Ver. g. οὐ βραδύνει .. . ἡγοῦνται. The idea that is combated is that God has made a promise and has not kept it, He is, however, better than His promise. The additional element of His µακροθυ- µία is brought into play. God is greater than men’s conception of Him, especially if theirs is a mechanical view of the uni- verse.—@s τινες βραδύτητα ἡγοῦνται. As nowhere else in the Epistle, here the writer of 2 Peter enables us to view the summit of the Christian Faith, and to rise to a magnificent conception of God. py βουλόμενός, κ.τ.λ. Delay does not spring from an unwillingness or impot- ence to perform. His will is not even that “some’’ should perish, though that is regarded by the writer as inevitable. Are we to see here opposition in the writer’s mind to the purely logical inter- pretation of the Pauline teaching on Predestination? Some will perish, but itis not His Will. His Will is that all should come to repentance. The good- ness of God should lead to repentance.
Ver. 10. *pépa Κυρίου. No distinc- tion is made between the Day of the Lord, and the Coming of Christ. This is remarkable, as excluding any idea of mil-
pil.
/ > 9 ε > ‘ ς ‘ g , a Se h . ἵ οὐρανοὶ ῥοιζηδὸν ἕ παρελεύσονται, στοιχεία δὲ g John xix.
κλέπτης, ἐν ῃ : ος, ty oe antec bance x pe Tr, Rev.
καυσούµενα λυθήσεται, καὶ yi καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ έργα εὑρεθήσεται.
Xxi. 12, I τς - ή ος πα Tim. v. II. Τούτων οὖν πάντων λυομένων ποταποὺς δεῖ ὑπάρχειν ὑμᾶς 25, Luke
XXiv. 11, Xen. Anab. 1, 7, 17.
1 evpeOnoerar SBKP, syrP; ουχ ευρεθησεται sah. ; κατακαησεται AL, syrh, Ti. ; καυθησεται vel.; κατακανθησονται al.; αφανισθησονται C; om. και γη... ευρε- θησεται vulg.; om. ενρεθησεται spec. Both Nestle and Mayor agree in suggesting the passive of a compound of pew (καταρνησεται or διαρρνησεται. 1 am indebted to Professor J. H. Moulton for the information that the late Henry Bradshaw, of Cambridge, suggested the reading εργα αργα ευρεθησεται. As against this, and in favour of the text as it stands, we have 2 Clem. xvi. 3, which seems to be a
paraphrase of this passage.
καὶ πᾶσα ἡ yi ὡς μόλυβδος ἐπὶ πυρὶ τηκόµενος, Kal
τότε φανήσεται τα κρύφια καὶ φανερὰ ἔργα τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
lenarian teaching, which speedily made its appearance inthe Early Church. ὡς κλέπτης, cf. I Thess. v. 2, Matt. xxiv. 43, Luke xii. 39, Apoc. iii. 3, xvi. 15. That day will surprise those who are clinging to the idea that no change is possible. ῥοιζηδὸν, onomatopoetic, ex- pressing the sound produced by rapid motion through the air, e¢.g., flight of a bird, or an arrow. It is also used of the sound of a shepherd’s pipe. No doubt the sound of afierce flame is meant. “Tt is used of thunder in Luc. Fup. Trag. 1; of the music of the spheres in Iamblich, Vit. Pyth. ο. 15 ; Oecumenius says the word is especially used of the noise caused by a devouring flame” (Mayor, ed. p. 157). στοιχεῖα. Spitta interprets στ. as being the spirits that preside over the various parts of nature. But the situation of στ. between γῆ and οὐρανοὶ makes it practically cer- tain that the heavenly bodies are meant. The universe consists of ovpavol, στοι- χεῖα and yi. οὐρανοὶ is the vault of heaven, ‘‘ the skies”. στ. would therefore mean sun, moon and stars. Cf. Justin. Apol. ii. 5, Trypho. 23. Cf. Isa. xxxiv. 4, Joel ii. 30, 31, Matt. xxiv. 29, Apoc. vi. 12- 14 in illustration of the Jewish belief that the stars will share in the final destruc- tion of the Last Day. kavootpeva. A medical term, used of the heat of fever (καῦσος). This is the only known use of the word applied to inanimate objects. Whether the writer of 2 Peter has here indulged a fondness for unusual words, or whether kavodopat was ever used in other than a medical sense in the Κοινὴ, it is impossible as yet to say. In any case it denotes a violent consuming heat. εὑρεθήσεται. The only alternative read- ing that is worthy of notice in con- nexion with this difficult passage is κατα- καήσεται, but one would expect a word