The language, though not rugged, is not without embarrassment. Ideas are often linked together by a relative pronoun. There is no formal development of thought, though the order is lucid and logical. Some word employed in the previous sentence so dwells in the writer's mind that it suggests the sentiment of the fol- lowing one. The logical formulas are wanting — ovv not preceding an inference, but introducing a practical im- perative, and on and yap not rendering a reason, but prefacing a motive conveyed in some fact or quotation from Scripture. Thoughts are reintroduced, and in terms not dissimilar. What the apostle has to say, he must say in words that come the soonest to an unprac- ticed pen. In short, we may well suppose that he wrote under the pressure of the injunction long ago given to him — " When thou art converted, strengthen thy breth- ren ;" and this divine mandate might be prefixed to the epistle as its motto.
V. Commentaries. — The following are special exeget- ical helps on both epistles: Didymus Alexandrinus, In Ep. Petri (in Bibl. Max Pair, v; and Galland. Bill. Pair, vi) ; Bede, Expositio (in Opp. v) ; Luther, A usle- (juntj (1st Ep., Vitemb. 1523, 4to ; with 2d Ep., ibid. 1524,
4to and 8vo, and later ; also in Lat. and Germ. eds. of his works; in English, Lond. 1581, 4to) ; Bibliander, Com- mentarii ^Basil. 1530, 8vo) ; Laurence, Scholia (Amst. 1540; Genev. 1609, 4to) ; Foleng, Commentaria [includ. James and 1 John] (Lugd. 1555, 8vo); Weller, Enar- ratio (Leips. 1557, 8vo) ; Selnecker, Commentaria (Jen. 1567, 8vo); Feuardent, Commentarius (Par. 1600, 8vo); Winckelmann, Commentarius (Giess. 1608, 8vo) ; Tur- nemann, Meditationes (Frankf. 1625. 4to) ; Ames, Expli- cate (Amst. 1635, 1643, 8vo; in English. Lond. 1641, 8vo); Byfield, Sermons [on i-iii] (Lond. 1637, fol.) ; tier- hard, Commentarius (ed. til. Jen. 1641, 4to, and later); Nisbet, Exposition (Edinb. 1658, 8vo); Goltz, Verkla- ringe (Amst. 1689, 1690, 1721,2 vols.4to) ; Antonio, Ver- klaringe (Amst. 1693-7. 2 vols. 4to ; also in Germ., Brem. 1700, fol.); Anon, Untersuchung (Amsterd. 1702. Svo); Langc, Exegesis (Halle, 1712, 4to, and later); Streso, .!/■ ditationes (Amst. 1717, 4to) ; Boyson, Erklar. (Halle, 1775, 8vo); Schirmer, Erklar. (Bresl. and Leips. 177s. 4to); Sender, Paraphrasis [includ. Jude] (Hal. 17*:; 1. 2 vols. 8vo); Baumgartel, Anmerk. (Leips. 1788, 8vo); Morus, Prulectioms \ includ. James], ed. Douat (Leips. 1794, 8vo) ; Hottinger, Cummentaria [includ. 1 Pet.] (Leips. 1815, 8vo) ; Eisenschmid, Erlaut. ( Ronneb. 182 1, Svo); Mayerhoff, Einleitung (Hamb. 1835. .sv..); Win- dischmann (Rom. Cath.i, Vmdiciee (Ratisb. 1836, Svo); Schlichthorst, Entwickelvmg (Stuttg. 1836 sq., 2 pts. 8vo) ; Demarest, Exposition (N. Y. 1851 65, 2 vols. 8vo I ; Wiesinger, Erklar. [includ. Jude] (Ki.inigsh. 1*56 02. 2 vols. 8vo) ; Besser, .4 usleg. (2d ed. Halle. 1857, 12mo) ; Schott, Erklar. [includ. Jude] (Erlang. 1861-3, 2 vols. 8vo); Lillie, Lectures (Lond. and New York. 1869, 8vo). There are also articles on the authorship of the two epistles by Rauch, in Winer's Krit. Journ. 1828, p. 3*5 sq. ; by Sevier, in the Theol. Stud. u. Krit. 1832. p. 44 sq. ; by Bleek, ibid. 1836, p. 1021 sq. ; by J. Q., in Kitto's Journ. of Sac. Lit., Jan. and July, 1861 ; by Baur, in the Theol. Jahrb. 1856, p. 193 sq.; "by Weiss^ ibid. 1865, p. 619 ; and 1865, p. 255. See Epistle.
The following are on the first epistle exclusively: Hessels, Commentarius (Lovan. 1568, 8vo); Schotan, Commentarius (Franek. 1644, 4to); Rogers, Exposition (Lond. 1650, fol.) ; Leighton, Commentary (Lond. 1003. 2 vols. 8vo, and later); Van Alphen, Verklar. (Utr. 17.; 1. Ito); Klemm, Anacrisis (Tub. 1748, 4to): Wal- ther, Erklar. (Hanov. 1750, 4to); Moldenhauer, Ei-klar. Hamb. n. d. 8vo) ; Hensler, Commentar (Sulzb. 1813, 8vo); Steiger, Ausleg. (Berlin, 1832, 8vo; in English, Edinb. 1836, 2 vols. Svo); Lecoultre, Prem. Ep. dt P. (Genev. 1839, Svo); Brown, Discourses (2d ed. Edinb.
1849, 2 vols. Svo, ibid. 1866, 3 vols. Svo, N. Y. 1850, 8vo) ; Kohlbrligge, Predigten [on ch. ii and iii ] (Leips.
1850, 8vo; in English, Lond. 1854, Svo). See Com- mentary.
PETER, Second Epistle of. follows immediately the other, but it presents questions of far greater diffi- culty than the former. See Antilegomena.
I. Canonical A uthority. — The genuineness of this sec- ond epistle has long been disputed, though its author calls himself "Simon Peter," SoitXog k«i utzootoXoc, "a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.''
1. History of Opinion. — It is hard to say whether the alleged quotations from it by the fathers are really quo- tations, or are. only, on the one hand, allusions to the O. T., or, on the other, the employment of such phrases as had grown into familiar Christian commonplaces. Thus Clement of Rome, in his First Epistle to the Co- rinthians (ch. vii), says of Noah, iKrjpvZt ptravoiar, and of those who obeyed him, iaioStjaav, language not un- like 2 Pet. ii, 5 ; but the words can scarcely be called a quotation. The allusion in the same epistle to Lot (ch. xi) is of a similar nature, and cannot warrant the alle- gation of any proof from it. A third instance is usually taken from ch. xxiii, in which Clement, says, " Miserable are the double-minded," a seeming reminiscence of Jas. i, 5; but, he adds. " We are grown old. and none of those things have happened to us" (yey//pa/c«/<ti' k«i ovdiv