included in P.’s reference to an earlier Epistle. J. there says, ὅτι ἔλεγον ὑμῖν Ew ἐσχάτου χρόνου ἔσονται ἐμπαῖκται κ.τ.λ., that is, he asserts that the words quoted by him were words which were often in the mouth of the Apostles. On the other hand P. makes a clear separa- tion between iii. 2 and iii. 3 by inserting the phrase τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες, which he had previously used in i. 20, not to introduce a particular prophecy, but to lay down how prophecy was to be under- stood. The reference to a former letter is therefore restricted by’ P. to iti. 2, bidding the readers pay heed to the words of the prophets and the apostles. If we turn now to 1 P. i. 10-12, περὶ ῆς σωτηρίας ἐξεζήτησαν . . . προφῆται οἱ περὶ τῆς εἰς ὑμᾶς χάριτος προφητεύσαντες . . . οἷς ἀπεκαλύφθη ὅτι οὐχ ἑαυτοῖς, ὑμῖν δὲ διηκόνουν αὐτά, ἃ viv ἀνηγγέλη ὑμῖν διὰ τῶν εὐαγγελισαμένων ὑμᾶς πνεύµατι ayia (cf. 1 P. i. 16), we shall find an exact correspond- ence to what is stated here. The words τῶν προειρηµένων ῥημάτων (J. ver. 17, P. iii. 2) remind us of J. ver. 4, ot πάλαι mpoyeypappevor eis τοῦτο τὸ κρίµα (though no doubt the immediate reference there is to the prophecy of Enoch) and of P. it. 3, ots τὸ κρίµα ἔκπαλαι οὐκ ἀργεῖ. In citing the prophecy, P. adds the emphatic ἐν ἐμπαιγμονῇ, which may be compared with ἐν τῇ φθορᾷ αὐτῶν καὶ φθαρήσονται of ti, 12, and with the reiterated ἀσεβεῖς of J. ver. 15 and κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας πορευόµενοι of J. vv. 16 and 18.
In itt. 4, P., omitting J.’s somewhat obscure ver. 19, οὗτοί εἶσιν οἱ ἀποδιορίζοντες, ψυχικοί, πνεῦμα μὴ ἔχοντες, goes on to specify in what the mockery of the ἐμπαῖκται consisted. They said that the promise of the coming of Christ (to which P. had borne witness in i. 16) re- mained unfulfilled, and that the world was not liable to the catastro- phic changes predicted as accompaniments of the final judgment. There is a little awkwardness in P.’s wording, ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς κτίσεως fol- lowing a’ fs ἐκοιμήθησαν, but it is a very natural blending of two ob- jections. I cannot think that if J. had known this verse, which gives so much point to the preceding prophecy, he would have refrained from inserting it. P. gives a double answer in iii. 5-10: (a) as the world was created out of water by the word of God, so, owing to! the same word, it was destroyed through water, and will be destroyed again by fire on the day of judgment (cf. Jude vv. 6, 7, P. ii. 3, 4, 9); (b) God is not limited to days and years. If He waits, it is from His long-suffering patience, because He desires that all should repent and be saved. We may compare this with P.’s use of the O.T. types of judgment to point out proofs of mercy in the case of Noah and Lot (ii. 5, 7), in contrast with the severer tone of J. vv. 5-7. In itt. 10
1 Reading δι’ 6v, for which see my edition of 2 P.