‘Where is the Promise of his Coming?’ The Complaint of the Scoffers in 2 Peter 3.4This article has gone through a number of forms and has been presented as a paper on several occasions. The piece has benefited a great deal from general feedback received at these times. Special thanks go to Professor Harold Attridge, Dr Douglas Campbell, Dr David Horrell, Dr George van Kooten, and the anonymous reader of this article appointed by the journal for their helpful comments. I am especially indebted to my colleague Professor Judith Lieu for making a suggestion that now forms one of the main planks of my argument.
ADAMS, EDWARD; ADAMS EDWARD; Kingʼs College London
Журнал:
New Testament Studies
Дата:
2005
Аннотация:
A close analysis of the report of 2 Pet 3.4, paying attention to its precise wording, and a careful reading of the authorʼs response to it in the verses that follow show that the prevailing interpretation of the scoffersʼ eschatological mockery is unsound. The target of the scoffersʼ criticism was not so much the parousia of Jesus as the OT promise of a final, eschatological irruption underlying it. Their scepticism was founded neither on the failure of Jesus to come back within a generation, nor on a denial of divine intervention. Rather, it was based on the long period of time that had elapsed since the promise was originally made and the assumption that the eschatological promise involved the prospect of cosmic destruction, which the scoffers rejected on philosophical grounds.
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