. As the slave belonged wholly to his master, was, in fact, his property, and could claim to possess no property of his own; so entirely do we belong to our Lord and Master. Our time, and all our particular talents are His; they are simply gifts from Him to be used in His service. Our bodies are His, to be used or to be disciplined for Him, as the occasion may demand.

There is the further truth that, as the slave could claim no pay, so our service is not rendered with any mundane thought of reward. The servant of Jesus Christ does not indeed go unrewarded. But his recompense is a fuller opportunity of service and a deeper experience of His love.

And there is the truth of absolute obedience ; not under any force of compulsion but as the ready response to the Master’s call; the attitude of one who gladly accepts the humblest as well as the highest work, and finds in so doing both joy and inward peace.

God’s Gracious Gifts

The prophets of the Old Testament rejoiced to call 2 Peter i. themselves the “ bondservants’’? of Jehovah; St. 1~4- Paul and his fellow apostles gloried in being the “ bondservants’ of Jesus Christ. We who follow in their footsteps must catch their meaning, otherwise our lives may be impoverished and our service slack.

The writer does not indicate the place of residence of those to whom he wrote and so we have no information about their exact geographical locality ; but he describes them as those that have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The bond between him and them is the common possession of a precious faith. The adjective ,, Rae

; : ; 4 : precious

“precious ”’ is not otiose or conventional. The faith faith.” is precious because it is highly esteemed and it is highly esteemed by its possessors because they find that it enriches them. The man who is enriched by faith in Jesus Christ and in the Father Whom He reveals is master of this present world and heir of that which is to come. ‘This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” Faith is triumphant because by it we see that world of spiritual reality which lies around and about the world of shadows and illusions in which we live. We are in the midst of inevitable decay and ceaseless change ; but we can endure “as seeing Him Who is invisible”, They who “are more than conquerors through Him that loved us” can realize the preciousness of their faith in Him :

‘“ The love of Jesus, what it is, -None but His loved ones know.’’

The True Knowledge.

The prayer that the writer offers for his readers corresponds exactly with that in the opening words of 1 Peter: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. He has no better wish for them than that the results of faith in Christ, strengthening inspiring grace, the peace of God “which passeth all understanding ”’ should be experienced by them in ever-increasing fulness.

Dr, Jowett has pointed out, in his own characteristic way, how the words of this greeting embody the ideals suggested by the familiar formula: Liberty, Kquality, Fraternity. The secret of true liberty, intellectual, moral and spiritual, is to be found in service to Christ. The secret of true equality is seen in the words “‘ through the righteousness of God.” He is absolutely fair. In His righteousness He puts us all on a basis of equality by the free gift to all who will accept it, of the precious faith. And the secret of true fraternity could not be more worthily expressed than by the conception of a company of those who are ever being enriched by the grace and peace of God through an ever-deepening knowledge of God and Christ.

In the word knowledge the writer strikes a note that sounds continuously through the earlier part of the Epistle. It was probably the case at the time when he wrote that a tendency was growing in certain quarters to regard Christianity as a form of gnosis or knowledge and that he regarded a deep true intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ as the best corrective for this heretical tendency. Christians who were comforted by this barren intellectualism

God’s Gracious Gifts and who might be led captive by it, would be most 2 Peter i. effectively fortified by the increasing grace and 1~4- peace which came from a fuller and more intimate experience of Christ ; for that is what the particular word, here used, for knowledge, seems to mean.

The words that follow justify this emphasis on knowledge, on knowing Christ intimately by personal experience. It is through the knowledge of Him that called us that His divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. In the phrase ‘‘ His divine power ” the “ His ” probably refers to our Lord; His “ divine power” is a somewhat unusual expression in Scripture. Deissmann 1? has pointed out that it occurs in a religious inscription of Asia Minor in the early Imperial period.

He thinks it not impossible that the write" of 2 Peter ‘may have seen the inscription; bu. even if not he suggests, that both the author of our Epistle and the writer of the inscription may be employing “the familiar forms and formulae of religious emotion”. The expression has also something of a philosophical flavour and is to be found in earlier philosophical writings. As used here the divine power is the source of the divine giving. It is God as the beneficient Be pie ak bestower upon us of the gifts we need. And the gifts Grist, are very rich and generous, “all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” ‘‘ Life” is the new life of the believer in Christ; the life of the Christian in whom Christ lives; the life eternal of those who know the only true God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent. “Godliness” means piety in its more 1 Bible Studies, p. 367. 23

The promises of ist.

practical aspect, spiritual “life” displaying itself in conduct. The Christian’s increasing knowledge will manifest itself not only in devotion but in daily demeanour and behaviour.

To such a life Christ has called us by His own glory and virtue. The “ glory” of Christ was the glory of His revelation of the Father, the glory of which St. John speaks: ‘“‘ We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Some think that the “virtue” of Christ does not here mean His moral excellence. To assert that would have seemed unnecessary and out of place. It refers rather to His supreme energy and. power. Others hold that it does refer to His supreme purity and holiness ; that “ glory ” and “ virtue ” correspond with and repeat the “life” and “ godliness” of the previous clause, and that the combination of the phrases expresses His “divine power”. This latter line of interpretation is, on the whole, preferable.

In either case the words may be taken as depicting the experience of the early Christian believers. Belonging, in many cases, to the more humble and despised classes, they found life in all its most commonplace details to be illumined by a new light and inspired by a new strength. They aspired to be ~ brave, patient, pure and tender, as they saw their Master to be, and they found themselves enabled by Him to be like Him.

Such was their experience of the present power of Christ. But this was not all. He had also given

‘precious and exceeding great promises. The word for “ promises’ is peculiar to 2 Peter in the New 24

God’s Gracious Gifts

Testament. It only comes here and in Chap. iu. 13, 2 Peter 1. in which latter passage we see that it has to do with !~4- “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness”. One of the prevalent errors was a sceptical attitude about the second coming of our Lord and the refutation of this error is one of the main themes of the Epistle. Here the writer hints at the matter in a preliminary way by the declaration that the gifts of Christ relate to the future as well as to the present. His promises are “ precious” because they are not empty words; the present joy in them is something real and substantial; they are “ exceeding great’’ because they tell of the perfection and completion to which our present life is leading. These promises have been given by Christ in the first instance to His Apostles, by whom they were received and kept, so that they may now be received and valued by all those who have “a like precious faith ” with the Apostles. And the final purpose is that they may become partakers of the divine nature.

The writer, in verse 3 has spoken of the “ divine power”. Here he speaks of the “divine nature”. In both cases the expression has the air of belonging to Greek rather than to the usual Scriptural mode of speech. But the Greek expression is used to express a distinctly Christian truth, the truth that the believer becomes by grace a participator in the Divine Nature. St. John had said it before: “ As many as received Him to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name.” And St. Paul meant the same thing when he spoke of the “fellowship of the Spirit”. Older philosophers

** Partakers of the Divine Nature.”

had said that man 7s naturally a partaker of the Divine Nature ; Christian apostles and teachers said that he becomes a partaker by God’s grace.

The idea of becoming “ partakers of the divine nature ’’ opens up many extensive avenues of thought on which we can only here bestow quick glances.

It does not mean simply imitating Christ; that might conceivably become a _ perfunctory and mechanical process. It means the indwelling of Christ, ‘“‘ Abide in Me,” He said, “and I in you”. If the abiding presence of Christ be experienced, then St. Paul’s experience is realized. “TI live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me,” words that express the utmost possibility to which fellowship can attain.

To enter on this fellowship is no light matter. It means, in St. John’s language, to be “ born again ” ; in St. Paul’s, to be “risen with Christ”, either expression denotes change of the most radical kind. Yet, for us, being who we are, such a transition is necessary ; the dominance of our ordinary human nature must be overthrown; we must put off “the old man” and put on “the new man’’. We must, have escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust before we can be “ partakers of the divine . nature ”’.

If we ask what the Divine Nature, of which we may partake, distinctively is, the New Testament directs our thoughts towards an answer. God is Spirit, God is Light, and God isLove. As Spirit He reveals Himself, as Light He is diffused, as Love He gives Himself, in redemptive, sacrificial aid. The