2 Peter 2:18

2:18 For by speaking high-sounding but empty words ¹  they are able to entice, ²  with fleshly desires and with debauchery, ³  people ⁴  who have just escaped ⁵  from those who reside in error. ⁶ 

2 Peter 2:10

2:10 especially those who indulge their fleshly desires ⁷  and who despise authority.

Brazen and insolent, ⁸  they are not afraid to insult ⁹  the glorious ones, ¹⁰ 

2 Peter 3:3

3:3 Above all, understand this: ¹¹  In the last days blatant scoffers ¹²  will come, being propelled by their own evil urges ¹³ 

2 Peter 1:4

1:4 Through these things ¹⁴  he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised ¹⁵  you may become partakers of the divine nature, ¹⁶  after escaping ¹⁷  the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire. ¹⁸ 

[2:18]  ¹ tn Grk “high-sounding words of futility.”

[2:18]  ² tn Grk “they entice.”

[2:18]  ³ tn Grk “with the lusts of the flesh, with debauchery.”

[2:18]  ⁴ tn Grk “those.”

[2:18]  ⁵ tn Or “those who are barely escaping.”

[2:18]  ⁶ tn Or “deceit.”

[2:10]  ⁷ tn Grk “those who go after the flesh in [its] lust.”

[2:10]  ⁸ tn There is no “and” in Greek; it is supplied for the sake of English convention.

[2:10]  ⁹ tn The translation takes βλασφημοῦντες (blasfhmounte") as an adverbial participle of purpose, as most translations do. However, it is also possible to see this temporally (thus, “they do not tremble when they blaspheme”).

[2:10]  ¹⁰ tn Δόξας (doxas) almost certainly refers to angelic beings rather than mere human authorities, though it is difficult to tell whether good or bad angels are in view. Verse 11 seems to suggest that wicked angels is what the author intends.

[3:3]  ¹³ tn Grk “knowing this [to be] foremost.” Τοῦτο πρῶτον (touto prwton) constitute the object and complement of γινώσκοντες (ginwskonte"). The participle is loosely dependent on the infinitive in v. 2 (“[I want you] to recall”), perhaps in a telic sense (thus, “[I want you] to recall…[and especially] to understand this as foremost”). The following statement then would constitute the main predictions with which the author was presently concerned. An alternative is to take it imperativally: “Above all, know this.” In this instance, however, there is little semantic difference (since a telic participle and imperatival participle end up urging an action). Cf. also 2 Pet 1:20.

[3:3]  ¹⁴ tn The Greek reads “scoffers in their scoffing” for “blatant scoffers.” The use of the cognate dative is a Semitism designed to intensify the word it is related to. The idiom is foreign to English. As a Semitism, it is further incidental evidence of the authenticity of the letter (see the note on “Simeon” in 1:1 for other evidence).

[3:3]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “going according to their own evil urges.”

[1:4]  ¹⁹ tn Verse 4 is in Greek a continuation of v. 3, “through which things.”

[1:4]  ²⁰ tn Grk “through them.” The implication is that through inheriting and acting on these promises the believers will increasingly become partakers of the divine nature.

[1:4]  ²¹ sn Although the author has borrowed the expression partakers of the divine nature from paganism, his meaning is clearly Christian. He does not mean apotheosis (man becoming a god) in the pagan sense, but rather that believers have an organic connection with God. Because of such a connection, God can truly be called our Father. Conceptually, this bears the same meaning as Paul’s “in Christ” formula. The author’s statement, though startling at first, is hardly different from Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians that they “may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (3:19).

[1:4]  ²² tn The aorist participle ἀποφυγόντες (apofugonte") is often taken as attendant circumstance to the preceding verb γένησθε (genhsqe). As such, the sense is “that you might become partakers…and might escape…” However, it does not follow the contours of the vast majority of attendant circumstance participles (in which the participle precedes the main verb, among other things). Further, attendant circumstance participles are frequently confused with result participles (which do follow the verb). Many who take this as attendant circumstance are probably viewing it semantically as result (“that you might become partakers…and [thereby] escape…”). But this is next to impossible since the participle is aorist: Result participles are categorically present tense.

[1:4]  ²³ tn Grk “the corruption in the world (in/because of) lust.”