Daniel Keating - First and Second Peter, Jude

Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture

S ERIES E DITORS

Peter S. Williamson

Mary Healy

A SSOCIATE E DITOR

Kevin Perrotta

C ONSULTING E DITORS

Scott Hahn , Franciscan University of Steubenville

Daniel J . Harrington , SJ , Weston Jesuit School of Theology

William S . Kurz , SJ , Marquette University

Francis Martin , Sacred Heart Major Seminary

Frank J . Matera , Catholic University of America

George Montague , SM , St. Marys University

Terrence Prendergast, SJ , Archbishop of Ottawa

2011 by Daniel Keating

Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com

Ebook edition created 2012

Ebook corrections 11.17.2014, 08.24.2017, 06.25.2018

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4412-3564-0

Nihil obstat :
Msgr. Robert Lunsford
Censor librorum

Imprimatur :
Most Rev. Earl Boyea
Bishop of Lansing
Printed with ecclesiastical permission, May 27, 2011.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New American Bible with Revised New Testament and Revised Psalms 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, DC, and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture is a landmark achievement in theological interpretation of Scripture in and for the Church. Everything about it is inviting and edifying, from the format, photos, background notes, and cross-references (to Scripture and the Catechism) to the rich exposition of the text, quotations from the Churchs living tradition, and reflections for contemporary life. It is a wonderful gift to the Catholic Church and a model for the rest of us. Highly recommended for all!

Michael J. Gorman , St. Marys Seminary and University, Baltimore

In preparing for the international Synod of Bishops on The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church, Pope Benedict XVI reminded the Church that a prayerful study of the Scriptures is at the heart of the Churchs renewal. The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture promises to directly serve that purpose. Drawing on sound biblical scholarship, the commentaries present the reader with the rich harvest of that study, reflecting on the message of the biblical text and engaging the life of faith from a Catholic perspective.

Donald Senior, CP , president, Catholic Theological Union

When the Scripture is read in the liturgy, it is heard as a living voice. But when expounded in a commentary, it is too often read as a document from the past. This fine series unites the ancient and the contemporary by offering insight into the biblical textverse by verseas well as spiritual application to the lives of Christians today.

Robert Louis Wilken , University of Virginia

The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture is an ideal tool for living our faith more deeply. This extraordinary resource combines superior scholarship and a vivid, accessible style that will serve the interested layperson and the serious scholar equally well. It feeds both the mind and the heart and should be on the shelf of every committed Catholic believer. I highly recommend it.

Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap , Archbishop of Denver

The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture richly provides what has for so long been lacking among contemporary scriptural commentaries. Its goal is to assist Catholic preachers and teachers, lay and ordained, in their ministry of the Word. Moreover, it offers ordinary Catholics a scriptural resource that will enhance their understanding of Gods Word and thereby deepen their faith. Thus these commentaries, nourished on the faith of the Church and guided by scholarly wisdom, are both exegetically sound and spiritually nourishing.

Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM Cap , United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

I welcome with great joy this collection of commentaries on the Bible because the project corresponds perfectly to a pressing need in the Church. I am speaking about exegetical studies that are well grounded from a scholarly point of view but not overburdened with technical details, and at the same time related to the riches of ancient interpretation, nourishing for spiritual life, and useful for catechesis, preaching, evangelization, and other forms of pastoral ministry.

Albert Cardinal Vanhoye, SJ , Pontifical Biblical Institute,
former secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission

To my mother and father

Contents

Illustrations

Editors Preface

The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord.... All the preaching of the Church should be nourished and governed by Sacred Scripture. For in the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and speaks with them; and the power and goodness in the word of God is so great that it stands as the support and energy of the Church, the strength of faith for her sons and daughters, the food of the soul, a pure and perennial fountain of spiritual life.

Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum 21

Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?

Luke 24:32

The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture aims to serve the ministry of the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church. Since Vatican Council II, there has been an increasing hunger among Catholics to study Scripture in depth and in a way that reveals its relationship to liturgy, evangelization, catechesis, theology, and personal and communal life. This series responds to that desire by providing accessible yet substantive commentary on each book of the New Testament, drawn from the best of contemporary biblical scholarship as well as the rich treasury of the Churchs tradition. These volumes seek to offer scholarship illumined by faith, in the conviction that the ultimate aim of biblical interpretation is to discover what God has revealed and is still speaking through the sacred text. Central to our approach are the principles taught by Vatican II: first, the use of historical and literary methods to discern what the biblical authors intended to express; second, prayerful theological reflection to understand the sacred text in accord with the same Spirit by whom it was writtenthat is, in light of the content and unity of the whole Scripture, the living tradition of the Church, and the analogy of faith ( Dei Verbum 12).

The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture is written for those engaged in or training for pastoral ministry and others interested in studying Scripture to understand their faith more deeply, to nourish their spiritual life, or to share the good news with others. With this in mind, the authors focus on the meaning of the text for faith and life rather than on the technical questions that occupy scholars, and they explain the Bible in ordinary language that does not require translation for preaching and catechesis. Although this series is written from the perspective of Catholic faith, its authors draw on the interpretation of Protestant and Orthodox scholars and hope these volumes will serve Christians of other traditions as well.