mon rendering of O37 in this connexion is wanted below, and St. Peter is content to follow his authority.—Aads εἰς περιποίησιν, a people for possession
= στης o The source of the Greek phrase is Mal. iii. 17, but the Hebrew title variously rendered occurs in the two great passages drawn upon. Deut. (vii. 6, etc.) has λαὸς περιούσιος which is adopted by St. Paul (Tit. ii. 14); but the phrase εἰς π. is well established in the Christian vocabulary, Heb. x. 39 ; 1 Thess. v. 9; 2 Thess. ii. 14, and the whole title is apparently abbreviated to περιποίησις in Eph. i. 14.-- ὅπως... ἐξαγγε- ίλητε, from Isa.l.c. + Ps. l.c., the latter containing the matter of the following designation ot God. In Isa. tas ape-
τάς pov stands for snosn my praise ; and this sense reappears in Esther xiv. 10. ἀνοῖξαι στόµα ἐθνῶν cis ἀρετάς µαταίων, the praises of idols. Else- where it stands for "Τὸ glory (Hab. iii, 3; Zach. vi. 13). in the books of Maccabees (especially the fourth) it has its ordinary sense of virtue, which cannot
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1Οθαυμαστὸν αὐτοῦ
11 οὐκ ἡ ὡς παροίκους
12 ἐπιθυμιῶν αἵτινες στροφὴν 2 ὑμῶν ἐν τοῖς
φῶς: ot tote οὐ λαὸς λεημένοι νῦν δὲ ἐλε καὶ παρεπιδήµους ἀπέ
στρατεύονται κατὰ ἔθνεσιν καλὴν ἵνα
Il, viv δὲ λαὸς OF οἱ ἀγαπητο παρακαλῶ χεσθαι 1 τῶν σαρκικῶ τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ava
ἐν ® καταλαλοῦσιν
ηθέντες.
1Ἐοι ἀπέχεσθαι Codex Alexandrinus and others read ἀπέχεσθε: ε and αι are
interchangeable in the manuscripts.
2 Codex Vaticanus omits ἔχοντες, which is formally required to govern ἄναστρο-
φὴν.
be excluded altogether here. The whole clause is in fact the pivot on which the Epistle turns. Hitherto Peter has ad- dressed himself to the Christians and their mutual relations, now he turns to consider their relations to the outside world (i. 11 f.). In 2 Peter i. 3, &. corre- sponds to θεία Svvapis, a sense which might be supported by Ps. l.c. (for dis- cussion of other—very uncertain — evi- dence see Deissmann, Bible Studzes, pp. 95 ff., 362) and the events of Pentecost (see especially Acts ii. 11).- τοῦ... φῶς is derived from Ps. l.c.; the natural antithesis light is readily supplied (cf. Eph. v. 8, 14) ; darkness = heathenism in cf. το. /
Ver. το, from Hosea i. 6, ii. 1(3); of. Rom. ix. 25 (has καλέσω κάλεσον of Hos.); the terms are so familiar that µου is omitted by Peter as unnecessary (cf. γένος é«. for τὸ y. pov ἐ.).
Vv. 11 f. indicate generally the subject to be discussed. Beloved I exhort you to abstain from the lusts of the flesh, be- cause they wage war against the soul. Slanders and even torments can only affect the body. But the lusts natural or acquired which you have renounced may hinder your salvation, as they have already impeded your mutual love. For the sake of your old friends and kinsfolk refuse to yield to their solicitations. If rebuffed they resort to persecution of whatever kind, remember that it is only a passing episode of your brief exile. Let your conduct give them no excuse for reproach; so may they recognise God’s power manifest not on your lips but in your lives.—a yam Tol, not an empty tormulz but explanation of the writer’s motive. He set before them the great commandment and now adds to it as Jesus did, Love one another as I have loved you, John xiii. 34.- ὡς π. καὶ παρεπιδήµους with amex. (motive for abstinence in emphatic position) rather than παρακαλῶ (as νουθετεῖτε ὡς ἀδελφόν, 2 Thess. iii. 15—the motive of exhorta-
If ἀπέχεσθαι represents the infinitive, ἔχοντας would be more grammatical.
tion is here expressed by ay.) echoes παρεπιδήµοις of i. 1 and παροικίας of i. 17. The combination (= ΙΓ] ηλ) occurs twice in LXX (Gen. xxxiii. 4; Ps. χχχιχ. 13). Christians are in the world, not of the world.—amwéyeoO@at, cf. Plato, Phaedo, 82 C, true philosophers, ἀπέχονται τῶν κατὰ τὸ σῶμα ἐπιθυμιῶν ἁπάσωγ-- ποῖ for fear of poverty, like the vulgar, nor for fear of disgrace, like the ambitious, but because cnly so can he, departing in perfect purity, come to the company of the gods”.—t@v σαρκι- κῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν, the lusts of the flesh. St. Peter borrows St. Paul’s phrase, ἡμεῖς πάντες ἀνεστράφημέν ποτε ἐν ταῖς ἐπι- θυµίαις τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν ποιοῦντες τὰ θελήµατα τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ τῶν διανοιῶν (Eph. i. 3), but uses it in his own way in a sense as wide as τὰς κοσμικὰς ἐ. (Tit. i. 12). For the flesh is the earthly life (cf. Col. iii. 5) the transitory mode of existence of the soul which is by such abstinence to be preserved (i. 9).— αἵτινες ... ψυχῆς, because they are campaigning against the soul. — στρατεύονται (cf. iv. rf., for mili- tary metaphor) perhaps derived from Rom. vii. 23, “I perceive a different law in my members warring against (άντιστρατε- υόµενον) the law of my mind;” cf. Jas. iv. I, the pleasures which war in your members, and 4 Macc. ix. 23, ἱερὰν καὶ εὐγενῆ στρατείαν στρατεύσασθε περὶ τῆς εὐσεβείας.- κατὰ τῆς ψΨυχῆς. The lusts of this earthly life are the real enemy for they affect the soul. Compare Matt. x. 28, which may refer to the Devil and not to God, and the Pauline parallel, ἡ σὰρξ ἐπιθυμεῖ κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος - +. ταῦτα yap ἀλλήλοις ἀντικεῖται (Gal. ν. 17).