2 Peter

What This Book Is

A short warning letter about teachers who exploit their followers, and about people mocking the idea that Christ will return.

Overview

The letter opens positively. God's divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, and there follows a chain of qualities to add to faith: virtue, knowledge, self control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love.

The author also grounds what he says in eyewitness experience, insisting they did not follow cleverly devised myths but were eyewitnesses of his majesty, referring to the transfiguration.

Then chapter 2 turns sharply. It is a sustained denunciation of false teachers, and the language is unsparing: they exploit people with false words, they are greedy, they promise freedom while being enslaved themselves, and they are like springs without water. The chapter closely parallels the letter of Jude, and the relationship between the two documents is one of the interesting puzzles of New Testament study.

Chapter 3 addresses the underlying problem. Scoffers are asking where the promise of his coming is, since everything continues as it always has. The answer given is twofold. First, a matter of perspective: with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. Second, a matter of character: the Lord is not slow as some count slowness, but patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance.

The delay, in other words, is mercy.

The letter closes by mentioning Paul's letters, noting that there are some things in them hard to understand, which is a comment many readers have appreciated.

Structure

• Chapter 1: Growth and eyewitnessQualities to add to faith, and an appeal to what was seen.
• Chapter 2: False teachersA sustained warning about exploitation and greed.
• Chapter 3: The promiseScoffers answered, and delay explained as patience.

Themes

Why It Matters

2 Peter reframes an old complaint. When God seems slow, this letter says the slowness is deliberate patience giving people time. It also gives the New Testament's frankest description of religious exploitation, which is useful in any era where teachers profit from followers. Its reference to Paul's letters as Scripture is an early sign of how the New Testament writings were being received.

How to Read It

• Read chapter 1:3-11 as the positive frame before the warnings.
• Read chapter 2 alongside Jude and notice how much they share.
• Read 3:8-9 when God seems slow, and notice the reason given.
• Be aware that this letter's authorship is genuinely disputed, and read it on its own terms.

Key Verse

Did You Know?

• 2 Peter and Jude share a great deal of material, and the direction of borrowing is debated.
• This is the New Testament book whose authorship was most questioned in the early church.
• It refers to Paul's letters alongside the other Scriptures, an early indication of their status.

Where to Start Reading