Chapter 1

Theophylact of Ohrid, Exposition of the Second Epistle of St Peter the Apostle

1 Theophylact of Ohrid, Exposition of the Second Epistle of Peter — Chapter One

¹ Argument of the Second Epistle of Peter. Peter himself writes this also to those who have already believed. The Epistle is a reminder of the former things. For knowing that the putting off of his body would be swift, he was earnest to remind them all concerning the teaching in which they had been instructed. And first he expounds concerning the faith, showing that it was proclaimed beforehand by the prophets, and that the prophecies concerning the Savior are not human, but were spoken from God. Then he charges them not to give heed to those who deceive, saying that their destruction will come, as it also came upon the angels who transgressed. He foretells in the Epistle that there will be days in which mockers will walk about and will wish to deceive some, saying that the coming of the Savior is proclaimed by us in vain, because it is always being spoken of and has not yet come to pass. From these especially, therefore, he charges them to keep away, teaching them not to grow careless in the meantime. For all time is as nothing before the Lord, since one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. He firmly affirms and demonstrates that the day of the Lord will come swiftly, and he commands that all be ready for it in good works, and that they love what was written by the apostle Paul, and not give heed to those who slander these writings—since such men slander all the divine Scriptures as well. Having reminded and taught them all to know these matters beforehand, he exhorts them not to fall away from the aim of the faith; and so he brings the Epistle to its close.

² Chapter-headings of this same Second Epistle.
1. Concerning the calling that is confirmed in faith by the works of virtue, and concerning the hope of the good things to come.
2. An exhortation to the remembrance of the teaching after his departure. And how on Mount Tabor he heard the voice of God concerning Christ.
3. The foretelling of the deceitful uprising of heretics, and of their impiety and coming punishment.
4. A recapitulation concerning the wickedness of heretical men. Wherein: first, that Christ will come suddenly at the consummation of this age; second, that one must therefore make oneself ready with every virtue.

³ Chapter One. Symeon Peter and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal honor with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.[1] The name Simon is the diminutive of Symeon, as Metras is of Metrodorus, Menas of Menodorus, and Theudas of Theodosius. From the very outset he raises up the minds and souls of believers, stirring them to the same zeal for the preaching that the apostles had. For those who have obtained a grace of equal honor would not justly (or: would not, being equal,) fall short in any of those things in which they have been shown to be equals. Everywhere he girds them about with peace, which Christ also bestowed when he rose from the dead and went up to the Father, crying, Peace be unto you. And in the Church we too pray that the angel of peace may be given. And the priest bestows this on the people from the holy altar, for it is the mother of all good things. Therefore the Lord also charged his own disciples to bestow this first when entering houses.

⁴ Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord. The sense, in order, is this: To you who have obtained a faith of equal honor with us in the knowledge of God and of Christ Jesus our Lord, through the righteousness of our God, grace and peace be multiplied.

⁵ Seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue; whereby are granted to us the precious and exceedingly great promises. The sense, in order, is this: Grace and peace to you, inasmuch as all things that pertain to life and godliness, in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, have been granted to you by his divine power, which bestowed this grace upon you unto the knowledge of his glory and virtue—whereby the greatest promises have been granted—that, having escaped the corruption of the world which comes through lust, you might become partakers of the divine nature. Otherwise: the construction runs at length, but the sense is this: Inasmuch as we have received countless good things through the power of Christ, we are able to become partakers also of the divine nature and to be raised to life and godliness; we ought so to order our lives as to add virtue to faith, and through virtue to advance in godliness, until we come to the perfection of good things, which is love. And we became partakers of the divine nature through the sojourning of the Lord and God, who took up the first-fruits of our nature in himself and sanctified it by the assumption. And if the first-fruits are holy, so also is the lump. By corruption he means that which comes from worldly lust, as being composed of corruptible things and concerned with corruptible things.

⁶ That through these you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world in lust. The sense, in order, is this: That, being delivered from the corruption that is in the world, which is accomplished in fleshly lust, you might become partakers of the divine nature. For having escaped stands for having been delivered.

⁷ And for this very reason, bringing in all diligence, supply in your faith virtue, and in virtue knowledge, and in knowledge self-control, and in self-control patience, and in patience godliness, and in godliness brotherly love, and in brotherly love charity. He knows the degrees of advancement: first, faith, which is the foundation and groundwork of good things; then second, virtue—that is, works; for without these faith is dead, as James says. Upon these comes knowledge. And what is this? The discernment of the hidden mysteries of God, which does not lodge with just anyone, but with him who has trained his habit through better works. Upon these comes self-control. For this too is needed by him who has come to the measure of knowledge, lest he grow insolent at the greatness of the gift. And since one cannot keep the gift secure by self-control in a short time—the passions ever loving, when freedom restrains them, to be drawn on to the worse—patience, coming in, accomplished the whole, and procured godliness, perfecting the trust toward God. Therefore to godliness was added brotherly love, and upon all the fullness of all good things, love, as it seems both to Paul and to the truth. For love constrained both the Son of God and his Father: the Father, to give his beloved Son; the Son, to pour out his blood for us.[2]

⁸ For if these things are yours and abound, they make you neither idle nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. These things—which? Faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly love, charity; which must not only be present, but also abound. For if their presence profits, much more their abundance. And what is the profit from them, but to have boldness toward the second coming of the Lord? For upon the one who does not have these, when the Judge comes in glory and flashes like the sun, blindness follows; since even if his sight were sound, not even so could he gaze undisturbed upon that surpassing brightness, for what shines too exceedingly with light naturally (dims the eyes of those who can bear it but feebly).

⁹ For he in whom these things are not present is blind, shortsighted, having forgotten the cleansing of his former sins. Therefore the rather, brethren, be diligent to make your calling and election sure. To be shortsighted is said for to be blind, from the moles under the earth that remain wholly blind. And this is like what was said by the blessed James, that If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man beholding the face of his birth in a mirror. For this man too, having come to know himself through being cleansed by holy baptism—that he was washed from a multitude of sins—ought to have known that, having been cleansed and having received holiness, he should be sober, that thereby he might keep the sanctification without which no one shall see the Lord; but he forgot it. Therefore the rather, he says, my brethren, be diligent, showing your calling and election to be abiding—that is, the catechetical word which you heard at your election—and to be without reproach in your calling, lest you be judged as having forgotten the gift of God, but rather remain holding your calling sure.

¹⁰ For doing these things, you shall never stumble. For so an entrance shall be richly supplied to you into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I will not be negligent always to put you in remembrance of these things. Doing these things—which? The aforesaid: namely, virtue, knowledge, and the rest. And observe how, having first exhorted them from the more fearful things—the tribunal of the Judge—he now exhorts them from the good things, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of God.

¹¹ Though you know these things and are established in the present truth. Yet I think it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle is swift, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me. Lest, being continually reminded of the same things, they should think they were hearing these things as men condemned to idleness, and be grieved, he added, Though you know these things and are established in the present truth. And, giving the reason for his continual reminding, he added that he knew the departure from this body of his would be swift.

¹² Moreover I will be diligent that you may always have these things, and that after my departure you may keep them in remembrance. Some, taking this in a transposed order—as, I will be diligent that even after my departure you may always have (that is, daily and continually) the remembrance of these things—wish to establish from it that even after death the saints remember those here, and intercede on behalf of the living, since those who call upon their divine grace are not outside the faith that plainly sees this happening day by day. So those, in this way. But others wish to take the saying simply about this, and to understand it thus: that I will be diligent that after my departure you may always have the remembrance of these things means, for this reason I am continually pressing upon you, chanting the same things to you, that, having formed in you a habit concerning these matters—and not a condemnation of disobedience and ignorance—you may have, by the constancy and unshakableness of your grasp of them, even after my departure from life, the ordinances concerning these things sure and indelible.

¹³ For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Having said that they ought to be most earnest about the things he had preached to them, and having stretched out his discourse at length about this—though they knew it and had heard it variously—he now says: It is not in vain that I show my diligence about these things, but knowing their critical importance, I do not hold back from it. And what is this? Not to have used human wisdom toward us (or: you), and, by bewitching your hearing with embellished words, to have made known to you the power and coming of the Lord—as the Greeks and the heretics do: the Greeks, attending to beauty and to poems, deceiving; the heretics, by their fabrications. For it is likely that even then they were already beginning to spring up. Nothing of the kind, then, can be discerned among us; for with plain speech we made our teaching to you, as Paul also says to the Corinthians—and the things we held from our own eyewitness, we who went up with him on the holy mountain. He means the glory shown to them in the Transfiguration by the Only-begotten, and the voice which they heard borne from heaven by the Father on account of the Lord. And since through the events we came to know the things foretold beforehand by the prophets, we judge, he says, their prophecy the more sure through these. For the events followed upon the words. Therefore you also do well to give heed to the prophecy, that is, to the things spoken beforehand by the prophets, even if they were spoken dimly by the prophets at that time.[3]

¹⁴ For, having received from God the Father honor and glory. This he set down either in place of a finite verb—having received, for he received—since the sequel of the participle does not, by the rule of the construction of the discourse, carry the apodosis into a finite verb. Or, if not this, but if one will not here take having received as that man does, then by the participle the discourse will necessarily slip into something unconstrued; but if having received is taken as standing for the finite he received, the following clause will be consistent: as, For he received from God the Father glory.

¹⁵ When such a voice was borne to him by the majestic glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice we heard borne from heaven, being with him on the holy mountain. Not that there is any prophecy from above concerning the voice borne by the Father; but that, from the Father’s voice from above bearing witness to the Sonship, we were made firm that all the oracular utterance through the prophets refers, beyond contradiction, to him who is witnessed to by the Father. Three times we know our Lord Jesus Christ to have been witnessed as Son by the Father: at the baptism; in the Passion, in the words I have glorified it, and will glorify it again; and on the mountain.

¹⁶ And we have the prophetic word more sure, to which you do well to give heed, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn and the morning star arise in your hearts. Giving heed, he says, to these things spoken by the prophets, you will not miss the hope. For when the events come to pass each in its own season (which he also called day, persisting in the figure; for he said lamp, and a place, namely dark, which is also night)—when the day comes, that is, the coming of the events, you will have the morning star rising in your hearts; that is, the coming of Christ, foretold beforehand by the prophets, and brightening your hearts as a true light.

¹⁷ Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture comes of its own interpretation. For prophecy was never brought by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were borne along by the Holy Spirit. The prophets knew both the things they were inspired with by the prophetic Spirit and the subject of them; yet not exactly so, nor as it was fulfilled in each particular. Therefore they also desired to see the outcome, as the Lord foretold. And he explains why the prophets did not interpret the things spoken by them. And by this he also distinguishes true prophecy from the demonic and counterfeit kind, which is found also among the heretics. That no prophecy of Scripture comes of its own interpretation means this: that the prophets receive their prophecy from God, yet not as those men wish, but as the divine Spirit works; and they knew and understood the prophetic word sent down to them, yet they did not make its interpretation. And that the prophets, being worked upon by God, knew that the word is sent down to them from the divine Spirit, is plain: for they ministered willingly, and what they wished they spoke, and what they did not wish, they kept silent—which is not so with the false prophets. For these did not know in their being worked upon, but, becoming frenzied with madness, were ignorant of what they suffered, like men drunk. The holy prophets, on the contrary, although they knew, had no need to interpret their own utterances, but ministered them to others (for to us, he says, and at the same time also) that the coming of the Lord might not be hidden, nor be plotted against by the ungodly. For when plotted against, it was able to escape, through the power of the Lord. But it is likely that, the escape sometimes happening through marvelous means, what was accomplished of the Incarnation seemed prodigious. And that this is true is plain from the prophets in the New Covenant, who also interpreted themselves when prophesying—if not all of them—for there was no suspicion of any such thing in the New. But that the prophets did not utter their oracles in ecstasy is plain from this also. For since those in the Old and in the New prophesied from one Spirit, Paul says, But if anything be revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. For it is clear from this that the prophets, standing in their natural state, prophesied willingly. Therefore, when another rose up inspired, the first who was speaking was permitted to be silent—which one could not find in the case of madmen. For how shall he be silent who does not even know what he is doing? And that there is an energy of the Holy Spirit in the prophets, Paul himself says, declaring, To one is given the word of wisdom, and to another prophecy.

2 Chapter Two — Exposition of the second chapter

¹ But there were also false prophets among that people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who shall bring in heresies of destruction, and denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their licentious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be blasphemed. And through covetousness shall they make merchandise of you with fabricated words. By false teachers he means the followers of Nicolaus and of Cerinthus. And since the name of prophecy is applied in common both to the prophets and to the false prophets, he now makes them secure, that they should not give heed to the false prophets. And what makes the distinction, Paul taught, that No one says “Lord Jesus” except in the Holy Spirit. And from here he begins his assault upon the heresy of the Nicolaitans, saying that their wickedness is twofold. For they are most impious concerning doctrines, which he showed by their blasphemy against the Master Christ; and concerning life, most licentious. And this he also sets forth now through their foul deeds; but going on a little further, he will bring it out more plainly. For in saying covetousness now, he signified their base love of gain. For covetousness sometimes signifies injustice, and sometimes simply base gain. Hence fittingly he added to make merchandise; and, alienating them utterly from the divine teaching, he said that they use fabricated words. But they shall have, he says, the wages of impiety—death. And the word of old is significant of the foreknowledge of God. And just as for the good he foreknowingly prepared good things, so also for the wicked the place suited to them. For their judgment of old does not linger.

² Whose judgment of old does not linger, and their destruction does not slumber. Not simply does he proceed from the more honored cases, but wishing to show that these men, in sinning, are the more liable to judgment. Since, then, these men too have the more honored standing—as having been called first to apostleship, yet having turned aside from the straight way—they shall have the greater condemnation too. Having raised hypothetically the exemplary proof, he did not render the consequence of the figure, but mingled the example with the assumption of the righteous. And while he ought to have made the apodosis upon what was first set forth—that is, concerning those who sinned, for whose sake also the example was given—and to say, If he did not spare these, will he then spare the licentious men of the present? (by way of denial: Much more will he not spare these either)—he does not do this. Why? Because this apodosis is found, when two examples are set forth, of the good and of the evil, to apply to the evil alone, and no longer to the good as well; for evils are not requited to the good. In cases, then, where a single apodosis did not suffice to complete what was set forth, he managed it otherwise in the phrasing, and by an exclamation accomplished what was owed. And why does he add to the evil the examples of the good? It shall be told in the fitting place. As, then, we have said in anticipation, neither does the sense follow the prior matters according to the figure of the apparent discourse. For the apodosis that is wont to follow such constructions does not here apply; but there is a simple exemplary proof, both of those punished for sin and of those honored for righteousness. As if he were saying: God knows both how to punish without sparing, inexorably, those who live in sins—as the angels that sinned, as at the Flood, as the cities of Sodom—and again how to honor those who work righteousness, as Noah, as Lot. And the construction is of this kind: Having said that the false teachers shall be punished for their blasphemies and for their licentious life, he brings in the examples: For God did not spare the angels that sinned, nor the ancient world. And again he expounds those who practiced righteousness, that he preserved both Noah and Lot for their chastity from the destruction of the men of their time. For Noah was not carried away by the impiety of those before the Flood; and Lot, having in no way emulated the licentiousness of those in Sodom, but rather, when the angels in the form of men were lodged with him, did not deliver them up to those who demanded them for licentiousness—although he was outraged in countless ways by those who demanded them. For this he indicated by the word oppressed.

³ For if God did not spare the angels that sinned, but, casting them into Tartarus with chains of darkness, delivered them up to be kept unto judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, the eighth person, a herald of righteousness, bringing a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with overthrow, reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who should afterward live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the conduct of the lawless in licentiousness—for that righteous man, dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, day by day vexed his righteous soul with their unlawful deeds—the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. This too he says concerning Lot: The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and what follows. And having said nothing beforehand concerning the righteous, but only concerning the ungodly and their punishment, he inserted the examples of these also: first, because history records together both the destruction of the ungodly and the salvation of the righteous; then, because by the comparison of these—exalting the evil of those who sinned, making bright the good deeds of those who did well; and further, persuading the hearers, on the one hand, to hate licentiousness because of the punishments, and on the other, to draw to themselves the good deed because of the salvation.

⁴ But chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise lordship. From here, deftly, from the foregoing examples, he came to the present subject. He speaks concerning the accursed Nicolaitans, and Naasenes, and Cerdonians. For their wickedness is of many names, and is found confused (in foul deeds, so also in names). For these men, as we have already said, having posited Bythos (Depth) and Sige (Silence) as the primal sources of the world’s generation, and having spun monstrous tales of certain mothers and aeons from these—as did Marcion also, who took evil seeds from them—then, putting away through these the Dominions of the world’s creation, and casting off all reverence, went off without fear into every fleshly uncleanness. And if anyone wishes to learn about these things, taking in hand the book composed about them by Irenaeus the Celt (or: of the Celt), entitled Against Knowledge Falsely So Called, he will find their sins—above all through Mark the most licentious, and the women corrupted by him—and the other unlawful deeds done by the rest, which one could not set forth even in writing, since they harm even through the memory. For those who, out of contempt, do not fear lordship—what wonder, if they went off without fear into every wickedness? The apostle Jude, the blessed one, will speak about these things more plainly, where he also makes mention of the body of Moses. For he himself now only struck upon it in passing, touching and at the same time breaking off the discourse about it. From him, then, and taking the occasions from the matters before us, they have made use of them.

⁵ Presumptuous, self-willed, they do not tremble to blaspheme glories. One must supply who they are. And they do not tremble at glories stands for contemptuously they are not afraid to blaspheme every glory.

⁶ Whereas angels, who are greater in strength and power, do not bring against them a blasphemous judgment before the Lord. Wishing to restrain them from their boldness in these matters, he says, Whereas angels, who are greater in strength and power, do not bring against them a blasphemous judgment before the Lord—saying the same as the blessed Jude, as we said; since he too, in chastising the loose talk of certain men, makes his admonition from the same example. More fully, however, in what he says: But Michael the archangel, and so forth, did not dare to bring a blasphemous judgment. Such a thing, then, Peter too wishes to say now: that these wretched men have nothing of restraint in blaspheming glories, whereas not even the angels themselves, being greater in power and strength—namely than these abominable men—do not bring, that is, do not put forward against them, concerning the glories, a blasphemous judgment before the Lord. For since the devil too partakes of some glory, by reason of being the first of God’s creation, the angel did not utter a blasphemous word against him. For if the one more worthy to be blasphemed—I mean the devil—nevertheless, because he partakes of glory, did not meet with this from Michael before the Lord, then those who readily blaspheme glories, being borne far behind the honor of the angels, could in no way be sober. By glories he means the divine powers, or also the ecclesiastical authorities, against whom these blasphemers continually set themselves.

⁷ But these, as irrational animals, born by nature for capture and corruption, blaspheming in the things they do not understand, shall utterly perish in their own corruption; receiving the wages of unrighteousness, counting it pleasure to revel in the daytime. Some expounded this thus: As irrational animals born by nature, they shall be corrupted in their own corruption—that is, differing in nothing from beasts, which came into being only for corruption. As irrational animals by nature—that is, living by sense alone, not by mind and the intellectual life; therefore also easily captured by the round of corruptible life, led and carried about by anger and lust. In the things they do not understand—that is, blaspheming in the ignorance proper to them—they shall be corrupted in the corruption they deserve, receiving the wages of unrighteousness, which they willingly procured for themselves. Counting it pleasure to revel in the daytime. That which is truly desirable, and the true and lovely gladness and pleasure, they place in the daily enjoyment of the gullet. One must note, however, that the divine Scripture, when it reproaches the things naturally present in men—that is, the things present as in animals—likens them to the irrational beasts, saying, Man, being in honor, did not understand; he was compared to the senseless beasts, and was made like them; and, Do not be as the horse and the mule; and, They became as lust-maddened stallions; and, Be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves; not transforming the natures by saying these things, but only exhorting men to turn aside their natural impulses. But when it commands something for salvation, it sends the likeness up to the better things; as, Be merciful, as your Father who is in heaven. Neither here does it transform the natures, but commands them to do this so far as their strength allows.

⁸ Spots and blemishes, reveling in their deceits while they feast together with us; having eyes full of an adulteress and of unceasing sin; enticing unsteadfast souls; having a heart trained in covetousness; children of a curse; who, forsaking the straight way, have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. But he had a rebuke for his own transgression: a dumb beast of burden, speaking with a man’s voice, restrained the madness of the prophet.[4] The sense, in order, is this: Spots and blemishes, having a heart trained in covetousness (that is, trained by covetousness), children of a curse, feasting together with you; having eyes full of an adulteress and of unceasing sin, they entice unsteadfast souls—whom Paul also called little women laden with sins; and these same men, forsaking the straight way, went the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, and so forth. Their voices are waterless springs, clouds vanishing away by the storm, and so forth. And for what cause is the gloom laid up for them unto the age to come? Because of their swollen vanity, by which they entice those who formerly were turned about in error, drawing them back into that very relapse—into licentiousness and into the lusts of the flesh—so that they return like a dog to its own vomit. The intervening clauses are declarations and confirmations of their vanity. And the sense is this: Having nothing that pertains to purity, but, like spots fastening on a clean garment, fastening on the unsullied way of life, when they have deceived some and have been able to make their companions and women licentious in other ways, they count the deed a delight, fulfilling their own licentiousness. And in feasting together with you, they do this not out of love, he says, nor for the sharing of bread, but because they find this an opportune time for their deceit toward women. For these, having eyes, look at nothing else but adulteresses; and looking and sinning unceasingly in this, as children of a curse, they entice unsteadfast souls. For their heart has been trained for nothing else but covetousness (that is, of licentiousness and of possessions, for the sake of which), having forsaken both these and the way that guides them to salvation, they went astray from it, suffering the same thing as Balaam the son of Bosor; since he too, for bribery and the wages of unrighteousness, loved these things. And he had as a rebuke of his own transgression a dumb beast of burden, which, speaking with a man’s voice, restrained the madness of the prophet. From this we learn that, because of his natural passion which Balaam fostered through his frenzied sorcery, having once been hindered by God, he was eager a second time, in contentiousness, to go to Balak; and being bound by the fear of God and by the terrors along the way, he did not pervert the word of blessing—which was not a matter of divination. For the prophets, knowing, utter what they utter. Therefore he also called him a prophet, as one who knew what he uttered. For he would not have been in the choice of the better things, being ignorant of what he uttered. The blessing, then, was not of divination, but of the power of God.[5]

⁹ These are waterless springs, clouds driven by a tempest, for whom the gloom of darkness is kept unto the age. For uttering swelling words of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, in licentious ways, those who were truly escaping from those who live in error. Promising them liberty, while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whatever a man is overcome, to that he is also enslaved. Having digressed at length, in the course of which he brought forward the example of Balaam, he took up again the discourse concerning the unclean Gnostics. And he likens them to waterless springs, as having lost the pure and drinkable water of life that belongs to the preaching; but he also compares them to clouds driven by a wind—the wind of the adversary; therefore he also called it a tempest, as whirling about and confounding that which is driven. They are not, then, he says, translucent clouds, like the saints, but mists full of gloom; and as to why, he added the cause: that they utter swelling words out of vanity, enticing through fleshly lust, in licentious ways, those who had truly and once for all escaped the people who formerly lived in error, and had thereafter been brought under the Lord. But also, he says, being themselves slaves of the aforesaid uncleanness, which he justly calls also corruption, they promise liberty to those they deceive; therefore he adds a marvelous argument, that they are slaves of sin. For by whatever a man is overcome—by what passion—to that he is also enslaved. They themselves promise liberty to others. This will be known more fully through what follows.

¹⁰ For if, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returning to its own vomit, and a sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. By the foregoing he establishes two things: that the one overcome must of necessity serve the one who overcomes; and that those who, after the knowledge of the truth, are again held fast by their former ways, have fallen into evils worse than the former. And to these he adds the proverb as a witness. The discourse runs thus: For if, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome by them, they assuredly also serve them, and have become, in respect of slavery to them, worse than before the knowledge—Satan zealously striving to bring them round to worse things. Therefore the Apostle also says that, since this lies in store for those who sing the recantation of evils, it would have been better for them not to have known at all than, having known, to be taken in worse things; since a dog too, returning to its own vomit, is the more abominable, just as also a sow seeking to roll, when it does this in the mire, appears more filthy than its former filth.

3 Chapter Three — Exposition of the third chapter

¹ This second epistle, beloved, I now write to you, in both of which I stir up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you may be mindful of the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of your apostles of the Lord and Savior. From this we learn that Peter’s epistles are two in all. And the phrase in both of which I stir you up means this: In which epistles—that is, through which epistles—I stir up the sincere mind in you. For it belongs to a pure mind to be mindful of the saving things already heard or laid up, and to be stirred up to the renewal of the working of them with all power and eagerness. And they were laid up through the proclamations of the prophets and the apostles. Therefore Paul also says, Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. For all of them proclaimed the coming of the Lord; and it is not possible to disbelieve so many witnesses. And why, he says, do I speak of prophets and apostles? Because they proclaimed both the first and the second coming of the Lord himself, our Savior. And the construction is thus: To be mindful of the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets, of the commandment of your apostles, of the commandment of the Lord and Savior. For the preposition by applies in common. And as to why he urges that this remembrance be rekindled, he adds that those who live according to the passions, after their own lusts, seeing some who fear the coming of the Lord—which he, with other God-bearing men and the Lord himself, foretold—and on its account setting aside their unseemly way of life; and chiefly because the experience does not come hard upon the heels of the words, but is prolonged for the sake of the salvation of those written in the book of the saved—these men fasten shamelessly upon believers, mocking them.

² Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last of the days mockers, walking after their own lusts, and saying: Where is the promise of his coming? For since our fathers fell asleep, all things continue thus from the beginning of creation. For this they willingly fail to know. That the experience of the Lord’s coming does not follow hard upon the heels of the words, he says, is for the sake of the salvation of the many who are enrolled in the book of the living—yet they fasten upon believers as mockers, jeering and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? Through this, then—the coming not yet having arrived, for the reasons we have stated—it is not right also to disobey the other saving commandments of the Lord, being dragged headlong by the counsels of evildoers. Now these things the Gnostics of those times—that is, the Naasenes, and Lampetians, and Euchites—prated. He says that all these willingly fail to know; for of their own will they shut their eyes to the truth. And what is it that escapes them? That, just as at the Flood there were heavens, according to the account of Moses’ antiquity, out of water (for he says that God himself commanded a firmament to come to be in the midst of the water), and the earth likewise, holding together out of the waters by his command, being wholly submerged for them, and as the heaven and earth consisted of waters, the Flood came upon them unexpectedly—so also now corruption is laid up for the whole through fire, with which the ungodly too shall perish. For there being two most cohesive elements of the whole, water and fire, from which the two other elements take their being—air being seen when waters are vaporized, earth when waters are condensed, its generation being as from fire and from condensation, with none of the sensible doubting it (for the nature of fire received this power from God the Maker)—there being, then, two, and the former corruption of the ungodly having come through the waters, it is wholly necessary, he says, that the corruption of the ungodly come about through fire.

³ For of this they are willingly ignorant, that the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and through water, by the word of God. Out of water, as from a material cause; through water, as through a final cause. For water is what holds the earth together, binding fast its dust as with glue, and providing it with subsistence. For if not for this, it must needs dissolve into dust and be turned to air. But someone, talking foolishly, will perhaps assail us: Why, then, did God, when he gave the visible world its subsistence, not make it stable from the beginning—from which there would be need to restore it to the right state, once by the Flood in the time of Noah, and at the consummation by fire, as Peter now says? To this we shall say that it is not possible for it to be unchangeable. For how should that be unchangeable which received its being out of change? For it was brought from non-being into being—which no sensible man will deny is alteration. And since the alteration advanced to the worst, being mixed up with the worse, the Maker of it, necessarily leading it back to the better, made the cleansing in Noah’s time through water, and at the consummation through fire. For we too are accustomed to smelt materials with fire, not that we may give them non-existence, but that we may bestow on them what is pure and unalloyed; and this no one will disbelieve. In the same way God also promised to act through fire at the consummation; for it destroys the superfluous things, and those that contribute nothing to human constitution—such as plants, cattle, herbage. These superfluous things, then, shall be destroyed for the sake of the incorruptible life. Since, then, these things are so, those talk in vain who seek that this visible world should not have been incorruptible from the beginning. If this is so, let one not suppose it should be reckoned also of the intellectual essence—since it too was brought forth out of things that were not—but he does not yet understand how that simplicity procures imperishability and the being ranked near the blessed and divine nature in its existence.

⁴ By which the world that then was, being flooded with water, perished.[6] Through the heaven and the earth: the earth flooding it with water, and the heaven loosing its cataracts of water upon the earth. And the word perished—do not understand it of the whole world, but only of the living creatures, which give form, as it were, to the whole world. For when bereft of these, it would no longer be a world.

⁵ But the heavens and the earth which are now, by his word are stored up, kept for fire unto the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. That the corruption of the whole comes about through fire seems good not only to Christians, but also to the wise men of the Greeks. But someone will say: And what is the point of its having a subsistence, if the world must again pass into corruption? We shall say, then, that the world will not pass utterly into corruption, but unto renewal. Therefore the Prophet also says, And you shall renew the face of the earth. For just as the sensible creation, having received its subsistence from God, is fair; but, because of man’s transgression, the creation itself also was subjected to vanity—that is, to not having its being secure—then through the Flood, there being few God-fearing men on the earth, and the world receiving as it were a second beginning, through Noah and the living creatures preserved in the ark, that seed might again be established for the world; yet even so, the nature of men that had gone before not recovering, but flowing away to things worse than the former—from which neither the law given through Moses turned it back, nor the coming of the Lord—since, then, the calling to salvation is manifold, and the destruction from disobedience is of many kinds, for this reason the deluge of fire shall be necessary: a corruption, indeed, even if not complete; for it is not a corruption of souls, nor even of bodies; for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ—not without bodies, with souls alone, but with incorruptible bodies. For how could the soul be punished, naked of the body, when it receives back the things done through the body? For it is not the part of a just judge, when two have offended together, to release the one, and to lay the whole of the charge upon the other. And besides, because we too are accustomed to cleanse impure materials with fire, and to restore them to purity. And the phrase kept unto the day of judgment and destruction—thus the “unto the day” is to be taken in common: that is, unto the day of judgment, and unto the day of destruction. And of judgment stands for of condemnation.

⁶ But of this one thing be not ignorant, beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Having concluded the discourse concerning the consummation—that it will be, both from water and from fire (all of which we too have set forth more at length)—he passed over to the prolonging of the time of the world’s consummation, and says that the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering, awaiting your salvation and the fullness of those to be saved. Inasmuch as he is infinite, nothing is prolonged for him, but even the thousand years are as one day with him; or rather, according to David, not even the smallest fraction of a day (for he says thus, For a thousand years in your eyes, O Lord, are as yesterday, which is past, and as a watch in the night; by the watch indicating the briefest span), having likened the thousand years to a watch of the night. And the night is divided into four intervals, seeing that the Lord also stands by the holy apostles at the fourth watch of the night, as the Gospel says.

⁷ But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with burning heat, and the earth and the works in it shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things are being dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be, in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with burning heat? The uncertainty of the Lord’s coming and its unexpectedness he indicated by the coming of the thief and by the night: by the night, the uncertainty; by the thief, the unexpectedness; for no one who expects a thief will be robbed. Therefore the Lord also says that as in the days of Noah men were making merry with drinking and marriages, until the Flood came upon them, so also the coming of the Lord shall come unexpectedly upon the ungodly. With a rushing noise signifies with a sound; and such a sound is proper to things consumed by fire. And observe that he said the earth and the works upon it shall be burned up, but not men—unless he meant only the destruction of the ungodly, that is, of their ungodly deeds, for the way of the ungodly shall perish, but not the ungodly man as well.

⁸ But according to his promise we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking for these things, be diligent to be found by him spotless and blameless, in peace; and count the longsuffering of our Lord to be salvation. The Lord will give subsistence to new heavens and a new earth, not in their existence and matter; for one who joins together a new house does not make it out of matter that did not exist beforehand. And so God, having once given the matter its subsistence and shaped it into all kinds of forms and combinations, sends away as much as was necessary for the need of that time, but for the incorruptible state hereafter is unprofitable and superfluous; but whatever is profitable, having reshaped it with incorruptible and inconceivable beauty, he will have wherewith to complete the second and incorruptible world.

⁹ Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to understand, which the unlearned and unsteadfast wrest, as also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, beware, lest, being led away with the error of the lawless, you fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and God the Father. To whom be glory both now and unto the day of the age. Amen. This too Paul said, in the words, The goodness of God leads you to repentance. And if the longsuffering of God leads to repentance, and repentance is unto our salvation, then assuredly the longsuffering of God is for our benefit and unto salvation. By things hard to understand he means those things which, he says, are also perversely reported by the ungodly. For this is what to wrest signifies; and, that from one instance we may set forth the whole: the divine Paul having said, Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, they, perverting his words, said that Paul means this: Let us sin the more, that we may be the more forgiven; and this they do unto their own destruction. For as those who killed the prophets and the apostles, so also those who do away with their words through perversion, are subject to the same judgment. Since those men killed them in order to stop them, that the saving things might not profit those discipled by them; and these likewise wrest their words, that men might not lay hold of salvation through them. And by his own steadfastness he means faith in the Lord. For as in the other Epistle he ends in a prayer, so also in this one, praying that they may grow in faith in the Lord.

¹⁰ The end of the Second Epistle of the holy Apostle Peter; one hundred fifty-four stichoi.[7]