3. Objections. — There are serious difficulties, however, in the way of its reception ; and these are usually said to be difference of style, difference of doctrine, and the marked correspondence of portions of the epistle with that of Jude. Yet Gausscn makes the astounding state-
PETER (SECOND EPISTLE OF) 24 PETER (SECOND EPISTLE OF)
ment — "The two epistles when carefully compared re- veal more points of agreement than difference," bul he has ii"i taken the trouble of noting thi m (Ontkt Canon, p. 359). The employmenl of wc is differenl in the sec- ond epistle from the first There, though it occurs otherwise, ii is generally employed in comparisons, and its frequency makes it a characteristic of the style; bul it occurs much mure rarely in the second epistle, and usually, though not always, with a differenl meaning and purpose. The use ofdWd after a negative clause and introducing a positive one is common in the first
epistle, and bul rare in the second. There are many
ii-a'i Xeyofttva in the second epistle. The first and second epistles differ also in the use of Xpioroc. In tin- Brsl epistle V stand- in the majority of instances without the article and by itself, either simply I. \. or
X.I.; lint in the set 1 epistle it has usually seme
predicate attached to it ti. 1. •_'. *: ii. II L6). The name BtoC occurs nearly forty time- in the first epi.-tle.
but only seven times in the se< 1. Again, Kvptoc is
applied to Christ only ..nee in the firsl epistle i i. 3 I, bul in the second epistle it is a common adjunct to other names of the Saviour. In the first epistle it means the Father in all ca-es hut die (ii, 3), DUl in the second epistle it denotes the Son. ill harmony \\ ith Peter's own declaration (Actsii,36; x,36). The epithet autrrip,so often applied to Christ in the second epistle, is not found in the first. The second coming of our Lord is also ex- pressed differently in the two epistles, diroKdXvtyic, or it- verb, being used in the first epistle (i, 5, 7. 13; iv. 13; v, 1); or ir is called to reXoc irdvrutv (v, 7); or Xl>i>voi taxaroi (i, 20). But in the second epistle ii i- called I'ljiipa icpiotwc (ii. 9), irapovoia ( iii. 4), 7} p,t pa Kvpiov (iii, 10), i'/iihiu r.'or (iii, 12). These are cer- tainly marked diversities, and it is difficult to offer a sat- isfactory explanation of them. It may. however, he re- plied that with the sacred writers the divine names are as with ii-. without any prominent or distinc- tive application. In the lirst epistle the Redeemer's names are his common ones, the familiar ones in the mouths of all believers for the writer brings into prom- inence the oneness of believers with him in suffering and
glory; with him still as Jesus wearing his human name and hi- human nature with all its sympathies; or as the Christ who, as the Father's servant, obeyed, suffered, and was crowned, the Spirit that anointed him still be- in- -the unction from the Holy One" to all his people. In the second epistle the writer has in view persons who are heretics, rebellious, dissolute, false teachers; and in warning them his mind naturally looks to the authority and lordship of the Saviour, which it was so awful to contemn and so vain to oppose. If the last day he set in different colors in the two epistles, the difference may he accounted for on the same principle; for to those Buffering under trial it shines alar as the hope thai sustains them, hut to those who are perverse
it present-, it-elf .as the time of reckoning which should alarm them into believing submission.
The aspects under which the Gospel is represented in this second epi-tle differ from those in the first The writer lay- stre-s on liriyvuoic, or yvwoic { i. 2, 3, .'■. 8; ii. 20, I 1 ; iii. L8). In this epistle the Gospel is gi tier- ally Xoirrroe i' rrnpir Kui TTCtpOVoia M. 16), oS6c -,)r
8iicaioffvvns (ii. '-'I ). ay«a IvroXri, etc. ; whereas the lirst epistle throws into prominence IXnig, otDTTjpia, pctvTi- o/it i aifiaroi 1. V. %apn - i, i1
(ii, 8), mans, etc. The reason may he ventured that the persons addressed in the second epistle were in
danger of being tempted into error; and that a definite and progressive knowledge of Christianity was the safe- guard against those loose speculations which u ing around them. On this account, too, we have ad- monition suggested and pointed by their perilous cir- cumstances, "to make their calling and election sure" (i, 10; iii, 14); nay, the purpose of the epistli seems to he given in iii, 17: "Ye therefore, beloved, knowing beforehand, take heed lest, being led away with the er-
ror of the lawless, ye fall away from your own steadfast- ness ; hut grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" The iiriyvwaic i- the ur.-md theme of counsel and the nal prophylactic pre- sented, for it embodies itself in that Sucaiooivn on the i of which so much depends, as is seen in the allusions to Noah and Lot. and to the want of which are trace, i in contrast the judgment of the flood and the fate of Sodom, the selfish character of Balaam, and the dark