[37] Rom. xvi. 25; 1 Thess. iii. 13; 2 Thess. ii. 17; 1 Pet. v. 10.
[38] Rom. i. 11.
[39] Apoc. iii. 2.
[40] S. Cyprian, Ep. 55.
[41] As far as the words by themselves go, it is the opinion of the best commentators that they may be equally well rendered, "And thou, when thou art converted," or, "And thou, in thy turn, one day," &c. But as it is impossible to bring a discussion turning on a Hebrew idiom conveyed in a Greek word before the English reader, we must here restrict ourselves to the proof arising from the sense and context. And here one thing alone, among several which may be urged, is sufficient to prove that the sense preferred in the text, "And thou in thy turn one day confirm thy brethren," is the true one. For the other rendering supposes that the time of Peter's conversion would also be the time of his confirming his brethren; whereas this was far otherwise. He was converted by our Lord looking on him that same night shortly after his denial, and "immediately went out and wept bitterly." But he did not succeed to the charge of confirming his brethren till after our Lord's ascension. It must be added that the collocation of the original words [Greek: kai su pote epistrepsas stêrixon] is such as absolutely to require that the joint action indicated by them should belong to the same time, and that an indefinite time expressed by [Greek: pote]. Now this would be false according to the rendering, "And thou, when thou art converted, confirm thy brethren," for the conversion was immediate and definite, the confirmation distant and indefinite; whereas it exactly agrees with the rendering, "And thou in thy turn one day confirm thy brethren."
Those who wish to see the whole controversy admirably drawn out may find it in Passaglia, b. 2, ch. 13.
[42] Mansi. Concilia, x. 894.
[43] Baronius, Annal. a.d., 817, xxi.
[44] Passaglia, p. 545.
[45] Passaglia, p. 547.