Count may be rendered as “think about” or “consider.” “Look on” (Good News Translation) is an idiom that may be too difficult, and translating it literally should not be attempted.
The forbearance of our Lord recalls verse 9. Lord is again ambiguous, referring either to God or to Christ; in the light of verse 9, perhaps God is meant here, but Christ is also possible. Salvation primarily refers to deliverance from judgment at the end of the age and the gift of blessedness as a result of fellowship with God. For further comment see 1.1 (“Savior”) and 1.4 (“divine nature”). The whole expression defines the purpose of God’s patience, that is, it gives people the opportunity to repent and to receive salvation. Good News Translation makes this clear: “Look on our Lord’s patience as the opportunity he is giving you to be saved.” In certain languages salvation will require mentioning a specific danger from which one is saved; for example, “salvation from judgment.” Or the whole expression may be restructured as follows: “as the way he is providing you to escape from the coming judgment.”
The apostle Paul is now brought into the argument to give support to the ideas just expressed. It is not clear, however, what So also refers to. It can refer either to what comes immediately before, namely, the relation between the Lord’s patience and salvation, or, less likely, to all of verses 14 and 15. Paul is described as our beloved brother, which is obviously a term of endearment; brother has the general meaning of “fellow believer” and the special meaning of “fellow worker,” that is, a colleague in the Christian ministry. If the former is meant, then our has to be interpreted as inclusive, meaning “all of us Christians.” However, if the special meaning “fellow worker” is intended, then our would be interpreted as exclusive, that is, “we the apostles.” It is more likely that the inclusive sense is intended. Paul is further described as one who wrote to you, that is, to the readers of 2 Peter. Wrote to you may also be expressed as “wrote to you in a letter.”
According to the wisdom given him is a divine passive, and God is certainly meant as the source of wisdom; this gives real importance to Paul’s letters and raises them to the level of Scripture. In many languages this divine passive construction may have to be abandoned in favor of mentioning God as the source and giver of this wisdom; for example, “according to the wisdom that God has given him” or “according to the wisdom that he received from God.” Wisdom is not simply knowledge; it includes the application of such knowledge to life. Wisdom as the gift to writers inspired by God is found in a few writings at that time. Which letter of Paul is referred to is not indicated; many suggestions have been put forward, such as 1 Thessalonians, which deals with the problem of the Parousia, or Romans, which deals with the new creation. Fortunately for translators, we don’t have to be sure of this information in order to translate meaningfully, since it is not necessary to identify which letter of Paul is meant.
Alternative translation models for this verse are:
• Think about (or, Consider) our Lord’s patience as the way he is providing for you to escape from the coming judgment, just as Paul, our beloved fellow believer, wrote in a letter to you, using the wisdom that God gives him.
Or:
• Think about how our Lord shows patience … This is what Paul our beloved colleague wrote about in a….
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Second Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .