2 Peter 3:16 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

In which are some things hard, &c.— "In which epistles of his are some things, &c." And it is most true, that in St. Paul's epistles there are some difficult points, which were greatly abused and perverted even in that age, and which have been perverted by unstable men in almost every age since; such as those of free-grace,—election,—reprobation, &c. This is no reflection at all upon St. Paul or his epistles, or upon his manner of writing: some objects are more difficult than others, and it requires more study and attention to understand them. They maybe expressed with the utmost justness and propriety, and as perspicuously as the nature of the things treated of will bear; and yet, to hasty and inconsiderate readers, they may have things in them hard to be understood. The most judicious writers are often the most profound; but then they will bear a second or third reading; and the more they are studied, the more they are esteemed. This is the glory of St. Paul's epistles, in the estimation of all who have examined them with care and attention in humble dependance on the Divine blessing. The expression, στρεβλουσιν, wrest, or put to the torture, plainly implies, that violence is done by these bad men to some passages of scripture, to make them speak an unnatural sense, which may answer their own purposes: and truly he must know little of the history of theological controversies, who has not observed many deplorable instances of this.