92 SCOTT HAFEMANN The use of ἵνα to indicate purpose in 1,4b corresponds to its only other use in 2 Peter, in 3,17, where it clearly indicates purpose. This corres- ponds to the most common function of the subordinating particle, a usage found in all 13 instances of ἵνα in 1 Peter as well, where it is also clearly telic (1 Pet 1,7; 2,2.12.21.24; 3,1.9.16.18; 4,6.11.13; 5,6). The content of the promises is not that the believers may become fel- low participants of the divine nature; instead, the promises have been bestowed on believers “in order that by means of these [promises]” they might become fellow participants of the divine nature. Regarding the referent of the promises, the word choice for “promise” itself in 1,4 is rare. The noun ἐπάγγελµα does not occur in the LXX, the rest of the NT, or in the Apostolic Fathers; in contrast, epaggelia occurs 8x in the LXX and 52x in the NT 38. In contrast to v , the abstract, feminine form, evpaggeli,a, which refers to a “promise” per se, the concrete, neuter form, ἐπάγγελµα is a nomen rei actae which refers to the content or result of what has been promised. Together with the use of the perfect verb in 1,4, dedw,rhtai, it points to the “actuality” (Tatsächlichkeit) of what has been promised in regard to the author’s situation 39. Moreover, this use of the rare terminology for “promise” in 1,4 points forward to its striking repetition in 3,13, its only other use in the NT, as that which “neatly brackets the whole letter” (cf. the con- trasting use of the common term, evpaggeli,a, in 2 Pet 3,4.9) 40. As the counterpart to 3,13, anticipated in 2,19 by the use of its corresponding Rapids, MI - Cambridge, 2006) 172 n.17. Contra BAUCKHAM, 2 Peter, 179, who sees them as the promise of sharing in the divine nature itself, taking ἵνα in 1,4b to indicate content and διὰ τούτων as a resumption of the distant di vw-n from v. 4a, which refers back to “glory and virtue” in 1,3. F. SPITTA, Die zweite Brief des Petrus und der Brief des Judas (Halle a. S. 1885) 52, takes the promises to refer to “all things pertaining to life and godliness” from 1,3, which is even more remote from the pronoun. For the wider use of ἐπάγγελµα, as related to the more common verbal 38 form, evpagge,llomai (used in 2 Pet 2,19, 13x in the LXX, and 15x in the NT; cf. proepagge,llomai, Rom 1,2; 2 Cor 9,5), see T.J. KRAUS, Sprache, Stil und historischer Ort des zweiten Petrusbriefes (WUNT II/136; Tübingen 2001) 324, who points to its use in Philo (9x), Josephus (2x) and non-Jewish liter- ature; even then, he observes, it is used “relatively seldom (in comparison to its word-family)”. KRAUS, Sprache, 293, refers to the noun as “resultative”; i.e., evpagge,llw 39 leads to evpa,ggelma as its result; cf. SPITTA, Zweite Brief, 48, and A. VÖGTLE, 2. Petrusbrief, 139, who points out that the use of the perfect verb confirms this reading. DAVIDS, 2 Peter, 171. 40 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati