Such haste is expressed in ver. 21 and 22, on account of which indeed the fool remains a fool, Prov. xxvi. 11, the dog a dog, the sow a sow. In«the Critical Apparatus it has accidentally happened that I have given less weight to the reading, oX/yug, than the mar- gin of the text and the arguments inclined me.
19. ’EXei^s p!civ, liberty) so as neither to be afraid of the devil, nor to loathe the flesh. — Jj yap r/g 7irrv\rai) for he by whom any one has permitted himself to be overcome , and has yielded himself vanquished. — rovruj xa) dedovXwrui, by him also is he held in bondage) 1 Sam. xvii. 9. Theocr. Idyll, xxii. 71 :
2 he (MV iyu, Gi> d ’ e/ubg xexXqGsaiy six t xparqGw
I will be thine , and thou shalt be mine , if I gain the victory.
20. * Anopvyovrsg, after they have escaped) This is spoken of those who are enticed, as in ver. 18. And these are entangled in the calamity of those who ensnare them : they are overcome. — /x/ao/Aara, pollutions) bringing corruption. — rovroig) to these, the impure. — but) This particle marks the antithesis between two participles. — Xiipov a, worse) Antithetical to better , ver. 21.
21. 'h sniyvoiKfiV) than when they have known it) Understand it is , from it had been. — napadok/Gr,g, delivered to them) Jude 3.
22. As, but) You may wonder that they thus turn back : but there is little room for wonder ; for they wrere before, and they still continue, dogs and swine.- — napoi/xiag^ proverb) ^D, Septuagint, crapoifjJai 2 oXo/xuvrog, the Proverbs of Solomon, Prov. i. 1 ; also xxvi. 11, < jjGKzp xvwv orav sffeXQr) sgti rijv eavrou s/astov, xai [UGrirog yei^ra/, x.r.X.y as a dog , when he returneth to his vomit , and becometh hateful , etc. Peter had frequently quoted the Proverbs of Solomon in his former Epistle, i. 7, ii. 17, iv. 8, 18, and now he quotes them also in the other. This may be added to the other arguments, which show that both the Epistles are the production of one and the same writer. — Iggpa/xa, vomit) Animals which live among men more easily con- tract the stomach [which takes place in the act of vomiting] than those which are wild. It is a word which is rarely met with ; and Gataker notices some traces of Iambic verse, —
Kiwi/ er/Grps^ag In Idiov e^spu/j?,
'Tg 6' i] XovGaju'svri s/g xuX/o/x a (3op(3opov,
Who would not loathe the vomit of sin ?