2 Peter
General Letters · New Testament · Book 61 of 66- Author
- Peter
- Written
- c. AD 65–68, shortly before his death
- Time covered
- Written knowing his own end was near
- Where
- Probably Rome
- Written to
- The same believers, now facing teachers from inside
- Genre
- Letter
- Chapters
- 3
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”2 Peter 3:9 KJV
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Overview
If the first letter is about pressure from outside, this one is about corruption from inside: teachers who deny the Lord who bought them, promise liberty and deliver bondage, and scoff at the idea that Christ is coming back at all.
Peter’s defense is threefold: grow in what you know, remember that the apostles were eyewitnesses and the prophets were not making it up, and understand that God’s apparent delay is patience, not indifference.
Background
Peter says he knows he must shortly put off this tabernacle, as the Lord had shown him — a reference to John 21, where Jesus told him how he would die.
He also mentions Paul’s letters, calls them Scripture, and admits some things in them are hard to understand — a candid aside from one apostle about another.
Key themes
- Growth: add to your faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, kindness, love.
- Scripture came by men moved by the Holy Ghost, not by private invention.
- False teachers arise from within and are known by their appetites.
- The day of the Lord will come as a thief, and the elements will melt.
- God’s patience is salvation — He is not willing that any should perish.
Outline
- Make your calling sureChapter 1
Precious promises, a ladder of graces, the mount of transfiguration, and prophecy’s origin.
- False teachersChapter 2
Their methods, their profit motive, and the examples of angels, the flood and Sodom.
- The day of the LordChapter 3
Scoffers asking where the promise is, the patience of God, and new heavens and a new earth.
Key passages
- 2 Peter 1:4 Exceeding great and precious promises.
- 2 Peter 1:16 We have not followed cunningly devised fables — we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
- 2 Peter 1:21 Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
- 2 Peter 2:1 There shall be false teachers among you.
- 2 Peter 3:8 One day is with the Lord as a thousand years.
- 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise — not willing that any should perish.
- 2 Peter 3:18 Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Christ in 2 Peter
Peter stakes the whole letter on having been there: we were with Him in the holy mount and heard the voice from heaven. The Lord who bought even those who deny Him is coming, and the delay that looks like absence is mercy, giving room for repentance.
Reading it
- Read chapter 1 as the antidote and chapter 2 as the disease.
- Compare chapter 2 with Jude; the overlap is close and deliberate.
- Read 3:8-9 slowly if God has ever seemed slow to you.