PROMISE OF HIS APPEARING 120s) eshte)Peter J. Leithart, The Promise of His Appearing: An Exposition of Second Peter © 2004 by Peter J. Leithaet Published by Canon Press, P.O. Box 8741, Masceny, ID 83843 BOO 488.7034 / www.canonpress.org 05 06070809 1011 98765432) Cover stesign by Paige Atwood, Printed in the United States of America, All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, phatocepy, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the author, exceptas pravided by USA copyright law: Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission Library of Congress Cataloging: in-Publication Data Leithart, Peter J. ‘The promise of His appearing ; an exposition af Second Peter / by Peter J, Leithart. pcm Includes index, ISBN 1-99128-026-5 1, Bible, N.T, Peter, 2nd—Criticism, interpretation, ete, 2, Bible, NT, Peter, 2nd —Prophecies. 3. Realized eschatology. I. Title, 092795,6,P7L45 2004 227°,9306—1e22 2004022136The PROMISE af His APPEARING An Exposition of Second Peter PETER J. LEITHART wet a CANON PRESS =To read more about the following titles by Peter J. Leithart, visit www.canonpress.org A Son to Me in Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel From Silence to Song The Davidic Liturgical Revolution Against Christianity A House For dty Name A Survey of the Old Testament Blessed Are the Hungry Meditations on the Lord's Supper Heroes of the City of Man A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature Ascent to Love { Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy Brightest Heaven of Invention A Chensiatt Guide te Sik Shakiopedre Plays Wise Words Family Stories that Bring the Praverbs ro LifeCONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEM. ix I. THE PIRST-CENTURY CONTEXT ...... weed 2,A LETTER OF REMINDER ...........-5 23 3. FALSE TEACHERS AMONG YOU......... 47 S-THREE WOREDS cope ce yea eed 79 SCRIPTURE INDEX ....... gamers eaeTo Smith May you be among Those who have insight Who shine brightly Like the bright firmament of heavenACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the course of preparing this brief commentary, I realized that [have spent more time with 2 Peter than with any other New ‘Testament book, Though I have not devoted exclusive attention to it for over fifteen years, | have returned to it again and again. Sometime in the murky Urzeie of the late 1980s, I frst taught through the book in a Sunday School class at Cherokee Presbyte- rian Church in Woodstock, Georgia. It was the first book | preached through when I took a pastoral call in 1989 at the Re- formed Heritage Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Alabama, and | taught it again in a Sunday School class at the Cambridge Presbyterian Church, Cambridge, U.K. More recently, I deliv- ered several lectures on the epistle at the 1999 Biblical Horizons Summer Conference, and finally taught the book to a group of friends in Moscow who have gathered for dinner and Bible study for the past several years. Peter’s second epistle, in short, is an old friend, and I hope that these various opportunities to teach through the book have given me some measure of familiarity with and in- sight into its contents. But judicce lector. In addition to the churches that have shown interest in my work on 2 Peter over the years, I wish to thank Doug Jones ofACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Canon Press, who continues to be far more generous and gentle with me and my books than either of us deserves, Jared Miller ncies in too has been an invaluable assistance, noticing incoher: my wril ng and forcing me to clarify, and Luey Jones has also assisted in moving messy manuscripts to finished books, Most of my books during the past several years have been dedicated to one of my children. The present volume is due to be dedicated to my sixth and, if present trends continue, my last son, Smith. It is deeply appropriate that this commentary on an “apocalyptic” epistle should be dedicated to Smith, who is no stranger to signs and wonders in the heavens. He was born in Huntington, England, while I was doing my doctoral work at Cambridge, and I'll never forget tearing through the night in our uncertain Freight Rover, with the Hale-Bopp comet guiding us to the hospital, We considered working some reference to Hale-Bopp into hi name but finally decided against it, Yet I have amused myself with the thought that the auspicious birth is a portent of greatness, but more importantly I trust that Smith will not be among the stars that fall from the heavens or the elements that melt with intense heat. I trust that he will instead be among those who shine brightly in the expanse of heaven, like a star for- ever and evI THE FIRST-CENTURY CONTEXT This book is not a technical commentary on the Greek text of 2 Peter (though the Greek will be appealed to as necessary or when I want to show off), and it does not give a detailed exposition of ev ery verse of the letter. Instead, it lays outa broad interpretation of the letter, and, more importantly, it lays out a broad interpretive framework for it. To do this I will focus on a set of specific issues within the letter, all of which are related in some way to the eschatological teaching of the book, which 1 argue is central to Peter’s intentions, No doubt [ have made some errors of inter pre- tation on small and perhaps even larger issues, but I hope that this reading is plausible enough to make some contribution to the scholarship on the epistle and to shift the context for discussion of ifs contents Asignificant shift in orientation and context is, [believe, neces sary to make sense both of 2 Peter and of New Testament eschatolo- gy generally. The sort of shift I hope for can be easily stated: I offer a preterist reading of 2 Peter and hope that this book will contri ute to making the preterist framework of interpretation a more reputable player in New Testament studies. Preterism is the view that prophecies about an imminent “day of judgment” scattered throughout the New'Testament were fullilled in the apostolic ageCHAPTER ONE by the destruction of Jerusalem in 4,0. 70, the event that brought a al end to the structures and orders of the Old Creation or Old Covenant. Within this framework, Peter is dealing with issues fac- ing the churches of the first century as the day approaches when the old world will be destrayed. Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there are some of thase who are standing here who shall not taste death until they sec the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Mt. 16:28), and largue that Peter wrote his second letter to remind the readers of that specific prophecy of Jesus and to encourage them to cling to that promise of His appearing. For the purposes of this book, preterism is not merely a way of interpreting New Testament prophecy but also provides a frame- work for understanding New’Testament theology as a whole. In part, this is nothing more than an effort to understand the New Tes- torical context. The issues and debates that domi tament in its hi nated the New Testament era were largely about the relation of Jews and Gentiles, and derived directly from the gospel's an- hin which circumcision nouncement of a new people of God, and uncircumceis jon are equally meaningless. Preterist interpreta- tion means tr th the text.' Further, an important goal of preterist interpretation is g to understand the New Testament in the light of struggle without retrojecting post-Reformation debates into to reckon with the influence that the threat and promise of Jesus’ imminent coming, which aflects nearly every book of the New ‘Testament, had on the shape of New ‘Testament theology. For ex- ample, a preterist framework generates such questions as“Is it pos- sible that the typology of the church in the wilderness (in Hebrews, for instance) had specific reference to the first-century situation?” and “What is unique about the organization, w orship, and life of the chureh in the periad between 4.0, 30-702"and “What unique role ‘This does not mean that the New Testament has nothing to say about post-Ref- armation debates, only that those debates were net the same as the debates af the New Testamentera itself.The First-Century Context did the first-century church play in redemptive history, and how is this related to the fall of Jerusalem?” Though preterist interpretations have been around for several centuries,’ only in the past several decades has this view been en- dorsed by Protestant interpreters. A number of conservative Re- formed commentators, notably J. Marcellus Kik, Kenneth Gentry, David Chilton, Gary DeMar, R.C. 5) defended some variety of pret tament studies a preterist interpretation of Jesus’ “little apoca- lypse” (Mt. 24; Mk. 13; Lk. 21) has been promoted by G. B. Caird, N.T. Wright, Marcus Borg, and others.’ proul, and James Jordan, have ‘ism, and in mainstream New Tes- ‘hese commentators all agree that Jesus describes the end of the Old Covenant orderor Ju- daism by using language of cosmic collapse, and several argue that John does the same in Revelation. ‘The prophecies of 2 Peter 3 have also been interpreted as for telling the final collapse of the Old Creation in A.D. 70, For ex- ample, centuries ago John Owen linked the language af 2 Peter 3:8-13 with the prophecy of Isaiah 65 to argue that Peter was not predicting the end of the physical universe but the end of the Old Covenant order.* David Chilton followed Owen in this conelu- sion,* and more recently John Noe and others have presented similar See Arthur Wainwright, Mysterious Apocalypse: Interpreting the Book of Revelation (Eugene, Ore.: Wipf & Stock, 2001), 63-64, fara brief discussion of the preterist interpretation of Revelation, * Gentry, Before erusatem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation (Tyler: ICE, 1989); Chilton, Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Tyler: Dominion Press, 1987); Jordan, A Brief Reader's Guide Ta Revelation (Nicevill Press, 1999); Caird, Language and Imagery of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980); Wright, Josus and sheVictory of God (London: SPCK, 1996); Borg, Conflict, Holiness and Politics jn the Teachings of Jesus (Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, [1984] 1998). * John Owen, The Horks of Joha Owen, 16 vols.(London: Banner of Truth, 1965 68), 9134-135 ‘Chilton, Days of Fengeance, 540-545, ransfigurationCHAPTER ONE arguments.” Mainstream evangelical and liberal commentators on 2 Peter, however, continue to be almost completely unaware of preterism as an interpretive option.’ Inasense, mai stream scholarship’s failure to consider preterist treatments of 2 Peter is the understandable result of the weaknesses of the preterist readings of the book that have generally been of es exelu- fered. David Chilton’s treatment, for example, focu: sively on 2 Peter 3, since that is the chapter which is most overtly eschatological. To be fair, it should be said that Chilton’s discussion takes place in the context of a commentary on Revelation 21:1, so he can hardly be expected to treat the entire book of 2 Peter. Yet, this same narrow attention to chapter 3 is characteristic of preterist treatments | have seen elsewhere. The important question of whether 2 Peter 3 predicts an event that took place in the first. cen- tury has overshadowed the equally important questions of how chapter 3 fits with the rest of Peter's letter and whether the whole of the letter might be understood preteristically, “Noe, Beyond the End Times( Bradford, Penn. + Preterist Resources, 1999), A num- her of web sites also offer preterist readings of NT prophecy: preter arg, planetpreterist.com, preteristhomepage.com, and preteristarchive.com. The con- tentol these sites is very diverse, Alongside much insightful material, many articles endorse a heretical version of preterism that denies the future return of Christ ;, Douglas Mao (2 Peter, Jude [NIV Applica- n Commentary; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996)) occasionally refers to pas. Inhis solidly evangelical comment sages that use the image af cosmic collapse to describe historical events, but this plays virtually norolein his discussion of the letter as a whole. Late in the book, Moo acknowledges that*many early Christians looked eagerly for Christ toreturn and take them to glory” and that *Petcr himself encouraged believers to recognize that ‘the end of all things is near’ (1 Peter 4:7)" but fails to consider seriously the possibility that Peter was writing about an imminent c N Testament ent. The same goes for rman Hillyer, { and 2 Peter, Jude( New International Biblical Cammentary; New pody, Mass,: Hendrickson, 1992), and Michael Green, 2 Peter und fade (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries; rev, ed.; Leicest: 1987). Richard Bauckham raises the possibility of something like a tsit (Jude, 2 Perer, Word Bib- ies no. 16; Inter Varsit: pretcrist interpretation at a number of points but re lical Commentary no, 50[Waco, Tex. Word, 1983)).The First-Century Context Another difficulty with Chilton’s treatment is that he is cont to point to passages where the destruction of the “heavens and earth” is obviously used to describe an historical event, the collapse of'a political-religious order, It is increasingly acknowledged among New Testament scholars that this language can be used in also has to be hed that Peter is way. The language of resurrection, establi this metaphorical sense, bu is using this terminology in th: to take a parallel example, can be used to describe Israel's national zek, 37), but the church has never taken the resurrection (¢.¢., resurrection of | Corinthians 15 in this sense. I cannot say that this commentary moves from possibility to absolute certainty, but | hope to show that within 2 Peter the probability that Peter is using the terminology metapho ally is quite high Finally, should note that many of the preterist interpretations of Peter's letter have been offered by commentators who believe that ai] New'Testament prophecies were fulfilled in a.p, 70, even the r urrection of the dead that Paul predicts in | Corinthians 15," This book will not address this viewpoint in any detail, but Imust register here my strongest disagreement with it, since Leonsider it heretical. Though commentators sometimes twist | Corinthians 15 into a prophecy of the national resurrection of Israel or a de- scription of bodiless lite after death, it is perfectly evident in the context that this is not what Paul is talking about.To come to the latter conclusion, one must thoroughly overturn the common bib- lical understanding of “resurrection,” turning it into what N.T. Wright has recently called “a new and exciting way of speaking about death.” But the structural premise of Paul’s entire argument is the parallel between Jesus’ resurrection and ours, and Jesus was at pains to show His disciples that He rose from the dead witha "See, forexample, Max King, The Cross and the Parousia of Christ:The Tica Dimensions of One Age-Changing Eschaton (Warren: Parkman Road Church af Christ, 1987), ” The Resurrection of the Son of God (8 neapolis: For tress, 2003)CHAPTER ON bedy that could consume food, that had bones, that could be touched and felt (e.g., Lk. 24:39) ion, to cite Wright is not “life after death” but “life after life after death.” Resurrec agai “Nor can 1 Corinthians 15 be a description of the national resur- rection of Isracl, the formation of a “New Israel” during the first century, While such a resurrection of Israel did occur in the first century, Paul isnot talking about that in | Corinthians 15.The res- urrection that Paul describes will occur at the “end,” when all rule and authority has been subjected to the reign of Jesus and when the “Jast enemy,” death, has been defeated (vv, 24-26). Again, if lan- guage means anything at all, this cannot be a description of some- thing that happened in the first century, for it is too obvious to mention that death has not been defeated. Paul is not talking about what John calls the “first resurrection” (Rev, 20:5), whatever that might be, but about the resurrection that takes place after the Mil lennium, the resurrection to judgment, the resurrection followed by the final evacuation of death and Hades (Rey, 20; 11-15). Further, the “hyper-preterist” must reduce the Millennium of Revelation 20 to a symbolic description of a forty-year period be- tween the r urrection of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusale Whatever the difficulties of Revelation 20, one clear conclusion is that the “thousand years” symbolizes a significant period of time. When not used literally, the number one thousand is used consis- tently to describe things that are literally far more than one thou- sand: For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills, (Ps, 50;10) For a thousand years in Thy sight are like yesterday when it passes by or asa watch in the night. (Ps. 90:4) bid. , 201.The First-Century Context x He remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations. (Ps. 105:8) Itisnonsense to use“one thousand years" to symbolize a generation. By arguing that the entire letter is about Jesus’ prophecy con- cerning the coming crisis of Jerusalem and Judaism, therefore, 1 hope to bolster the preterist interpretation of chapter 3 and make the preterist framework more plausible to students of 2 Peter, To gain a hearing, however, Laim for much more than a hearing, for I willargue that the argument of the letter is only coherent if it is in- terpreted ina preterist framework, Along the way, therefore, I highlight five reasons (bold-faced, indented, and labeled as “Knock Down Arguments” for the reader's convenience) why the letter anust be interpreted preteristically if it is going to be accepted asa genuine letter atall. By the end of the book, | expect the opposing views to be lying on the canvas in a state of semiconsciousness. But the best argument for a preterist interpretation of 2 Peter will be the sense it is able to make of the letter asa whole. Persuasion, ifit comes, will come more through abduction than deduction WHO WROTE 2 PETER TO WHOM? Questions of authorship, date, and original audience can seem like the tedious preoccupations of theological nerds. There is a good reason for that perception: these discussions are often tedious when they are not far worse. Yet several introductory questions are rel- evant to my interpretation of 2 Peter and require some attention ‘Please Bear with the Nerd.” ‘This section might be labeled Even in the early church, the letter’s authenticity was ques- tioned. Although Origen referred to it without hesitation, Euse- bius mentioned that Peter left one“disputed” epistle. Nowadays iscommon, even among evangelical commentators, to see the let- ter as an example of pseudepigrapha—a work written under the name of an authoritative figure by someone else, Scholars denyCHAPTER ONE Peter’s authorship for various r ‘ons, Some understand the per- sonal allusions contained in the book asa literary device common in ancient pseudepigraphic writings. The self-identification of the author as “Sim[e]on Peter” rather than “Peter” (ef. 1 Pet. 1:1), itis argued, isan obvious attempt by the author to link himself with the Simon Peter of gospels. The claim to be an eyewitness on the Mount of Transfiguration (1: 16-18) is another of the author’s clumsy at- tempts to cloak himself in Peter's mantle, but to the discerning holar the phrase “holy mountain” (1:18) gives him away as asecond-century Christian who was interested in shrines and modern holy spaces in a way that the real Peter could not have been. The 3:16 by on, which reveals again that he is author gives himself away again ferring to “all” of Paul’s letters asa fixed collec living much later than the middle of the first century. And he blun- IL tians as“fathers” who have “fallen asleep,” for how can he be Peter if ders roya yin 3:4, when he describes the first generation of Chri the apostolic generation is dead? Some have argued, furthermore, that the situation described by the epistle is too late for Peter’s day (Peter died c. 65), since the heresies described in 2 Peter 2 are ble that second-century gnosticism, and it is of course impos there could be any first-centu ry movements like them. Other scholars have pointed tothe marked difference in style between 1 Peterand ? Peter, pointing out (rightly) that the Greek style of the latter is far more stilted and ornamented than that of the former, and recognizing that it is improbable that a single writer could write, say, both children’s tales about adventures in a world called Narnia and erudite historical studies of English literature. In con tent, finally, the book employs a number of Hellenistic terms and coneepts that would have been over the head of a Galilean fisher- man. Iwill not take time to defend Petrine authorship in any thorough way, though [ trust the reader has caught the drift of my views from the sarcastic tone of the preceding paragraph. Still, several pointsThe First-Century Context need to be addressed more directh y. Clearly, a preterist reading of 2 Peter—one that claims that the letter is concerned with the end of the Old Creation in 4.p, 70—has an investment in the author. ship question. If, as is commonly believed, Peter died under Nero in the mid-60s and if Peter wrote the letter, then the letter must have been written before the fall of Jerusalem, Assuming that Peter died before 4.p. 70, there are anumber of logical possibilit wrote the letter prior to a.p. 7 ies: (A) Peter B) Someone wrote the letter un- der Peter’s name prior to .b. 70; (C) Someone wrote the letter under Peter’s name after 4.0. 70, ‘Options A and B could support a preterist interpretation (though neither requires a preterist interpretation), but option C implies ¢ her that the letter is not about 4.p, 70 or, if itis about 4.p, 70, it is nota prophecy (since it was written after the fact), Most contemporar scholars prefer Option C, but there is one decisive reason why this must be rejected, and this same reason establishes Option A as the only possibility (assuming that the writer is the least bit honest), In 1;16, Peter assures his readers that the proph- ecies he reminds them about are reliable, since he was an eyewit- ness of the majesty of Christ on the “holy mountain” of the ransfiguration. The problem here is not simply a moral one ice., the fact that if'the writer is not Peter, he is lying about being an eyewitness to the Transfiguration. Commentators normally dodge this objection by saying that all the readers would have recognized the pscudepigraphic nature of the letter and would have “played along." The author's claim to have been with Jesus on the mountain would have been no more a lie than Lew Wallace's claim that Ben Hur witnessed the crucifixion. Fiction is not subject to the am standards of truth and falsity as a disbe! torical record.!' We suspend rand play along "" Rauckbam, who claims that 2 Peter is pseudepigraphal, says of 1-16:*itis beside the point to connect the emphasis on eyewitness testimony with the10, CHAPTER ONE The idea that pseudepigraphic writings were common and com- monly accepted in the early church is in fact untrue. Church fa thers frequently condemned pseudepigrapha as forgeries and without any authority. Th ternal to 2 Peter: the ter is not Peter. Peter cites his presence at the Transfiguration to nore serious problem, however, is in- rgument of chapter | simply collapses if Pe- prove that “the prophetic word” can be relied on. If Peter was al- ready dead and someone else was writing under his name, the writer's opponents have an obvious response: “No, you weren't!” ‘The mockers who are denying the “promise of His coming” (1:16; 3:4) would not be mpressed with a claim that the promise of Jesus’ coming was backed up by an eyewitness who was not really an eye- then he was an unscrupulous liar who is not worthy of our confidence in any witness.'?I’m with the fathers: if the writer was not Pete other respect. Neither Option Bnor C can handle Peter’ Ifthe letter has a persu affirmation in 1:16 ive and coherent argument at all, then i rust have been written by Peter, and if Peter wrote the letter, then tten before the fall of Jerusalem. it must have been w But to whom? hi authority by claiming, falsely, ta bean eyewitness of the Transfiguration. He is sim pscudepigraphical nature of the letter. The author is not trying to bolst sown plyadducing Peter's testimony as evidence that the event took place as he narrates it, and puts it in the first person form because of the literary convention he is tol~ lowing, In another sort of literary work he could have reported Peter's testimony in the thi 2 Peter, 216). To the first point Bauckham mewithstanding, itis surely the case that the writer is bolster ed person, to the same effect” (Jude iy his own authority by claiming to bean eyewitness, Anyone who says ofan event"L saw it happen" is attempting to support his competence to report on the incident. Te the second point; third-person testimony docs aot have the same effect as eyewitness testimony, as even the least competent lawyer could have told Bauckham This point is all the stronger when we recall the significance of witnesses in lil false testimony, and false witnesses were severely punished (Deut. 5,19). biblical law and Israelite saci: he'TenWards condempa witness who gives,The First-Century Context it ALIENS OF THE DIASPORA The recipients of 2 Peter are not named in the book, but there are several hints and clues that help to identify them, at least in general terms. In 2 Peter 3:1, Peter says, “This is now, belaved, the second letter Lam writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder." Possibly Peter means a letter no longer extant, but it is more likely that he is referring to the letter that we have in our Bibles as | Peter. The strongest evidence for this comes from a comparison of the phrasing and themes of the two letters. John H. Elliott's summary is worth citing:"! T Peter ? Peter 1:1 “Peter” 1:1 ete, “elect” BA +] “Peter”. ing :3, 17 “Father” 7, 13;4:13: 51,4 216, revelation, coming of :7Fete. “glory” rete. :10-11 “prophets” 20-215 3:2 14-16, ete, “holy” 211, 14; Jude 20 714 8] 17;4:5, 17 judgment” 115, 19 [spot 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1:19 [spotless] 1:22; 2:17; 3:8; 4:8; 5:9 [love] 2:12; 3:2 epoptueo 2 3: 3 4 Noche Race “UpeA Gav eusccaes mem mmtceiesceme meno 3 ft F 16 :16 [freedom] 19 219 “disobedient angel-spirits” 24; ef. Jude 6 :20, Noah, Flood 355 326 :3-4 [dissipation of unbelievers] 2:5; 3:6 "1 Petes, Anchor Bible, vol, 37B(New York: Doubleday, 2000), 141. Elliott does not accept Petrine authorship of 2 Peterand cites these parallels merely to estab. lish“alfinit ucts of different authors of a Petrine circle in Rome” (141). See the similar list of parallels in Hillyer, 1 and 2 Peter, jade, 1 etween the two books suggesting that “both documentsare prod-12 CHAPTER ONE 4:7 [end of all things] 3:10 4:11d [doxology] 3:18b 4:19 “creator” 35 ‘The fact that both letters deal with Jesus’ coming is of particular importance for my purposes. Peter says specifically that he had ear- lier taught his readers about “the power and coming of our Lord ist” (2 Pet. teaching them about events of the “last d Jesus Chri: :16), and in chapter 3 he reminds them of “and the promise of a “new heavens and new earth” (3:3, 13). Inboth cases, Peter says that he was simply reminding readers of what be had already told them, ). The “last days"and the coming “day” of judgment are themes of I Peter in the first letter at least and perhaps also in other ways ( As Elliott's list indicates, a coming judgment or revelation is men- tioned several times in | Peter: [You are] protected by the power of God through faith for a sal- vation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1:5) In this [affliction] you greatly rejaice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various temptations, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1-6-7) Gird the loins of your mind for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1:13) [The Gentiles] are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation, and they mal n you; but they shall give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead... ., The end of all things is at hand. (4:4—5, 7)The First-Century Context 13 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the suite gs of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revela tion of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation, (4:13) For itis time for judgment to begin with the household of Gods and if it begins with os first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of Gad? (4117) Therefore, | exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the suffe: gs of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God Al receive the unfading wreath of glory. (5:1, 4) among you... .And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will In several of these passages, Peter explicitly states that there is an event on his readers’ immediate horizon (1 Pet. 1:5;4:4—5, 7, 17). Even some of the passages that lack an explicit time reference refer to an event that is about to happen. The “revelation of Jesus Christ” in 1 Peter 1:7and 1:13 is doubtless the s “salvation . .. tobe revealed in the last time” in 1:5, and therefore the time reference of 1:5 (“ready to be revealed”) applies also to the manifestation of Jesus in verses 7 and 13. The revelation of Jesus, moreover, is likely the same event as the appearance of the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4). Given these passages, it makes sense for Pe- ter to say that he has already “made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:16) and that his* letter” is written to remind his readers of “words spoken before- hand . ‘The connection between | and 2 Peter makes a prima facie case “second by your apostles” (2 Pet. 3:1), including Peter himself. for a preterist interpretation of the latter. If] Peter is about a rev- elation that is “ready” to come, about an “end of all things” that is “at hand,” about a judgment that is “ready to begin” at the house of God, me event.as the coming ofCHAPTER ONE then 2 Peter, which is a reminder of things taught in the previous letter, must be about the same topic. Anyone reading the second letter with a knowledge of the first (which Peter assumes) would naturally assume that he was talking about the same imminent “coming” that he talked about in the earlier letter. Knock-Down Argument # Peter wrote his second letter on the theme of the coming of Jesus, which he says was also.a theme of his first letter, which is I Peter. Since | Peter's teach- ing about the “coming “of Jesus highlights its immi nence, 2 Peter must be dealing with the same looming event. If Peter wrote both letters to the same Christians, who are these re cipients? 1 Peter 1:1—2 describes them as “those who reside as aliens, seattered” throughout Asia Minor. “Aliens” isa literal de- scription of their geagraphic and political condition, rather thana description of a spiritual condition. They are residing in an alien land rather than in their homeland. Peter also describes them as being “scattered,” employing a Greek word related to diaspora. By Peter’s time, diaspora hac become a technical term for the disper- sion of the Jews from the time of the Babylonian captivity, and so it te aliens outside the land of promise. Ifso, these are Jewish believers, is possible that F is writing to the scattered Jews, living as not Jews in general. They area chosen people, as Istael was, but they and they are awaiting the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:7) are chosen to “obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled wi is blood,” Peter may be writing, then, to diaspora Jews who converted to Christ through the preaching of various apostles, 2 Pet. 3:15) That the recipients are Jewish believers may be supported by perhaps includ- ing Paul (1 Pet. 1:1 Peter's use of Old Testament terms and phrases to describe themThe First-Century Context 15 and their relationship with Jesus, Jesus Christ is the cornerstone laid “in Zion” (1 Pet. 2:6), Those who are outside the community are “Gentiles” (1 Pet. 2:12; 4:3), and therefore the recipients are to think of themselves as “Jews,” Even the description ot being a people” (1 Pet, 2:10) is drawn from Hosea’s description of the adul- »Yahweh treated ording to Hose: tery and restoration of Israel, Aci them as“not a people” but then wooed them back to become His 23),""Yet commentatorson 1 Peter almostall people (Hos. 1:10 agree that the letter was written to Gentiles and give several argu- ments to support this conclusion. One is that Peter describes his readers as formerly being controlled by lust and ignorance, com- mitted to a “futile way of life inherited from your forefathers” (1 Pet. 1:14, 18). These seem to describe people who have formerly been worshipers of “vain” or “futile” idols, Further, 4:34 recall that the readers have engaged in “abominable idolatries.""* Ido not find these arguments for a Gentile audience persuasive, Peter recognized that the Jews were “ignorant” in regard to Christ (Acts 3:17), and even Peter's description of the “futile way of life” inherited from their forefathers and their “idolatries” might rea sonably be applied to Jews, For many centuries, afterall, Israel had been anation of idolaters, setting up high places, worshiping Baals and Asherah, burning incense to golden calves, Paul certainly was capable of describing Isracl’s history as a history of futility and idolatry. In Romans 1, he brings God’s case ag: inst humanity in general, but his indictment includes a sharp attack on Jews in par- ticular. When Paul says that foolish men have “ exchanged the glory “The famed «lressed to the Jews of the dispersion. arly church historian Euscbius understood | Peter asa letter ad- s concise: “The readers Peter had in mind seem to have been ° Hillyer’s summary amixed group, though mainly Gentile Christians, for he refers te their pre-conver- s of ignorance of the true God (1:14), their earlier way of life 4)" (1 and 2 Peter, sion days in te (1:18), previous spiritual darkness (2:18), nd pagan vices ¢ Jude, 4),16 CHAPTER ONE of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures” (Rom, 1:23), he is quoting from Psalm 106, which is a poetic de scription of the golden calf incident, Israel, as much as the Gentiles (or more), had “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Ci ator” (Rom, 1:25),'¢ util Jews as much as Gentiles became “ n their speculations (Rom. 1:21), and the word “futile” here is the verb form of the noun used in | Peter 1:18 (mataios, mataioo). More generally, it isnot at all unusual for Scripture to describe the Israclites’ idolatry as leading to futility, even futility inherited from the fathers: Thus says Yahweh, “What injustice did your fathers find in Me, that they mataios) and became empty (LXX: nraratao)?” (Jer. 2:5) went far from Me and walked after emptiness (LXX: Thus says Yahweh, “Do not le n the ways af the nations . . . for the customs of the peoples are futility (LXX: maraios); because itis wood cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a crafts- man with a cutting tool.” (Jer. 10:23) Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; for his molten images are deceitful, and there is no breath em. They are worthless (LXX: mataios), a work of mockery, in the time of theit punishment they will perish. (Jer. 10:14—15) These references from Jeremiah are particularly important: Jeremiah was warning Judah and Jerusalem of an impending catas- trophe because of their devotion to futility; Peter, an apostolic Jeremiah as well as an apostolic Moses (see below), does the same. “Thanks to Kevin Bywater for this suggestion. “Thanks again to Kevin Bywater, who suggested these connections ina phone conversation, May 19, 2003The First- entury Context The Jewish forefathers” way of life was “futile” in several ways, In Romans, Paul charges that they herited futile idolatry and hu man traditions, following in the ways of their fathers, just as many of the kings of Judah and Israel walked in the ways of idolatrous pre- self did not achieve The law, weak through the flesh, could not bring the forgiveness of sins or decessors, Furthermore, the Old Coyenant the end of final salvation and thus was ultimately futile the new life of the resurrection (Rom, 8:1—4). While describi: the readers as participating in Gentile lusts and idolatries, 1 Pe- ter 4:34 clearly dit hes between the readers and the “Gen- tiles.” With these considerations in mind, | conclude that 1 Peter was. addressed to Jewish believers wha have been redeemed from Judaism by Christ."* By focusing on Peter's use of diaspora, we can be more specific about the circumstances of the original readers. Though this term was used in Jewish literature to describe the scattering of Jews fol- lowing the Exile, the New Testament uses the word pr |, Jews led by Saul began persecuting the church in earnest, and because of this, believ dominantly for another“scatt ing” After Stephen was ston ers in Jerusalem were “scattered.” (In Acts 8:1 the word is the v bal form of diaspora, and 8:4 repeats the statement.) Acts 11:19 mentions others scattered by this persecution going out as far as Cyprus, Antioch, and Phoenicia,as if picking up an the stary line of 8:1:"So then those who were scattered because of the persecution thata ¢ in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews alone.” In the very next verse, we read of the first efforts to pro claim Jesus to Gentiles (11:20). Thus, the diaspora from Jerusalem led immediately to the G » mission, which emanated from '* My preterist interpreta ion of 2 Peter doesnot, however, depend on this iden tification of the audience. Gentile believers scattered through Asia Minor would: also have had] interest in the impending destruction of the Old Covenant order,18 CHAPTER ONE Antioch." The New Testament records a diaspora of the Jerusalem church, scattered because of the attack of another “Babylon” (1 Pet. 5:13), which is Jerusalem. Like other descriptions of Israel (the people, seed of Abraham, sons of God, ete.), the t ch, This gives us an insight into the situation into which Peter wrote stament applies disapora predominantly to the ch. his second letter: the recipients are Jewish believers who are no longer living in Jerusalem, their home city In | Peter, the apostle gives them hope and comfort in the midst of because of persecution. their sufferings, assuring them that a judgment is awaiting their persecutors, which will soon be carried out (1 Pet. 4:35, 7, 17; 3:4). Their suffe: will be poured out upon the ¢ ing will be vindicated, the blood of the martyrs y, and the Avenger of blood will arise to take vengeance. In this context, 2 Peter 3:1—2 also makes portant for Peter to write sense—given the passage of time, itis in again to give reassurances, In his first letter, he had used strong lan- guage to convey the imminence of the judgment: the “end of all things” is near (1 Pet, 4:7), and it is “time for judgment to begin from the houschold of God” (4:17). But time passed and more and more of the apostles died, and nothing happened. Some, particu- larly the persecutors whom the church hoped would be judged, began to moc tion They raise doubts that the judgment is going to happen at all, the Christians’ expectation and hope for vindica- and some believers have broken under the pressure. An apostasy is beginning, and the focus is on the failure of Christ to return, Peter writes to assure his readers that what he predicted in his ear letter will come to pass. “Ttake James abroad" are Jewish believers who have been seattered by the persecution of Jews. cal Jewish “He is not intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, «1 in the same sense; the “twelve tribes who are dispersed In my view, the only New sense is John 7:35 and teach the Greeks, is He?” estament passage that uses diaspora in the typThe First-Century Context 19 Though this reconstruction is admittedly too speculative to use as a basis for a preterist interpretation of 2 Peter, it is obviously consist! nt with such an interpretation.” STRUCTURE ? Peter is laid out in roughly a chiastic outline, a fact that will guide us ata number of points in our interpretation of the letter: A. Fruitfulness in knowledge of Christ, t:1—-11 B, Reminder of the power and coming of Christ, 1:12-21 C. False prophets, 2:1-3 1D. God knows how to protect the C’. False teachers, 2:10b—22 B', Reminder of the day of the Lord, 3,113 418 ighteous, 2:4—-10a A‘, Encouragement to perseverance, 3 ole that Jew *Ieabso fits with portions of Revelation that highlight the unique ish believers, and their martyrdom, play in the coming of the New Creation. See Revelation 6:9-10; 7:18; 4:15, 142 this theme in Revelation is highly compressed but gets matters exactly right (see A Brigf Readers” Gunde to Revelation, passim) In the light of all th “deuteran ... epistolen,” which echoes with“Deuteronamy” (deereros nomes)—the sec- ; 16-17. James Jordan's treatment of s, the phrase * cond letter"is significant The Gree! ond giving of the law, and suggests that Peter sees himself in the situation of Moses in Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy, Moses preached on the law ar! oversaw a“sec ‘ond giving” of the law for the generation that had grown up in the wilderness to prepare them toenter the land and conquer, The parallels with 2 Peter are numer ‘ous. Peter was writing to people who had not seen the“signs and wonders” that Jesus dil while on (Exod, 19:23). They ‘Transfiguration. They did not hear the voice on the mountain, but Peter-Moses did, s to tell them of things which they did not see o hear. Like 1y, 2 Peter is Peter's “last will and testament” (113-14), Because Pe~ rth, They were not on the “holy mountain,” the new Sinai not see the glory of the Lard revealed on the Mountain of and he comes as a witne Deuteronomy ter knows that his earthly tabernacle is fading away, he sets down on paper what he has to tell the people, so that when he is gone they will beable to bring things to mind (v, 15). Similarly, Deuteronomy reoordssermans that Moses delivered at the end of his life, Just as Moses did not enter the Promised Land, Peter will not live to20 CHAPTER ONE Ina chiasm, the corresponding sections (for example, A and A’) share themes, content, or wording Within 2 Peter, there are cor. respondences between the sections in at least the following way: A/A’:The two A sections are connected by verbal links (“be di gent,” 1:10, 15; 3:14) and more generally by the fact that both are exhortations, They are also linked by the theme of “knowledge” (1:2, 3,6, 8; 3:18) and by the fact that both contain blessings (in the the farewell of 3-17-18) » sections include language of remembrance and rec- greeting of 1:2 andi B/B': The! olleetion (1:12, 13, 153 3:1, 2), Both, moreover, employ the phrase “know this first of all” (1:20; 3:3), and both are concerned with the (1:16; 3:4). tively, both sections address doubts about the reliability of Jesus’ abstan- “day” (1:19; 3:12) and the “coming” of Jesu promise to come to rescue His people. C/C’: These sections are linked by a common concern for false prophecy or false teaching, Chapter 2 begins with a reference to Isracl’s history of false prophecy (v. 1), and one of these false proph- vel s 1516. In both, Peter accuses ,20-22),and false words or heresies (2:1, 18). Both sections employ the image of ets, Balaam, is mentioned hi opponents of “sensuality” (2:3, 18), apostasy (2 a“way” or “path” to describe a manner of living (2:2, 15),and both deal with the greed of the opponents (2:3, 14-15). 1: The central section of Peter's epistle contains his assurance, based on several Old Testament events, that the Lord will judge is dwells" (2 Pet, 3:13). Peter wants to ensure that there is continuity from one generation to-the next, which i well.As the apostolic generation (the generation thateame out fram“Egypt”) dies out, he wants to encourage those who remain to take their inheritance. This setting makes an emphasis on approach- see the “new heavens and new earth in which righteous certainly key theme of De ronomy ing judgment enormously interesting to his audience. They have been scattered from Jerusalem, the blood of their brothers has been drunk by the harlot, and now Peter is saying that judgment is going to fall on Jerusalem, that she will not escape scot-free_ Jerusalem is a new Jericho, as it isin Acts and Revelation, ready to fall at the coming of Peter's“God and Savior,” Jesus,The First-Century Context 21 and will rescue His own in the midst of judgment. The beginning of this section is fairly clear: verse 4 turns from a warning about the false prophets to an assurance that the Lord will judge, But the end of the section is more difficult to determine. Verse 9 is the conclu- of “if” statements (vv. 4, 6, 7), but whether the first half of verse 10 concludes this section or begins another is dif- sion to the seri ficult to determine. I have, based on grammatical considerations that we need not detail, divided ver ‘se 10 in the middle, following the NASB in seeing verse 10a as the concluding clause of verse 9 and verse 10b as the beginning of a new section of polemic against the false teachers. One implication of this structure is that the letter is a connected whole, dealing with one main theme, namely, the power and com- ing of Jesus and false prophets who deny His power and coming, The issue of the“last days” or the “new heavens and new earth” does notarise for the firsttime at the end of the letter, Given the chiastic connection between the beginning and end, if the timing of “day” at the beginning can be determined with some certainty, so might the other. If Lean show that 1:12—21 isabout an imminent day of judg- ment, it will follow that 3:1—13 is as well. According to John Breck, chiasms not only function “statically” with balancing sections on either side ofa central section, but also function “dynamically,” so that the text circles in toward a central point, The first of each pair of corresponding sections makes a state- ment, which the second of the pair amplifies; the writer says A and then, what's more, 4 * With regard to 2 Peter, the structure works as follows. A/A": Peter urges his readers to put on Christian virtue (A), and, what's more, warns them before of the challenges they will face in living holy lives (A’). ‘Breck, The Shape of Biblicul Language (Crestwood Press, 1994), Vladimir's Seminary22 CHAPTER ONE B/B’; Pet (B), and, what's more, this promise will be fulfilled in spite of de can testify to the truth of Jesus’ promised coming lays and mackery (B’). ce’ ’ denied Jesus (C), and, what's more, they will themselves be de- stroyed (C’), 1D: We know that God can and will destroy the false teachers and mockers, and rescue His children, because He consistently has ey have he mockers are not worth listening to because 1 done this in the past. Inshort, the central thrust of the book as a whole not merely to give information about the coming day of God. Peter’s main goal is pastoral, to prepare the flock for the difficulties ahead and to as- sure them that God, the Judge of all the earth, will do right and will not let the righteous perish with the wicked when He comes to de- stroy a new Sodom,2 ALETTER OF REMINDER nean” Peter striking that | Pet, 1:1). “Simon” is a Greek translation of Peter’s given name, but“Simeon” Peter introduces himself at the outset as “Simon” or“! (most manuscripts record the latter name), and it Peter chooses to introduce himself in this manner (cf is a transliteration closer to the original Hebrew spelling. This form of Pet ta- name is used only one other time in the New ment, in James’ summary statement at the Council of Jerusalem: “Simeon related how God first concerned himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name” (Acts 15:14), By introducing himself in this manner, Peter may be giving a clue that the concerns of the epistle were of particular import to the Jewish Christians to whom he is writing or that he is dealing with Judaizing issues raised at the Council. In both Acts 15:14 and 2 Pe ter 1:1, the Hebraic form of the name is linked with an allusion ta the Gentile world, for “Peter” is a name of Greek origin and Simeon's report in Acts 15 is about the extension of God's favor to Gentil that gestures toward the issues that dominated first-century de- .‘ Right from the outset, Peter identifies himself in a way bate among Christians and between Jews and Christians, and also ‘ation of ‘There may be a further nuance to the name. An English transbiter }, which is Peter's name would be shimon (no Greek letter was sounded24 CHAPTER TWO. gives us his readersa clue regarding the lette with two titles,“ ” While “servant” might be seen as a way of 's background issues, ‘bondservant” and Peter also introduces him: “apostle ghlighting the author’s humility, in many of its biblical uses itis a title of honor, Moses was the “servant of the Lord” (Josh. 14:7), as was Abraham (Ps, 105:42), Jacob (Is. 48:20), and the coming Messiah (Is.42:1ete.).? Inthe New Covenant, the word is used with refer- ence to the entire church (1 Pet. 2:16), and it describes the absolute ple (Gal. 1:10), As servants of God, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:1, the apostles are entrusted with commitment required of the d: the secret things of God. Most interesting for our purposes is the use of this word in connection with the prophets (2 Kgs. 17:23:"His servants the prophets”; cf, Mt. 21:34). Prophets were the Lord’s servants who brought the Word of the Lord to His people, and in particular brought the “covenant lawsuit” that condemned Israel for her unfaithfulness, Peter is doing the same. The Greek word for“apostle” has its roots in the Hebrew “office” of shaliach,* the office of a specially commissioned representative who acted with the full authority of the one who commissioned him. The accent of the word is on the authority of the messenger, not New Testament merely on the fact that he acts as a messenger usage of “apostle” carries on this note of authority. Thus, we find in Matthew 10;1—2 that the designation of the Twelve changes from taken from the Hebrew verb “to hear” (shema). The: > might thus also be a veiled allusian to the eonfession of Yahweh in Deuteronomy 6 and an an nouncement that Peter's readers need to heed his own“shema.” [tis as if Peter were playing the partof Moses and saying, “Hear, O Israel.” * See also Moo, 2 Peter, fade, 33-34. ' Karl Heinrich Rengstor 8.x. "apostolos,” Theological Dictionary of the New Testoment, ed, Gerhard Kittel, trans, Geoffrey Bromily, 10 vols. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 1:414-20, "As Rengstorf puts it, “the point of the designation sheluchim is neither de scription of the fact of sending nor indication of the task invalved but simply assertion of the form of’ sending, ie. ,of authorization. This The task as such is of no significance for the quality as shalicka" (Ibid, 415) he decisive thing,A Letter of Reminder 25 “disciple” to “apostle” when they e granted authority to go ona mission. Interestingly, though the word shaliach was not used by rabbinic Judaism to refer to the prophets, it is used of prophet Ahijah in | Kings 14:6 Apostles go beyond prophets since they bear the revelation of the last days given through the Son (Heb, 1:1~3), and since they act with the full capacity of the Lord. Still, prophets and apostles are similar in various respects. In particular, like the prophets, the apostles prepare the way for the Lord’s coming by presenting the covenant lawsuit against the people of God and warning them that they have broken covenant and stand in the way of God's wrath. This has an important bearing on our interpretation of 2 Peter, Throughout the epistle, anc deed throughout the New Testa ment, there sa concern with an imminent “coming of the Lord."As Inoted in chapter 1, [believe these prophecies refer to the coming destruction of the Temple in 4.p, 70, which marked the end of the Old Creation and brought in a New Creation. Given Peter's evi- dent concern for this future event displayed in both his letters, itis no accident that Peter introduces himself to his readers with a phrase that connotes (among other things) an authoritative and prophetic office. Like the prophets, Peter warns of future events in order to stir people up to repentance and to urge the saints to continue in the way of holiness. He maves on from the introduction, therefore, to 1es here are rel- Two iss outline what Christian living looks like. evant for our purposes: Hellenism and eschatology. First, com- mentators suggest that Peter writes about the Christian life under the heavy influence of Hellenistic categories, terms, and ideas, and thus 2 Peter provides an early illustration of what the liberal church historian Adolf von Harnack called the “acute Helleniza tion” of Christianity, [will begin by challenging that argument and showing that Peter’s vision of the Christian life is thoroughly bib lical, Hebraic, and consistent with Paul. Second, the overall26 CHAPTER TWO. eschatological context of Peter’s letter has influenced the way he de scribes the Chr: ogy to say that in 1:3—-11 he ian life, It is not a trivialization of Peter's theal describing how people should live if they want to avoid being destroyed in the coming judgment. Be- low, Lexpand on that theme by showing how Peter's overview of he Christian life sets the stage for later portions of his letter. “PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE”: 1:3-I1 Man was created to be the image of God in that he is to reflect God's glory physically—to serve as God's viceroy over the earth by “multiplying, taking don jon, and subduing the earth,” and by reflecting God’s ability to create through speech in human speech and creativity. Adam was also created to be the image of God in an ethical sense: he was to be perfect, as His Fath in heaven is perfect. When he sinned, Adam lost this image of God in this ethical sense; and dominion of God, he displayed all this in a perverse way, Christ, the Last while he continued to display the beauty, creativi Adam, restored this image to all who are united to Him by faith. This way of stating Christ's purpose in redemption is more Pauline than Petrine, but Peter is writing about the same reality, though he never uses the phrase “image of God” or refers to Adam Instead he uses the striking and controversial phrase “partakers of the divine nature” (v. 4; theias koinenoi phuseos), Rather than saying that we are restored to divine “image,” Peter says that we partici- pate in divine “nature”; rather than saying we become God-like, Peter seems to be saying that we become gods. Though this has been one of the main pieces of evidence for the claim that 2 Peter isa “Hellenizing” letter, the idea that humans, especially rulers, are “gods” is found in the Old Testament: If the thief is not found, then the owner of the house shall stand before the gods (Heb, efohim, trans, as “judges”) to determine whether he laid his hands on his neighbor's property. (Exod 22:8)A Letter of Reminder God takes His stand in the congregation of God; He judges in the midst of the g show partiality to the wicked? . . . I said, You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High, (Ps. 82:1-2, 6) «ls. How long will you judge unjustly, and Further, in a trinitarian framework, Jesus clea y taught that Christians enter the fellowship (koinonia) of Father, Son, and but for those also who Spirit: “I do not ask on behalf of these alone believe in Me through their word; that they ma Thou, Father, art in Me, and lin Thee, that they Us... lin them, and Thou in Me, that they m: unity” (Jn. 17:21-23), Corroboratory evidence of Peter's concern with the restoration all be one; even as also may be one in y be perfected in ofthe image of God is his use of the Greek word arete in 2 Peter 1:3, 5. Translated as “virtue” in some ver: . the word has a long his- tory in Greek ethics and is particularly important for Aristotelian s of divine nature, and neo-Aristotelian ethicists. Like “partak this word has been used as evidence for Hellenistic influence: Peter's ethics. It is likely, however lated differently. se 3, it allel with the word “glory” (Greek, dexa), and there the NASB translates it as “excellence.” Significantly, the word i Habakkuk 3:3 (LXX) as the Greek translation of hod,*majes “splendor in that the term should be trans- In ve: ers toan attribute of God in par- used in y" or Likewise the Septuagint of Isaiah 42:8 uses arete to translate kabod, the normal Hebrew word for “glory” (cf. Is. 42:12 and 63:7, where arete has the sense of “praise”). Given this back- ground of usage and the fact that Peter pairs arete with dosa glory”), it appe Thus the flow of Peter’s description is that God (or Jesus) has Hebraic wine has burst the Greek wineskin. “called us by His own glory and splendor," and as a result, we are to be dilige add “splendor” to our faith. The repetition of the word P T *Bauckham ¢Jude, 2 Perer, 179) says that arcee is a virtual equivalent of doxa28 CHAPTER TWO in verses 3 and 5 indicates that Peter is talking about Christians dis- playing the glory of God in th es. This is what participation in the divine nature looks like.* THE ESCHATOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE Some who see 2 Peter as Hellenistic have claimed that Peter has transformed the Pauline view of the Christian life into a version of moralism. Instead of emphasizing the radically eschatological’ char ter of the Christian life, it is charged, Peter just lays outa set of virtues that Christians are to be “diligent” to achieve. This is a misreading of Peter's vi » Pete: dynamic, Images of growth abound thronghout these verses, Peter ws in a number of respects. For starter conception of this restoration is decidedly expresses the wish that grace and peace would be mulriplied to his readers (1:2), and he describes the Christian life in terms of fruits heaped one upon another so that a picture of glorious abundance emerges (vy, 5-7), Verse 8 speaks of the fruits both belonging toh ng nuous process and advancement in holine: readers and increasing, Christian living is, for the aging Peter, a cont sand“glory.”The fu- ture orientation of the Christian life remains: Peter ends his list of “Tt would be interesting, but unfortunately beyond both my time and com petence, to examine recent work in "Virtue ethics" (from writers like I ) with Pete ten has a “heroic” and even viol Stanley cw lar, since virtue of 's transformed use of arere, In partic nt connotation in Greek epic and philosophy, the appeal to the crucified and risen Jesus as the source and standard of *vir- tue* takes us ina strikingly un-Hellenistic direction, ? Here “eschatological” does not have s© much to de with the things that happen at the end of history but rather with the character of the New Cov ei ant itself. Because Jesus has risen and we partake of Him, we are also, al- r nted to a future r «ly, participants in the resurrection; we also, already, live “eschatologies lives. To be sure, the present reality of eschatological life is or full eschatological life, but even now Christian living is a participation in the age to comeA Letter of Reminder 29 fruits by reminding his readers that faithful practice of Christian life will enstire that the entrance into the kingdom of Christ will be abundantly supplied (y. 11). Faith grows up into love, and all is sur- rounded and infused with hope. The counter-charge has been made that Peter has shunted the Christian's entrance into the life of the kingdom off into the un specified future. Paul says that we have been translated into the kingdom of the Son (Col, 1:13), that whoever isin Christ isa new creation (2 Cor, 5:17), that we have been raised up to be seated in the heavenly places with Christ (Eph. 2:6). Peter, so it is argued, more static categories of Greek and was so deeply influenced by th Roman thought that he places the kingdom exclusively in the fu ture. What has become of Paul’s indicative -imperative scheme, hi constant emphasis on “become what you already are”? In reality, Peter's conception of the Christian life is as eschato logically informed and structured as Paul’s, and not only in the sense that Peter sees the Christian life asa path of growth leading ultimately into the kingdom of Christ: Peter is as insistent on the “now” of Christian eschatology as Paul. Peter, first of all, grounds the Christian life in God’s prior action. The verb “receive” in verse ift of faith, * and the ten mphasizes the graciousness of God ' ‘of the verbs in verses J—4 emphasize Peter's belief that the Cliris- tian life grows up from something that has been completed (“has granted”), In both verses, the verbs are in the perfect tense, which ‘eter makes intriguing play with Paul's doctrine of justification by faith, with which he was deeply familiar (Gal. 2:1 1-21; 2 Pet. 3: 14-16), Instead of saying that righteousness comes through faith, as Paul does, Peter claims that we receive “faith” through th Christ” (1:1), Many commentators say that “righteousness” is introduced hen “righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus to emphasize God’s impartiality in giving faith of “equal valuc” to bath Peter and his readers. I suspect something more is going on; through Jesus! act of Father and His faithfulness with His Fa- righteousness, His faithfulness to r faith is secured for His people.30 CHAPTER TWO inGi eek carries the specific connotation of a completed action that has a continuing result. It isa finished fact that God has granted all d what has been given, gs for life (¥.3), and Christians are now to diligently nourish d's action is prior to and foundational for the Christian's life and godliness, so that Peter teaches against all Greck ethics, that “glorious” oF “virtuous” life is only pos ible by grace. Peter, as well as Paul, condemns Homer’s heroes and Aristotle's self-made These verses also hint that the Christian life depends specifically on participation in the death and resurrection of Christ. By “divine nan power,” Peter says, we are granted everything necess ry for life and godline (1:3). That it takes an exertion of divine power to make usalive and godly should give us pause, brut my point is elsewhere: throughout Scripture, divine power is exerted in specific histori- cal acts (Exod. 15:6, 13; Ps. 21:13; 145-45 Lk. 4:14, 36; etc.}, most centrally displayed in the us from the dead, w ng of hde- stroyed the dominion and power of death and sin (1 Cor. 6:14; 2 Cor. 13:4). In Acts 2:24, Peter himself points to the resurrection asa display of God’s power over death, For Paul and indeed for all the New Testament writers, the exalted Christ is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:24), and the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto sal- vation (Rom. 1:16}. The power in us who believe is resurrection power (Eph, 1:19-20). When Peter says that life and godliness are the product of God's power, he does not have in mind some abstract, general power of God, Rather, Peter links the life and godliness that belong to the Christian with God’s display of power in the resurrection of Christ. It is by virtue of our union with the resurrected Christ that we have power to produce the fruits described in verses $7." Only by union with the eschatological “now” of Jesus’ incorruptible lif . 4). For Peter can we escape the corruption that is in the world (cf, * Moo, 2 Peter, Jude, 41,A Letter of Reminder 31 as much as for Paul, there are two worlds within the world: one under the dominion of sin, corruption, and death, and the other empowered by the all-triumphant resurrection power of Jesus, F P I ss in the is resurrection power that produces life and god Christian is mediated through the “knowledge of the one who calls us by His own glory and splendor” (v, 3, my trans, ), Peter's thought here is similar to that of Paul in 2 Corinthians , 6: unbelievers have been blinded “that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. . . . For God, who said, ‘Light shall s out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of Godin the face of Christ.” Despite the differences in the images, both Pe- terand Paul tell us that it is the glory of Christ that asit shines upon u ves us new life , and both passages speak of “knowledge.” Both passages describe the Christian life as a growth in Godlikeness (2 Cor, 3:18; 2 Pet. 1:4). In short, like his “beloved brother” Paul, Peter sees the Christian life as a matter of re-creation. God not only calls us by His glory and splendor, but also calls us to His glory (1 Pet. 5:10). Being in the kingdom is the basis of the Christian life, but entry into the kingdom is alsa the goal of the Christian life (2 I whose thought is summarized not only in the expression, “Be what t. 1:11). Again we have a similarity with Paul, you are,” but also“be what you will be.” What has happened to the ‘Christian is an anticipation of what will happen to him on the last day; we have been remade in the image of Christ, and we shall be so remade; we have received an inheritance, and we shall receive an inheritance; we are partakers of divine nature, but we will become partakers. ‘tween the initial and final entrances into the Asalready noted, com, the Chris ness in the knowledge of Christ. According to Paul and Peter, this ul an is called toa life of godliness and requires effort, Peter exhorts his readers to be diligent in their ef forts to supply additions to their faith (v. 5). They are to “apply all32 CHAPTER TWO. diligence” in seeking to be fruitful in the knowledge of Christ. A- ter warning about the dangers of shartsightedness, Peter calls his readers to be “all the more diligent to make certain of your calling and election” (v, 10).'° Like Paul, Peter structures the Christian life in a threefold time frame: what has happened anticipates what wil! happen, and both what has happened and what will happen condition what is happen- ing and what we are to do. Divine power has heen exerted in the res- urrection of Jesus to fulfill God’s promise to us; the purpose of God's action is ta make us partakers of the divine nature and to ensure our glorious entrance into the kingdom. Because God has acted, and in view of what we shall become, we must be diligent in pursuing and producing the fruits of the Spirit, This understanding of the Christian life is illustrated and sum- marized by baptism, which Peter alludes to by the word “purifica tion” (v, 9), Through baptism, we enter into the new life of the Spirit, receive a grant of divine power, are incorporated into Christ's body, and die and rise again with Christ. In the purifica- tion of baptism, we are cleansed of our “former sins” (v. 9) and be- gin to participate in the di resurrection, But we must be diligent not to become forgetful or ine nature and the power of Jesus’ nearsighted (v. 9; cf. v, 4), forgetting our purification. Instead we must, as the Westminster Divines put it, “improve upon our bap- t tism.” Baptism thus marks our entrance into Chr kingdom, points to our future entry, and demands perseverance and effort in working out our salvation with fear and trembling, Escape from the corruption of the world (v, 4) may be related to baptism, The verb apopheugo is in the aorist, which frequently *® again, the tense of the verbs underscores the int that Peter is making, In verse 10 the verbs are in the present tense, which in Greek frequently carries the connotation of continuous action, Peter is exhorting his readers to “keep on practicing” the fruits of the knowledge of Christ and says they must “be making” their election and choosing sure (10),A Lester of Reminder 33 (though not always} indicates a definite, once-for-all act rather than a process, Moreover, the New Testament occasionally draws an antithesis between “corruption” and “glory”(Rom, 8:21; 1 Cor. 1 tion. In Galatians 6:8, Paul contrasts the reward of the fleshly man :42--43) andl associates the “glory” specifically with the resurrec- (“corruption”) with the reward of the spiritual man (“eternal life”),"' and Peter describes the pseudo-prophets as slaves of cor- ruption (2 Pet. 2:19). Wer the corruption that characterizes the world; having escaped, we be- ¢ 4-thus describes a definitive escape from come partakers of the divine nature, sharers in God's glary. Peter's description of Chu stian living, in short, is perfectly con- sistent with Paul's, To be sure, Peter uses terms that produce a se- ries of Hellenistic echoes, but even then he has transformed the meaning of those terms in the light of biblical categories. His de- scription of the Christian life has lost none of the eschatological edge found in Paul, a fact symbolized by Peter's decision to list eight products of the divine power that delivers us from the corruptions of the world—for the number cight is the number of the new cre- ation, of the day that begins a new week, of the man that is saved from eschatological judgment (cf. 2 Pet. 2:5)." ENTRANCE INTO THE KINGDOM The exhortations of 1:1—11 are int of gral ta the prophetic fac Peter's letter. Seen in the context of the letter as a whole, Peter's ethical exhortations might be developed in a book entitled *How to Avoid Bi exhortation is linked to his prophe' ing Destroyed in the Coming Judgment.” To show Peter's ic teaching, I examine several specific terms that Peter uses in 1;3—11 and elsewhere in his letter, “Incidentally, might be noted that these contrasts of corruption with glory and life lend support to our interpretation of Peter's phrase “partakers of the divine nature.” See J.N.D. Kelly, Commentary on the Epistles of Perer and Jade (San Fran ciseo: Harper & Row, 1969).34 CHAPTER TWO 1. Godliness: In 1:3, 6-7, the theme of godliness is introduced. Goi has exerted His power to give usall we need for“Tife and god liness,” which are not to be understood as two separate items but simply as tl ully living” As noted above, God’s power is given for purpose, but this does not cancel out the need for us to pursue godliness. On the contrary, because God has exerted His power to give us all things pertaining to life and godliness, we should apply diligence to add one virtue on another. The central section of the letter, 2:4—10, picks up on the theme of godliness from the first section. Here the point is that the godly will be rescued from trials, while the ungodly will he destroyed: God “brought a flood an the world of the ungodly” and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah as “an example to those whe would live ungodly thereafter” (2:5—6). On the other hand, these events also demonstrate that“the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation,” while keeping the un godly under punishment for a coming day of judgment (2:9).Thus, Peter’s exhortation that his readers be diligent to add godliness to their perseverance (1:6) comes in the context of a promise and a warning—the promise that the godly will be rescued and the warning that the ungodly will be destroyed. 2, Promises: Peter says in 1:4 that God has fulfilled His great and precious promises to us. God exerted power to fulfill the promise that we will be made partakers of divine nature. Among the promises that God made are the promises of His coming (Greek, parousta; 3:4; 1:16) and of a new heavens and earth in whi Paros righteousness dwells (3:13). In short, the promise of the "as is the is one of the “great and magnificent promises; prom ¢ of anew world.'’ Integral to Peter’s claim that God has granted promises, and that by these promises we are restored to ' Also, the fact that God has ¢ promises means that the Parousia is also assured. It is also an exertion of di cd His divine power to achieve these vine power, for itis the“pawerful coming” of Christ.{ Letter of Reminder 35 godlikeness, is the further claim that God has promised to judge and transform the heavens and earth. 3. Stability: Peter says in 1:12 that he wants to remind these Christians of things they already know. They are already “estab- lished" or “stabilized” in the truth, but they need to maintain stabil - ity. The prophecy helps them maintain stability and keeps them from stumbling and falling We see a related word in 3:17, where Peter states that his intention is to warn his readers beforehand about what is going to happen so that they will not be upended by events or by false teachers (2:14), False teachers focus their efforts on.unstable souls, people who are in danger of toppling aver: They are Amalekites who preyon the weakand weary members of the church. But the false teachers cause instability or exacerbate it because they are themselves “unstable” (3:16), distorting and twisting or tortur ing the Scriptures. Again, Peter's concern for the “stability” of his readers is sharpened by the contemporary threat of “instability.” 4, Entry into the Kingdom: Peter says at the end of his open- ing exhortation that those who walk in the path of faith and love and all the virtues between will “never stumble” but will instead find entry into the kingdom: “The entrance into the eternal king- dom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly sup- plied to you” (1:11). Ifwe take this as a reference to the final state of the believer, there is a clear connection between Peter's ethics and his eschatological expectations: only those who live godly will stand in the final judgment and enter the kingdom. Justi faith, we ultimately will be judged by works. Ido not doubt that this is part of Peter's intention, but there are reasons for suspecting that he also has in mind something that is more imminent on the horizon. Ina later section of chapter 1, Pe- ter says that he wants his readers to be “able to call these things to mind” (1:15), which in the immediate context refers to the instruc tion about godly living that he has offered in verses 3-11. He wants to remind them of their privileges and duties as Christians, so that36 CHAPTER TWO. will be able to find entry into the kingdom of Jesus (v. 11).In verse 16, however, Peter moves into a new discussion and raises for the first time the question of Jesus’ power and coming. Though this is anew topic, Peter connects it with the preceding discussion with he conjunction “for” (gar). While the Greek conjunction can havea number of connotations, the most common and most natural meaning here is“for this reason” or“beea e.” This suggests that the topic of Jesus’ coming is not really a new topicat all. Peter's insis- tence on the reliability of this prophetic word is the basis for his diligence to help his readers remember to pursue holiness, The flow of the argument runs like this: Diligently pursue godliness, So that you may enter the kingdom I wrote these exhortations down so you won't forget them, Because we didn't make up the story of Jesus’ coming, Motivation for pursuing godliness can be described in two ways: “Pursue godliness, so that you may enter the kingdom of Jesus”; and, alternatively, “Pursue godliness, because Jesus is coming.” The upshot of this that the “coming” of Jesus (1:16) and the “en try into the kingdom” (1:11) describe the same reality, Jesus” Parousia (coming) will be at the same time the “coming of the kingdom” in its New Covenant fullness, and shar is the kingdom that. Peter wants his readers to enter, Like Noah and Lot (2:4-8), the godly Christians of the first-century church will watch the world collapse around them, and like Noah and Lot, they can be confident God will rescue them from that collapse and will give them entry into anew we Id on the other side. Thus the “kingdom of our Lord and Savior” describes not the consummation of all things but the world of the New Covenant, If this is an accurate in- terpretation of Peter’s argument in chapter 1, it sets the context for chapter 3: when Peter talks about a “new heavens and new earth,” he is talking about the “kingdom of our Lord and Savior”{ Letter of Reminder which emerges from the birth pangs of Jesus’ coming in power. When we consider chapter 3, this will assist us in determining the timing of the events Peter prophesies there. “CALLING THESE THINGS TO MIND”: 1:12-21 Peter, as we have seen, wrote this letter to aid his readers’ memory (1:12-15). Pe the parallel with Deuteronomy noted in the previous chapter (see er's emphasis on his letter as a memorial fits with footnote 20). In Deuteronomy, Moses gives Israel as that will guide them when they enter the land, and throughout Deuteronomy, Moses exhorts Israel to remember what Yahweh Yahweh had made war had done in Egypt and in the wildernes against Egypt on Israel's behalf, and now that they are entering the land, He promises to strap on His buckler and helmet to make war against the Canaanites, Moses wants Israel to remember Yahweh's deliverance then in order to inspire them to diligence in war now: Ifyou should say in your heart, “These nations are greater than |; how can I dispossess them?” you shall not be afraid of the: you shall well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pha raoh and to all Egypt: the great trials whi h your eves saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the out- stretched arm by which Yahweh your God brought you out. So shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of wham you are afraid. (Deut. 7:17-19) And you shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart... . (Deut. 8:2) Remember, do not forget, how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place inst Yahweh. (Deut. 9:7) you have been re- bellious ag; econd law”38 CHAPTER TWO " When Moses had com- pleted the book, he committed it to the care of the Levites who Deuteronor s itself'an aid to memor; were to read it every seventh year at the Feast of Booths, and it was toremain beside the ark as a witness against Israel (Deut. 31:9-13, 24-29). These provisions ensured the continuity of the covenant. Deuteronomy tells how the covenant people are to be organized and how they are to live, but if this organization and life are to con- tinue from on generation to another, the documents that govern the people have to be preserved and known, Peter has similar con- eerns with his “second letter” —to ensure that the next generation, which is mo g out of the wilderness of the apostolic period into the promised land of the new heavens and new earth, will live righ- teously in the land that the Lord gives them, Further, Deuter- onomy is full of prophecies of Israel’s future. Moses not only lays out the law and warns Israel of the consequences of breaking cov enant, but prophesies extensively of Israel's future rebellion against Torah (Deut. 27—32).'*Again, like Moses, Peter is laying out what is going to come. Peter's anxiety to communicate with his readers arises from his circumstances: he is about to die," which again matches the situation of Moses in Deuteronomy. Both the prophet and the apostle want God’s people to remain faithful to their Lord after their departure, 2 Peter 1:16 gets to the heart of his reminder, which is about the * This point has been developed by N.T. Weight in The Climax of the Cor- tress, 1993), es- enant: Christ and the Law in Pauline Theology (Minneapolis: Fo pecially in chapter * Peter uses architectural imagery to describe the last days of his life, de- scribing his coming death as the “laying aside of my dwelling,” and speaks of his life now as bei “in this dwelling” The closest parallel in the New Testa- mentisin ? Corinthians 5, where Paul describes his present existence as being in a “tent.” Here the word “tent” is explicit. But Paul tells us he is hoping for something gre er, a permanent house, He does not want te be unclothed but re-clothed with a house from heaven, a weight of glory that goes beyond all he could imagine.A Letter of Reminder 39 coming (perousia) of the Lord.'° Peter's main concern is to assure a‘so his readers that the prophecy of Jesus’ coming is not a fabl phisticated myth.” This, apparently, was exactly what his oppo nents were claiming: false teachers mentioned in chapters 2 and 3 said the apostles were making up the prophecies about Christ's coming, Following the legal requirements of Torah, Peter offers two witnesses to support his teaching about the “power and com- ing” of Jesus Fi Jesus (vv. 16-18). Like Moses, Peter was on the holy mountain, t, Peter was present at and witnessed the Transfiguration of heard the voice of God, and saw the Lord's glory pass before him. Because Peter saw Jesus glorified and heard the Father's voice, he says that the prophetic word is made more sure. How does this help Peter's case? A skeptic might well say, “Even if we grant that you this prove that the proy ecy of His coming is true?” Peter's logic is twofold: saw Jesus translated to glory, how dc (A)The glorification of the Son on the Mount of Transfiguration ation that will occur at the time of His is an earnest of His glorifi “power and coming” on the “day of God” More specifically, the voice that Peter records here is quoting from Psalm 2, which is about the enthronement of the Son of Yahweh. Peter saw a glimpse of Jesus enthroned as King, and as King He will come in power, and those who are diligent will enter His kingdom. The Transfigura- tion is thusa preview of the Parousia of Jesus, His vindication of Hi people, and His vindication as King at His coming. (B) Peter's use of the Transfiguration becomes clearer when we go back to the Gaspels’ account of that event. In the Synopties, the '**Power and coming” do nat refer to two separate things. Peter frequently uses near-synonyms elsewhere in 2 Peter; ¢.g., 1:3 Ciglory and excellence”), 1:4 (“precious and magnificent promises”), 1:8 (“neither useless nor unfruit ful’), 1:9 (“blind or shortsighted”), So in verse 16 we apparently have a hendiadys—poner and coming do not reler to separate events. Rather, the idea is that when the Lord Jesus comes, He will come in power.40 CHAPTER TWO Transfiguration comes immediately after Jesus’ prophecy of a powerlul coming: “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here wha shall not taste death until they see the Son of (Mr, 16:28, cf. Mk. 9:1; Lk. 9:27). OF course, the Gospels are not always chronologically arranged, Man coming in His kingdom sometimes following very different arrangements, Yet each of the synoptic writers saw fit to record the Transfiguration immediate mean that the two events were chro- after this prophecy. That m: nologically r ted, but even if not, the Gospel writers certainly understood that th ansfiguration was somehow connected with the prophecy. In the Gospels, the sequence is th : Jesus says, “I will come in power and glory while some of youstill are alive,” and then three of the disciples see His glory, This shows that Jesus was not just telling stories when He talked about His power and coming, Before Jesus comes as King, Jesus is revealed as King; at His coming He will be It is revealed as the Royal Son on the Holy Mountain of surely wrong to say, as some commentators do, that the Transfigu- ration is the “coming in power" that Jesus spoke of in Mark 9:2, ctc.; however, it does make sense to say that the Transfiguration is a preview, a foretaste, an earnest of the coming in power that Jesus had just (in the text if not historically) predicted. In context, the ‘Transfiguration is not a revelation of the deity of the Son of God, ita generic revelation of His royal glory, Jesus’ Transtigura- tion had a specific purpose: it confirmed His prophecy of His own nor powerful coming, a coming He predicted would occur within the lifetime of His disciples, Peter's argument is the same: the Trans- "Ther: glorified, was manifested; Moses appeared and Peter talked about setting up a clear Sinai reference in the'Transfiguration scene: Jesus, the glory “booths” as Moses did at the foot of the mountain, Yet | agree with Moo that of Psalm 2:6 (Moo, 2 Peter, Jude, 74), This means that Jesus" Transfiguration sets Him up in direct op- the reli ence is most especially to Zion, the “holy hi position to Jerusalem and its temple:A Letter of Reminder 41 figuration confirms that the Parousia wil! occur, since it has already been manifested." We can take this step further: Jesus’ prophecy of His powerful an abbreviated version of coming in Matthew 16 and its parallels His Olivet Discourse. In both, the Son of Man is said to come (16:3 27 24:30-31). Both foretell events that will take place before the dis- ciples die (16:28), before “this generation” passes away (24:34), 24:3) with glory and with the hosts of angels (16 Others have shown that Matthew 24, at least in verses 1—35, pre- dicts the destruction of Jerusalem,”and thusif Jesus’ prediction of His coming isa short statement of Matthew 24, then the Transfigu ration isa preview of the glorification of the Son in His powerful coming to Jerusalem in 4.0. 70, The Transfiguration manifests the glory that Jesus would display in judgment on Jerusalem Knock-Down Argument #2: Peter defends the reliability of the promised coming of Jesus by reference to the Transfiguration. In each of the Synoptics, this event is connected immediately with a prophecy of Jesus’ “coming” within the lif time of some of His disciples, a prophecy filled out in Bauckham recognizes this point, though he does not Follow it, resisting the implication he admits is“apparent”:"A more speculative possibility is that the saying fof Mt.] 16:28 . . . may also have been connected with the Trans figuration in the non-sy it is to this saying that the phrase ., . Jin 2 Pet. 1:16] alludes. This possibility should be consid d with the possibility that the remarks of the scoffers (3:4) have in view noptic tradition known to 2 Peter, @ th generation” (Jude, 2 Peter, 210)_ ” Matthew invari at saying's apparent prediction of the Parousia within the first Christian to the generation of 216; 12:34, bbly uses “this generation” to rete Jews that witnessed the ministries of John and Jesus (Mt 39, 41-42, 45; 16:45 17:17; 23:33, 36). ” See, eg, J. Marcellus Kik, An Eschatology of Fictory (Phillipsburg, N. J.: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1971)42 CHAPTER TWO. the Olivet Discourse. Peter's argument from the Transfiguration makes best sense if he is using it to support this prophecy. Thus the “coming” that Peter insists will happen is an event that Jesus said would take place in the first century. Ifthe knock-down argument in the previous chapter was merel hard jab, this one is. an uppercut, and f think it connected: I saw his knees buckle. Peter's entire letter grows out of a dispute over the prophecy of the“power and coming’ of Jesus, a prophe -y uttered just before the Transfiguration. Jesus placed a clear time limit on that power and coming: atime before some standing with him tasted death. When Peter says in verse 19 that “we have the prophetic word made sure,” he is talking about this specific prophetic word, not generic praphecy If, as most commentators believe, “the prophetic word" refers to OldTestament prophecy in general, or the entire Old Testament as prophe y, then the link with the Transfiguration is much looser. How would the Transfiguration make Old ‘Testament prophecy “mor sure," or give us a firmer hold on it?" We simply will not understand the debate between Peter and his opponents if we fail to sce that Peter is talking about shis prophecy.” Similarly, the description of the prophetic word as“a lamp shin- ing ina dark place, until the day dawns" (v. 19) also makes best sense Iris plausible that the Transfiguration confirmed prophecies from the OT about the Parousia of Yahweh, but these prophecies are given a specific focus in Jesus’ own prophecy that He uttered just prior to HisTransfiguration, “This becomes all the more provocative if Michael Goulder is correet that the Synoptics intended the Transfiguration pericope to be associated with the feast of Dedication. Jesus’ prediction of the end of the temple, thus, was read during the liturgical remembrance of the renewal of the temple under the Maccabees, See Goulder, The Evangelists’ Calendar: Lectionary Explanation of the K, 1978), 89-90. Development of Scripture (LondonA Letter of Reminder 43 asa description of the prophecy of Jesus’ power and coming, spoken by Jesus Himself, The coming “day” and the“ sing of the morning star” refers to Je: neration of His disciples, Ina dark generation such as the one that Peter lives 1s’ coming in His kingdom within the g in, the prophetic hope is the only spark of day his readers have, and they hold to it and walk by its light until the day dawns, When day dawns, lamps are put out. When Jesus makes good on His promise toavenge the blood of His saints, then the prophecy is fulfilled and the day dawns in full. If, on the other hand, “day” refers to the final judgment and the resurrection, then Peter is describing the entire New Covenant period as a period of darkness, in which the one lonely light is the prophecy of Jesus" coming, but this hardly does the “light that has justice to the gospel proclamation that Jesu: come into the world.” Douglas Moo gets half the point of this passage: [T]he Transfiguration experience had an ir mate relationship to the Parousia of Jesus. We find a number of pointers in this direction. (1) The nop- tic Gospels preface the Transfiguration narrative with Jesus" prediction that some of the apostles would not die before they > Mk. 9:1; Lk. 9:27). The most natural interpretation is to find this prec filles (Peter, James, and John) saw Jesus’ intrinsic glory." saw the glory of the kingdom (Mt, 1 tion ful- n the Transfiguration, when only a few of the apostles Moo is correct that the Transfiguration reveals the glory that will be revealed at the Parousia, but it is utterly nonsensical for Jesus to tell His disciples that “some” will not die before they see the glory of Jesus, ifin fact that glory is going to be revealed only six or eight days later. Jesus must be referring to some other revelation of His glory, of which the Transfiguration is a proleptic sign "2 Peter, ude, 744 CHAPTER TWO Bauckham rightly emphasizes that the Transfiguration and Peter tj promise of Psalm 8 ancl Daniel 7 about anew Man who will exer- 's treatment of it dey sas the Last Adam, fulfilling the cise universal dominion, "* Here again, however, the Transfigura- tion is directly connected to prophecies of the fall of Jerusalem and the Old Covenant, According to Revelation, it is only when the harlot Jerusalem, the “great city” (Rev. 11:8; 17:18) has been de- stroyed that the hosts of heaven sing their climactic song; “Hallelu- jah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready” (Rev. 19:6b—7) an Christ's reign as New Adam began with the Resurrection, be; with the Ascension, began with Pentecost; and it also began with the overthrow of the harlot and the beginning of a New Creation ORIG If Peter's first witness against the mockers is specific, th N OF PROPHECY -cond witness is the more general statement that no prophecy is from an act of human will.’* This is not, as so often interpreted, a state ment about hermeneutics, As many commentators recognize, Pe ter is concerned about the origin of Scripture, which is found in the Holy Spirit not in the human will or in one’s own “interpretation.” Prophecy is not based on one's reflection on human history but comes from God, Because, like other prophecies of Seripture, the us comes from the Holy Spirit, it is prophecy of the coming of J reliable and neither a “sophisticated myth” nor the result of Peter's own attempts to unravel the mysteries of the universe, " Bauckham, jude, 2 Peter, 218-219 “This is not a continuation of the same argument from the Transfigura- tion and the “prophetic word” of Jesus. In 2 Pet. 1:20, Pet writes, “know this first of all.” This phrase is also used . where it clearly introduces a new subject, the mockers. In 1:20 it serves the same function of introduc ing a separate line of argumentA Lecter of Reminder 45 This argument only works if the prophecy that Peter has taught his readers is on the same level as “Scripture.” In fact, Peter's argu ment falls apart unless he is talking abouta prophecy that is alread; inscripturated . Peter could say,"No prophecy of Scripture is a mat- ter of one's own interpretation,” and the response would be, “Sure, but what you're talking about is not a prophecy of Scripture.” Pe- ter thus must be referring to the prophetic word of Jesus recorded in the Gospels asa prophecy of“Scripture."And that means that the Gospels must have been already written by this time. Supposing that Peter died sometime in the mid-60s, at least one of the Gospels must have been written and circulated as Scripture in the early 60s or the 50s, This chronology goes contrary to the consensus even among evangelical scholars, but the reasoning seems sound to me. ° For a defense of early dating of the synoptic Gospels, see John Wenham Redatiag Matchen, Mark, and Luke-A Fresh Assault on the Synoptic Problem (Downers Grove, IIL: InterVarsity, 1992}. | go further than Wenham, who believes i Matthean priority and who dates Matthew in the 40s, I see no reason why Matthew would have waited a decade before writing his Gospel. In fact, the idea that a Jew would wait a decade to record the climactic act of Isracl's his- tory borders on absurdity; the widespread notion that he should wait half'a century is far past the border.3 FALSE TEACHERS AMONG YOU Aswe have seen, 2 Peter isa follow-up letter to 1 Peter in which Pe- ter reminds his readers of things he has already taught them. Through this second letter, he helps them anticipate what is ahead and to handle it faithfully (2 Pet. 3:17). One of the main threats fac- ing Peter's readers is the emergence of false teachers, and refuting the false teachers becomes the focus of his attention throughout though, is not quite the word for Peter’s language; pummeling, denouncing, castigating, chapter 2 and into chapter 3. “Refuting condemning, attacking, and assaulting are more accurate descrip- tions of what Peter does to his opponents. He offers a few argu- ments in response to false teaching in chapter 3, but chapter 2 is mainly occupied not with refutation but denunciation of the most severe sort. This chapter contains some of the harshest rhetori¢ in the New Testament. Peter does not think the false teachers have an argument that needs to be considered carefully and responded to point-by-point; he does not try to be balanced or “fair.” Though the 's, Peter's vehemence is chapter is alarming to modern sensibiliti just the outgrowth of his deep pastoral commitment — when he looks at the false teachers, he sees nothing but a blur of white fangs, claws, and gray fur beneath the covering of wool, and he girds him- self to make war on the wolves,48 CHAPTER THREE Though Peter puts this pastoral denunciation at the center of | letter, he has not forgotten his main purpose in writing, which is to remind his readers of prophecies, False teachers, as well as apos- tasy, are a fixture in New Testament portraits of the “last days” and are intimately connected with Jesus’ “power and coming.” Both Jesus and Paul warn that false prophets will arise in the last days to lead many away. In His Olivet Discourse, Jesus predicted not only the presence of false prophets but their effectivene: And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been Many false prophets will arise, and will mislead man: saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short, Then i “There,” do not believe. For false Christs and false prophets anyone says to you, “Behold, here is the Christ, or will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mis- lead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, [have told you in ad vance. (Mt, 24,11, 22-25) The appearance of false prophets and the beginning of apostasy are ns that Jesus’ prophecy is nearing complete fulfillment. Wars and rumors of war, famine and earthquake, are just the “beginning of birth pangs” (Mt. 24:48), but when “tribulation” begins and “false prophets” arise, things are approaching“the end” (24:9. 14), False prophets and teachers are a sign that the world is moving from early labor through trans In His Olivet Discourse, interestingly, Jesus speaks specifically ition and is about to give birth, of the circumstances Peter is addressing —the consequences of an apparent delay in Jesus’ coming: “If that evil slave says in his heart, “My master is not coming for along time, and shall begin to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards, the master of that h slave will come when he does not expect him and at the hour w: he does not know” (Mt, 24:48-50). Jesus goes on to say that such 8 . and gnashing of teeth” (v, 51), Like Jesus, Peter denounces the abusive slaves will be “cut in pieces” and sent to a place of “weep\False Teachers Among You 49 servants of Jesus who conclude “My master is not coming for a long time” and abuse the church, “denying the Master who bought them” (2 Pet, 2:1), Paul’s lett to Timothy echo this theme: But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and dac trines of demons, by means of hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid mar- riage and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has cre ated to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. (1 Tim. 421-3) But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. ... among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various im pulses, always learning and never able to come to the know! edge of the truth, And just as Jannes and Jambre opposed Moses, so these m also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected as regards the faith . evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2Tim. 3:1, 6-8, 13) In Revelation 13, John seesa beast come from the land (of Israel), who perfarms signs and wonders to lead the people of the land (of Israel) to worship the beast from the sea (of Gentiles): And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had. twa horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon, And he exer- cises all the authority of the first b 1 in his presence, And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. And he performs great 0 that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to signs, the earth in the presence of men [ef. Rev, 11:5]. And he de- es those who dwell on the earth because of the s gs which en him to perform in the presence of the beast. (Rev. 13:11—-14a)50 CHAPTER THREE This land beast is later identified as a“ Ise prophet"(16:13; 19:20), who allies with the sea beast to make war against the saints. In short, the prediction of false teachers and apostasy (including abandonment of Christian morality) is a constant in the apostolic account of the “last days.” Thus Peter can say that he is telling his readers what they already know from other apostles, especially Paul (3:2, 15-16). Peter's description of the false teachers includes some unique elements, however, so we now turn to chapter 2." “SONS OF BALAAM”: 2:1-3,10b-18 Peter begins by drawing an analogy between th uation of Old. ‘Testament Israel and that of the New Testament church,’ He as- sumi sa typological relationship between the history of Israel and eves that the history of the body of Christ, so that, like Paul, he bel “these t] gs were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Cor, 10:11). Does Peter have a particular series of Old Testament events in mind? If so, what period of Israel's history is it? He mentions Balaam in verse 15, so at least he evokes nse ata number of levels: Israel's wilderness period. ‘This makes se Peter has taken the stance of Moses in Deuteronomy, writing a“sec- ond letter” as he nears his death, and like Moses he reminds the church of Israel's rebellion in the wilderness and the threat posed 2 Peter 2 can be seen as a simple chiasm, though the following outline dis rupts somewhat the overall outline of the book pravided in chapter 1, A, 2:1—3are framed by “destruction” B.v. 4-11 are framed by references to angels B’ vv, 12-16 are framed by alagos caosand the “dumb donkey" (in their «i, these prophets have become worse than dumb animals) vy, 17-22; these animals return to t mire (also the denial of the Lord / Master, v. 1) cr evidently shares Paul's “ecelesiocentric” he neutic, which empha- sizes the continuity between Israel and the church. See Ricard Hays, Fehoes of Seripeurein the Letters of Paul (New Haven:Yale, 1989) ‘Along similar lines, Jude 11 compares the false teachers with those who perished in the rebellion of Korah.False Teachers Among You by Balam (cf. Deut, 9:7-21; 23:4 5), Describing the fort apostolic period (30-70 a.p,) asa recapitulation of the wilderness wi istent with other New nderings of Israel, furthermore, is con Testament writings, particularly Hebrews. In the Septuagint, however, nearly all the uses of the word “false prophet” (pseudopropheres) are in Jeremiah (the only exception in Zech. 13:2), and the contest betwe n true and false prophecy was one of the main issues of Jeremiah’s ministry (like Elijah’s before hi ). Jeremiah’s description of false prophets matches Peter's de- scription of false teachers on a number of points. According to Jeremiah, false prophets are greedy for gain, so they prophesy peace fora fee, though there is no peace (Jer. 6:13). When Jeremiah prophesies against the temple, foretelling that it will be destroyed like Shiloh, the false prophets charge him with a capital crime for blaspheming Yahweh's house (Jer. 26), Later the false prophets as sure the people of Jerusalem thatYalaweh will deliver the city from Nebuchadnes ar, but Jeremiah assures them that Nebuchadnezzar will conquer them and put them beneath his yoke. False prophets counsel resistance to the imperial power, while Jeremiah urges Is- racl to submit to the new world order (Jer. 27:91f). Hananiah dra- matizes the view of the false prophets by breaking the yoke that Jeremiah has been wearing, signifying that he expects Yahweh to br ing that if Israel breaks the yoke of wood they a yoke of iron (28: Lf. According to a preterist interpretation of 2 Peter, the allusion to ak the yoke of the king of Babylon. Jeremiah responds by insist- will be saddled with especially v, 13). Jeremiah is most apt. In Jeremiah’s time, as in the first century, an imperial power threatens Jerusalem and Judah. Faithful prophets and apostles warn Israel about the costs of resistance, counsel sub- mission rather than rebellion, and it that, whatever the appear- ances to the contrary, judgment is going to fall, and that right soon. False prophets and teachers, by contrast, say that the world will continue to go on as it always has. They prophesy continuity and52 CHAPTER THREE peace, “Nebuchadnezzar,” they believe, will be turned back, and the Lord will deliver Israel, Peter thus puts the false teachers in the same category as the blind guides of Jeremiah’s day, and this implies that they will be soon removed, Hananiah’s punishment came within the year after he broke the yoke of Jeremiah (Jer. 28:17). What hope, then, do the false teachers have? Allusions to Jeremiah’s situation in 2 Peter 2 suggest that the “false prophets” or “false teachers” arise among Jewish believers Jesusand John both warned of false prophets arising from the “land” of Israel, Peter says as much in 2:1 (“there will also be false teachers iting to a predomi- h audience (see chapter 1), This might give usa clue to among you"), and I have argued that Peter is w nantly Jew the content of their false teaching, their “destructive heresies” (2 Pet. 2:1). Since the false teachers of 2:1 are the same as the “mock- ers” of 3:3, itis clear that the false teachers doubt the “promise of Uesu apostles with concocting “sophisticated myths” about an imminent | coming” (3:3), apparently charging Peter and the other 1g” (3:3), apr ly charging judgment on the Old Creation (1:16), Peter’s typological connec- tion between Israel's history and the church’s puts this skepticism in an ironic light: the mockery of the false teachers is a fulfillment of prophecy; their very existence refutes them.* Ye more about the content of their teaching. There are a number of , if they are Jewish false teachers, we can surmise something reasons for believing that Peter’s opponents are either Judaizers, Jewish believers within the church who want to stuff the New Covenant into Old Covenant wineskins, or Jewish Christians who have abandoned Christ to return to Judaism outright, Several * Peter's statements about false teachers are in the future tense in 2:1—3 and 3:2, However, the future tenes are interwoven with present tenses in 2210. 22. Peter is not talking about a phenoménon that is strictly and completely future, False prophets appear in the last day Hi cies that were expressed in the future tense but these are already beginning. se of the future might be explained by the fact that he is citing propheFalse Teachers Among You of evidence lead to this conclusion. Fi that the main threat to Chi Judaism. Most of the persecution recorded in the book of Acts , there is the general fact from anity in the first century came comes at the hands of Jews, rather than Romans, and Peter is de- scribing teachers who not only mislead but persecute the faithful. In Paul's ministry, the main threat to the purity of the gaspe came from Judaizers and Jews.°'To be more specific, Peter is dealing with apostate: the false teachers “deny the Master who bought them” (2 Pet. 2:1), and having escaped the “defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” they now “are again entangled in them and are overcome” (v, 20). Throughout the New Testament, however, the great apostasy was not reversion to paganism but reversion to Judaism, Especially under threat of per- secution, many believers found a safe haven in Judaism, which was recognized as a legal religion in the first century, and this problem is addre: ed extensively in the letter to the Hebrews. Thus it is prima facie plausible that Peter is dealing with similar opponents, and the verb here Peter says that the false teachers “entice unstable souls, is a fishing or hunting term that indicates the false teachers prey on the church, See th 66-26) Pecer, Jude, 214) points out that the language for scofling in 2 Peter 3 carries 3,46), which + Hillyer (2 brief comments of Bauckham, jude, 2 Perer, connotati » of physical oppression (ef. Exod, 1:13; Ley, 2 ant who thinks his master is de fits with the parable of Jesus about the 5 lays | and decides to take advantage of the situation. I made a fuller analysis of the apposition to the early church, f would n Revelation 12-15, rst, Sat note several stages similarto tho attempts direetly to kill the infant Jesus and the infant church; then, Satan attempts to corrupt the church with the bitter water of false Judaizing doctrine; hav failed, he raises up a sea beast (Rome) and a land beast (Jews) who together make war on the saints, particularly the hundred and forty-four thousand Jewish believers marked for martyrdom. By the time Peter is writing 2 Peter, the alliance of sea beast and land beast is in place, with Nero and the Jews to- gether striving to destroy the church. For somewhat fuller discussion, see James Jordan’s Brief Reader's Guide to Revelatton (Niceville, Fla Press, 1999) Transfigura54 CHAPTER THREE The fact that the false teachers show some signs of Hellenic in- fluence does not refute this conclusion, One particular example is Peter's emphasis on “knowledge” (1:2, 3, 6, etc.), which has often been taken as evidence that he adopted the rhetorical strategy of using his opponents terminology against them and has led many to consider Peter's opponents to be “gnostics,” But gnostic elements were evident in first-century Judaism, and Christian gnosticism likely developed from Jewish sects.’ Bauckham has noted that“The author of 2 Peter was doubtless aware of the currency of these ideas li.c., divinization, etc.] in the Hellenistic religious world, but he was probably more immediately dependent on the literature of Helle Greek religion and philosophy in order to express its own religious : Judaism, which had already adapted the terminology of tradition in terms appropriate to its Hellenistic environment.™ Second, several of the specific ways that Peter describes his op ponents suggest that they are Jews. This is not always evident on the surface of the text, but when Peter's language is examined in the context of New Testament usage in general, it becomes more plau- sible. Several specilic items may be noted: to assure his 1. Peter refers to several Old Testament even readers that the Lord will protect them in the midst of the judg- ment (2:49). The argument functions as follows: Just as the Lord spared Noah in the midst of the flood and Lotin the midst of the de- struction of Sodom o He will spare the righteous in the midst of the destruction of the“present heavens and earth” (cf. 3:7). This sec- tion thus draws analogies between Peter's own time and the two great judgments in Genes Within the New Testament, these Old Testame commonly cited as types of the coming devastation of Jerusalem tevents are See the brief commentsof James M. Robinson in his editor's introduction ta The Nag Hammadi Libres *Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter, L80. Bauckham provides many examples of Helle rev, ed. (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988), 6—7. istic ideas in JudaFalse Te packers Among You and Judaism. Having intermarried and committed spiritual adul- tery with the “daughters of men” (Gentiles), the “sons of God” (Jews) have filled the land with violence and continuous evil, and can only expect to be flooded into oblivion.’ Refusing to receive the Angel of the Lord and instead seeking to “rape” Him, the Jews had fi ruction of apostate Israel, become Sodomites and could only expect to be destroyed b from the sky. Describing the coming de: Jesus said that “the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah’ in its suddenness (Mt. 24:37). Luke’s record of this “flood” v statement makes it more obvious that t come within the generation of the apostles: For just as the lightnin, , when i flashes out of one part of heaven, shines to the other part of heaven, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation, And just as it happened in the days of Noah, were cating a 2 it shall be also in the days of the Son of Man: they d drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah cntered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. (Lk. 1'7:24—27) Jesus applied flood imagery to the destruction of the city of Jerusa- Jem, the temple, and the entire world order of which Jerusalem was the center. Similarly, Jesus compared the destruction of Sodom to the com- ing destruction of the city and temple: It. was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were sclling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went One dimension of this “int marriage” was the Jews’ habit of employi methods of force and violence to resist the pagan force and violence of Rome. N.T, Wright has argued that this was a sigh af the ews’ adoption of pagan po- litical attitudes and methods,CHAPTER THREE out From Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all, It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. (Lk. 17:28-29) In Revelation 11:8, John states explicitly that the city which is mystically known as Sodom and Egypt is the Jesus was ity wher crucified, In drawing analogies between the flood, the destruction of So- dom, and a devastating judgment on Israel, Jesus, John, and Peter were drawing on a recognized thread of prophetic imager Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, your tis fields — strangers are devouring them in your presenc desolation, as overthrown by strangers, And the daughter Zion is left like a shelter ina vineyard, like a watchman’s hut in acu- cumber field, like a besieged city. Unless Yahweh of hosts had left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom, we would be like Gomorrah. Hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom; give car to the instruction of ovr God You people of Gomorrah, (ls. 1:7-10) Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their actions are against Yahweh, to rebel against His glorious presence. The expression of their faces bears witness against them. And they display their sin like Sodom; they do not even conceal it, (Is, 3:8-9a} Among the prophets of Jerusalem | have seen a horrible thing; the committing of adultery and walking in falschoods and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one has turned back from his wickedness, All of them have become to Me like ke Gomorrah. (Jer. 24:14) Sodom, and her inhabitants For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sadom, which was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were turned toward her. (Lam. 4:6)x False Teachers Among You Now your older sister is Samaria, who lives north of you with her daughters, and your younger sister, who lives south of you, is Sodom with her daughters, (Ezck. 16:46; cf. wv. 48-49, 55-56) Ina few prophes inIs. 13:19 and Jer. 50:40; Edom in Jer. 49:18), but predominantly the prophets use Sodom as a type of apostate Jerusalem. Picking up 's, a Gentile city is compared to Sodom (Babylon on this connection, Jesus and the apostles describe Jerusalem as if it were a composite of all the wicked cities of biblical history (see esp. Rew, 18). When Jesus and the apostles begin to use this terminol- ogy, they have a consistent prophetic witness behind them. The prophets employed flood nagery in a similar manne Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the faling flower of its glorious beauty, which is as the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine! Be- hold, Yahweh has a strong nd mighty agent; as a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction, like a storm of mighty overfloy ig wa- 2821-2) ters, He has cast it down to the earth with His hand. (Is Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nathing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come x flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are det mined. (Dan. 9:26) Daniel 9:26 is particularly important, since it ¢ tly applies the that iah has been cut off and after the seventy flood imager: will occur after the Me weeks of years have reached completion.” ‘o the destruction of the “city and the sanctuary 2. The reference to Balaam is also noteworthy, since the notion of ° in Nahum, flood imagery is used ta describe the judgment. on the apostate city of N neveh;“[W]ith an overwhelming flood He will make a complete end of its site, and will pursue His enemies into darkness” (1:8)58 CHAPTER THREE a“Balaamite heresy” is used elsewhere in the New Testament to describe Judaizers and their teaching. Balaam is mentioned in the New Testament only in 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 11,and Revelation 2:14. The last of these is the most important for our purposes, Revela tion 2:14 is part of the letter of Jesus to the church at Pergamum, where false teachers are compared to Balaam who “kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things crificed to idols, and to commit acts of immoraliv There are several reasons for taking this as a cryptic description © var of Judaizing, First, des ns in terminology, the enemies of the seven churches all promote the same basic heresy. In some of t that the opponents are Jewish is explicit.They claim to be Jews but are the letters, such as those to Smyrna and Philadelphia, the not, and Jesus describes them instead as “synagogues of Satan” (Rev. 2:9; 3:9). Arguably, too, the “false apostles” mentioned in the letter to wus (Rev, 2:2) are Judaizers (compare wv. 4and 13 of 2 Cor, 11). Those who follow “Balam” teach the same thingsas thase who follow “Jezebel”: Balaam . . . kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to com mit acts of immorality, . . , [YJou tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond servants astray, so that they commit acts of immoral and cat things sacrificed to idols, (Rev, 2:14, 20) In Revelation, “Jezebel” is Jerusalem, the harlot city that is leading the Christians astray, tempting them to revert to Judaism rather than face the challenge of living as a Christian in a hostile genera- tion. “Balaam,” teaching the same things, is of the same school, ren” of the harlot."! among the “chi | According to Revelation 2:14, Balam put a “stumbling block” (skandafon) before the sons of Israel; presumably the new Ralaamites are also puttingFalse Te chers Among You The two spe fic teachings attributed to Jezebel and Balaam participating in idolatrous feasts and sexual immorality —do not, at first blush, sound Jewish. Within Revelation, however, “immo- rality” (Greek, parneia) always connotes spiritual adultery and is chiefly exemplified by the harlot (Greek, porne) Jerusalem (Rev. 14:85 17:2,4; 18:3; 19:2, 9). Itis hardly surprising that the harlot’s children would be guilty of similar immorality. Idolatry is alsa commonly charged against the Jew Rom, 1:18—3. (Jews) are described as paying homage to the imperial beast, led on by the false prophet (Rev. 13:11-17). There also appears to be a veiled reference to the decision af the the New Testament (e.g., 17-24), and in Revelation the “people of the land” council of Jerusalem in the descriptions of the churches’ opponents in Revelation. At the council, the elders and apostles decided that sof the law on Gentile believ in the Old Cov- enant: “that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from they would not impose the ceremo: ers beyond the prohibitions required of Gentile: blood and from things strangled and from fornication” (Acts 15:29). When Jesus says in His letters to the churches that Jezebel and Balaam and the false Jews are encouraging Christians to “eat things sacrificed to idols” and to “fornicate,” He is saying that they are violating the terms of the Jerusalem Council. In short, this is a provocative way of saying that they are Judaizers,'? stumbling blocks before Christians. This seems consistent with the way that Judaizers are presented elsewhere in the New Testament. The cross isa seandal to the Jews (1 Cor, 1:23; Gal, 3:11), and in an ironic reversal of this, the Jews become a stumbling block to Christians, Specifically, Judaizers become a stumbling block for Gentile believers by trying to lay illegitimate burd * My student Richard Gall has pointed out that these two sins—idolatry and sexual immorality—are among the sins that pollute the land and cause it to spew the people out. Doubtless Jesus is making the same point about “Jezebel,” *Balaam,” and all the rest: they will be vomited from the land, For nathan Klawans, Impurity aad Sia in Ancient judaism (Oxford: Ox ford Univ. Press, 2000)60 CHAPTER THREE Against this background, Peter's charge that the false prophets engaged in sensuality, reveling, and greed takes on a metaphorical with literal violations of the Ten Commandments, but in the New Testa- coloration, Itis likely that Peter was charging false prophets ment these sins are related to Judaizing and Judaism, Again, Peter ictheme, which employs shock- ing language of sexual infidelity to describe idolatry and apostasy. el 16 is one of the most explicit passages: is picking up ona common prophet You trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer- by who might be willing. . . .You built yourself a high place at the top of every street, and made your beauty abominable; and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your har- h the Assyrians lotry.... Moreover, you played the harlot v because you were not satisfied; you even played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. (Ezek. 16:15, 25, 28) Compared with Ezekiel, Peter’s charge that the false teachers dulge in “sensuality” seems pretty mild. 3. In 2:14, Peter describes the false teachers as“cursed childre: Though the word katara can carry a more general connotation, it is used in the New Testament to describe the curse on those who are under the law, that is, Jews: For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for itis written, “Cursed is eve: ne who does not abide by all the things written in the Book of the Law, to perform them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us... . (Gal, 3; 10-13) hough this passage has historically been taken as a general description ‘es of the fallen and cursed state of humanity, it is clear in context that Paul is talking about a curse specific to the children of Abraham, See Richard Hays,False Teachers Among You 61 Likewise, Paul uses a similar phrase, “children of wrath,” to de- scribe the condition of Jews, who, he says, are as much under wrath as Gentiles (Eph. 2:3). 4, Twice Peter charges the false teachers with “fleshliness” and in- dulgence in the “lusts of the flesh” (2 Pet, 2:10, 18), Madern readers tend to interpret “flesh” as “bodily appetites,” especially sexual de- sires, but “flesh” normally has a very different connotation in the of all re Old Covenant order, which is New Testament, On the one hand, it describes the cond men in Adam and indeed the en afleshly order in contrast to the New Covenant order of the Spirit."* More specifically, Paul frequently connects the “flesh” of circumcision with the “fleshly” i terests of the Jews, Judaizers want to be perfected by the flesh (Gal. 3:3) and insist that Gentil can be perfected only through the fleshly rite of circumcision (Gal. 5:13), Obsession with a ritual that is quite literally “fleshly” i nected with the “fleshly” behavior described in Galatians 5:19—21, When we read the list of the “works of the flesh,” we cannot forget that Paul has consistently been describing the Jews and Judaizers as “fleshly.” The “works of the flesh,” appalling as they marily cd ht be, are pri ecriptions of the behavior of Judaizers. Paul, along similar lines, includes not only circumcision, but his entire training as a Pharisee, under the advantages of the “flesh” Galatians, val, 11 of The New Jnrerprover's Bible, 12 vals, ed. by Leander Keck, et, al, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000), 257-262. Again, this phrase is often taken as a general deseriptio of humanity w der the domi 1 of sin, but Paul distinguishe in Ephesians ? between the “we Jews) who formerly walked in the lusts of flesh (v. 2) and the “you” {Gentiles} who, once excluded, are now brought near (vw. 11IT.). ‘On “flesh” and “Spirit” in Paul's theology, Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Out line of His Theology, trans, John Richard De Witt (Grand Rapids; Eeed 1975), 64-68, is a good place to start, though Ridderbos should be supple mented by recent work that hi lights the “sociological” dimension of flesh, such as James D. G, Dunn, The Theology of Paul che Apestie (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 62-70.CHAPTE TREE (Phil, 3:4-6). An even more direct analogy with Peter’s usage is found in Ephesians 2:3, where Paul admits that Jews “all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh indulging the desires of the flesh and h Gentiles, When Peter describes the of the thoughts,” along w “fleshliness’ of his opponents, he is employing Pauline language to describe Jews. 5. Commentators commonly note that 2 Peter 2:20 alludes to Jesus’ statement in Matthew 12:43-45:'° For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcame, the last state has be. come worse for them than the first, (2 Pet, 2:20) Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places, secking rest, and does not find it. Then says, “Twill return te my house from which | came”; and when it Phen it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept and put in order, goes, and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man shall be worse than the first, (Mt. 12:43-45) Commentators commonly fail to note, however, that Jesus’ par- able is explicitly about the Jews of His own time: “That is the way it will also be with this evil generation” (Mt. 12:45). The parable comes at the end of a discussion that begins with the Pharisees claiming that Jesus is casting out demons by the power of Beelze- bub, Jesus has come to exorcize the “house” of Israel, but since they do not receive Him, other demons will take up residence there.” When Peter alludes to this parable, he is applying it to the same cast of characters;“This perverse generation” will be worse off for hav-Ise Teachers Among You 63 ing “escaped from the defilements of the world” only to become gain entangled in them and overcome” (2 Pet, 2:20), Having expounded on this point for several pages, Ishould add that my preterist reading of 2 Peter does not depend on the above analysis of Peter's opponents. Peter’s“false teachers” could well be Gentile Epicureans or Cypriat Nietzscheans or Sudanese Freedom Fighters who deny the coming of Jesus, and this does not damage g the Jowish character of Peter's opponents strengthens the preterist the rest of my interpretation, I believe, however, that recogni: n the overall context of reading and also makes the most sense first-century Chr tianity. POLLUTION AND EXODUS. If Peter is indeed condemning Judaizers and Jewish opponents of Christianity, his descriptions of them are sharply ironic. Reversion n ta the world of the Old Cov- enant order, ta a world of corruption that is about to be destroyed, And the way that Peter describes the condition of this world is a direct as- to the “world” (2:20) is a reve to the practices and life of the “feshly” covenant of the Jew: sault on the Jews’ conception of themselves. Jews were finicky about cleanliness and avoiding contamination, but Peter describes 1:4) and them as being full of corruption (phthora, wv. 12, 195 cf. pollution (miasma, v. 20), The latter word is used in the Septuagint translation of Leviticus 7; 18 (LXX 7:8) to describe the pollution of the flesh of a peace offering that crifice. Similarly, the Septuagint of Jeremiah 39:34 describes the idolatrics of Judah as miasmata in the house of Yahweh. Far from be- ing a clean and holy people, Peter is describing Juda luted and polluting world—whitewashed tombs that appear eaten on the third day after the smas a pol- harmless but spread contagion of death. Phrhora connotes physical corruption and again is an ironic description of Jews who believed that through keeping Torah they were avoi contamination of 8 Ping g decay, The references to dog’s vomit and pig's mire reinforce this64+ CHAPTE IREE theme af the pollution of Judaism (2 Pet, 2:22; ef. Prov. 26:11), particularly since dogs and pigs were peculiarly unclean in the eyes of first century Jews. Far from holding to the “holy command- me t” by reverting to Judaism, they are turning from it (v.21). The narrative subtext of verses 18—22 is an exodus theme, and this again inverts Jewish self-understanding, Some have escaped from the overlordship of Pharaoh and of the world (v. 20) and are promising similar liberation to others (v, 19).'* But the Judaizers and apostates to Judaism are like those Israclites who yearned to re- turn to Egypt—return to bondage —and are in danger of suffering destruction along with Pharaoh and the Egyptians, They are people who have forgotten what Yahweh did to Egypt and have forgotten the purifying bath of the Exodus, They want to return to Egypt, and Peter wants to ensure that his readers will not be among those who return, Returning to Judaism is not returning to the people of the Exod Egypt. Peter employs a great deal of ironic wordplay throughout the s; it is a reversal of the Exodus, for Judaisn stically chapter.'” He begins in verse | by noting that the false teachers in troduce “destructive heresies.” On the one hand, Peter is saying that s destroy the church, but on the other hand he is also saying that they are destructive for the false teachers themselves. By propa- here: gating destructive heresies, false teachers bring destruction on themselves. Destroyers of the church will be destroyed (1 Cor. 3:17). Structurally, the false teachers are contrasted with the "The idea of liberation through law was common currency among Greeks of the first cent y. Michael Green writes, “Rival pagan schoolmen. asserted that you escaped [rom the toils of corruption (phthora) by becoming participants in the divine nature either by means of nomor Clawkceping’) or phusis (Cnature”)" (2 Peter, Jude, 73). Jews and Hellenized Je same promise through Torah. s offered the * Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter, is especially sensitive to the nuances of the eek punninyse Teachers Among You 65 apostles that delivered the message of Jesus’ power and coming. When we get to chapter 3, we will see that the teaching of the false teachers and the teaching of the apostles are polar opposites, just contrast is Jeremiah’s and the false prophets’ teachings were. Th already shown by the chiastic ordering of 2 Peter 1:16—2:3: A. The apostles do not follow sophisticated myths. B. Prophecy comes from God B*, But there have been false prophets, A*. The false prophets teach false words.”° According to Peter, the destroyers will he destroyed “swiftly” (2:1; Greek: tachine), Moo concedes that“Peter may mean that the eschatological judgment will soon take place,” but conclude in- stead that“rather than predicting the time of the judgment, ‘swift” probably indicates its certainty.” This explanation fails mainly be- cause the time of the judgment is precisely the issue throughout 2 Peter (ef, 3:4, and below), More than that, the word rachine cannot bear the meaning Moo wants to give it, Within the New Testament, buta related adverb, racheos, is used the word is used only in 2 Pe with some frequency, and normally means “soon, without delay, quickly.” A sampling will illustrate the point: to his master, Then the And the slave came back and repar head of the household became angry and said to his slave, “Go at once [tackeos] into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.” (Lk. 14:21) And he said, “A hundred measures of oil,” And he said to him, “Take your | (Lk. 16:6) Il, and sit down quickly [eachcas] and write fifty * Ibid, 238. "Maw, 2 Peter, Jude, 93,66 CHAPTER IREE The Jews then who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary tose up quickly [tacheos] and went out, followed her, (jm. 11:31) Lam amazed that you are so quickly [tacheos] deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a dil (Gal, 1:6) ‘event gospel [trust in the Lord that I my [cacheos}. (Phil. 2:24) falso shall be coming shortly Do not lay hands on anyone hastily [tacheos] and thus share the sins of others, (1 Tim, 5:22) The adjective form (tachine) is used in 2 Peter 1:14 of Peter’s*im- minent” departure, and he surely intends to connect his “immi- nent” putting off of his tabernacle v of the false teachers. He will put off his te h the imminent destruction t, while the tent of the false teachers will be torn to shreds like Shiloh. Peter reinforces the imminence of the threat in 2:3 by personi- ig judgment (it is“not idl and destruction (“not asleep”). By saying this, he is drawing on a thread of Old Testament prayer that calls on God to “awake order to defend His people, de nd Israel stroy His enemies, and vindicate Himself Arouse Thyself, why dost Thou sleep, © Yahweh? Awake, do not reject us forever, Why dost Thou hide Thy face, and forget our aflliction and our oppression? (Ps, 44:23-24) Recall the setting of the first-century church, and particularly of Peter’s readers, who haye fled from Jerusalem because of persecu- ian martyrs have spilled their blood in Jerusalem and tion: Chris "See Bauckham, Jude, 2 Pecer, 247-248,False Teachers Among You elsewhere, beginning with Stephen, and for decades those who have been dispersed have been praying this Psalm. Peter is saying that these prayers will be answered, and that right soon. The plaintive “how long? from the saints under the altar (Rev. 6:10) has been heard, and Peter assures his readers that the delay will not last for- ever (Rev. 10:6). In fact, the delay is nearly over, Peter's description of the “swift” and “awakened” judgment of the false teachers shows that the judgment isa first-century event, not an event of the distant future. Indeed, no other interpretation makes sense, Destruction of false teachers is central to the coming 3:7), which Peter has called the “day” and the “power and coming of Jesus.” And he says that the destruc- destruction of the world (2: tion of ungodly men like the false teachers is “near,” as near as Peter's own death, so near that the judgment is already at work (not idle”). Thus the “coming” must also be imminent; the judg ment of the world is already “awake” and ready to rumble, Surely Peter cannot be distinguishing between the time of the destruction of false teachers and the time of destruction of the present heavens and earth. If that were the case, the false teachers’ mockery of Jesus" promise would be justified; in that case, the mockers would be ex- actly right to question the “pror the false teachers were destroyed, they would eventually be proven right. Indefinite delay of the Parousia would bea feeble response to false teachers who are predicting that the Parousia will be delayed indefinitely! And God's judgments are not feeble, Knock-Down Argument #3: Peter says explicitly that the destruction of false teachers is coming “soon.” Their destruction is the same event as the destruction of the present heavens and earth, the “day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (3:7). If the destruction of false teachers was near when Peter wrote, so-also was the of His coming” (3:4), Even if68 CHAPTER THREE destruction of the heavens and earth and the com- ing of a new heavens and earth. He’s against the ropes, Next chapter, I'll deliver the final blows “THE JUDGE OF ALL EARTH DOES RIG At the center of Peter's letter, iT”: 224-22 Thave already indicated, Peter tells a series of Old Testament stories to assure beleaguered Christians that God will judge the ungodly andl that He will also rescue the righteous, These verses are central to Peter's concern, but less cen- tral to my own intentions in this commentary. Still, there are a number of intriguing puzzles in these verses, which are worth ex- amining briefly. Again, a preterist interpretation of ? Peter does not depend on any of the conclusions about this section of the letter, though applying a preterist framework to this section raises some stimulating questions of redemptive history First, a structural question must be addressed. Does Peter sum- marize two Old Testament incidents or three? It seems most natu- ral as three separate incidents; (1) the angels cast into hell; (2) the ancient world destroyed and Noah preserved; and (3) Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed and Lot preserved. Alternatively, it could be that the“angels cast into hell” and the “ancient world” that was de- stroyed are just different versions of the same series of events re- corded in Genesis 6—9, The repetition of “if he did not spare” in 2 Peter 2:4—5 supports the view that the imprisonment of the angels: ent world” are distinct incidents. If and the destruction of the “an there are three, however, then they do not al! make Peter's point. In verse 9, Peter draws the inference that the Lord knows how to: rescue the godly and to keep the unrighteous under punishment, but the example of the angels does not show the Lord rescuing any- body. Thus the stories do not justify Peter's conclusion, The inclusio in verses 4 and 9 helps to address this problem. Verse 4 speaks of ange “cast into hell and committed in pits of darknessFalse Teachers Among You 69 reserved for judgment,” while verse 9 states that the Lord will eep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,” Within this inclusio, Peter addresses a second issue—the Lord’s rescue of the righteous in the day of wrath. Verse 9 asa whole thus draws two points from the preceding stories: (1) the Lord knows how to rescue the godly, and (2) he knows how to keep the wicked nder confinement for the day of judgment. The second refers back > the first draws a conclusion from the to verse 4,.w examples of Noah and Lot. Verses 4—9 may thus be outlined as follows: A. God halds the wicked under punishment for a day of judg- ment, angels as example (v. 4) B. God re: B. Summary: Lord knows how ton cues the godly, Noah and Lot as examples (v. $—8) sscue the godly (¥. 9a) d (v, 9b) Summary; the Lord knows how to judge the wic Peter cites three separate incidents—the angels, the flood, and Lot —and draws two distinct conclusions from these events. ANGELS WHO SINNED What are we to make of the “angels” of verse 4? The Old Testament background is the fall of the “sons of God” in Genesis 6. Contrary to many interpreters through the centuries, | do not believe that ig up women in the an describes the fall of the nesis 6 reports that angels were pic! nt equivalent of singles" bars, Rathe Sethites, the fa text, the question raised by Genesis 6:5 is, What happened to the hful line descending from Adam's third son. In con- faithful? And the answer is that the sons of God married the daugh- ters of men and, like Solomon centuries later, were led astray. Moreover, the phrase “sons of God” connects back to the begin- ning of Genesis 5, where we are told that Adam was made in the likeness of God and Adam had a son in his own likeness, accord- ing to his own mage. Since Adam was in the likeness of God, his son was also in the likeness of God. Seth, like Adam, is a“son ofCHAPTER God.” When the phrase “sons of God” appears in Gene : 1-3, So Peter is not talking about the fall of spiritual beings but about the fall of the Sethites, It may has been prepared by 5 eem odd to describe the Sethites as “angels,” but in both Greek and He- brew the word “angel” means"messenger,” and the word is applied to both human and angelic mess the Sethites of the pre-flood generation was Enoch, identified as a prophet (Jude 14-15), Like Satan in Revelation 20, these angels are being held under guard for a great day of judgment, at which time they will be cast ngers, Among the ancestors of out to their final and complete destruction. If we harmonize Rev- elation 20 and 2 Peter 3, we have this interesting repeated sequence from ‘imprisonment’ to future ‘judgment’: Angels fall and are held for judgment Judgment comes on the world in the flood Sodomites kept under punishment for day of judgment Judgment comes on Sodom Present heavens and earth “kept” for day of judgment Judgment like Sodom (harlot, beast, false prophet judged) Satan bound for one thousand years Final judgment of Satan and death Yet Peter teaches more than a parallel between these incidents ‘This and other passages of the New Testament suggest that the Sethites who fell in the period before the flood were treated ditter- ently from other sinners; they have some unique role in the history of the world, In his first letter, Peter writes that the spirits who, sinned in the days of Noah were committed to tartarus, held by chains or in pits of darkness until the time of judgment (1 Pet. 3:19- 20), and proclamation was made to them after Jesus was “made alive in the Spirit.”” Jude tells the story of angels who did 21 See the superb treatment of this passage in Elliott, 1 Peter, 637-710,False Teachers Among You not keep their own arche but abandoned their proper abode (otketerion). They were given an arche, a rule,a sphere of dominion set up on the high places of the earth, but they did not guard thei garden and are therefore kept for the “judgment of the great day” For Jude, this judgment day had not occurred, since he writes that the angels are still being kept uncil the day of judgment. What day is that? ‘he final judgment at the end of all history? Perhaps, but this is not how Peter talks about judgment day in ther epistle, and inlikely that this is Jude’s point either. In the context of 2 Peter, the judgment for which the “angels” are re- served is the same as the judgment that Peter discuss es throughout the letter. He has spoken of the judgment that is not idle or asleep (2 Pet. 2:3), and in chapter 3 mentions the“day of judgment” (3:7) and the “day of God” (3:12), Within the preterist framework, we conclude that the angels who sinned were judged in the first-cen tury judgment on the Old Covenant. Perhaps this is why 1 Peter 4:7 says that Jesu: ing and the dead."The fall of Jerusalem was a judgment not only of apostate Judaism, but on eady to judge the the pre-flood generation as well. All the blood from Abel on were charged to that generation. Although some points yet remain unclear, several conclusions may still be crawn, First, Peter draws parallel between the Lord's treatment of the “angels” in 2 Peter 2:4 and the plans for the “present heavens and earth” in 3:7. In both cases, something is be- ing“kept” for a later time (the angels“kept” for the day of judgment and the present heavensand earth*kept”for lire), Sentence has been pronounced and will be executed, but there is a period of confine ment, of “keeping,” before final execution. So itis appropriate for Peter to cite the example of the angels in describing the future of false prophets. Like the former, the latter are being “kept” for later judgment. Like the angels who sinned, the false teachers are going to end up “in black darkness.” Second, this means that the “day of God” that Peter is talkingCHAPTER THREE about is not merely the end of the Mosaic order, or the order of the world organized around Isra ilic pe ens and earth” that exit or the world-order of the post-ex iod , Rather, the “day of God” will bring an end to the “heav- ed from the time of the flood, and will also. put the finishing touches on the judgment of those who sinned before the flood. The post-flood world, with all its variations, is treated as a single “world” or “heavens and earth.” When the day of God comes, it will bring the post-flood world to an end and inaugurate anew heavens and earth through a judgment of fire. Third, it might seem odd to think that the events in Jerusalem would have something to do with judgment on the prelapsarian wicked, but the New Testament is clear that the work of Christ's first coming—His death, resurrection, and ascension —affected the dead as well as the living. Hebrews 1 | lists all these Old Testa- ment saints and ends by saying that they died without receiving what was 5 omised because they were going to receive “something better" along with “us” Christians (¥. 40). This is consistent with the overall theology of Hebrews. Jesus is the forerunner who enters the Most Holy Place before any others, before the Old Testament saints. It seems plaus Creation, His judgment on Jerusalem, would have some similar effects on the wicked dead, The: Jesus brings the present heavens and earth to an end, they will be ble that Jesus’ final act of establishing the New y are confined in darkness, but when judged too, Not only the martyrs of Judaism, but all martyrs are being avenged in the first century: all the blood from righteous Abel onward is charged to “this generation” (Mt, 23:34 36), Clearly the end of the pres ent heavens and earth not merely ar event in Middle Eastern history, but an event of global significance, NOAH AND RIGHTEOUS LOT Peter’s two other Old Testament references to judgment are more straightforward. The mention of Noah’s flood and the destruction of Sodom anti pates the judgments by water and fire in chapter 3.False Teachers Among You Moreover, there are intriguing parallels between Noah and Lot Both men which are already apparent in Genesis cape from a world that is being destroyed, both escape with family members (though Lot, unlike Noah, loses his wife), both drink wine, and both are plotted against by their children (Ham sees Noah naked in his tent and plots to seize the robe, while Lot's daughters make him drunk and then sleep with him). Lot’s daughters produce Moab and Ammon, while the Canaan and the future Canaanites. cident with Ham ends with the curse on ‘These parallels underscore Peter’s claim that Lot was a righ- teous man, which he is called three times in two verses (2:7-8).To many readers, Genesis suggests otherwise, apparently depicting Lot as a weak, vacillating backslider, To be sure, Lot makes some foolish decisions, particularly in settling near Sodom, but Genesis also brings out extensive similarities not only between Lot and righteous Noah, but between Lot and righteous Abraham, Both are visited by the angels and both respond by offering hospitality and preparing a meal.** Lot shows his righteousness by contrast, The main point, of course, is that the readers of Peter’s letter find themselves in a situation milar to Noah and Lot. They are sur- rounded by wicked people, and especially by false teachers. This is their“ Noah and Lot, by destroying the I" (v. 9), and the Lord will rescue them just as he rescued nemies and giving them a way of escape. Peter wants his readers to seck s nthe new ark that afety is currently under construction, the Christian church, and in flight from the Sodomite that is about to be destroyed. SENSUALITY AND REBELLION Beginning in 2:10, Peter focuses attention on the character of the false teachers. He does not treat the content of their teaching until “This is the background to later condemnations of Sodom and Gomorrah by the prophets, whe condemn the cities because they did not show proper hospitality, but instead sexually assaulted the angelic visitors (Ezek, 16:49),CHAPTER THREE chapter 3, but instead attacks their evil conduct. His summar: statement of 2:10 summarizes the two main charges: they “indulge the flesh” and“ Jespise authority.” As I have suggested above, these are highly provocative descriptions of Christian Jews who have apostatized, but it is also likely that Peter's opponents were actu- ally arrogant and sexually promiscuous. Peter takes these two m charges in reverse order in verses 10-16, and we should look at his condemnatory expositions of the charges in a bit more detail Fi The false teachers” opposition to authority is illustrated by their es the false teachers with despi st, Peter charg ing authority, boldness in reviling or blaspheming “glories,” even though angels who are greater in power and might do not revile (ef. Jude 8-9) Calvin says the glories are magistrates and emperors, while others Most sare some kind of an. s to church authoritie: have suggested that the word refe recent commentators argue that the glo gelic being (whether good angels or demons is debated). It seems nd it unlikely that evil angels would be described as “glories,” would also be odd to condemn anyone for blaspheming evilangels or Satan. Yet verse 11 seems to be describing goad angels who refuse to revile the “glories,” thus implying that the good angels might have a righe to revile the glories. Alternatively the “glories” might be taken as the glorious ones (the saints of the Old Covenant) or as the glories of the Old Cov- enant order suchas the temple, the priesthood, the covenants, and all the things that made Israel glorious, False teachers revile glories of the Old Covenant, Thi Stephen, and Paul, but, in an ironic reversal, Peter says it is false Jud point is similar to Pa is the charge falsely made against Jesus, ‘ing teache s who blaspheme against the glories.”* Peter's 's in Galatians 4: you who appeal to the law, here ght also be a reference to angelic be Jories" might refer to th law (Acts those angels whom the New'Testament says were medi 7:53; Gal. 3:19),False Teachers Among You do you actually read it? At the very moment when the Judaizers are claiming to be the upholders of Torah, they are denying Torah, On this view, the “angels” of verse [1 are not spiritual beings, but me: sengers or heralds, “Angel” is used consistently throughout this chapter to refer to righteous human beings, especially messengers of the covenant, In verse 4 it refers to the Sethite prophets, and here it refers to messengers of the New Covenant, those who were ac- cused of blaspheming the glories but did not, These messengers of the New Covenant did not bring before the Lord a blasphemous of the Old Covenant, but honored the judgment against the glori. fathers far more than those who persecuted the prophets. According to verse 12, the false teachers are like unreasoning animals that are good only for being hunted down. This is a con- tinuation of Peter’s charge that they despise authority, They are not like domestic animals that submit to the voice of a master but like wild animals who are ruled purely by instinct, Fittingly, their end is going to be like that of unreasoning animals, as they are chased down, captured, and destroyed (by Roman legions), They will re- ceive fit payment for their labor — evil consequences as wages for doing evil. Second, Peter charges the false teachers with sensuality. Sensual- ity and adultery are, as noted above, frequent images of false wo ship and idolatry in the Bible. Descriptions of this kind of spiritual (Ezekiel 16 and 23, for ex- ample). Yet idolatry and spiritual adultery are often manifested in adultery can get realistically graph literal sexual immorality and adultery, and Peter's description seems to include this charge as well. In 2 Peter, the false teachers are 13), Peter's us hasa fulness here, implying that the false teachers are reveling with of “day” lovers of pleasure who “revel in the day” (2 the day approaching, acting as if the day is not coming. Their lives are consistent with their confidence that everything will continue as italways has, Peter also describes them as “stains” and “blem ishes,” both sacrificial terms that indicate that the false teachersCHAPTER THREE defile the body of Christ, are themselves disqualified as priests, and make the church an unacceptable sacrifice (cf, 3:14 by contrast), IF the church offers herself to God when she is full of such stains and blemishes, he will spew her out of His mouth, The false teacher: also revel in their “deceptions” as they “feast together” with the readers, Peter puns on agape, saying that the false teachers revel not in their agapais (love feasts) but in their apatais (deceptions). Their feasting is not an expression of Christlike love, but is deceptive Their “love feasts” are “deceptions.” False teachers are not satisfied to revel in their own deceptions; they lure, entice, and bait others. The metaphor is from hunting or fishing; the false teachers, like the apostles, are fishers of men, but they fish in order to destroy not to save. Ironically, the false teach- ers are setting bait for others, but they are themselves “unreason- ing creatures” who are destined to be trapped. Also ironically, Peter contrasts the “unstable souls” who are influenced by false teachers eek word for with the disciplined greed of the false teachers. The “trained” is the word bel “gymnasium” and suge sts disciplined practice (v. 14). Accomplished gymnasts not in godliness but greed, their practice and training make them effective in seducing and destroying flabby souls. Two threads of Peter’s denunciation lead to the example of Balaam. On the surface, the false teachers are like Balaam in that they are greedy, another sign of their lustfulness and slavery to evil des ire. Balaam agreed to curse Israel for money, and these false teachers stain the church because they find the occupation lucra the tive. More subtly, Balaam was also responsible for leadin people of Israel into idolatry and sexual immorality, In Numbers 25, at Peor, the Israelites became like the “angels who sinned,” aban- dening their place and going after the daughters of Midian. In Nunil 31:16, we learn that the Midianite women seduced the Is rael es through the counsel of Balaam, Since Balak’s direct assault on Israel did not work, Balaam led Israel astray by seduction toFalse Te shers Among You a idolatry and fornication. The dragon in Revelation 12 uses similar tactics. When his direct assault on the child and woman fails, he goes to plan B, spewing poisonous water of heresy from his mouth, seducing the angels with the daughters of men. Peter says that the false teachers do the same—they are sons of Balaam The Balaam is called the son of“Bosor,’ though in the OldTestament he re are several puns in 2 Peter 2:15—16. In most manuscripts, is called the “son of Beor." This is probably a Greek transliteration of basar, “flesh.” Balaam, the son of flesh, loves the wages of un- righteousness, but the wages of doing wrong is to suffer wrong (v. was ta be killed with ne: 13). Balaam’s wages for hii the Midianites (Num. 3 unrighteousness, you will end up receiving the wages of unrigh- unrighteo: ): if you love the wages of teousness. There is also a pun on “transgression” and “madness.” Balaam rebuked for his paranomia (transgression) by the donkey who restrained Ofcourse, Peter wants the teachers are unreaso! is paraphronia (madness) False us tose ony ofa great seer being rebuked by a donke; g animals; in fact, like Balam, they are worse, since even a donkey knows more than they do, False te empty, and vain. They produce no life or fruit (y. 17). A teacher is chers are dangerous, and ultimately they are futile, supposed to be a spring of living water, watering the garden of the church, offering thirst-quenching water. But these teachers are dry springs and m Like the angels, they are destined for darkness because they have , which offer no heavenly rain or ground water. ignored the lamp shining in the darkness that alone would lead them to the day. Instead of passing mists, they will someday be overshadowed with impenetrable darkness. In verses 19-22, Peter returns to the acct sation of apostasy with which he began in verse 1, and it is clear this apostasy has actually “Bauckham, fude,2 Peter, 267, “thid., 269CHAPTER THREE happened. These false teachers, Peter claims, were bought by the Master, redeemed and incorporated into Christ and His kingdom, but have now turned against Christ and returned to their ear way of life, Both “master” and “bought” conjure the image of manu- mi: on. Once the teachers were delivered from slavery, and once they actually escaped the defilements of the world, They were among those who were led from Egypt. Now, however, they have returned to slavery, overcome again by the defilements of the world, enslaved to a new master which is really their old master. This is one of the most explicit statements in the New Testament that apostasy is possible and that the apostate is in worse condi than the unbeliever. “It would have been better” if they had never on, known the truth, for now they have become like unclean animals, dogs and pigs. Like Judas, never been born, would have been better if they had4 THREE WORLDS By this point, f hope [have made a plausible case that Peter’s entire letter is about a set of prophecies that Peter expected to be fulfilled during his readers’ lifetimes. My knock-down arguments have ac- cumulated, and there are still two more to come. From the begin- ning, Peter has been dealing with the prophecy of Jesus that “there are some standing here who will not taste death until you see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom,” 2 Peter 3 must be consistent with the overall thrust of the letter. Though it does not (quite) qualify as a knock-down argument, the chiastic structure of the letter shows that Peter returns in 3:1 13 toa discussion of the same prophecy mentioned in the second. half of chapter 1 (1:12—21). Several details are common to these two sections. First, several times in 1:1 2—15 Peter states his inten- tion is to remind his readers, and 3:1—2 returns to this theme with another fragrant cluster of “remembrance” terms. Second, Peter returns explicitly to prophecies of the “coming” of Jesus, First men- tioned in 1:16, where Peter defended his teaching by appeal to two witnesses, this theme comes up again in 3:4, where Peter addresses mockers who doubt the “promise of his coming” Finally, the ter: found in both sections (as itis alse found in, minology of the “day” chapter 2), 1:19 speaks of the“dawning of the day,”and 3:10, 12 of80 CHAPTER FOUR the “day of the Lord” and the “day of God,” while verse 7 tells about Peter has the “day of judgment and destruction of ungodly met aspecific prophecy in mind in 1:16—19—the prophecy of Jesus that He would come in power with His angels before the generation of the apostles has passed —and if 31-13 is structurally parallel to 1;16-19, using some of the same terminology and addressing some of the same concerns, then the two passages must be, as they say, mutually interpreting, If 1:16—19 is concerned with the prophecy of Jesus’ coming within the fi st century, this must be the same prophecy being discussed in 3;1—13, Even before the detailed examination of chapter 3, then, we have good reason to suspect that the chapter will be about the imminent judgment on the Old Creation. These suspicions, [argue below, are fully justified “THE DAY": 3:1-13 As preterist interpreters have pointed out, there are indications within chapter 3 that Peter is talking about a“day of judgment” that would occur within the first century. Peter is concerned with mockers who arise in the church in the “last days,” and this and simi- lar phrases refer throughout the New Testament to the apostolic era, not some future period of history: on Now these things happened to them as a type, and were writ for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. (1 Cor, 10:11 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoke to us in His Son, (Heb, 1:1—2) For [Christ] was foreknewn before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you. (1 Pet. 1:20)Three Worlds 81 Peter warns that mockers will come in the first century (2 Pet. }), and this implies that their “destruction” must also take place within that period. As noted above in chapter 2, the mockers are the same as the false teachers of 2 Peter 2, the false teachers are the ngodly men” of 3:7 and the“unprincipled men” of 3:17."Thus the “day of God” (3:12) is the “day” for the destruction of the false teach- ers (3:7). Ifthe mockers have already appeared in the first century, and their destruction is predicted, that destruction must also take place in the fi century,” It would hardly be worthwhile for God to destroy the false teachers long after they have died. Since the de- struction of the ungodly teachers is part and parcel of the end of the heavens and earth, then the destruction of heaven and earth must also be expected in the first century. The phrase “last days” also has a broader reference in some pas- sages, designating not only the apostalic period but the whale pe: riod from the exile through the apostolic period, the whole period of the“seventy weeks” of Daniel 9. About Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the statue, Daniel says that God “has made known to King Nebu chadnez#ar what will take place in the end of the days" (Dan. 2:28), and he goes on to explain that the vision begins with Nebuchad- elf (2:38). Similarly, a vision of the wars that followed. lexander’s campaigns (Dan. 11) gives “understanding of what will happen to your people in the end of the days” (Dan, 10:14). These uses in Daniel are rooted in the prophecies of Moses at the end of Deuteronomy: ' 2 Pet. 3:17 uses the same word (“unprincipled”) as 2:7, which draws an analogy between the false teachers and Sodomites, Hillyer gives a goad description of the psyche "s readers, galled by the pernicious workings af the false teachers, must often have asked how long God would allow the situation to ogy of Peter's readers; "No doubt some of Pete persist. In his role as pastor, Peter reassures them. Divine deliverance may seem to be uncertain, or at least long in coming, But it will come, for God is in control all along” (I and 2 Peter, fude, 191), In Hillyer's futurist int preta- tion, however, itis difficult to see how Peter provides any sort of reassurance,82 CHAPTER FOUR For [know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way which T have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking Him to anger with the work of yout hands, (Deut. 31:29) In Mos include id Daniel’s scheme, the “former days” of Israe]’s history he Exodus and the period of the kingdom, while the “latter days” are the period when [srael bowed before a series of imperial world powers. For the apostles, however, the phrasing has a more "or the specific reference to the period at the end of the “latter da “times of the Gentiles."We might say that Peter is describing events of the “latter days of the latter day: From the perspective of Daniel, we can conclude that the end of the “latter days” that Peter predicts means an end (at least) to. an en- tire world-order in which Israel was subjected to Gentile protec- tors and powers. Judgment on the “present heavens and earth” isnot only a judgment on Jerusalem but on the entire political economy of the postexilic world. Revelation reveals this same point by de: picting the fall of the beast, a composite of the four beasts of Daniel 7 (cf. Rey, 13:1—-10), and the fall of the sents Jews in their cooperation with pagan imperialism." alse prophe . who repre- he specific content of the mockers’ mackery decisively sup ports a preterist interpretation. This is a knock-down argument to end all knock-down arguments. Seeing that the first generation of believers (the “fathers,” 3:4; see below) are passing on with no sign imminent, the mockers ask, Grd). that the Parousia is being delayed but are questioning whether or that the*power and coming” of Jesu “Where is the promise of His coming? ‘hey do not believe not it will ever occur. Now these doubts would arise only if they had reason to expect the Parou: a to happen soon, And they are a threat to Peter's readers, able to sway and perhaps persuade some “For more, see Jordan, A Brief Reader's Gutde to Revelation,Three Worlds of them, only because they seem to have a point. Had Jesus said, “T am coming, but] won't say when,” the subsequent passage of time would not undermine the prophecy atall. Suppose, however, Jesu said something like “Som @ here will not tase | they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” or"Be- fore this generation passes, all these things shall be fullilled.” If He who are standi death un’ said that, then the passing of the first generation would indeed raise doubts about His promise, But wherever would the mockers have gotten the idea that Jesus was coming before the “fathers” died? Why, lo and behold, Jesus said exactly that. The whole debate presupposes that Jesus promised to come soon, Without that premise, neither the mockers’ mockery nor Peter's letter makes any sense. Peter and his opponents differ on the crucial question of the promise’s reliability, but they agree on its conte t. Bauckham recognizes the force of this point: [T]he critical point for the nonfulfillment of the promise of the Parousia came at the time when it could be said that the genera. tion of the apostles had died, The objection of the scoffers was not just that a long time had passed since the promise was given, but that the promise itself had set a time-limit within which it would be fulfilled and this time-limit had passed." Yet Bauckham rejects this interpretation , First, he argues that if the scoffers were claiming that the terminus had passed, “their objec tion ought to be, not that nothing has happened since the fathers died, but that nothing happened before they died.” Itis hard to see the force of this objection, Bauckham himself translates verse 4 this way: "the fathers have died and stil! nothing happens” (his ital- ics). One van easily take this to mean that everyone expected some- thing to happen efore the fathers died:"We expected Jesus to come prior to the death of the apostles, but now we are past that time and nothing has happened even yet.” Bauckham's translation actually *Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter, 291-292,84 CHAPTER FOUR makes berter sense ifthe scoffers expected something to happen be- fore the death of the fathers, Second, he claims that“? Peter does not answer the objection that a specific time-limit has passed” but instead simply “reproduces the answers to the problem of eschatological delay which he found in his Jewish apocalyptic source,” But as Bauckham himself recog nizes, Peter does answer the question of delay by stating that (1) the prophetic word (of Jesus) has reserved the present heavens and earth for fire, and therefore it will be burned, and that (2) God has patiently and graciously extended the time for “all to come to re- pentance” (3:9). Neither of these responses means that Peter raises “the issue of eschatological delay above the level of calculating dates.”"To do so would be against the grain of biblical prophecy, is still which is very much concerned with calculating dates. P confident that Jesus will do what He said He would do, namely, come within “this generation.” Knock-Down Argument #4: Peter responds to mockers who doubt the promise of Jesus’ coming because time has passed without any sign of the Parousia. If there were no time limit an the original prophecy, then the mockers would have no grounds for their mockery and no way to attract converts to their skeptical views. Therefore, the original prophecy must have included a time limit, a terminus ad quem, and that time limit must have been the lifetime of the apostles. He’s against the ropes and ina corner. One more should de MOCKER: Asin chapter 2, Peter draws parallels between his opponents and the false prophets of the Old Testament, particularly the preexilicThree Worlds 85 prophets in Jeremiah’s time, who were also skeptical about pare- dictions of judgment, In Jeremiah 17:15, Jeremiah’s opponents ask, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now.” The par- allel is quite exact, Old Testament prophets assured the faithful they would be vindicated while the faithless would be punished, but the mocking false prophets say, “If God is on your side, where He? You've suffered at the hands of pet ecutors, and you expect God to rescue you. Where is this vindication that you predicted?” ‘The question that Peter attributes to the mockers is phrased like the questions of the scoffers and mockers of the Psalms, who taunt the suffering psalmist:“Why isn’t God intervening to rescue you, if the Lord delights in you?” (42:3, 10), In some passages the mock- ers raise the same question to Israel Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name; and deliver us, and forgive our sins, for Thy name's sake, Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?" Let there be known among the nations in our sight, vengeance for the blood of Thy servants, which has been shed. . .. And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom the reproach with which they have reproached Thee, O Yahweh, (Ps, 79:9-12) Why 11522) ould the nation y, “Where, now, is their God?” (Ps. Let the priests... say, “Spare Thy people, OYahweh, and do not make Thine inheritance a reproach, a byword among the na- tions. Why should they among the peoples say, Where is their God?” (Joel 2:17) Peter thus casts the false teachers in the role of Gentile nations who taunt Israel, in the place of the persecutors who taunt the faithful, ‘In Malachi 2:17 we see warnings from the prophet that Isracl has wearied God by doing evil and then saying,“Where is the God of justice?”86 CHAPTER FOUR and in the place of false prophets. Jewish false teachers, who claim to be Jews but are not, have become “Gentiles,” while the Chris tians are the true Jews.” Peter's characterization of his opponents highlights the impor- tance of Jesus’ Parousia in first-century Christianity. We tend to think of a diversity of millennial views as tolerable, perhaps even healthy, for the Chri istian church, Outside super-strict Dispen- sationalist circles, no one is counted a heretic or apostate because he believes in a post-tribulation-pre-Raphaelite-pre-millennial full rapture instead of a pre-tribulation-post-modern-premillennial partial rapture. Peter isnot nearly so tolerant. Those who mock the promise of Jesus’ coming, of His imminent coming, are false teach- ers, men who have “denied the Master who bought them,” dogs and pigs who return to their previous iniasma. The reason Peter takes this with such high seriousness is nat dif. ficult to fathom, though it has been forgotten or ignored for centu- ries, As N.T, Wright has recently argued, Jesus’ prediction of a coming destruction of the city and temple eloped at length in claims to be a true the Olivet Discourse, was a test case of H prophet and Messi: to pass. Jeremiah was a true prophet because he predicted the de- ah, A true prophet is one whose predictions come struction of Jerusalem and it happened; the false prophets of his day were false prophets because they predicted peace that never came. If Jesus predicted the fall of Jerusalem and predicted that it would happen within a generation—which He did —then He can be con- sidered a true prophet only if it came to pass—which itdid.’ To put “Mockery is also a theme of wisdom literature, found in the Psalms and Proverbs, where the “mocker” or scoller is one who despises all wisdom and instruction. Righteous men do not “sit in the seat of the scolfers” (Ps. 1:1), and wisdom calls to scoffers to turn from their scofling (Prov. 1:22). Denying the promise of the Parousia brands Peter's opponents as fools and scaffers, like dogs who return to their vomit (Prov. 26:11}. "Weight, fests and the Factory of God, especially chapter 8.Three Worlds it bluntly, if Jesus did not come to vindicate, He is not the Messiah. If He did not come to vindicate Himself and His bride within the time He set, He is not the Messiah, But He did, and He is. 8 are apostates, but | Jam not prepared to say that non-prete: hope for the day when Jesus’ prophecies will be so universally un- derstood that they will be considered s0; of, failing that, for the day when non-preterists will seem as exotic a species as pestmillen- nialists seem today, THE FATHERS HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP The mockers’ skeptici that although the “fathers” have they have since creation, Normally, “fathers” m about the Parousia is based on the fact fallen asleep, things continue on as the New Testament refers to the Old Testament patriarchs and forefathers, who are ian church (cf, 1 Cor. 10:1; Heb. 3:9, 8:9), Ifthe mockers are skeptical because the Parousia did considered the fathers of the Chri: not come before Old Testament saints died, itis difficult to see the e pti rected toward prophecy in general, or it would imply that t m would be di- point. If this were their objection, their expected the promises of the Parousia to be fulfilled within the life- time of the Old Testament fathers, an odd view indeed, Neither is in dispute in Peter’s letter, : that He would come before What is in dispute is Jesus’ promi the end of the apostolic generation, while “some who are standing here the or “patriarchs This use of the term “fa are still alive.* Given this, “fathers” must refer to the “t of th e Christian church, thers” is, so far as [have found, unique in the New Testament, but it is a perfectly natural extension of several fixed threads of New Tes tament usage. Paul, for starters, commonly speaks of his disciples, Again Peter's pc 1:16, and therefore the promise in dispute in 3:4 is specifically Jesus’ promise the structural considerations reviewed above shed valuable light on it, Dis Parowsialin 3:4 parallels chu velermicr tothe Parodia ia to come in glory before the end of the apostolic generation88 CHAPTER FOUR Timothy especially, as“children” and “sons,” implying that he paternal relationship with them; Ido not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children, (1 Cor, 4:14) Now it a like exchange—l speak as to children—open wide to us also. (2 Cor. 6:13) We were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of ') you as a father would his own children, (1 Thes, 2 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the command- ment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope, to Timothy, my true child in faith, (1 Tim. 1:12) Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God .. . toTimo- thy my beloved son... . [M]y son, be strong ace that is in Christ Jesus. (2 Tim. 1:1-2; 2:1) he g The example of Timothy is particularly useful, since Paul trained him to carry on the work of the apostolic church. Apostles and those directly associated with them thus formed a paternal genera- tion while Timothy and others trained by the apostles were a filial generation, It would be natural, then, for someone of Timothy's generation to look back to the apostles as “fathers” in the faith, Moreover, Jesus deliberately chose twelve disciples in order to send the message that He was forming a new Israel, and it again would be quite natural that the following generation would look back to the apostles as “patriarchs” of the new Israel (just as we talk about “Church Fathers” of the post-apostolie period).” °'The transition from a paternal, apostolic generation to. filial, second gen. a inthe New Testament tion accords with the Exodus typology so pervasi Jesus underwent an exodus in Jerusalem (Lk, 9:31), and the apostles were theThree Worlds This makes the mockers’ argument very specific, pointed, and persuasive to some. Jesus had promised that His Parousia would occur before the first generation had passed (“there are some standing here,”“this generation shall not pass until all these things are fulfilled”). But now the “fail 8" are falling asleep. True, the fa- thers" generation has not completely passed since Peter himself is still alive, but fathers are falling asleep and no cataclysmic judg- ment is on the horizon. Almost all modern commentators agree fet few rec- that the “fathers” are the first generation of Christians. ognize the implication that the mockery of the scoffers only makes sense if they are contesting a promise that the Parousia would oc- cur before the fathers had fallen asleep. If Jesus had said, “These things are going to be fulfilled in some uncertain time-frame,” the passing of the fathers would be as irrelevant as the passing of the dodo. If, however, they are disputing a prophecy of the Parousia , then the that had specific reference to the apostolic generat mockery makes sense. Wherever di {they get the idea that Jesus would return before the fathers died? Lo and behold, Jesus made exactly shat promise: Knock-Down Argument #5: For the mockers, the passing of the “fathers,” the apostles and their associates, casts doubt on the truth of Jesus'promise to come in power. This objec- tion has weight only if Jesus had in fact promised to come before the “fathers” passed from the scene, Thus the prophecy in dispute in 2 Peter 3 promised a athers” who escaped from Egypt with him. Now they are all in the wikler ness, and the children who did not witness theExodus have to be reminded of things they did not witness. Some of the “children” are getting restive, threat ening to return to Egypt, or, to shift the typology slightly, the children are camped at Moab but reluctant to claim the Land, since they are no longer cer- tain that Jericho will fall,90 CHAPTER FOUR “coming” within the apostolic generation. The prophecy Peter says will be fulfilled is a prophecy about Jesus’coming within the generation.” That, | should think, fairly ends the fight. [have a few scratch but by my reckoning, it’s a win by TKO, if not an outright KO. WORLD THAT THEN WAS Whatever Peter goes on to say has to be consistent with our find. ings to this point. If 2 Peter is at all coherent, his discussion of the ssion end ofa world and the beginning of another are part of a disc about Jesus’ promise to come within the generation of the apostles Peter does not directly respond to the statement about the pass. ing of the fathers, although verses 8-9 may be considered an indi- rect response. Instead he considers the statement in the latter part of verse 4 to be crucial to the mockers’ position and addresses that directly. The mockery assumes a uniformitarian view of history. ‘Things move on as they always have and there are no catastrophic occurrences. This may not have been their overt theory of history, but their objections to Jesus’ promise betrays their tacit assump tion (hope?) that God does not intervene in history. Such skepti vits Old ent echoes: “Where is the God of justice? The wicked pros- cism is consistent with their mocking question, v per, life goes on, and God is nowhere to be found. Where is now the God of Israel?” How is this consistent with my earlier identification of the false teachers as Jews (see previous chapter)? Jews, after all, should know better than anyone that world history is not uniformitarian, that it is punctuated by activity from outside, that Yahweh is amed- dling God who pokes His arm and hand into time and toys with "Admittedly this is a variation of the same punch I threw earlier, but old ways are the best ways,Three Warlds 1 nations and empires. This is a difficulty that I cannot resolve fully, but several points may be made toward a resalution. First, my dis tinction between the mockers’ “overt” and “implicit” view of his- tory is supported by the ironic tone of Peter's reminder of the creation and flood: “it escapes their notice that...” (v5). This in- troductory clause implies that Peter's opponents were in fact quite familiar with the creation and fload accounts, though they had not draw the proper conclusions from those events. The sarcastic tone is similar to Paul’s: “You who want to be under law, do you not lis- ten to the law?” (Gal. 4:21). Second, this same charge could be leveled at the false prophets in the days of Jeremiah, who were undoubtedly Jewish. Though they recognized thatYahweh was active in history, they believed that the temple and city of Jerusalem, at least, were impervious. Nations might rise and fall, but the house of Yahweh would stand forever, and as long as they took their stand there, no Nebuchadnezzar could touch them. Again, these false prophets would undoubtedly have confessed thatYahweh rules all things and intervenes frequently in history, but they did not believe that there could be a change of the magnitude that Jeremiah envisioned. Jewish and Judaizing oppo- nents of the early church held very similar view even ifa New Covenant has come, that cannot mean that circumcision, food laws, and laws of cleanness are now irrelevant, and the coming of the Messiah cannor mean that “circumcision is nothing, nor ion” (Gal, 6:15). A third, related point may also be made, It was common for uncircume’ Jews to believe that Torah was begotten along with the creat Linking “Wisdom” and Torah, and reading this linkage into Prov- erbs 8, led Jews to conclude that Torah was the agent of the original creation, and that Torah was in fact the purpose for which God cre ated the world, W, D, Davies summarizes this view under three headings;CHAPTER FOUR 1, The Torah, like Wisdom, came to be r than the world. Thus it garded as olde the st among the seven things which were created before the world, Again in Sifre on Deut. 11,10, Prov. $.22 is taken to mean that the Law was created before ev erything. “The Law because it is more highly prized (literally, ev dearer) than everything, was created befor ything, .. 2, Secondly, the Torah is brought into connection with cre- R. Akiba said it wherewith the world was created. . ation; ¢ Beloved are Isracl to whom was given a precious instrumes 3. Thirdly, the world is claimed to be created for the sake of Torah, Thus R, Yudan said: “The world was created for the sake (literally: because of the merit) of the Torah.” Moore also quotes a far earlier passage in this connection, the aphorism of Simeon the Just Law, on ‘worship,’ and on deeds of personal kindne e stability of the world rests on three thi Belie ¢ literal they did not believe it could be modified in the radical way g that Torah was eternal and unchanging ina qu SETS the apostles claimed, Yahweh might well act in history, but the Jews refused to let Him act like thar, Peter’s response to the mockers is designed to address precisely this view, H not responding to the notion that no historical changes can occur, which is too absurd to require refutation, He is responding to the claim that no historical changes can displace the “present heavens and earth” to make room for“a new heavens and earth.” Whatever historical changes might be made, Torah, temple, and Israel’s centrality will remain unchanged. Whatever it cannot be sa historical changes occu id that they constitute the beginning of a new creation. Peter's examples show, in fact, the Creator has made a habit of D. Davies, Paul and Rabbinic fudatsm: Some Rabbinic Elements in Pauline The- alogy (Milllintown: Sigler Press, 1998), 170-171 Adapting these c gospel, Paul argues that Jesus takes the place of Torah; the apasto on Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law is both a hermeneutical and theological point,Three Worlds 93 forming new worlds from time to time. He first points out that the creation is completely a contingent product of God's word and working. Creation is not a self-sustaining, uniform continuum, and ifit was brought into being by the word of God, it can be snuffed out by the word of God, Peter distinguishes between the creation of the heavens and the creation of the earth—the former is created “by the word of God,” while the earth was “formed out of water and by water.” This is consistent with the creation account. Both the high heavens (Gen. 1:1) and the firmament (1:6—7) were created di- rectly by the word of God, while the earth (i.e., everything other than the heavens) took shape by a hydraulic process, as Yahweh God separated the waters above and below as well as the waters and land." ¥ Importantly for Peter's purposes, this same word was the agent e shall return to this distinction below. for the world’s destruction (v. 6). The prepositional phrase “through which” is diflicult because the relative pronoun is plural: “through which things.”"What made if the plural pronoun refers to the word and water by which he world that then was” was destroyed. There is thus a parallel between the way creation came into €: it referring to? The best sense ‘ence and the way the “world that then was” was brought to an end, Word and water both create and destroy, ferse 7 applies this to Peter's circumstances: if heaven and earth were made by the word and water and if the world was also de! royed by word and water, then ifthe word declares that the “present heavens and earth” are destined for judgment by fire, then itis going tohappen Where has the word reserved the “present heavens and earth” for »'This suggests a connection with baptism. In his first letter, Peter already 318-22), and here he is talking about a creation emerging by God's power through the described baptism by referring to the typology of the fload (1 Pe agency of water, It isnot merely that the carth was formed “out of” water (ek); water was also the agent of ereation (dia, “through"). Baptism, likewise, forms a new creation out of the dust and clay ofa son of AdamCHAPTER FOUR fire? This is virtually impossible to answer unless we recognize that both John and Jesus, throughout their ministries, were telling parables and issuing prophecies about the imminent doom of Is- the rael, Jesu -schatological prophet, the final prophet of the fi- nal doom for the Old Covenant people of God, and this doom is over and over spoken of asa fiery destruction: Do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, “We have Abra- ham for our father”; for | say to you that God is able from the: stones to raise up children te Abraham. And th axe is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, ... He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and | am not fit to re- move His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And His winnawing fork is in His hand, and He will thor: oughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will bu fire, (Mt. 3:8-12) nv up the chai with unquenchable Just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His an. gels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks [like lessnes: lowers of Balam], and those who commit law- nicl will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Mt. 13:40-42) Just as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day... Hewas the same as happened in the days of Lot; they were cating, they were drink but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. (Lk. 17:24, 28-29) It is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give re fto you whe are afflicted and to us as wellThree Worlds 95 when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing ont retribution to those ling who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. (2 iles While these passages employ a variety of images and sir to express the con g judgment, they are all prophecies of a Sodom-like judgment on Israel. John is speaking directly to the Pharisees when he warns them about the axe at the root and al- ludes to Isaiah’s prophecy about Assyria (Is. 10:15—19) to warn that another Assyria is going to cut down the forest of Israel. Jesus’ parable of the tares has been interpreted for centuries as a parable about the church age, but it makes much better sense parabolic description of the post-exilic history of Isracl. With the return from exile, Yahweh sowed the land with the seed of man and beast, but since that time Satan has been busy sowing tares among the wheat. Jesus has now come with His winnowing fork, and before the end of the age, the wheat and tares will be sepa rated, The end of the age thus refers not to the final judgment but to the close of “this generation,” As we have noted in a previous chapter, the example of Lot is used to describe the coming judg- ment on the wicked city of Jerusodom, and Paul’s assurance that Jesus will come with angels “in flaming fire” is assurance only if it refers to relief for the afflicted The: © the prophecies to which Peter refers: by the word of Jesus and the salonians. These al “beloved brother” Paul, the “now” heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, Thave already mentioned the parallel between the sequence in chapters 2 and 3, Flood /Sodom is water/fire; water from heaven, fire from heaven,” Peter describes the earlier judgment of the world and the coming judgment in terms of the two archetypal " Bauckham, Jude, 2 Perer, 252.96 CHAPTER FOUR divine judgments in Genesis, The destruction of the present heav- ens and earth is parallel ina sense to the llood, but in some ways more specifically parallel to the destruction of the cities of the plain. This fits with the descriptions of Jerusalem as Sodom in Rev- elation as well as Je warnings about Sodam in the Gospels, Peter divides history into three large periods: |, From creation by water to destruction by water, 2, From formation of the of God” 3, The “new heavens and new earth in which righteousness now” heavens and earth to “the day dwells” that follows the day of God. me here, and The history of Israel is absorbed into a larger sc what is destined for fire is the world that has existed since the flood, not merely the Mosaic world Peter expands on the prophecy of the coming destruction in verses 10-13, Whatis he referring to? Does the phrase “heaven and earth” refer to the physical universe, or is it a description of an his- torical order? As noted earlier in this commentary, the phrase can have both connotations. Which more likely in 2 Peter 3? My ar- guments throughout this commentary ing these questions, and I believe establish that Peter is talking ‘tthe context for answer- about the destruction of the Old Creation, An examination of the passage itself supports this. For starters, we can make some observations about what is ac- nt heavens and id here tually According to verse 7, the pre earth are reserved for fire, which implies that both heaven and carthare being kept for the day of judgment. In verses 10-13, how- ever, a distinction is made, like the distinetion in the made of cre- ation (heaven by word, earth by water): heaven passes away, while the earth is “discovered” (eurethesetai). In verses 10 and 12 the ele- ments (stoicheia) are associated with the heavens, in that both are burned, “pass away,” are “destroyed,” or “melt.” Whatever theThree Worlds stoicheia are, they are associated here with the heavens. Two key conclusions follow from these observations: 1. Peter is nat describing a cosmic conflagration. If this passage is taken as the literal destruction of the universe, itis only the heav- ens that are being destroyed, or rather, the heavens and their ele- ments, 2.7 cribin, s, further , makes it virtually impossible that Peter is de- ig the physical universe at all. Can we imagine a situation in which the physical heavens (outer space with all its planets) melt in intense heat but do not destroy the earth? Would it make any sense are burned to ash and molten el to say that after the heaven nents, the earth is “discovered”? I am no scientist, but I should think “¢ covered” is the last thing the earth would be under those circum- stanc: The progression of Peter’s terminology also needs to be care fully examined, According to verses 57, (1) The “heavens and earth” existed long aga; (2) by the word and water, the kosmos of 3) but that time, the kosmes of the pre-flood world, was destroyed the “now” heavens and earth are being reser ved for fire: “Heavens and earth” in verse 7 appears to be used in a different sense from verse 5, which describes the regions of the original n.The cause they are called the present he: physical crea present heavens and earth,” precisely be- sand earth, cannot he the ve same as the created heavens and earth. That would make “present’ redundant. Verse 6 thus says that the flood is a watershed between two different “worlds,” two different “heavens and earth.” The old. world was destroyed in the flood, and the world that came into being alter the fload is the “present heavens and earth.” Physically, however, the “present heavens and earth” are the same as the“heavens and earth” of creation: we still have sky, earth, “ Against Moa, who recognizes that “world” in verse 6 does not mean “the physical universe," but argues that verse 7, by returning to the phrase “heaven and earth," does refer to the physical universe (2 Peter, fade, 171),98 CHAPTER FOUR and sea, birds, animals and fish, fruit-bearing trees and grasses of the field, Peter, however, distinguishes the “heavens and earth” of creation from the “now” heavens and earth. Verse 7 thus cannot refer to the physical heavens and earth, "Thus there are contextual grounds within 2 Peter 3 (not to mention the rest of 2 Peter) for saying that the phrase “heaven and earth” refers toa political world order rather than to the physical universe. The destruction of the heavens and the discovery of the earth refer not to the end of the ation order, It is used to de- cosmos but to the end of the Old al order, as it often is in 223-31; Heb. scribe the end of a religious and pol prophecy (Is. 13:13; 34:4; 5115-16; 65:17; Jer. 12:26). Every commentator on 2 Peter I have read has struggled to make sense of the earth being “found” or “discovered.” Difficult as u , [believe itis a key to a full understanding of the whole pas sage and that it can be b e that st understood when we recogi Peter is de: ing the end of the Old Creation, Most interpreters recognize that the idea is judicial: the effect of the day of judgment on the earth is to expose the ungodly and bring them into judg- ment. Heaven and the staicheta are thus a kind of barrier between God and the earth and its works so that the removal of heaven leaves the earth exposed.“ The wicked will be “found” out in their wickedness, despite their apparent cflorts to hide themselves from the wrath of the Lamb: BK ungodly, wh nmos in verse 6 has, morcaver, a specific reference to the casinos of the th is evident from comparison with 2:5. The “world of the un- «din the flood, and thi destruction of the pres godly” was destr is also mentioned in 3:7. Th t heavens and the flood, and this fiery h parallels judgment is going to be for the “destruction of ungodly men.” This makes a ncat contrast with verse 14, where Peter exhorts his readers to be “found by Him in peace.” Peter's readers are to be diligent so that they do not stand naked and ashamed in the judgment, but spotless and blame! fitting sacrifices to God,Three Worlds 99 And the kings of the earth and the great men and the com- manders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man [seven categories] hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Pall on us and hide us fram the face of Him wha sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?” (Rev, 6: 15-17) To unravel this further, I suggest that “heavens” here ref TS spe- cifically to the firmament heavens, and therefore the removal of the “firmament” leads to the “discovery” of the earth. Four observa- tions support this: |. Peter says that the heavens came into being by the “word” of the Lord, and this applies strictly to the firmament heavens. Genesis refers to the highest heavens, the dwelling of God, but it does not say that the heavens were created by the word. Though likely that the highest heavens were formed by the word, is 1 says only that the firmament-heavens were created by the word (vv, 6-8), Thus 2 Peter 2 highest heave 2.“Elements” (steicheia) are placed in the heavens. Commenta- tors point out that steicheia is sometimes used of heavenly bodi renesi 5 is talking about the firmament, not the 3. to heavenly bodies, then the heavens in which they are placed must be the firmament (Gen. 1:14-19). 3. That the word for “heavens’ whether stars or heavenly beings like angels. If the word refe plural is not relevant. Genesis I: Old Testament, the Hebrew word is shemayim, a dual form that can says that the firmament is called “heaven,” but as always in the be translated as a plural. Peter is adopting $ mitic terminology here and referring to the firmament with the plural form. 4, Considering the firmament helps to explain how the “heav- ens and earth” of the postdiluvian period are a different world from the prediluvian heavens and earth. After the flood, Noah offered