translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET translator note

text: Grk “I am already writing this [as] a second letter.” The object-complement construction is more smoothly rendered in English a bit differently. Further, although the present tense γράφω ( grafw ) is used here, English convention employs an epistolary past tense. (The Greek epistolary aorist might have been expected here, but it also occurs in situations unlike its English counterparts.)


text: The relative pronoun is plural, indicating that the following statement is true about both letters.


text: Or “I have stirred up, aroused.” The translation treats the present tense verb as a conative present.


text: Grk “to remember.” “I want you” is supplied to smooth out the English. The Greek infinitive is subordinate to the previous clause.


text: “Both” is not in Greek; it is supplied to show more clearly that there are two objects of the infinitive “to remember” – predictions and commandment.


text: Grk “words.” In conjunction with πρόειπον ( proeipon ), however, the meaning of the construction is that the prophets uttered prophecies.


text: Grk “knowing this [to be] foremost.” Τοῦτο πρῶτον ( touto prwton ) constitute the object and complement of γινώσκοντες ( ginwskonte" ). The participle is loosely dependent on the infinitive in v. 2 (“[I want you] to recall”), perhaps in a telic sense (thus, “[I want you] to recall…[and especially] to understand this as foremost”). The following statement then would constitute the main predictions with which the author was presently concerned. An alternative is to take it imperativally: “Above all, know this.” In this instance, however, there is little semantic difference (since a telic participle and imperatival participle end up urging an action). Cf. also 2 Pet 1:20 .


text: The Greek reads “scoffers in their scoffing” for “blatant scoffers.” The use of the cognate dative is a Semitism designed to intensify the word it is related to. The idiom is foreign to English. As a Semitism, it is further incidental evidence of the authenticity of the letter (see the note on “Simeon” in 1:1 for other evidence).


text: Grk “going according to their own evil urges.”


text: The present participle λέγοντες ( legontes , “saying”) most likely indicates result. Thus, their denial of the Lord’s return is the result of their lifestyle. The connection to the false teachers of chapter is thus made clear.


text: Grk “Where is the promise of his coming?” The genitive παρουσίας ( parousia" , “coming, advent, return”) is best taken as an attributed genitive (in which the head noun, promise , functions semantically as an adjective; see ExSyn 89-91).


text: The prepositional phrase with the relative pronoun, ἀφ᾿ ἧς ( af ’ |h" ), is used adverbially or conjunctively without antecedent (see BDAG 727 s.v. ὅς 1.k.).


text: Grk “fathers.” The reference could be either to the OT patriarchs or first generation Christians. This latter meaning, however, is unattested in any other early Christian literature.


text: The verb κοιμάω ( koimaw ) literally means “sleep,” but it is often used in the Bible as a euphemism for the death of a believer.


text: Grk “thus,” “in the same manner.”


text: The Greek is difficult at this point. An alternative is “Even though they maintain this, it escapes them that…” Literally the idea seems to be: “For this escapes these [men] who wish [it to be so].”


text: The word order in Greek places “the word of God” at the end of the sentence. See discussion in the note on “these things” in v. 6 .


text: Or “land,” “the earth.”


text: The antecedent is ambiguous. It could refer to the heavens, the heavens and earth, or the water and the word. If the reference is to the heavens, the author is reflecting on the Genesis account about “the floodgates of the heavens” being opened ( Gen 7:11 ). If the reference is to the heavens and earth, he is also thinking about the cosmic upheaval that helped to produce the flood ( Gen 6:11 ). If the reference is to the water and the word, he is indicating both the means (water) and the cause (word of God). This last interpretation is the most likely since the final nouns of v. 5 are “water” and “word of God,” making them the nearest antecedents.


text: Grk “the ungodly people.”


text: The same verb, λανθάνω ( lanqanw , “escape”) used in v. 5 is found here (there, translated “suppress”).


text: Or perhaps, “the Lord is not delaying [the fulfillment of] his promise,” or perhaps “the Lord of the promise is not delaying.” The verb can mean “to delay,” “to be slow,” or “to be hesitant.”


text: Grk “not wishing.” The participle most likely has a causal force, explaining why the Lord is patient.


text: Grk “reach to repentance.” Repentance thus seems to be a quantifiable state, or turning point. The verb χωρέω ( cwrew , “reach”) typically involves the connotation of “obtain the full measure of” something. It is thus most appropriate as referring to the repentance that accompanies conversion.


text: Grk “in which.”


text: Or “pass away.”


text: Or “hissing sound,” “whirring sound,” “rushing sound,” or “loud noise.” The word occurs only here in the NT. It was often used of the crackle of a fire, as would appear appropriate in this context.


text: Grk “elements.” Most commentators are agreed that “celestial bodies” is meant, in light of this well-worn usage of στοιχεῖα ( stoiceia ) in the 2nd century and the probable allusion to Isa 34:4 (text of Vaticanus). See R. Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter [WBC] , 315-16 for discussion.


text: Grk “be dissolved.”


text: Grk “being burned up.”


text: Grk “the works in it.”


text: which adds λυόμενα [ luomena ] to the verb – a reading suggested no doubt by the threefold occurrence of this verb in the surrounding verses: “the earth and its works will be found dissolved”; or the simplest variant, the reading of the Sahidic mss , οὐχ [ ouc ] preceding ἑυρεθήσεται – “will not be found”); or (3) interpretive gymnastics which regards the text as settled but has to do some manipulation to its normal meaning. Bauckham puts forth an excellent case that the third option is to be preferred and that the meaning of the term is virtually the equivalent of “will be disclosed,” “will be manifested.” (That this meaning is not readily apparent may in fact have been the reason for so many variants and conjectures.) Thus, the force of the clause is that “the earth and the works [done by men] in it will be stripped bare [before God].” In addition, the unusualness of the expression is certainly in keeping with the author’s style throughout this little book. Hence, what looks to be suspect because of its abnormalities, upon closer inspection is actually in keeping with the author’s stylistic idiosyncrasies. The meaning of the text then is that all but the earth and men’s works will be destroyed. Everything will be removed so that humanity will stand naked before God. Textually, then, on both external and internal grounds, εὑρεθήσεται commends itself as the preferred reading.


text: Grk “all these things thus being dissolved.”


text: Or “thus.”


text: has ὑμᾶς in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity. Or “you.”


text: Grk “in holy conduct and godliness.”


text: Or possibly, “striving for,” but the meaning “hasten” for σπουδάζω ( spoudazw ) is normative in Jewish apocalyptic literature (in which the coming of the Messiah/the end is anticipated). Such a hastening is not an arm-twisting of the divine volition, but a response by believers that has been decreed by God.


text: Grk “on account of which” (a subordinate relative clause in Greek).


text: Grk “being burned up, will dissolve.”


text: See note in v. 10 on “celestial bodies.”


text: Grk “being burned up” (see v. 10 ).


text: Or possibly, “let us wait for.” The form in Greek ( προσδόκωμεν , prosdokwmen ) could be either indicative or subjunctive. The present participle in v. 14 , however, is best taken causally (“since you are waiting for”), suggesting that the indicative is to be read here.


text: The relative pronoun is plural, indicating that the sphere in which righteousness dwells is both the new heavens and the new earth.


text: Grk “dwells.” The verb κατοικέω ( katoikew ) is an intensive cognate of οἰκέω ( oikew ), often with the connotation of “taking up residence,” “settling down,” being at home,” etc. Cf., e.g., Matt 2:23 ; Acts 17:26; 22:12 ; Eph 3:17 ; Col 1:19; 2:9 . Hence, the addition of the adverb “truly” is implicit in the connotation of the verb in a context such as this.


text: Grk “dear friends, waiting for.” See note in v. 13 on “waiting for.”


text: “When you come into” is not in Greek. However, the dative pronoun αὐτῷ ( autw ) does not indicate agency (“by him”), but presence or sphere. The idea is “strive to found {before him/in his presence}.”


text: The language here is cryptic. It probably means “regard the patience of our Lord as an opportunity for salvation.” In the least, Peter is urging his audience to take a different view of the delay of the parousia than that of the false teachers.


text: Grk “as also in all his letters speaking in them of these things.”


text: Grk “in which are some things hard to understand.”


text: Grk “which.” The antecedent is the “things hard to understand,” not the entirety of Paul’s letters. A significant principle is seen here: The primary proof texts used for faith and practice ought to be the clear passages that are undisputed in their meaning. Heresy today is still largely built on obscure texts.


text: Or “distort,” “wrench,” “torture” (all are apt descriptions of what heretics do to scripture).


text: Grk “knowing beforehand.”


text: Or “lawless ones.” sn These unprincipled men. The same word is used in 2:7 , suggesting further that the heretics in view in chapter are the false teachers of chapter .


text: Grk “fall from your firmness.”


text: The term “knowledge” ( γνῶσις , gnwsis ) used here is not the same as is found in 2 Pet 1:2, 3, 8; 2:20 . This term is found in 1:5 and 1:6 .


text: Or “until.”


text: places the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity. Grk “day of eternity.”