2 Peter 3 commentary

The purified minds of Christians are to be stirred up, that they may be active and lively in the work of holiness. There will be scoffers in the last days, under the gospel, men who make light of sin, and mock at salvation by Jesus Christ. One very principal article of our faith refers to what only has a promise to rest upon, and scoffers will attack it till our Lord is come. They will not believe that he will come. Because they see no changes, therefore they fear not God, Ps 55:19. What he never has done, they fancy he never can do, or never will do.

Had these scoffers considered the dreadful vengeance with which God swept away a whole world of ungodly men at once, surely they would not have scoffed at his threatening an equally terrible judgment. The heavens and the earth which now are, by the same word, it is declared, will be destroyed by fire. This is as sure to come, as the truth and the power of God can make it. Christians are here taught and established in the truth of the coming of the Lord. Though, in the account of men, there is a vast difference between one day and a thousand years, yet, in the account of God, there is no difference. All things past, present, and future, are ever before him: the delay of a thousand years cannot be so much to him, as putting off any thing for a day or for an hour is to us. If men have no knowledge or belief of the eternal God, they will be very apt to think him such as themselves. How hard is it to form any thoughts of eternity! What men count slackness, is long-suffering, and that to us-ward; it is giving more time to his own people, to advance in knowledge and holiness, and in the exercise of faith and patience, to abound in good works, doing and suffering what they are called to, that they may bring glory to God. Settle therefore in your hearts that you shall certainly be called to give an account of all things done in the body, whether good or evil. And let a humble and diligent walking before God, and a frequent judging of yourselves, show a firm belief of the future judgment, though many live as if they were never to give any account at all. This day will come, when men are secure, and have no expectation of the day of the Lord. The stately palaces, and all the desirable things wherein wordly-minded men seek and place their happiness, shall be burned up; all sorts of creatures God has made, and all the works of men, must pass through the fire, which shall be a consuming fire to all that sin has brought into the world, though a refining fire to the works of God's hand. What will become of us, if we set our affections on this earth, and make it our portion, seeing all these things shall be burned up? Therefore make sure of happiness beyond this visible world.

From the doctrine of Christ's second coming, we are exhorted to purity and godliness. This is the effect of real knowledge. Very exact and universal holiness is enjoined, not resting in any low measure or degree. True Christians look for new heavens and a new earth; freed from the vanity to which things present are subject, and the sin they are polluted with. Those only who are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, shall be admitted to dwell in this holy place. He is faithful, who has promised. Those, whose sins are pardoned, and their peace made with God, are the only safe and happy people; therefore follow after peace, and that with all men; follow after holiness as well as peace. Never expect to be found at that day of God in peace, if you are lazy and idle in this your day, in which we must finish the work given us to do. Only the diligent Christian will be the happy Christian in the day of the Lord. Our Lord will suddenly come to us, or shortly call us to him; and shall he find us idle? Learn to make a right use of the patience of our Lord, who as yet delays his coming. Proud, carnal, and corrupt men, seek to wrest some things into a seeming agreement with their wicked doctrines. But this is no reason why St. Paul's epistles, or any other part of the Scriptures, should be laid aside; for men, left to themselves, pervert every gift of God. Then let us seek to have our minds prepared for receiving things hard to be understood, by putting in practice things which are more easy to be understood. But there must be self-denial and suspicion of ourselves, and submission to the authority of Christ Jesus, before we can heartily receive all the truths of the gospel, therefore we are in great danger of rejecting the truth. And whatever opinions and thoughts of men are not according to the law of God, and warranted by it, the believer disclaims and abhors. Those who are led away by error, fall from their own stedfastness. And that we may avoid being led away, we must seek to grow in all grace, in faith, and virtue, and knowledge. Labour to know Christ more clearly, and more fully; to know him so as to be more like him, and to love him better. This is the knowledge of Christ, which the apostle Paul reached after, and desired to attain; and those who taste this effect of the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, will, upon receiving such grace from him, give thanks and praise him, and join in ascribing glory to him now, in the full assurance of doing the same hereafter, for ever.

1. Lest they should be wearied with the Second Epistle as though the first was sufficient, he says that it was not written in vain, because they stood in need of being often stirred up. To make this more evident, he shews that they could not be beyond danger, except they were well fortified, because they would have to contend with desperate men, who would not only corrupt the purity of the faith, by false opinions, but do what they could to subvert entirely the whole faith.

By saying, I stir up your pure mind, he means the same as though he had said, “I wish to awaken you to a sincerity of mind.” And the words ought to be thus explained, “I stir up your mind that it may be pure and bright.” For the meaning is, that the minds of the godly become dim, and as it were contract rust, when admonitions cease. But we also hence learn, that men even endued with learning, become, in a manner, drowsy, except they are stirred up by constant warnings. The Apostle evidently admits that they had a sincere or a pure mind, that is, freed from the pollutions referred to in the last chapter; but still they stood in need of being stirred up by admonitions: hence their minds were not, in a strict sense, perfect, though sincere. — Ed.

It now appears what is the use of admonitions, and how necessary they are; for the sloth of the flesh smothers the truth once received, and renders it inefficient, except the goads of warnings come to its aid. It is not then enough, that men should be taught to know what they ought to be, but there is need of godly teachers, to do this second part, deeply to impress the truth on the memory of their hearers. And as men are, by nature, for the most part, fond of novelty and thus inclined to be fastidious, it is useful for us to bear in mind what Peter says, so that we may not only willingly suffer ourselves to be admonished by others, but that every one may also exercise himself in calling to mind continually the truth, so that our minds may become resplendent with the pure and clear knowledge of it.

2. That ye may be mindful. By these words he intimates that we have enough in the writings of the prophets, and in the gospel, to stir us up, provided we be as diligent as it behoves us, in meditating on them; and that our minds sometimes contract a rust, or become bedimmed through darkness, is owing to our sloth. That God may then continually shine upon us, we must devote ourselves to that study: let our faith at the same time acquiesce in witnesses so certain and credible. For when we have the prophets and apostles agreeing with us, nay, as the ministers of our faith, and God as the author, and angels as approvers, there is no reason that the ungodly, all united, should move us from our position. By the commandment of the apostles he means the whole doctrine in which they had instructed the faithful. The construction of the passage is as follows: — “In both which I, by admonition, arouse your sincere mind to remember the words, aforetime spoken by the holy prophets, and the doctrine of us, the apostles of our Lord and Savior.”

The verb μνησθὢναι is connected with “arouse;” and it is in this tense used actively as well as passively. See Matthew 26:75, and Acts 10:31. There is in the noun ἐντολὴ, a metonymy, the commandment for what was commanded to be taught, the doctrine. It has this meaning, according to Schleusner, in John 12:50, and in this Epistle, chapter 2:21. — Ed

3. Knowing this first. The participle knowing may be applied to the Apostle, and in this way, “I labor to stir you up for this reason, because I know what and how great is your impending danger from scoffers.” I however prefer this explanation, that the participle is used in place of a verb, as though he had said, “Know ye this especially.” For it was necessary that this should have been foretold, because they might have been shaken, had impious men attacked them suddenly with scoffs of this kind. He therefore wished them to know this, and to feel assured on the subject, that they might be prepared to oppose such men.

But he calls the attention of the faithful again to the doctrine which he touched upon in the second chapter. For by the last days is commonly meant the kingdom of Christ, or the days of his kingdom, according to what Paul says, “Upon whom the ends of the world are come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11.) It is literally, “the last of the days,” according to the Hebrew form אחרית הימים, “the extremity of the days,” (Isaiah 2:2;) but the meaning is the same as “the last days,” as used in Hebrews 1:2, and in other places, that is, the days of the gospel dispensation. — Ed. The meaning is, that the more God offers himself by the gospel to the world, and the more he invites men to his kingdom, the more audacious on the other hand will ungodly men vomit forth the poison of their impiety.

He calls those scoffers, according to what is usual in Scripture, who seek to appear witty by shewing contempt to God, and by a blasphemous presumption. It is, moreover, the very extremity of evil, when men allow themselves to treat the awful name of God with scoffs. Thus, the first Psalm speaks of the seat of scoffers. So David, in Psalms 119:51, complains that he was derided by the proud, because he attended to God’s law. So Isaiah, in the 28th chapter, having referred to them, describes their supine security and insensibility. Let us therefore bear in mind, that there is nothing to be feared more than a contest with scoffers. On this subject we said something while explaining the third chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians. As, however, the Holy Scripture has foretold that they would come, and has also given us a shield by which we may defend ourselves, there is no excuse why we should not boldly resist them whatever devices they may employ.

4. Where is the promise. It was a dangerous scoff when they insinuated a doubt as to the last resurrection; for when that is taken away, there is no gospel any longer, the power of Christ is brought to nothing, the whole of religion is gone. Then Satan aims directly at the throat of the Church, when he destroys faith in the coming of Christ. For why did Christ die and rise again, except that he may some time gather to himself the redeemed from death, and give them eternal life? All religion is wholly subverted, except faith in the resurrection remains firm and immovable. Hence, on this point Satan assails us most fiercely.

But let us notice what the scoff was. They set the regular course of nature, such as it seems to have been from the beginning, in opposition to the promise of God, as though these things were contrary, or did not harmonize together. Though the faith of the fathers, they said, was the same, yet no change has taken place since their death, and it is known that many ages have passed away. Hence they concluded that what was said of the destruction of the world was a fable; because they conjectured, that as it had lasted so long, it would be perpetual.

2 Peter 3:5-8

5. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

5. Nam hoe nesciunt volentes. quòd caeli jam olim fuerint, et terra ex aqua, et per aquam consistens, Dei sermone;

6. Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

6. Per quae mundus qui tunc erat, aqua inundatus periit:

7. But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

7. Qui autem nunc sunt coeli et terra, ejusdem sermone repositi sunt, et servantur igni in diem judicii et perditionis impiorum.

8. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

8. Porri, ne hoc unum nos lateat, dilecti, quòd unus dies apud Dominum perinde est ut mille anni, et mille anni ut dies unus.

5. For this they willingly are ignorant of. By one argument only he confutes the scoff of the ungodly, even by this, that the world once perished by a deluge of waters, when yet it consisted of waters. (Genesis 1:2.) And as the history of this was well known, he says that they willingly, or of their own accord, erred. For they who infer the perpetuity of the world from its present state, designedly close their eyes, so as not to see so clear a judgment of God. The world no doubt had its origin from waters, for Moses calls the chaos from which the earth emerged, waters; and further, it was sustained by waters; it yet pleased the Lord to use waters for the purpose of destroying it. It hence appears that the power of nature is not sufficient to sustain and preserve the world, but that on the contrary it contains the very element of its own ruin, whenever it may please God to destroy it.

For it ought always to be borne in mind, that the world stands through no other power than that of God's word, and that therefore inferior or secondary causes derive from him their power, and produce different effects as they are directed. Thus through water the world stood, but water could have done nothing of itself, but on the contrary obeyed God's word as an inferior agent or element. As soon then as it pleased God to destroy the earth, the same water obeyed in becoming a ruinous inundation. We now see how egregiously they err, who stop at naked elements, as though there was perpetuity in them, and their nature were not changeable according to the bidding of God.

By these few words the petulance of those is abundantly refuted, who arm themselves with physical reasons to fight against God. For the history of the deluge is an abundantly sufficient witness that the whole order of nature is governed by the sole power of God. (Genesis 7:17.)

It seems, however, strange that he says that the world perished through the deluge, when he had before mentioned the heaven and the earth. To this I answer, that the heaven was then also submerged, that is, the region of the air, which stood open between the two waters. For the division or separation, mentioned by Moses, was then confounded. (Genesis 1:6;) and the word heaven is often taken in this sense. if any wishes for more on this subject, let him read Augustine on the City of God. Lib. 20. The two verses, the fifth and the sixth, have been differently explained. “The earth,” say some, “subsisting from water and through water,” that is, emerging from water and made firm and solid by means of water; which is true, for through moisture the earth adheres together and becomes a solid mass. Others render the last clause, “in water,” or in the midst of water, that is, surrounded by water; and this is the most suitable meaning.

The δι ᾿ ὧν at the beginning of the sixth verse, refers, according to Beza, Whitby, and others, to the heavens and the earth in the preceding verse, the deluge being occasioned by “the windows of heaven being opened,” and “the fountains of the great deep being broken up.” (Genesis 7:11.) “By which (or by the means of which) the world at that time, being overflowed with water, was destroyed.”

The objection to this view is, as justly stated by Macknight, that the correspondence between this verse and the following is thereby lost: the reservation of the world to be destroyed by fire is expressly ascribed, in verse seventh, to God’s word; and to the same ought the destruction of the old world to be ascribed. This is doubtless the meaning required by the passage, but “which” being in the plural, creates a difficulty, and there is no different reading. Macknight solves the difficulty by saying that the plural “which” or whom, refers to “word,” meaning Christ, and “God,” as in the first verse of this chapter, “in both which,” a reference is made to what is implied in “the second Epistle,” that is, the first. He supposes that there is here the same anomalous mode of speaking. But the conjecture which has been made is not improbable, that it is a typographical mistake, ὧν being put for οὗ or for ὃν. Then the meaning would be evident; and the two parts would correspond the one with the other:

5. “For of this they are wilfully ignorant, that the heavens existed of old and the earth (which subsisted from water and in water,) by 6. the word of God; by which the world at that time, being over- 7. flowed with water, was destroyed. But the present heavens and the earth are by His word reserved, being kept for fire to the day of judgment and of the perdition of ungodly men.”

By “word” here is meant command, or power, or the fiat by which the world was created; and by the same it was destroyed, and by the same it will be finally destroyed. Instead of αὐτῶ “the same” Griesbach has introduced into his text αὐτοῦ, “His.” — Ed

7. But the heavens and the earth which are now. He does not infer this as the consequence; for his purpose was no other than to dissipate the craftiness of scoffers respecting the perpetual state of nature, and we see many such at this day who being slightly embued with the rudiments of philosophy, only hunt after profane speculations, in order that they may pass themselves off as great philosophers.

But it now appears quite evident from what has been said, that there is nothing unreasonable in the declaration made by the Lord, that the heaven and the earth shall hereafter be consumed by fire, because the reason for the fire is the same as that for the water. For it was a common saying even among the ancients, that from these two chief elements all things have proceeded. But as he had to do with the ungodly, he speaks expressly of their destruction.

8. But be not ignorant of this one thing. He now turns to speak to the godly; and he reminds them that when the coming of Christ is the subject, they were to raise upwards their eyes, for by so doing, they would not limit, by their unreasonable wishes, the time appointed by the Lord. For waiting seems very long on this account, because we have our eyes fixed on the shortness of the present life, and we also increase weariness by computing days, hours, and minutes. But when the eternity of God's kingdom comes to our minds, many ages vanish away like so many moments.

This then is what the Apostle calls our attention to, so that we may know that the day of resurrection does not depend on the present flow of time, but on the hidden purpose of God, as though he had said, “Men wish to anticipate God for this reason, because they measure time according to the judgment of their own flesh; and they are by nature inclined to impatience, so that celerity is even delay to them: do ye then ascend in your minds to heaven, and thus time will be to you neither long nor short.”

2 Peter 1:9-13

9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

9. Non tardat Dominus in promissione, sicuti quidam tarditatem slackness; existimant; sed tolerantem se praebet erga nos, nolens ullos perire, sed omnes ad poenitentiam recipere (aut, colligi, vel, aggregari.)

10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up.

10. Veniet autem dies Domini tanquam fur in nocte, in qua coeli in modum procellae transibunt, elementa autem ardore solventur; et terra, quaeque in ea sunt opera ardebunt.

11. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

11. Quum Haec igitur omnia solvantur, quales oportet nos esse in sanctis conversationibus et pietatibus;

12. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

12. Expectantes properando adventum diei Dei, propter quem coeli solventur, et elementa ardore consumentur?

13. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

13. Novos autem coelos et terram novam juxta promissum ejus expectamus, ín quibus habitat justitia.

9. But the Lord is not slack, or, delays not. He checks extreme and unreasonable haste by another reason, that is, that the Lord defers his coming that he might invite all mankind to repentance. For our minds are always prurient, and a doubt often creeps in, why he does not come sooner. But when we hear that the Lord, in delaying, shews a concern for our salvation, and that he defers the time because he has a care for us, there is no reason why we should any longer complain of tardiness. He is tardy who allows an occasion to pass by through slothfulness: there is nothing like this in God, who in the best manner regulates time to promote our salvation. And as to the duration of the whole world, we must think exactly the same as of the life of every individual; for God by prolonging time to each, sustains him that he may repent. In the like manner he does not hasten the end of the world, in order to give to all time to repent.

This is a very necessary admonition, so that we may learn to employ time aright, as we shall otherwise suffer a just punishment for our idleness.

Not willing that any should perish. So wonderful is his love towards mankind, that he would have them all to be saved, and is of his own self prepared to bestow salvation on the lost. But the order is to be noticed, that God is ready to receive all to repentance, so that none may perish; for in these words the way and manner of obtaining salvation is pointed out. Every one of us, therefore, who is desirous of salvation, must learn to enter in by this way.

But it may be asked, If God wishes none to perish, why is it that so many do perish? To this my answer is, that no mention is here made of the hidden purpose of God, according to which the reprobate are doomed to their own ruin, but only of his will as made known to us in the gospel. For God there stretches forth his hand without a difference to all, but lays hold only of those, to lead them to himself, whom he has chosen before the foundation of the world. A similar view was taken by Estius, Piscator, and Beza. — Ed.

But as the verb χωρὢσαι is often taken passively by the Greeks, no less suitable to this passage is the verb which I have put in the margin, that God would have all, who had been before wandering and scattered, to be gathered or come together to repentance.

10. But the day of the Lord will come. This has been added, that the faithful might be always watching, and not promise to-morrow to themselves. For we all labor under two very different evils — too much haste, and slothfulness. We are seized with impatience for the day of Christ already expected; at the same time we securely regard it as afar off. As, then, the Apostle has before reproved an unreasonable ardor, so he now shakes off our sleepiness, so that we may attentively expect Christ at all times, lest we should become idle and negligent, as it is usually the case. For whence is it that flesh indulges itself except that there is no thought of the near coming of Christ?

What afterwards follows, respecting the burning of heaven and earth, requires no long explanation, if indeed we duly consider what is intended. For it was not his purpose to speak refinedly of fire and storm, and other things, but only that he might introduce an exhortation, which he immediately adds, even that we ought to strive after newness of life. For he thus reasons, that as heaven and earth are to be purged by fire, that they may correspond with the kingdom of Christ, hence the renovation of men is much more necessary. Mischievous, then, are those interpreters who consume much labor on refined speculations, since the Apostle applies his doctrine to godly exhortations.

Heaven and earth, he says, shall pass away for our sakes; is it meet, then, for us to be engrossed with the things of earth, and not, on the contrary, to attend to a holy and godly life? The corruptions of heaven and earth will be purged by fire, while yet as the creatures of God they are pure; what then ought to be done by us who are full of so many pollutions? As to the word godlinesses (pietatibus,) the plural number is used for the singular, except you take it as meaning the duties of godliness. The previous word is also in the plural number, “in holy conversations.” What seems to be meant is, that every part of the conduct should be holy, and that every part of godliness should be attended to: “In every part of a holy life, and every act of godliness;” that is, we are not to be holy in part or pious in part, but attend to every branch of duty towards man, and every branch of duty towards God. — Ed. Of the elements of the world I shall only say this one thing, that they are to be consumed, only that they may be renovated, their substance still remaining the same, as it may be easily gathered from Romans 8:21, and from other passages. All that is said here is, that there will be new heavens and a new earth, and not that the present heavens and the present earth will be renovated. See Revelation 20:11; 21:1. — Ed.

12 Looking for and hasting unto, or, waiting for by hastening; so I render the words, though they are two participles; for what we had before separately he gathers now into one sentence, that is, that we ought hastily to wait. Now this contrarious hope possesses no small elegance, like the proverb, “Hasten slowly,” (festina lente.) When he says, “Waiting for,” he refers to the endurance of hope; and he sets hastening in opposition to topor; and both are very apposite. For as quietness and waiting are the peculiarities of hope, so we must always take heed lest the security of the flesh should creep in; we ought, therefore, strenuously to labor in good works, and run quickly in the race of our calling. The first meaning of σπεύδω is to hasten, and it is often used, when connected with another verb, adverbially as proposed by Calvin; but when followed as here by an accusative case, it has often the secondary meaning of earnestly desiring a thing. It is so taken here by Schleusner, Parkhurst, and Macknight; “Expecting and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God.” — Ed What he before called the day of Christ (as it is everywhere called in Scripture) he now calls the day of God, and that rightly, for Christ will then restore the kingdom to the Father, that God may be all in all.

2 Peter 3:14-18

14. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

14. Quare, dilecti, quum Haec expectetis, studete incontaminati et irreprehensibiles ab eo inyeniri in pace:

15. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

15. Et Domini nostri tolerantiam salutem existimate, quemadmodum et dilectus frater noster Paulus, secundum datam sibi sapientiam scripsit vobis;

16. As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

16. Sicuti in omnibus Epistolis, loquens de iis in quibus sunt quaedam difficilia intellectu, quae indocti et instabiles invertunt (ut et caeteras Scripturas) ad suam perniciem.

17. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

17. Vos igitur, dilecti, praemoniti cavete, ut ne simul nefariorum errore abacti, excidatis à vestra firmitate.

18. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

18. Crescite autem in gratia et notitia Domini nostri et Servatoris Jesu Christi; ipsi gloria et nunc et in diem seternitatis

14. Wherefore. He justly reasons from hope to its effect, or the practice of a godly life; for hope is living and efficacious; therefore it cannot be but that it will attract us to itself. He, then, who waits for new heavens, must begin with renewal as to himself, and diligently aspire after it; but they who cleave to their own filth, think nothing, it is certain, of God's kingdom, and have no taste for anything but for this corrupt world.

But we must notice that he says, that we ought to be found blameless by Christ; for by these words he intimates, that while the world engages and engrosses the minds of others, we must cast our eyes on the Lord, and he shews at the same time what is real integrity, even that which is approved by his judgment, and not that which gains the Praise of men. He says, “Expecting these things, be diligent,” etc.; σπουδάσατε, hasten, make speed, diligently strive, earnestly labor, carefully endeavor: “Therefore, beloved, since ye expect these things, diligently strive to be found by him in peace, unspotted and unblamable;” that is, having no stain, and not chargeable with crime. — Ed

The word peace seems to be taken for a quiet state of conscience, founded on hope and patient waiting. Some say, “peace” with God; but the view of Calvin is more suitable here. — Ed. For as so few turn their attention to the judgment of Christ, hence it is, that while they are carried headlong by their importunate lusts, they are at the same time in a state of disquietude. This peace, then, is the quietness of a peaceable soul, which acquiesces in the word of God.

It may be asked, how any one can be found blameless by Christ, when we all labor under so many deficiencies. But Peter here only points out the mark at which the faithful ought all to aim, though they cannot reach it, until having put off their flesh they become wholly united to Christ.

15. The long-suffering of our Lord. He takes it as granted that Christ defers the day of his coming, because he has a regard for our salvation. He hence animates the faithful, because in a longer delay they have an evidence as to their own salvation. Thus, what usually disheartens others through weariness, he wisely turns to a contrary purpose.

Even as our beloved brother Paul. We may easily gather from the Epistle to the Galatians, as well as from other places, that unprincipled men, who went about everywhere to disturb the churches, in order to discredit Paul, made use of this pretense, that he did not well agree with the other Apostles. It is then probable that Peter referred to Paul in order to shew their consent; for it was very necessary to take away the occasion for such a calumny. And yet, when I examine all things more narrowly, it seems to me more probable that this Epistle was composed by another according to what Peter communicated, than that it was written by himself, for Peter himself would have never spoken thus. But it is enough for me that we have a witness of his doctrine and of his goodwill, who brought forward nothing contrary to what he would have himself said.

16. In which are some things. The relative which does not refer to epistles, for it is in the neuter gender. It is in the feminine gender in some MSS. The authority as to the copies and versions is nearly equal. The difference is not much as to the sense, only “in which epistles,” reads better. So thought Beza, Mill, and others.

It has been a question as to the particular epistle referred to by Peter; for that he alludes to some particular epistle is evident from the manner in which he writes. The difficulty has arisen from connecting the reference made to Paul, only with the former part of the 15th verse, while that part ought to be viewed only as an addition to the former verse; and the former verse stands connected with the new heavens and the new earth. So that the subjects in hand are the day of judgment, the future state, and the necessity of being prepared for it; and that these are the things referred to is evident from this, that he says, that Paul speaks of them in all his epistles, which is not true, as to what is said at the beginning of the 15th verse. The passage then ought to be thus rendered: —

14. Therefore, beloved, since ye expect these things, diligently strive to be found by him in peace, unspotted and unblamable; 15. and deem the long-suffering of our Lord to be for salvation: even as Paul, our beloved brother, has, according to the wisdom given 16. to him, written to you; as also in all his epistles, when speaking in them of these things; in which (epistles) there are some things difficult to be understood,” etc.

Now the special epistle referred to was most probably the epistle to the Hebrews, one particular design of which was to direct the attention of the Jews to the country promised to their fathers. Some, indeed, hold that that epistle was written to the Jews in Judea; but others maintain that it was written to converted Hebrews generally, whether in Judea or elsewhere; and this passage seems to favor the latter opinion.

If the view given here is right, that is, that the subjects on which reference is made to Paul, are those mentioned in the 12th, the 13th, and 14th verses, then there is no epistle of Paul which could be more appropriately referred to than that to the Hebrews, as the new heavens and the new earth answer exactly to “the better and heavenly country,” mentioned in the Epistle to the Hebrews. See Hebrews 11:16. Besides, the exhortations and warnings of that epistle wholly coincide with the exhortation given here by Peter. — Ed. The meaning is, that in the things which he wrote there was sometimes an obscurity, which gave occasion to the unlearned to go astray to their own ruin. We are reminded by these words, to reason soberly on things so high and obscure; and further, we are here strengthened against this kind of offense, lest the foolish or absurd speculations of men should disturb us, by which they entangle and distort simple truth, which ought to serve for edification.

But we must observe, that we are not forbidden to read Paul's Epistles, because they contain some things hard and difficult to be understood, but that, on the contrary, they are commended to us, provided we bring a calm and teachable mind. For Peter condemns men who are trifling and volatile, who strangely turn to their own ruin what is useful to all. Nay, he says that this is commonly done as to all the Scripture: and yet he does not hence conclude, that we are not to read it, but only shews, that those vices ought to be corrected which prevent improvement, and not only so, but render deadly to us what God has appointed for our salvation.

It may, however, be asked, Whence is this obscurity, for the Scripture shines to us like a lamp, and guides our steps? To this I reply, that it is nothing to be wondered at, if Peter ascribed obscurity to the mysteries of Christ's kingdom, and especially if we consider how hidden they are to the perception of the flesh. However the mode of teaching which God has adopted, has been so regulated, that all who refuse not to follow the Holy Spirit as their guide, find in the Scripture a clear light. At the same time, many are blind who stumble at mid-day; others are proud, who, wandering through devious paths, and flying over the roughest places, rush headlong into ruin.

17. Ye, therefore, beloved. After having shewn to the faithful the dangers of which they were to beware, he now concludes by admonishing them to be wise. But he shews that there was need of being watchful, lest they should be overwhelmed. And, doubtless, the craft of our enemy, the many and various treacheries which he employs against us, the cavils of ungodly men, leave no place for security. Hence, vigilance must be exercised, lest the devices of Satan and of the wicked should succeed in circumventing us. It, however seems that we stand on slippery ground, and the certainty of our salvation is suspended, as it were, on a thread, since he declares to the faithful, that they ought to take heed lest they should fall from their own steadfastness.

What, then, will become of us, if we are exposed to the danger of falling? To this I answer, that this exhortation, and those like it, are by no means intended to shake the firmness of that faith which recumbs on God, but to correct the sloth of our flesh. If any one wishes to see more on this subject, let him read what has been said on the tenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians.

The meaning is this, that as long as we are in the flesh, our tardiness must be roused, and that this is fitly done by having our weakness, and the variety of dangers which surround us, placed before our eyes; but that the confidence which rests on God's promises ought not to be thereby shaken.

18. But grow in grace. He also exhorts us to make progress; for it is the only way of persevering, to make continual advances, and not to stand still in the middle of our journey; as though he had said, that they only would be safe who labored to make progress daily.

The word grace, I take in a general sense, as meaning those spiritual gifts we obtain through Christ. But as we become partakers of these blessings according to the measure of our faith, knowledge is added to grace; as though he had said, that as faith increases, so would follow the increase of grace. “Grace” is the attainment, and “the knowledge” of Christ is the way and means. The chief thing is often mentioned first in Scripture, then that which leads to it: or the cause of it. — Ed.

To him be glory. This is a remarkable passage to prove the divinity of Christ; for what is said cannot belong to any but to God alone. The adverb of the present time, now, is designed for this end, that we may not rob Christ of his glory, during our warfare in the world. He then adds, for ever, that we may now form some idea of his eternal kingdom, which will make known to us his full and perfect glory.

END OF THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PETER

THE ARGUMENT

Though there was a dispute among the ancients respecting this Epistle, yet as the reading of it is useful, and as it contains nothing inconsistent with the purity of apostolic doctrine, and was received as authentic formerly, by some of the best, I willingly add it to the others. Its brevity, moreover, does not require a long statement of its contents; and almost the whole of it is nearly the same with the second chapter of the last Epistle.

As unprincipled men, under the name of Christians, had crept in, whose chief object was to lead the unstable and weak to a profane contempt of God, Jude first shews, that the faithful ought not to have been moved by agents of this kind, by which the Church has always been assailed; and yet he exhorts them carefully to beware of such pests. And to render them more hateful and detestable, he denounces on them the approaching vengeance of God, such as their impiety deserved. Now, if we consider what Satan has attempted in our age, from the commencement of the revived gospel, and what arts he still busily employs to subvert the faith, and the fear of God, what was a useful warning in the time of Jude, is more than necessary in our age. But this will appear more fully as we proceed in reading the Epistle.

The Epistle of jude

Jude 1-2

1. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

1. Judas Jesu Christi servus, frater autem Jacobi,, vocatis qui in Deo Patre sanctificati sunt, et in Jesu Christo custoditi,

2. Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

2. Misericordia vobis et pax et dilectio augeatur.

CHAPTER 3

2Pe 3:1-18. Sureness of Christ's Coming, and Its Accompaniments, Declared in Opposition to Scoffers about to Arise. God's Long Suffering a Motive to Repentance, as Paul's Epistles Set Forth; Concluding Exhortation to Growth in the Knowledge of Christ.

1. now--"This now a second Epistle I write." Therefore he had lately written the former Epistle. The seven Catholic Epistles were written by James, John, and Jude, shortly before their deaths; previously, while having the prospect of being still for some time alive, they felt it less necessary to write [Bengel].

unto you--The Second Epistle, though more general in its address, yet included especially the same persons as the First Epistle was particularly addressed to.

pure--literally, "pure when examined by sunlight"; "sincere." Adulterated with no error. Opposite to "having the understanding darkened." Alford explains, The mind, will, and affection, in relation to the outer world, being turned to God [the Sun of the soul], and not obscured by fleshly and selfish regards.

by way of--Greek, "in," "in putting you in remembrance" (2Pe 1:12, 13). Ye already know (2Pe 3:3); it is only needed that I remind you (Jude 5).

2. prophets--of the Old Testament.

of us--The oldest manuscripts and Vulgate read, "And of the commandment of the Lord and Saviour (declared) by YOUR apostles" (so "apostle of the Gentiles," Ro 11:13)--the apostles who live among you in the present time, in contrast to the Old Testament "prophets."

3. Knowing this first--from the word of the apostles.

shall come--Their very scoffing shall confirm the truth of the prediction.

scoffers--The oldest manuscripts and Vulgate add, "(scoffers) in (that is, 'with') scoffing." As Re 14:2, "harping with harps."

walking after their own lusts--(2Pe 2:10; Jude 16, 18). Their own pleasure is their sole law, unrestrained by reverence for God.

4. (Compare Psa 10:11; 73:11.) Presumptuous skepticism and lawless lust, setting nature and its so-called laws above the God of nature and revelation, and arguing from the past continuity of nature's phenomena that there can be no future interruption to them, was the sin of the antediluvians, and shall be that of the scoffers in the last days.

Where--implying that it ought to have taken place before this, if ever it was to take place, but that it never will.

the promise--which you, believers, are so continually looking for the fulfilment of (2Pe 3:13). What becomes of the promise which you talk so much of?

his--Christ's; the subject of prophecy from the earliest days.

the fathers--to whom the promise was made, and who rested all their hopes on it.

all things--in the natural world; skeptics look not beyond this.

as they were--continue as they do; as we see them to continue. From the time of the promise of Christ's coming as Saviour and King being given to the fathers, down to the present time, all things continue, and have continued, as they now are, from "the beginning of creation." The "scoffers" here are not necessarily atheists, nor do they maintain that the world existed from eternity. They are willing to recognize a God, but not the God of revelation. They reason from seeming delay against the fulfilment of God's word at all.

5. Refutation of their scoffing from Scripture history.

willingly--wilfully; they do not wish to know. Their ignorance is voluntary.

they ... are ignorant of--in contrast to 2Pe 3:8, "Be not ignorant of this." Literally, in both verses, "This escapes THEIR notice (sagacious philosophers though they think themselves)"; "let this not escape YOUR notice." They obstinately shut their eyes to the Scripture record of the creation and the deluge; the latter is the very parallel to the coming judgment by fire, which Jesus mentions, as Peter doubtless remembered.

by the word of God--not by a fortuitous concurrence of atoms [Alford].

of old--Greek, "from of old"; from the first beginning of all things. A confutation of their objection, "all things continue as they were FROM THE BEGINNING OF CREATION." Before the flood, the same objection to the possibility of the flood might have been urged with the same plausibility: The heavens (sky) and earth have been FROM OF OLD, how unlikely then that they should not continue so! But, replies Peter, the flood came in spite of their reasonings; so will the conflagration of the earth come in spite of the "scoffers" of the last days, changing the whole order of things (the present "world," or as Greek means, "order"), and introducing the new heavens and earth (2Pe 3:13).

earth standing out of--Greek, "consisting of," that is, "formed out of the water." The waters under the firmament were at creation gathered together into one place, and the dry land emerged out of and above, them.

in, &c.--rather, "by means of the water," as a great instrument (along with fire) in the changes wrought on the earth's surface to prepare it for man. Held together BY the water. The earth arose out of the water by the efficacy of the water itself [Tittmann].

6. Whereby--Greek, "By which" (plural). By means of which heavens and earth (in respect to the WATERS which flowed together from both) the then world perished (that is, in respect to its occupants, men and animals, and its then existing order: not was annihilated); for in the flood "the fountains of the great deep were broken up" from the earth (1) below, and "the windows of heaven" (2) above "were opened." The earth was deluged by that water out of which it had originally risen.

7. (Compare Job 28:5, end).

which are now--"the postdiluvian visible world." In contrast to "that then was," 2Pe 3:6.

the same--Other oldest manuscripts read, "His" (God's).

kept in store--Greek, "treasured up."

reserved--"kept." It is only God's constantly watchful providence which holds together the present state of things till His time for ending it.

8. be not ignorant--as those scoffers are (2Pe 3:5). Besides the refutation of them (2Pe 3:5-7) drawn from the history of the deluge, here he adds another (addressed more to believers than to the mockers): God's delay in fulfilling His promise is not, like men's delays, owing to inability or fickleness in keeping His word, but through "long-suffering."

this one thing--as the consideration of chief importance (Lu 10:42).

one day ... thousand years--(Psa 90:4): Moses there says, Thy eternity, knowing no distinction between a thousand years and a day, is the refuge of us creatures of a day. Peter views God's eternity in relation to the last day: that day seems to us, short-lived beings, long in coming, but with the Lord the interval is irrespective of the idea of long or short. His eternity exceeds all measures of time: to His divine knowledge all future things are present: His power requires not long delays for the performance of His work: His long-suffering excludes all impatient expectation and eager haste, such as we men feel. He is equally blessed in one day and in a thousand years. He can do the work of a thousand years in one day: so in 2Pe 3:9 it is said, "He is not slack," that is, "slow": He has always the power to fulfil His "promise."

thousand years as one day--No delay which occurs is long to God: as to a man of countless riches, a thousand guineas are as a single penny. God's oeonologe (eternal-ages measurer) differs wholly from man's horologe (hour-glass). His gnomon (dial-pointer) shows all the hours at once in the greatest activity and in perfect repose. To Him the hours pass away, neither more slowly, nor more quickly, than befits His economy. There is nothing to make Him need either to hasten or delay the end. The words, "with the Lord" (Psa 90:4, "In Thy sight"), silence all man's objections on the ground of his incapability of understanding this [Bengel].

9. slack--slow, tardy, late; exceeding the due time, as though that time were already come. He 10:37, "will not tarry."

his promise--which the scoffers cavil at. 2Pe 3:4, "Where is the promise?" It shall be surely fulfilled "according to His promise" (2Pe 3:13).

some--the "scoffers."

count--His promise to be the result of "slackness" (tardiness).

long-suffering--waiting until the full number of those appointed to "salvation" (2Pe 3:15) shall be completed.

to us-ward--The oldest manuscripts, Vulgate, Syriac, &c., read, "towards YOU."

any--not desiring that any, yea, even that the scoffers, should perish, which would be the result if He did not give space for repentance.

come--go and be received to repentance: the Greek implies there is room for their being received to repentance (compare Greek, Mr 2:2; Joh 8:37).

10. The certainty, suddenness, and concomitant effects, of the coming of the day of the Lord. Faber argues from this that the millennium, &c., must precede Christ's literal coming, not follow it. But "the day of the Lord" comprehends the whole series of events, beginning with the pre-millennial advent, and ending with the destruction of the wicked, and final conflagration, and general judgment (which last intervenes between the conflagration and the renovation of the earth).

will--emphatical. But (in spite of the mockers, and notwithstanding the delay) come and be present the day of the Lord SHALL.

as a thief--Peter remembers and repeats his Lord's image (Lu 12:39, 41) used in the conversation in which he took a part; so also Paul (1Th 5:2) and John (Re 3:3; 16:15).

the heavens--which the scoffers say' shall "continue" as they are (2Pe 3:4; Mt 24:35; Re 21:1).

with a great noise--with a rushing noise, like that of a whizzing arrow, or the crash of a devouring flame.

elements--the component materials of the world [Wahl]. However, as "the works" in the earth are mentioned separately from "the earth," so it is likely by "elements," mentioned after "the heavens," are meant "the works therein," namely, the sun, moon, and stars (as Theophilus of Antioch [p. 22, 148, 228]; and Justin Martyr [Apology, 2.44], use the word "elements"): these, as at creation, so in the destruction of the world, are mentioned [Bengel]. But as "elements" is not so used in Scripture Greek, perhaps it refers to the component materials of "the heavens," including the heavenly bodies; it clearly belongs to the former clause, "the heavens," not to the following, "the earth," &c.

melt--be dissolved, as in 2Pe 3:11.

the works ... therein--of nature and of art.

11. Your duty, seeing that this is so, is to be ever eagerly expecting the day of God.

then--Some oldest manuscripts substitute "thus" for "then": a happy refutation of the "thus" of the scoffers, 2Pe 3:4 (English Version, "As they were," Greek, "thus").

shall be--Greek, "are being (in God's appointment, soon to be fulfilled) dissolved"; the present tense implying the certainty as though it were actually present.

what manner of men--exclamatory. How watchful, prayerful, zealous!

to be--not the mere Greek substantive verb of existence (einai), but (huparchein) denoting a state or condition in which one is supposed to be [Tittmann]. What holy men ye ought to be found to be, when the event comes! This is "the holy commandment" mentioned in 2Pe 3:2.

conversation ... godliness--Greek, plural: behaviors (towards men), godlinesses (or pieties towards God) in their manifold modes of manifestation.

12. hasting unto--with the utmost eagerness desiring [Wahl], praying for, and contemplating, the coming Saviour as at hand. The Greek may mean "hastening (that is, urging onward [Alford]) the day of God"; not that God's eternal appointment of the time is changeable, but God appoints us as instruments of accomplishing those events which must be first before the day of God can come. By praying for His coming, furthering the preaching of the Gospel for a witness to all nations, and bringing in those whom "the long-suffering of God" waits to save, we hasten the coming of the day of God. The Greek verb is always in New Testament used as neuter (as English Version here), not active; but the Septuagint uses it actively. Christ says, "Surely I come quickly. Amen." Our part is to speed forward this consummation by praying, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Re 22:20).

the coming--Greek, "presence" of a person: usually, of the Saviour.

the day of God--God has given many myriads of days to men: one shall be the great "day of God" Himself.

wherein--rather as Greek, "on account of (or owing to) which" day.

heavens--the upper and lower regions of the sky.

melt--Our igneous rocks show that they were once in a liquid state.

13. Nevertheless--"But": in contrast to the destructive effects of the day of God stand its constructive effects. As the flood was the baptism of the earth, eventuating in a renovated earth, partially delivered from "the curse," so the baptism with fire shall purify the earth so as to be the renovated abode of regenerated man, wholly freed from the curse.

his promise--(Is 65:17; 66:22). The "we" is not emphatical as in English Version.

new heavens--new atmospheric heavens surrounding the renovated earth.

righteousness--dwelleth in that coming world as its essential feature, all pollutions having been removed.

14. that ye ... be found of him--"in His sight" [Alford], at His coming; plainly implying a personal coming.

without spot--at the coming marriage feast of the Lamb, in contrast to 2Pe 2:13, "Spots they are and blemishes while they feast," not having on the King's pure wedding garment.

blameless--(1Co 1:8; Php 1:10; 1Th 3:13; 5:23).

in peace--in all its aspects, towards God, your own consciences, and your fellow men, and as its consequence eternal blessedness: "the God of peace" will effect this for you.

15. account ... the long-suffering ... is salvation--is designed for the salvation of those yet to be gathered into the Church: whereas those scoffers "count it (to be the result of) slackness" on the Lord's part (2Pe 3:9).

our beloved brother Paul--a beautiful instance of love and humility. Peter praises the very Epistles which contain his condemnation.

according to the wisdom given unto him--adopting Paul's own language, 1Co 3:10, "According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master-builder." Supernatural and inspired wisdom "GIVEN" him, not acquired in human schools of learning.

hath written--Greek aorist, "wrote," as a thing wholly past: Paul was by this time either dead, or had ceased to minister to them.

to you--Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, the same region as Peter addresses. Compare "in peace," 2Pe 3:14, a practical exhibition of which Peter now gives in showing how perfectly agreeing Paul (who wrote the Epistle to the Galatians) and he are, notwithstanding the event recorded (Ga 2:11-14). Col 3:4 refers to Christ's second coming. The Epistle to the Hebrews, too (addressed not only to the Palestinian, but also secondarily to the Hebrew Christians everywhere), may be referred to, as Peter primarily (though not exclusively) addresses in both Epistles the Hebrew Christians of the dispersion (see on 1Pe 1:1). He 9:27, 28; 10:25, 37, "speak of these things" (2Pe 3:16) which Peter has been handling, namely, the coming of the day of the Lord, delayed through His "long-suffering," yet near and sudden.

16. also in all his epistles--Ro 2:4 is very similar to 2Pe 3:15, beginning. The Pauline Epistles were by this time become the common property of all the churches. The "all" seems to imply they were now completed. The subject of the Lord's coming is handled in 1Th 4:13; 5:11; compare 2Pe 3:10 with 1Th 5:2. Still Peter distinguishes Paul's Epistle, or Epistles, "TO YOU," from "all his (other) Epistles," showing that certain definite churches, or particular classes of believers, are meant by "you."

in which--Epistles. The oldest manuscripts read the feminine relative (hais); not as Received Text (hois), "in which things."

some things hard to be understood--namely, in reference to Christ's coming, for example, the statements as to the man of sin and the apostasy, before Christ's coming. "Paul seemed thereby to delay Christ's coming to a longer period than the other apostles, whence some doubted altogether His coming" [Bengel]. Though there be some things hard to be understood, there are enough besides, plain, easy, and sufficient for perfecting the man of God. "There is scarce anything drawn from the obscure places, but the same in other places may be found most plain" [Augustine]. It is our own prejudice, foolish expectations, and carnal fancies, that make Scripture difficult [Jeremy Taylor].

unlearned--Not those wanting human learning are meant, but those lacking the learning imparted by the Spirit. The humanly learned have been often most deficient in spiritual learning, and have originated many heresies. Compare 2Ti 2:23, a different Greek word, "unlearned," literally, "untutored." When religion is studied as a science, nothing is more abstruse; when studied in order to know our duty and practice it, nothing is easier.

unstable--not yet established in what they have learned; shaken by every seeming difficulty; who, in perplexing texts, instead of waiting until God by His Spirit makes them plain in comparing them with other Scriptures, hastily adopt distorted views.

wrest--strain and twist (properly with a hand screw) what is straight in itself (for example, 2Ti 2:18).

other scriptures--Paul's Epistles were, therefore, by this time, recognized in the Church, as "Scripture": a term never applied in any of the fifty places where it occurs, save to the Old and New Testament sacred writings. Men in each Church having miraculous discernment of spirits would have prevented any uninspired writing from being put on a par with the Old Testament word of God; the apostles' lives also were providentially prolonged, Paul's and Peter's at least to thirty-four years after Christ's resurrection, John's to thirty years later, so that fraud in the canon is out of question. The three first Gospels and Acts are included in "the other Scriptures," and perhaps all the New Testament books, save John and Revelation, written later.

unto their own destruction--not through Paul's fault (2Pe 2:1).

17. Ye--warned by the case of those "unlearned and unstable" persons (2Pe 3:16).

knowing ... before--the event.

led away with--the very term, as Peter remembers, used by Paul of Barnabas' being "carried," Greek, "led away with" Peter and the other Jews in their hypocrisy.

wicked--"lawless," as in 2Pe 2:7.

fall from--(grace, Ga 5:4: the true source of) "steadfastness" or stability in contrast with the "unstable" (2Pe 3:16): "established" (2Pe 1:12): all kindred Greek terms. Compare Jude 20, 21.

18. grow--Not only do not "fall from" (2Pe 3:17), but grow onward: the true secret of not going backward. Ep 4:15, "Grow up into Him, the Head, Christ."

grace and ... knowledge of ... Christ--"the grace and knowledge of Christ" [Alford rightly]: the grace of which Christ is the author, and the knowledge of which Christ is the object.

for ever--Greek, "to the day of eternity": the day that has no end: "the day of the Lord," beginning with the Lord's coming.

This second epistle - In order to guard them against the seductions of false teachers, he calls to their remembrance the doctrine of the ancient prophets, and the commands or instructions of the apostles, all founded on the same basis.

He possibly refers to the prophecies of Enoch, as mentioned by Jude, Jde 1:14, Jde 1:15; of David, Psa 1:1, etc.; and of Daniel, Dan 12:2, relative to the coming of our Lord to judgment: and he brings in the instructions of the apostles of Christ, by which they were directed how to prepare to meet their God.

Knowing this first - Considering this in an especial manner, that those prophets predicted the coming of false teachers: and their being now in the Church proved how clearly they were known to God, and showed the Christians at Pontus the necessity of having no intercourse or connection with them.

There shall come - scoffers - Persons who shall endeavor to turn all religion into ridicule, as this is the most likely way to depreciate truth in the sight of the giddy multitude. The scoffers, having no solid argument to produce against revelation, endeavor to make a scaramouch of some parts; and then affect to laugh at it, and get superficial thinkers to laugh with them.

Walking after their own lusts - Here is the true source of all infidelity. The Gospel of Jesus is pure and holy, and requires a holy heart and holy life. They wish to follow their own lusts, and consequently cannot brook the restraints of the Gospel: therefore they labor to prove that it is not true, that they may get rid of its injunctions, and at last succeed in persuading themselves that it is a forgery; and then throw the reins on the neck of their evil propensities. Thus their opposition to revealed truth began and ended in their own lusts.

There is a remarkable addition here in almost every MS. and version of note: There shall come in the last days, In Mockery, εν εμπαιγμονῃ, scoffers walking after their own lusts. This is the reading of ABC, eleven others, both the Syriac, all the Arabic, Coptic, Ethiopic, Vulgate, and several of the fathers. They come in mockery; this is their spirit and temper; they have no desire to find out truth; they take up the Bible merely with the design of turning it into ridicule. This reading Griesbach has received into the text.

The last days - Probably refer to the conclusion of the Jewish polity, which was then at hand.

Where is the promise of his coming? - Perhaps the false teachers here referred to were such as believed in the eternity of the world: the prophets and the apostles had foretold its destruction, and they took it for granted, if this were true, that the terrestrial machine would have begun long ago to have shown some symptoms of decay; but they found that since the patriarchs died all things remained as they were from the foundation of the world; that is, men were propagated by natural generation, one was born and another died, and the course of nature continued regular in the seasons, succession of day and night, generation and corruption of animals and vegetables, etc.; for they did not consider the power of the Almighty, by which the whole can be annihilated in a moment, as well as created. As, therefore, they saw none of these changes, they presumed that there would be none, and they intimated that there never had been any. The apostle combats this notion in the following verse.

For this they willingly are ignorant of - They shut their eyes against the light, and refuse all evidence; what does not answer their purpose they will not know. And the apostle refers to a fact that militates against their hypothesis, with which they refused to acquaint themselves; and their ignorance he attributes to their unwillingness to learn the true state of the case.

By the word of God the heavens were of old - I shall set down the Greek text of this extremely difficult clause: Ουρανοι ησαν εκπαλαι, και γη εξ ὑδατος και δι' ὑδατος συνεστωσα, τῳ του Θεου λογῳ· translated thus by Mr. Wakefield: "A heaven and an earth formed out of water, and by means of water, by the appointment of God, had continued from old time." By Dr. Macknight thus; "The heavens were anciently, and the earth of water: and through water the earth consists by the word of God." By Kypke thus: "The heavens were of old, and the earth, which is framed, by the word of God, from the waters, and between the waters." However we take the words, they seem to refer to the origin of the earth. It was the opinion of the remotest antiquity that the earth was formed out of water, or a primitive moisture which they termed ὑλη, hule, a first matter or nutriment for all things; but Thales pointedly taught αρχην δε των παντως ὑδωρ ειναι, that all things derive their existence from water, and this very nearly expresses the sentiment of Peter, and nearly in his own terms too. But is this doctrine true? It must be owned that it appears to be the doctrine of Moses: In the beginning, says he, God made the heavens and the earth; and the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Now, these heavens and earth which God made in the beginning, and which he says were at first formless and empty, and which he calls the deep, are in the very next verse called waters; from which it is evident that Moses teaches that the earth was made out of some fluid substance, to which the name of water is properly given. And that the earth was at first in a fluid mass is most evident from its form; it is not round, as has been demonstrated by measuring some degrees near the north pole, and under the equator; the result of which proved that the figure of the earth was that of an oblate spheroid, a figure nearly resembling that of an orange. And this is the form that any soft or elastic body would assume if whirled rapidly round a center, as the earth is around its axis. The measurement to which I have referred shows the earth to be flatted at the poles, and raised at the equator. And by this measurement it was demonstrated that the diameter of the earth at the equator was greater by about twenty-five miles than at the poles.

Now, considering the earth to be thus formed εξ ὑδατος, of water, we have next to consider what the apostle means by δι' ὑδατος, variously translated by out of, by means of, and between, the water.

Standing out of the water gives no sense, and should be abandoned. If we translate between the waters, it will bear some resemblance to Gen 1:6, Gen 1:7 : And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of, בתוך bethoch, between, the waters; and let it divide the waters from the waters: and God divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; then it may refer to the whole of the atmosphere, with which the earth is everywhere surrounded, and which contains all the vapours which belong to our globe, and without which we could neither have animal nor vegetative life. Thus then the earth, or terraqueous globe, which was originally formed out of water, subsists by water; and by means of that very water, the water compacted with the earth - the fountains of the great deep, and the waters in the atmosphere - the windows of heaven, Gen 7:11, the antediluvian earth was destroyed, as St. Peter states in the next verse: the terraqueous globe, which was formed originally of water or a fluid substance, the chaos or first matter, and which was suspended in the heavens - the atmosphere, enveloped with water, by means of which water it was preserved; yet, because of the wickedness of its inhabitants, was destroyed by those very same waters out of which it was originally made, and by which it subsisted.

But the heavens and the earth, which are now - The present earth and its atmosphere, which are liable to the same destruction, because the same means still exist, (for there is still water enough to drown the earth, and there is iniquity enough to induce God to destroy it and its inhabitants), are nevertheless kept in store, τεθησαυρισμενοι, treasured up, kept in God's storehouse, to be destroyed, not by water, but by fire at the day of judgment.

From all this it appears that those mockers affected to be ignorant of the Mosaic account of the formation of the earth, and of its destruction by the waters of the deluge; and indeed this is implied in their stating that all things continued as they were from the creation. But St. Peter calls them back to the Mosaic account, to prove that this was false; for the earth, etc., which were then formed, had perished by the flood; and that the present earth, etc., which were formed out of the preceding, should, at the day of judgment, perish by the fire of God's wrath.

Be not ignorant - Though they are wilfully ignorant, neglect not ye the means of instruction.

One day is with the Lord as a thousand years - That is: All time is as nothing before him, because in the presence as in the nature of God all is eternity; therefore nothing is long, nothing short, before him; no lapse of ages impairs his purposes, nor need he wait to find convenience to execute those purposes. And when the longest period of time has passed by, it is but as a moment or indivisible point in comparison of eternity. This thought is well expressed by Plutarch, Consol. ad Apoll.: "If we compare the time of life with eternity, we shall find no difference between long and short. Τα γαρ χιλια, και τα μυρια ετη, στιγμη τις εστιν αοριστος, μαλλον δε μοριον τι βραχυτατον στιγμης· for a thousand or ten thousand years are but a certain indefinite point, or rather the smallest part of a point." The words of the apostle seem to be a quotation from Psa 90:4.

The Lord is not slack - They probably in their mocking said, "Either God had made no such promise to judge the world, destroy the earth, and send ungodly men to perdition; or if he had, he had forgotten to fulfill it, or had not convenient time or leisure." To some such mocking the apostle seems to refer: and he immediately shows the reason why deserved punishment is not inflicted on a guilty world.

But is long-suffering - It is not slackness, remissness, nor want of due displacence at sin, that induced God to prolong the respite of ungodly men; but his long-suffering, his unwillingness that any should perish: and therefore he spared them, that they might have additional offers of grace, and be led to repentance - to deplore their sins, implore God's mercy, and find redemption through the blood of the Lamb.

As God is not willing that any should perish, and as he is willing that all should come to repentance, consequently he has never devised nor decreed the damnation of any man, nor has he rendered it impossible for any soul to be saved, either by necessitating him to do evil, that he might die for it, or refusing him the means of recovery, without which he could not be saved.

The day of the Lord will come - See Mat 24:43, to which the apostle seems to allude.

The heavens shall pass away with a great noise - As the heavens mean here, and in the passages above, the whole atmosphere, in which all the terrestrial vapours are lodged; and as water itself is composed of two gases, eighty-five parts in weight of oxygen, and fifteen of hydrogen, or two parts in volume of the latter, and one of the former; (for if these quantities be put together, and several electric sparks passed through them, a chemical union takes place, and water is the product; and, vice versa, if the galvanic spark be made to pass through water, a portion of the fluid is immediately decomposed into its two constituent gases, oxygen and hydrogen); and as the electric or ethereal fire is that which, in all likelihood, God will use in the general conflagration; the noise occasioned by the application of this fire to such an immense congeries of aqueous particles as float in the atmosphere, must be terrible in the extreme. Put a drop of water on an anvil, place over it a piece of iron red hot, strike the iron with a hammer on the part above the drop of water, and the report will be as loud as a musket; when, then, the whole strength of those opposite agents is brought together into a state of conflict, the noise, the thunderings, the innumerable explosions, (till every particle of water on the earth and in the atmosphere is, by the action of the fire, reduced into its component gaseous parts), will be frequent, loud, confounding, and terrific, beyond every comprehension but that of God himself.

The elements shalt melt with fervent heat - When the fire has conquered and decomposed the water, the elements, στοιχεια, the hydrogen and oxygen airs or gases, (the former of which is most highly inflammable, and the latter an eminent supporter of all combustion), will occupy distinct regions of the atmosphere, the hydrogen by its very great levity ascending to the top, while the oxygen from its superior specific gravity will keep upon or near the surface of the earth; and thus, if different substances be once ignited, the fire, which is supported in this case, not only by the oxygen which is one of the constituents of atmospheric air, but also by a great additional quantity of oxygen obtained from the decomposition of all aqueous vapours, will rapidly seize on all other substances, on all terrestrial particles, and the whole frame of nature will be necessarily torn in pieces, and thus the earth and its works be burned up.

All these things shall be dissolved - They will all be separated, all decomposed; but none of them destroyed. And as they are the original matter out of which God formed the terraqueous globe, consequently they may enter again into the composition of a new system; and therefore the apostle says, 2Pet 3:13 : we look for new heavens and a new earth - the others being decomposed, a new system is to be formed out of their materials. There is a wonderful philosophic propriety in the words of the apostle in describing this most awful event.

What manner of persons ought ye to be - Some put the note of interrogation at the end of this clause, and join the remaining part with the 12th verse, thus: Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be? By holy conversation and godliness, expecting and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, etc. Only those who walk in holiness, who live a godly and useful life, can contemplate this most awful time with joy.

The word σπευδοντας, which we translate hasting unto, should be tendered earnestly desiring, or wishing for; which is a frequent meaning of the word in the best Greek writers.

The heavens being on fire - See on 2Pet 3:10. (note). It was an ancient opinion among the heathens that the earth should be burnt up with fire; so Ovid, Met., lib. i. v. 256.

Esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur, adfore tempus,

Quo mare, quo tellus, correptaque regia coeli

Ardeat; et mundi moles operosa laboret. "Remembering in the fates a time when fire

Should to the battlements of heaven aspire,

And all his blazing world above should burn,

And all the inferior globe to cinders turn."

Dryden.

Minucius Felix tells us, xxxiv. 2, that it was a common opinion of the Stoics that, the moisture of the earth being consumed, the whole world would catch fire. The Epicureans held the same sentiment; and indeed it appears in various authors, which proves that a tradition of this kind has pretty generally prevailed in the world. But it is remarkable that none have fancied that it will be destroyed by water. The tradition, founded on the declaration of God, was against this; therefore it was not received.

We, according to his promise, look for new heavens - The promise to which it is supposed the apostle alludes, is found Isa 65:17 : Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind; and Isa 66:22 : For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed, etc. Now, although these may be interpreted of the glory of the Gospel dispensation, yet, if St. Peter refer to them, they must have a more extended meaning.

It does appear, from these promises, that the apostle says here, and what is said Rev 21:27; Rev 22:14, Rev 22:15, that the present earth, though destined to be burned up, will not be destroyed, but be renewed and refined, purged from all moral and natural imperfection, and made the endless abode of blessed spirits. But this state is certainly to be expected after the day of judgment; for on this the apostle is very express, who says the conflagration and renovation are to take place at the judgment of the great day; see 2Pet 3:7, 2Pet 3:8, 2Pet 3:10, 2Pet 3:12. That such an event may take place is very possible; and, from the terms used by St. Peter, is very probable. And, indeed, it is more reasonable and philosophical to conclude that the earth shall be refined and restored, than finally destroyed. But this has nothing to do with what some call the millennium state; as this shall take place when time, with the present state and order of things, shall be no more.

Seeing that ye look for such things - As ye profess that such a state of things shall take place, and have the expectation of enjoying the blessedness of it, be diligent in the use of every means and influence of grace, that ye may be found of him - the Lord Jesus, the Judge of quick and dead, without spot - any contagion of sin in your souls, and blameless - being not only holy and innocent, but useful in your lives.

And account that the long-suffering of our Lord - Conclude that God's long-suffering with the world is a proof that he designs men to be saved; even as our beloved brother Paul. "This epistle being written to those to whom the first epistle was sent, the persons to whom the Apostle Paul wrote concerning the long-suffering of God were the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Accordingly, we know he wrote to the Ephesians, (Eph 2:3-5), to the Colossians, (Col 1:21), and to Timothy, (1Tim 2:3, 1Tim 2:4), things which imply that God's bearing with sinners is intended for their salvation. The persons to whom Peter's epistles were sent were, for the most part, Paul's converts." - Macknight.

According to the wisdom given unto him - That is, according to the measure of the Divine inspiration, by which he was qualified for the Divine work, and by which he was so capable of entering into the deep things of God. It is worthy of remark that Paul's epistles are ranked among the Scriptures; a term applied to those writings which are divinely inspired, and to those only.

As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things - Paul, in all his epistles, says Dr. Macknight, has spoken of the things written by Peter in this letter. For example, he has spoken of Christ's coming to judgment; 1Thes 3:13; 1Thes 4:14-18; 2Thes 1:7-10; Tit 2:13. And of the resurrection of the dead, 1Cor 15:22; Phi 3:20, Phi 3:21. And of the burning of the earth; 2Thes 1:8. And of the heavenly country; 2Cor 5:1-10. And of the introduction of the righteous into that country; 1Thes 4:17; Heb 4:9; Heb 12:14, Heb 12:18, Heb 12:24. And of the judgment of all mankind by Christ; Rom 14:10.

In which are some things hard to be understood - Δυσνοητα τινα· That is, if we retain the common reading εν οἱς, in or among which things, viz., what he says of the day of judgment, the resurrection of the body etc., etc., there are some things difficult to be comprehended, and from which a wrong or false meaning may be taken. But if we take the reading of AB, twelve others, with both the Syriac, all the Arabic, and Theophylact, εν αἱς, the meaning is more general, as εν αἱς must refer to επιστολαις, epistles, for this would intimate that there were difficulties in all the epistles of St. Paul; and indeed in what ancient writings are there not difficulties? But the papists say that the decision of all matters relative to the faith is not to be expected from the Scriptures on this very account, but must be received from the Church; i.e. the Popish or Romish Church.

But what evidence have we that that Church can infallibly solve any of those difficulties? We have none! And till we have an express, unequivocal revelation from heaven that an unerring spirit is given to that Church, I say, for example, to the present Church of Rome, with the pope called Pius VII. at its head, we are not to receive its pretensions. Any Church may pretend the same, or any number of equally learned men as there are of cardinals and pope in the conclave; and, after all, it would be but the opinion of so many men, to which no absolute certainty or infallibility could be attached.

This verse is also made a pretext to deprive the common people of reading the word of God; because the unlearned and unstable have sometimes wrested this word to their own destruction: but if it be human learning, and stability in any system of doctrine, that qualifies men to judge of these difficult things, then we can find many thousands, even in Europe, that have as much learning and stability as the whole college of cardinals, and perhaps ten thousand times more; for that conclave was never very reputable for the learning of its members: and to other learned bodies we may, with as much propriety, look up as infallible guides, as to this conclave.

Besides, as it is only the unlearned and the unestablished (that is, young Christian converts) that are in danger of wresting such portions; the learned, that is, the experienced and the established in the knowledge and life of God, are in no such danger; and to such we may safely go for information: and these abound everywhere, especially in Protestant countries; and by the labors of learned and pious men on the sacred writings there is not one difficulty relative to the things which concern our salvation left unexplained. If the members of the Romish Church have not these advantages, let them go to those who have them; and if their teachers are afraid to trust them to the instruction of the Protestants, then let them who pretend to have infallibly written their exposition of these difficult places, also put them, with a wholesome text in the vulgar language, into the hands of their people, and then the appeal will not lie to Rome, but to the Bible, and those interpretations will be considered according to their worth, being weighed with other scriptures, and the expositions of equally learned and equally infallible men.

We find, lastly, that those who wrest such portions, are those who wrest the other scriptures to their destruction; therefore they are no patterns, nor can such form any precedent for withholding the Scriptures from the common people, most of whom, instead of wresting them to their destruction, would become wise unto salvation by reading them. We may defy the Romish Church to adduce a single instance of any soul that was perverted, destroyed, or damned, by reading of the Bible; and the insinuation that they may is blasphemous. I may just add that the verb στρεβλοω, which the apostle uses here, signifies to distort, to put to the rack, to torture, to overstretch and dislocate the limbs; and hence the persons here intended are those who proceed according to no fair plan of interpretation, but force unnatural and sophistical meanings on the word of God: a practice which the common simple Christian is in no danger of following. I could illustrate this by a multitude of interpretations from popish writers.

Seeing ye know - before - Seeing that by prophets and apostles you have been thus forewarned, beware, φυλασσεσθε, keep watch, be on your guard; cleave to God and the word of his grace, lest ye be led away from the truth delivered by the prophets and apostles, by the error of the wicked, αθεσμων, of the lawless - those who wrest the Scriptures to make them countenance their lusts, exorbitant exactions, and lawless practices.

Fall from your own steadfastness - From that faith in Christ which has put you in possession of that grace which establishes the heart.

But grow in grace - Increase in the image and favor of God; every grace and Divine influence which ye have received is a seed, a heavenly seed, which, if it be watered with the dew of heaven from above, will endlessly increase and multiply itself. He who continues to believe, love, and obey, will grow in grace, and continually increase in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, as his sacrifice, sanctifier, counsellor, preserver, and final Savior. The life of a Christian is a growth; he is at first born of God, and is a little child; becomes a young man, and a father in Christ. Every father was once an infant; and had he not grown, he would have never been a man. Those who content themselves with the grace they received when converted to God, are, at best, in a continual state of infancy: but we find, in the order of nature, that the infant that does not grow, and grow daily, too, is sickly and soon dies; so, in the order of grace, those who do not grow up into Jesus Christ are sickly, and will soon die, die to all sense and influence of heavenly things.

There are many who boast of the grace of their conversion; persons who were never more than babes, and have long since lost even that grace, because they did not grow in it. Let him that readeth understand.

To him - The Lord Jesus, be glory - all honor and excellency attributed, both now - in this present state, and for ever, εις ἡμεραν αιωνος, to the day of eternity - that in which death, and misery, and trial, and darkness, and change, and time itself, are to the righteous for ever at an end: it is eternity; and this eternity is one unalterable, interminable, unclouded, and unchangeable Day!

Amen - So let it be! and so it shall be! Though this word is wanting in some reputable MSS., get it should be retained, as it has here more than usual authority in its support.

Subscriptions to this epistle in the Versions:

The end of the Second Epistle of Peter the apostle. - Syriac.

The Second Epistle of Peter the apostle is ended. - Syriac Philoxenian.

Nothing in the printed Vulgate.

The end of the epistles of blessed Peter the apostle, the rock of the faith. - Arabic.

The Second Epistle of Peter is ended; and glory be to God for ever and ever! - Aethiopic.

Nothing in the Coptic.

The end of the Second catholic Epistle of St. Peter. - Complutensian Polyglot.

The end of the Second Epistle of St. Peter. - Bib. Lat., edit. antiq.

Subscriptions in the Manuscripts;

Of the second of Peter. - Codex Alexandrius, and Codex Vaticanus.

Of the catholic epistle of Peter. - Codex Ephrem.

The Second Epistle of the holy Apostle Peter. - Other MSS.

We have now passed over all the canonical writings of Peter that are extant; and it is worthy of remark that, in no place of the two epistles already examined, nor in any of this apostle's sayings in any other parts of the sacred writings do we find any of the peculiar tenets of the Romish Church: not one word of his or the pope's supremacy; not one word of those who affect to be his successors; nothing of the infallibility claimed by those pretended successors; nothing of purgatory, penances, pilgrimages, auricular confession, power of the keys, indulgences, extreme unction, masses, and prayers for the dead; and not one word on the most essential doctrine of the Romish Church, transubstantiation. Now, as all these things have been considered by themselves most essential to the being of that Church; is it not strange that he, from whom they profess to derive all their power, authority, and influence, in spiritual and secular matters, should have said nothing of these most necessary things? Is it not a proof that they are all false and forged; that the holy apostle knew nothing of them; that they are no part of the doctrine of God; and, although they distinguish the Church of Rome, do not belong to the Church of Christ? It is no wonder that the rulers of this Church endeavor to keep the Scriptures from the common people; for, were they permitted to consult these, the imposture would be detected, and the solemn, destructive cheat at once exposed.

Be the more mindful thereof, because ye know scoffers will come first - Before the Lord comes. Walking after their own evil desires - Here is the origin of the error, the root of libertinism. Do we not see this eminently fulfilled?

Saying, Where is the promise of his coming - To judgment (They do not even deign to name him.) We see no sign of any such thing. For ever since the fathers - Our first ancestors. Fell asleep, all things - Heaven. water, earth. Continue as they were from the beginning of the creation - Without any such material change as might make us believe they will ever end.

For this they are willingly ignorant of - They do not care to know or consider. That by the almighty word of God - Which bounds the duration of all things, so that it cannot be either longer or shorter. Of old - Before the flood. The aerial heavens were, and the earth - Not as it is now, but standing out of the water and in the water - Perhaps the interior globe of earth was fixed in the midst of the great deep, the abyss of water; the shell or exterior globe standing out of the water, covering the great deep. This, or some other great and manifest difference between the original and present constitution of the terraqueous globe, seems then to have been so generally known, that St. Peter charges their ignorance of it totally upon their wilfulness.

Through which - Heaven and earth, the windows of heaven being opened, and the fountains of the great deep broken up. The world that then was - The whole antediluvian race. Being overflowed with water, perished - And the heavens and earth themselves, though they did not perish, yet underwent a great change. So little ground have these scoffers for saying that all things continue as they were from the creation.

But the heavens and the earth, that are now - Since the flood. Are reserved unto fire at the day wherein God will judge the world, and punish the ungodly with everlasting destruction.

But be not ye ignorant - Whatever they are. Of this one thing - Which casts much light on the point in hand. That one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day - Moses had said, Psalm 90:4, "A thousand years in thy sight are as one day;" which St. Peter applies with regard to the last day, so as to denote both his eternity, whereby he exceeds all measure of time in his essence and in his operation; his knowledge, to which all things past or to come are present every moment; his power, which needs no long delay, in order to bring its work to perfection; and his longsuffering, which excludes all impatience of expectation, and desire of making haste. One day is with the Lord as a thousand years - That is, in one day, in one moment he can do the work of a thousand years. Therefore he "is not slow:" he is always equally ready to fulfil his promise. And a thousand years are as one day - That is, no delay is long to God. A thousand years are as one day to the eternal God. Therefore "he is longsuffering:" he gives us space for repentance, without any inconvenience to himself. In a word, with God time passes neither slower nor swifter than is suitable to him and his economy; nor can there be any reason why it should be necessary for him either to delay or hasten the end of all things. How can we comprehend this? If we could comprehend it, St. Peter needed not to have added, with the Lord.

The Lord is not slow - As if the time fixed for it were past. Concerning his promise - Which shall surely be fulfilled in its season. But is longsuffering towards us - Children of men. Not willing that any soul, which he hath made should perish.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief - Suddenly, unexpectedly. In which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise - Surprisingly expressed by the very sound of the original word. The elements shall melt with fervent heat - The elements seem to mean, the sun, moon, and stars; not the four, commonly so called; for air and water cannot melt, and the earth is mentioned immediately after. The earth and all the works - Whether of nature or art. That are therein shall be burned up - And has not God already abundantly provided for this? 1. By the stores of subterranean fire which are so frequently bursting out at Aetna, Vesuvius, Hecla, and many other burning mountains. 2. By the ethereal (vulgarly called electrical) fire, diffused through the whole globe; which, if the secret chain that now binds it up were loosed, would immediately dissolve the whole frame of nature. 3. By comets, one of which, if it touch the earth in its course toward the sun, must needs strike it into that abyss of fire; if in its return from the sun, when it is heated, as a great man computes, two thousand times hotter than a red - hot cannonball, it must destroy all vegetables and animals long before their contact, and soon after burn it up.

Seeing then that all these things are dissolved - To the eye of faith it appears as done already. All these things - Mentioned before; all that are included in that scriptural expression, "the heavens and the earth;" that is, the universe. On the fourth day God made the stars, Gen 1:16, which will be dissolved together with the earth. They are deceived, therefore, who restrain either the history of the creation, or this description of the destruction, of the world to the earth and lower heavens; imagining the stars to be more ancient than the earth, and to survive it. Both the dissolution and renovation are ascribed, not to the one heaven which surrounds the earth, but to the heavens in general, 2Peter 3:10,13, without any restriction or limitation. What persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation - With men. And godliness - Toward your Creator.

Hastening on - As it were by your earnest desires and fervent prayers. The coming of the day of God - Many myriads of days he grants to men: one, the last, is the day of God himself.

We look for new heavens and a new earth - Raised as it were out of the ashes of the old; we look for an entire new state of things. Wherein dwelleth righteousness - Only righteous spirits. How great a mystery!

Labour that whenever he cometh ye may be found in peace - May meet him without terror, being sprinkled with his blood, and sanctified by his Spirit, so as to be without spot and blameless. Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22.

And account the longsuffering of the Lord salvation - Not only designed to lead men to repentance, but actually conducing thereto: a precious means of saving many more souls. As our beloved brother Paul also hath written to you - This refers not only to the single sentence preceding, but to all that went before. St. Paul had written to the same effect concerning the end of the world, in several parts of his epistles, and particularly in his Epistle to the Hebrews. Rom 2:4.

As also in all his epistles - St. Peter wrote this a little before his own and St. Paul's martyrdom. St. Paul therefore had now written all his epistles; and even from this expression we may learn that St. Peter had read them all, perhaps sent to him by St. Paul himself. Nor was he at all disgusted by what St. Paul had written concerning him in the Epistle to the Galatians. Speaking of these things - Namely, of the coming of our Lord, delayed through his longsuffering, and of the circumstances preceding and accompanying it. Which things the unlearned - They who are not taught of God. And the unstable - Wavering, double - minded, unsettled men. Wrest - As though Christ would not come. As they do also the other scriptures - Therefore St Paul's writings were now part of the scriptures. To their own destruction - But that some use the scriptures ill, is no reason why others should not use them at all.

But grow in grace - That is, in every Christian temper. There may be, for a time, grace without growth; as there may be natural life without growth. But such sickly life, of soul or body, will end in death, and every day draw nigher to it. Health is the means of both natural and spiritual growth. If the remaining evil of our fallen nature be not daily mortified, it will, like an evil humour in the body, destroy the whole man. But "if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body," (only so far as we do this,) "ye shall live" the life of faith, holiness, happiness. The end and design of grace being purchased and bestowed on us, is to destroy the image of the earthy, and restore us to that of the heavenly. And so far as it does this, it truly profits us; and also makes way for more of the heavenly gift, that we may at last be filled with all the fulness of God. The strength and well - being of a Christian depend on what his soul feeds on, as the health of the body depends on whatever we make our daily food. If we feed on what is according to our nature, we grow; if not, we pine away and die. The soul is of the nature of God, and nothing but what is according to his holiness can agree with it. Sin, of every kind, starves the soul, and makes it consume away. Let us not try to invert the order of God in his new creation: we shall only deceive ourselves. It is easy to forsake the will of God, and follow our own; but this will bring leanness into the soul. It is easy to satisfy ourselves without being possessed of the holiness and happiness of the gospel. It is easy to call these frames and feelings, and then to oppose faith to one and Christ to the other. Frames (allowing the expression) are no other than heavenly tempers, "the mind that was in Christ." Feelings are the divine consolations of the Holy Ghost shed abroad in the heart of him that truly believes. And wherever faith is, and wherever Christ is, there are these blessed frames and feelings. If they are not in us, it is a sure sign that though the wilderness became a pool, the pool is become a wilderness again. And in the knowledge of Christ - That is, in faith, the root of all. To him be the glory to the day of eternity - An expression naturally flowing from that sense which the apostle had felt in his soul throughout this whole chapter. Eternity is a day without night, without interruption, without end.

1 THIS second epistle , beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance .

This confirms what hath been said, That this Epistle was writ by Peter, as well as the former.

Or, sincere mind; the sense is either, 1. I stir up your Minds, that they may be pure, and sincere; and then he doth not so much commend them for what they were, as direct and exhort them to what they should be, that they might receive Benefit by what he writ, there being nothing that contributes more to the fruitful entertaining of the Word, than Sincerity, and honesty of Heart, when Men lay aside those things which are contrary to it, and might hinder its Efficacy, 1 Pet. 2.1, 2. Or, 2ly. I stir up your Minds, tho pure and sincere, to continuance and constancy in that pure Doctrine ye have received.

See chap. 1.13.

2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets , and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour .

The Word of Prophecy, ch. 1.19. he joyns the Prophets and Apostles together as concurring in their Doctrine, and so useth it as an Argument to perswade them to Constancy in the Faith of the Gospel, that what the Apostles preached to them, was confirmed by what the Prophets under the Old-Testament had taught before, Acts 26.22. Ephes. 2.20.

By this he means the whole Doctrine of the Gospel preached by him, and the other Apostles. See ch. 2.21. and 1 Iohn 3.23.

Who was the Author of this Commandment, and the Principal in giving it, and from whom the Apostles received it, who were but Ministers, and Instruments in delivering it to others.

3 Knowing this first , that there shall come in the last days scoffers , walking after their own lusts ,

Especially, as being very necessary to be known. The Apostle having in the former Chapter cautioned these Saints against the more close Enemies of the Gospel, Seducers, and false Teachers, here he foretels them of more open Enemies, profane Scoffers.

See 1 Cor. 10.11. and 2 Tim. 3.1.

Profane Contemners of God, and Deriders of his Truth, Psalm 1.1. and 119.51. Isa. 28.14, 22.

Such as are natural to them.

Iude 18. Lusts of Vngodliness.

Marginal references: 1 Tim. 4.1.

4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming ? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation .

Questioning, or denying the great Truths of the Gospel, thereby to encourage themselves in walking after their own Lusts.

His coming to judge the World, q. d. his promised coming doth not appear, the promise of it is not fulfilled.

Who died in the Faith of Christ's coming, and had the Promise of it.

I. e. Died; the usual Phrase of Scripture, which these Scoffers seem to speak in derision; q. d. it is so long since the Fathers fell asleep (as you call it) that it were more than time for them to be awakened, whereas we see the contrary

I. e. The World continues to be the same it was, and hath the same Parts it had; we see nothing changed, nothing abolished, but still Nature keeps its old Course. Thus they argue, That because there had been no such great Change, therefore there should be none; because Christ was not yet come to Judgment, therefore he should not come at all; not considering the Power of God, who is as able to destroy the World, as to make it, nor the Will of God revealed in his Word concerning the end of it.

Marginal references: Isa. 5.19. Jer. 17.15. Ezek. 12.22.; Viz. Christ mentioned, v. 2. Possibly these Scoffers might drop the Name of Christ by way of Contempt, not vouchsafing to mention it, as the Iews did, Iohn 9.29. q. d. Where is the Promise of his coming, whom you expect?

5 For this they willingly are ignorant of , that by the word of God the heavens were of old , and the earth standing out of the water, and in the water .

They will not know what they ought to know, and if they would search the Scripture, might know.

The Command of God, or Word of his Power, as it is called, Heb. 1.3. See Gen. 1.6, 9. Psalm 33.6. and 148.5.

Were created, or had a being given them, Gen. 1.6.

From the beginning of the World.

The Globe of the Earth which comprehends likewise the Seas, and Rivers, as parts of the whole.

According to our Translation, the sense of these words may be plainly this, That the Earth standing partly out of the Water, (as all the dry Land doth, whose Surface is higher than the Water) and partly in the Water (as those parts do which are under it) or in the midst of the Water, as being covered, and encompassed by Seas and Rivers. But most Expositors follow the marginal Reading, and render the Greek word hy consisting; and then the meaning may be, either, 1. That the Earth consisting of Water, as the matter out of which it was formed, (Moses calling the Chaos which was that matter, Water, Gen. 1.2.) and by Water, from which it hath its Compactness and Solidity, and without which it would be wholly dry, meer useless Dust, unfit for the generation, and Production of natural Things. If we understand the words thus, the Argument lies against the Scoffers; for the Earth thus consists of, and by Water, yet God made use of the Water for the destroying of the World; and so natural Causes are not sufficient for its Preservation without the Power of God sustaining it in its being; and whenever he withdraws that Power, in spite of all inferior Causes, it must perish. Or, 2ly. the words may thus be read, The Heavens were of old, and the Earth (supply from the former clause) was out of the Water, and consisting by, or in the Water; and the meaning is, That the Earth did emerge, or appear out of, or above the Water, viz. when God gathered the Waters together, and made the dry Land appear; and doth consist by, or among, or in the midst of the Waters, as was before explained.

Marginal references: Gr. consisting.; Psal. 24.2. & 136.6.

6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.

By which Heavens, and Water mentioned in the former Verse, the Fountains of the great Deep being broken up, and the Windows of Heaven opened, Gen. 7.11. Or, by the Word of God, as the principal Cause, and the Water as the instrumental, which, at his Command, was poured out upon the Earth both from above and below.

The Earth, with all the Inhabitants of it, eight Persons excepted. This the Apostle alledgeth against the fore-mentioned Scoffers, who said, that all things continued as they were, when yet the Flood had made so great a change in the Face of the lower Creation.

7 But the heavens , and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store , reserved unto fire against the day of judgment , and perdition of ungodly men .

The Etherial, or starry Heaven, as well as Aerial; for, v. 10, 12. he distinguisheth the Heavens that are to perish by Fire, from the Elements; and, v. 13. he opposeth a new Heaven to that Heaven which is to be consumed; but the new Heaven is not meant meerly of the Aerial Heaven. And why should not this be meant of the same Heavens, which elsewhere in Scripture are said to perish? Iob 14.11. Psalm 102.26. All of them shall wax old, &c.

The same as v. 5.

Are kept safe as in a Treasury, and untouched for a time, that they may be destroyed at last.

That they may be consumed by it. The Destruction of the World by Fire at the last Day, is opposed to the Destruction of it by Water in the Flood.

The general Judgment.

This the Apostle speaks' with an Emphasis, because they were ungodly, against whom he here bends his Discourse.

Marginal references: Verse 10.; 2 Thess. 1.8.

8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years , and a thousand years as one day.

I. e. Be sure of it: the same Word is here used as v. 5. and so he cautions them against the Ignorance of Scoffers, and to prevent it, would have them certainly know this one thing, which is extant in the Scripture, which foretells Christ's coming.

The Lord Jesus Christ, of whose coming he speaks.

By a Synechdoche, a thousand years is put for any, even the longest Revolution of time; and the sense is, That tho there be great difference of time, long, and short, with us, who are subject to time, and are measured by it; yet with him who is eternal, without Succession, to whom nothing is past, nothing future, but all things present; there is no difference of time, none long, none short, but a thousand years, nay, all the time that hath run out since the Creation of the World is but as a Day; and we are not so judg of the Lord's delay in coming, by our own sense, but by God's Eternity.

Marginal references: Psal. 90.4.

9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to us-ward , not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

I. e. Doth not defer the fulfilling of it beyond the appointed time, Isa. 60. ult.

Either the Scoffers here mentioned, who, because of Christ's not yet coming, questioned whether he would come at all; as if God had changed his purpose, or would not fulfil it: Or Believers themselves, who, through the weakness of their Faith, and greatness of their Sufferings, might grow into some degree of Impatience, and think Christ slow in coming to avenge their Cause, and give them their Reward. So much may be gathered from Rev. 6.10.

To us Believers, or us Elect.

Any that he hath ordained to Life, tho not yet called.

All whom he hath elected: he would have the whole number of them filled up, and defers the Day of Judgment till it be so: Or, this may be meant not of God's secret and effectual Will, but of his revealed Will, whereby he calls all to Repentance promiscuously that hear the Gospel preached, hath made it their Duty, approves of it, hath prescribed it as the way of Salvation, commanded them to seek Salvation in that way, and is ready to receive, and save them upon their repenting. See 1 Tim. 2.4.

Marginal references: Hab. 2.3. Heb. 10.37.; Isa. 30.18.; Ezek. 18.23, 32. & 33.11.

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night : in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise , and the elements shall melt with fervent heat , the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up.

The Day of Judgment is here called the Day of the Lord by way of Eminence, as the great Day, Jude 6. and the great Day of God Almighty, Rev. 16.14. and the Day of the Lord Iesus, 1 Cor. 1.8. and 5.5. and 2 Cor. 1.14. and Phil. 1.6, 10.

As a Thief comes suddenly and unexpectedly, when he thinks all in the House are most secure.

Viz. Those that are visible, in distinction from the Empyreal Heaven, or Place of glorified Spirits.

Either wholly, so as to cease to be; or rather, as to their present Being and Condition, so as to cease to be what they now are, and to give place to the new Heaven, Rev. 21.1. The same word is used, Matth. 24.35. Luke 16.17.

Either swiftly and violently, or with such a noise as is usually caused by such violent and speedy motions.

The Elements, in a natural sense, as integral parts of the Universe, Air, Water, Earth.

So v. 12. where another word is used in the Greek, which properly signifies melting, or being on fire, or burning, shall be dissolved, or destroyed. So the word signifies, Iohn 2.19. and 1 Iob. 3.8.

The habitable part of the World. Tho the Earth, as a part of the World, be included in the Elements before-mentioned, yet here it may be taken with respect to its Inhabitants, and the things contained in it.

Not only artificial, Men's Works, but natural, all that Variety of Creatures, animate and inanimate, wherewith God hath stored this lower World for the present use of Man; and so all those delectable things in which carnal Men seek their Happiness.

Marginal references: 1 Thess. 5.2. Rev. 3.3.; Psal. 102.26. Isa. 51.6. Mat. 24.35. Rom. 8.20. Rev. 20.11.

11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness ?

Seeing the coming of the Lord will be so terrible, as to bring with it the Consumption of the World, and the Destruction of these things here below, upon which we are so apt to set our Affections.

How prudent, accurate, diligent, zealous, and every way excellent Persons. The Greek word is often used by way of Admiration of some singular Excellency in Persons, or Things, Matth. 8.27. and Mark 13.1. Luke 1.29.

The words in the Greek are both in the Plural Number, and may imply not only a continued course of holy walking throughout our whole time, but likewise Diligence in the performance of all sorts of Duties, and Exercise of all those various Graces wherewith the Spirit of God furnisheth Believers in order thereto.

12 Looking for , and hasting unto the coming of the day of God , wherein the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.

Patiently waiting for, and expecting.

By fervent desire of it, and diligent Preparation for it.

The Day of the Lord, v. 10.

Marginal references: Or, hastning the coming.

13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise , look for new heavens, and a new earth , wherein dwelleth righteousness .

The places cited in the Margin, to which this Text seems to refer, speak of a new state of the Church here in the World, yet by way of Allusion to the Renovation of the World, which is ultimately there promised, and the Perpetuity of the Gospel-Church till then is thereby assured.

I. e. Perpetually abideth, and not only for a time, Rom. 8.11. and 2 Cor. 6.16. and 2 Tim. 1.14.

Instead of the present World which is to be consumed by Fire, v. 10, 12. or the first Heaven and Earth which pass away, Rev. 21.1. These will be new Heavens, and a new Earth, either as to their Substance, or as to their Qualities refined and purified from all Defilement, and free from all that Vanity to which the Creature was made subject by the Sin of Man, Rom. 8.20, 21.

Either this may be understood of Righteousness in the Abstract, that together with the Destruction of the World, the Kingdom of Sin shall be destroyed, and God's Elect, the Inhabitants of the new World, shall be filled with Righteousness, whereas before Sin had dwelt in them: Or else the Abstract may be put for the Concrete, and by Righteouness may be meant righteous Persons, who only shall be the Inhabitants of the new World, the Wicked being turned into Hell, Rev. 21.27. And by this way of expressing it, may be implied the Perfection of the Righteousness of such. Not only the new Heaven is mentioned, but the new Earth, because the whole World will then be the Possession, and Kingdom of the Saints, who follow Christ wherever he goes.

Marginal references: Isa. 65.17. & 66.22.

14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing ye look for such things , be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace , without spot, and blameless .

Christ's coming to Judgment; the Destruction of this World; a new Heaven, and a new Earth in which dwells Righteousness.

Christ the Judge.

At peace with God, from whence proceeds Peace of Conscience, and an amicable, peaceable Disposition toward others; all which may here be comprehended.

Either, 1. by these words he means absolute Perfection; and then he shews what we are to design and aim at in this Life, tho we attain it not till we come into the other: Or, 2ly. a through-Sanctification through Faith in Christ, a being got above fleshly Lusts, and the Pollutions of the World, and any such carriage as our Hearts may reproach us for, 1 Tim. 6.14. If it be objected, That such, having Sin still in them, cannot be said to be without Spot, and blameless in the sight of God. It may be answered, That though they have Sin in them, yet being, through the Righteousness of Christ, imputed to them justified in the sight of God, and accepted in the Beloved, Eph. 1.6. he over-looks their Infirmities, and imputes no Sin to them, sees no Spot in them, so as to condemn them for it. The Apostle seems here to reflect on the Seducers before-mentioned, whom, ch. 2.13. he had called Spots and Blemishes; and he perswades these Saints to look to themselves, that they might be found of Christ (not such as the other were, but) without Spot, and blameless; or, as it is translated, Ephes. 5.27. without Blemish, i. e. in a State of Sanctification, as well as Justification.

Marginal references: 1 Cor. 1.8. Phil. 1.10. 1 Thes. 3.13. & 5.23.

15 And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation ; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you .

Reckon with your selves, and be confidently perswaded; or take for granted.

Viz. In his not yet coming to Judgment, and bearing with so much Sin in the World, without presently punishing it.

I. e. Tends, or conduceth to Salvation, in that hereby he gives space for Repentance to the Elect unconverted, and alloweth time for the building up, and perfecting those that are converted, v. 9.

Not only Brother in Christ, as a Saint, but in Office as an Apostle.

That eminent and profound Knowledg in the Mysteries of the Gospel in which Paul did excel, 1 Cor. 2.6, 7. Eph. 3.3, 4. Peter makes such honourable mention of Paul, 1. That he might commend to the Jewish Christians the Doctrine Paul had preached, though a Minister of the Uncircumcision. 2ly, To shew that he had nothing the worse Thoughts of him for being so sharply reproved by him, Gal. 2, and 3. that he might arm the Saints against those Hereticks that abused Paul's Writings, and wrested them to their own meaning (probably) to patronize their Errors.

Unto you Jewish Believers, viz. either, 1. in his Epistle to the Romans, ch. 2.4. where is a Passage very like this: Or, 2ly. in his Epistle to the Hebrews, which, though it were not entitled to the Iews of the Dispersion, yet was written to their Nation; and in that Epistle several places there are of the same purpose with this here. See Heb. 9.28. and 10.23, 25, 36, 37. and other Epistle of Paul to the Iews we have none; and in this he shews much of that Wisdom God gave him in the Mystery of the Gospel; and in this likewise are many things hard to be understood.

16 As also in all his epistles , speaking in them of these things p: In which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned , and unstable , wrest , as they do also the other scriptures to their own destruction .

To make the Sense complete, we must supply here from the former Verse, he hath written.

Viz. concerning the second coming of Christ, and end of the World, the Patience that should be exercised in waiting for it; about avoiding Scoffers that deny these Truths, and the other Instructions contained in these two Epistles, but especially in the two latter Chapters of this second Epistle.

In which Epistles, or rather, in which things contained in Paul's Epistles, (for the Greek Relative is of a different Gender, and cannot agree with Epistles, q. d. some of the Doctrines delivered by Paul in his Epistles, are hard to be understood. And so this doth not prove Paul's Epistles, much less the whole Scripture, to be obscure, and dark. The Stile and Expression may be as clear as the Nature of the things will bear, and yet the things themselves so expressed may be hard to be understood, either by reason of their own Obscurity, as Prophecies, the Excellency and Sublimeness of them, as some mysterious Doctrines, or the weakness of Mens Minds, and their Incapacity of apprehending spiritual things, 1 Cor. 2.14. compare with ch. 13.9, 10.

They that are ignorant of the Scripture, unskilful in the Word of Righteousness, Heb. 5.13. or indocible, that will not be instructed.

Such as are ill-grounded, and therefore unstedfast, and easily deceived, ch. 2.14. See Eph. 4.14.

Pervert the Scripture, and offer Violence to it, and, as it were, wrack and torture it to make it confess what it never meant.

Eternal Dectruction, viz. while they use the Scripture to countenance their Errors: or stumble at some things in them, which are obscure, thereby taking occasion to deny the Truth of God, and so make the Scripture the Instrument of their Perdition, which God appointed to be the means of Salvation.

Marginal references: Rom. 8.19. 1 Cor. 15.24. 1 Thes. 4.15.

17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before-hand, beware lest ye also being led away by the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness .

Which I have been now writing to you of, viz. That the Judge will certainly come; or, that Hereticks, Deceivers, and Scoffers will come; or both may be comprehended.

As well as others have been.

The stedfastness of your Faith. This Admonition he gives them not to discourage them with fear of Apostacy, but to awaken them to that holy care, which would be a means to prevent it; and so to keep them from security, and trust in themselves, not to weaken their Faith, and Reliance on the Promise.

Marginal references: Mark 13.23.

18 But grow in grace , and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

In all those spiritual Gifts ye have received from Christ, especially sanctifying.

In Faith, whereby ye are sanctified, and made Partakers of that Grace.

Which belongs only to God; and therefore this proves Christ to be God.

Adhere to Words of the Prophets and Commandments of the Apostles. (a. d. 67.)

1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: 2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

That the apostle might the better reach his end in writing this epistle, which is to make them steady and constant in a fiducial and practical remembrance of the doctrine of the gospel, he, 1. Expresses his special affection and tenderness for them, by calling them beloved, hereby evidencing that he added to godliness brotherly-kindness, as he had (ch. i. 17) exhorted them to do. Ministers must be examples of love and affection, as well as life and conversation. 2. He evinces a sincere love to them, and hearty concern for them, by writing the same thing to them, though in other words. It being safe for them, it shall not be grievous to him to write upon the same subject, and pursue the same design, by those methods which are most likely to succeed. 3. The better to recommend the matter, he tells them that what he would have them to remember are, (1.) The words spoken by the holy prophets, who were divinely inspired, both enlightened and sanctified by the Holy Ghost; and, seeing these persons' minds were purified by the sanctifying operation of the same Spirit, they were the better disposed to receive and retain what came from God by the holy prophets. (2.) The commandments of the apostles of the Lord and Saviour; and therefore the disciples and servants of Christ ought to regard what those who are sent by him have declared unto them to be the will of their Lord. What God has spoken by the prophets of the Old Testament, and Christ has commanded by the apostles of the New, cannot but demand and deserve to be frequently remembered; and those who meditate on these things will feel the quickening virtues thereof. It is by these things the pure minds of Christians are to be stirred up, that they may be active and lively in the work of holiness, and zealous and unwearied in the way to heaven.

The Cavils of Infidels; Destruction of the World. (a. d. 67.)

3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

To quicken and excite us to a serious minding and firm adhering to what God has revealed to us by the prophets and apostles, we are told that there will be scoffers, men who will make a mock of sin, and of salvation from it. God's way of saving sinners by Jesus Christ is what men will scoff at, and that in the last days, under the gospel. This indeed may seem very strange, that the New-Testament dispensation of the covenant of grace, which is spiritual and therefore more agreeable to the nature of God than the Old, should be ridiculed and reproached; but the spirituality and simplicity of New-Testament worship are directly contrary to the carnal mind of man, and this accounts for what the apostle seems here to hint at, namely, that scoffers shall be more numerous and more bold in the last days than ever before. Though in all ages those who were born and walked after the flesh persecuted, reviled, and reproached those who were born and did walk after the Spirit, yet in the last days there will be a great improvement in the art and impudence of bantering serious godliness, and those who firmly adhere to the circumspection and self-denial which the gospel prescribes. This is what is mentioned as a thing well known to all Christians, and therefore they ought to reckon upon it, that they may not be surprised and shaken, as if some strange thing happened unto them. Now to prevent the true Christian's being overcome, when attacked by these scoffers, we are told,

I. What sort of persons they are: they walk after their own lusts, they follow the devices and desires of their own hearts, and carnal affections, not the dictates and directions of right reason and an enlightened well-informed judgment. This they do in the course of their conversation, they live as they list, and they speak as they list; it is not only their inward minds that are evil and opposite to God, as the mind of every unrenewed sinner is (Rom. viii. 7), alienated from God, ignorant of him, and averse to him; but they have grown to such a height of wickedness that they proclaim openly what is in the hearts of others who are yet carnal; they say, "Our tongues are our own, and our strength, and time, and who is lord over us? Who shall contradict or control us, or ever call us to an account for what we say or do?" And, as they scorn to be confined by any laws of God in their conversation, so neither will they bear that the revelation of God should dictate and prescribe to them what they are to believe; as they will walk in their own way, and talk their own language, so will they also think their own thoughts, and form principles which are altogether their own: here also their own lusts alone shall be consulted by them. None but such accomplished libertines as are here described can take a seat, at least they cannot sit in the seat of the scornful. "By this you shall know them, that you may the better be upon your guard against them."

II. We also are forewarned how far they will proceed: they will attempt to shake and unsettle us, even as to our belief of Christ's second coming; they will scoffingly say, Where is the promise of his coming? v. 4. Without this, all the other articles of the Christian faith will signify very little; this is that which fills up and gives the finishing stroke to all the rest. The promised Messiah has come, he was made flesh, and dwelt among us; he is altogether such a one as in stated before, and has done all that for us which has been before taken notice of. These principles the enemies of Christianity have all along endeavoured to overturn; but as these all rest upon facts which are already past, and of which this and the other apostles have given us the most sure and satisfying evidence, it is probable that they will at last grow weary of their opposition to them; and yet, while one very principal article of our faith refers to what is still behind, and only has a promise to rest upon, here they will still attack us, even to the end of time. Till our Lord shall have come, they will not themselves believe that he will come; nay, they will laugh at the very mention of his second coming, and do what in them lies to put all out of countenance who seriously believe and wait for it. Now therefore let us see how this point stands, both on the believer's part and on the part of these seducers: the believer not only desires that he may come, but, having a promise that he will come, a promise that he himself has made and often repeated, a promise received and reported by faithful witnesses, and left upon sure record, he is also firmly and fully persuaded that he will come: on the other hand, these seducers, because they wish he never may, therefore do all that in them lies to cheat themselves and others into a persuasion that he will never come. If they cannot deny that there is a promise, yet they will laugh at that very promise, which argues much higher degrees of infidelity and contempt: Where is the promise, say they, of his coming?

III. We are also forewarned of the method of their reasoning, for while they laugh they will pretend to argue too. To this purpose they add that since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation, v. 4. This is a subtle, though not a solid way of reasoning; it is apt to make impressions upon weak minds, and especially upon wicked hearts. Because sentence against them is not speedily executed, therefore they flatter themselves that it never will, whereupon their hearts are fully set in them to do evil (Eccl. viii. 11); thus they act themselves, and thus they would persuade others to act; so here, say they, "The fathers have fallen asleep, those are all dead to whom the promise was made, and it was never made good in their time, and there is no likelihood that it ever will be in any time; why should we trouble ourselves about it? If there had been any truth or certainty in the promise you speak of, we should surely have seen somewhat of it before this time, some signs of his coming, some preparatory steps in order to it; whereas we find to this very day all things continue as they were, without any change, even from the beginning of the creation. Since the world has undergone no changes in the course of so many thousand years, why should we affright ourselves as if it were to have an end?" Thus do these scoffers argue. Because they see no changes, therefore they fear not God, Ps. lv. 19. They neither fear him nor his judgments; what he never has done they would conclude he never can do or never will.

IV. Here is the falsehood of their argument detected. Whereas they confidently had said there had not been any change from the beginning of the creation, the apostle puts us in remembrance of a change already past, which, in a manner, equals that which we are called to expect and look for, which was the drowning of the world in the days of Noah. This these scoffers had overlooked; they took no notice of it. Though they might have known it, and ought to have known it, yet this they willingly are ignorant of (v. 5), they choose to pass it over in silence, as if they had never heard or known any thing of it; if they knew it, they did not like to retain it in their knowledge; they did not receive this truth in the love of it, neither did they care to own it. Note, It is hard to persuade men to believe what they are not willing to find true; they are ignorant, in many cases, because they are willing to be ignorant, and they do not know because they do not care to know. But let not sinners think that such ignorance as this will be admitted as an excuse for whatever sin it may betray them into. Those who crucified Christ did not know who he was; for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor. ii. 8); but, though ignorant, they were not therefore innocent; their ignorance itself was a sin, willing and wilful ignorance, and one sin can be no excuse for another. So it is here; had these known of the dreadful vengeance with which God swept away a whole world of ungodly wretches at once, they would not surely have scoffed at his threatenings of any after equally terrible judgment; but here they were willingly ignorant, they did not know what God had done because they had no mind to know it. Now therefore we shall proceed to consider the representation which the apostle here lays down both of the destruction of the old world by water and that which awaits this present world at the final conflagration. He mentions the one as what God has done, to convince and persuade us the rather to believe that the other both may be and will be.

1. We begin with the apostle's account of the destruction which has once already come upon the world (v. 5, 6): By the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. Originally the world was otherwise situated, the waters were most wisely divided at the creation and most beneficially for us; some of the waters had proper repositories above the firmament, here called the heavens (as it is also Gen. i. 8), and others, under the firmament, gathered together unto one place; there were then both sea and dry land, commodious habitation for the children of men. But now, at the time of the universal deluge, the case is strangely altered; the waters which God had divided before, assigning to each part its convenient receptacle, now does he, in anger, throw together again in a heap. He breaks up the fountain of the great deep, and throws open the windows (that is, the clouds) of heaven (Gen. vii. 11), till the whole earth is overflowed with water, and not a spot can be found upon the highest mountains but what is fifteen cubits under water, Gen. vii. 20. Thus he made known at once his terrible power and his fierce anger, and made an end of a whole world at once: The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished, v. 6. Is not here a change and a most awful change! And then it is to be observed that all this was done by the word of God; it was by his powerful word that the world was made at first, and made in so commodious and beautiful a frame and order, Heb. xi. 3, Katertisthai. He said, Let there be a firmament, &c., Gen. i. 6, 7. And let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, &c., v. 9, 10. Thus he spoke, and it was done, Ps. xxxiii. 9. Thus, says our apostle, by the word of the Lord the heavens were, as they were of old (that is, at first creation) and the earth (as it was at first a terraqueous globe) standing out of the water and in the water. Not is it only the first frame and order of the world that is here said to be by the word of God, but the after-confusion and ruin of the world, as well as the utter destruction of its inhabitants, were also by the same word; none but that God who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth could destroy and overthrow such a vast fabric at once. This was done by the word of his power, and it was also done according to the word of his promise; God had said that he would destroy man, even all flesh, and that he would do it by bringing a flood of waters upon the earth, Gen. vi. 7, 13, 17. This was the change which God had before brought upon the world, and which these scoffers had overlooked; and now we are to consider,

2. What the apostle says of the destructive change which is yet to come upon it: The heavens and the earth, which now are, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, v. 7. Here we have an awful account of the final dissolution of the world, and which we are yet more nearly concerned in. The ruin that came upon the world and its inhabitants by the flood, we read, and hear, and think of, with concern, though those who were swept away by it were such as we never knew; but the judgment here spoken of is yet to come, and will surely come, though we know not when, nor upon what particular age or generation of men; and therefore we are not, we cannot be, sure that it may not happen in our own times: and this makes a very great difference, though it should be admitted that they were equal in every other respect, which yet must not be allowed, for there were some, though very few, who escaped that deluge, but not one can escape in this conflagration. Besides, we were not in reach of the one, but are not sure that we shall not be included in the other calamity. Now therefore to see the world to which we belong destroyed at once—not a single person only, not a particular family only, nor yet a nation (even that which we are most nearly interested in and concerned for), but the whole world, I say, sinking at once, and no ark provided, no possible way left of escaping for any one from the common ruin, this makes a difference between the desolation that has been and what we yet are to expect. The one is already past, and never to return upon us any more (for God has said expressly that there shall never any more be a flood to destroy the earth, Gen. ix. 11-17); the other is still behind, and is as certain to come as the truth and the power of God can make it: the one came gradually upon the world, and was growing upon its inhabitants forty days, before it made an utter end of them (Gen. vii. 12, 17); this other will come upon them swiftly and all at once (2 Pet. ii. 1): besides, there were in that overthrow (as we have said) a few who escaped, but the ruin which yet awaits this world, whenever it comes, will be absolutely a universal one; there will not be any part but what the devouring flames will seize upon, not a sanctuary left any where for the inhabitants to flee to, not a single spot in all this world where any one of them can be safe. Thus, whatever differences may be assigned between that destruction of the world and this here spoken of, they do indeed represent the approaching as the most terrible judgment; yet that the world has once been destroyed by a universal deluge renders it the more credible that it may be again ruined by a universal conflagration. Let therefore the scoffers, who laugh at the coming of our Lord to judgment, at least consider that it may be. There is nothing said of it in the word of God but what is within reach of the power of God, and, though they still should laugh, they shall not put us out of countenance; we are well assured that it will be, because he has said it, and we can depend upon his promise. They err, not knowing (at least not believing) the scriptures, nor the power of God; but we know, and we do or ought to depend upon, both. Now that which he has said, and which he will certainly make good, is that the heavens and the earth which now are (which we are now related to, which still subsist in all the beauty and order in which we see them, and which are so agreeable and useful to us, as we find they are) are kept in store, not to be, what earthly minds would wish to have them, treasures for us, but to be what God will have them, in his treasury, securely lodged and kept safely for his purposes. It follows, they are reserved unto fire. Observe, God's following judgments are more terrible than those which went before; the old world was destroyed by water, but this is reserved unto fire, which shall burn up the wicked at the last day; and, though this seems to be delayed, yet, as this wicked world is upheld by the word of God, so it is only reserved for the vengeance of him to whom vengeance belongs, who will at the day of judgment deal with an ungodly world according to their deserts, for the day of judgment is the day of the perdition of ungodly men. Those who now scoff at a future judgment shall find it a day of vengeance and utter destruction. "Beware therefore of being among these scoffers; never question but the day of the Lord will come; give diligence therefore to be found in Christ, that that may be a time of refreshment and day of redemption to you which will be a day of indignation and wrath to the ungodly world."

Conception of Eternity. (a. d. 67.)

8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The apostle comes in these words to instruct and establish Christians in the truth of the coming of the Lord, where we may clearly discern the tenderness and affection wherewith he speaks to them, calling them beloved; he had a compassionate concern and a love of good-will for the ungodly wretches who refused to believe divine revelation, but he has a peculiar respect for the true believers, and the remaining ignorance and weakness that the apprehends to be in them make him jealous, and put him on giving them a caution. Here we may observe,

I. The truth which the apostle asserts—that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one day. Though, in the account of men, there is a great deal of difference between a day and a year, and a vast deal more between one day and a thousand years, yet in the account of God, who inhabits eternity, in which there is no succession, there is no difference; for all things past, present, and future, are ever before him, and the delay of a thousand years cannot be so much to him as the deferring of any thing for a day or an hour is to us.

II. The importance of this truth: This is the one thing the apostle would not have us ignorant of; a holy awe and reverential fear of God are necessary in order to our worshiping and glorifying him, and a belief of the inconceivable distance between him and us is very proper to beget and maintain that religious fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. This is a truth that belongs to our peace, and therefore he endeavours that it may not be hidden from our eyes; as it is in the original, Let not this one thing be hidden from you. If men have no knowledge or belief of the eternal God, they will be very apt to think him such a one as themselves. Yet how hard is it to conceive of eternity! It is therefore not very easy to attain such a knowledge of God as is absolutely necessary.

Destruction of the World. (a. d. 67.)

9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

We are here told that the Lord is not slack—he does not delay beyond the appointed time; as God kept the time that he had appointed for the delivering of Israel out of Egypt, to a day (Exod. xii. 41), so he will keep to the time appointed in coming to judge the world. What a difference is there between the account which God makes and that which men make! Good men are apt to think God stays beyond the appointed time, that is, the time which they have set for their own and the church's deliverance; but they set one time and God sets another, and he will not fail to keep the day which he has appointed. Ungodly men dare charge a culpable slackness upon God, as if he had slipped the time, and laid aside the thoughts of coming. But the apostle assures us,

I. That what men count slackness is truly long-suffering, and that to us-ward; it is giving more time to his own people, whom he has chosen before the foundation of the world, many of whom are not as yet converted; and those who are in a state of grace and favour with God are to advance in knowledge and holiness, and in the exercise of faith and patience, to abound in good works, doing and suffering what they are called to, that they may bring glory to God, and improve in a meetness for heaven; for God is not willing that any of these should perish, but that all of them should come to repentance. Here observe, 1. Repentance is absolutely necessary in order to salvation. Except we repent, we shall perish, Luke xiii. 3, 5. 2. God has no delight in the death of sinners: as the punishment of sinners is a torment to his creatures, a merciful God does not take pleasure in it; and though the principal design of God in his long-suffering is the blessedness of those whom he has chosen to salvation, through sanctification of the spirit, and belief of the truth, yet his goodness and forbearance do in their own nature invite and call to repentance all those to whom they are exercised; and, if men continue impenitent when God gives them space to repent, he will deal more severely with them, though the great reason why he did not hasten his coming was because he had not accomplished the number of his elect. "Abuse not therefore the patience and long-suffering of God, by abandoning yourselves to a course of ungodliness; presume not to go on boldly in the way of sinners, nor to sit down securely in an unconverted impenitent state, as he who said (Matt. xxiv. 48), My Lord delayeth his coming, lest he come and surprise you;" for,

II. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, v. 10. Here we may observe, 1. The certainty of the day of the Lord: though it is now above sixteen hundred years since this epistle was written, and the day has not yet come, it assuredly will come. God has appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, and he will keep his appointment. It is appointed to men once to die, and after this the judgment, Heb. ix. 27. "Settle it therefore in your hearts that the day of the Lord will certainly come, and you shall certainly be called to give an account of all things done in the body, whether good or evil; and let your exact walking before God, and your frequent judging yourselves, evidence your firm belief of a future judgment, when many live as if they were never to give any account at all." 2. The suddenness of this day: It will come as a thief in the night, at a time when men are sleeping and secure, and have no manner of apprehension or expectation of the day of the Lord, any more than men have of a thief when they are in a deep sleep, in the dark and silent night. At midnight there was a cry, Behold, the bridegroom comes, (Matt. xxv. 6), and at that time not only the foolish, but also the wise virgins slumbered and slept. The Lord will come in a day when we look not for him, and an hour when men are not aware. The time which men think to be the most improper and unlikely, and when therefore they are most secure, will be the time of the Lord's coming. Let us then beware how we in our thoughts and imaginations put that day far away from us; but rather suppose it to be so much nearer in reality, by how much further off it is in the opinion of the ungodly world. 3. The solemnity of this coming. (1.) The heavens shall pass away with a great noise. The visible heavens, as unable to abide when the Lord shall come in his glory, shall pass away; they shall undergo a mighty alteration, and this shall be very sudden, and with such a noise as the breaking and tumbling down of so great a fabric must necessarily occasion. (2.) The elements shall melt with fervent heat. At this coming of the Lord it shall not only be very tempestuous round about him, so that the very heavens shall pass away as in a mighty violent storm, but a fire shall go before him, that shall melt the elements of which the creatures are composed. (3.) The earth also, and all the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. The earth, and its inhabitants, and all the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. The earth, and its inhabitants, and all the works, whether of nature or art, shall be destroyed. The stately palaces and gardens, and all the desirable things wherein worldly-minded men seek and place their happiness, all of them shall be burnt up; all sorts of creatures which God has made, and all the works of men, must submit, all must pass through the fire, which shall be a consuming fire to all that sin has brought into the world, though it may be a refining fire to the works of God's hand, that the glass of the creation being made much brighter the saints may much better discern the glory of the Lord therein.

And now who can but observe what a difference there will be between the first coming of Christ and the second! Yet that is called the great and dreadful day of the Lord, Mal. iv. 5. How much more dreadful must this coming to judgment be! May we be so wise as to prepare for it, that it may not be a day of vengeance and destruction unto us. O! what will become of us, if we set our affections on this earth, and make it our portion, seeing all these things shall be burnt up? Look out therefore, and make sure of a happiness beyond this visible world, which must all be melted down.

Solemn Exhortations. (a. d. 67.)

11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. 15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. 18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

The apostle, having instructed them in the doctrine of Christ's second coming,

I. Takes occasion thence to exhort them to purity and godliness in their whole conversation: all the truths which are revealed in scripture should be improved for our advancement in practical godliness: this is the effect that knowledge must produce, or we are never the better for it. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. Seeing all these things must be dissolved, how holy should we be, that are assured of it, departing from and dying to sin, that has so corrupted and defiled all the visible creation that there is an absolute need of its dissolution! All that was made for man's use is subject to vanity by man's sin: and if the sin of man has brought the visible heavens, and the elements and earth, under a curse, from which they cannot be freed without being dissolved, what an abominable evil is sin, and how much to be hated by us! And, inasmuch as this dissolution is in order to their being restored to their primitive beauty and excellency, how pure and holy should we be, in order to our being fit for the new heaven and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness! It is a very exact and universal holiness that he exhorts to, not resting in any lower measure or degree, but labouring to be eminent beyond what is commonly attained—holy in God's house and in our own, holy in our worshipping of God and in our conversing with men. All our conversation, whether with high or low, rich or poor, good or bad, friends or enemies, must be holy. We must keep ourselves unspotted from the world in all our converses with it. We must be perfecting holiness in the fear of God, and in the love of God too. We must exercise ourselves unto godliness of all sorts, in all its parts, trusting in God and delighting in God only, who continues the same when the whole visible creation shall be dissolved, devoting ourselves to the service of God, and designing the glorifying and enjoyment of God, who endures for ever; whereas what worldly men delight in and follow after must all be dissolved. Those things which we now see must in a little while pass away, and be no more as they now are: let us look therefore at what shall abide and continue, which, though it be not present, is certain and not far off. This looking for the day of God is one of the directions the apostle gives us, in order to our being eminently holy and godly in all manner of conversation. "Look for the day of God as what you firmly believe shall come, and what you earnestly long for." The coming of the day of God is what every Christian must hope for and earnestly expect; for it is a day when Christ shall appear in the glory of the Father, and evidence his divinity and Godhead even to those who counted him a mere man. The first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he appeared in the form of a servant, was what the people of God earnestly waited and looked for: that coming was for the consolation of Israel, Luke ii. 25. How much more should they wait with expectation and earnestness for his second coming, which will be the day of their complete redemption, and of his most glorious manifestation! Then he shall come to be admired in his saints, and glorified in all those that believe. For though it cannot but terrify and affright the ungodly to see the visible heavens all in a flame, and the elements melting, yet the believer, whose faith is the evidence of things not seen, can rejoice in hope of more glorious heavens after these have been melted and refined by that dreadful fire which shall burn up all the dross of this visible creation. Here we must take notice, 1. What true Christians look for: new heavens and a new earth, in which a great deal more of the wisdom, power and goodness of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ will be clearly discerned than we are able to discover in what we now see; for in these new heavens and earth, freed from the vanity the former were subject to, and the sin they were polluted with, only righteousness shall dwell; this is to be the habitation of such righteous persons as do righteousness, and are free from the power and pollution of sin; all the wicked shall be turned into hell; those only who are clothed with a righteousness of Christ, and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, shall be admitted to dwell in this holy place. 2. What is the ground and foundation of this expectation and hope—the promise of God. To look for any thing which God has not promised is presumption; but if our expectations are according to the promise, both as to the things we look for and the time and way of their being brought about, we cannot meet with a disappointment; for he is faithful who has promised. "See therefore that you raise and regulate your expectations of all the great things that are to come according to the word of God; and, as to the new heaven and new earth, look for them as God has allowed and directed by the passages we have in this portion of scripture how before you, and in Isa. lxv. 17; lxvi. 22, to which the apostle may be thought to allude."

II. As in v. 11 he exhorts to holiness from the consideration that the heavens and the earth shall be dissolved, so in v. 14 he resumes his exhortation from the consideration that they shall be again renewed. "Seeing you expect the day of God, when our Lord Jesus Christ will appear in his glorious majesty, and these heavens and earth shall be dissolved and melted down, and, being purified and refined, shall be erected and rebuilt, prepare to meet him. It nearly concerns you to see in what state you will be when the Judge of all the world shall come to pass sentence upon men, and to determine how it shall be with them to all eternity. This is the court of judicature whence there lies no appeal; whatever sentence is here passed by this great Judge is irreversible; therefore get ready to appear before the judgment-seat of Christ: and see to it,"

1. "That you be found of him in peace, in a state of peace and reconciliation with God through Christ, in whom alone God is reconciling the world to himself. All that are out of Christ are in a state of enmity, and reject and oppose the Lord and his anointed, and shall therefore be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power. Those whose sins are pardoned and their peace made with God are the only safe and happy people; therefore follow after peace, and that with all." (1.) Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (2.) Peace in our own consciences, through the Spirit of grace witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God. (3.) Peace with men, by having a calm and peaceable disposition wrought in us, resembling that of our blessed Lord.

2. That you be found of Christ without spot, and blameless. Follow after holiness as well as peace: and even spotless and perfect; we must not only take heed of all spots which are not the spots of God's children (this only prevents our being found of men without spot), we must be pressing towards spotless purity, absolute perfection. Christians must be perfecting holiness, that they may be not only blameless before men, but also in the sight of God; and all this deserves and needs the greatest diligence; he who does this work negligently can never do it successfully. "Never expect to be found at that day of God in peace, if you are lazy and idle in this your day, in which we must finish the work that is given us to do. It is only the diligent Christian who will be the happy Christian in the day of the Lord. Our Lord will suddenly come to us, or shortly call us to him; and would you have him find you idle?" Remember there is a curse denounced against him who does the work of the Lord negligently, Marg. Jer. xlviii. 10. Heaven will be a sufficient recompence for all our diligence and industry; therefore let us labour and take pains in the work of the Lord; he will certainly reward us if we be diligent in the work he has allotted us; now, that you may be diligent, account the long-suffering of our Lord to be salvation. "Does your Lord delay his coming? Do not think this is to give more time to make provision for your lusts, to gratify them; it is so much space to repent and work out your salvation. It proceeds not from a want of concern or compassion for his suffering servants, nor is it designed to give countenance and encouragement to the world of the ungodly, but that men may have time to prepare for eternity. Learn then to make a right use of the patience of our Lord, who does as yet delay his coming. Follow after peace and holiness, or else his coming will be dreadful to you." And inasmuch as it is difficult to prevent men's abuse of God's patience, and engage them in the right improvement thereof, our apostle quotes St. Paul as directing men to make the same good use of the divine forbearance, that in the mouth, or from the pen, of two apostles the truth might be confirmed. And we may here observe with what esteem and affection he speaks of him who had formerly publicly withstood and sharply reproved Peter. If a righteous man smite one who is truly religious, it shall be received as a kindness; and let him reprove, it shall be as an excellent oil, which shall soften and sweeten the good man that is reproved when he does amiss. What an honourable mention does this apostle of the circumcision make of that very man who had openly, before all, reproved him, as not walking uprightly according to the truth of the gospel! (1.) He calls him brother, whereby he means not only that he is a fellow-christian (in which sense the word brethren is used 1 Thess. v. 27), or a fellow-preacher (in which sense Paul calls Timothy the evangelist a brother, Col. i. 1), but a fellow-apostle, one who had the same extraordinary commission, immediately from Christ himself, to preach the gospel in every place, and to disciple all nations. Though many seducing teachers denied Paul's apostleship, yet Peter owns him to be an apostle. (2.) He calls him beloved; and they being both alike commissioned, and both united in the same service of the same Lord, it would have been very unseemly if they had not been united in affection to one another, for the strengthening of one another's hands, mutually desirous of, and rejoicing in, one another's success. (3.) He mentions Paul as one who had an uncommon measure of wisdom given unto him. He was a person of eminent knowledge in the mysteries of the gospel, and did neither in that nor any other qualification come behind any of all the other apostles. How desirable is it that those who preach the same gospel should treat one another according to the pattern Peter here sets them! It is surely their duty to endeavour, by proper methods, to prevent or remove all prejudices that hinder ministers' usefulness, and to beget and improve the esteem and respect in the minds of people towards their ministers that may promote the success of their labours. And let us also here observe, [1.] The excellent wisdom that was in Paul is said to be given him. The understanding and knowledge that qualify men to preach the gospel are the gift of God. We must seek for knowledge, and labour to get understanding, in hopes that it shall be given us from above, while we are diligent in using proper means to attain it. [2.] The apostle imparts to men according as he had received from God. He endeavours to lead others as far as he himself was led into the knowledge of the mysteries of the gospel. He is not an intruder into the things he had not seen or been fully assured of, and yet he does not fail to declare the whole counsel of God, Acts xx. 27. [3.] The epistles which were written by the apostle of the Gentiles, and directed to those Gentiles who believed in Christ, are designed for the instruction and edification of those who from among the Jews were brought to believe in Christ; for it is generally thought that what is here alluded to is contained in the epistle to the Romans (ch. ii. 4), though in all his epistles there are some things that refer to one or other of the subjects treated of in this and the foregoing chapter; and it cannot seem strange that those who were pursuing the same general design should in their epistles insist upon the same things. But the apostle Peter proceeds to tell us that in those things which are to be met with in Paul's epistles there are some things hard to be understood. Among the variety of subjects treated of in scripture, some are not easy to be understood because of their own obscurity, such are prophecies; others cannot be so easily understood because of their excellency and sublimity, as the mysterious doctrines; and others are with difficulty taken in because of the weakness of men's minds, such are the things of the Spirit of God, mentioned 1 Cor. ii. 14. And here the unlearned and unstable make wretched work; for they wrest and torture the scriptures, to make them speak what the Holy Ghost did not intend. Those who are not well instructed and well established in the truth are in great danger of perverting the word of God. Those who have heard and learned of the Father are best secured from misunderstanding and misapplying any part of the word of God; and, where there is a divine power to establish as well as to instruct men in divine truth, persons are effectually secured from falling into errors. How great a blessing this is we learn by observing what is the pernicious consequence of the errors that ignorant and unstable men fall into—even their own destruction. Errors in particular concerning the holiness and justice of God are the utter ruin of multitudes of men. Let us therefore earnestly pray for the Spirit of God to instruct us in the truth, that we may know it as it is in Jesus, and have our hearts established with grace, that we may stand firm and unshaken, even in the most stormy times, when others are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.

III. The apostle gives them a word of caution, v. 17, 18, where,

1. He intimates that the knowledge we have of these things should make us very wary and watchful, inasmuch as there is a twofold danger, v. 17. (1.) We are in great danger of being seduced, and turned away from the truth. The unlearned and unstable, and they are very numerous, do generally wrest the scripture. Many who have the scriptures and read them do not understand what they read; and too many of those who have a right understanding of the sense and meaning of the word are not established in the belief of the truth, and all these are liable to fall into error. Few attain to the knowledge and acknowledgment of doctrinal Christianity; and fewer find, so as to keep in the way of practical godliness, which is the narrow way, which only leadeth unto life. There must be a great deal of self-denial and suspicion of ourselves, and submitting to the authority of Christ Jesus our great prophet, before we can heartily receive all the truths of the gospel, and therefore we are in great danger of rejecting the truth. (2.) We are in great danger by being seduced; for, [1.] So far as we are turned from the truth so far are we turned out of the way to true blessedness, into the path which leads to destruction. If men corrupt the word of God, it tends to their own utter ruin. [2.] When men wrest the word of God, they fall into the error of the wicked, men without law, who keep to no rules, set no bounds to themselves, a sort of free-thinkers, which the psalmist detests. Ps. cxix. 113, I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love. Whatever opinions and thoughts of men are not conformable to the law of God, and warranted by it, the good man disclaims and abhors; they are the conceits and counsels of the ungodly, who have forsaken God's law, and, if we imbibe their opinions, we shall too soon imitate their practices. [3.] Those who are led away by error fall from their own stedfastness. They are wholly unhinged and unsettled, and know not where to rest, but are at the greatest uncertainty, like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. It nearly concerns us therefore to be upon our guard, seeing the danger is so great.

2. That we may the better avoid being led away, the apostle directs us what to do, v. 18. And, (1.) We must grow in grace. He had in the beginning of the epistle exhorted us to add one grace to another, and here he advises us to grow in all grace, in faith, and virtue, and knowledge. By how much the stronger grace is in us, by so much the more stedfast shall we be in the truth. (2.) We must grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. "Follow on to know the Lord. Labour to know him more clearly and more fully, to know more of Christ and to know him to better purpose, so as to be more like him and to love him better." This is the knowledge of Christ the apostle Paul reached after and desired to attain, Phil. iii. 10. Such a knowledge of Christ as conforms us more to him, and endears him more to us, must needs be of great use to us, to preserve us from falling off in times of general apostasy; and those who experience this effect of the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will, upon receiving such grace from him, give thanks and praise to him, and join with our apostle in saying, To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

CHAP. III. Verſe 1. This ſecond Epiſtle]

SO muſt Miniſters with one Sermon peg in another: and never ceaſe beating and repeating the ſame point, ſaith S. Aug de doct. Chriſtian. Auguſtine, till they perceive by the geſture and countenance of the hearers, that they underſtand it, and are affected with it.

I ſtirre up] Gr. I rouſe you, who perhaps are nodding with the wiſe virgins, Mat. 25.5. [non-Latin text not transcribed].

Your pare mindes] Gr. Pure as the Sun. Chryſoſtome ſaith of ſome in his time that they were ipſo coelo puriores, Hom. 55. in Math. more pure then the viſible heavens: and that they were more like angels then mortals.

Verſe 2. Mindfull of the words] See the Note on 1 Cor. 15.2. Run to this armory of the Scriptures for weapons againſt ſeducers and epicures.

Verſe 3. Scoffers] Thoſe worſt kinde of ſinners, Pſal. 1.1. thoſe abjects of the people, Pſal. 35.15. thoſe Pests, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. as the Septuagint render them, Pſal. 1.1. thoſe Atheiſts that jear when they ſhould fear, and put farre away the evil day, that make no more matter of Gods direfull and dreadfull menaces, then Leviathan doth of a ſword, he laugeth at the ſhaking of a ſpear, Job 41.29.

Verſe 4. Where is the promiſe, &c.] The ſleeping of vengeance cauſeth the over-flow of ſin (the ſinner thinks himſelf hail-fellow with God, Pſal 50.21.) and the overflow of the ſinne cauſeth the awakening of vengeance.

Verſe 5. Willingly ignorant of] A carnall heart is not willing to know what it ſhould do, leſt it ſhould do what it would not, Act. 28.27.

That by the word of God] And that by the ſame word again they may as ſoon be diſſolved, yea reduced to their firſt originall, Nothing. A learned man propoundeth this queſtion, How did the Lord imploy himſelf before the world? And his anſwer is this,D. Preſton of Gods attrib. p. 34. A thouſand years to him are but as one day, and one day as a thouſand years. Again, Who knoweth (ſaith he) what the Lord hath done? Indeed he made but one world to out knowledge: but who knoweth what he did before, and what he will do after? Thus he.

And the earth ſtanding, &c.] God hath founded the earth upon the ſeas, and eſtabliſhed it upon the flouds, Pſal. 24.2. This, Ariſtotle reckons among the wonders in nature, and well he may. God hath ſet the ſolid earth upon the liquid waters for our conveniency, Pſal. Lib. de mirabil. 104.6 7.

Verſe 6. Being overflowed with water] Therefore that is not altogether true, that all things continue as they were at firſt, as the ſcoffers affirmed, ver. 4.

Verſe 7. Reſerved unto fire] The old world was deſtroied with water, Propter ardorem libidinis for the beat of their luſt, ſaith Ludolphus: the world that is now ſhall be deſtroied with fire, Propter teporem charitatis, for their want of love.

Verſe 8. One day is with the Lord, &c.] Nullum tempus occurrit regi, How much leſſe to the Ancient of daies? In God there is no motion or flux; therefore a thouſand years to him are but as one day.

Verſe 9. Not willing that any ſhould periſh] See the Note on 1 Tim. 2.4.

Verſe 10. The heavens ſhall paſſe. &c.] The very viſible heavens are defiled with mens ſins, Revel. 18.5. and muſt therefore be purged by fire; as the veſſel that held the ſin-offering, was in the time of the law.

Shall be burnt up] This the very Heathens knew in part, as appears by the writings of Lueratius, Cicere de natura Deorum, and Ovids Metam. lib. 1.

Verſe 11. What manner of men] Even to admiration, Quales & quanti, as the word ſignifies, Mar 13.1. How accurate, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. and how elevate above the ordinary ſtrain!

Verſe 12. Looking for] As Siſera's mother looked out at a window, and expecting the return of her ſonne, ſaid, Why are his charriots ſo long a coming? So ſhould we look up and long for Chriſts coming in the clouds, thoſe charriots that carried him up, and ſhall bring him back again.

The heavens being on fire. &c.] A far greater fire then that at Conſtantinople, Blnnts voiage. where 7000 houſes are ſaid to have been on fire at once, an. Dom. 1633.

And the elements ſhall melt,] And fall like ſcalding lead, or burning bell-metall on the heads of the wicked, who ſhall give a terrible account with the world all on fire about their ears. Whether this ſhall fall out in the year 1657. (as ſome conjecture, becauſe in the year of the world, 1657.Alſted. Chr[illegible: 2 letters]oi. the old world drowned, and becauſe the numerall letters in MƲnDI ConfLagratiIo, Make up the ſame number) I have nothing to affirm. Sure it is, the Saints ſhall take no hurt at all by this laſt fire, but a great deal of benefit. Methodius writeth that Pyragnus (a certain plant ſo called) grows green, and flouriſhes in the midſt of the flames of burning Olympus, as much as if it grew by the banks of a pleaſant river. And of this he ſaith, that himſelf was an eye-witneſſe. Praeclarum ſanè noviſſimi diei indicium & documentum.

Verſe 13. According to his promiſe] Which is good ſure-hold. For he paies not his promiſes with fair words, as Sextorius did, but with reall performances.

Verſe 14. That ye may be found of him] Watching, working, well-doing. See the Note on Mat. 24 43, 44.

Verſe 15. That the long-ſuffering, &c.] Rom. 2.4. which ſentence Peter picks out of Pauls epiſtles, as one of the choiſeſt, and urgeth it here.

Even as our beloved brother, &c.] Ingenium eſt profiteri per quos profeceris, ſaith Pliny. S. Peter makes honourable mention of S. Paul: ſo Ezekiel of his contemporary Daniel.

Verſe 16. Wreſt as they doe. &c.] When we ſtrive to give unto to the Scripture, and not to receive from it the ſenſe: when we factiouſly contend to faſten our conceits on God, like the harlot, take our dead and putrified fancies, and lay them in the boſome of the Scriptures, as of a mother, when we compell them to go two miles, which of themſelves would go but one, when we put words into the mouths of theſe oracles by miſ-inferences or miſ▪applications, then are we guilty of this ſin of wreſting the Scriptures.Cadem Scripturarum faci [illegible: 2 letters]s. Tertullian ſpeaketh of ſome that murther the Scriptures to ſerve their own purpoſes.

Verſe 17. Fall] As leaves fall from the trees in Autumn.

Verſe 18. But grow] In firmneſſe, in fineneſſ[illegible: 1 letter] at leaſt, as an apple doth in mellowneſſe: as Oaks grow more ſlowly then willows and bulruſhes, yet more ſolidly, and in the end to a greater bulk and bignes.

This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you. This expression proves that he had written a former epistle, and that it was addressed to the same persons as this. Comp. Intro. & 3.

In both which I stir up your pure minds, etc. That is, the main object of both epistles is the same--to call to your remembrance important truths which you have before heard, but which you are in danger of forgetting, or from which you are in danger of being turned away by prevailing errors. Comp. 2Pet 3:12, seq. The word rendered pure, ειλικρινης occurs only here and in Php 1:10, where it is rendered sincere. The word properly refers to that which may be judged of in sunshine; then it means clear, manifest; and then sincere, pure--as that in which there is no obscurity. The idea here perhaps is, that their minds were open, frank, candid, sincere, rather than that they were pure. The apostle regarded them as disposed to see the truth, and yet as liable to be led astray by the plausible errors of others. Such minds need to have truths often brought fresh to their remembrance, though they are truths with which they had before been familiar.

(*) "remembrance" "reminding"

That ye may be mindful of the words. Of the doctrines; the truths; the prophetic statements. Jude 1:18 says that it had been foretold by the apostles, that in the last days there would be scoffers, Peter refers to the instructions of the apostles and prophets in general, though evidently designing that his remarks should bear particularly on the fact that there would be scoffers.

Which were spoken before by the holy prophets. The predictions of the prophet before the advent of the Saviour, respecting his character and work, Peter had before appealed to them, (2Pet 1:19-21,) as furnishing important evidence in regard to the truth of the Christian religion, and valuable instruction in reference to its nature. See Notes on that passage. Many of the most important doctrines respecting the kingdom of the Messiah are stated as clearly in the Old Testament as in the New, (comp. Isa 53,) and the prophecies therefore deserve to be studied as an important part of Divine revelation. It should be added here, however, that when Peter wrote there was this special reason why he referred to the prophets, that the canon of the New Testament was not then completed, and he could not make his appeal to that. To some parts of the writings of Paul he could and did appeal, (2Pet 3:15,16,) but probably a very small part of what is now the New Testament was known to those to whom this epistle was addressed.

And of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour. As being equally entitled with the prophets tb state and enforce the doctrines and duties of religion. It may be observed, that no man would have used this language who did not regard himself and his fellow-apostles as inspired, and as on a level with the prophets.

(a) "That ye" Jude 1:17,18 (b) "before" 1Timm 4:1, 2Ti 3:1

Knowing this first. As among the first and most important things to be attended to--as one of the predictions which demand your special regard. Jude Jude 1:18 says that the fact that there would be "mockers in the last time," had been particularly foretold by them. It is probably that Peter refers to the same thin, and we may suppose that this was so well understood by all the apostles that they made it a common subject of preaching.

That there shall come in the last days. In the last dispensation; in the period during which the affairs of the world shall be wound up. The apostle does not say that that was the last time in the sense that the world was about to come to and end; nor is it implied that the period called "the last day" might not be a very long period, longer in fact than either of the previous periods of the world. He says that during that period it had been predicted there would arise those whom he calls scoffers. On the meaning of the phrase "in the last days," as used in the Scriptures, Acts 2:17, Heb 1:2, Isa 2:2.

Scoffers. In Jude 1:18 the same Greek word is rendered mockers. The word means those who deride, reproach, ridicule. There is usually in the word the idea of contempt or malignity towards an object. Here the sense seems to be that they would treat with derision or contempt the predictions respecting the advent of the Saviour, and the end of the world. It would appear probable that there was a particular or definite class of men referred to; a class who would hold peculiar opinions, and who would urge plausible objections against the fulfilment of the predictions respecting the end of the world, and the second coming of the Saviour-- for those are the points to which Peter particularly refers. It scarcely required inspiration to foresee that there would be scoffers in the general sense of the term--for they have so abounded in every age, that no would hazard much in saying that they would be found at any particular time; but the eye of the apostle is evidently on a particular class of men, the special form of whose reproaches would be the ridicule of the doctrines that the Lord Jesus would return; that there would be a day of judgment; that the world would be consumed by fire, etc. Archbishop Tillotson explains this of the Carpocratins, a large sect of the Gentiles, who denied the resurrection of the dead, and the future judgment.

Walking after their own lusts. Living in the free indulgence of their sensual appetites. 2Pet 2:10, 2Pet 2:12; 2Pet 2:14; 2Pet 2:18; 2Pet 2:19.

(c) "scoffers" Isa 5:19

And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? That is, either Where is the fulfilment of that promise; or, Where are the indications or signs that he will come? They evidently meant to imply that the promise had utterly failed; that there was not the slightest evidence that it would be accomplished; that they who had believed this were entirely deluded. It is possible that some of the early Christians, even in the time of the apostles, had undertaken to fix the time when these events would occur, as many have done since; and that as that time had passed by, they inferred that the prediction had utterly failed. But whether this were so or not, it was easy to allege that the predictions respecting the second coming of the Saviour seemed to imply that the end of the world was near, and that there were no indications that they would be fulfilled. The laws of nature were uniform, as they had always been, and the alleged promises had failed.

For since the fathers fell asleep. Since they died---death being often, in the Scriptures, as elsewhere, represented as sleep. Notes, John xi. 11; I Cor. xi. 30. This reference to the "fathers," by such scoffers, was probably designed to be ironical and contemptuous. Perhaps the meaning may be thus expressed: "These old men, the prophets, indeed foretold this event. They were much concerned and troubled about it; and their predictions alarmed others, and filled their bosoms with dread. They looked out for the signs of the end of the world, and expected that that day was drawing near. But those good men have died. They lived to old age, and then died as others; and since they have departed, the affairs of the world have gone on very much as they did before. The earth is suffered to have rest, and the laws of nature operate in the same way that they always did." It seems not improbable that the immediate reference in the word fathers is not to the prophets of former times, but to aged and pious men of the times of the apostles, who had dwelt much on this subject, and who had made it a subject of conversation and of preaching. Those old men, said the scoffing objector, have died like others; and, notwithstanding their confident predictions, things now move on as they did from the beginning.

All things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. That is, the laws of nature are fixed and settled. The argument here--for it was doubtless designed to be an argument--is based on the stability of the laws of nature, and the uniformity of the course of events. Thus far all these predictions had failed. Things continued to go on as they had always done. The sun rose and set; the tides ebbed and flowed; the seasons followed each other in the usual order; one generation succeeded another, as had always been the case; and there was every indication that those laws would continue to operate as they had always done. This argument for the stability of the earth, and against the prospect of the fulfilment of the predictions of the Bible, would have more force with many minds now than it had then, for eighteen hundred years more have rolled away, and the laws of nature remain the same. Meantime, the expectations of those who have believed that the world was coming to an end have been disappointed; the time set for this by many interpreters of Scripture has passed by; men have looked out in vain for the coming of the Saviour, and sublunary affairs move on as they always have done. Still there are no indications of the coming of the Saviour; and perhaps it would be said that the farther men search, by the aid of science, into the laws of nature, the more they become impressed with their stability, and the more firmly they are convinced of the improbability that the world will be destroyed in the manner in which it is predicted in the Scriptures that it will be. The specious and plausible objection arising from this source, the apostle proposes to meet in the following verses.

(d) "Where is the promise" Jer 17:15, Eze 12:22-27, Mt 24:48

For this they willingly are ignorant of. λανθανειγαραυτουςτουτοθελοντας. There is some considerable variety in the translation of this passage. In our common version the Greek word (θελοντας) is rendered as if it were an adverb, or as if it referred to their ignorance in regard to the event; meaning, that while they might have known this fact, they took no pains to do it, or that they preferred to have its recollection far from their minds. So Beza and Luther render it. Others, however, take it as referring to what follows, meaning, "being so minded; being of that opinion; or affirming." So Bloomfield, Robinson, (Lex.,) Mede, Rosenmuller, etc. According to this interpretation the sense is, "They who thus will or think; that is, they who hold the opinion that all things will continue to remain as they were, are ignorant of this fact that things have not always thus remained; that there has been a destruction of the world once by water." The Greek seems rather to demand this interpretation; and then the sense of the passage will be, "It is concealed or hidden from those who hold this opinion, that the earth has been once destroyed." It is implied, whichever interpretation is adopted, that the will was concerned in it; that they were influenced by that rather than by sober judgment and by reason; and whether the word refers to their ignorance, or to their holding that opinion, there was obstinacy and perverseness about it. The will has usually more to do in the denial and rejection of the doctrines of the Bible than the understanding has. The argument which the apostle appeals to in reply to this objection is a simple one. The adversaries of the doctrine affirmed that the laws of nature had always remained the same, and they affirmed that they always would. The apostle denies the fact which they assumed, in the sense in which they affirmed it, and maintains that those laws have not been so stable and uniform that the world has never been destroyed by an overwhelming visitation from God. It has been destroyed by a flood; it may be again by fire. There was the same improbability that the event would occur, so far as the argument from the stability of the laws of nature is concerned, in the one case that there is in the other, and consequently the objection is of no force.

That by the word of God. By the command of God. "He spake, and it was done." Comp. Gen 1:6,9, Ps 33:9. The idea here is, that everything depends on his word or will. As the heavens and the earth were originally made by his command, so by the same command they call be destroyed.

The heavens were of old. The heavens were formerly made, Gen 1:1. The word heaven in the Scriptures sometimes refers to the atmosphere, sometimes to the starry worlds as they appear above us, and sometimes to the exalted place where God dwells. Here it is used, doubtless, in the popular signification, as denoting the heavens as they appear, embracing the sun, moon, and stars.

And the earth standing out of the water and in the water. Marg., consisting. Gr., συνεστωσα. The Greek word, when used in an intransitive sense, means to stand with, or together; then tropically, to place together, to constitute, place, bring into existence. --Robinson. The idea which our translators seem to have had is, that, in the formation of the earth, a part was out of the water, and a part under the water; and that the former, or the inhabited portion, became entirely submerged, and that thus the inhabitants perished. This was not, however, probably the idea of Peter. He doubtless has reference to the account given in Gen 1 of the creation of the earth, in which water performed so important a part. The thought in his mind seems to have been, that water entered materially into the formation of the earth, and that in its very origin there existed the means by which it was afterwards destroyed. The word which is rendered "standing" should rather be rendered consisting of, or constituted of; and the meaning is, that the creation of the earth was the result of the Divine agency acting on the mass of elements which in Genesis is called waters, Gen 1:2,6,7,9. There was at first a vast fluid, an immense unformed collection of materials, called waters, and from that the earth arose. The point of time, therefore, in which Peter looks at the earth here, is not when the mountains, and continents, and islands, seem to be standing partly out of the water and partly in the water, but when there was a vast mass of materials called waters from which the earth was formed. The phrase "out of the water" (εξυδατος) refers to the origin of the earth. It was formed from, or out of, that mass. The phrase "in the water" (διυδατος) more properly means through or by. It does not mean that the earth stood in the water in the sense that it was partly submerged; but it means not only that the earth arose from that mass that is called water in Gen 1, but that that mass called water was in fact the grand material out of which the earth was formed. It was through or by means of that vast mass of mingled elements that the earth was made as it was. Everything arose out of that chaotic mass; through that, or by means of that, all things were formed, and from the fact that the earth was thus formed out of the water, or that water entered so essentially into its formation, there existed causes which ultimately resulted in the deluge.

(a) "by the word" Gen 1:6,9 (1) "earth standing" "consisting" (b) "water" Ps 24:2

Whereby. διων. Through which, or by means of which. The pronoun here is in the plural number, and there has been much difference of opinion as to what it refers. Some suppose that it refers to the heavens mentioned in the preceding verse, and to the fact that the windows of heaven were opened in the deluge, (Doddridge;) others that the Greek phrase is taken in the sense of (διο) whence. Wetstein supposes that it refers to the "heavens and the earth." But the most obvious reference, though the plural number is used, and the word water in the antecedent is in the singular, is to water. The fact seems to be that the apostle had the waters mentioned in Genesis prominently in his eye, and meant to describe the effect produced by those waters. He has also twice, in the same sentence, referred to water" out of the water and in the water." It is evidently to these waters mentioned in Genesis, out of which the world was originally made, that he refers here. The world was formed from that fluid mass; by these waters which existed when the earth was made, and out of which it arose, it was destroyed. The antecedent to the word in the plural number is rather that which was in the mind of the writer, or that of which he was thinking, than the word which he had used.

The world that then was, etc. Including all its inhabitants. Rosenmuller supposes that the reference here is to some universal catastrophe which occurred before the deluge in the time of Noah, and indeed before the earth was fitted up in its present form, as described by Moses in Gen 1. It is rendered more than probable, by the researches of geologists in modern times, that such changes have occurred; but there is no evidence that Peter was acquainted with them, and his purpose did not require that he should refer to them. All that his argument demanded was the fact that the world had been once destroyed, and that therefore there was no improbability in believing that it would be again. They who maintained that the prediction that the earth would be destroyed was improbable, affirmed that there were no signs of such an event; that the laws of nature were stable and uniform; and that as those laws had been so long and so uniformly unbroken, it was absurd to believe that such an event could occur. To meet this, all that was necessary was to show that, in a case where the same objections substantially might be urged, it had actually occurred, that the world had been destroyed. There was, in itself considered, as much improbability in believing that the world could be destroyed by water as that it would be destroyed by fire, and consequently the objection had no real force. Notwithstanding the apparent stability of the laws of nature, the world had been once destroyed; and there is, therefore, no improbability that it may be again. On the objections which might have been plausibly urged against the flood, Heb 11:7.

(c) "water" Gen 7:11

But the heavens and the earth which are now. As they now exist. There is no difficulty here respecting what is meant by the word earth, but it is not so easy to determine precisely how much is included in the word heavens. It cannot be supposed to mean heaven as the place where God dwells; nor is it necessary to suppose that Peter understood by the word all that would now be implied in it, as used by a modern astronomer. The word is doubtless employed in a popular signification, referring to the heavens as they appear to the eye; and the idea is, that the conflagration would not only destroy the earth, but would change the heavens as they now appear to us. If, in fact, the earth with its atmosphere should be subjected to an universal conflagration, all that is properly implied in what is here said by Peter would occur.

By the same word. Dependent solely on the will of God. He has only to give command, and all will be destroyed. The laws of nature have no stability independent of his will, and at his pleasure all things could be reduced to nothing, as easily as they were made. A single word, a breath of command, from one Being, a Being over whom we have no control, would spread universal desolation through the heavens and the earth. Notwithstanding the laws of nature, as they are called, and the precision, uniformity, and power with which they operate, the dependence of the universe on the Creator is as entire as though there were no such laws, and as though all were conducted by the mere will of the Most High, irrespective of such laws. In fact, those laws have no efficiency of their own, but are a mere statement of the way in which God produces the changes which occur, the methods by which He operates who "works all in all." At any moment he could suspend them; that is, he could cease to act, or withdraw his efficiency, and the universe would cease to be.

Are kept in store. Gr., "Are treasured up." The allusion in the Greek word is to anything that is treasured up, or reserved for future use. The apostle does not say that this is the only purpose for which the heavens and the earth are preserved, but that this is one object, or this is one aspect in which the subject may be viewed. They are like treasure reserved for future use.

Reserved unto fire. Reserved or kept to be burned up, 2Pet 3:10. The first mode of destroying the world was by water, the next will be by fire. That the world would at some period be destroyed by fire was a common opinion among the ancient philosophers, especially the Greek Stoics. What was the foundation of that opinion, or whence it was derived, it is impossible now to determine; but it is remarkable that it should have accorded so entirely with the statements of the New Testament. The authorities in proof that this opinion was entertained may be seen in Wetstein, in loc. See Seneca, N. Q. iii. 28; Cic. N. D. ii. 46; Simplicius in Arist. de Ccelo i. 9; Eusebius, P. xv. 18. It is quite remarkable that there have been among the heathen in ancient and modern times so many opinions that accord with the statements of revelation--opinions, many of them, which could not have been founded on any investigations of science among them, and which must, therefore, have been either the result of conjecture, or handed down by tradition. Whatever may have been their origin, the fact that such opinions prevailed and were believed, may be allowed to have some weight in showing that the statements in the Bible are not improbable.

Against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. The world was destroyed by a flood on account of the wickedness of its inhabitants. It would seem from this passage that it will be destroyed by fire with reference to the same cause; at least, that its destruction by fire will involve the perdition of wicked men. It cannot be inferred from this passage that the world will be all wicked at the general conflagration as it was in the time of Noah; but the idea in the mind of Peter seems to have been, that in the destruction of the world by fire the perdition of the wicked will be involved, or will at that time occur. It also seems to be implied that the fire will accomplish an important agency in that destruction, as the water did on the old world. It is not said, in the passage before us, whether those to be destroyed will be living at that time, or will be raised up from the dead, nor have we any means of determining what was the idea of Peter on that point. All that the passage essentially teaches is, that the world is reserved now with reference to such a consummation by fire; that is, that there are elements kept in store that may be enkindled into an universal conflagration, and that such a conflagration will be attended with the destruction of the wicked.

(a) "unto fire" Ps 1:3, Zeph 3:8, 2Thes 1:8 (*) "perdition" "destruction"

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years. This (2Pet 3:8,9) is the second consideration by which the apostle meets the objection of scoffers against the doctrine of the second coming of the Saviour. The objection was, that much time, and perhaps the time which had been supposed to be set for his coming, had passed away, and still all things remained as they were. The reply of the apostle is, that no argument could be drawn from this, for that which may seem to be a long time to us is a brief period with God. In the infinity of his own duration there is abundant time to accomplish his designs, and it can make no difference with him whether they are accomplished in one day or extended to a thousand years. Man has but a short time to live, and if he does not accomplish his purposes in a very brief period, he never will. But it is not so with God. He always lives; and we cannot therefore infer, because the execution of his purposes seems to be delayed, that they are abandoned. With Him who always lives it will be as easy to accomplish them at a far distant period as now. If it is his pleasure to accomplish them in a single day, he can do it; if he chooses that the execution shall be deferred to a thousand years, or that a thousand years shall be consumed in executing them, he has power to carry them onward through what seems to us to be so vast a duration. The wicked, therefore, cannot infer that they will escape because their punishment is delayed; nor should the righteous fear that the Divine promises will fail because ages pass away before they are accomplished. The expression here used, that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years," etc., is common in the Rabbinical writings. See Wetstein in loc. A similar thought occurs in Ps 90:4: "For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night."

(b) "a thousand years" Ps 90:4

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. That is, it should not be inferred because his promise seems to be long delayed that therefore it will fail. When men, after a considerable lapse of time, fail to fulfil their engagements, we infer that it is because they have changed their plans, or because they have forgotten their promises, or because they have no ability to perform them, or because there is a want of principle which makes them regardless of their obligations. But no such inference can be drawn from the apparent delay of the fulfilment of the Divine purposes. Whatever may be the reasons why they seem to be deferred, we may be sure that it is from no such causes as these.

As some men count slackness. It is probable that the apostle here had his eye on some professing Christians who had become disheartened and impatient, and who, from the delay in regard to the coming of the Lord Jesus, and from the representations of those who denied the truth of the Christian religion, arguing from that delay that it was false, began to fear that his promised coming would indeed never occur. To such he says that it should not be inferred from his delay that he would not return, but that the delay should be regarded as an evidence of his desire that men should have space for repentance, and an opportunity to secure their salvation. 2Pet 3:15.

But is longsuffering to us-ward. Toward us. The delay should be regarded as a proof of his forbearance, and of his desire that men should be saved. Every sinner should consider the fact that he is not cut down in his sins, not as a proof that God will not punish the wicked, but as a demonstration that he is now forbearing, and is willing that he should have an ample opportunity to obtain eternal life. No man should infer that God will not execute his threatenings, unless he can look into the most distant parts of a coming eternity, and demonstrate that there is no suffering appointed for the sinner there; any man who sins, and who is spared even for a moment, should regard the respite as a proof that God is merciful and forbearing now.

Not willing that any should perish. That is, he does not desire it or wish it. His nature is benevolent, and he sincerely desires the eternal happiness of all, and his patience towards sinners proves that he is willing that they should be saved. If he were not willing, it would be easy for him to cut them off, and exclude them from hope at once. This passage, however, should not be adduced to prove

(1.) that sinners never will in fact perish; for

(a.) the passage does not refer to what God will do as the final Judge of mankind, but to what are his feelings and desires now towards men.

(b.) One may have a sincere desire that others should not perish, and yet it may be that, in entire consistency with that, they will perish. A parent has a sincere wish that his children should not be punished, and yet he himself may be under a moral necessity to punish them. A lawgiver may have a sincere wish that no one should ever break the laws, or be punished, and yet he himself may build a prison, and construct a gallows, and cause the law to be executed in a most rigorous manner. A judge on the bench may have a sincere desire that no man should be executed, and that every one arraigned before him should be found to be innocent, and yet even he, in entire accordance with that wish, and with a most benevolent heart, even with tears in his eyes, may pronounce the sentence of the law.

(c.) It cannot be inferred that all that the heart of infinite benevolence would desire will be accomplished by his mere will. It is evidently as much in accordance with the benevolence of God that no man should be miserable in this world, as it is that no one should suffer in the next, since the difficulty is not in the question where one shall suffer, but in the fact itself that any should suffer; and it is just as much in accordance with his nature that all should he happy here, as that they should be happy hereafter. And yet no man can maintain that the fact that God is benevolent proves that no one will suffer here. As little will that fact prove that none will suffer in the world to come.

(2.) The passage should not be adduced to prove that God has no purpose, and has formed no plan, in regard to the destruction of the wicked; for

(a.) the word here used has reference rather to his disposition, or to his nature, than to any act or plan.

(b.) There is a sense, as is admitted by all, in which he does will the destruction of the wicked--to wit, if they do not repent--that is, if they deserve it.

(c.) Such an act is as inconsistent with his general benevolence as an eternal purpose in the matter, since his eternal purpose can only have been to do what he actually does; and if it be consistent with a sincere desire that sinners should be saved to do this, then it is consistent to determine beforehand to do it--for to determine before hand to do what is in fact right, cannot but be a lovely trait in the character of any one.

(3.) The passage then proves

(a.) that God has a sincere desire that men should be saved;

(b.) that any purpose in regard to the destruction of sinners is not founded on mere will, or is not arbitrary;

(c.) that it would be agreeable to the nature of God, and to his arrangements in the plan of salvation, if all men should come to repentance, and accept the offers of mercy;

(d.) that if any come to him truly penitent, and desirous to be saved, they will not be cast off;

(e.) that, since it is in accordance with him nature that he should desire that all men may be saved, it may be presumed that he has made an arrangement by which it is possible that they should be; and

(f.) that, since this is his desire, it is proper for the ministers of religion to offer salvation to every human being. Comp. Eze 33:11.

(+) "slack" "slow" (c) "slack" Heb 2:3 (++) "slackness" "slowness" (a) "long suffering" Ps 86:15, Isa 30:18 (b) "not willing" Eze 33:11 (c) "should come" 1Timm 2:4

But the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord Jesus. That is, the day in which he will be manifested. It is called his day, because he will then be the grand and prominent object as the Judge of all. Comp. Lk 17:27.

Will come as a thief in the night. Unexpectedly; suddenly. 1Thes 5:2.

In the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise. That is, what seems to us to be the heavens. It cannot mean that the holy abode where God dwells will pass away; nor need we suppose that this declaration extends to the starry worlds and systems as disclosed by the modern astronomy. The word is doubtless used in a popular sense--that is, as things appear to us; and the fair interpretation of the passage would demand only such a change as would occur by the destruction of this world by fire. If a conflagration should take place, embracing the earth and its surrounding atmosphere, all the phenomena would occur which are here described; and, if this would be so, then this is all that can be proved to be meant by the passage. Such a destruction of the elements could not occur without "a great noise."

And the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Gr., "the elements being burned, or burning, (καυσουμενα,) shall be dissolved." The idea is, that the cause of their being "dissolved" shall be fire; or that there will be a conflagration extending to what are here called the "elements," that shall produce the effects here described by the word "dissolved." There has been much difference of opinion in regard to the meaning of the word here rendered elements, (στοιχεια.) The word occurs in the New Testament only in the following places: Gal 4:3,9, 2Pet 3:10,12, in which it is rendered elements; Col 2:8,20, in which it is rendered rudiments; and in Heb 5:12, where it is tendered principles. For the general meaning of the word, Gall 4:3. The word denotes the rudiments of anything; the minute parts or portions of which anything is composed, or which constitutes the simple portions out of which anything grows, or of which it is compounded. Here it would properly denote the component parts of the material world; or those which enter into its composition, and of which it is made up. It is not to be supposed that the apostle used the term with the same exact signification with which a chemist would use it now, but in accordance with the popular use of the term in his day. In all ages, and in all languages, some such word, with more or less of scientific accuracy, has been employed to denote the primary materials out of which others were formed, just as, in most languages, there have been characters or letters to denote the elementary sounds of which language is composed. The ancients in general supposed that the elements out of which all things were formed were four--air, earth, fire, and water. Modern science has entirely overturned this theory, and has shown that these, so far from being simple elements, are themselves compounds; but the tendency of modern science is still to show that the elements of all things are in fact few in number. The word, as here used by Peter, would refer to the elements of things as then understood in a popular sense; it would now not be an improper word to be applied to the few elements of which all things are composed, as disclosed by modern chemistry. In either case the use of the word would be correct. Whether applied to the one or the other, science has shown that all are capable of combustion. Water, in its component parts, is inflammable in a high degree; and even the diamond has been shown to be combustible. The idea contained in the word "dissolved," is, properly, only the change which heat produces. Heat changes the forms of things; dissolves them into their elements; dissipates those which were solid by driving them off into gases, and produces new compounds, but it annihilates nothing. It could not be demonstrated from this phrase that the world would be annihilated by fire; it could be proved only that it will undergo important changes. So far as the action of fire is concerned, the form of the earth may pass away, and its aspect be changed; but unless the direct power which created it interposes to annihilate it, the matter which now composes it will still be in existence.

The earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up.

That is, whether they are the works of God or man--the whole vegetable and animal creation, and all the towers, the towns, the palaces, the productions of genius, the paintings, the statuary, the books, which man has made. "The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, And all that it inherits, shall disrobe, And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, Leave not one wreck behind." The word rendered "burned up," like the word just before used and rendered fervent heat--a word of the same origin, but here intensive --means that they will undergo such a change as fire will produce; not, necessarily, that the matter composing them will be annihilated. If the matter composing the earth is ever to be destroyed entirely, it must be by the immediate power of God, for only He who created can destroy. There is not the least evidence that a particle of matter originally made has been annihilated since the world began; and there are no fires so intense, no chemical powers so mighty, as to cause a particle of matter to cease wholly to be. So far as the power of man is concerned, and so far as one portion of matter can prey on another, matter is as imperishable as mind, and neither can be destroyed unless God destroys it. Whether it is his purpose to annihilate any portion of the matter which he has made, does not appear from his word; but it is clear that he intends that the universe shall undergo important changes. As to the possibility or probability of such a destruction by fire as is here predicted, no one can have any doubt who is acquainted with the disclosures of modern science in regard to the internal structure of the earth. Even the ancient philosophers, from some cause, supposed that the earth would yet be destroyed by fire, (2Pet 3:7;) and modern science has made it probable that the interior of the earth is a melted and intensely heated mass of burning materials; that the habitable world is but a comparatively thin crust or shell over those internal fires; that earthquakes are caused by the vapours engendered by that heated mass whet, water comes in contact with it; and that volcanoes are but openings and vent-holes through which those internal flames make their way to the surface. Whether these fires will everywhere make their way to the surface, and produce an universal conflagration, perhaps could not be determined by science; but no one can doubt that the simple command of God would be all that is necessary to pour those burning floods over the earth, as he once caused the waters to roll over every mountain and through every valley. As to the question whether it is probable that such a change produced by fire, and bringing the present order of things to a close, will occur, it may be remarked farther, that there is reason to believe that such changes are in fact taking place in other worlds. "During the last two or three centuries, upwards of thirteen fixed stars have disappeared. One of them, situated in the northern hemisphere, presented a peculiar brilliancy, and was so bright as to be seen by the naked eye at mid-day. It seemed to be on fire, appearing at first of a dazzling white, then of a reddish yellow, and lastly of an ashy pale colour. La Place supposes that it was burned up, as it has never been seen since. The conflagration was visible about sixteen months." The well-known astronomer, Von Littrow, in the section of his work on "New and Missing Stars," (entitled Die Wunder der Himmels oder Gemeinfassliche Darstellung der Weltsystems, Stuttgard, 1843, & 227,) observes: "Great as may be the revolutions which take place on the surface of those fixed stars, which are subject to this alternation of light, what entirely different changes may those others have experienced, which in regions of the firmament where no star had ever been before, appeared to blaze up in clear flames, and then to disappear, perhaps for ever." He then gives a brief history of those stars which have excited the particular attention of astronomers. "In the year 1572, on the 11th of November," says he, "Tycho, on passing from his chemical laboratory to the observatory, through the court of his house, observed in the constellation Cassiopeia, at a place where before he had only seen very small stars, a new star of uncommon magnitude. It was so bright that it surpassed even Jupiter and Venus in splendour, and was visible even in the day-time. During the whole time in which it was visible, Tycho could observe no parallax or change of position. At the end of the year, however, it gradually diminished; and at length, in March 1574, sixteen months after its discovery, entirely disappeared, since which all traces of it have been lost. When it first appeared, its light was of a dazzling white colour; in January 1573, two months after its reviving, it became yellowish; in a few months it assumed a reddish hue, like Mars or Aldebaran; and in the beginning of the year 1574, two or three months before its total disappearance, it glimmered only with a gray or lead-coloured light, similar to that of Saturn." See Bibliotheca Sacra, III, p. 181. If such things occur in other worlds, there is nothing improbable or absurd in the supposition that they may yet occur on the earth.

(d) "thief in the night" Mt 24:42,43, Rev 16:15 (e) "shall pass away" Ps 102:26, Isa 51:6, Rev 20:11 (+) "fervent heat" "Great"

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. Since this is an undoubted truth.

What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness. In holy conduct and piety. That is, this fact ought to be allowed to exert a deep and abiding influence on us, to induce us to lead holy lives. We should feel that there is nothing permanent on the earth; that this is not our abiding home; and that our great interests are in another world. We should be serious, humble, and prayerful; and should make it our great object to be prepared for the solemn scenes through which we are soon to pass. An habitual contemplation of the truth, that all that we see is soon to pass away, would produce a most salutary effect on the mind. It would make us serious. It would repress ambition. It would lead us not to desire to accumulate what must so soon be destroyed. It would prompt us to lay up our treasures in heaven. It would cause us to ask with deep earnestness whether we are prepared for these amazing scenes, should they suddenly burst upon us.

(*) "conversation" "behaviour"

Looking for. Not knowing when this may occur, the mind should be in that state which constitutes expectation; that is, a belief that it will occur, and a condition of mind in which we would not be taken by surprise should it happen at any moment. Tit 2:13.

And hasting unto the coming. Marg., as in Greek, "hasting the coming." The Greek word rendered hasting, (σπευδω,) means to urge on, to hasten; and then to hasten after anything, to await with eager desire. This is evidently the sense here.--Wetstein and Robinson. The state of mind which is indicated by the word is that when we are anxiously desirous that anything should occur, and when we would hasten or accelerate it if we could. The true Christian does not dread the coming of that day. He looks forward to it as the period of his redemption, and would welcome, at any time, the return of his Lord and Saviour. While he is willing to wait as long as it shall please God for the advent of his Redeemer, yet to him the brightest prospect in the future is that hour when he shall come to take him to himself.

The coming of the day of God. Called "the day of God," because God will then be manifested in his power and glory.

(a) "Looking for" Tit 2:13 (1) "hasting" "hasting the coming" (b) "melt" Isa 35:4, Mic 1:4 (+) "fervent" "great"

Nevertheless we, according to his promise. The allusion here seems to be, beyond a doubt, to two passages in Isaiah, in which a promise of this kind is found. Isa 65:17: "For, behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." Isa 66:22: "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord," etc. Comp. Rev 21:1, where John says he had a vision of the new heaven and the new earth which was promised: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea." Isa 65:17.

Look for new heavens and a new earth. It may not be easy to answer many of the questions which might be asked respecting the "new heavens and earth" here mentioned. One of those which are most naturally asked is is, whether the apostle meant to say that this earth, after being purified by fire, would be fitted up again for the abode of the redeemed; but this question it is impossible to answer with certainty. The following remarks may perhaps embrace all that is known, or that can be shown to be probable, on the meaning of the passage before us.

I. The "new heavens and the new earth" referred to will be such as will exist after the world shall have been destroyed by fire; that is, after the general judgment. There is not a word expressed, and not a hint given, of any "new heaven and earth" previous to this, in which the Saviour will reign personally over his saints, in such a renovated world, through a long millennial period. The order of events stated by Peter, is

(a.) that the heavens and earth which are now, are "kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men," 2Pet 3:7;

(b.) that the day of the Lord will come suddenly and unexpectedly, 2Pet 3:10; that then the heavens and earth will pass away with a great noise, the elements will melt, and the earth with all its works be burned up, 2Pet 3:10; and

(c.) that after this (2Pet 3:13) we are to expect the "new heavens and new earth." Nothing is said of a personal reign of Christ; nothing of the resurrection of the saints to dwell with him on the earth; nothing of the world's being fitted up for their abode previous to the final judgment. If Peter had any knowledge of such events, and believed that they would occur, it is remarkable that he did not even allude to them here. The passage before us is one of the very few places in the New Testament where allusion is made to the manner in which the affairs of the world will be closed; and it cannot be explained why, if he looked for such a glorious personal reign of the Saviour, the subject should have been passed over in total silence.

II. The word "new," applied to the heavens and the earth that are to succeed the present, might express one of the following three things--that is, either of these things would correspond with all that is fairly implied in that word:

(a.) If a new world was literally created out of nothing after this world is destroyed; for that would be in the strictest sense new. That such an event is possible no one can doubt, though it is not revealed.

(b.) If an inhabitant of the earth should dwell after death on any other of the worlds now existing, it would be to him a "new" abode, and everything would appear new. Let him, for instance, be removed to the planet Saturn, with its wonderful ring, and its seven moons, and the whole aspect of the heavens, and of the world on which he would then dwell, would be new to him. The same thing would occur if he were to dwell on any other of the heavenly bodies, or if he were to pass from world to world. See this illustrated at length in the works of Thomas Dick, LLd.--- "Celestial Scenery," etc. Comp. 1Pet 1:12

(c.) If the earth should be renovated, and fitted up for the abode of man after the universal conflagration, it would then be a new abode,

III. This world, thus renovated, may be from time to time the temporary abode of the redeemed, after the final judgment. No one can prove that this may not be, though there is no evidence that it will be their permanent and eternal abode, or that even all the redeemed will at any one time find a home on this globe, for no one can suppose that the earth is spacious enough to furnish a dwelling-place for all the unnumbered millions that are to be saved. But that the earth may again be revisited from time to time by the redeemed; that in a purified and renovated form it may be one of the "many mansions" which are to be fitted up for them, (Jn 14:2,) may not appear wholly improbable from the following suggestions:

(1.) It seems to have been a law of the earth that in its progress it should be prepared at one period for the dwelling-place of a higher order of beings at another period. Thus, according to the disclosures of geology, it existed perhaps for countless ages before it was fitted to be an abode for man; and that it was occupied by the monsters of an inferior order of existence, who have now passed away to make room for a nobler race. Who can tell but the present order of things may pass away to make place for the manifestations of a more exalted mode of being?

(2.) There is no certain evidence that any world has been annihilated, though some have disappeared from human view. Indeed, as observed above, (2Pet 3:10,) there is no proof that a single particle of matter ever has been annihilated, or ever will be. It may change its form, but it may still exist.

(3.) It seems also to accord most with probability, that, though the earth may undergo important changes by flood or fire, it will not be annihilated. It seems difficult to suppose that, as a world, it will be wholly displaced from the system of which it is now a part, or that the system itself will disappear. The earth, as one of the worlds of God, has occupied too important a position in the history of the universe to make it to be easily believed that the place where the Son of God became incarnate and died, shall be utterly swept away. It would, certainly, accord more with all the feelings which we can have on such a subject, to suppose that a world once so beautiful when it came from the hand of its Maker, should be restored to primitive loveliness; that a world which seems to have been made primarily (1Pet 1:12) with a view to illustrate the glory of God in redemption, should be preserved in some appropriate form to be the theatre of the exhibition of the development of that plan in far distant ages to come.

(4.) To the redeemed, it would be most interesting again to visit the spot where the great work of their redemption was accomplished; where the Son of God became incarnate and made atonement for sin; and where there would be so many interesting recollections and associations, even after the purification by fire, connected with the infancy of their existence, and their preparation for eternity. Piety would at least wish that the world where Gethsemane and Calvary are should never be blotted out from the universe. But

(5.) if, after their resurrection and reception into heaven, the redeemed shall ever revisit a world so full of interesting recollections and associations, where they began their being, where their Redeemer lived and died, where they were renewed and sanctified, and where their bodies once rested in the grave, there is no reason to suppose that this will be their permanent and unchanging abode. It may be mere speculation, but it seems to accord best with the goodness of God, and with the manner in which the universe is made, to suppose that every portion of it may be visited, and become successively the abode of the redeemed; that they may pass from world to world, and survey the wonders and the works of God as they are displayed in different worlds. The universe, so vast, seems to have been fitted up for such a purpose, and nothing else that we can conceive of will be so adapted to give employment without weariness to the minds that God has made, in the interminable duration before them.

IV. The new heavens and earth will be holy. They will be the abode of righteousness for ever.

(a.) This fact is clearly revealed in the verse before us: "wherein dwelleth righteousness." It is also the correct statement of the Scriptures, Rev 21:27, 1Cor 6:9,10, Heb 12:14.

(b.) This will be in strong contrast with what has occurred on earth. The history of this world has been almost entirely a history of sin--of its nature, developments, results. There have been no perfectly holy beings on the earth, except the Saviour, and the angels who have occasionally visited it. There has been no perfectly holy place--city, village, hamlet; no perfectly holy community. But the future world, in strong contrast with this, will be perfectly pure, and will be a fair illustration of what religion in its perfect form will do.

(c.) It is for this that the Christian desires to dwell in that world, and waits for the coming of his Saviour. It is not primarily that he may be happy, desirable as that is, but that he may be in a world where he himself will be perfectly pure, and where all around him will be pure; where every being that he meets shall be "holy as God is holy," and every place on which his eye rests, or his foot treads, shall be uncontaminated by sin. To the eye of faith and hope, how blessed is the prospect of such a world!

(e) "new heavens" Rev 21:1,27

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent. That is, in securing your salvation. The effect of such hopes and prospects should be to lead us to an earnest inquiry whether we are prepared to dwell in a holy world, and to make us diligent in performing the duties, and patient in bearing the trials of life. He who has such hopes set before him, should seek earnestly that he may be enabled truly to avail himself of them, and should make their attainment meet the great object of his life. He who is so soon to come to an end of all weary toil, should be willing to labour diligently and faithfully while life lasts, he who is so soon to be relieved from all temptation and trial, should be willing to bear a little longer the sorrows of the present world What are all these compared with the glory that awaits us? Comp. 1Cor 15:58; Rom 8:18, seq. 2Cor 4:16, seq.

That ye may be found of him in peace. Found by him when he returns in such a state as to secure your eternal peace.

Without spot, and blameless. Eph 5:27. It should be an object of earnest effort with us to have the last stain of sin and pollution removed from our souls. A deep feeling that we are soon to stand in the presence of a holy God, our final Judge, cannot but have a happy influence in making us pure.

(a) "diligent" 1Cor 15:56, 1Thes 5:23

And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. Regard his delay in coming to judge the world, not as an evidence that he never will come, but as a proof of his desire that we should be saved. Many had drawn a different inference from the fact that: the Saviour did not return, and had supposed that it was a proof that he would never come, and that his promises had failed. Peter says that that conclusion was not authorized, but that we should rather regard it as an evidence of his mercy, and of his desire that we should be saved. This conclusion is as proper now as it was then. Wicked men should not infer, because God does not cut them down, that therefore they never will be punished, or that God is not faithful to his threatenings. They should rather regard it as a proof that he is willing to save them; for

(1.) he might justly cut them off for their sins;

(2.) the only reason of which we have knowledge why he spares the wicked is to give them space for repentance; and

(3.) as long as life is prolonged a sinner has the opportunity to repent, and may turn to God. We may therefore, in our own case, look on all the delays of God to punish--on all his patience and forbearance towards us, notwithstanding our sins and provocations--on the numberless tokens of his kindness scattered along our way, as evidence that he is not willing that we should perish. What an accumulated argument in any case would this afford of the willingness of God to save! Let any man look on his own sins, his pride, and selfishness, and sensuality; let him contemplate the fact that he has sinned through many years, and against many mercies; let him endeavour to estimate the number and magnitude of his offences, and upon God's patience in bearing with him while these have been committed, and who can overrate the force of such an argument in proof that God is slow to anger, and is willing to save? Rom 2:4.

Even as our beloved brother Paul also. From this reference to Paul the following things are clear:

(1.) that Peter was acquainted with his writings;

(2.) that he presumed that those to whom he wrote were also acquainted with them;

(3.) that Peter regarded Paul as a "beloved brother," notwithstanding the solemn rebuke which Paul had had occasion to administer to him, Gal 2:2, seq.;

(4.) that he regarded him as authority in inculcating the doctrines and duties of religion; and

(5.) that he regarded him as an inspired man, and his writings as a part of Divine truth. 2Pet 3:16. That Peter has shown in his epistles that he was acquainted with the writings of Paul, has been abundantly proved by Eichhon, (Einleitung in das N. Tes. viii. 606, seq.,) and will be apparent by a comparison of the following passages: Eph 1:3, with 1Pet 3:1; Col 3:8, with 1Pet 2:1; Eph 5:22, with 1Pet 3:1; Eph 5:21, with 1Pet 5:5; 1Thes 5:6, with 1Pet 5:8; 1Cor 16:20 with 1Pet 5:14; Rom 8:18, with 1Pet 5:1; Rom 4:24 with 1Pet 1:21; Rom 13:1,3,4 with 1Pet 2:13,14; 1Timm 2:9, with 1Pet 3:5. The writings of the apostles were doubtless extensively circulated; and one apostle, though himself inspired, could not but feel a deep interest in the writings of another. There would be cases also, as in the instance before us, in which one would wish to confirm his own sentiments by the acknowledged wisdom, experience, and authority of another.

According to the wisdom given unto him. Peter evidently did not mean to disparage that wisdom, or to express a doubt that Paul was endowed with wisdom; he meant undoubtedly that, in regard to Paul, the same thing was true which he would have affirmed of himself or of any other man, that whatever wisdom he had was to be traced to a higher than human origin. This would at the same time tend to secure more respect for the opinion of Paul than if he had said it was his own, and would keep up in the minds of those to whom he wrote a sense of the truth that all wisdom is from above. In reference to ourselves, to our friends, to our teachers, and to all men, it is proper to bear in remembrance the fact that all true wisdom is from the "Father of lights." Comp. Jas 1:6,17.

Hath written unto you. It is not necessary to suppose that Paul had written any epistles addressed specifically, and by name, to the persons to whom Peter wrote. It is rather to be supposed that the persons to whom Peter wrote (1Pet 1:1) lived in the regions to which some of Paul's epistles were addressed, and that they might be regarded as addressed to them. The epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians were of this description, all addressed to churches in Asia Minor, and all, therefore, having reference to the same people to whom Peter addressed his epistles.

(b) "salvation" Rom 2:4

As also in all his epistles. Not only in those which he addressed to the churches in Asia Minor, but in his epistles generally. It is to be presumed that they might have had an acquaintance with some of the other epistles of Paul, as well as those sent to the churches in their immediate vicinity.

Speaking in them of these things. The things which Peter had dwelt upon in his two epistles. The great doctrines of the cross; of the depravity of man; of the Divine purposes; of the new birth; of the consummation of all things; of the return of the Saviour to judge the world, and to receive his people to himself; the duty of a serious, devout, and prayerful life, and of being prepared for the heavenly world. These things are constantly dwelt upon by Paul, and to his authority in these respects Peter might appeal with the utmost confidence.

In which. The common reading in this passage is ενοις, and according to this the reference is to the subjects treated of--"in which things" --referring to what he had just spoken of--"speaking of these things." This reading is found in the common editions of the New Testament, and is supported by far the greater number of Mss., and by most commentators and critics. It is found in Griesbach, Tittman, and Hahn, and has every evidence of being the genuine reading. Another reading, however, (εναις,) is found in some valuable Mss., and is supported by the Syriac and Arabic versions, and adopted by Mill, (Proleg. 1484,) and by Beza. According to this, the reference is to the epistles themselves as would seem to be implied in our common version. The true construction, so far as the evidence goes, is to refer it not directly to the epistles, but to the things of which Peter says Paul wrote; that is, not to the style and language of Paul, but to the great truths and doctrines which he taught. Those doctrines were indeed contained in his epistles, but still, according to the fair construction of the passage before us, Peter should not be understood as accusing Paul of obscurity of style. He refers not to the difficulty of understanding what Paul meant, but to the difficulty of comprehending the great truths, which he taught. This is, generally, the greatest difficulty in regard to the statements of Paul. The difficulty is not that the meaning of the writer is not plain, but it is either

(a.) that the mind is overpowered by the grandeur of the thought, and the incomprehensible nature of the theme, or

(b.) that the truth is so unpalatable, and the mind is so prejudiced against it, that we are unwilling to receive it. Many a man knows well enough what Paul means, and would receive his doctrines without hesitation if the heart was not opposed to it; and in this state of mind Paul is charged with obscurity, when the real difficulty lies only in the heart of him who makes the complaint. If this be the true interpretation of this passage, then it should not be adduced to prove that Paul is an obscure writer, whatever may be true on that point. There are, undoubtedly, obscure things in his writings, as there are in all other ancient compositions, but this passage should not be adduced to prove that he had not the faculty of making himself understood. An honest heart, a willingness to receive the truth, is one of the best qualifications for understanding the writings of Paul; and when this exists, no one will fall to find truth that may be comprehended, and that will be eminently adapted to sanctify and save the soul.

Are some things hard to be understood. Things pertaining to high and difficult subjects, and which are not easy to be comprehended. Peter does not call in question the truth of what Paul had written; he does not intimate that he himself would differ from him. His language is rather that which a man would use who regarded the writings to which he referred as true, and what he says here is an honourable testimony to the authority of Paul. It may be added,

(1.) that Peter does not say that all the doctrines of the Bible, or even all the doctrines of Paul, are hard to be understood, or that nothing is plain.

(2.) He says nothing about withholding the Bible, or even the writings of Paul, from the mass of Christians, on the ground of the difficulty of understanding the Scriptures; nor does he intimate that that was the design of the Author of the Bible.

(3.) It is perfectly manifest, from this very passage, that the writings of Paul were in fact in the hands of the people, else how could they wrest and pervert them?

(4.) Peter says nothing about an infallible interpreter of any kind, nor does he intimate that either he or his "successors" were authorized to interpret them for the church.

(5.) With what propriety can the pretended successor of Peter--the pope--undertake to expound those difficult doctrines in the writings of Paul, when even Peter himself did not undertake it, and when he did not profess to be able to comprehend them? Is the pope more skilled in the knowledge of Divine things than the apostle Peter? Is he better qualified to interpret the sacred writings than an inspired apostle was?

(6.) Those portions of the writings of Paul, for anything that appears to the contrary, are just as "hard to be understood" now, as they were before the "infallible" church undertook to explain them. The world is little indebted to any claims of infallibility in explaining the meaning of tile oracles of God. It remains yet to be seen that any portion of the Bible has been made clearer by any mere authoritative explanation. And

(7.) it should be added, that without any such exposition, the humble inquirer after truth may find enough in the Bible to guide his feet in the paths of salvation. No one ever approached the sacred Scriptures with a teachable heart, who did not find them "able to make him wise unto salvation." Compare 2Ti 3:15.

Which they that are unlearned. The evil here adverted to is that which arises in cases where those without competent knowledge undertake to become expounders of the word of God. It is not said that it is not proper for them to attempt to become instructed by the aid of the sacred writings; but the danger is, that without proper views of interpretation, of language, and of ancient customs, they might be in danger of perverting and abusing certain portions of the writings of Paul. Intelligence among the people is everywhere in the Bible presumed to be proper in understanding the sacred Scriptures; and ignorance may produce the same effects in interpreting the Bible which it will produce in interpreting other writings. Every good thing is liable to abuse; but the proper way to correct this evil, and to remove this danger, is not to keep the people in ignorance, or to appoint some one to be an infallible interpreter; it is to remove the ignorance itself by enlightening the people, and rendering them better qualified to understand the sacred oracles. The way to remove error is not to perpetuate ignorance; it is to enlighten the mind, so that it may be qualified to appreciate the truth.

And unstable. Who have no settled principles and views. The evil here adverted to is that which arises where those undertake to interpret the Bible who have no established principles. They regard nothing as settled. They have no landmarks set up to guide their inquiries. They have no stability in their character, and Of course nothing can be regarded as settled in their methods Of interpreting the Bible. They are under the control of feeling and emotion, and are liable to embrace one opinion to-day, and another directly opposite to-morrow. But the way to prevent this evil is not by attempting to give to a community an authoritative interpretation of the Bible; it is to diffuse abroad just principles, that men may obtain from the Bible an intelligent view of what it means.

Wrest. Pervert--στρεβλουσιν. The word here used occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It is derived from a word meaning a windlass, winch, instrument of torture, (στρεβλη,) and means to roll or wind on a windlass; then to wrench, or turn away, as by the force of a windlass; and then to wrest or pervert. It implies a turning out of the way by the application of force, here the meaning is, that they apply those portions of the Bible to a purpose for which they were never intended. It is doubtless true that this may occur. Men may abuse and pervert anything that is good. But the way to prevent this is not to set up a pretended infallible interpreter. With all the perversities arising from ignorance in the interpreter of the Bible; in all the crude, and weak, and fanciful expositions which could be found among those who have interpreted the Scriptures for themselves--and they are many--if they were all collected together, there would not be found so many adapted to corrupt and ruin the soul, as have come from the interpretations attempted to be palmed upon the world by the one church that claims to be the infallible expounder of the word of God.

As they do also the other scriptures. This is an unequivocal declaration of Peter that he regarded the writings of Paul as a part of the holy Scriptures, and of course that he considered him as inspired. The word "Scriptures," as used by a Jew, had a technical signification--meaning the inspired writings, and was the common word which was applied to the sacred writings of the Old Testament. As Peter uses this language, it implies that he regarded the writings of Paul as on a level with the Old Testament; and as far as the testimony of one apostle can go to confirm the claim of another to inspiration, it proves that the writings of Paul are entitled to a place in the sacred canon. It should be remarked, also, that Peter evidently speaks here of the common estimate in which the writings of Paul were held. He addresses those to whom he wrote, not in such a way as to declare to them that the writings of Paul were to be regarded as a part of the inspired volume, but as if this were already known, and were an admitted point.

Unto their own destruction. By embracing false doctrines. Error destroys the soul; and it is very possible for a man so to read the Bible as only to confirm himself in error. He may find passages which, by a perverted interpretation, shall seem to sustain his own views; and, instead of embracing the truth, may live always under delusion, and perish at last. It is not to be inferred that every man who reads the Bible, or even every one who undertakes to be its public expounder, will certainly be saved.

(a) "epistles" Rom 8:19, 1Cor 15:24; 1Thes 4; 1Thes 5 2Thes 1:5-10.

Seeing that ye know these things before. Being aware of this danger, and knowing that such results may follow. Men should read the Bible with the feeling that it is possible that they may fall into error, and be deceived at last. This apprehension will do much to make them diligent, and candid, and prayerful, in studying the word of God.

With the error of the wicked. Wicked men. Such as he had referred to in chapter 2, who became public teachers of religion.

Fall from your own stedfastness. Your firm adherence to the truth. The particular danger here referred to is not that of failing from grace, or from true religion, but from the firm and settled principles of religious truth into error.

But grow in grace. Comp. Col 1:10. Religion in general is often represented as grace, since every part of it is the result of grace, or of unmerited favour; and to "grow in grace" is to increase in that which constitutes true religion. Religion is as susceptible of cultivation and of growth as any other virtue of the soul. It is feeble in its beginnings, like the grain of mustard seed, or like the germ or blade of the plant, and it increases as it is cultivated. There is no piety in the world which is not the result of cultivation, and which cannot be measured by the degree of care and attention bestowed upon it. No one becomes eminently pious, any more than one becomes eminently learned or rich, who does not intend to; and ordinarily men in religion are what they design to be. They have about as much religion as they wish, and possess about the character which they intend to possess. When men reach extraordinary elevations in religion, like Baxter, Payson, and Edwards, they have gained only what they meant to gain; and the gay and worldly professors of religion, who have little comfort and peace, have in fact the characters which they designed to have. If these things are so, then we may see the propriety of the injunction "to grow in grace;" and then too we may see the reason why so feeble attainments are made in piety by the great mass of those who profess religion.

And in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Jn 17:3. Comp. Col 1:10. To know the Lord Jesus Christ--to possess just views of his person, character, and work---is the sum and essence of the Christian religion; and with this injunction, therefore, the apostle appropriately closes this epistle. He who has a saving knowledge of Christ, has in fact all that is essential to his welfare in the life that is, and in that which is to come; he who has not this knowledge, though he may be distinguished in the learning of the schools, and may be profoundly skilled in the sciences, has in reality no knowledge that will avail him in the great matters pertaining to his eternal welfare.

To him be glory, etc. Comp. Rom 16:27; 2Ti 4:18. With the desire that honour and glory should be rendered to the Redeemer, all the aspirations of true Christians appropriately close. There is no wish more deeply cherished in their hearts than this; there is nothing that will enter more into their worship in heaven; Compare Rev 1:5,6, 5:12,13.

(a) "grow" Col 1:10 (b) "To him be" 2Ti 4:18

Observe here, 1. The design of both St. Peter's epistles was one and the same, even to put them in remembrance of, and to call to their minds what they had formerly heard and understood, but possibly not retained, nor duly considered. This second epistle I write; in both which I stir up your minds by way of remembrance.

Note, The office of ministers is to be remembrancers, The Lord's remembrancers, by putting him in mind of the people's wants; their people's remembrancers, by putting them frequently in mind of their duty to God. There is then a constant necessity of a conscientious ministry; none are weary of it but such as love not to be remembered of their duty by it.

Nay, farther, St. Peter tells them, he would stir up their pure minds by ways of remembrance; implying, that the memories of the best Christians stand in need of refreshing, and the affections of the holiest want a fresh exciting. The freest Christians sometimes want a spur: We are slow to learn what we should do, and more slow to do what we have learnt.

Great then is the sin of those who contemn repeated truths. Cursed is that curiosity that despises a wholesome truth, because it is common. If we have such nice stomachs that will not endure to eat twice of the same dish, if wholesome; it is just with God, that want should overtake our wantonness.

Observe, 2. What it is that he would have them remember and be mindful of; it is the word of prophecy in the Old Testament, and the doctrine of the gospel in and under the New, That ye be mindful of the words spoken before by the holy prophets, namely, Enoch and Daniel, who prophesied of the general judgment of the last day, and of the destruction of Jerusalem, then at hand.

Observe, 3. How St. Peter here joins the prophets and apostles together, as concuring harmoniously in their doctrine; what was foretold by the prophets was confirmed by the apostles; hence they are said to have but one mouth, Luke 1:1 As he spake by the mouth of all his prophets, not by the mouths; for, though the prophets and apostles were many, yet had they all but one mouth, speaking all the same things.

Observe here, 1. The persons foretold, or what sort of men should be found in these last days; namely, scoffers. These are the dregs of mankind, found in the dregs of time; they scoff sometimes at the word of God, sometimes at religion and the ways of good men; sometimes at sin, and the follies of those that are bad. The scoffing spirit, is a vile spirit; it is better to be a fool than a flouter; better to have a dull spirit than a deriding spirit; to deride God and religion is the height of impiety. Such as are in the chair of the scorner are in the highest form in the devil's school.

Observe, 2. What it was that these men scoffed at; namely, at the prediction of our Saviour's coming to judge the world; they say, Where is the promise of his coming? because Christ did not come when some looked for him, they concluded he would not come at all, but that all things should go on in a constant course, as they had done from the beginning of the creation.

Observe, 3. The character of the persons who are called scoffers; they are said to walk after their own lusts, men of sensual spirits, and licentious lives. No wonder, that they who give themselves up to all manner of sensuality, to deny a judgment to come; for, as it is expedient for them that there should be none, so they endeavour to persuade themselves that there shall be none, and are glad to find arguments to fortify themselves in that persuasion. But surely God scorneth the scorners, he will laugh at their calamity, and mock when their desolation cometh. Lord! what a black and horrid ingratitude is this, to scoff at the author of our beings, and the Patron of our lives; to live in definace of him in whom we live? Is it not time for God to come and judge the world, when men begin to doubt whether ever he made it?

These scoffers had declared in the former verse, that the world was the same it was from the beginning; that nature always had, and therefore ever would keep its course. But, says the apostle here, these scoffers know better; if they be ignorant, they are willingly ignorant what a change God made in the world since the first creation of it, and that he can as easily destroy it, as he did at first create it.

To evidence this, the apostle shews how God by water drowned the old world, and therefore all things had not continued as they were from the beginning of the creation; and that this present world shall, when God's time is come, be ruined by fire, as the old world was by water. The same omnipotent power of God which created the world, upholds it and preserves it, and will at last destroy it, namely, at the final judgment, when all wicked persons, especially profane scoffers at, and deriders of Christ's coming, shall be condemned and perish.

Hence learn, That those great and awful works of God, the creation, preservation, and final destruction of the world, first by water, and next by fire, none ought to be ignorant of, but all ought to meditate frequently upon, and be continually prepared for.

Note, 2. That the day of judgment will be a day of perdition to ungodly men, they shall then be utterly and eternally destroyed. The wicked are called in scripture sons of perdition; they are so actively, they make it their work to destroy others; and they are so passively, they shall be destroyed at that day, when they and their works shall be burnt up.

Our apostle here answers the cavil and objection of the fore-mentioned scoffers, namely, That if Christ intends to come to judgment, why does he so long defer his coming?

To this our apostle replies,

1. By assuring them that this delay ought not to be judged according to our sense and apprehension of things, for God does not measure time as we do, but a thousand years, which seem so long to us, are but a day, yea, but a moment to him who is eternal, and inhabiteth eternity. To the eternity of God no finite duration bears any proportion; to eternity all time is equally short; God does not measure time by our pole, nor cast up years by our arithmetic.

2. He assures them farther, that God's delay of judgment did not proceed from slackness, but from divine patience and goodness. He delays his coming, on purpose to give men time to repent, and by repenting, on purpose to give men time to repent, and by repentance to prevent their own eternal ruin.

Learn hence, 1. That God's delay of judgment is no ground for sinners to conclude that he will not come to judgment, for our Saviour has now here fixed and determined the time of it. We can neither be sure when our Lord will come, nor certain when he will not come.

Learn, 2. That the true reason why God defers judgment is, to give sinners opportunity for repentance, if this be not complied with, he reserves those who are incorrigibly bad to a more remarkable ruin, condemning them that will not be saved, but obstinately destroy themselves.

Our apostle having asserted, that this solemn day of judging the Jews, at the destruction of Jerusalem first, and then of all mankind at the end of the world, will certainly come; he next shews the manner how, and that although this great day of the Lord comes slowly, yet it will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night, surprising the secure and unprepared part of the world. The thief cometh without warning, and without noise, so shall the coming of the Son of man be. Rev 16:15 Behold I come as a thief, blessed are they that watch.

Observe next, The apostle declares what a great change there will be when Christ comes to judgment, namely, a total dissolution of the whole frame of nature, The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, the elements shall melt, and the earth be burnt up: that is, say some, totally consumed and utterly abolished; for when there is no more need of sun and stars, of earth and water, why should they be any more? And when the saints see God face to face, what need of the glass of the creatures to behold the face of God in?

Others conceive that the heavens and the earth shall not be annihilated, but bettered and improved, their substance continued, but their qualitites changed; that out of this conflagration God will bring forth a new edition of heaven and earth, and of what is contained in them, to be the everlasting monuments of his own power and goodness, and the delightful objects of his saints contemplation.

These words are St. Peter's practical improvement of the foregoing doctrine, concerning the certain, sudden and terrible judgment of Christ to come. If the whole frame of heaven and earth shall be so wonderfully changed, and a new world made, how holy should they be, and how great a degree of purity should they labour to attain unto, who expect to live in this new world?

Learn hence, That the firm belief of Christ's coming to judgment, and the dissolution of this sinful world by fire, should convince all Christians of the necessity of, and engage them in their pursuits and endeavours after, a life of universal holiness, and that with the utmost care and possible diligence: Seeing all these things, what manner of persons ought ye to be? - Heaven is an holy place, has holy company, holy employments, holy enjoyments; we must be qualified for it, before we can be admitted into it, and begin that life of holiness upon earth which will never end in heaven; without a present meetness for heaven, we must never expect to be admitted into it, Col 1:12

Having exhorted persons by holiness to prepare for Christ's coming to judgment in the foregoing vcerse, he now directs them to expect and look for it, to desire and long after it, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, that joyful day of our perfect deliverance and salvation, when the lower heavens and earth shall be dissolved, and the elements melt with fervent heat.

Learn hence, That there is, or ought to be in all believers, a vehement desire after, and a fervent longing for, the coming and appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. O Christian! long intensely for Christ's company, for know assuredly he longs for thine.

Observe here, 1. What is the subject matter of the Christian's expectation, he looks for new heavens, and a new earth in which dwelleth righteousness, that is, only righteous persons, and perfectly righteous persons, where sin shall no more prevail.

Observe, 2. What is the ground and foundation of this hope in the Christian, it is the promise of God, we (according to his promise) look for new heavens and a new earth. To hope for any thing that God has not promised, is presumption. Hope is the expectation of some future good which God has promised and faith believed.

Observe, 3. How Christians should qualify and fit, make ready and prepare themselves for this joyful hour, this desirable place and state. Be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless. Give all diligence that ye may be found at that day in a state of peace and reconciliation with God by justification, and without spot, and blameless, without any allowed spot or blame, by pressing now after the highest measures of sanctification, that so an entrance may both joyfully and abundantly be administered to you into that kingdom wherein dwelleth righteousnes.

In these words St. Peter advises them to make an holy and wise construction of the forbearance of God in his delaying to come to judgment, not to think that God neglects them under sufferings, or is well-pleased with the perverseness of the wicked world in sinning; but his patience and long-suffering towards them is hereby displayed, in order to the bringing of them to repentance, and by repentance to salvation. Account that the long-suffering of God, that is, the design of God in his long-suffering, is the sinner's salvation.

Here note, That patience and long-suffering in God is an ability or power in him, not only to delay the execution of his wrath for a time, by a temporary suspension of it towards them that perish, and shall feel it at last; but to delay the execution of it towards others, in order to their eternal salvation, that they may never feel it.

Observe next, How this apostle, to add to the strength and authority of what he had spoken concerning the certainty of Christ's coming, and their duty to be in a ready preparation for it, doth make mention of St. Paul as bearing witness, in several places of his epistles, thereunto.

Even as our beloved brother Paul hath written unto you in all his epistles speaking in them of these things. As the prophets had all one mouth, so had the apostles also, speaking all the same thing.

Observe lastly, The testimony given by St. Peter to St. Paul's epistles. He acknowledges, 1. That there were some things in them hard to be understood.

Mark, He doth not say many things, much less that all things in St. Paul were hard to be understood, but some things only. How vainly then doth the church of Rome produce this text, to prove the obscurity of the whole scripture? whereas the great and necessary things to our salvation are so plainly revealed in scripture, that even babes in Christ do apprehend and understand them. And though there be difficulties in other points, more remote from salvation, yet they are so for our exercise and trial, to excite our most intense study and diligence.

Note farther, Who the persons are to whom the scriptures are hard to be understood, to the unlearned and unstable, who wrest and pervert them to their own destruction. The original word rendered to wrest, is a metaphor taken from torturers, who put a man upon the rack, they torment him so long till they make him speak what he never meant to speak; so these wrest a sense out of scripture which the Holy Ghost never intended. Scriptura obscuritas non nova regtula necessitatem, sed spiritus illuminantis et ministerii exponentis necessitatem ostendit. Bishop Davenant.

Our apostle concludes his epistle with an exhortation to watch against the errors and false doctrines of seducers, lest we, being led away thereby, do fall from our own stedfastness in the faith of the gospel. It ought to be our care not only to be sound in the faith, but stedfast in the faith; and, that we may be so, we are here directed.

1. To grow in grace, in all grace, in faith, hope, and love; for grace establishes the heart, and, accordingly, stedfastness and increase of grace are here joined together.

2. To grow in knowledge; the way to be kept stedfast is to grow in grace; and the best way to grow in grace, is to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, to know him in his person, in his offices, in his undertaking, in his doctrine, in his example; such a knowledge as this is of Jesus Christ, is fundamental to all graces. They all begin in knowledge, and are increased by knowledge. Grow in grace and in the knowedge of Jesus Christ; behold how these two keep equal pace in the soul of a Christian, namely, grace and knowledge; in what degree one increases, the other increases proportionably. To the author and finisher of which grace, to the fountain and foundation of which knowledge, be ascribed all honour and glory both now and forevermore. Amen.

¶The third Chapter.

This ſecōd Epiſtle I now write vnto you, beloued, wherwith I ſtirre vp and warne your pure mindes, To call to remembraunce the wordes, which were tolde before of the holy Prophets, and alſo the cō maundement of vs the Apoſtles of the Lorde and Sauiour.

IN this Chapter wee are admoniſhed to bee in a readineſſe and euery minute of an hower to looke for the laſt daie. And firſt S. Peter declareth vnto them how that he hath not written this Epiſtle to theim purpoſely and with intent to laye doune vnto them the foundation of Faith (for that had he laied doune very ſubſtancially, effectually and ſufficiently afore) but to excite and ſtirre them vp, and to admoniſhe and put them in remembraunce that thei forgett not thoſe thinges whiche thei had afore heard and receiued, but rather that thei ſhould perſeuere in that ſinceritie of mynde and vnderſtandyng, whiche was requiſite, fitte, expediente and appertinent vnto true Chriſtianitie. For the office and duetie of all true Preachers is, not onely to teache, but alſo continually to admoniſhe and exhort. Becauſe ſo long as wee bee clad with this fleſhe and bloud, wee haue greate neede to haue the Worde of God to dwell plentifully in vs, & to raigne & beare ſoueraigne authoritie in vs: whereby wee maie reſiſt the motions, ſuggeſtions, delites and concupiſcences of the Fleſhe, and with faithfull conſtancie valiantly ſubdue, reſiſt, and ſtriue againſt the luſtes thereof.

This firſt vnderſtande, that there ſhall come in the laſt dayes, mockers, whiche will walke after their luſtes, And ſaie, Where is the promiſe of his commyng? for ſince the fathers dyed, all thynges continue alike from the beginnyng of the creation.

THere bee ſome yet at this daie very waueryng and ficklemynded, being caried awaie through certaine reaſons ſette downe in a Booke, entituled and written of Antichriſt, in whiche Booke is declared, that before the latter daie men ſhould fall into ſuche groſſe and Deuiliſh errour as to denye God, and to mocke & deryde all that thei heare preached of Chriſte and of Domeſdaie. And this ſaiyng is true, from whence ſoeuer it was borowed. But it ought not ſo ſtraictly to bee taken, as though the whole World ſhould fall into ſuche a generall Apoſtacie, and ſo vniuerſally blaſpheme God: but that the greater parte and portion thereof ſhould fall awaie. For we ſee it now plainly come to paſſe, and more and more dailie will it burſt out, that when and where the Goſpell ſhall be publiſhed and openly preached among men, many wicked ſhall be wraie themſelues, and the inward hartes of many ſhalbe openly detected, whoſe wickedneſſe and impietie now ſecretly lurketh, & is diſſimuled. And the number now adaies is not ſmall, that beleeue little or nothyng of the latter daie, neither thinke that euer it will come.

Of ſuche mockers and ſkorners S. Peter here forewarneth vs, tellyng vs that there ſhould be ſundrie whiche would think there were none other life after this, and therfore would paſſe their daies lewdely, inordinately and accordyng to the deuiſes of their own ſenſuall luſtes. In deede, at Rome and in Italie, this Propheſie is long ago fulfilled: and thei that come from thence to vs, bryng with them this opinion: that what filthie and wicked life they leade there, the ſame doe they teach vs, and thoſe Countries where they chaunce to inhabite. But a little before the latter daie, ſuche maner of men muſt needes bee, as Chriſte himſelf foretolde Matth. xxiiij. As the dayes of Noah were, ſo likewiſe ſhall the commyng of the ſoonne of man be. For as in the daies before the floud, thei did eate and drinke, marie and giue in mariage, euen vntill the daye that Noah entred into the Arke, and knew nothing till the floud came, and tooke them all awaie: ſo ſhall alſo the commyng of the ſonne of man be. And a litle after in the ſame Chapter: Bee ye readie, for in ſuche a tyme as ye thinke not, will the ſonne of man come. Againe Luc. xxj. As a ſnare ſhal that day come vppon all them, that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Againe Luk. xvij. As the Lightening that lighteneth out of the one parte vnder Heauen, ſhineth vnto the other parte vnder Heauen: ſo ſhal the ſonne of man be in his daie. That is, it ſhall come merueilous ſodainly and moſte vnlooked for, when as the Worlde ſhall liue in moſte ſenſeleſſe ſecuritie, and the Woorde of God altogether deryded, and contemptuouſly ſkorned.

This therefore ſhalbee a ſigne and a token of the neere approchyng of the latter daie, when as menne ſhall looſely liue, accordyng to their owne wilfull luſtes and pleaſures: and whē as thei ſhall preſumptuouſly aſke, Where is now the promiſe of his commyng? The Worlde hath continued thus long, and euery thyng is in the ſame caſe as it hitherto hath been, what ſtraunge thyng ſhall there now happen? Sainct Peter therefore forewarneth vs, that we bee not lightly caried awaie with theſe wicked ſpeeches, but rather knowe that thei bee vndoubted ſignes and tokens, that this daie will come, and that verie ſhortlie.

For this they willingly knowe not, that the heauens were of old, and the earth that was of the water and by the water, by the woorde of God. Wherefore the worlde that then was, periſhed, ouerflowed with the water.

THei are ſuche peruerſe and frowarde perſones (ſaieth he) that thei diſdaine and grudge to beſtowe any tyme or labor in learnyng the truth: in ſo muche that with a flearyng diſdaine, thei reſiſte, and can not be brought ſo muche as euen to reade the Scriptures: Yea, thei are ſo wilfull and obſtinate, that thei will not ſeeme either to thinke or know, how that the ſame thyng came to paſſe alſo in the olde worlde, when Noah builte the Arke. Namely, how that the Earth beeyng ſeparated frō the water, was in the beginnyng made by the Woorde of God, and how againe the ſame Earth was whollie ouerflowed and drouned with water: and how that menne liued then ſo ſecure and careleſſe, that thei looked for no harme to come vnto theim, neither thought of any deſtruction at hande. And yet ſodainly the Floud couered theim all. Of all whiche, theſe peruerſe and froward perſones, are willyngly and wilfully ignorant. The plaine meanyng of his woordes is, as if he ſhould ſaie: If God then deſtroied the Worlde with water, and by a terrible example declared, that he was able to droune it vniuerſallie: how muche more will he deſtroie it now, hauyng ſo muche and ſo often in plaine and ſundrie wordes, and in ſo many ſeuerall places threatened and promiſed theſame?

Heauen and Earth had their Beginnyng and Creation by the Woorde of God, thei were not from euerlaſtyng. And the Waters that reſted aboue in the Cloudes, were by a Firmament ſeparated from the Waters, whiche were in Seas and Riuers vpō the Earth belowe. So that the Earth which was ouerwhelmed and ſurrounded with the Deepe, was by the Worde of GOD parted from the Waters, and became drie lande: ſtandyng and beeyng hemmed in by the Waters. And that whiche Moſes at large deſcribeth, is by Saint Peter here but lightly touched. By the ſame Worde of GOD whereby thei were made and created, are all thynges therein preſerued and gouerned. For it is not there Nature ſo to ſtande, or to remaine in ſuche ſituation: and therefore if God by his vnſpeakable power did not vpholde, preſerue, and gouerne theim, all thynges would quickly come to a wrecke and ruine, and bee ſonedrenched, couered, and wholly ouerflowed with Water. But mightie is thee Worde, whiche God ſpake, whē he ſaied: Lette the waters vnder the heauens bee gathered into one place, and let the drie lande appeare: That it, let the Waters depart aſide and giue place, that the drie lande maie bee ſeen, and that menne maie dwell thereon for otherwiſe, (as I ſaied afore) by Nature the water would ouerflowe and couer the whole Earth. Whiche that it ſo commeth not to paſſe, is as ſtraunge a miracle as any is, among all the woorkes of God. Now ſaieth Sainct Peter: Theſe wilfull flouters and ſtiffenecked deriders, are ſo peruerſe and incōſiderate, that thei maliciouſly thinke ſkorne to ſhewe this honor to the holie Ghoſt, to reade the Scriptures, and therein to ſee how God keepeth, preſerueth, and gouerneth the worlde within the water wherby thei might well perceiue and ſee, that all thynges are in the handes of GOD: and therefore ſithe he hath once alreadie deſtroied the world by bringing therevpon the general Deluge, ſo alſo when it pleaſeth him can he doe vnto vs. For the example thereof ought ſo greatly to mooue eche one of vs, that as he then performed that, whiche afore he threatened, ſo we ſhould now none otherwiſe think, but that he will ſurely abide by his woordes, and doe that whiche he hath ſpoken concernyng vs.

But the Heauens and Earth, whiche are now, are kepte by the ſame Woorde in ſtoare, and reſerued vnto fier, againſt the daie of Iudgement, and of the deſtruction of vngodlie menne.

IN the old tyme when God drouned the whole Worlde in the generall Floude, the waters in moſte abundaunce guſhed out of the Cloudes aboue: ſpouted out of the bowelles of the Earth belowe, and on euery ſide ſuche ſtreames encreaſed, that nothyng was now to bee ſeene but Waters: the Earth accordyng to her Nature, beyng all drouned, and couered vnder the Waters. But God promiſed that hee would neuer thence forthe deſtroie the Worlde with waters any more: makyng a couenaunt and giuyng his Rainbowe in the Cloudes, for a ſigne thereof, Geneſ. ix. Therefore he will nexte conſume and deſtroye it with Fire: ſo that there ſhall then nothing appeare but Fire, as aforetyme there was nothyng ſeene but water. Hereof alſo S. Paule ij. Theſs. j. When the Lorde Ieſus ſhall ſhewe hymſelf from heauen with his mightie Angells, in flamyng Fier, rendryng vengeance to them that doe not knowe God, and whiche doe not obeye vnto the Goſpell of our Lorde Ieſus Chriſt. Againe, j. Cor. iij Euery mannes woorke ſhalbee made manifeſt: for the daie ſhall declare it, becauſe it ſhalbee reueiled by the Fire. Therefore, when that laſte daie ſhall (like a ſodaine flaſhe of Lightnyng) come vppon vs, all thynges in this Heauen and this Earth, ſhall in the twincklyng of an eye be conſumed to Cinders, and ſodainly chaunged with Fire, euen as in the tyme of Noah, all thynges were chaunged with the water: and that GOD will not faile in this his threatening & commination: wherof we ought to take his former dealyng for an infallible token, the whiche he hath left vnto vs for a ſigne.

Dearely beloued, bee not ignoraunte of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord, as a thouſand yeres, and a thouſande yeres, as one daie. The Lorde is not ſlacke concernyng his promiſe (as ſome men counte ſlackneſſe) but is pacient toward vs, and would haue no man to periſhe, but would all men to come to repentaunce. But the daie of the Lorde will come as a Thiefe in the night, in the whiche the Heauens ſhall paſſe awaie with noyſe, and the Elemētes ſhall melt with heate, and the Earth with the woorkes that are therein, ſhalbe burnt vp.

IN theſe woordes S. Peter meeteth with thoſe cauillers (of whom he ſpake afore) whiche ſaie, that the Apoſtles haue foretold many vaine and fooliſh tales of the latter Daie, and that al thinges ſtande ſtill in the ſame courſe and order as thei did before, notwithſtandyng ſo long a ſpace of tyme, ſince thei foretold and Prophecied thereof. And this place borowed he out of the praier of Moſes in the lxxxx. Pſalme. A thouſand yeres (ſaieth he) in thy ſight are as yeſterdaie when it is paſte. This is after twoo ſortes to bee vnderſtoode and taken: One, as it hath reſpecte and relation to God, the other as it reſpecteth Men and the Worlde: Againe, this life is to be conſidered after one ſort, the life to come after an other. This life can not bee the life to come, becauſe into that none can paſſe, but by Death: that is, till he ceaſſe from the functions of this mortall life. This preſent Life, conſiſteth and is preſerued by eatyng, drinkyng, ſleapyng, digeſtyng, &c. all whiche conſiſte and are doen within the limitation of Houres, Daies, and Yeres. But when thou wilt throughly conſider the life to come, thou muſt quight forget and put out of thy cogitation and remembrance, all the courſe of this preſent life, and neuer thinke, to make any conference or compariſon, betweene this Life and it: For all thynges in it, are as one Daie, one Houre, one Minute, one Moment.

Seyng therefore, that there is no Dinumeration of tyme with God, it followeth that a thouſande yeres with hym, are as one daie: and therefore the firſt manne Adam is as neere to God, as he that ſhalbe laſte borne, the daie next afore the Generall daie of Iudgement. For God reſpecteth not tyme, according as the ſame is in length, but rather (as it were) aſlope: as if a man ſhould behold and looke vpō a verie long Tree, liyng ouerthwarte or aſlope afore hym: For ſo ſhould he with one glaunce of his eye, beholde bothe the endes thereof at once: whiche he could not doe, if he ſhould ſtande at the one ende, and beholde it long wiſe. Now, we mortall Creatures can not by our owne reaſon, beholde and conſider the Tyme, but accordyng to the length, by numbryng and addyng yere to yere, from Adam till the laſte daie. But with God, all thynges are lapped vp as it were in one bundle, and ſeen with one bluſhe: What we thinke to de long, the ſame with hym is ſhorte, and contrariwiſe. A man when he dieth, lieth buried in the Earth, and his bodie is conſumed into duſte, neither knoweth he any thyng: but when he ſhall ariſe againe in the laſte daie, he ſhall thinke he hath ſlept as it were ſcarcely as houre▪ then ſhall he ſee and beholde a greate multitude that liued after hym, of whom hee knewe nothyng at all. Saincte Peters meanyng therefore is this: The Lorde is not ſlacke to performe his promiſe, as theſe Mockers and Skorners doe thinke that he is, but is pacient and long ſuffryng: therefore be ye ready againſt the laſte daie, whiche will come ſooner then ye looke for: and will ſodainly ouertake the wicked Worldlynges, as Saincte Paule ſaieth: j. Theis v. When thei ſhall ſaie, peace and ſafetie, then ſhall come vppon them ſodaine deſtruction, as the trauaile vpon a woman with child, and ther ſhall not eſcape ▪ That daie ſhall come with ſuche a noiſe, and ſhall ſo ſodainly (as it were a terrible tempeſt) fall vpon the world, that al thinges ſhalbe conſumed in a moment.

Seyng therefore that all theſe thinges muſt be diſſolued, what maner perſons ought ye to be in holy conuerſation and godlineſſe, Lookyng for, and haſtyng vnto the commyng of that daie of God?

SEyng that ye know, that all theſe thinges ſhall paſſe awaie, bothe Heauen, Earth and all thinges therein: conſider and waigh with your ſelues with what holineſſe of life and godlineſſe of conuerſation ye ought to ſtande readie againſt that daie. For S. Peter ſo deſcribeth this daie, as that it is euen now at hande: againſt the whiche, wee ſhould not onely be in a readineſſe, but alſo moſte ioyfully and gladly expect and looke for the commyng thereof. Yea, he would haue vs with moſte willing myndes to goe to meete the Lorde in that daie, as in whiche, wee hope at length to bee clearely ridde and deliuered from the tyrannie of Sinne, Death and Hell.

By the whiche the heauens beyng on fier, ſhalbee diſſolued, & the Elementes ſhall melt with heate. But we looke for newe Heauens and a new Earth, accordyng to his promiſe, wherein dwelleth righteouſneſſe.

THE Lord by his Prophetes in ſundry places hath promiſed that he will create newe Heauens and a newe Earth, as Eſay. Lxv. Loe, I will create newe Heauens and a newe Earth, and the former ſhall not be remembred not come into your mynde. Againe: Eſay xxx. The light of the Moone ſhalbee as the light of the Sunne, & the light of the Sunne ſhalbe ſeuenfold, and like the light of ſeuen daies. And Chriſt ſaith Matth. xiij. that the iuſt ſhall ſhine as the Sunne, in the kingdome of their father. But how & after what faſhion al this ſhall come to paſſe, we cā not tell, ſauing that it is faithfully promiſed by him who can not deceiue, that there ſhalbee newe Heauens and a newe Earth, in which ſhall dwell no ſinne & vncleanneſſe, but righteouſneſſe and they that bee the children of God, as Paule alſo Rom. viij. witneſſeth. There ſhalbe nothyng but ioye and perpetuall ſolace, to wit, the kyngdome of God and all felicitie.

Here he that would bee inquiſitiue to knowe, whether the elect and bleſſed ſhal at that tyme bee in the Heauens or on the Earth: Truely this place ſoundeth, that thei ſhal remaine and dwell on the Earth, ſo that al, both Heauens and Earth ſhalbe as one Paradiſe, wherein God himſelf will dwell. For he not onely dwelleth in the Heauens, but euery where: and therfore where he is, there ſhall the elect alſo bee.

Wherefore, beloued, ſeeyng that ye looke for ſuch thynges, bee diligent that ye maie bee founde of hym in peace, without ſpot, and blameleſſe.

FOrſomuche (ſaieth he) as ye haue eſcaped ſo great miſchieues and daungers, and ſhall come to ſuche and ſo great ioyes, this ought not a little to moue you, to contemne and deſpiſe all the thinges of the Worlde, and with pacient myndes to ſuffer what aduerſitie ſoeuer ſhalbe allotted vnto you: and this is it, that he ſaieth, ye ought diligently to endeuour yourſelues to liue without ſpot and blame, and after this [illegible: 1 letter]orce in peace to expect and looke for that daie.

And ſuppoſe that the long ſuffryng of our Lorde is ſaluation,

IN that, hee ſo long ſpareth you and deferreth his iudgement, and doth not by and by iudge you, think ye it your greate gaine and auaile. He hath cauſe enough to be angrie with you, and euen by and by to take preſent reuenge vpon you, but ſuche is his mercie and clemencie, yt he ſpareth you & pardoneth all your tranſgreſſions.

Euen as our beloued brother Paule, accordyng to the wiſedome giuen vnto hym, wrote to you: As one that in all his Epiſtles ſpeaketh of theſe thinges: among the whiche, ſome thinges are hard to bee vnderſtande, which they that are vnlearned and vnſtable, wreſt, as thei do alſo other Scriptures vnto their owne deſtruction.

SAinct Peter here giueth expreſſe teſtimonie and allowaunce of the ſounde doctrine contained in S. Paules Epiſtles: whiche prooueth that this Epiſtle was written long after the Epiſtles of Paule. And this is one of thoſe places, whereby a man maie take occaſion to thinke, that this Epiſtle was not written by S. Peter: as alſo an other ſentēce a little afore in this preſent Chapter expreſſed, dooeth inſinuate, and purporte: where he ſaieth, that God would haue no man to periſh, but would all men to come to repentaunce. For it ſeemeth to ſauour of a lower ſpirite, and to carie a meaner grace, then to one inſpired with an Apoſtolicall ſpirite is vſuall. Yet is it not altogether incredible, nor amiſſe to thinke, this Epiſtle to bee written by Peter. For ſeeyng that in this Epiſtle his purpoſe and meanyng was, not to write of Faithe, but of Loue and Charitie: be purpoſely abazeth hymſelf in his Style, as the nature of Charitie alwaies is to dooe, to the intent thereby to humble hymſelf to his Neighbour: as on the other part, Faith alwaies mounteth and lifteth vp it ſelf to Godwarde.

And this [illegible: 1 word] he well ſee would come to paſſe, that many light and vnſtable Spirites would wreſt and wring, inuert and peruert S. Paules wordes in ſundrie places: For that, in his Epiſtles there are ſome Textes harde to bee vnderſtoode▪ as where he ſaieth, that no man is iuſtified by workes, but by Faithe onely. Rom. iij. Againe, that the Lawe was giuen to knowe Sinne. Rom. iiij. & vij. And moreouer, Where ſinne abounded, there grace abounded muche more, Rom. v. and ſuche like places. For aſſoone as they heare this, they ſtraight ways breake out into theſe or ye like ſpeeches [illegible: 1 letter]f it be thus, we will liue ydlie and merilie, wee will doe to good worke at all, and yet ſhall wee (neuertheleſſe) be ſaued and iuſtified: and after this ſorte euen nowadaies doe they [illegible: 1 letter]aiſe on vs and ſhamefullie helpe vs, faiyng: that wee in our Sermons condemne and diſpraiſe good Workes. But wee maie not thinke it any meruaile or ſtraunge thyng, ſeeyng, thei haue not ſpared to wreſt and miſconſtrue S. Paules wordes.

Ye therefore beloued, ſeyng ye knowe theſe thinges before, beware, leſt ye bee alſo plucked awaie with the errour of the wicked, and fall from your owne ſtedfaſtneſſe. But growe in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lorde and Sauiour Ieſus Chriſte: to him bee glorie bothe now and for euermore. Amen.

SEyng therfore ye perfectly know all theſe thinges afore declared, and are certainly giuen to vnderſtande that many falſe Teachers ſhalbee chopped and foyſted in among you to ſeduce the Worlde, and many froward mockers ſhal wilfully miſtake and wreſt the Scriptures, not beyng willyng to vnderſtande them aright, it greatly ſtandeth you vpon, to take good heede to your ſelues, and moſte carefully to beware of them, leaſt with their falſe and erroneous doctrine thei carie you awaie from the right Faithe: but looke rather that ye dailie encreaſe in godlineſſe and knowledge, that from daie to daie through continuall preachyng and exerciſe of the Worde of God, ye maie bee more and more confirmed and ſtrengthenes.

And here wee are to beholde and note, the greate care that the Apoſtle had ouer them which had now receiued the Faith: whiche cauſed hym to write vnto them theſe twoo Epiſtles, wherein is largely and plentifully layed doune, al and whatſoeuer is expedient and neceſſarie for a Chriſtian man to know, yea concernyng thoſe thynges alſo whiche are to come. God graunt vnto vs his grace, that we maie both rightly vnderſtand alſo effectually keepe and obſerue the ſame, to the glorie of his holy and bleſſed name, and to the comforte and conſolation of our own Soules and conſciences. Amen.