independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecomparativecontentphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended
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The reminder and the scoffers 3:1–7
vv. 1–2 — the second letter: memory stirred
1
Ταύτην ἤδη, ἀγαπητοί, δευτέραν ὑμῖν γράφω ἐπιστολήν,independent — the epistolary frame — the second letter (1 Peter, or a lost first)
ἐν αἷς διεγείρω ὑμῶν ἐν ὑπομνήσει τὴν εἰλικρινῆ διάνοιαν,relative — on ἐπιστολήν — the plural αἷς reaches back over both letters (constructio ad sensum)
2
μνησθῆναι τῶν προειρημένων ῥημάτων ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶνpurpose — the stirring's goal — the prophets' words first
καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀποστόλων ὑμῶν ἐντολῆς τοῦ κυρίου καὶ σωτῆρος·phrase modifier — the second object of remembering — the Lord's own command, carried by your apostles
vv. 3–4 — the scoffers and their taunt
3
τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες,participial — nominative γινώσκοντες — the concord slips to 'you who remember' (cf. 1:20)
ὅτι ἐλεύσονται ἐπ’ ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐν ἐμπαιγμονῇ ἐμπαῖκταιcontent — the first thing to know — ἐν ἐμπαιγμονῇ ἐμπαῖκται, mockers mocking (cognate emphasis)
κατὰ τὰς ἰδίας ἐπιθυμίας αὐτῶν πορευόμενοιparticipial — their manner — desire, not argument, sets their course (cf. 2:10)
4
καὶ λέγοντες·participial — their speech — the taunt quoted verbatim
Ποῦ ἐστιν ἡ ἐπαγγελία τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ;content — the quoted sneer — the Ποῦ ἐστιν taunt formula (cf. Mal 2:17; Jer 17:15)
ἀφ’ ἧς γὰρ οἱ πατέρες ἐκοιμήθησαν,relative — temporal relative inside the quotation (ἀφ᾽ ἧς sc. ἡμέρας) — leans forward on the assertion below
πάντα οὕτως διαμένει ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς κτίσεως.cause — γάρ — the taunt's own ground, nested inside the quotation: sheer uniformity since creation
vv. 5–7 — what they willfully forget: by water then, for fire now
5
λανθάνει γὰρ αὐτοὺς τοῦτο θέλοντας,independent — the rejoinder — τοῦτο θέλοντας: the forgetting is willed, not innocent
ὅτι οὐρανοὶ ἦσαν ἔκπαλαιcontent — what they forget — creation: heavens of old
καὶ γῆ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ δι’ ὕδατος συνεστῶσα τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγῳ,content — ἦσαν carried over — the earth stood together out of and through water, by the word (Gen 1)
6
δι’ ὧν ὁ τότε κόσμος ὕδατι κατακλυσθεὶς ἀπώλετο·relative — plural δι᾽ ὧν — the waters (or water and word together) as the flood's agents
7
οἱ δὲ νῦν οὐρανοὶ καὶ ἡ γῆ τῷ αὐτῷ λόγῳ τεθησαυρισμένοι εἰσὶν πυρὶindependent — the counterpart — the same word now banks fire: τεθησαυρισμένοι, treasured up (πυρί with the storing)
τηρούμενοι εἰς ἡμέραν κρίσεως καὶ ἀπωλείας τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἀνθρώπων.participial — kept — the day already has its docket: the ἀσεβεῖς
The Lord's timing and patience 3:8–10
vv. 8–9 — a thousand years as a day: the delay is patience
8
Ἓν δὲ τοῦτο μὴ λανθανέτω ὑμᾶς, ἀγαπητοί,independent — μὴ λανθανέτω — the scoffers' verb (v. 5) turned toward the faithful
ὅτι μία ἡμέρα παρὰ κυρίῳ ὡς χίλια ἔτηcontent — Ps 90:4 — the Lord's clock is not ours
καὶ χίλια ἔτη ὡς ἡμέρα μία.content — the converse — neither length nor brevity of delay measures him
9
οὐ βραδύνει κύριος τῆς ἐπαγγελίας,independent — the thesis against the taunt — οὐ βραδύνει, the promise (v. 4) not defaulted
ὥς τινες βραδύτητα ἡγοῦνται,comparative — the rival reckoning — τινες, the scoffers' arithmetic
ἀλλὰ μακροθυμεῖ εἰς ὑμᾶς,independent — the counter — the delay is μακροθυμία, aimed at you
μὴ βουλόμενός τινας ἀπολέσθαιparticipial — the motive — no one's ruin is his wish
ἀλλὰ πάντας εἰς μετάνοιαν χωρῆσαι.content — the positive will — χωρῆσαι, room made for all into repentance
v. 10 — the day comes as a thief
10
Ἥξει δὲ ἡμέρα κυρίου ὡς κλέπτης,independent — the declaration — Ἥξει fronted: come it will (the thief: Mt 24:43; 1 Thess 5:2)
ἐν ᾗ οἱ οὐρανοὶ ῥοιζηδὸν παρελεύσονται,relative — the dissolution begins — ῥοιζηδόν, the onomatopoeic rush
στοιχεῖα δὲ καυσούμενα λυθήσεται,relative — still inside ἐν ᾗ — the στοιχεῖα undone by fire
καὶ γῆ καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ ἔργα εὑρεθήσεται.relative — the crux — εὑρεθήσεται 'will be found' (laid bare before God), the best-attested and hardest reading (v.l. κατακαήσεται 'burned up')
Holy conduct while waiting 3:11–13
11
Τούτων οὕτως πάντων λυομένωνparticipial — genitive absolute — leans forward on the question below
ποταποὺς δεῖ ὑπάρχειν ὑμᾶς ἐν ἁγίαις ἀναστροφαῖς καὶ εὐσεβείαις,independent — the ethical inference — ποταπούς: cosmology becomes conduct (the plurals: habits of holiness)
12
προσδοκῶντας καὶ σπεύδοντας τὴν παρουσίαν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμέρας,participial — the waiting is active — σπεύδοντας: hastening the day (cf. Isa 60:22; repentance shortens the patience's need)
δι’ ἣν οὐρανοὶ πυρούμενοι λυθήσονταιrelative — δι᾽ ἣν — because of that day the heavens burn
καὶ στοιχεῖα καυσούμενα τήκεται;relative — coordinate in the relative — τήκεται present: the melting made vivid (Isa 34:4 LXX)
13
καινοὺς δὲ οὐρανοὺς καὶ γῆν καινὴν κατὰ τὸ ἐπάγγελμα αὐτοῦ προσδοκῶμεν,independent — the counter-expectation — κατὰ τὸ ἐπάγγελμα: Isa 65:17; 66:22
ἐν οἷς δικαιοσύνη κατοικεῖ.relative — on the new heavens and earth — δικαιοσύνη at home at last
The closing exhortation — spotless, steadfast, growing 3:14–18
vv. 14–16 — be found spotless; Paul writes the same
14
Διό, ἀγαπητοί, ταῦτα προσδοκῶντες σπουδάσατεindependent — the charge — σπουδάσατε, with the awaiting folded in (ταῦτα προσδοκῶντες)
ἄσπιλοι καὶ ἀμώμητοι αὐτῷ εὑρεθῆναι ἐν εἰρήνῃ,content — complement infinitive — εὑρεθῆναι echoes v. 10: when all is found out, be found ἄσπιλοι (the false teachers are σπίλοι, 2:13)
15
καὶ τὴν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν μακροθυμίαν σωτηρίαν ἡγεῖσθε,independent — the second charge — read the delay as v. 9 reads it: σωτηρία
καθὼς καὶ ὁ ἀγαπητὸς ἡμῶν ἀδελφὸς Παῦλος κατὰ τὴν δοθεῖσαν αὐτῷ σοφίαν ἔγραψεν ὑμῖν,comparative — the ally — ὁ ἀγαπητὸς ἀδελφὸς Παῦλος; his wisdom δοθεῖσαν, given not achieved
16
ὡς καὶ ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἐπιστολαῖςcomparative — the extension — from the letter to you to the whole corpus
λαλῶν ἐν αὐταῖς περὶ τούτων,participial — λαλῶν — Paul on the same themes: the patience, the day, the holiness
ἐν αἷς ἐστιν δυσνόητά τινα,relative — the concession — δυσνόητά τινα: hard, not wrong
ἃ οἱ ἀμαθεῖς καὶ ἀστήρικτοι στρεβλοῦσινrelative — στρεβλοῦσιν — torture on the rack; ἀστήρικτοι, the unfixed (cf. 2:14)
ὡς καὶ τὰς λοιπὰς γραφὰςcomparative — the aside that ranks Paul's letters with the γραφαί
πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν αὐτῶν ἀπώλειαν.phrase modifier — the price of twisting — ἀπώλεια, the scoffers' own end (v. 7)
vv. 17–18 — guard, grow, glorify
17
Ὑμεῖς οὖν, ἀγαπητοί, προγινώσκοντες φυλάσσεσθεindependent — the warning — προγινώσκοντες: forewarned is the letter's whole aim (cf. v. 3)
ἵνα μὴ τῇ τῶν ἀθέσμων πλάνῃ συναπαχθέντες ἐκπέσητε τοῦ ἰδίου στηριγμοῦ,purpose — ἵνα μή — συναπαχθέντες, swept along with (Gal 2:13) the ἄθεσμοι (2:7); στηριγμός answers the ἀστήρικτοι of v. 16
18
αὐξάνετε δὲ ἐν χάριτι καὶ γνώσει τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.independent — the counter-command — growth is the guard: the fixed keep growing
αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ νῦν καὶ εἰς ἡμέραν αἰῶνος.independent — the doxology — to Christ; εἰς ἡμέραν αἰῶνος, the very day the letter waits for
ἀμήν.independent — the seal
Analysis. 2 Peter 3 argues by contradiction, and the shape shows the two voices. The scoffers' speech is the deepest hole in the chapter: from γράφω (v. 1) the sentence steps down through the reminder and the μνησθῆναι purpose to γινώσκοντες, to the ὅτι of the coming mockers, to their two participles, until the quoted taunt itself sits six and seven levels deep — and the quotation carries its own γάρ ground inside it, the ἀφ᾽ ἧς temporal leaning forward (like a protasis, anchorless) on the uniformitarian assertion below. Against that hole stand the flush-left rebuttals: λανθάνει γὰρ αὐτούς (v. 5), μὴ λανθανέτω ὑμᾶς (v. 8) — the same verb turned from the willful forgetters to the faithful — οὐ βραδύνει / ἀλλὰ μακροθυμεῖ (v. 9), and Ἥξει (v. 10), with the day's dissolution hanging as three coral relatives from the one word ἡμέρα. Verse 11's genitive absolute is the chapter's second forward-leaning line, tipping the cosmology over into the ποταπούς question, and vv. 15–16 form the longest single chain: from ἡγεῖσθε down through Paul, to all his letters, to the hard things in them, to the twisters, to the aside that quietly ranks Paul's letters with the rest of the γραφαί. Interpretive choices the layout takes a side on: ἐν αἷς (v. 1) is plural because it reaches over both letters; τοῦτο θέλοντας (v. 5) is read adverbially — the ignorance is willed; δι᾽ ὧν (v. 6) takes the double-named waters (possibly water and word together) as the flood's agents; πυρί (v. 7) is construed with τεθησαυρισμένοι (stored up for fire); εὑρεθήσεται (v. 10) is kept as the hard reading — the earth and its works 'will be found', laid bare for judgment, not burned up; and σπεύδοντας (v. 12) is causative — the church hastens the day it awaits.