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2 Peter

Πέτρου Ἐπιστολὴ Βʹ Petrou Epistolē, “second letter of Peter”. Letter in the form of a farewell testament. 3 chapters, 61 verses.

A farewell letter warning against false teachers who scoff at Christ’s return, and urging readers to grow in grace and knowledge while they wait.

Read 2 Peter 1 →

Overview

The writer presents this as his last word before death, knowing “that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly” (1:14). He urges readers to add virtue to virtue, from faith to love (1:5–7). He grounds his message in two things. One is what he saw on the mountain where Jesus was transfigured and appeared in glory: “we were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (1:16). The other is the prophetic Scriptures, which came as “holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit” (1:21).

Chapter 2 is a fierce denunciation of false teachers who “will secretly bring in destructive heresies” (2:1), with examples of judgement from the fallen angels, the Flood and Sodom. Much of it closely parallels the letter of Jude. Chapter 3 answers scoffers who ask, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (3:4). With the Lord a day is as a thousand years (3:8), and his delay is patience, “not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (3:9). The day of the Lord will come “as a thief in the night” (3:10) and bring “new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (3:13).

Author and date

The letter names its author as “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ” (1:1), refers to an earlier letter (3:1), and places him on the mountain of the transfiguration (1:18). Its authorship has been questioned since the early church.

Traditional view

Simon Peter · mid-60s AD

Those who hold to Peter’s authorship read the letter as his testament, written shortly before his death in Rome. They explain the difference in style from 1 Peter by a different secretary, or by Peter writing without one, and take its personal claims at face value: that he heard the voice at the transfiguration and knew his death was near.

Academic view

A later writer in Peter’s name · c. AD 80–130

Most academic scholars regard 2 Peter as written in Peter’s name after his death, and many date it to the early 2nd century, which would make it perhaps the latest New Testament book. They point to its style, very different from 1 Peter’s, and its apparent use of Jude. It also treats Paul’s letters as a known collection set beside “the other Scriptures” (3:16), and remarks that “the fathers fell asleep” (3:4), which suggests the first generation had died. It was among the most contested books in the early church, and Eusebius, a 4th-century church historian, lists it among the books whose place in Scripture was disputed.

Both views recognise that 2 Peter and Jude share a large block of material (2 Peter 2 and Jude 4–18), though they differ over which used the other, or whether both drew on a common source.

Audience and setting

The letter is written “to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us” (1:1), readers who had received the earlier letter (3:1) and letters from Paul (3:15). If the earlier letter is 1 Peter, they are the churches of Asia Minor. They were facing teachers who, the letter says, promised freedom while living in moral corruption and mocked the hope of Christ’s return.

Genre, and how to read it

The letter follows the pattern of a farewell testament, a form known from Jewish writings of the time, in which a leader facing death reminds his followers of the truth and warns them of dangers to come (1:12–15). Its key word is remembering, since the readers already “know them and are established in the present truth” (1:12).

Read chapter 2 alongside Jude, which shares its examples and even its images, such as clouds and wells without water. Unlike Jude, 2 Peter does not quote books outside the Hebrew Bible, such as 1 Enoch, an ancient Jewish writing. The line that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years” (3:8) echoes Psalm 90:4, and the promise of new heavens and a new earth echoes Isaiah 65–66.

Jude and 2 Peter, side by side

Jude has 25 verses, and 12 of them reappear in the second chapter of 2 Peter, in nearly the same order: the intruders, the fallen angels, Sodom and Gomorrah, Balaam, the waterless clouds, the mockers of the last days. In the WEB one line reads word for word the same in both. Four Greek words are found in these two letters and nowhere else in the New Testament.

  1. Intruders who deny the Master Jude 4 denying our only Master 2 Pet 2:1–3 denying even the Master who bought them Shared Greek words:condemnationindecencyMasterdeny
  2. Angels kept for judgement Jude 6 kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment 2 Pet 2:4 pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment Shared Greek words:angelkeepjudgementdarkness
  3. Sodom and Gomorrah Jude 7 Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them 2 Pet 2:6 the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes Shared Greek words:SodomGomorrahcity
  4. Flesh, authority, slander Jude 8 defile the flesh, despise authority 2 Pet 2:10 walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority Shared Greek words:fleshauthoritygloryslander
  5. Not even angels accuse Jude 9 dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation 2 Pet 2:11 don’t bring a slanderous judgment against them Shared Greek words:judgementLord
  6. Like creatures without reason Jude 10 like the creatures without reason 2 Pet 2:12 as unreasoning creatures Shared Greek words:slanderwithout reasoncreaturedestroy
  7. The way of Balaam Jude 11 the error of Balaam for hire 2 Pet 2:15 the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages Shared Greek words:wayBalaamwages
  8. Feasting with you Jude 12 when they feast with you 2 Pet 2:13 while they feast with you Shared Greek words:feast with
  9. Without water Jude 12 clouds without water 2 Pet 2:17 wells without water Shared Greek words:without water
  10. The blackness of darkness Jude 13 the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever 2 Pet 2:17 the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever Shared Greek words:darknessblacknesskeep
  11. Swelling words Jude 16 their mouth speaks proud things 2 Pet 2:18 uttering great swelling words Shared Greek words:lustswelling
  12. Remember the apostles Jude 17 remember the words which have been spoken before by the apostles 2 Pet 3:2 remember the words which were spoken before Shared Greek words:rememberwordspeak beforeapostleLord
  13. Mockers in the last time Jude 18 there will be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts 2 Pet 3:3 mockers will come, walking after their own lusts Shared Greek words:lastmockerlustwalk

The chips under each pair are the nouns, verbs and adjectives the two passages share in the site’s Greek; the dark ones are found nowhere else in the New Testament. The fourth such word, to live in an ungodly way, is in passages that are not parallel (Jude 15, 2 Pet 2:6). Each letter also has its own material. Only Jude has Israel saved out of Egypt, then destroyed (Jude 5); Michael and the body of Moses (Jude 9); Enoch’s prophecy (Jude 14–15). Only 2 Peter has Noah preserved (2 Pet 2:5) and righteous Lot delivered (2 Pet 2:7–8): examples of rescue alongside the judgements. Most scholars think 2 Peter drew on Jude; some think the reverse, or that both used a common source.

Outline

Key themes

Knowledge
The letter begins and ends with the knowledge of Christ (1:3), closing “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (3:18).
Eyewitness and Scripture
The message rests on what the apostles saw (1:16) and on prophecy that came from God (1:21), set against “cunningly devised fables” (1:16).
The Lord’s patience
“The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness” (3:9).
New creation
The present world will pass away, and “we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (3:13).

At a glance

9 people and 2 places named.

Most mentioned: Jesus Christ, Balaam, Beor, Lot, Noah

Main places: Gomorrah, Sodom