The author of 2 Peter plainly identified himself as the apostle Peter (1:1). He called himself “Simeon Peter” (1:1), a name not generally used of the apostle (elsewhere only in Ac 15:14). The spelling is Semitic and lends a sense of authenticity to Peter’s letter. Moreover, it was natural for Peter, as a Semite, to use the original form of his name. Peter designated himself as “a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.” He viewed himself as a servant submitted to Christ’s lordship and as a divinely ordained, directly commissioned, authoritative representative of the Lord Jesus himself.
The letter contains several personal allusions to Peter’s life. He mentioned that his death was close (1:14), described himself as an eyewitness of the transfiguration of Jesus (1:16-18), quoted the words of the voice from heaven at this event (1:17), indicated that he had previously written to the letter’s recipients (whom he called “dear friends” in 3:1), and also called Paul “our dear brother” (3:15). This suggests that the author was close to Paul. Such references point to Peter as the author.
Many contemporary scholars, however, reject Peter as the author of this letter. They argue, for example, that (1) the personal references to Peter’s life are a literary device used by someone who wrote under the apostle’s name in order to create the appearance of authenticity; (2) the style of Greek in 2 Peter is different from that of 1 Peter; (3) the reference to Paul’s letters as a collection (3:15-16) points to a date later than Peter’s lifetime; and (4) 2 Peter was dependent upon Jude. If this is true, Peter’s authorship is problematic.
In response to these objections, one should consider that (1) the early church soundly rejected the practice of writing under an apostolic pseudonym, regarding it as outright forgery; (2) Peter may have had help in writing 1 Peter (1Pt 5:12) and not in writing 2 Peter, which would lead to different styles in his Greek; (3) rather than the whole collection, Peter may have referred only to those Pauline letters that were known at the time of writing; and (4) Peter may have borrowed some from Jude, or both may have used a common source. All of these evidences suggest that 2 Peter should be accepted as authentic.
Unlike 1 Peter, 2 Peter does not mention specific recipients or refer to an exact destination. The apostle referred to his epistle as the “second letter” he had written to his readers (3:1). If the letter written prior to 2 Peter is 1 Peter, then he wrote to the same recipients (“exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia”; 1Pt 1:1). But if the previous letter is a reference to some other epistle that is now unknown, we cannot determine with certainty to whom or to where 2 Peter was written.
Peter likely wrote 2 Peter from Rome, where church tradition placed the apostle in his latter days. Because he mentioned that his death was near (1:14), it seems the letter was written just before his death. Tradition places the date of Peter’s martyrdom at about AD 67 during Nero’s reign (ruled AD 54–68).
Peter wrote this letter shortly before he died (1:14) and though not mentioned, possibly while in prison. He wrote to Christian friends confronted with the threat of false teachers who were denying Christ’s saving work and second coming. As an eyewitness of Jesus’s life (1:16-18), Peter sought to affirm for his readers the reality of Christ’s return and to remind them of truths they might otherwise forget (3:1).
Peter made strong connections with the OT and challenged his audience to live authentic Christian lives. Peter had been with Jesus when Jesus first spoke of his return (Mt 24–25), and he gave emphasis to the surety of the second coming.
It is the word of God that holds the forefront of this short letter. Peter does this in chapter 1 by emphasizing knowledge (vv. 3,5-6,8,12,20-21) and its divine origin; in chapter 2 by showing its historicity (vv. 4-8); and in chapter 3 by indicating Paul’s letters are equal with “the rest of the Scriptures” (vv. 15-16). Peter insisted on the importance of Scripture for guiding and preserving our faith.
Second Peter is a general letter with the typical features of a salutation, main body, and farewell. What is missing is an expression of thanksgiving. Its style is that of a pastoral letter, driven by the needs of the recipients, rather than some type of formal treatise.
Christ is returning. The King is on his way and almost here. He is at the door. The dissolving of all things around us suggests our looking away to eternal things. The motive for holiness becomes stronger if the thought is not merely that I will die but that all things around me will be dissolved. It makes us look on eternal things with a more fixed eye and have a more stern resolve to live for God.
1Simeon A Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ:
To those who have received a faith equal to ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His B divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by C his own glory and goodness. 4 By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, 7 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. 10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. 11 For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.
QUOTE 1:5
God has been diligently at work with us; now we must diligently work together with him.
12 Therefore I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right, as long as I am in this bodily tent, to wake you up with a reminder, 14 since I know that I will soon lay aside my tent, as our Lord Jesus Christ has indeed made clear to me. 15 And I will also make every effort so that you are able to recall these things at any time after my departure. D
ILLUSTRATION 1:12
Every wise preacher brings forth from the treasury of truth things both new and old—new, that the hearers may learn more than they knew before, and old, that they may know and practice better what they already know in part.
16 For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying “This is my beloved Son, A with whom I am well-pleased! ” 18 We ourselves heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 We also have the prophetic word strongly confirmed, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
1:5 “Make every effort.” People are not saved by their efforts. But, on the other hand, grace saves no one to make him like a log of wood or a block of stone. Grace makes people active. God has been diligently at work with us; now we must diligently work together with him. It is not our will that accomplishes our salvation, yet it is not accomplished without our will.
1:5-7 “Supplement your faith with goodness . . . knowledge . . . self-control . . . endurance . . . godliness . . . brotherly affection . . . love.” As we have seen a mason take up first one stone and then another and then gradually build a house, so are we Christians to take first one virtue and then another and then another, piling up these stones of grace upon one another until we have built a palace for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
1:12 “I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them.” We are not merely to preach new truths of God that people do not know, but we are also to preach the old truths with which they are familiar. The doctrines in which they are well established are still to be proclaimed to them. Every wise preacher brings forth from the treasury of truth things both new and old—new, that the hearers may learn more than they knew before, and old, that they may know and practice better what they already know in part. We need to have the truth constantly sown in our hearts and watered by the Holy Spirit that it may grow and bring forth fruit.
2There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them. 3 They will exploit you in their greed with made-up stories. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.
4 For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but cast them into hell B and delivered them in chains C of utter darkness to be kept for judgment; 5 and if he didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, D when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and if he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to extinction, E making them an example of what is coming to the ungodly; F 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the depraved behavior of the immoral 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) — 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority.
QUOTE 2:9
There are narrow limits to our knowledge. There is a great breadth to our conceit.
Bold, arrogant people! They are not afraid to slander the glorious ones; 11 however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord. G 12 But these people, like irrational animals — creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed — slander what they do not understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed. 13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions H while they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery that never stop looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse! 15 They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path and have followed the path of Balaam, the son of Bosor, I who loved the wages of wickedness 16 but received a rebuke for his lawlessness: A speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
17 These people are springs without water, mists driven by a storm. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them. 18 For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped A from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them. 20 For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of the Lord B and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command delivered to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit, C and, “a washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud.”
2:9 “The Lord knows.” There are narrow limits to our knowledge. There is a great breadth to our conceit, but the things we really know are few, after all. He who is wisest will be the first to confess his own ignorance. Our faith in the superior knowledge of God is a great source of comfort to us. His knowledge of everything is a sort of omnipresent covering to our naked ignorance. Knowledge is safer in the hands of God than it would be in our hands. Only the infinite God is to be trusted with infinite knowledge.
D 2:5 Lit Noah, the eighth, a preacher of righteousness
E 2:6 Other mss omit to extinction
F 2:6 Other mss read an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly
G 2:11 Other mss read them from the Lord
H 2:13 Other mss read delighting in the love feasts
A 2:18 Or people who are actually escaping
3Dear friends, this is now the second letter I have written to you; in both letters, I want to stir up your sincere understanding by way of reminder, 2 so that you recall the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the command of our Lord and Savior given through your apostles. 3 Above all, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and following their own evil desires, 4 saying, “Where is his ‘coming’ that he promised? Ever since our ancestors fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.” 5 They deliberately overlook this: By the word of God the heavens came into being long ago and the earth was brought about from water and through water. 6 Through these the world of that time perished when it was flooded. 7 By the same word, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
8 Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; D on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed. E,F 11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness 12 as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming. G Because of that day, the heavens will be dissolved with fire and the elements will melt with heat. 13 But based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
14 Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight, at peace. 15 Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him. 16 He speaks about these things in all his letters. There are some matters that are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.
QUOTE 3:16
Any rope will do for a man to hang himself with, and any doctrine will suffice for a man to ruin himself with if he wishes to do so.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stable position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. A
QUOTE 3:18
For increase in the knowledge of Christ is the evidence as well as the cause of true growth in grace.
3:11 “Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness.” Christ is returning. The King is on his way and almost here. He is at the door. What manner of people ought we to be? How can we sin against One who is so close at hand? The dissolving of all things around us suggests our looking away to eternal things. The motive for holiness becomes stronger if the thought is not merely that I will die but that all things around me will be dissolved. It makes us look on eternal things with a more fixed eye and have a more stern resolve to live for God.
3:15 “Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.” God calls us, until the world is destroyed with fire, to go on saving men with all our might. Every year that passes is meant to be a year of salvation. Let us make it so by more and more earnest efforts to bring sinners to the cross of Christ. I cannot think that the world is spared to increase its damnation. Christ came not to destroy the world but that the world might be saved through him. So, as every year rolls by, let us regard it as salvation. Let us spend and be spent in the hope that by any means we may save some.
3:16 “The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction.” Any rope will do for a man to hang himself with, and any doctrine will suffice for a man to ruin himself with if he wishes to do so. There is no form of opinion that cannot be rendered mischievous. Our business is to study the Word of God and preach it as we find it—and if men will twist it, we cannot help that.
3:17 “Be on your guard, so that you are not led away.” There is no book under heaven that cannot be made to say the exact opposite of what its author intended—if a man is sufficiently delivered from the power of principle to twist it. But the Scripture as God gave it to us is plain enough. If we come honestly to Scripture and seek to be taught by the Spirit, we will learn the things of God.
3:18 “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” There cannot be any grace except as we know Christ. And there can be no growth in grace except as we grow in our knowledge of Christ. We may always test whether we are growing by asking this: Do I know more of Christ today than I did yesterday? Do I live nearer to Christ today than I did a little while ago? For increase in the knowledge of Christ is the evidence as well as the cause of true growth in grace.