Hilary of Arles — Commentary on Scripture

The right way is the way of Christ, who said: “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

The ass spoke with a human voice so that Balaam would understand what God was saying to him. He had become a madman because of his disobedience to the commandments of God, and dumb animals are wiser than that, since they observe the law of nature.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:17

These people are empty wells of the kind that animals fall into and die in, because there is no water at the bottom.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:18

Pride is always vain because it makes people stupid, as they are without God insofar as they are proud.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:19

A man is the slave of whatever vice controls him.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:20

It is always worse to sin knowingly than to sin in ignorance.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:21

To know the way of righteousness is to know Christ and the holy gospel. Peter is talking here about people who have been baptized after professing faith in Jesus but who have then turned away from him.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 3:1

Peter makes a point of mentioning that this is his second letter, so that the recipients will not doubt its authenticity.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 3:3

Here Peter prophesies what will happen in the future, for we must always remember that there are prophets in the New Testament too.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 3:4

People were talking this way as if the flood had never occurred and as if fire had never come down from heaven in the past.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 3:5

The whole creation is basically formed out of water, even if it is solidified in the form of earth or elevated in the way that heaven is.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 3:8

Just as a man works for a day and afterwards remembers what he has done, so God does not forget even after a thousand years. It may be a long time before he gets round to punishing sinners, but when he does so he uses his power in a single instant.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 3:11

As you wait for the end of all things, you must live holy lives according to the three laws—the Old Testament, the New Testament and the law of nature—and you must keep faith in the Trinity, which is the law of godliness.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 3:12

You are waiting for the end as the virgins waited for the bridegroom.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 3:14

When he returns, Christ wants to find you spotless in your faith and uncorrupted in the chastity of your body.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 3:15

Note that Paul wrote to them not according to the wisdom which he possessed but according to the wisdom which was given to him specifically for that purpose.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 3:16

Peter says this because he himself was overwhelmed by Paul’s brilliance.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 3:18

Grow in the faith which is yours by baptism and in the knowledge which comes from putting that faith into practice.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER