These words translate the Greek word “appear” and so ask Peter’s readers to consider where they imagine those who persecute (“the ungodly and the sinner”) them might pop up or be seen. If the road that the righteous travel to the New Jerusalem is strewn with potholes generated by the ungodly, what is the destination of “the ungodly and the sinner” going to look like? Peter does not provide the answer, but his readers certainly know what it is. Suffering on account of the faith in this life is certainly preferable to the eternal torment the Judge will impose on those who reject the faith.
18 And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”