2 Peter 3:15

(15) The longsuffering of our Lord.—Again, as in 2Pe_3:9, we are in doubt as to whether God the Father or the Lord Jesus is meant. In neither case is absolute certainty obtainable; but here the balance seems decidedly in favour of the latter meaning. In 2Pe_3:8 “the Lord” certainly means God, and not the Lord Jesus (comp. 2Pe_2:9; 2Pe_2:11). In 2Pe_3:18 “our Lord” is expressly stated to be Jesus Christ. The two intermediate 2Pe_3:9; 2Pe_3:15, are open to dispute. The fact that “our” appears in this verse before “Lord,” as in 2Pe_3:18, inclines the balance here towards the meaning in 2Pe_3:18. Moreover, had God been meant, it would have sufficed to say, “and account that His long-suffering is salvation.” If this is correct, and “our Lord” means Jesus Christ, “then throughout this weighty passage the Lord Jesus is invested with the full attributes of Deity.” Here, possibly, as also in 2Pe_1:1 (see Note), the expression points to the writer’s entire belief in the unity of the two Persons. Account the longsuffering of our Lord salvation instead of accounting it to be “slackness” (2Pe_3:9); make use of it for working out your own salvation in fear and trembling, instead of criticising it.

As our beloved brother Paul.—This may possibly mean something more than that St. Paul was a fellow-Christian and a personal friend—viz., that he was a fellow-worker and brother-evangelist. More than this it cannot well mean, though some interpret it “brother-Apostle.” Tychicus is twice called “beloved brother” by St. Paul (Eph_6:21; Col_4:7), and the addition of “our” here can make no such change of meaning. It is doubtful whether there is any allusion to the dispute between St. Peter and St. Paul (Gal_2:11), although an expression of marked affection would be quite in place as evidence that all such differences were now forgotten. In any case the familiarity and equality which the expression “our beloved brother Paul” implies should be noticed. It is in marked contrast to the way in which Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, and Clement of Alexandria speak of St. Paul, and in this way is a decided note of genuineness. A writer of the sub-Apostolic age would not easily be able to free himself from the feeling of the age in this respect. Clement of Rome (Corinthians, xlvii. 1), says, “Take up the Epistle of the blessed Paul the Apostle.” Ignatius (Ephesians, 12:2) calls him “Paul the sanctified, the martyred, worthily called blessed.” Polycarp (see next Note) calls him “the blessed and glorious Paul,” or “the blessed Paul.” Clement of Alexandria commonly says simply “the Apostle,” but sometimes “the divine Apostle” or “the noble Apostle.” An imitator in the second century would scarcely have attained to the freedom of “our beloved brother Paul.”

According to the wisdom given unto him.—Comp. 1Co_3:10; Gal_2:9. Polycarp, in his Epistle to the Philippians (2peter iii. 2), says, “Neither I nor any one else like me can equal the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul, who . . . wrote letters to you, into which if ye look diligently, &c. &c.” This seems to show that St. Paul’s letters had already become the common property of the churches.

Hath written unto you.—More literally, wrote to you. What Epistle, or Epistles, are here meant? Few points in this Epistle have been more debated. The following are some of the many answers that have been given to the question: (1) a lost Epistle; (2) Hebrews, because of Heb_9:26-28; Heb_10:23-25; Heb_10:37; (3) Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, because our Epistle is supposed to be addressed to the Christians of Asia Minor; (4) Ephesians only, for the reason just stated, and because Colossians and Galatians contain little or no mention of the day of judgment; also because of Eph_4:30, and the encyclical character of the Epistle; (5) 1 Corinthians, because of 1Co_1:7-9; (6) Romans, because of Rom_2:4 and Rom_9:22-23; (7) 1 and 2 Thessalonians, because of 1Th_4:14-18; 1Th_5:1-11; 1Th_5:23, because 2Pe_3:10 recalls 1Th_5:2, also because “things hard to be understood” admirably describes much of 2 Thessalonians 2, which treats of the time of Christ’s coming, the very subject here under discussion.

Of these seven theories, (1) can neither be proved nor disproved; (3) and (4) lose much of their weight when we consider that the persons addressed in 2 Peter are nowhere defined, excepting that to some extent they are identical with those addressed in 1 Peter. Of the remaining four, (7) seems to be very probable, both on account of the large amount of coincidence, and also because of the early date of those Epistles, allowing an interval of fifteen years, in which the two Epistles might easily have become well known in other churches. Still it is difficult to find a passage in them about the longsuffering of God, such as Rom_2:4; Rom_9:22-23. And when we consider that Romans also Appears to have been an Encyclical Letter, and was written not so very long after the Epistles to the Thessalonians; that in Rom_3:8. St. Paul himself tells us that he had been grossly misunderstood; that Rom_9:3 might easily cause serious misunderstanding, and that Rom_6:16 seems to be recalled in 2Pe_2:19—it will perhaps be thought that on the whole Romans best answers to the requirements of the context.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Pe_3:15-16

The longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.

The longsuffering of God

I. The fact of the longsuffering of God. Sentence of condemnation is not speedily executed. The blessings of health and prosperity often accompany the sinner all through his course of rebellion. The patience of God appears inexhaustible.

II. The generous object of Gods longsuffering.

1. God bears with transgressors not because He is ignorant of their actions.

2. Not because He is indifferent to their actions.

3. Not because He wants the power to avenge Him of His adversaries.

4. God bears with sinners because His name and His nature is love.

(1) It is the actual design of God by this longsuffering to bring men to salvation.

(2) The tendency of this longsuffering, as well as Gods design, is to salvation.

(3) The actual effect of this longsuffering on the part of God is salvation. But though the longsuffering of God be thus designed to be salvation, yet the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. There is a period to the Divine patience. (G. T. Noel, M. A.)

The forbearance of God, ending in the salvation of men

I. The longsuffering of the Lord.

1. It may be defined as the suffering of opposition, injuries, and insults, for a long time without punishing them.

2. The instances and displays of the longsuffering of God are amply recorded in the Bible.

3. And the world, through all the ages of its being, has presented the same picture. What has been the history of every nation? of every city? of every village? of every family? of every person? A record of Divine patience.

4. Let us suggest a few considerations calculated to put the longsuffering of God in a clear, strong light.

(1) The pointedness of our offences. It is this which gives to sin its evil. It is pointed against God. It is a thrust at His throne.

(2) That entireness which belongs to the sin of man. No counterbalancing conduct. There is no mixture in the conduct of unconverted men towards God. There may be some things well towards man. But towards God all is wrong.

(3) The inexcusableness also of offences against God tends to enhance our views of His longsuffering. Has God ever given you any reason to treat Him as you have treated Him?

(4) The ingratitude of our offences must also be remembered.

(5) The implacableness of offenders against God renders His longsuffering the more remarkable.

II. In what sense the longsuffering of the Lord is said to be salvation.

1. It is only by a reference to the great purpose of salvation that we can satisfactorily account for the longsuffering of the Lord,

2. Consequently the longsuffering of the Lord is to afford adequate occasion and room for carrying the plan of salvation into execution.

3. It is therefore a standing indication to men of the willingness of God to save.

4. It is then a motive to induce men to be saved. It is part of that goodness which leadeth men to repentance.

5. But salvation is often the blessed result of Divine forbearance. This is its grand issue. The longsuffering of the Lord is salvation in actual effect and eternal consequences. It ends in this.

III. Enforce the injunction to estimate rightly the longsuffering of the Lord. Account that the longsuffering of the Lord is salvation. See that you put this interpretation upon Divine forbearance, esteem it as salvation.

1. Do not then make it the food of scepticism. This was the wretched mistake of those ungodly persons of whom the apostle had spoken. Be not deceived, God is not mocked; what a man soweth that shall he also reap, whether it be early or late.

2. Neither regard the longsuffering of the Lord as connivance. Do not think that because He does not smite, He therefore smiles.

3. Nor must you account that the longsuffering of the Lord is security. Whilst you are saying peace and safety, sudden destruction may come upon you. Account that the longsuffering of the Lord is salvation. Regard this as the end. Believe that you are allowed and encouraged to seek that end. Let the longsuffering of God be your introduction to His mercy. You may turn this stream of life into poison and death. (Essex Remembrancer.)

Gods longsuffering: an appeal to the conscience

I. Admire the longsuffering of God.

1. Admire the longsuffering of God as to peculiar sins. Look, they make images of wood or stone, and they say These are God, and they set up these things in the place of Him that made the heavens and the earth. How does He bear it--He that sitteth in the heavens, in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways? Others, even in this country, blaspheme God. And oh, how is it that God bears it when they dare imprecate His curse upon their bodies and their souls? Besides, there are those who use fair speech, and yet blaspheme most intolerably. How is it that the Thrice-holy One bears with them? And then there are others who wallow in unmentionable impurity and uncleanness. The moon sees a world of foulness, fornication, and adultery: and yet, O God, thou bearest it! And then, when I turn my thoughts another way, to the oppression of the poor, to the grinding down of those who, with the hardest labour, can scarcely earn bread enough to keep body and soul together, how does the just God permit it?

2. Especially notice that this long-suffering of God is seen in peculiar persons. In certain persons sins are greater than the same sins would be in other people. They have been favoured with a tender conscience, and with good instruction, so that when they sin they sin with a vengeance.

3. It is wonderful that God should have such longsuffering when we look at the peculiar circumstances under which some men sin.

(1) Some men sin against God wilfully, when they have no temptation to it, and can plead no necessity.

(2) Some manifest the longsuffering of God very wonderfully in the length of time in which they have been spared to sin. Remember that it would be easy on Gods part to be rid of you. One wish, and the sinner will never provoke Him any more, nor refuse His mercy again. He will be gone out of the land of hope.

II. Take the right account of the longsuffering of God. Account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. What does this mean?

1. Does it mean, first, as to the saving of the many? The Lord Jesus Christ is, as I believe, to have the pre-eminence. Christ came not to destroy the world, but that the world through Him might be saved; and so, as every year rolls by, let us account it salvation, and spend and be spent in the hope that by any means we may save some.

2. The next meaning of this is to any of you who are unconverted. I want you to account that the longsuffering of God in sparing you means to you salvation. Why are you here to-night? Surely it is salvation. I met years ago a soldier who had ridden in the charge of Balaclava. He was one of the few that came back when the saddles were emptied right and left of him. I could not help getting into a corner, and saying to him, Dear sir, do you not think that God has some design of love to you in sparing you when so many fell? Have you given your heart to Him? I felt that I had a right to say that. Perhaps I speak to some of you who were picked off a wreck years ago. Why was that? I hope it was that you might be saved. You have had a fever lately, and have hardly been out before. Why were you saved from that fever when others were cut down? Surely it must mean salvation. When Master Bunyan was a lad, he was so foolhardy that, when an adder rose against him, he took it in his hand, and plucked the sting out of its mouth, but he was not harmed. It was his turn to stand sentinel at the siege of Nottingham, and as he was going forth, another man offered to take his place. This man was shot, and Master Bunyan thus escaped. We should have had no Pilgrims Progress if it had not been for that. Did not God preserve him on purpose that he might be saved?

3. This text seems to me to have a bearing upon the people of God. Account that the longsuffering of God is salvation. I must turn the text to give you really what lies in it. It is salvation to a man to be put side by side with Christ. If you have to bear the jests of the ungodly--if God spares them, and permits them to persecute you, be glad of it, and reckon it as salvation, for now you are made partaker of Christs sufferings. What more salvation do you desire? Remember, too, that when the ungodly persecute the righteous, they give them the mark of salvation, for of old it was so. He that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit. Once more: reckon the longsuffering of God, when it permits the ungodly to slander and injure you, as salvation, because it tends to your salvation by driving you nearer to the Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The longsuffering of God

God bears long with sinful men, to give them further opportunities of securing salvation.

1. It is remarkable, however, that the long-suffering of God has, in many instances, just the contrary effect. Because sentence is not speedily executed against an evil work, therefore the hearts of the sons of men are fully set within them to do evil. When the prophet Isaiah denounced the judgments of God, he was met with the reply, The vision that he seeth is afar off; and when his prophecy was not immediately fulfilled they said, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth. Myriads have been ruined for ever by abusing the longsuffering of God. They never intended to brave His wrath, but they saw so little cause for immediate alarm that they ventured a little further, until they had gone too far to retrace their steps. Have you ever noticed that our Saviour seldom warns us against a deliberate rejection of the gospel offers? He knew that such guilt would be rare. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? And how often does the Saviour call upon us to watch, and warn us that His coming will be as a thief in the night!

2. And it is astonishing with what ingenuity men can encourage this presumptive confidence in the long-suffering of God. Listen, for instance, to their remarks at funerals. If it be an aged person that has deceased, they say, Ah! he had lived to a good old age, and it was a matter of course that he should die. If it be an infant that is cut off, they say, There are so many diseases to which little ones are subject. In another case the remark concerning the deceased will be, He has been very imprudent, and brought his death upon himself. Or, in yet another case, This person has long been declining, and had the seeds of death within him; but I have no such symptoms of decay or dissolution. All this is to keep off the idea of dying, and to encourage the hope that the longsuffering of God will wait yet longer.

3. Indeed it is an easy matter to encourage a vain trust in the longsuffering God if we are so disposed. How many things there are to help on presumption if we are inclined to indulge it! Time flies silently. Sickness and death do their work very silently. Men do not fall like the leaves in a cold climate, where a single nights frost can strip every tree of its verdure; but the process is rather like the falling of the foliage in a tropical region, where leaf drops after leaf, and is succeeded by another springing forth in its place, so that the eye scarce notices the change. See how noiselessly even our religious opportunities slip away from us! Many have spent the greatest part of their earthly Sabbaths, and scarce reflected that they are gone. God does not, in general, deal with us by startling methods; He uses these as rarely as the thunders and earthquakes of the natural world, but speaks to us for the most part in gentle and persuasive tones.

4. It may be asked, perhaps, why did God adopt such a method of dealing with us? If He had struck the offender dead by a visible interposition; if He had called from heaven, as He did to Saul of Tarsus, to persuade us to repentance, we should have been awed into obedience. But it would have made but little difference if God had dealt with us by startling methods. One who will slumber may be startled out of it a few times, but by and by he would sleep as the sailor does amid the rocking billows on the mast-head. Now, let me ask, what better mode God could have adopted of saving souls than that which for years He has been using without success? Do you say that the reason and understanding must be convinced before one can become a Christian? And has not God done enough to satisfy your reason? Do you say that the heart must be moved by love and mercy, and not by terrors? Have there not been mercy and love in Gods dealings with you? If the compassion of our God was not infinite, these protracted sins against His longsuffering would a great while ago have drawn down His wrath.

5. And it is because that righteous anger may finally be incurred that I would urge you to sin no more against the longsuffering of God. These days are passing off with so little to excite your fears; these seasons, when you have little concern for your souls, are most of all to be dreaded. They are sealing your destiny, as the whirlpool draws in the boat without a single ripple for some time to betray its influence, until at last destruction roars around, too late for retreat. These fair days of seeming peace which God is giving you, are the working days for laying up the eternal harvest. (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)

The longsuffering of God to be accounted salvation

Our own existence here is a proof of the longsuffering of God. By our apostasy we have forfeited all title to His favour and protection. That sentence, however, is not yet executed.

I. The statement of the text is to be considered generally as a law, or rule, or principle, of the Divine government. The longsuffering of God is salvation, not directly in itself, but indirectly in subordination to a fixed plan and purpose of salvation. It is not the longsuffering of God that saves a single sinner, but the love of God in Christ; and His longsuffering contributes to the sinners salvation in no other way than by placing within his reach, and pressing upon his acceptance, the gospel overtures of mercy. God has but one method of saving sinners. It is not His longsuffering that saves them, but that grace for the exercise of which, on their behalf, His longsuffering affords scope and space. On this point be not deceived. Consider not God as acting merely from the impulse, so to speak, of personal feelings of compassion, when He spares. Regard Him as sustaining a public, an official character, in which He has high authority to vindicate, and good government to maintain. True, He is full of tenderest feelings of pity to you personally; but, then, as a judge may not gratify his personal feelings as a man, without reference to his state and duty as a judge upholding law and order, so God, in His compassionate regard to you, lays not aside His regard to the claims of His own sovereignty, and the sanctity of His own administration. The very giving up of His Son to be sin for you is the proof also of His concern for the honour and the majesty of that justice which was to be preserved untarnished at such a cost. It is in the character of a just God and a Saviour that He is longsuffering; not in relenting pity, reversing His sentence of judgment. This great salvation He now offers to you. Be not so infatuated as to think you may dispense with it.

II. This law or principle of the Divine government, that the longsuffering of God is to be accounted the salvation of man, may be applied to the case of temporal judgments, and may explain the Lords method of dealing with us in regard to those evils to which, even in this life, as sinners we are exposed.

1. God, in sending temporal judgments, often gives previous warning, and interposes delay, that by timely precautions they may be averted; and in this sense His longsuffering is to be accounted salvation. Do your part to render harsher measures needless, by taking warning in time.

2. There is another way in which the longsuffering of God is manifested in the sending of temporal judgments. He gives us time, not perhaps to avert them altogether, but yet so to prepare for their coming, that, when they do come, they shall come as fatherly chastisements, not as judgments in fact at all, but as mercies. And, in this sense--a far higher and more important sense than is implied in the removal of any temporal calamity--the longsuffering of God is to be accounted salvation.

III. But the most important view for us to take of the maxim of our text is in its application to that judgment of eternal wrath in the life to come, to which we stand exposed. Here it is especially that the longsuffering of our Lord is to be accounted salvation. In this view of it, our text suggests the true explanation of that most perplexing of all enigmas--the present state of sinners on the earth seeming to be tolerated by a holy and righteous God. It is a state, we now see, in which God is longsuffering that man may be saved. Be it remembered, however, it is only a respite, and a respite which does not by any means or of necessity imply an ultimate reprieve. You are spared for a little, but you are spared for a particular purpose; and if that purpose be not attained, there is no other resource--the sentence must take effect. (R. S. Candlish, D. D.)

2Pe_3:15-16

Our beloved brother Paul … in all his epistles.

St. Paul and his writings

This passage proves that, at the time Peter wrote, some epistles of Paul existed, and intimates that they were written according to a kind of wisdom which he had supernaturally received. It proves, also, that they were considered of much authority. This passage declares, also, that, from some cause, either in the writer or the subject, there were some things in these epistles hard to be understood, and likely to be perverted. It is my present design to give you, in the first place, the history and character of St. Paul, and then to consider the causes of that obscurity in his writings of which Peter complains.

I. Those portions of his life which tend most to illustrate his character are his conduct before his conversion, and the consequences of that remarkable event. In the history of Paul we have two different men to describe, the persecutor and the apostle. Nothing can be imagined more complete than the change of views in this apostle, yet he pre serves through the whole of his life what may be called the original stamina of his character. There is nothing which impeaches his integrity, or which ought to render us suspicious of his moral character. He was only actuated by a species of mistaken zeal, which has been common enough in every age. But God had marked out this young man for the most eminent apostle of that faith which he was now intent upon exterminating. If we suppose Pauls character such as I have represented it to be, there wanted nothing but to show to this young man, by the irresistible evidence of his senses, that this very Jesus, whom he regarded as a crucified, detestable malefactor, was really alive in power to turn the whole current of his conduct, sentiments, and character. This mercy God granted him. In summing up the traits of Pauls character, you will observe how singularly he was qualified for that office to which he was especially destined, the apostleship of the Gentiles throughout the Roman Empire. He was the only one of the apostles who appears to have had what may be called a liberal education, or, at least, who had any tincture of the literature and philosophy of the Greeks. The mission which was given him demanded not only a strength of genius like his, but an ardour which no discouragement should quench. I will close this division of my subject with two reflections.

1. In the first place, notwithstanding the extreme ardour of this apostles imagination, nothing which he has left us discovers any thing of fanatical delusion.

2. How important must that cause be which such a man as Paul could maintain with such amazing exertions, such unwearied zeal, through a longlife of such discouragements, privations, persecutions and indignities, even to the hour of his martyrdom! He saw the happiness of the world suspended on the reception of Christianity. He found that the dearest interests of the souls of men were entrusted to him.

II. I proceed to state, and, if possible, to illustrate, the sources of the obscurity which particularly attends the apostolical parts of the new testament.

1. The first source of obscurity is, that they are private letters, addressed to particular societies, or individuals, upon particular occasions.

2. Another cause of the obscurity of Pauls epistles is, the peculiar genius of the man. His imagination was easily inflamed with the subject on which he was writing. The motions of his mind were exceedingly rapid.

3. The education and peculiar circumstances of Paul contribute, also, to the obscurity of his epistles. Paul was a man whose head was filled with the Jewish learning of his age; and he, no doubt, writes often like one whose early notions were formed in the school of Gamaliel. Hence he uses many words in a signification which is now extremely difficult to settle. The word justification is a remarkable instance of this. It is doubtful, in some instances, whether he means by it a benefit relating only to this life, or extending to our eternal condition. The term law is another of similar ambiguity; and it is only by careful attention that we can determine, in particular passages, whether the apostle means by it the whole Jewish dispensation or the ceremonial part of it, or that moral law which is equally obligatory on every rational creature.

4. A fourth source of obscurities in the epistles is to be found in a maxim of interpretation which has too much prevailed without reason: that we must expect to find in the present circumstances of Christianity a meaning for, or something answering to, every appellation and expression which occurs in Scripture; or, in other words, the applying to the personal condition of Christians at this day, those titles, phrases, propositions, and arguments which belong solely to the situation of Christianity at its first institution. (J. S. Buckminster.)

The authority of Church guides

I. And that which first entitles the governors of the Church to a superiority over their subjects is that special ordination and commission which they have received from Christ to instruct the world in all necessary truths, and that charge which He hath laid upon others to obey them.

II. The reasonableness of this submission will appear from those promises of assistance which Christ hath made to them. And those are illumination, direction, and power. Illumination in things obscure; direction in things difficult; power to encounter and overcome all opposition.

III. The reasonableness of this submission will appear from their study and learning in Divine matters, and from the far less knowledge and ordinary capacity in others.

IV. The necessity of this submission appears as it is the only means to restore peace and unity to the Church; happiness and tranquillity to the state. (Miles Barne, D. D.)

In which are some things hard to be understood.--

Why Scripture is hard to be understood

The mysteries of salvation are hard but to our understanding; the difficulty is not in their own nature but in our capacity. As some rural inhabitant being admitted into a royal palace admires the building, and is transported with the rareness and magnificence of it; and much of it he understands: when he comes into the hall he knows that that is a place for feeding; when into the gallery, he knows that to be a place for walking; when into the bed-chamber, he knows that to be a place for sleeping; but into some rooms he is brought, no whit inferior to the former for state and pleasure, the use whereof he knows not; will he now censure the architect for making of such unnecessary and superfluous places? or not rather lay the blame, where it is, upon his own ignorance? The Scripture is a goodly edifice, the Almighty Kings palace; whereof Paul was one of the master builders. When we read his epistles we are surveying the rooms and receptacles; some whereof we easily apprehend, as 1Ti_1:15, Rom_8:1, Php_4:8, 1Th_5:17; but searching further, we light upon some curious rooms, bearing as much art and majesty in them as the rest, but more obscure and mystical, and veiled with the curtain of awful secrecy; such are certain doctrines of St Paul; we are not forbidden to view them, and review them, to study and meditate on them; but if we cannot perfectly understand them, far be it from us to tax St. Paul of obscurity; no, let us impute the fault to our own simplicity. (Thos. Adams.)

Biblical difficulties

I. As acknowledged by the inspired.

1. To those who reject the Bible on account of its difficulties. The Bible does not profess to be a book easily understood. Its difficulties are--

(1) Consistent with its character. It is a revelation of the Infinite directed to the finite.

(2) Consistent with its intention. The Bible is an educational book. The school book which the student has mastered ceases to be educational.

2. To those who arrogate a thorough comprehension of the Bible.

II. As perverted by the ungodly.

1. The perverters are here described. Which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction.

2. The perversion is here indicated. They wrest--pervert. The word here used occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It is derived from a word meaning a windlass, winch, instrument of torture (στρεβλή), and means to roll or wind on a windlass; then to wrench or turn away as by the force of a windlass; and then to wrest or pervert. It implies a turning out of the way by the application of force. Here the meaning is, that they apply those portions of the Bible to a purpose for which they were never intended.

3. Their destiny is here stated. Their own destruction. What is spiritual destruction? The destruction of all the blessings that can make existence worth having--life, peace, hope, etc. Such is the perversion of those difficulties, but what is the proper use of them?

(1) They should superinduce humility. Before their majesty the intellect should fall prostrate.

(2) They should stimulate intellectual inquiry. They challenge thought--their oceans ask you to navigate them, their hills to climb their summit, their mines to dig and be made rich.

(3) They should point to a future life. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The mysterious doctrines of Christianity

I. We must observe, that in a Divine revelation mysterious doctrines could not have been avoided. No man hath seen God at any time- clouds and darkness are round about Him--His judgments are unsearchable; and His ways past finding out.

II. That from the limitation of our faculties our information must, of necessity, have its limits. In sciences merely human, one discovery does little else than produce the desire of more. Our utmost attainments are still unsatisfactory and incomplete. Were the mysteries which at present perplex us fully explained, others would be brought within our view. How far soever we might be permitted to advance, we must at last reach the point where our faculties would fail us. HI. These mysteries in religion are such only with reference to our understandings. To us that is difficult which we cannot perform; that is mysterious which we cannot comprehend. But the difficulty and the mystery depend less upon the objects themselves than upon the narrowness of our capacities. In our future state of existence we shall probably be allowed to acquire much higher degrees of information than we at present possess.

IV. It will tend still further to reconcile us to the mysterious doctrines of our faith, if we seriously reflect that there abe mysteries equally unsearchable in almost everything around us. Not a subject can be named which the human mind can be said fully to understand. Lessons:

1. The difficulty and obscurity inseparable from some of the articles of our faith is an obvious reason that, whenever they are discussed at all, they should be discussed with caution and diffidence.

2. The doctrines, however, which we cannot comprehend, it is still incumbent upon us to believe. We pursue, not what we know, but what we think, will promote our own good. And the same principle prevails in the religion that we profess.

3. Finally, while we admit that the Christian revelation has its mysteries, like every ether work of its Divine Author, and like that Author Himself, we maintain that it teaches plainly all that is necessary for us to know or to practise. (W. Sparrow, D. D.)

The difficulties of Scripture

The writings of St. Paul, occupying as they do a large portion of the New Testament, treat much of the sublimer and more difficult articles of Christianity. There is a great deal made known to us by the Epistles, which could only imperfectly, if at all, be derived from the Gospels. It was to be expected that the New Testament would be a progressive book; the communications of intelligence growing with the fuller opening out of the dispensation. And it is a natural consequence on the greater abstruseness of the topics handled, that the apostles writings should present greater difficulties to the Biblical student. With this admission of difficulty we must join the likelihood of misconception. If a man have error to maintain he will turn for support to passages of Scripture of which, the real sense being doubtful, a plausible may be advanced on the side of his falsehood. But you will observe that, whilst St. Peter confesses both the difficulty and the attendant danger, he gives not the slightest intimation that the Epistles of St. Paul were unsuited to general perusal. Had St. Peter intended to infer that, because obscurity and abuse existed, there ought to be prohibition, it is altogether unaccountable that he did not lay down the inference. A fairer opportunity could never be presented for the announcement of such a rule as the Roman Catholic advocates. After all, it is not so much the difficulty which makes the danger as the temper in which the Bible is perused. We desire to bring before you what we count important considerations, suggested by the announcement that there are difficulties in Scripture. There are some things hard to be understood. We lay great stress on the fact that it is an inspired writer who gives this decision. The Bible attests the difficulties of the Bible. If we knew the Bible to be difficult only as finding it difficult, we might be inclined to suppose it luminous to others though obscure to ourselves. We should not so thoroughly understand that the difficulties which one man meets with in the study of Scripture are not simply produced by his intellectual inferiority to another--no, nor by his moral or spiritual inferiority--but are, in a great degree, inherent in the subject examined, so that no equipment of learning and prayer will altogether secure their removal. We take into our hands the Bible, and receive it as a communication of Gods will, made, in past ages, to His creatures. And we know that, occupying, as all men do, the same level of helplessness and destitution, so that the adventitious circumstances of rank and education bring with them no differences in moral position, it cannot be the design of the Almighty that superior talent, or superior learning, should be essential to the obtaining due acquaintance with revelation. There can be no fairer expectation than that the Bible will be intelligible to every capacity, and that it will not, either in matter or manner, adapt itself to one class in preference to another. And when, with all this antecedent idea that revelation will condescend to the very meanest understanding, we find, as it were on the covers of a book, the description that there are in it things hard to be understood, we may, at first, feel something of surprise that difficulty should occur when we had looked for simplicity. And undoubtedly, however fair the expectation just mentioned, the Bible is, in some senses, a harder book for the uneducated man than for the educated. So far as human instrumentality is concerned, the great mass of a population must be indebted to a few learned men for any acquaintance whatsoever with the Scriptures. Never let learning be of small account in reference to religion. But after all, when St. Peter speaks of things hard to be understood, he cannot be considered as referring to obscurities which human learning will dissipate. He certainly mentions the unlearned as wresting these difficulties, implying that the want of one kind of learning produced the perversion. But, of course, he intends by unlearned those who were not fully taught of the Spirit, and not those who were deficient in the acquirements of the academy. The un learned, in short, are also the unstable: it is not the want of earthly scholarship which makes the difficulties, it is the want of moral steadfastness which occasions the wresting. We have nothing, therefore, to do in commenting on the words of St. Peter with difficulties which may be caused by a defective, and removed by a liberal, education. The difficulties must be difficulties of subject. It were a waste of time to adduce instances of the difficulties.

I. We would show you that it was to be expected that the Bible would contain some things hard to be understood. We should like to be told what stamp of inspiration there would be upon a Bible containing nothing hard to be understood. Is it not almost a self-evident proposition that a revelation without difficulty could not be a revelation of divinity? You ask a Bible which shall, in every part, be simple and intelligible. But could such a Bible discourse to us of God, that Being who must remain necessarily and for ever a mystery to the very highest of created intelligences? Could such a Bible treat of purposes which extend themselves over unlimited ages? Could such a Bible put forward any account of spiritual operations, seeing that, whilst confined by the trammels of matter, the soul cannot fathom herself, but withdraws herself, as it were, and shrinks from her own scrutiny? Could such a Bible, in short, tell us anything of our condition whether by nature or grace? But it is not the manner in which they are handled which makes them hard to be understood. The subject itself gives the difficulty. If you will not have the difficulty you cannot have the subject. You must have a revelation which shall not only tell you that such and such things are, but which shall also explain to you how they are: their mode, their constitution, their essence. And if this were the character of revelation it would undoubtedly be so constructed as never to overtask reason; but it would just as clearly be kept within this boundary only by being stripped of all on which we mainly need a revelation. A revelation in which there shall be nothing hard to be understood must limit itself by the powers of reason, and therefore exclude those very topics on which, reason being insufficient, revelation is required. There is no want of simplicity of language when God is described to us. But who understands this? Can language make this intelligible? We might argue in like manner with regard to every Scriptural difficulty. We account for the existence of these difficulties mainly by the fact that we are men, and, because men, finite in our capacities. Let there be only the same amount of revelation, and the angel may know more than the man because gifted with a keener and more vigorous understanding. And it is evident, therefore, that few things could have less warranty than the supposition that revelation might have been so enlarged that the knowledge of man would have reached to the measure of the knowledge of angels. We again say that there is no deficiency of revelation, and that the difficulties which occur in the perusal of Scripture result from the majesty of the introduced subjects and the weakness of the faculties turned on their study. And we are well persuaded that, however disposed men may be to make the difficulties an objection to the Bible, the absence of those difficulties would have been eagerly seized on as a proof of imposture. There would have been fairness in the objection. It can only be viewed as a necessary consequence on the grandeur of the subjects which form the matter of revelation that, with every endeavour at simplicity of style and aptitude of illustration, the document contains statements which overmatch all but the faith of mankind. And, therefore, we are bold to say that we glory in the difficulties of Scripture. We can feel the quick pulse of an eager wish to scale the mountain or fathom the abyss. But at the same time we know, and we feel, that a Bible without difficulties were a firmament without stars. We know, and we feel, that the vast business of our redemption, arranged in the councils of the far-back eternity, and acted out amid the wondering and throbbings of the universe, could not have been that stupendous transaction which gave God glory by giving sinners safety, if the inspired account brought its dimensions within the compass of a human arithmetic, or defined its issues by the lines of a human demarcation. And, therefore, do we also know and feel that it is a witness to the inspiration of the Bible that, when this Bible would furnish us with notices of the unseen world hereafter to be traversed, or when it would turn thought on the Omnipotent, or when it would open up the scheme of the restoration of the fallen; then, with much that is beautifully simple, there are mingled dark intimations, and pregnant hints, and undeveloped statements before which the weak and the masterful must alike do the homage of a reverent and uncalculating submission. We do not indeed say--for the saying would carry absurdity on its forefront--that we believe a document inspired because in part incomprehensible. But if a document profess to be inspired, and if it treat of subjects which we can prove beforehand to be above and beyond the stretchings of our intellect, then we do say that the finding nothing in such a document to baffle the understanding would be a proof the most conclusive that what alleges itself divine deserves rejection as forgery.

II. The advantages which follow, and the dispositions which should be encouraged by, the pact which has passed under review. We see at once from the statement of St. Peter that effects, to all appearance disastrous, are produced by the difficulties of Scripture. The unlearned and unstable wrest these difficulties to their own destruction, and, therefore, by what process of reasoning can they be proved advantageous? We have shown you that the absence of difficulties would go far towards proving the Scriptures uninspired; and we need not remark that there must be a use for difficulties if essential to the complete witness for the truth of Christianity. But there are other advantages which must on no account be overlooked. We only wish it premised, that though the difficulties of Scripture--as, for example, those parts which involve pre-destination-are wrested by many to their own destruction, the unlearned and unstable would have equally perished had no difficulties whatsoever existed. They would have stumbled on the plain ground as well as on the rough: there being no more certain truth in theology than that the cause of stumbling is the internal feebleness and not the external impediment. A man may perish ostensibly through abuse of the doctrine of election. But would he not have perished had he found no such doctrine to wrest? Ay, that he would; as fatally and as finally. It is the love of sin, the determination to live in sin, which destroys him. This being premised, we may enlarge on the advantages resulting from the fact that Scripture contains some things hard to be understood.

1. And first, if there were nothing in Scripture which overpowered our reason, who sees not that intellectual pride would be fostered by its study? You can make no way with the disclosures of Holy Writ until prepared to receive, on the authority of God, a vast deal which, of yourself, you cannot prove, and still more which you cannot explain. A Bible without difficulties would be a censer full of incense to mans reason. And if the fallen require to be kept humble, if we can advance in spiritual attainment only in proportion as we feel our insignificance, would not this conversion of the Bible into the very nurse and encourager of intellectual pride, abstract its best worth from revelation; and who, therefore, will deny that we are advantaged by the fact that there are in Scripture things hard to be understood?

2. We remark again, that though controversy has its evils, it has also its uses. It is not the stagnant water which is generally the purest. We hold that heresies have been of vast service to the Church, in that they have caused truth to be more thoroughly scanned, and all its bearings and boundaries explored with a most painstaking industry. It is astonishing how apt men are to rest in general and ill-defined notions. If never called to defend the truth the Church would comparatively lose sight of what truth is.

3. When I read the Bible and meet with passages which, after the most patient exercises of thought and research, remain dark and impenetrable, then, in the most especial degree, I feel myself immortal. The finding a thing hard to be understood ministers to my consciousness that I am no perishable creature destined to a finite existence, but a child of eternity, appointed to survive the dissolutions of matter, and to enter on another and an untried being. If the Bible be Gods revelation of Himself to mankind, it is a most fair expectation that, at one time or another, the whole of this revelation will be clear and accessible. We can never think that God would tell man things for the understanding of which he is to be always incapacitated. Such are certain of the advantages which we propose to investigate.

III. It yet remains that we briefly state, and call upon you to cultivate, the dispositions which should be brought to the study of a bible thus hard to be understood. We would have it therefore remembered, that the docility and submissiveness of a child alone befit the student of the Bible; and that, if we would not have the whole volume darkened, its simplest truths eluding the grasp of our understanding, or gaining at least no hold on our affections, we must lay aside the feelings which we carry into the domains of science and philosophy, not arming ourselves with a chivalrous resolve to conquer, but with one which it is a thousand-fold harder either to form or execute, to yield. The Holy Spirit alone can make us feel the things which are easy to be understood, and prevent our wresting those which are hard. Never, then, should the Bible be opened except with prayer for the teachings of the Spirit. You will read without profit as long as you read without prayer. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

Hard things

1. We believe the hard things were left in the Bible for a lofty purpose. God wished us to think and reason. God had a great purpose to fulfil in the training of the race. Hence both in nature and in the Bible He allows perplexing questions. He can only discipline mans thinking by allowing him to be subject to perplexity. We believe, then, that God purposely left certain difficulties in the Bible to create diversity, to foster the thinking power, and to lead to the exercise of that charity that never faileth. Instead of codification and finality, there is always something to Cause fresh thought, to interest by its newer suggestions--something to quicken mind and lead the soul to listen to the whispers of the Holy Spirit.

2. We have to recognise that danger arises from the presence of the hard things in the Book. Peter saw that, and said that the unlearned and unstable would wrest them to their own destruction. Such, by a twist of an obscure text, would bolster up unbelief or find countenance for a pet idea. They will find even excuse for sin by twisting some word. The ill-tempered will quote, Be ye angry, and leave out the words sin not. The covetous man will defend greed by Be diligent in business, and leave out serving the Lord. The neglecter of worship will quote The Sabbath was made for man, and go off to indulge in that which will not help him to keep holy the Sabbath day.

3. Some things in life as well as in the Book are hard to understand. (F. Hastings.)

Obscure passages in the Bible

What would you think of a very hungry man, who had not eaten a morsel of food for the last twenty-four hours, and was asked by a charitable man to come in and sit down at a richly covered table, on which were large dishes of choice meat, and also covered ones, the contents of which the hungry man did not know, instead of satisfying his exhausted body with the former, he raises one cover after another and insists on finding out what these unknown dishes are composed of? In spite of all the advice of the charitable man to partake first of the more substantial dishes, he dwells with obstinate inquiry on nicer compounds, until overcome with exhaustion he drops down. What do you think of such a man? He is a fool. (Dr. Leiber.)

They that are un-learned and unstable wrest--

Wresting Scripture

I. The men whose evil handling of the scripture i am going to point out are described generally in our text as unlearned and unstable. Those meant by unlearned are men who, whatever be their human knowledge, have either never learned of the Father, or who are at best, unskilful in the Word of righteousness (Heb_5:13); and, he adds, unstable men--men who, if in some degree enlightened, yet are not established in the faith; but are like children driven to and fro and tossed about with every wind of doctrine (Eph_4:14).

II. Now let us see what are the various ways in which this offence against Gods book may be committed.

1. One of the most awful ways of wresting Holy Scripture is where men try to draw out of its pages a justification of their sins. David, they say, was once guilty of adultery--Jacob, of deceit--and Peter of a lying oath; and yet they were good men. And this, they think, is either a warrant or excuse for the sins in which they live themselves. Oh! when men read a portion of Gods Word which describes some evil deed, and are tempted from His silence to suppose He disregarded it, let them look at other portions. Let them think of His most holy laws; let them mark His terrible threatenings against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Rom_1:18).

2. Another grievous way of wresting Scripture is where men try to draw out of its doctrines a justification of their doing nothing for their souls.

3. A third way in which Holy Scripture may be wrested, and often, I fear, is so, is as follows. Men adopt a certain set of doctrines as their own, these doctrines may seem to be the language of certain texts of Scripture, but are evidently contrary to others. What, then, do they do when they are pressed with all those passages which make against them? Why, they try to give these passages another meaning. They find out some ingenious method of explaining them away, or of adapting them to their own peculiar views.

4. I will speak of one instance more of the wresting of the Scriptures. It is where men quote Scripture, as Satan did (Mat_4:6), by halves, so as to make it seem to speak the thing they wish. How awful is that threatening which is addressed in the Book of Revelation to all such triflers with the Bible! (Rev_22:18-19).

III. How, then, are we to escape the guilt and danger of wresting holy scripture?

1. The chief means, most assuredly, of avoiding such a guilt as this, is to pray for the Spirit as our Guide and Interpreter in reading His own Book.

2. Let me recommend to you, again, some frames of mind in which we must ever pray and strive to open the Lords Book.

(1) One is a sense of our own ignorance, with a desire, a most unfeigned desire, to be led and taught of Holy Scripture.

(2) Again, it is a great point to study Holy Scripture in simplicity of mind without any prejudice or bias.

(3) He who would shun the sin of wresting Holy Scripture must study it with diligence. He must take all the pains he can to ascertain its real meaning.

(4) So as not to wrest it to your own destruction--study it as a sinner searching for a Saviour. (A. Roberts, M. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:15 our beloved brother Paul: The New Testament tells us little about the relationship between Peter and Paul. Because of the dispute in Antioch (Gal 2:11-14), it is sometimes thought that the two were hostile to one another, but the New Testament paints a different picture. Peter and Paul essentially agreed about the Good News for the Gentiles (Acts 11:2-18; 15:7-11). Silas and Mark were associates of both Paul and Peter (see 1 Pet 5:12-13). According to tradition, both apostles were martyred in Rome during the same persecution by Nero in the mid-60s AD.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Pe 3:15. Σωτηρίαν ἡγεῖσθε, account as salvation) although those mockers account it slackness, slowness, 2Pe 3:9.—καθὼς, even as) This has reference to the whole subject treated of up to this time. Comp. περὶ τούτων, respecting these things, 2Pe 3:16.—ὁ ἀγαπητὸς ἡμῶν ἀδελφὸς, our beloved brother) Paul has not praised Peter; but yet Peter praises Paul, showing that he was not offended with him, although he was sometimes reproved by him, and was far surpassed by him in the work of the Lord: respecting the love of Paul towards Peter there could be no doubt.—ὑμῖν, to you) Hebrews. He intimates that there was the less need for him to write to them at length, and expresses his approval of the epistle of Paul. But Paul had written to this purport respecting the completion of the age, which was then nigh at hand, Heb 1:1; Heb 9:26; Heb 10:25; Heb 10:37, and to the same effect in his other epistles.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Pe_3:15-16. καὶ τὴν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν μακροθυμίαν] See 2Pe_3:9 : the long-suffering of our Lord, which consists in this, that He still keeps back the last judgment. It is open to question whether ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν means God (de Wette, Dietlein, Fronmüller) or Christ (Wiesinger, Schott, Steinfass); what goes before favours the former (2Pe_3:14; 2Pe_3:12; 2Pe_3:10; 2Pe_3:9; 2Pe_3:8), the N. T. usage the latter; in both cases the sense is substantially the same.

σωτηρίαν ἡγεῖσθε] antithesis to: βραδυτῆτα ἡγοῦνται, 2Pe_3:9: the μακροθυμία of the Lord account for salvation, i.e. as something which has your salvation as its aim, that is, by your making such use of the time of grace, that the fruit of it is the σωτηρία.

καθὼς καὶ ὁ ἀγαπητὸς ἡμῶν ἀδελφὸς Παῦλος κ.τ.λ.] The reference here to Paul is evidently meant to emphasize the exhortation given; it is, however, more particularly occasioned by the circumstance, that many persons had been guilty of wresting the apostles words, and against this the apostle wishes to warn his readers.

ὁ ἀγαπητὸς κ.τ.λ.] designates Paul not only as a friend, or a fellow-Christian, but as one with whom Peter feels himself most intimately connected in official relationship. Hofmann, on the other hand, presses the plural ἡμῶν, and thinks that by it the apostle, with a view to his Gentile readers, would unite the Jewish-Christians with himself, so as to show that the apostle of the Gentiles was a beloved brother to them as well as to him. The adjunct: κατὰ τὴν δοθεῖσαν αὐτῷ σοφίαν, acknowledges the wisdom which has been granted to him, of which also the utterances which the apostle especially has in his eye are the outcome.

ἔγραψεν ὑμῖν] Which epistle or epistles are meant? According to Oecumenius, Lorinus, Grotius, etc., as also Dietlein and Besser: it is the Epistle to the Romans, on account of Rom_9:22 (ἤνεγκεν ἐν πολλῇ μακροθυμίᾳ) and Rom_2:4; according to Jachmann: the Epistle to the Corinthians (chiefly on account of 1Co_1:7-9), in consideration of the words: κατὰ … σοφίαν; according to Estius, Bengel, Hornejus, Gerhard, etc.: the Epistle to the Hebrews, on account of Heb_9:26 ff., Heb_10:25; Heb_10:37. These different opinions assume that καθώς applies only to the last thought expressed in this verse. But there is no reason for any such limitation, since this exhortation is joined in the closest manner possible to that which precedes it in 2Pe_3:14. Wiesinger rightly rejects the supposition that καθὼς ἔγραψε refers still farther back, namely, to the whole section relating to the Parousia (de Wette, with whom Brückner agrees, and Schott).

Since the document to which the author alludes is, by ἔγραψεν ὑμῖν, indicated as one addressed to the same circle of readers as Second Peter, the reference here cannot be to the above-named epistles, nor yet to the Epistle to the Thessalonians (de Wette), but only to the Epistle to the Ephesians (Wiesinger, Schott, Hofmann: to this Steinfass adds the First Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to the Colossians; Fronmüller, the last-named epistle and that to the Romans). In support of this may be urged the character of this epistle as a circular letter, and the echoes of it to be found in First Peter. It must also be observed, that although the precise thought expressed in the beginning of this verse is not to be found in that epistle, yet the epistle itself is certainly rich in ethical exhortations with reference to the Christians hope of salvation.[104] It is plainly entirely arbitrary to assume, with Pott and Morus, that the apostle here refers to an epistle which we do not now possess.

[104] Schott must be considered mistaken in appealing to this, that it is precisely the Epistle to the Ephesians, Eph_2:11 to Eph_3:12, which contains the most exact development of the idea expressed here in Eph_2:9 and Eph_2:15, that the divine direction of history, with a view to the completion of salvation, has given the peculiar significance to the present time, to lead into the church the heathen world, which will be the subject of the future completion of salvation; of all this absolutely nothing is here said.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Pe 3:15 . καὶ τὴν τοῦ κυρίου … ἡγεῖσθε . Cf. 2Pe 3:9 . The Divine long-suffering is capable of interpretation as “slackness,” or as opportunity for license instead of as σωτηρίαν , an opportunity for repentance. καθὼς καὶ ὁ ἀγαπητὸς … ἔγραψεν ὑμῖν . The interpretation here largely depends on (1) whether the reference of καθὼς is confined to the idea in the first clause of the verse, or (2) is to be extended to include ἄσπιλοι καὶ ἀμώμητοι … εἰρήνῃ in 2Pe 3:14 , or (3) is still further extended to include the whole treatment of moral disorder arising from delayed Parousia. In the case of (1) Romans would be the most appropriate among the known canonical epistles. In that epistle the idea of God’s long-suffering is most prominent ( cf. Rom 2:4 , Rom 3:25-26 , Rom 9:22-23 , Rom 11:22-23 ). (2) Almost any of St. Paul’s epistles might be meant. (3) If the question of moral disorder arising from difficulties about the παρουσία is placed in the foreground, “none of the existing Pauline Epistles can be in question except 1 Corinthians (in this Church there were very similar extravagances, and the Resurrection was by some denied) and Thessalonians” (Bigg). A decision on this point involves the discussion on the destination of the epistle, for which see Introduction, pp. 205 f. ( cf. Zahn., Introd. ii., pp. 211 2). ὁ ἀγαπητὸς … Παῦλος need not imply that Paul was alive. κατὰ τὴν δοθεῖσαν αὐτῷ σοφίαν . Cf. 1Co 3:10 , Gal 2:9 , Gal 2:1 Cor. 3:66, Col 1:28 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Paul’s Epistles are allowed by the express testimony of Peter.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

account . . . the long-suffering . . . is salvation--is designed for the salvation of those yet to be gathered into the Church: whereas those scoffers "count it (to be the result of) slackness" on the Lord's part (Pe2 3:9).

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

according to the wisdom given unto him--adopting Paul's own language, Co1 3:10, "According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master-builder." Supernatural and inspired wisdom "GIVEN" him, not acquired in human schools of learning.

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

to you--Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, the same region as Peter addresses. Compare "in peace," Pe2 3:14, a practical exhibition of which Peter now gives in showing how perfectly agreeing Paul (who wrote the Epistle to the Galatians) and he are, notwithstanding the event recorded (Gal 2:11-14). Col 3:4 refers to Christ's second coming. The Epistle to the Hebrews, too (addressed not only to the Palestinian, but also secondarily to the Hebrew Christians everywhere), may be referred to, as Peter primarily (though not exclusively) addresses in both Epistles the Hebrew Christians of the dispersion (see on Pe1 1:1). Heb 9:27-28; Heb 10:25, Heb 10:37, "speak of these things" (Pe2 3:16) which Peter has been handling, namely, the coming of the day of the Lord, delayed through His "long-suffering," yet near and sudden.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. And account that the long-suffering of our Lord] Conclude that God's long-suffering with the world is a proof that he designs men to be saved; even as our beloved brother Paul. "This epistle being written to those to whom the first epistle was sent, the persons to whom the Apostle Paul wrote concerning the long-suffering of God were the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Accordingly, we know he wrote to the Ephesians, (Eph 2:3-5,) to the Colossians, (Col 1:21,) and to Timothy, (1Ti 2:3-4) things which imply that God's bearing with sinners is intended for their salvation. The persons to whom Peter's epistles were sent were, for the most part, Paul's converts."-Macknight.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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

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

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

15. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation] The words have a pointed reference to 2Pe_3:9. Men were impatient, and counted the “long-suffering of God” as tardiness in the fulfilment of His promises. The true way of looking at it was to see in it the working out of His plan of salvation for all who should be willing to receive it. In the “long-suffering of our Lord” (obviously from 2Pe_3:18), the “Lord Jesus,” we see a testimony, indirect but not the less explicit, to the full participation of the Son in the counsels and purposes of the Father.

even as our beloved brother Paul …] The words imply a full recognition of St Paul’s work as a brother in the Apostleship, and are in harmony, as has been noticed, with 1Pe_5:12; 2Pe_1:12; 2Pe_3:2.

according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you] As far as the subject-matter is concerned, 1Th_4:5. and 2 Thessalonians 2 seem to correspond most closely with St Peter’s reference, and as these were written when Silvanus was with St Paul (see note on 1Pe_5:12), there is strong ground for believing that St Peter would be acquainted with their contents. If, on the other hand, we restrict the words “hath written to you” to the Asiatic Churches to whom 1 Peter was addressed, we may think of Eph_1:14; Eph_2:7; Eph_3:9-11; Col_1:20, as referred to here, while the statements are included in the allusion in the next verse.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And account that the longsuffering of our Lord,.... Not his longsuffering towards the wicked, and his forbearance with them, for that is not the means of, nor the way to, nor does it issue in, their salvation, but in their sorer punishment and greater damnation, see Rom 2:4; but towards the elect, as in Pe2 3:9; whom he bears much and long with before conversion, while in their sins, and in a state of unregeneracy, and waits to be gracious to them, as he is in their calling, and to make known and apply his great salvation to them; and as with particular persons, so with the whole body of them, till they are all gathered in, and even with the world for their sakes; and particularly the Lord's longsuffering here intends the deferring of his coming, or his seeming slackness in the performance of his promise: the reason of which is,

salvation: the salvation of all his chosen ones, and in that it issues; he waits, he stays, that none of them might perish, but that they might be all brought to faith and repentance, and so be saved: wherefore the apostle would have the saints consider it in this light, and not imagine and conclude, with the scoffing infidels, that he is slack and dilatory, and will not come, but that his view in it is the salvation of all his people, which by this means is brought about: in confirmation of which, and other things he had delivered, he produces the testimony of the Apostle Paul;

even as our beloved brother Paul also; he calls him a "brother", both on account of his being a believer in Christ, one that belonged to the same family with him, and was of the household of faith, born of the same Father, and related to the same Redeemer, the firstborn among many brethren, and likewise on account of his being a fellow apostle; for though he was not one of the twelve apostles, but his call and mission were later than theirs, yet Peter does not disdain to put him among them, and upon an equal foot with them, nor was he a whit behind the chief of them: he styles him a "beloved" brother; expressing his affection for him, which the relation between them called for, and which he bore to him, notwithstanding his public opposition to him, and sharp reproof of him, Gal 2:11, and perhaps loved him the more for it; see Psa 141:5; and he makes mention of him, and that under these characters, partly to show their agreement and consent in doctrine; and partly to recommend him to the Jews, to whom he writes, who had, upon report of his doctrine and ministry, entertained an ill, at least a mean opinion, of him; as also to set us an example to speak well of one another, both as ministers and private believers:

according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; meaning not all his epistles, as being written for the general good of all the saints, as well as for those particular churches or men to whom they were sent; for what Peter speaks of is what was particularly written to them, and is distinguished in Pe2 3:16 from the rest of Paul's epistles; nor does he intend the epistle of Paul to the Romans, for the longsuffering of God spoken of in that, as in Rom 2:4, is his longsuffering to the wicked, which issues in their destruction, and not his longsuffering to his elect, which is salvation, as here; but he seems manifestly to have in view the epistle to the Hebrews, for Peter wrote both his first and second epistles to Jews; wherefore, since none of Paul's epistles but that were written particularly to them, it should seem that that is designed, and serves to confirm his being the author of it; in which he writes to the Hebrews concerning the coming of Christ, and of the deferring of it a little while, and of the need they had of patience to wait for it, Heb 10:36; and in it also are some things difficult to be understood concerning Melchizedek, the old and new covenant, the removing of the Aaronic priesthood, and the abrogation of the whole ceremonial law, &c. things not easily received by that nation; and the whole is written with great wisdom, respecting the person and office of Christ, the nature of his priesthood, and the glory of the Gospel dispensation; and in a most admirable manner is the whole Mosaic economy laid open and explained: he was indeed a wise master builder, and whatever he wrote was "according to wisdom"; not fleshly wisdom, the wisdom of this world, nor with enticing words of men's wisdom, but according to the divine wisdom, under the influence of the spirit of wisdom and revelation; for he had not this of himself naturally, nor did he learn it at Gamaliel's feet, but it was what was "given to him"; it came from above, from God, who gives it liberally; and as he himself always owned it to be a free grace gift of God bestowed on him, and that all his light and knowledge were by the revelation of Christ, so Peter ascribes it to the same, that God might have all the glory, and all boasting in man be stopped.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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

Ver. 15. That the longsuffering, &c.] Rom 2:4, which sentence Peter picks out of Paul’s Epistles, as one of the choicest, and urgeth it here.

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

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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

He might justly cut them off for their sins;

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

(3)As long as life is prolonged a sinner has the opportunity to repent, and may turn to God. We may therefore, in our own case, look on all the delays of God to punish - on all his patience and forbearance toward us, notwithstanding our sins and provocations - on the numberless tokens of his kindness scattered along our way, as evidence that he is not willing that we should perish.

What an accumulated argument in any case would this afford of the willingness of God to save! Let any man look on his own sins, his pride, and selfishness, and sensuality; let him contemplate the fact that he has sinned through many years, and against many mercies; let him endeavor to estimate the number and magnitude of his offences, and upon God’s patience in bearing with him while these have been committed, and who can overrate the force of such an argument in proof that God is slow to anger, and is willing to save? Compare the notes at Rom 2:4.

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

(1)That Peter was acquainted with his writings;

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

(3)That Peter regarded Paul as a “beloved brother,” notwithstanding the solemn rebuke which Paul had had occasion to administer to him, Gal 2:2 ff.

(4)That Peter regarded Paul as an authority in inculcating the doctrines and duties of religion; and,

(5)That Peter regarded Paul as an inspired man, and his writings as a part of divine truth. See the notes at 2Pe 3:16.

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

According to the wisdom given unto him - Peter evidently did not mean to disparage that wisdom, or to express a doubt that Paul was endowed with wisdom; he meant undoubtedly that, in regard to Paul, the same thing was true which he would have affirmed of himself or of any other man, that whatever wisdom he had was to be traced to a higher than human origin. This would at the same time tend to secure more respect for the opinion of Paul than if he had said it was his own, and would keep up in the minds of those to whom he wrote a sense of the truth that all wisdom is from above. In reference to ourselves, to our friends, to our teachers, and to all men, it is proper to bear in remembrance the fact that all true wisdom is from the “Father of lights.” Compare the notes at Jam 1:5, Jam 1:17.

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

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

As also our most dear brother, Paul,...hath written to you. He seems to mean in his epistle to the Hebrews or converted Jews, (Chap. x. 37.) where he says: yet a little while,...and he that is to come, will come, and will not delay. --- In which are some things hard to understand, especially by unlearned, ignorant people, unstable, inconstant, not well grounded in faith, and which they wrest,[2] as they do also the other scriptures, by their private interpretations, to their own perdition. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

And account; reckon with yourselves, and be confidently persuaded; or take for granted.

The longsuffering of our Lord; viz. in his not yet coming to judgment, and bearing with so much sin in the world without presently punishing it.

Is salvation; i.e. tends or conduceth to salvation, in that hereby he gives space for repentance to the elect unconverted, and alloweth time for the building up and perfecting those that are converted, 2Pe 3:9.

Even as our beloved brother Paul; not only brother in Christ, as a saint, but in office, as an apostle.

According to the wisdom given unto him; that eminent and profound knowledge in the mysteries of the gospel in which Paul did excel, 1Co 2:6,7; Eph 3:3,4. Peter makes such honourable mention of Paul:

1. That he might commend to the Jewish Christians the doctrine Paul had preached, though a minister of the uncircumcision;

2. To show that he had nothing the worse thoughts of him for being so sharply reproved by him, Gal 2:1-21; and:

3. That he might arm the saints against those heretics that abused Paul’s writings, and wrested them to their own meaning, probably, to patronize their errors.

Hath written unto you; unto you Jewish believers, viz. either:

1. In his Epistle to the Romans, Rom 2:4, where is a passage very like this: or:

2. In his Epistle to the Hebrews, which, though it were not entitled to the Jews of the dispersion, yet was written to their nation; and in that Epistle several places there are of the same purport with this here; {see Heb 9:28 ;10:23,25,36,37} and other Epistle of Paul to the Jews we have none: and in this he shows much of that wisdom God gave him in the mystery of the gospel; and in this likewise are many things hard to be understood.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Longsuffering—God’s endurance of the world’s wickedness and weakness.

Is salvation—As of a single sinner God forbears for the sinner’s good, so of the world.

Salvation—The gathering of saved millions into glory is the very essence of God’s patience through ages.

As… also—In addition to my thus writing.

Paul—A memorable mention of a brother apostle.

According… wisdom—Whether Paul wrote clearly or obscurely, it was according to the measure of inspiration by God vouchsafed unto him. See notes on Mat_28:1, (introductory;) Act_27:22.

Written unto you—Who is meant by this you? Plainly, not all Christians, but the particular body to whom Peter is writing. For this epistle written by Paul unto you is antithetical to all his epistles in next verse. Of all his epistles there was a single one written unto you. Now, Peter’s first epistle was written (1Pe_1:1) to the Hebrew dispersion, and this second is written to the same readers, as appears by 2Pe_3:1, of this epistle.

Son_1:1, though addressing Christians, means the Hebrew Christians. This you, therefore, must mean the Hebrew part of the Christian Church. Paul’s one epistle unto you, therefore, must have been the Epistle to the Hebrews. And, as we have shown in our Introduction to Hebrews, Peter’s word, in 2Pe_3:16, δυσνοητα, hard-to-be-understood, so corresponds to Heb_5:11, δυσερμηνευτος, hard-to-be-interpreted, as to leave little doubt of the real reference. In Hebrews such a passage as Heb_10:37 might easily be wrested without Peter’s rule of prophetic-time interpretation. In all his epistles we find such passages as 1Co_15:51, and 1Th_4:15, which last is explained by Paul himself. 2Th_2:1-5.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. The apostle is referring to verse 9. Scoffers count the delay of the judgment slackness; the Christian should count it salvation; it is for the salvation of the elect that the judgment tarrieth. It is almost certain that by "our Lord" here St. Peter means the Lord Jesus, whom he describes by the same title in verse 18. Even as our beloved brother Paul also. The plural pronoun may be intended to imply that St. Paul was known to the Churches to which St. Peter was writing, and was beloved there. St. Peter addresses his readers as "beloved" four times in this Epistle; he here uses the same epithet of St. Paul. It comes naturally from his lips; but a writer of the second century would probably have used much stronger words of praise in speaking of one so much reverenced. According to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; rather, wrote to you (comp. Polycarp, "Ad Php:," 1:3, "One like me cannot equal the wisdom of the blessed Paul"). That wisdom was given mite him, as he himself says. (1Co_3:10) If we ask to what Epistles of St. Paul is St. Peter referring, the passage which at once occurs to us is 1Th 4 and 1Th 5. This Epistle was probably known to St. Peter; there may be a reference 1Th_5:2 in verse 10 of this chapter; and Silvanus, whose name St. Paul associates with his own in both Epistles to the Thessalonians, was with St. Peter when he wrote his First Epistle. (1Pe_5:12) But St. Peter"s Second Epistle is addressed (primarily at least) to the same Churches to which the first was written (chapter 3:1). We must therefore either say, with Dean Alford, that "our Epistle belongs to a date when the Pauline Epistles were no longer the property only of the Churches to which they were written, but were dispersed through, and considered to belong to, the whole Christian Church;" or we must suppose that the passages in St. Peter"s thoughts were not in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, but in some of the Epistles addressed to the Churches of Asia Minor; as, for instance, Eph_1:4 Eph_2:8 Eph_3:9-11; Col_1:22 Col_3:4, Col_3:24; or, possibly Rom_2:4 and 9:22, as there seem to be some reasons for believing that this last Epistle was addressed to the Church at Ephesus among others.

Divine long-suffering.

When the religion of Christ was first promulgated, there was on the part of many who embraced it an impatience with the state of things in the world, and an expectation of the end of the age and of the speedy return of the Saviour, for the deliverance of his people and the destruction of his foes. Both Paul and Peter found it necessary to restrain the impatience and to check the enthusiastic anticipations of their converts, and to impress upon them the marvelous forbearance of God. They aimed at showing that it was benevolence which chiefly prompted the manifestation of Divine long-suffering.

I THE NATURE OF DIVINE LONG-SUFFERING. We know something of human patience and forbearance, and we have all been again and again indebted to these qualities for our opportunities of happiness and usefulness, But Divine long-suffering transcends all that has been displayed by men.

1. Long-suffering is different from mere goodness and bounty, i.e. the disposition to bestow benefits upon the needy and dependent.

2. And from pity or compassion, which is a sentiment of commiserationtowards the wretched and helpless.

3. And at the same time it is, on the other hand, different from indifferenceto the evil conduct which is observed in men.

4. It is a kind of mercy. It involves a holy Superior and an offending subject. It is an emotion of the heart which prompts to the restraint of indignation; a principle of action which averts and withholds wrath and penalty, although these be abundantly deserved. God, in the exercise of long-suffering, beat"s with the sinners whom he might justly doom, gives further opportunity for repentance, and waits for its signs.

II THE OCCASION FOR DIVINE LONG-SUFFERING.

1. The sins of mankind have given occasion for the exercise of this graceupon the vastest scale. Scripture history abounds with instances of God"s forbearance; e.g., in the time of Noah; when Israel rebelled in the wilderness; and when Israel afterwards so largely apostatized, etc. So has it been in the history of every nation, and in the history of the human race.

2. The sins of individual unbelievers and transgressors call for theforbearance of a gracious God. The young who live viciously and irreligiously, those in afterlife who forget God and give themselves to the pursuit of worldly aims, continue to live and to enjoy privileges only through the forbearance of Heaven.

3. The unfaithfulness of Christians is only tolerated by a long-sufferingLord. How otherwise could the frailties and infirmities which disfigure the religious life of multitudes be endured? If our God had not again and again borne with our imperfections, should we be still in the possession of opportunities and advantages so many and valuable?

III THE MANIFESTATIONS OF DIVINE LONG-SUFFERING.

1. God refrains from judgment and condemnation.

2. God addresses faithful warnings, and summons to repentance as theclouds gather before the thunderstorm breaks. Expostulations are repeated: "How shall I give thee up?

3. Promises and invitations are renewed.

4. Probation is extended, in order that further opportunity may be given forrepentance. The mandate goes forth concerning the barren tree, "Let it alone this year also!

IV THE GRACIOUS INTENTION OF DIVINE LONG-SUFFERING. When the apostle writes, "is salvation," he means, "is intended to work salvation." God does not prolong our proving with a view to the increase of our guilt and chastisement, but for a purpose exactly opposed to this in order, that is, that hardness may be melted down, that rebellion may cease and be followed by loyalty, that neglect and disregard of religion may give place to interest and to prayer, that the sinner may repent, the wanderer return, the careless be revived. The gift of Christ to man is the most glorious evidence of Divine long-suffering. This is a dispensation of mercy. To forbearance we owe our privileges, and to forbearance we shall be indebted for our final and everlasting salvation.

Great, indeed, is the guilt of those who despise and abuse the long-suffering of the Lord. Such there have ever been. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." But it is better that delay in judgment should be used as the opportunity of repentance, rather than that it should be abused as an excuse and an inducement for perseverance in sin. J.R.T. And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. The apostle is referring to verse 9. Scoffers count the delay of the judgment slackness; the Christian should count it salvation; it is for the salvation of the elect that the judgment tarrieth. It is almost certain that by "our Lord" here St. Peter means the Lord Jesus, whom he describes by the same title in verse 18. Even as our beloved brother Paul also. The plural pronoun may be intended to imply that St. Paul was known to the Churches to which St. Peter was writing, and was beloved there. St. Peter addresses his readers as "beloved" four times in this Epistle; he here uses the same epithet of St. Paul. It comes naturally from his lips; but a writer of the second century would probably have used much stronger words of praise in speaking of one so much reverenced. According to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; rather, wrote to you (comp. Polycarp, "Ad Php:," 1:3, "One like me cannot equal the wisdom of the blessed Paul"). That wisdom was given mite him, as he himself says. (1Co_3:10) If we ask to what Epistles of St. Paul is St. Peter referring, the passage which at once occurs to us is 1Th 4 and 1Th 5. This Epistle was probably known to St. Peter; there may be a reference 1Th_5:2 in verse 10 of this chapter; and Silvanus, whose name St. Paul associates with his own in both Epistles to the Thessalonians, was with St. Peter when he wrote his First Epistle. (1Pe_5:12) But St. Peter"s Second Epistle is addressed (primarily at least) to the same Churches to which the first was written (chapter 3:1). We must therefore either say, with Dean Alford, that "our Epistle belongs to a date when the Pauline Epistles were no longer the property only of the Churches to which they were written, but were dispersed through, and considered to belong to, the whole Christian Church;" or we must suppose that the passages in St. Peter"s thoughts were not in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, but in some of the Epistles addressed to the Churches of Asia Minor; as, for instance, Eph_1:4 Eph_2:8 Eph_3:9-11; Col_1:22 Col_3:4, Col_3:24; or, possibly Rom_2:4 and 9:22, as there seem to be some reasons for believing that this last Epistle was addressed to the Church at Ephesus among others.

Divine long-suffering.

When the religion of Christ was first promulgated, there was on the part of many who embraced it an impatience with the state of things in the world, and an expectation of the end of the age and of the speedy return of the Saviour, for the deliverance of his people and the destruction of his foes. Both Paul and Peter found it necessary to restrain the impatience and to check the enthusiastic anticipations of their converts, and to impress upon them the marvelous forbearance of God. They aimed at showing that it was benevolence which chiefly prompted the manifestation of Divine long-suffering.

I THE NATURE OF DIVINE LONG-SUFFERING. We know something of human patience and forbearance, and we have all been again and again indebted to these qualities for our opportunities of happiness and usefulness, But Divine long-suffering transcends all that has been displayed by men.

1. Long-suffering is different from mere goodness and bounty, i.e. the disposition to bestow benefits upon the needy and dependent.

2. And from pity or compassion, which is a sentiment of commiserationtowards the wretched and helpless.

3. And at the same time it is, on the other hand, different from indifferenceto the evil conduct which is observed in men.

4. It is a kind of mercy. It involves a holy Superior and an offending subject. It is an emotion of the heart which prompts to the restraint of indignation; a principle of action which averts and withholds wrath and penalty, although these be abundantly deserved. God, in the exercise of long-suffering, beat"s with the sinners whom he might justly doom, gives further opportunity for repentance, and waits for its signs.

II THE OCCASION FOR DIVINE LONG-SUFFERING.

1. The sins of mankind have given occasion for the exercise of this graceupon the vastest scale. Scripture history abounds with instances of God"s forbearance; e.g., in the time of Noah; when Israel rebelled in the wilderness; and when Israel afterwards so largely apostatized, etc. So has it been in the history of every nation, and in the history of the human race.

2. The sins of individual unbelievers and transgressors call for theforbearance of a gracious God. The young who live viciously and irreligiously, those in afterlife who forget God and give themselves to the pursuit of worldly aims, continue to live and to enjoy privileges only through the forbearance of Heaven.

3. The unfaithfulness of Christians is only tolerated by a long-sufferingLord. How otherwise could the frailties and infirmities which disfigure the religious life of multitudes be endured? If our God had not again and again borne with our imperfections, should we be still in the possession of opportunities and advantages so many and valuable?

III THE MANIFESTATIONS OF DIVINE LONG-SUFFERING.

1. God refrains from judgment and condemnation.

2. God addresses faithful warnings, and summons to repentance as theclouds gather before the thunderstorm breaks. Expostulations are repeated: "How shall I give thee up?

3. Promises and invitations are renewed.

4. Probation is extended, in order that further opportunity may be given forrepentance. The mandate goes forth concerning the barren tree, "Let it alone this year also!

IV THE GRACIOUS INTENTION OF DIVINE LONG-SUFFERING. When the apostle writes, "is salvation," he means, "is intended to work salvation." God does not prolong our proving with a view to the increase of our guilt and chastisement, but for a purpose exactly opposed to this in order, that is, that hardness may be melted down, that rebellion may cease and be followed by loyalty, that neglect and disregard of religion may give place to interest and to prayer, that the sinner may repent, the wanderer return, the careless be revived. The gift of Christ to man is the most glorious evidence of Divine long-suffering. This is a dispensation of mercy. To forbearance we owe our privileges, and to forbearance we shall be indebted for our final and everlasting salvation.

Great, indeed, is the guilt of those who despise and abuse the long-suffering of the Lord. Such there have ever been. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." But it is better that delay in judgment should be used as the opportunity of repentance, rather than that it should be abused as an excuse and an inducement for perseverance in sin. J.R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

salvation

(See Scofield "Rom 1:16").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. Account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. That God's long suffering is designed to promote salvation. Even as our beloved brother Paul … hath written to you. We cannot tell what epistles of Paul are alluded to. We have at least three which were written to the same churches Peter was addressing. See 1 Pet. 1:1, 2.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

15. καθὼς καὶ ὁ ἀγαπητὸς ἡμῶν ἀδελφὸς Παῦλος. It has been usual to take καθὼς as referring to the topic of the end of the world, and to suppose that the Epistles to the Thessalonians are specially indicated. But others (incl. Mayor) would refer καθώς to the sentence immediately preceding about μακροθυμία, and point to certain passages in Romans, especially Rom 2:4 καὶ τῆς μακοθυμίας καταφρονεῖς ἀγνοῶν ὅτι τὸ χρηστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς μετάνοιάν σε ἄγει; also Rom 3:25-26, Rom 9:22-23, Rom 11:22-23. ὑμῖν would then naturally mean that this Epistle is itself addressed to the Romans.

κατὰ τῆν δοθεῖσαν αὐτῷ σοφίαν. Cf. 1Co 3:10 κατὰ τὴν χάριν τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν δοθεῖσάν μοι.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15.] and account the long-suffering of our Lord (τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν, thus expressed, is hardly to be dissevered from Him who is expressly thus named below, ver. 18. And if so, then, throughout this weighty passage, the Lord Jesus is invested with the full attributes of Deity. It is He who waits and is long-suffering: He, in His union and co-equality with the Father, who ruleth all things after the counsel of His own will) salvation (contrast to βραδυτῆτα ἡγοῦνται, ver. 9): even as also (besides myself) our beloved brother (this term is probably used in a closer sense than as merely signifying fellow-Christian: our beloved fellow-Apostle) Paul according to the wisdom given to him (cf. 1Co 3:10, κατὰ τὴν χάριν τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν δοθεῖσάν μοι, ὡς σοφὸς ἀρχιτέκτων κ.τ.λ. Also Gal 2:9; Eph 3:2, Eph 3:7, Eph 3:8; Col 1:25) wrote to you (What? Where? to whom? By some the reply to the first has been found in the preceding clause, τὴν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν μακροθυμίαν σωτηρίαν ἡγεῖσθε: which, in sense, is almost identical with Rom 2:4, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι τὸ χρηστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς μετάνοιάν σε ἄγει. So Œc., Grot., al., and more recently Huther, Dietlein. But surely the reference is too narrow to satisfy what follows here, λαλῶν ἐν αὐταῖς περὶ τούτων, where the reference must be to ταῦτα, which we Christians προσδοκῶμεν, viz. to the coming of the day of the Lord. Thus then we should interpret the καθὼς καί &c. of some particular passage in which St. Paul had exhorted to readiness in expectation of that day, and the ὡς καὶ ἐν πάσαις κ.τ.λ., ver. 16, of the frequent mention of that day in his other Epistles. In searching then, 2. for some passages which may fulfil the above condition, it seems to me that we need not go beyond the earliest Epistle of St. Paul, viz. 1 Thessalonians. There, in ch. 4:13-5:11, we have a passage on this very point, and the more satisfactory, because St. Peter seems, in our ver. 10, to have had 1Th 5:2 before his mind. And as to, 3. ὑμῖν, there seems no need to press it as identifying any particular church, seeing that this our Epistle is addressed to all Christians alike: cf. ch. 1:1. All that follows from ὑμῖν is what may also be gathered from ver. 16, that our Epistle belongs to a date when the Pauline Epistles were no longer the property only of the churches to which they were written, but were dispersed through, and considered to belong to, the whole Christian Church. What date that is, I have discussed in the Prolegomena. There have been very various opinions as to the passage and Epistle meant: Estius, Calov., Spanheim, Bengel, Gerhard, al., think it to be the Epistle to the Hebrews, on account of ch. 9:26 ff., 10:25, 37 (see on these in the Prolegg. to the Hebrews, § i. par. 6): Jachmanu, the Epistles to the Corinthians, especially 1Co 1:7-9, finding an allusion to 1Co 2:1 ff. in κατὰ σοφίαν κ.τ.λ.: Benson, the Epistles to the Gal., Eph., Col., being addressed to Asia Minor churches, as he holds this to be; Augusti, referring ἐν εἰρήνῃ to the difference between Paul and Peter, the Epistle to the Gal.: Pott, and Morus, some Epistle which has not come down to us),

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.