Vv. 12-15. The aim of the writer, and the urgency of his message. ‘‘ You are already acquainted with and established in the truth, so far as revealed to you, but, in view of the great issues, I shall always be prepared to awaken you toa sense of these things. In my lifetime I feel bound to do so, especially as I know that death is imminent, as Jesus declared tome. I shall also do my best to enable you to refer to these things as oppor- tunity occurs, even after my decease.”
Ver. 12. µελλήσω. What is the exact significance of the future? It can hardly be simply a periphrastic future. ‘* The idea is rather that the writer will be prepared in the future, as well as in the past and in the present to remind them of the truths they know, whenever the necessity arises” (Zahn. Introd., ii., p. 211; quoted with approval by Nestle. Text. Criticism of N.T. pp. 333-34). ἐστηριγμένους. This word is used by Jesus in the warning given of Peter’s fall, and its spiritual result. και σύ ποτε ἐπιστρέψας στήρισον τοὺς ἀδελφούς σου (Lk. xxii. 32). Cf. © Pee ου το. Pet. iii. 17, where στηριγµός = “ stead-
10---15.
129 Ἀκαίπερ εἰδότας καὶ ἐστηριγμένους ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ ἀληθείᾳ. μὴν / A > ον, J “s δίκαιον δὲ ἡγοῦμαι, ἐφ᾽ ὅσον εἰμὶ ἐν τούτω τῷ σκηνώµατι, διε- Y- 8, vil.
γείρειν ὑμᾶς ἐν ὑπομνήσει, 14. εἰδὼς ὅτι ταχινή ἐστιν ἡ ἀπόθεσις i For con-
struction
τοῦ σκηνώµατός µου, καθὼς Kal ὁ κύριος ἡρῶν ‘Ingots Χριστὸς of ἔχειν ἐδή , , 1 Ν SL ua i>» oe τν \ with
ἠλωσέν por. 15. σπουδάσω] δὲ καὶ ἑκάστοτε ᾿ ἔχειν ὑμᾶς μετὰ ios, eee att.
Xviil. 25, Eph. iv. 28
lomovdalw 31, arm., syrP, ‘fan intentional alteration . .. copyists and trans- lators could not bring themselves to read here again a promise of Peter’s, which he
seemed not to have fulfilled? (Zahn, Introd. ii. p. 212).
to variants for µελλησω (ver. 12) (ibid. cf.
fastness of mind”. ἐν παρούσῃ ἀληθείᾳ.-- ‘‘in the present truth,” i.e. in so far as you yet have experience of it. Cf. note on v. 8
Ver. 13. δίκαιον δὲ ἡγοῦμαι. “I consider it a duty.” The language in vv. 13, 14, is studiously solemn and im- pressive. σκηνώµατι, used in literal sense of “tent” in Deut. xxxiii. 18. In Acts vii. 46, it is used of the Tabernacle of God. Elsewhere in N.T. σκῆνος is used in the metaphorical sense of human existence. Cf. 2 Cor. v. 4. A similar use of σκήνωµα is found in Ep. ad Diogn. 6. ἀθάνατος ἡ ψυχὴ ἐν θνητῷ σκηνώµατι κατοικεῖ. σκηνή is the word used by Peter in the transfiguration story (Matt. xvii. 4; Mark ix. 5; Luke ix. 33). διεγείρειν ὑμᾶς ἐν ὑπομνήσει' Srey. is always used in N.T. = “awaken” or “rouse from sleep” (except in Jn. vi. 18 of the sea); significant in view of the reference to the Transfiguration in wv. 16 ff. Cf. διαγρηγορήσαντες (‘fully awake’’) in St. Luke’s account; Introd. - 95. 3 Ver. 14. ταχινή “imminent,” cf. ii. 1. A poetical word peculiar to 2 Peter in N.T. The process described by ἀἄπόθεσις can hardly be ‘sudden,’ Plat. Rep. 553D, but there is always an impression of suddenness to the onlooker, who lifts up his eyes some morning, and finds the tent or the encampment gone where he had seen it yesterday. An inscrip- tion in C.I.A. III. 1344, reads ζωῆς καὶ καµάτου téppa δραμὼν ταχινόν, where sense can only be “Ὀσίιε[” (but see discussion in Zahn. Introd., Π., pp. 212 Ε). ἀπόθεσιν τοῦ σκην. ἀποτίθεμαι is used of “ putting off a garment” (Acts vii. 58); and might here be connected with the idea of taking off a tent-cover (So Spitta). Probably “‘ removal” is the proper translation. In B.G.U. 6065 (iv. A.D.) [πρὸς ἀ]πόθεσιν ἀχύρου (for re- moval of a chaff-heap) is found. Cf. 1 Pet. iii. 21, οὐ σαρκὸς ἀπόθεσις ῥύπον.