The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Peter — Section 74

dclny; he bath no pleasure that the wicked disorgnnized; and this is the scnso of <TT01x•ia ~hould die (Ezek. xviii. 28, 82, and xxxiii. in the LXX. (Wisd. vii. 17; xix. 17) and I I). But that 1111 should oome to repentanoe. in Hippolytus, • Philos.,' pp. 21!!, 818. Tho T be Greek word for" come" (xwpij<Tai ), occurs dissolution is contmsted with the cousistenoy in the same sense in Matt. x,. 17 (see also described by the word <TUV<<TTC&><Ta in ver. 5. the remnrkRble parallel from Plutarch, 'De 'l'he heavens are reserved for fire, 1rnd will Flum.,' p. 19 (quoted by Alford), •lf µf'ra• pass away with a rushing noise, and, being vo,av . • • xwpfi<Taf). Calvin takes it transi- set on fire, wiU be dissolved; the elements tively, .. willing to receive all to repentance," will be on fire and melt, and be reduced to 11, But the common translation is plainly right state of confusion; the earth and the works (comp. 1 Tim. ii. 4 combined with 2 Tim. therein will be burnt up. There does not ii. 25). seem, therefore, to be any co.use for abandon- Yer. 10.-But the day of the Lord will ing the oommon meaning of u-ro1x••a, the come. The word ~~ .., will come, stands elemental principles of which the universe emphatically at the beginning of the clause; is made." On the other ho.nd, the word whatever the mockers may say, whatever u-ro,x,ia is certainly used of the heavenly may hnppen, come certainly will the day of bodies by Justin Martyr(' Apolog.,' ii. c. 5, the Lord. " The day of the Lord " meets and ' Dial. cnm Tryphon,' c. 28) ; and the us often in the prophets; it is usually heavenly bodies are constantly mentioned in nssociated with the thought of judgment the descriptions of the awful convulsions of (see Is~ ii. 12; Ezek. xiii. 5; Joel i. 15; the great day (Matt. niv. 29; Mark xiii. Mai. iii. 2). In the New Testament it 24 ; Luke x.xi. 25 ; Acts ii. 20; Rev. vi. 12, signifies the second advent of Ghrist (1 etc.). The objection that the word does not Thess. -r. 2; l Cor. i. 8; Phil. i. 6; 2 Thess. bear this meaning elsewhere in Holy Scrip• ii. 2). As a thief in the night. The best ture is of little weight, as this is the only manuscripts omit here "in the night." St. place in which it has a physical sense. The Peter is evidently echoing the Lord's literal translation of the clause is, "The words in that great prophetic discourse on elements, being scorched, shall be dissolved." the Mount of Olives, which must have The word for "being scorched" (,cauuo6µ.,va) made such a deep impression upon the occurs in the New 'l'estament only here and apostles. This illustration of the sudden in ver. 12; it is used by the Greek physicians coming of the thief is repeated not only by of the burning heat of fever. The verb St. Peter here, bnt also by St. Pan! (1 Thess. 71.u9f,<T,.,.a, means " shall be dissolved or v. 2), and t\lice by St. John (Rev. iii. 3 and loosened." The earth also and the works xvi. 15). In the which the heavens shall that are therein shall be burned up. By pa~s away with a great noise, The Greek "the works that are therein" St. Peter for "with a great noise (po1(71oov),. occurs seems to mean all the works both of Goel nowhere else in the New Testament, and is and of man, "opera naturm et artia" one of those remarkable poetic forms which (Bengel). There is a very remarkable read- are not unfreqnent in this Epistle : the J1onn ing here (supported by the Sinaitic e.nd {,o,(os is used of the whizzing of arrows, of Vatice.n and another uncial manuscript), the rush of wings, of the sound of mighty •up•6fi<T<-ra1, "shall be discovered," instead of winds or roaring waters. It may be under- 1CaTa1taf,<T..,.a1, "shall be burned up." If we stood here of the crash of a falling world or understand "the works that are therein" of of the roar of the destroying flames. The man's works and actions, this reading will word rendered "pass away" is that used give a good sense ( corn p. I Cor. iii. 13, by our Lord in the prophecy just referred "Every man's work shall be made manifest, to (Matt. xxiv. 35; also in Matt. v. 18 for the day she.11 declare it, because it she.11 and in Luke xvi. 17). And the elements be revealed by fire ; and the fire shall try shall melt with fervent heat. It is uncer- every man's work, of what sort it is"). Or tain whether by "the elements" (<T-ro,xiia) the clause may be regarded as interrogative, St. Peter means the four elements (in "Shall the earth and the works the.t are the old and popular use of the word), or therein be found?" But the reading, "shall the great constituent parts of the universe, be burned up" is well supported, and ijuits the heavenly bodies. Against the first view the context best. is the assertion that one of those elements Ver.11.-Seeing then that all these things is to be the agent of destruction. But the shall be dissolved; rather, seeing that all word rendered "melt" means "shall be these things are being dissolved. The parti- dissolved" or "loosed;" and it may be, as ciple is present, and implies the certainty of Bishop Wordsworth says, that " St. Peter's the event foretold, and, perhaps, also that meaning seems to be that the <T-ro,x••a, the germs of that coming dissolution are elements or rudiments, of which the universe already in being, that the forces which are is composed and compacted, will be loosed; ultimately to bring about the final ce.tas- that is, the fre.mework of the wol'ld will be trophe are even now at wnrk. &rue of the OH. 111. 1-18.J 'l'HE SEOOND EPISTLE GENERAL OF PE'l'ER. 60