2 Petrus 3:14

Exhortation to the Faithful

3:14 Therefore, dear friends, since you are waiting for ¹  these things, strive to be found ²  at peace, without spot or blemish, when you come into his presence. ³ 

2 Petrus 3:17-18

3:17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, ⁴  be on your guard that you do not get led astray by the error of these unprincipled men ⁵  and fall from your firm grasp on the truth. ⁶  3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge ⁷  of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the honor both now and on ⁸  that eternal day. ⁹ 

[3:14]  ¹ tn Grk “dear friends, waiting for.” See note in v. 13 on “waiting for.”

[3:14]  ² sn The Greek verb used in the phrase strive to be found is the same as is found in v. 10, translated “laid bare.” In typical Petrine fashion, a conceptual link is made by the same linkage of terms. The point of these two verses thus becomes clear: When the heavens disappear and the earth and its inhabitants are stripped bare before the throne of God, they should strive to make sure that their lives are pure and that they have nothing to hide.

[3:14]  ³ tn “When you come into” is not in Greek. However, the dative pronoun αὐτῷ (autw) does not indicate agency (“by him”), but presence or sphere. The idea is “strive to found {before him/in his presence}.”

[3:17]  ⁴ tn Grk “knowing beforehand.”

[3:17]  ⁵ tn Or “lawless ones.”

[3:17]  sn These unprincipled men. The same word is used in 2:7, suggesting further that the heretics in view in chapter 3 are the false teachers of chapter 2.

[3:17]  ⁶ tn Grk “fall from your firmness.”

[3:18]  ⁷ tn The term “knowledge” (γνῶσις, gnwsis) used here is not the same as is found in 2 Pet 1:2, 3, 8; 2:20. This term is found in 1:5 and 1:6.

[3:18]  ⁸ tn Or “until.”

[3:18]  ⁹ tc ‡ The vast bulk of mss add ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”) at the end of this letter, as they do almost all the rest of the NT books (only Acts, James, and 3 John lack a majority of witnesses supporting a concluding ἀμήν). The omission in B 1241 1243 1739* 1881 2298 appears to be original, although the fact that some of the best and earliest Alexandrian witnesses (Ì⁷² א A C P Ψ 33 co), along with the Byzantine text and early versions (vg sy), add the particle renders such a judgment less than iron-clad. NA²⁷ places the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[3:18]  tn Grk “day of eternity.”