SEV Biblia, Chapter 3:16
casi en todas sus epístolas, hablando en ellas de estas cosas; entre las cuales hay algunas difíciles de entender, las cuales los indoctos e inconstantes tuercen, como tambin las otras Escrituras, para perdicin de sí mismos.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Peter 3:16
Verse 16. As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things] Paul, in all his epistles, says Dr. Macknight, has spoken of the things written by Pet. in this letter. For example, he has spoken of Christ's coming to judgment; 1 Thess. iii. 13; iv. 14-18; 2 Thess. i. 7-10; Tit. ii. 13. And of the resurrection of the dead, 1 Cor. xv. 22; Phil. iii. 20, 21. And of the burning of the earth; 2 Thess. i. 8. And of the heavenly country; 2 Cor. v. 1-10. And of the introduction of the righteous into that country; 1 Thess. iv. 17; Heb. iv. 9; xii. 14, 18, 24. And of the judgment of all mankind by Christ; Rom. xiv. 10.
In which are some things hard to be understood] dusnohta tina? That is, if we retain the common reading en oiv, in or among which things, viz., what he says of the day of judgment, the resurrection of the body &c., &c., there are some things difficult to be comprehended, and from which a wrong or false meaning may be taken. But if we take the reading of AB, twelve others, with both the Syriac, all the Arabic, and Theophylact, en aiv, the meaning is more general, as en aiv must refer to epistolaiv, epistles, for this would intimate that there were difficulties in all the epistles of St. Paul; and indeed in what ancient writings are there not difficulties? But the papists say that the decision of all matters relative to the faith is not to be expected from the Scriptures on this very account, but must be received from the Church; i.e. the Popish or Romish Church.
But what evidence have we that that Church can infallibly solve any of those difficulties? We have none! And till we have an express, unequivocal revelation from heaven that an unerring spirit is given to that Church, I say, for example, to the present Church of Rome, with the pope called Pius VII. at its head, we are not to receive its pretensions. Any Church may pretend the same, or any number of equally learned men as there are of cardinals and pope in the conclave; and, after all, it would be but the opinion of so many men, to which no absolute certainty or infallibility could be attached.
This verse is also made a pretext to deprive the common people of reading the word of God; because the unlearned and unstable have sometimes wrested this word to their own destruction: but if it be human learning, and stability in any system of doctrine, that qualifies men to judge of these difficult things, then we can find many thousands, even in Europe, that have as much learning and stability as the whole college of cardinals, and perhaps ten thousand times more; for that conclave was never very reputable for the learning of its members: and to other learned bodies we may, with as much propriety, look up as infallible guides, as to this conclave.
Besides, as it is only the unlearned and the unestablished (that is, young Christian converts) that are in danger of wresting such portions; the learned, that is, the experienced and the established in the knowledge and life of God, are in no such danger; and to such we may safely go for information: and these abound everywhere, especially in Protestant countries; and by the labours of learned and pious men on the sacred writings there is not one difficulty relative to the things which concern our salvation left unexplained. If the members of the Romish Church have not these advantages, let them go to those who have them; and if their teachers are afraid to trust them to the instruction of the Protestants, then let them who pretend to have infallibly written their exposition of these difficult places, also put them, with a wholesome text in the vulgar language, into the hands of their people, and then the appeal will not lie to Rome, but to the Bible, and those interpretations will be considered according to their worth, being weighed with other scriptures, and the expositions of equally learned and equally infallible men.
We find, lastly, that those who wrest such portions, are those who wrest the other scriptures to their destruction; therefore they are no patterns, nor can such form any precedent for withholding the Scriptures from the common people, most of whom, instead of wresting them to their destruction, would become wise unto salvation by reading them. We may defy the Romish Church to adduce a single instance of any soul that was perverted, destroyed, or damned, by reading of the Bible; and the insinuation that they may is blasphemous. I may just add that the verb streblow, which the apostle uses here, signifies to distort, to put to the rack, to torture, to overstretch and dislocate the limbs; and hence the persons here intended are those who proceed according to no fair plan of interpretation, but force unnatural and sophistical meanings on the word of God: a practice which the common simple Christian is in no danger of following. I could illustrate this by a multitude of interpretations from popish writers.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 16. As also in all [his] epistles , etc.] From whence it appears, that the Apostle Paul had, by this time, wrote several of his epistles, if not all of them; and they were all written according to the same wisdom, and under the influence of the same spirit, as his epistle to the Hebrews: speaking in them of those things ; of the same things, Peter had been speaking of, of the coming of Christ, as that he should appear a second time to them that look for him, and would come as a thief in the night, and that the fashion, scheme, and form of this world should pass away, and that saints should look and wait for his coming, and love it: something of this kind is said in all his epistles; (see Hebrews 9:28 1 Thessalonians 5:2 1 Corinthians 7:31 1:7 Titus 2:13 2 Timothy 4:8); and also of mockers, scoffers, seducers, and wicked men that would arise in the last days; (see 1 Timothy 4:1 2 Timothy 3:1), in which are some things hard to be understood . The phrase, in which, refers either to the epistles, or the things spoken in them. The Alexandrian manuscript, and three of Robert Stephens's copies, read en aiv , in which epistles, but the generality of copies read en oiv , in, or among which things, spoken of in them, concerning the subject here treated of, the coming of Christ; as the time of Christ's coming, which is sometimes represented by the apostle, as if it would be while he was living; and the manner of his coming in person with all his saints, and his mighty angels, with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and trump of God, things not easily understood; and the destruction of antichrist at his coming, which will be with the breath of his mouth, and the brightness of his coming; as also the resurrection of the dead, of the saints that will rise first, and that with spiritual bodies; and likewise the change of the living saints, and the rapture both of living and raised saints together, in the, clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and the standing of them before the judgment seat of Christ, and the account that everyone must give to him, ( Thessalonians 4:15-17 2 Thessalonians 1:7,8 2:8) ( 1 Corinthians 15:44,51,52 2 Corinthians 5:10 Romans 14:12); which they that are unlearned ; untaught of God, who have never learned of the Father, nor have learned Christ, nor have that anointing which teacheth all things; who, though they may have been in the schools of men, were never in the school of Christ; and though they have been ever learning, yet will never come to the knowledge of the truth; for men may have a large share of human literature, and yet be unlearned men in the sense of the apostle; and very often it is, that such wrest and pervert the Scriptures to the ruin of themselves, and others: and unstable ; unsettled in their principles, who are like children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine; the root of the matter is not in them; nor are they rooted and built up in Christ, and so are not established in the faith; they are not upon the foundation Christ, nor do they build upon, and abide by the sure word of God, or form their notions according to it, but according to their own carnal reasonings, and fleshly lusts; and so wrest the word of God, distort it from its true sense and meaning, and make it speak that which it never designed; dealing with it as innocent persons are sometimes used, put upon a rack, and tortured, and so forced to speak what is contrary to their knowledge and consciences; and so were the words of the Apostle Paul wrested by ill designing men, as about the doctrines of grace and works, so concerning the coming of Christ; (see Romans 3:8 2 Thessalonians 2:1,2); as [they do] also the other Scriptures ; the writings of Moses, and the prophets of the Old Testament, the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the other epistles of the apostles of the New Testament: and which is eventually unto their own destruction ; for by so doing they either add unto, or detract from the Scriptures, and so bring the curse of God upon them; and they give into doctrines of devils, and into heresies, which are damnable, and bring upon themselves swift destruction, which lingers not, and slumbers not. Now from hence it does not follow, that the Scriptures are not to be read by the common people; for not all the parts of Scripture, and all things in it, are hard to be understood, there are many things very plain and easy, even everything respecting eternal salvation; there is milk for babes, as well as meat for strong men: besides, not the Scriptures in general, but Paul's epistles only, are here spoken of, and not all of them, or anyone whole epistle among them, only some things in them, and these not impossible, only difficult to be understood; and which is no reason why they should be laid aside, but rather why they should be read with greater application and diligence, and be followed with fervent prayer, and frequent meditation; and though unlearned and unstable men may wrest them to their perdition, those that are taught of God, though otherwise illiterate, may read them to great profit and advantage.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 11-18 - From the doctrine of Christ's second coming, we are exhorted to purit and godliness. This is the effect of real knowledge. Very exact an universal holiness is enjoined, not resting in any low measure of degree. True Christians look for new heavens and a new earth; free from the vanity to which things present are subject, and the sin the are polluted with. Those only who are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, shall be admitted to dwell in this holy place. He is faithful, who has promised. Those, whose sin are pardoned, and their peace made with God, are the only safe an happy people; therefore follow after peace, and that with all men follow after holiness as well as peace. Never expect to be found a that day of God in peace, if you are lazy and idle in this your day, in which we must finish the work given us to do. Only the diligen Christian will be the happy Christian in the day of the Lord. Our Lor will suddenly come to us, or shortly call us to him; and shall he fin us idle? Learn to make a right use of the patience of our Lord, who a yet delays his coming. Proud, carnal, and corrupt men, seek to wres some things into a seeming agreement with their wicked doctrines. But this is no reason why St. Paul's epistles, or any other part of the Scriptures, should be laid aside; for men, left to themselves, perver every gift of God. Then let us seek to have our minds prepared for receiving things hard to be understood, by putting in practice thing which are more easy to be understood. But there must be self-denial an suspicion of ourselves, and submission to the authority of Chris Jesus, before we can heartily receive all the truths of the gospel therefore we are in great danger of rejecting the truth. And whateve opinions and thoughts of men are not according to the law of God, an warranted by it, the believer disclaims and abhors. Those who are le away by error, fall from their own stedfastness. And that we may avoi being led away, we must seek to grow in all grace, in faith, an virtue, and knowledge. Labour to know Christ more clearly, and mor fully; to know him so as to be more like him, and to love him better This is the knowledge of Christ, which the apostle Paul reached after and desired to attain; and those who taste this effect of the knowledg of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, will, upon receiving such grac from him, give thanks and praise him, and join in ascribing glory to him now, in the full assurance of doing the same hereafter, for ever __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
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Vincent's NT Word Studies
16. Hard to be understood (dusnohta). Only here in New Testament. They that are unlearned and unstable (oi amaqeiv kai asthriktoi). Both words are peculiar to Peter. On the latter, see on ch. ii. 14.
Wrest (streblousin). Only here in New Testament. Meaning, originally, to hoist with a windless or screw; to twist or dislocate the limbs on a rack. It is a singularly graphic word applied to the perversion of scripture. The other scriptures (tav loipav grafav). Showing that Paul's epistles were ranked as scripture. See on Mark xii. 10.
