2 Peter 3:14

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) Be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.—Rather, Be found spotless and blameless in His sight. “Be found of Him,” i.e., “by Him” (comp. 2Peter 2:19), cannot stand; the construction is parallel to “be found unto you” (2Corinthians 12:20), i.e., “in your judgment,” or “in your sight.” The pair of epithets, “spotless and blameless,” should be noticed as coinciding with 1Peter 1:19, and also as forming a marked contrast to the false teachers, who are called “spots and blemishes” (2Peter 2:13). “In peace” cannot well refer to differences between Jewish and Gentile Christians, a subject quite foreign to this Epistle. It may possibly refer to the false teachers and the discord caused by them; but more probably it has no special reference. It expresses at once the condition and the consequence of being “spotless and blameless.” “There is no peace, saith my God, for the wicked.”

MacLaren's Expositions

2 Peter

BE DILIGENT

2 Peter 3:14.

As we pass the conventional boundary of another year, most of us, I suppose, cast glances into the darkness ahead. To those of us who have the greater part of our lives probably before us, the onward look will disclose glad possibilities. To some of us, who have life mostly behind us, the prospect will take ‘a sober colouring from an eye that hath kept watch over man’s mortality,’ and there will be little on the lower levels to attract. My text falls in with the mood which the season fosters. It directs our onward look to a blessed certainty instead of a peradventure, and it deduces important practical consequences from the hope. These three things are in the words of our text: a clear vision that should fill the future; a definite aim for life, drawn from the vision; and an earnest diligence in the pursuit of that aim, animated by that hope.

Now these three--a bright hope, a sovereign purpose, and a diligent earnestness--are the three conditions of all noble life. They themselves are strength, and they will bring us buoyancy and freshness which will prolong youth into old age, and forbid anything to appear uninteresting or small.

So I ask you to look at these three points, as suggested by my text.

I. First, then, the clear hope which should fill our future.

‘Seeing that ye look for such things.’ What things? Peter has been drawing a very vivid and solemn picture of the end, in two parts, one destructive, the other constructive. Anticipating the predictions of modern science, which confirm his prophecy, he speaks of the dissolution of all things by fervent heat, and draws therefrom the lesson: ‘What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?’

But that dissolution by fire is not, as people often call it, the ‘final conflagration.’ Rather is it a regenerating baptism of fire, from which ‘the heavens and the earth that now are’--like the old man in the fable, made young in the flame--shall emerge renewed and purified. The lesson from that prospect is the words of our text.

Now I am not going to dwell upon that thought of a new heaven and a new earth renewed by means of the fiery change that shall pass upon them, but simply to remark that there is a great deal in the teaching of both Old and New Testaments which seems to look in that direction. It is, at least, a perfectly tenable belief, and in my humble judgment is something more, that this earth, the scene of man’s tragedy and crime, the theatre of the display of the miracle of redeeming love, emancipated from the bondage of corruption, shall be renewed and become the seat of the blessed. They who dwell in it, and it on which they dwell pass through analogous changes, and as for the individuals, the ‘new creation’ is the old self purified by the fire of the Divine Spirit into incorruption and righteousness, so the world in which they live shall, in like manner, be ‘that new world which is the old,’ only having suffered the fiery transformation and been glorified thereby.

But passing from that thought, which, however interesting it may be as a matter of speculation, is of very small practical importance, notice, still further, the essential part of the hope which the Apostle here sets forth--viz., that that order of things towards which we may look is one permeable only for feet that have been washed and made clean. ‘Therein dwelleth righteousness.’ Righteousness there, of course, is the abstract for the concrete; the quality is put for the persons that exhibit it. And just as the condition of being at home in this present material world is the possession of flesh and blood, which puts creatures into relationships therewith, and just as it is impossible for a finite, bodyless spirit to move amongst, and influence, and be influenced by, the gross materialities of the heavens and the earth that now are, so is it impossible for anything but purity to be at rest in, or even to enter into that future world. ‘The gates’ of the New Jerusalem ‘shall not be closed day nor night’; but through the ever-open gates none can pass except they who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. There stand at the gates of that Paradise unseen, the repulsions of the angel with the flaming sword, and none can enter except the righteous. Light kills the creatures of the darkness.

‘How pure that soul must be

Which, placed within Thy piercing sight,

Shall shrink not, but with calm delight

Can live, and look on Thee!’

Thus, then, brethren, an order of things free from all corruption, and into which none can pass but the pure, should be the vision that ever flames before us. Peter takes it for granted that the anticipation of that future is an inseparable part of the Christian character. The word which he employs, by its very form, expresses that that expectance is habitual and continuous. I am afraid that a great many so-called Christians very seldom send their thoughts, and still less frequently their desires, onwards to that end. In all your dreams of the future, how much space has been filled by this future which is no dream? Have you, in these past days, and do you, as a matter of habitual and familiar occupation of your mind, let your eyes travel on beyond and above the low levels of earth and peradventures, to fix them on that certainty?

Opticians make glasses with three ranges, and write upon a little bar which shifts their eyepieces, ‘Theatre,’ ‘Field,’ ‘Marine.’ Which of the three is your glass set to? The turn of a button determines its range. You can either look at the things close at hand, or, if you set the eyepiece right and use the strongest, you can see the stars. Which is it to be? The shorter range shows you possibilities; the longer will show you certainties. The shorter range shows you trifles; the longer, all that you can desire. The shorter range shows you hopes that are destined to be outgrown and left behind; the longer, the far-off glories, a pillar of light which will move before you for ever. Oh, how many of the hopes that guided our course, and made our objective points in the past, are away down below the backward horizon! How many hopes we have outgrown, whether they were fulfilled or disappointed. But we may have one which will ever move before us, and ever draw our desires. The greater vision, if we were only wise enough to bring our lives habitually under its influence, would at once dim and ennoble all the near future.

Let us then, dear friends, not desecrate that wondrous faculty of looking before as well as after which God has given to us, by wasting it upon the nothings of this world, but heave it higher, and anchor it more firmly in the very Throne of God Himself. And for us let one solemn, blessed thought more and more fill with its substance and its light the else dim and questionable and insufficient future, and walk evermore as seeing Him who is invisible, and as hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord.

II. Then, secondly, note the definite aim which this clear hope should impress upon life.

If you knew that you were going to emigrate soon, and spend all your life on the other side of the world, in circumstances the outlines of which you knew, you would be a fool if you did not set yourself to get ready for them. The more clearly we see and the more deeply we feel that future hope, which is disclosed for us in the words of my text, the more it will prescribe a dominant purpose which will give unity, strength, buoyancy, and blessedness to any life. ‘Seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent.’ For what? ‘That ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.’

Now mark the details of the aim which this great hope impresses upon life, as they are stated in the words of my text. Every word is weighty here. ‘That ye may be found.’ That implies, if not search, at least investigation. It suggests the idea of the discovery of the true condition, character, or standing of a man which may have been hidden or partially obscured before--and now, at last, is brought out clearly. With the same suggestion of investigation and discovery, the same phrase is employed in other places; as, for instance, when the Apostle Paul speaks about being ‘found naked,’ or as when he speaks about being ‘found in Him, not having mine own righteousness.’ So, then, there is some process of examination or investigation, resulting in the discovery, possibly for the first time, of what a man really is.

Then note, ‘Found in Him,’ or as the Revised Version reads it, ‘in His sight.’ Then Christ is the Investigator, and it is before ‘those pure eyes and perfect judgment’ that they have to pass, who shall be admitted into the new heavens and the new earth, ‘wherein dwelleth righteousness.’

Then mark what is the character which, discovered on investigation by Jesus Christ, admits there: ‘without spot and blameless.’ There must be the entire absence of every blemish, stain, or speck of impurity. The purer the white the more conspicuous the black. Soot is never so foul as when it lies on driven snow. They who enter there must have nothing in them akin to evil. ‘Blameless’ is the consequence of ‘spotless.’ That which in itself is pure attracts no censure, whether from the Judge or from the assessors and onlookers in His court.

But, further, these two words, in almost the same identical form--one of them absolutely the same, and the other almost so--are found in Peter’s other letter as a description of Jesus Christ Himself. He was a Lamb ‘without blemish and without spot.’ And thus the character that qualifies for the new heavens is the copy of us in Jesus Christ.

Still further, only those who thus have attained to the condition of absolute, speckless purity and conformity to Jesus Christ will meet His searching eye in calm tranquillity and be ‘found of Him in peace.’

The steward brings his books to his master. If he knows that there has been trickery with the figures and embezzlement, how the wretch shakes in his shoes, though he may stand apparently calm, as the master’s keen eye goes down the columns! If he knows that it is all right, how calmly he waits the master’s signature at the end, to pass the account! The soldiers come back with victory on their helmets, and are glad to look their captain in the face. But if they come back beaten, they shrink aside and hide their shame. If we are to meet Jesus Christ with quiet hearts, and we certainly shall meet Him, we must meet Him ‘without spot and blameless.’ The discovery, then, of what men truly are will be like the draining of the bed of a lake. Ah, what ugly, slimy things there are down in the bottom! What squalor and filth flung in from the houses, and covered over many a day by the waters! All that surface work will be drained off from the hearts of men. Shall we show slime and filth, or shall we show lovely corals and silver sands without a taint or a speck?

These are the details of the life’s aim of a Christian man. And they may all be gathered up into one. The end which we should seek as sovereign and high above all others is the conformity of our character to Jesus Christ our Lord. Never mind about anything else; let us leave all in God’s hands. He will do better for us than we can do for ourselves. Let us trust Him for the contingent future; and let us set ourselves to secure this, that, whether joy or sorrow, whether wealth or poverty, whether success or failure, whether sweet companionship or solitary tears be our lot for the rest of our lives, we may grow in grace, and in the knowledge and likeness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Make that your aim, and freshness, buoyancy, enthusiasm, the ennobling of everything in this world, and the bending of all to be contributory of it, will gladden your days. Make anything else your aim, and you fail of your highest purpose, and your life, however successful, will be dreary and disappointed, and its end will be shame.

III. Lastly, notice the earnest diligence with which that aim should be pursued, in the light of that hope.

Peter is fond of using the word which is here translated ‘be diligent.’ Hard work, honest effort, continuous and persevering, is His simple recipe for all nobleness. You will find He employs it, for instance, at least three times in this letter, in such connections as, ‘Besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue,’ and so on through the whole glorious series; and again, ‘Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.’ So, then, there is no mystery about the way of securing the aim; work towards it, and you will get it.

Now, of course, there are a great many other considerations to be brought in in reference to the Christian man’s means of becoming Christlike. We should have to speak of the gifts of a Divine Spirit, of the dependence upon God for it, and the like; but for the present purpose we may confine ourselves to Peter’s own prescription, ‘be diligent,’ and that will secure it. But then the word itself opens out into further meanings than that. It not only implies diligence: there may be diligence of a very mechanical and ineffective sort. The word also includes in its meaning earnestness, and it very frequently includes that which is the ordinary consequence of earnestness--viz., haste and economy of time.

So I venture, in closing, just to throw my remarks into three simple exhortations. Be in earnest in cultivating a Christlike character. Half-and-half Christians, like a great many of us, are of no use either to God or to men or to themselves. Dawdling and languid, braced up and informed by no earnestness of purpose, and never having had enthusiasm enough to set themselves fairly alight, they do no good and they come to nothing. ‘I would thou wert cold or hot.’ One thing sorely wanted in the average Christianity of this day is that professing Christians should give the motives which their faith supplies for earnest consecration due weight and power. Nothing else will succeed. You will never grow like Christ unless you are in earnest about it any more than you could pierce a tunnel through the Alps with a straw. It needs an iron bar tipped with diamond to do it. Unless your whole being is engaged in the task, and you gather your whole self together into a point, and drive the point with all your force, you will never get through the rock barrier that rises between you and the fair lands beyond. Be in earnest, or give it up altogether.

Then another thing I would venture to say is, Make it your business to cultivate a character like that of Jesus Christ. If you would go to the work of growing a Christ-like spirit one-hundredth part as systematically as you will go to your business to-morrow, and stick at it, there would be a very different condition of things in most of our hearts. No man becomes noble and good and like the dear Lord ‘by a jump,’ without making a systematic and conscious effort towards it.

I would say, lastly, Make haste about cultivating a Christlike character. The harvest is great, the toil is heavy, the sun is drawing to the west, the evening shadows are very long with some of us, the reckoning is at hand, and the Master waits to count your sheaves. There is no time to lose, brother; set about it as you have never done before, and say, ‘This one thing I do.’

And so let us not fill our minds with vain hopes which, whether they be fulfilled or not, will not satisfy us, but lift our eyes to and stay our anticipations on those glories beyond, as real as God is real, and as certain as His word is true. Let these hopes concentrate and define for us the aims of our life; and let the aims, clearly accepted and recognised, be pursued with earnestness, with ‘diligence,’ with haste, with the enthusiasm of which they, and they only, are worthy. Let us listen to our Master, ‘I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh.’ And let us listen to the words of the servant, which reverse the metaphor, and teach the same lesson in a trumpet call which anticipates the dawn and rouses the sleeping soldiers: ‘The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.’

Benson Commentary

2 Peter 3:14-15. Wherefore, beloved — Bearing these great truths in your minds, give up your whole souls to their influence; and, seeing that ye look for such things — Since you expect the coming of Christ to destroy the present mundane system, and to create a new heaven and earth, and since death, which will confirm your title to this inheritance, or your exclusion from it, for ever, is fast approaching, and may come both very soon and very unexpectedly; be diligent — Σπουδασατε, the same word that is used chap. 2 Peter 1:10, which implies not only the diligent use of all the means of grace, and the practice of universal holiness and righteousness, in consequence of repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, with the active exertion of every gift of nature and of grace, but the doing all this earnestly and without delay; relying not on any power of your own, but on the influence of the Divine Spirit, for all the help you stand in need of; that ye may be found of him — Christ, when he cometh; in peace — With God, being justified by grace through faith, Romans 5:1; without spot — Cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and renewed after the divine image; and, as an evidence thereof, blameless — In behaviour toward God, your fellow-creatures, and yourselves; having, in consequence of your regeneration, lived soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, and adorned the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things. And — Instead of considering his delaying to come as a proof that he will never come, account that delay, and his long-suffering — Thereby manifested; salvation — Designed to promote your salvation, and the salvation of many others; giving sinners space for repentance, and an opportunity to prepare for these solemn and awful scenes, and so becoming a precious means of saving many more souls. As our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him — That admirable insight into, and understanding of, the mysteries of the gospel, which appears in all his epistles, and was given to him by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; hath written to you — This refers not only to the single sentence preceding, but to all that went before. This epistle of Peter being written to those to whom the first epistle was sent, the persons to whom St. Paul wrote concerning the long-suffering of God, and the other subjects here referred to, were the Jewish and Gentile Christians in the Lesser Asia. Accordingly, we know he wrote to the Galatians, the Ephesians, the Colossians, and to Timothy, things which imply that God’s mercy in sparing and bearing with sinners, is intended for their salvation; and that an awful judgment, and an eternal state of happiness or misery, await all mankind.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:11-18 From the doctrine of Christ's second coming, we are exhorted to purity and godliness. This is the effect of real knowledge. Very exact and universal holiness is enjoined, not resting in any low measure or degree. True Christians look for new heavens and a new earth; freed from the vanity to which things present are subject, and the sin they are polluted with. Those only who are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, shall be admitted to dwell in this holy place. He is faithful, who has promised. Those, whose sins are pardoned, and their peace made with God, are the only safe and happy people; therefore follow after peace, and that with all men; follow after holiness as well as peace. Never expect to be found at that day of God in peace, if you are lazy and idle in this your day, in which we must finish the work given us to do. Only the diligent Christian will be the happy Christian in the day of the Lord. Our Lord will suddenly come to us, or shortly call us to him; and shall he find us idle? Learn to make a right use of the patience of our Lord, who as yet delays his coming. Proud, carnal, and corrupt men, seek to wrest some things into a seeming agreement with their wicked doctrines. But this is no reason why St. Paul's epistles, or any other part of the Scriptures, should be laid aside; for men, left to themselves, pervert every gift of God. Then let us seek to have our minds prepared for receiving things hard to be understood, by putting in practice things which are more easy to be understood. But there must be self-denial and suspicion of ourselves, and submission to the authority of Christ Jesus, before we can heartily receive all the truths of the gospel, therefore we are in great danger of rejecting the truth. And whatever opinions and thoughts of men are not according to the law of God, and warranted by it, the believer disclaims and abhors. Those who are led away by error, fall from their own stedfastness. And that we may avoid being led away, we must seek to grow in all grace, in faith, and virtue, and knowledge. Labour to know Christ more clearly, and more fully; to know him so as to be more like him, and to love him better. This is the knowledge of Christ, which the apostle Paul reached after, and desired to attain; and those who taste this effect of the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, will, upon receiving such grace from him, give thanks and praise him, and join in ascribing glory to him now, in the full assurance of doing the same hereafter, for ever.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent - That is, in securing your salvation. The effect of such hopes and prospects should be to lead us to an earnest inquiry whether we are prepared to dwell in a holy world, and to make us diligent in performing the duties, and patient in bearing the trials of life. He who has such hopes set before him, should seek earnestly that he may be enabled truly to avail himself of them, and should make their attainment the great object of his life. He who is so soon to come to an end of all weary toil, should be willing to labor diligently and faithfully while life lasts. He who is so soon to be relieved from all temptation and trial, should he willing to bear a little longer the sorrows of the present world. What are all these compared with the glory that awaits us? Compare the 1 Corinthians 15:58 note; Romans 8:18 note, following; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 notes.

That ye may be found of him in peace - Found by him when he returns in such a state as to secure your eternal peace.

Without spot, and blameless - See the notes at Ephesians 5:27. It should be an object of earnest effort with us to have the last stain of sin and pollution removed from our souls. A deep feeling that we are soon to stand in the presence of a holy God, our final Judge, cannot but have a happy influence in making us pure.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. that ye … be found of him—"in His sight" [Alford], at His coming; plainly implying a personal coming.

without spot—at the coming marriage feast of the Lamb, in contrast to 2Pe 2:13, "Spots they are and blemishes while they feast," not having on the King's pure wedding garment.

blameless—(1Co 1:8; Php 1:10; 1Th 3:13; 5:23).

in peace—in all its aspects, towards God, your own consciences, and your fellow men, and as its consequence eternal blessedness: "the God of peace" will effect this for you.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Such things; Christ’s coming to judgment; the destruction of this world; a new heaven and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness.

Of him; Christ the Judge.

In peace; at peace with God, from whence proceeds peace of conscience, and an amicable, peaceable disposition toward others; all which may here be comprehended.

Without spot, and blameless: either:

1. By these words he means absolute perfection; and then he shows what we are to design and aim at in this life, though we attain it not till we come into the other: or:

2. A thorough sanctification through faith in Christ, a being got above fleshly lusts, and the pollutions of the world, and any such carriage as our hearts may reproach us for, 1 Timothy 6:14. If it be objected, that such, having sin still in them, cannot be said to be without spot, and blameless, in the sight of God; it may be answered, that though they have sin in them, yet being, through the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, justified in the sight of God, and accepted in the Beloved, Ephesians 1:6, he overlooks their infirmities, and imputes no sin to them, sees no spot in them, so as to condemn them for it. The apostle seems here to reflect on the seducers before mentioned, whom, 2 Peter 2:13, he had called spots and blemishes; and he persuades these saints to look to themselves, that they might be found of Christ (not such as the other were, but) without spot, and blameless; or, as it is translated, Ephesians 5:27, without blemish, i.e. in a state of sanctification, as well as justification.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Wherefore, beloved, seeing ye look for these things,.... For the burning of the heavens and the earth, for the coming of Christ, and for the new heavens and new earth,

be diligent that ye may be found of him; Christ, or "in him", as in Philippians 3:9; for such as are in Christ will have an undoubted right to the new heavens and the new earth, and will certainly dwell in them, because they will be found not in their own righteousness, but in the righteousness of Christ: or "before him", as the Arabic version renders it; before him the Judge of all, at whose tribunal they must stand; but being clothed with his righteousness, and so without spot and blemish, they will not be ashamed before him: or "by him"; Christ first finds his in redemption, and next in the effectual calling, and last of all at his coming, when all the elect will be looked up, gathered in, and presented first to himself, and then to his Father, complete and perfect, not one wanting: and thus to be found in him, and before him, and by him, should be the concern of all that look for the glorious things here spoken of, and particularly that they be found in the following situation and circumstances: in peace; interested in that peace Christ has made by the blood of his cross; for such as are reconciled to God by his death, shall be saved by his life, and live with him in the new heavens and new earth, and for ever in the ultimate glory; and in enjoying that peace of conscience which he himself gives, and which flows from his blood, righteousness, and atonement; so that the day of his coming by death, or at judgment, will not be terrifying to them, but they will look for these things with great delight and satisfaction: or

in peace one with another; for peace makers and keepers are called the children of God, and so heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; or in happiness and glory, expressed by peace, which is the end of the righteous man, which he enters into at death, and will rest in to all eternity:

without spot and blemish; no man is so in himself, sanctification is imperfect, and many are the slips and falls of the saints, though their desire is to be harmless and inoffensive, and to give no just occasion for blame or scandal; but the saints are so in Christ Jesus, being washed in his blood, and clothed with his righteousness, and will be found so by him when he comes again, when he will present them to himself a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle, and also before the presence of his Father's glory, as faultless, with exceeding joy; and so will they be fit and meet to be the inhabitants of the new heavens and new earth, and reign with him therein, and be with him to all eternity.

Geneva Study Bible

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in {g} peace, without spot, and blameless.

(g) that you may try to your benefit, how gently and profitable he is.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

2 Peter 3:14. διὸ, ἀγαπητοὶ, ταῦτα προσδοκῶντες] The participle does not give the explanation of the διό: “wherefore, because we expect this” (Wiesinger, Schott), but the waiting for it belongs to the exhortation (Dietlein, Brückner, Steinfass).

σπουδάσατε ἄσπιλοι … ἐν εἰρήνῃ] ἄσπιλοι, cf. 1 Peter 1:19 : ἀμώμητοι, besides here only in Php 2:15, “unblamable” (Deuteronomy 32:5 : τέκνα μώμητα); reverse of the false teachers: σπῖλοι καὶ μῶμοι, chap. 2 Peter 2:13.

αὐτῷ] not equal to ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, nor is it the dat. comm. (Schott); and as little: “with reference to him” (Hofmann); but: “according to His (i.e. God’s) judgment.”

εὑρεθῆναι] refers not to the future time of the judgment, but to the present time of the expectation.

ἐν εἰρήνῃ] This adjunct does not belong to προσδοκῶντες, as Beza considers probable, but to εὑρεθῆναι ἄσπιλοι κ.τ.λ.; it gives the life-element, in which the Christian must move (so, too, Brückner); cf. Ephesians 1:4 : ἐν ἀγάπῃ; 1 Thessalonians 3:13 : ἐν ἁγιωσύνῃ, if he would be found an ἄσπιλος: εἰρήνῃ is here not “concord” (Pott, Augusti), nor is it “the good conscience,” but peace, in the full meaning of the word; the addition is explained from 2 Peter 3:15. Dietlein incorrectly takes ἐν εἰρήνῃ as the object to be supplied to ἄσπιλοι καὶ ἀμώμητοι, which are here used not as relative, but as absolute adjectives; at the same time, too, he limits εἰρήνη, in the conception of it, to “peace of the church, especially to peace in relation to the church authorities.” Not less erroneous is it to regard, with Steinfass, ἐν εἰρήνῃ as the opposite “of all division between the Jewish and the Gentile elements.” The interpretation of de Wette: “to your peace,” equivalent to εἰς εἰρήνην (Beza: vestro bono, clementem illum videlicet ac pacificum experturi), cannot be justified on linguistic grounds.

Expositor's Greek Testament

2 Peter 3:14. ἄσπιλοι καὶ ἀμώμητοι αὐτῷ. αὐτῷ is dative = “in relation to Him,” or “in His sight”. Cf. Romans 7:10. εὑρέθη μοι ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ εἰς ζωὴν αὕτη εἰς θάνατον; Ephesians 1:4, εἶναι ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ. For ἄσπιλοι καὶ ἀμώμητοι, cf. note on 2 Peter 3:13. ἀμώμητος occurs in Epistle of Aristeas (ed. Wendland), with reference to sacrificial victims. ἐν εἰρήνῃ. Peace and righteousness are one. Cf. Psalm 85:10. The “welldoers” will be able to meet the Parousia with calm expectation.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace …] The language, like that of 2 Peter 3:8, is that of one who still lives in the expectation that he and those to whom he writes may yet survive to witness the coming of the Lord. The hour of death has not yet taken the place in the Apostle’s thoughts, as it has done since, of the day of that Coming. In the exhortation that men should be diligent (better, be earnest) to be found in peace at that day, we may trace an echo of our Lord’s words, “Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing” (Matthew 24:46). “Peace” is used in its widest Hebrew sense, as including every element of blessedness, peace with God, and therefore peace with man, the peace which Christ gives, not as the world gives (John 14:27), the peace which passes understanding (Php 4:7).

without spot, and blameless …] The words are nearly identical with those which describe the character of Christ as “a lamb without blemish and without spot” in 1 Peter 1:19, and their re-appearance is a fresh link in the chain of evidence as to identity of authorship. They who expect the coming of Christ should be like Him in their lives. The first of the two words may be noticed as used also by St James (James 1:27).

Bengel's Gnomen

2 Peter 3:14. Προσδοκῶντες, expecting) with trembling and with joy. This word has a wide meaning—αὐτῷ, of Him) God.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things; rather, these things, the coming of the Lord, the restitution of all things, the new heavens and the new earth. Be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless; literally, give diligence (or, be earnest - the same word which is used in 2 Peter 1:10) to be found without spot and blameless in his sight in peace. Christians who look for the coming of Christ must earnestly strive to imitate their Lord, the "Lamb without blemish and without spot." In the word ἄσπιλοι, "without spot," we have a link with 1 Peter 1:19. The word for "blameless" (ἀμώμητοι) is found elsewhere only in Philippians 2:15. The dative αὐτῷ should be rendered, not "of him" or "by him," but "in his sight" or "before him." Peace is used in its fullest sense - peace with God and with man; the peace which Christ giveth; "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding." "In peace" was a common inscription on Christian graves. 2 Peter 3:14

Vincent's Word Studies

Without spot and blameless

See on 2 Peter 2:13.