Second Epistle of Peter
Read or listen The Second Epistle of Peter online (ESV, Bible Gateway)
Introduction
Against False Teachers
The letter is named as written by the apostle Peter (2 Peter 1:1). The letter also contains many personal memories of Jesus, including the events on the Mount of Transfiguration (2 Peter 1:16-18). The letter was probably written just before Peter’s death. Nero was dismissed in 68 AD, so Peter’s death would date to the years before that. The place of writing was Rome.
The recipients are a congregation that Peter had visited (2 Peter 1:16); therefore, the recipients are not the same as those of First Epistle of Peter. If so, the letter mentioned in 2 Peter 3:1 is not First Peter, but a lost letter.
The letter deals with two problems. False teachers had come into the congregation (chapter 2); they should not be listened to, but the congregation should remain faithful to God’s Word (chapter 1). An immoral lifestyle seems to have been associated with the heresy. Another problem was those who denied the return of Christ and mocked the Christians who were waiting for him (chapter 3).
The authenticity of this letter has been questioned more than that of any other book in the New Testament. Many scholars consider it to be the youngest book in the New Testament, written around the year 100, some even date it to the year 150.
These doubts are justified as follows:
Already in the early church there were doubts about the authenticity of the letter. The church father Origen (185-253) mentions that the letter is viewed with suspicion. The church father Eusebius (265-340) considered it "controversial" (=antilegomena), as also the Second and Third Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation. The apostolicity of the letter was not generally accepted until the 4th century.
The letter refers to the collection of Paul's letters (corpus Paulinum, 2 Pet 3:15).
2 Pet 3:4 suggests that the first generation of Christians had already died out.
The second chapter is very similar to the letter of Jude.
The style of the letter is different from that of 1 Peter. The language of the letter is clearly inferior to the Greek of 1 Peter.
The situation of the church described in the letter dates back to the 1st century.
The vocabulary differs greatly from the vocabulary of the First Epistle of Peter, with only 100 common words, while there are 599 different words.
These doubts have been answered:
However, the letter was accepted into the New Testament. Perhaps the reason for the doubts was the falsely attributed work, written in Peter's name (including the Gospel of Peter and the Revelation). The second letter of Peter was not right away accepted, because its apostolicity was not immediately certain.
It may be that 2 Peter 3:15 does not refer to the collection of Paul's letters but only to some of Paul's letters.
Could the "fathers" of 2 Peter 3:4 refer to the Old Testament saints instead of the apostles?
2 Peter 2 does not necessarily quote the letter of Jude, but both letters may have a common background. And the quoting is not a problem if Jude's letter is not dated late.
If Peter used a different scribe (a person who wrote from dictation) than in First Peter (Silvanus) or wrote the letter himself, the differences in style are not surprising.
We do not know very much about the conditions in the first decades of the early church.
If the scribes have had a great influence on the creation of the letter, of course the vocabulary has also varied. It is worth noting that there are almost the same number of words that only occur once in the entire New Testament (=hapax legomena): 1 Peter 59 times, 2 Peter 56 times.
If the recipient congregations did not believe Paul's letters (2 Peter 3:15-16), why would they have believed Peter's letter? So why was the letter written in Peter's name if the writer was not Peter?
God's promises are sure
The letter contains a well-known passage concerning the interpretation of the Bible:
"And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
(2 Peter 1:19-21)
Only the Holy Spirit can reveal the true message of the Bible to its reader.
Peter addresses the question of the delay in Christ's return. Various heresies were spreading, some of which claimed that Christ would not return at all. But God's promises are sure. Prophecies about Christ were fulfilled in the past - not necessarily in the time and manner expected by the Jews. We can trust that even those promises of God that have not yet been fulfilled (for example, the promise of Christ's return in 2 Peter 3:8-13) will be fulfilled in God's chosen time.