The prophecy of this mocking, as a mark of the future trials of the Church, has not come down to us. An example of it in the very beginning of the Church is given in Acts ii. 13, ἕτεροι χλευάζοντες ἔλεγον ὅτι γλεύκους µεμεστωμένοι εἰσί. In the Ο.Τ. we have such examples as 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16 (the summing up of the attitude of the Jews towards the prophets) ἦσαν μυκτηρίζοντες τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐξουθενοῦντες τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐμπαίζοντες ἐν τοῖς προφήταις αὐτοῦ, Jer. xx. 8, ἐγενήθη λόγος Κυρίου εἰς ὀνει- δισμὸν ἐμοὶ καὶ cis χλευασμὸν πᾶσαν ἡμέραν. Cf. also the mockery at the crucifixion, and the declaration in Matt. x. 25 f., εἰ τὸν οἰκοδεσπότην Βεεζέβοὺλ ἐπεκάλεσαν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον κ.τ.λ. In 2
19.
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19. Οὗτοί εἶσιν οἱ
ἀποδιορίζοντες,ὸ ψυχικοί, πνεῦμα μὴ έχοντες.
len’ εσχατου ΜΒ; οτι em’ εσχ. AC; [οτι] em εσχ. Treg.; ὅτι εν εσχατῳ KL
P vulg. sah.
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Peter the purport of this mockery is ex- plained to be the unfulfilled promise of the Parusia. Here we must gather its meaning from the account already given of the libertines. If they turned the grace of God into licentiousness, they would naturally mock at the narrowness and want of enlightenment of those who took a strict and literal view of the divine commandments: if they made light of authority and treated spiritual things with irreverence, if they foamed out their own shame and uttered proud and im- pious words, if they denied God and Christ, they would naturally laugh at the idea of a judgment to come. On the form ἐμπαίκτης and its cognates, see note on 2 Peter.
τῶν ἀσεβειῶν. I am rather disposed to take τῶν ἀσεβειῶν here as a subjective genitive, ‘‘lusts belonging to, or arising from their impieties,’” cf. Rom. i. 28, καθὼς οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν τὸν Θεὸν ἔχειν ἐν ἐπιγνώσει, παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεὸς εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν. The position of the genitive is peculiar, and probably intended to give additional stress. We may com- pare it with James ii. 1, μη ἐν προσωπο- Anpiats ἔχετε τὴν πίστιν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τῆς δόξης, where some connect τῆς δόξης with κυρίου in a qualitative sense.
Ver. 19. οὗτοί εἶσιν οἱ ἀποδιορίζοντες. ““These are they that make invidious distinctions.”” See Introduction on the Text. The rare word ἀποδιορίζοντες is used of logical distinctions in Aristotle, Pol. iv. 43, ὥσπερ οὖν εἰ ζώου προῃ- ρούμεθα λαβεῖν εἴδη, πρῶτον ἂν ἀποδιω- ῥρίζοµεν ὅπερ ἀναγκαῖον wav ἔχειν ἵῷον τας, if we wished to make a classifica- tion of animals, we should have begun by setting aside that which all animals have in common’’) and, I believe, in every other passage in which it is known to occur: see Maximus Confessor, ii. p. 103 D, τὸ μὲν φυσικὸν ὥρισεν ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ, τὸ δὲγνωμικὸν ἀποδιώρισε, translated “ natu-
rali in eo (Christo) constituta voluntate, arbitrariam dispunxit,” ib. p. 131 c, ὡς 6 λόγος ἦν αὐτοῦ, µόνον τὸ ἐμπαθές, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τὸ Φφυσικὸν ἀποδιορίσασθαι θέλημα, ‘quod dixerat hoc solum spectare ut libidinosam, non ut naturalem voluntatem a Salvatore eliminaret,’ Severus de Clyst. xxxii., xxv., ὅταν ταῦτα τὰ συµ.- πτώματα ὄψῃ παρόντα, ἀποδιόριζε τὴν ὀργανικὴν νόσον ἐκ τῆς ὁμοιομεροῦς. The simple διορίζω is found in Levy. xx. 24, διώρισα ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν ‘I separated you from the nations,” Job xxxv. I1; so ἀφορίζω Matt. xxv. 32, ἀφορίζει τὰ πρόβατα ἀπὸ τῶν ἐρίφων, Acts xix. g (Paul left the synagogue) καὶ ἀφώρισεν τοὺς µαθητάς, 2 Cor. vi. 17, ἐξέλθατε ἐκ µέσου αὐτῶν καὶ ἀφορίσθητε, Luke vi. 22 (ofexcommunication) ὅταν ἀφορίσωσιν ἡμᾶς, Gal. ii. 12 (of Peter’s withdrawal from the Gentiles) ὑπέστελλεν καὶ ἀφώ- ριζεν ἑαυτόν.