2 Peter

Summary of the Book of 2 Peter

Written: c. AD 64-68

Framed as a farewell testament, 2 Peter is traditionally attributed to the apostle Peter writing shortly before his death, which he says the Lord Jesus had shown him was near. Its authorship was questioned even in the early church, and it was among the last books to be widely received into the canon; the letter itself claims to be Peter's second to the same readers, written so they could remember his teaching after his departure.

Chapter 1 opens with the claim that God's divine power has granted everything needed for life and godliness, and calls believers to add to their faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love, making their calling and election sure. Peter then stakes his message on two witnesses: he saw the majesty of Christ on the holy mountain at the transfiguration, and the prophetic word stands even surer, since holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Chapter 2 turns fierce, profiling the false teachers who will secretly bring in destructive heresies: sensual, greedy, despising authority, exploiting followers with fabricated words. Their judgment is certain, argued from the angels who sinned, the flood in Noah's day, and Sodom, with righteous Lot rescued. Chapter 3 answers the mockers who ask where the promise of Christ's coming is: with the Lord a day is as a thousand years, and the delay is patience, since he is not wishing that any should perish.

The book's closing horizon is the day of the Lord arriving like a thief, dissolving the elements, and opening onto new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, the same hope Revelation will unfold in full.

To fortify believers against false teachers and scoffers by anchoring them in the apostolic eyewitness, the prophetic Scriptures, and the certainty of Christ's return.