For we have not followed cunningly devised
fables
Such as Jewish fables, cautioned against ( Titus 1:14 ) which their
traditionary and oral law, their Talmud, and other writings,
mention; as concerning the temporal kingdom of the Messiah, the
sumptuous feast, and carnal pleasures and entertainments, of that
state, with many other things; some of which indeed are not very
cunningly put together, but weak enough: or Gentile fables
concerning the theogony and exploits of their deities; and which
may be meant by fables and endless genealogies in ( 1 Timothy
1:4 ) , and especially reference may be had to the
metamorphoses of their gods, and their fables relating to them,
devised by Ovid, and others, since the apostle is about to speak
of the metamorphosis, or transfiguration of Christ; and also
other fables with which their poets and histories abound; and
likewise the prophecies of the Sibyls, and the oracles at
Delphos, and elsewhere: or the fabulous accounts of the followers
of Simon Magus concerning God, angels, the creation of the world,
and the several Aeones; or the more artful composures of the
false teachers, set off with all the cunning, sophistry, wit, and
eloquence they were masters of. Now in order to set forth the
nature, excellency, and certainty of the doctrine the apostle
taught, especially that part of it which respected the coming of
Christ; and to show that it was worth his while to put them in
mind of it, and theirs to remember it; he observes, that he and
his fellow apostles did not proceed in their account of it on
such a foundation, but upon an evidence which they had received,
both with their eyes and ears, and also on a word of prophecy
surer than that:
when we made known unto you the power and coming of our
Lord Jesus
Christ;
not his first coming, though that, and the benefits arising from
it, were the subject of their ministry; and that was attended
with divine power, which appeared in the incarnation of Christ
itself, which was owing to the power of the Highest; and was seen
in his doctrine and ministry, which were with great authority;
and in the miracles which he wrought, which proved him to have
power equal with God, his Father; and in the work of redemption,
which he came about and finished; in doing which he made an end
of sin, and saved his people from it, redeemed them from the
curse of the law, overcame the world, destroyed Satan, and
abolished death; and especially in his resurrection from the
dead, when he was declared to be the Son of God with power: but
notwithstanding his first coming was in great humility, in much
meanness and imbecility, he grew up as a tender plant, and was
encompassed with infirmities, and at last was crucified through
weakness. This therefore was to be understood of an after coming
of his, which the apostle had wrote of, and made known in his
former epistle, ( 1 Peter 1:7 1 Peter 1:13
) ( 4:5 )
and which he puts them in mind of in this, ( 2 Peter
3:1-4 2 Peter 3:10
2 Peter
3:12 2 Peter 3:13
) , nor is the word (parousia) , used of any other coming of Christ, and
this will be with power; and it designs his more near coming to
take vengeance on the Jewish nation, and deliver his people from
the afflictions and persecution they laboured under, and which
was with great power; see ( Matthew 14:3
Matthew
14:30 ) ( Mark 9:1 ) , or more
remote, namely, at the last day, when there will be a great
display of power in raising the dead, gathering all nations
before him, separating them one from another, passing the final
sentence on each, and executing the same in the utter destruction
of the wicked, and the complete glorification of the saints.
But were eyewitnesses of his majesty;
meaning, not of the glory of his divine nature by faith, and with
the eyes of their understanding, while others only considered him
as a mere man; nor of the miracles he wrought, in which there was
a display of his glory and majesty, of all which the apostles
were eyewitnesses; but of that glory and greatness which were
upon him, when he was transfigured on the mount before them; then
his face was as the sun, and such a glory on his whole body, that
it darted through his clothes, and made them glitter like light,
and as white as snow, and so as no fuller on earth could whiten
them; at which time also Moses and Elijah appeared in glorious
forms: and now this was a prelude and pledge of his power and
coming, of his kingdom coming with power, and of his coming in
his own, and his Father's glory, and in the glory of the holy
angels. This was a proof that notwithstanding his meanness in his
incarnate state, yet he was glorified, and would be glorified
again; and this was a confirmation of it to the apostles, and
might be to others: see ( Matthew
16:27 Matthew
16:28 ) ( 17:1 ) (
Mark 8:38 ) (
9:1 ) ( Luke
9:26-28 ) .
