¹ sn The things we have worked for probably refers to the pastoral and missionary efforts undertaken by the recipients of the letter in their own community and surrounding communities. This work would be “lost” if the opponents with their false teaching were allowed to proselytize unopposed.

³ sn 2 John is being written to warn a “sister” church some distance away, referred to as an elect lady, of the missionary efforts of the secessionist false teachers (discussed in 1 John) and the dangers of welcoming them whenever they arrive.

⁵ sn In 4:20 the author again describes the opponents, who claim to love God. Their failure to show love for their fellow Christians proves their claim to know God to be false: The one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

¹ tn The language here is cryptic. It probably means “regard the patience of our Lord as an opportunity for salvation.” In the least, Peter is urging his audience to take a different view of the delay of the parousia than that of the false teachers.

¹ sn But false prophets arose among the people. Peter uses the same verb, γίνομαι (ginomai), in 2 Pet 2:1 as he had used in 1:20 to describe the process of inspiration. He may well be contrasting, by way of a catchword, the two kinds of prophets.

² sn Paul’s point is that even though the arguments seem to make sense (sound reasonable), they are in the end false. Paul is not here arguing against the study of philosophy or serious thinking per se, but is arguing against the uncritical adoption of a philosophy that is at odds with a proper view of Christ and the ethics of the Christian life.

⁴ sn In order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. Paul evidently viewed the demands of the so-called “false brothers” as a departure from the truth contained in the gospel he preached. This was a very serious charge (see Gal 1:8).

³ sn These perversions of the truth refer to the kinds of threats that would undermine repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. v. 21). Instead these false teachers would arise from within the Ephesian congregation (cf. 1 John 2:18-19) and would seek to draw the disciples away after them.

³ tn In the historical setting it is likely that only men are referred to here. The Greek term ἀνήρ (anēr) usually refers to males or husbands rather than people in general. Thus to translate “of the people” would give a false impression of the number, since any women and children were apparently not included in the count.

² sn Life in the age to come is different than life here (they neither marry nor are given in marriage). This means Jesus’ questioners had made a false assumption that life was the same both now and in the age to come.

⁴ sn The attempt to throw him down the cliff looks like “lynch law,” but it may really be an indication that Jesus was regarded as a false prophet who was worthy of death (Deut 13:5). Such a sentence meant being thrown into a pit and then stoned.

⁴ tn The term translated “accusation” (συκοφαντήσητε, sukophantēsēte) refers to a procedure by which someone could bring charges against an individual and be paid a part of the fine imposed by the court. Soldiers could do this to supplement their pay, and would thus be tempted to make false accusations.

² tc Although ψευδόμενοι (pseudomenoi, “bearing witness falsely”) could be a motivated reading, clarifying that the disciples are unjustly persecuted, its lack in only D it sy^s Tert does not help its case. Since the Western text is known for numerous free alterations, without corroborative evidence the shorter reading must be judged as secondary.

¹ sn These wounds on your chest. Pagan prophets were often self-lacerated (Lev 19:28; Deut 14:1; 1 Kgs 18:28) for reasons not entirely clear, so this false prophet betrays himself as such by these graphic and ineradicable marks.

³ tn Heb “or a metal image, a teacher of lies.” The words “What good is” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line. “Teacher of lies” refers to the false oracles that the so-called god would deliver through a priest. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 126.

¹ sn The people of Judah should not place false hope in their king, symbolized by his royal scepter, for God’s judgment (symbolized by fire and then a sword) would destroy every tree (see 20:47), symbolizing the righteous and wicked (see 21:3-4).

² tn The Hebrew word only occurs here in the Bible. According to L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:202-3), it is also used in the Mishnah of a wall of rough stones without mortar. This fits the context here, which compares the false prophetic messages to a nice coat of whitewash on a structurally unstable wall.

¹ tn Heb “worthless and whitewash.” The words שָׁוְא וְתָפֵל (shavʾ v^etafel) form a nominal hendiadys, meaning “worthless whitewash” or “worthless deceptions.” The noun תָּפֵל (tafel, “whitewash”) is used literally in reference to a white-washed wall (Ezek 13:10, 11, 14, 15) and figuratively in reference to false prophets (Ezek 22:28).

³ sn The priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, a member of the earlier delegation (21:2), was the chief of security in the temple to whom the Babylonian false prophet wrote a letter complaining that Jeremiah should be locked up for his treasonous prophecies (29:25-26). See the study notes on 21:2 and 29:25 for further details.

³ sn The New Gate is the same gate where Jeremiah had been accused of falsely claiming the Lord’s authority for his “treasonous” prophecies, according to 26:10-11. See the study note on 26:10 for more details about the location of this gate.