“ae
134 ΠΕΤΡΟΥ B Il, br Tim. i, ἑαυτοῖς ταχινὴν ἀπώλειαν ' 2. καὶ πολλοὶ ἐξακολουθήσουσιν αὐτῶν , 2 Cor. A ο ig τν κ. ταῖς ἀσελγείαις, δι οὓς ἡ ὁδὸς τῆς ἀληθείας βλασφημηθήσεται ' 2. 2, Luke i. ns ye ση καὶ ’ ἐν πλεονεξίᾳ πλαστοῖς λόγοις ὑμᾶς “ἐμπορεύσονται ’ ois τὸ c Ezek. νι μ xxvii. 21. Κρίμα ἔκπαλαι οὐκ ἀργεῖ, καὶ ἡ ἀπώλεια αὐτῶν οὐ 3νυστάζει. 4. d Acts iii. 3 9 < en pes , ε , ας ορ > x rove | 13, 1 Cor. εἰ yap 6 Θεὸς ἀγγέλων ἁμαρτησάντων οὐκ ἐφείσατο, ἀλλὰ σειραῖς viii. 6.
Ίσειραις KLP, vulg., syrr., boh. +; σειροις ABC, WH, Treg.; σιροις §, Ti. The two last are mere variations in spelling: the last gives a different word which
seems less applicable to ζοφον.
The difficulty is, however, partially explained by regarding σειραις as suggested by δεσµοις of Jude 6.
σειρος Or σιρος is a pit for
the storage of grain, and so far as known, the word “does not seem to suggest
anything awful or terrible’? (Mayor).
The presumption, considering dependence
of whole chapter on ideas of Jude, is in favour of σειραις.
middle might have been expected. Cf. ν, 5, where the active is suitably used.
Ver. 2. ἀσελγείαις. are “acts of Jasciviousness”’. 680s τῆς ἀληθείας. ἀληθεία contains the root-idea of ‘ gen- uineness”’. It combines the ideas of the knowledge of God and His purposes in Christ; and of the human obligation to right living that springs from it. ‘ He that doeth truth cometh to the light.” The writer of 2 Peter is, as always, con- cerned to oppose a merely intellectual Gnosticism, which has its ultimate fruit in immorality. Cf. Ps. cxix. 29, 30. βλασφημηθήσεται. The whole Church suffered in reputation because of these men. Cf. Rom. ii. 24, 1 Tim. vi. I.
Ver. 3. ἐν is causal. πλεονεξίᾳ = CIEOVELOUSMESS 2 6) ο Ueuke (xii, πο. πλαστοῖς: here only in N.T., “ manu- factured,”’ ‘‘ feigned,” ‘‘artificial”’. ép- πορεύσονται Originally used in intrans. sense = “‘go a-trading’”’. Cf. Jas. iv. 13. Then = ‘import,’ in trans. sense. Here = ‘make gain of,” “exploit”. ο) COL at. τη Πτα νι. 5
ots τὸ κρίµα ἔκπαλαι οὐκ ἀργεῖ:
‘whose judgment has for long not been
tnactive,” although there is an appear- ance of delay. This delay is the argu- ment used by the false teachers. €k- παλαι occurs in O.G.1.S., 584° (ii. a.p.), SU ὧν ἔκπαλαι αὐτὴν (sc. τὴν πατρίδα) εὐεργέτ[ησεν]. (Cf. iii, 4 and ii. 1, ἐπάγοντες ἑαυτοῖς ταχινὴν ἀπώλειαγ.) For ἀργεῖ see note on i. 8. The judg- ment has long been gathering, and is impending. νυστάζει. The word used of the slumbering virgins in Matt. xxv. 5. In Isa. v. 27 it is used of the instruments of God’s anger employed against those guilty of social abuses.
Vv. 1-τοα. A historical illustration of the Divine judgment on the wicked, and care of the righteous.
“God spared not angels who sinned,
but having cast them into Tartarus, gave them over to chains of darkness, reserving them for judgment. He spared not the ancient world, but guarded Noah, with seven others, while the impious world was overwhelmed by a flood. So Divine judgment was extended to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were over- whelmed by ashes, and overthrown by earthquake, as an example of what is in store for impious persons, while righteous Lot was delivered, grieved and wearied as he was by the profligate life of the lawless. For day after day this man with his righteous instincts, in his life among them, was vexed with the sight and sound of their lawless deeds. In all this we have a proof that the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of trial, and to keep the ungodly under dis- cipline until the day of judgment, especi- ally those who follow the polluting lusts of the flesh and despise authority.”
Ver. 4. εἰ γὰρ 6 θεός. . . introducing a series of conditional sentences. The apodosis is found in οἶδε κύριος εως Οἱ v. g. σειρας. No doubt a rendering of δεσμοῖς in Jude 6, agree- ably to the practice of this writer, who is somewhat fond of using rarer words, instead of the more commonplace. σειρά usually means a “cord” or “rope” (Homer, Il, xxiii., 115, Od. xxii., 175). It would seem to mean “a _ golden chain” in Π. vili., το, 5, 5, Εἰσιο. Theatetus, i. 53 Ὁ. The meaning “fetters” is peculiar to 2 Peter (for var. lect. σειροῖς, see textual note). ταρταρώσας = “cast into Tartarus”. The verb is a ἅπαξ ey. τάρταρος occurs in three passages of LXX. (Job xi το (20), xii. 5» (23), Prov. amv. 55 (xxx. 16): but in none of these is there any corresponding idea in the Heb- rew. The word also occurs in Enoch xx. 2, where Gehenna is the place of