In the water (6¢ Udatos). Omit the article. ud has its usual sense here, not as Rev., amidst, but by means of. Bengel:
Cu. IIT.] THE SECOND GENERAL EPISTLE OF PETER. 705
“The water served that the earth should consist.” Expositors are much divided as to the meaning. This is the view of Huther, Salmond, and, substantially, Alford.
6. The world that then was (0 Tote Koopos). Lit., the then world. The word for world is literally order, and denotes the perfect system of the material universe.
Being overflowed (xataxdvoNels). Only here in New Tes- tament. Cataclysm is derived from it.
7. The heavens—which now are (oi viv ovpavol). A con- struction similar-to the then world (ver. 6). The now heavens, or the present heavens.
Kept in store (reIncavpicpévot). Rev., stored up. Lit, treasured up. The same word which is used in Luke xi. 21, layeth up treasure. Sometimes with the kindred noun Iycav- pods, treasures, as Matt. vi. 19; lit., treasure treasures.
Unto fire. Some construe this with treasured up; as Rev., stored up for fire ; others.with reserved, as A. V.; others again give the sense stored with fire, indicating that the agent for the final destruction is already prepared.
9. Is not slack (od Bpadvver). Only here and 1 Tim. iii. 15. The word is literally to delay or loiter. So Septuagint, Gen. xliii. 10, “except we had lingered.” Alford’s rendering, 7s not tardy, would be an improvement. The word implies, besides delay, the idea of lateness with reference to an appointed time.
Come (ywpioa). Move on, or advance to.
10. The day of the Lord. Compare the same phrase in Peter’s sermon, Actsii. 20. It occurs only in these two passages and 1 Thess. v. 2.
As athief. Omit in the night. Compare Matt. xxiv. 43; 1 Thess. v. 2,4; Apoe. iii. 3; xvi. 15. 45
706 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. Cu. III.
With a great noise (Jovfdov). An adverb peculiar to Peter, and occurring only here. It is a word in which the sound sug- gests the sense (rhoizedon) ; and the kindred noun, potfos, is used. in classical Greek of the whistling of an arrow; the sound of a shepherd’s pipe ; the rush of wings ; the plash of water ; the hiss- ing of a serpent; and the sound of filing.
The elements (crovyeia). Derived from ototyos, a row, and meaning originally one of a row or series ; hence a compo- nent or element. The name for the letters of the alphabet, as being set inrows. Applied to the four elements—fire, air, earth, water ; and in later times to the planets and signs of the zodiac. It is used in an ethical sense in other passages; as in Gal. iv. 3, “elements or rudiments of the world.” Also of elementary teaching, such as the law, which was fitted for an earlier stage in the world’s history ; and of the first principles of religious knowledge among men. In Col. ii. 8, of formal ordinances. Compare Heb. v.12. The kindred verb otouxyéw, to walk, car- ries the idea of keeping in line, according to the radical sense. Thus, walk according to rule (Gal. vi. 16); watlkest orderly (Acts xxi. 24). So, too, the compound ovotovyéw, only in Gal. iv. 25, answereth to, lit., belongs to the same row or column with. The Greek grammarians called the categories of letters arranged according to the organs of speech cvorovyiat. Here the word is of course used in a physical sense, meaning the parts of which this system of things is composed. Some take it as meaning the heavenly bodies, but the term is too late and technical in that sense. Compare Matt. xxiv. 29, the powers of the heaven.
Shall melt (Av9jcovras). More literally, as Rev., shall be dissolved.
With fervent heat (cavootpeva). Lit., being scorched up.
11. To be dissolved (Avopévwv). So Rev. But the parti- ciple is present; and the idea is rather, are in process of disso- dutcon. The world and all therein is essentially transitory.