THE
PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY THE
VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OJ' GLOUCEIIT&B;
AND BY THB
REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A.
I I. PETER. @xposftion anlJ ~omtletict BY REV. B. C. C.A.FFIN, M.A., VICAR OF NORTHALLl!:RTON, AND RUBAL DEAN; LATE FELLOW AND TUTOB Oi' WOBOESTEB OOLLEGB, OUORQ,
~omfHes bp Watfous ~utf:,ot1. REV. PROF. J, R. THOMSON, M.A. REV. U. R. THOMAS. REV. O. NEW. BEV. B. FINLAYSON, B.A.
NEW EDITION.
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY LONDON AND NEW YORK 1907 THE
SECOND EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. INTRODUCTION.
I. GENUINENESS OF THE EPISTLE. 1. Ea;ternal Evidence. IN considering the genuineness of this Epistle we are confronted at once with the well-known words of Eusebius. He says, in his' Ecclesiastical History,' which seems to have been finished in A.D. 325, "One Epistle of Peter, which is called the first, is accepted; and this the presbyters of old have used in their writings as undoubted. But that which is circulated as his Second Epistle we have received to be not canonical. Nevertheless, as it appeared to many to be useful, it has been diligently read with the other Scriptllres" (Ensebius, 'Hist. Eccl.,' iii. 3). In the same chapter he says that he knows only one genuine Epistle among the writings attributed to St. Peter ; and in bk. iii. 25 he classes the Second Epistle with those of James and Jude, as" disputed, indeed, bnt known to most mon." There are no direct quotations from this Epistle in the Christian writings of the first two centuries; there are, however, some scattered allusions which seem to imply acquaintance with it. Thus Clement of Rome, in his ' Epistle to the Corinthians,' written about A.D. 100, says (eh. xxiii.), "Let that Scripture be far from us where it says, Wretched are the double-minded, . . . who say, These things we heard even in the time of our fathers, and, behold, we have grown old, and none of these things has happened to us." The same passage is quoted with slight differences in the so-called second epistle of Clement, where it is introduced with the words, "For also the prophetic word (o -rrpacf,TJnK?is ~oyos) says." Clemont seems to have had in his mind recollections of eh. iii. 4 and J as. i. 8. The words of the second epistle (written, perhaps, about the middle of the second century) remind us also of eh. i. 19 ( T?iv -rrpacf,11nK?i11 Myav). The remainder of the passage, as quoted in I Clement xxiii. and 2 Clement xi., is quite different from St. Peter. It is therefore possible that Clement may be quoting some u. PETEB. b it INTRODUCTION TO
apocryphal writing; but it is at least probable that he is mixing together reminiscences of Jas. i. 8 and eh. iii. 4, with additions derived from some unknown source. The early Fathers were accustomed to give the sense, not the exact words, of their citations, often, it seems, quoting from memory; but even if we suppose that the passage was borrowed immediately from some unknown w-riter, it remains probable that that writer, older than Clement or contemporary with him, was acquainted with this Epistle. The µ,rya>..or.perr71~ o6ta of 1 Clement ix. looks like a recollection of the same remarkable words in eh. i. 17. It is also probable that in 1 Clement vii. and ix. there is a reference to eh. ii. 5, and in 1 Clement xi. to eh. ii. 6-9. In the 'Shepherd of Hermas' (written about A,D. 140) there are three or four apparent allusions to this Epistle. Thus the words, rijs Tpv<f>~s Kal rijs d.?TaT'l]S o XP6vos i;,pa lo-Tl pla (' Sim.,' vi. 4) remind us of eh. ii. 13. So in 'Vis.,' iii. 7. 1 the words," Who . . . have forsaken the true way," may be an echo of eh. ii. 15, and " Ye who have escaped the world" (' Vis.,' iv. 3. 2), of eh. ii. 20. Justin Martyr (about A.D. 145) says, in controversy with the Jew Trypho, "A1'. there were false prophets in the time of your holy prophets, so now there are many false teachers among us," in which words there seems to be a reminiscence of eh. ii. 1. In the same book he says, "The day of the Lord is as a thousand years," which may be suggested by Ps. xc. 4, but more nearly resembles eh. iii. 8-a passage to which possible allusions occur in the epistle ascribed to Barnabas, in Iren~ns, and Hippolytus. In the Apology addressed to Antoninus by Melito of Sardis, about A,D. 170, there is a passage which closely resembles eh. iii. 5-7. Irenrebs also speaks of the conflagration of the universe as a "diluvium ignis ; " and it may be noted, as at least a remarkable coincidence, that in speaking of the death of St. Peter he has the same word, ~ooos, which is used in eh. i. 15. In the writings of Theophilus of Antioch, who wrote about the same time, there is a possible allneion to eh. i 19, and an almost certain reference to eh. i. 21, "Men of God, moved by the Holy Ghost, and becoming prophets, inspired and made wise by God himself, became taught of God " (' Ad Autoly- cnm,' ii. 9). Ensebins tells us (' Hist. Eccl.,' vi, 14) that Clement of Alexandria wrote expositione, not only of the canonical Scriptures, but also of the dis- puted books, as the Epistle of Jnde and the remaining Catholic Epistles. Some doubt is thrown upon this assertion by some contradictory statements of Cassiodorus; but, on the whole, it seems probable that the Second Epistle of St. Peter was known to the great master of the catechetical school. Hippolytns of Portns, who wrote about .A.D. 220, has a, passage which seeIDB to be an expansion of eh. i. 20. He says (' De Antechristo,' c. 2) that "the prophets spoke not of their own power, nor did they preach what tLey themselves wished; but first they were gifted with wisdom through the Word, then were well instrncted about the future throngh visions." And in another place he speaks of the " wicked angels chained in Tartarus RB a, THE SECOND EPISTLE GENERAL OF l'ETEU. iii