2 Peter 1:16

1:16 For we did not follow cleverly concocted fables when we made known to you the power and return ¹  of our Lord Jesus Christ; ²  no, ³  we were ⁴  eyewitnesses of his ⁵  grandeur. ⁶ 

2 Peter 3:12

3:12 while waiting for and hastening ⁷  the coming of the day of God? ⁸  Because of this day, ⁹  the heavens will be burned up and ¹⁰  dissolve, and the celestial bodies ¹¹  will melt away in a blaze! ¹² 

[1:16]  ¹ tn Grk “coming.”

[1:16]  ² tn Grk “for we did not make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ by following cleverly concocted fables.”

[1:16]  ³ tn Grk “but, instead.”

[1:16]  ⁴ tn Grk “became.”

[1:16]  ⁵ tn Grk “that one’s.” That is, “eyewitnesses of the grandeur of that one.” The remote demonstrative pronoun is used perhaps to indicate esteem for Jesus. Along these lines it is interesting to note that “the Pythagoreans called their master after his death simply ἐκεῖνος” as a term of reverence and endearment (BDAG 302 s.v. ἐκεῖνος a.γ).

[1:16]  ⁶ sn The term grandeur was used most frequently of God’s majesty. In the 1st century, it was occasionally used of the divine majesty of the emperor. 2 Pet 1:1 and 1:11 already include hints of a polemic against emperor-worship (in that “God and Savior” and “Lord and Savior” were used of the emperor).

[3:12]  ⁷ tn Or possibly, “striving for,” but the meaning “hasten” for σπουδάζω (spoudazw) is normative in Jewish apocalyptic literature (in which the coming of the Messiah/the end is anticipated). Such a hastening is not an arm-twisting of the divine volition, but a response by believers that has been decreed by God.

[3:12]  ⁸ sn The coming of the day of God. Peter elsewhere describes the coming or parousia as the coming of Christ (cf. 2 Pet 1:16; 3:4). The almost casual exchange between “God” and “Christ” in this little book, and elsewhere in the NT, argues strongly for the deity of Christ (see esp. 1:1).

[3:12]  ⁹ tn Grk “on account of which” (a subordinate relative clause in Greek).

[3:12]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “being burned up, will dissolve.”

[3:12]  ¹¹ tn See note in v. 10 on “celestial bodies.”

[3:12]  ¹² tn Grk “being burned up” (see v. 10).