2 Peter 1:14 - Exposition

Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle; literally, knowing that swift is the putting off of my tabernacle. St. Peter may mean by these words either that his death was near at hand, or that, when it came, it would be sudden, a violent death, not a lengthened illness. So Bengel, "Qui diu aegrotant, possunt altos adhuc pascere. Crux id Petro non erat permisura. Ideo prius agit quod agendum est." Compare the use of the same word ( ταχινή ) in 2 Peter 2:1 . St. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5:1-4 , speaks, like St. Peter here, of putting off a tabernacle or tent as we talk of putting off a garment. Alford quotes Josephus, 'Ant.,' 2 Corinthians 4:8 . 2, where Moses says, "Since I must depart from life, I have thought it right not even now to lay aside my zeal for your happiness.'' The word used here for "putting off" ( ἀπόθεσις ) is one of the links between the two Epistles; it occurs also in 1 Peter 3:21 . Even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me; better, as in the Revised Version, signified unto me. The aorist points to a definite time. St. Peter is thinking of our Lord's prophecy, which St. John afterwards recorded ( John 21:18 ); he could never forget that touching interview; he had already referred to it once in 1 Peter 5:2 .