The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude (Pillar New Testament Commentary)

562 Pages·2005·27.38 MB·English

by  Peter H. Davids

THE PILLAR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY
General Editor
D. A. CARSON
rrll
The Letters of
2 PETER
and
JUDE
PETER H. DAVIDS
WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY GRAND RAPIDS,
MICHIGAN / CAMBRIDGE, U.K.

Contents
Series Preface Viii
Authors Preface x
Abbreviations xii
Select Bibliography xxi
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1
THE LETTER OF JUDE
INTRODUCTION TO JUDE 7
I. Introduction 7
II. Authorship 8
III. Place and Date 12
IV. Addressees 17
V. Language and Structure 23
VI. Theology 28
COMMENTARY ON JUDE 33
I. Letter Opening: Salutation (vv. 1-2) 33
II. Letter Body (vv. 3-23) 41
A. Body Opening: Thematic Statement (exordium/narratio) (vv. 3-4) 41
B. Body Proper: Proof for the Thematic Statement (vv. 5-16) 46
i. First Proof (vv. 5-7 and 8-1o) 46
2. Second Proof (vv. 11-13) 64
3. Third Proof (vv. 14-16) 75
C. Body Closing (vv. 17-23) 84
1. Final Prophecy (vv. 17-19) 84
2. Closing Exhortation (vv. 20-23) 91
III. Letter Closing: Doxology (vv. 24-25) 1o6
THE LETTER OF 2 PETER
INTRODUCTION TO 2 PETER 121
1. Introduction 121
II. Authorship 123
III. Date, Language, and Style 130
IV. Recipients and Opponents 132
V. Jude and 2 Peter 136
VI. Literary Form 143
VII. Theology 150
A. God 150
B. Jesus 150
C. The Holy Spirit 155
D. The Human Condition 156
E. Deliverance 156
F. Eschatology 156
G. Scripture 157
COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER 159
1. Salutation (1:1-2) 159
II. Letter Opening (1:3-15) 166
A. Opening Sermon (1:3-11) 166
z. Historical Introduction: The Divine Benefaction (1:3-4) 167
2. Call to Virtue (1:5-11) 176
B. Purpose Statement (1:12-15) 191
III. Letter Body (1:16-3:16) 198
A. The Implications of the Transfiguration (1:16-21) 198
B. Condemnation of the False Teachers (2:1-22) 216
i. Introduction to the False Teachers (2:1-3) 216
2. Argument for the Judgment of the False Teachers (2:4-22) 224
Excursus on Balaam in Rabbinic Literature 2-53
C. Conclusions about the Day of the Lord (3:1-13) 256
D. Body Closing: Final Judgment (3:14-16) 293
IV. Letter Closing (3:17-18) 309
INDEXES
1. Modem Authors 319
II. Subjects 322
III. Scripture References 327
IV. Extrabiblical Literature 341
Series Preface
Commentaries have specific aims, and this series is no exception. Designed for
serious pastors and teachers of the Bible, the Pillar commentaries seek above all
to make clear the text of Scripture as we have it. The scholars writing these
volumes interact with the most important informed contemporary debate, but
avoid getting mired in undue technical detail. Their ideal is a blend of rigorous
exegesis and exposition, with an eye alert both to biblical theology and the
contemporary relevance of the Bible, without confusing the commentary and the
sermon.
The rationale for this approach is that the vision of "objective scholarship"
(a vain chimera) may actually be profane. God stands over against us; we do not
stand in judgment of him. When God speaks to us through his Word, those who
profess to know him must respond in an appropriate way, and that is certainly
different from a stance in which the scholar projects an image of autonomous
distance. Yet this is no surreptitious appeal for uncontrolled subjectivity. The
writers of this series aim for an evenhanded openness to the text that is the best
kind of "objectivity" of all.
If the text is God's Word, it is appropriate that we respond with reverence, a
certain fear, a holy joy, a questing obedience. These values should be reflected in
the way Christians write. With these values in place, the Pillar commentaries
will be warmly welcomed not only by pastors, teachers, and students, but by
general readers as well.
The two epistles treated in this volume, 2 Peter and Jude, present peculiar
challenges to the twenty-first-century commentator. Their strong denunciations
seem out of tune with the times; their allusions to nonbiblical Jewish sources
raise some eyebrows; their transparent interdependence (one of them is
borrowing from the other) raises the kinds of issues faced by those commenting
on the Synoptic Gospels or on i and 2 Chronicles. Morever, historical criticism
has sometimes left us with a legacy of suspicion about these two brief