Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Peter 1:14

"knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me." — 2 Peter 1:14 (ASV)

Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle.—This is rather wide of the mark. Among English versions, Wycliffe alone is right. The meaning is, Knowing as I do that the putting off of my tabernacle will be done swiftly (compare 2 Peter 2:1)—that is, it will soon be over when it once begins. The point is not that the writer believes himself to be near his end, but that his end would be such as to allow for no deathbed exhortations; what he has to say must be said in good time, for Christ had told him that his death would be a violent one (John 21:18).

Some of those who have taken the passage in the sense of the Authorized Version have supposed a special revelation to be implied in the last half of the verse. But without any revelation, an old man might know that his end must soon come; and Christ had already told him that it would come when he began to be old. The putting off of my tabernacle involves rather a mixture of metaphors; we have a similar mixture in Colossians 2:11. The word for “putting off” occurs nowhere but here and 1 Peter 3:21; but the coincidence is not one on which much stress can be laid.

Hath shewed me.—More strictly, shewed me. The substitution of perfect for aorist is here objectionable, as it obscures the reference to a definite moment in the Apostle’s life. If the reference is to John 21:18, this would be at once fatal to the authenticity of our Epistle; for of course no part of St. John’s Gospel, and least of all the last chapter, was written during the life of St. Peter. But if the reference is to the event narrated in John 21:18, then that narrative confirms what is said here, this being a prior and independent allusion to the same occurrence. In this case, we have strong evidence of the authenticity of St. Peter.