The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Peter — Section 91

be[ore by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour throuuh your apostles." He first refers them to the words of the holy prophets, i.e. who wrote on holy themes, and under holy inspiration. He has specially in view the holy themCJ of the seco?'d coming. T~eir words spoken before h_ad received striking, yet partial, fulfilment In the first commg; they would receive their complete fulfilment in the second coming. He also refers them to the commandment of the Lord ancl 8aviour, th,m which surely nothioi could be more binding. Christ first saves, and then commands: where is the teacher who is in that commanding position? He first teaches the fact or bis second coming, and then he commands the corresponding life. " 'iVatch therefore," says Christ: "for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have suffered bis house to be broken through. Therefore be ye also ready: for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh." This commandment, having the highest authority, was delivered to them through their apostles, i.e. the apostles that had laboured among them. The chief of these thus echoed bis Lord. "The day of the Lord so cometh as a ihief in the night: ... so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober " (1 Thess. v. 2-7). II. THE MOCKERS. 1. The time of their appearance, "Knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery." Peter refers to the advent of the mockers as of primary importance in its beatings. They were to come in the last of the days, by which we cannot understand simply the time immediately preceding the second advent. The last period is to be regarded as extending from the first advent to the second advent. During this period, as time went on, they were to come, and to come in__character. In Hebrew style, it is said that the mockers were to come" with mockery "-wfth their mocking at holy things. 2. What they were to mock at. "Walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?" ,vhat they wer~ to say was to be determined, not by truth, nor by fact, but by prejudice; and by prejudice founded on their walking after their own lusts, i.e. their loose mode of life. In the first psalm those that "walk in the counsel of the ungodly" are next represented as "standing in the way of sinners," and then as "sitting in the seat of the scornful." So here those whose life cannot bear looking into, disliking the coming because it meant a check to them, are represented as saying, with an air of mocking triumph, " Where is the promise of his coming?" i.e. it ha.s turned out to be vain and mendacious. 3. How they were to argue. (1) Fact on which they were to base their a1'9ument. "For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep." By "the fathers" we are probably to understand the men of the first Christian generation. The promise was made to them, and they lived in hope of its being fulfilled iu their day. But the day came when, without its being fulfilled, they fell asleep. There is an example here of tl;ie use of language from which there has been receding. Christians speak of their friends in Christ as falling asleep. The sentiment comes out in the word cemetery, which means "sleeping-place," with which we associate an awaking. The mockers, no longer in accord with Christianity, use Christian language. The fact on which they base their argument is not to be denied: the use which they made of it is taken up at ver. 8. (2) Argument drawn f:rom uniformity. "All things coutinue as they were from the beginning of the creation.". We are warranted in proceeding on the uniformity of nature-on the sun rising to-morrow as it has done to-day, and in days past. Nor is it surprising that scientific men should be more than ordinarily impressed with tho fact of uniformity, by their researches into nature. Peter hero prophesi~s that in the last days mockers would seek to turn the fact of uniformity against Christianity, and it has remarkably turned out as he prophesied. This is really the line that has been followed by many sceptics. They have said, "All things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." On this ground Hume argued against mirncles. "A miracle," he said, "is a violation of a law of nature: hut the universal experience of ourselves, and of the whole human family, proves that the laws of nature arc imiforrn, without exception." Strauss and his school have sought to establish, not merely the incredibiliLy, but the impossibility, of miracles. 'Their argument bears against such a subv~rsion of the present order of things as is connected with the second coming. 'l'hey have thus unconsciously fulfilled prophecy. III. CATASTll.OPHISM IN THE PAST. ".!<'or this they wilfltlly forget, that there We're  86 THE SECOND EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. [oH. m. 1-18.