Authorship
Second Peter may be a general letter intended for a wide range of churches. Of all the NT letters that name their authors, 2 Peter is the most disputed among scholars. In some respects its style differs from 1 Peter; more important, it incorporates much of the letter of Jude. Although one may account for some differences in style because Silas helped draft 1 Peter (1Pe 5:12), 2 Peter is full of Hellenistic Jewish images that would have required considerable learning on the part of someone who spent most of his career in Galilee and Judea.
Some scholars note, however, that just as Peter depended on Silas’s help in his first letter, 2 Peter could reflect other editorial help. Others suggest that it could combine genuine material from Peter (e.g., in ch. 1) with material from Jude (especially in ch. 2). (Some have also suggested that Jude himself was the letter’s editor.) If Mark wrote down Peter’s recollections about Jesus (see Introduction to Mark: Authorship), Peter may have also welcomed some other writers (in this case with greater sophistication in Hellenistic Jewish motifs) to communicate his teachings in other ways.
Although the early church debated the genuineness of 2 Peter, a majority ultimately decided in its favor, and its existence is attested early. The attestation for 2 Peter in early Christian sources is weaker than that for most other NT books but stronger than that of early Christian books that did not become part of the NT, especially those claiming to be Petrine.
Date
Because we do not know the date of Jude, this letter’s dependence on Jude does not provide a helpful date range; nor does reference to Paul require a later date, since some of Paul’s letters circulated in his lifetime (cf. Col 4:16). Because Gnosticism began to flourish in the second century, some propose that 2 Peter be dated to that time period. But Gnosticism need not be the heresy addressed by Peter (see Opponents). The letter’s flowery style also prevailed more in the first century than in the second. Since Peter was martyred during the reign of Nero (AD 54–68), Peter’s teachings, including those in this letter, must predate Nero’s death.
Opponents
Although some have thought that those condemned in the letter were Gnostics, the many allusions to Hellenistic Jewish traditions suggest instead an overly Hellenized Jewish Christian setting. The letter mentions “knowledge” seven times, but philosophers and other thinkers discoursed about knowledge regularly. All the false teachers’ and scoffers’ ideas mentioned in the letter already existed in Hellenistic Judaism. Ancient sources also widely criticized charlatans. These observations count against any necessary appeal to a later Gnostic background. ◆
Quick Glance
Author:
The apostle Peter
Audience:
Christians in western Asia Minor
Date:
Between AD 65 and 68
Theme:
Peter teaches how to deal with false teachers and evildoers who have come into the church.