Second Epistle of Peter

The Second Epistle of Peter is a book of the New Testament of the Bible, traditionally ascribed to Saint Peter, but in modern times widely regarded as pseudonymous.

According to the epistle itself, it was written by the apostle Peter, an eyewitness to Jesus' ministry. He criticizes "false teachers" who distort the authentic, apostolic tradition, and predicts judgement for them. He explains that God has delayed the Second Coming so that more people will have the chance to reject evil and find salvation. He calls on Christians to wait patiently for the parousia and to study scripture.

The dating of this epistle has proved very difficult. Commentaries and reference books have placed 2 Peter in almost every decade from 60 to 160AD. [ Bauckham, RJ (1983), World Bible Commentary, Vol.50, Jude-2 Peter, Waco] .

Authorship

The letter opens by identifying the author as “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ” (), that he had previously written another epistle to the same audience (), his implication that the Apostlic generation has passed () which Donald Gurthie argues runs counter to the tendency in pseudoepigraphy to enhance the heroic alleged author. [Donald Guthrie, "Introduction to the New Testament" 4th ed. (Leicester: Apollos, 1990), p. 827.]

Scholars who accept Petrine authorship have a number of explanations concerning the relation between 2 Peter and Jude. It could be that, conversely, Jude used 2 Peter. [S. T. Zahn, "Introduction to the New Testament" II p. 250; F. Spitta, "Der Zweite Brief des Petrus und der Brief des Judas" (1885), pp. 145-146; C. Bigg, ‘The Epistles of St Peter and St Jude’, in "International Critical Commentary" (1901).] Other scholars argue that even if 2 Peter used Jude, that does not exclude Petrine authorship. [E. M. B. Green, "2 Peter Reconsidered" (1961), p. 10-11; ibid., ‘The Second Epistle General of Peter and the General Epistle of Jude’, in "Tyndale New Testament Commentary" (1987).] On remaining points, Ben Witherington III argued that the text we have today is a composite, including points taken from the Epistle of Jude, but that it containing a genuine “Petrine fragment”, which he identified as

However, the great majority of scholarship agrees that Peter could not have written this letter. [The majority position of scholarship that 2 Peter is a pseudepigraph is apparent from the quotations given in the remainder of the paragraph, namely the comments by Daniel Wallace, Werner Kummel, Stephen Harris, Douglas Moo and D.A. Carson.] For example, textual critic Daniel Wallace writes that, for most experts, "the issue of authorship is already settled, at least negatively: the apostle Peter did not write this letter" and that "the vast bulk of NT scholars adopts this...perspective." [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20031209164253/http://www.bible.org/docs/soapbox/2petotl.htm Second Peter: Introduction, Argument, and Outline ] ] Werner Kümmel exemplifies this position, stating, "It is certain, therefore, that II Pet does not originate with Peter, and this is today widely acknowledged." [ [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/2peter.html 2 Peter ] ] , as does Stephen L Harris, who states that " [v] irtually no authorities defend the Petrine authorship of 2 Peter." [Harris, Stephen L.. "Understanding the Bible: a reader's introduction", 2nd ed. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. page 354.] Evangelical historians D.A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo wrote that "most modern scholars do not think that the apostle Peter wrote this letter. Indeed, for no other letter in the New Testament is there a greater consensus that the person who is named as the author could not, in fact, be the author." [Carson, D.A., and Douglas J. Moo. An Introduction to the New Testament, second edition. HarperCollins Canada; Zondervan: 2005. ISBN-10 0310238595, ISBN-13 978-0310238591. p.659.]

Date

The questions of authorship and date are closely related. Self-evidently if Peter the Apostle wrote this epistle then it must have been written prior to his death in "c" 65–67AD. The letter refers to the Pauline epistles and so must post-date them, regardless of authorship, thus a date before 60 is not probable.

Many scholars generally consider the epistle to be written between "c" 100–150AD [ Chester, A & Martin, RP, (1994), The Theology of the letters of James, Peter & Jude, CUP, p.144] and so contend that it is pseudepigraphical. For an argument for a late date see Harris [Harris, Stephen L.. Understanding the Bible: a reader's introduction, 2nd ed. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. p. 354] . For a 'middle date' see Bauckham who opts for a date between 80–90AD as most probable [ Bauckham, RJ (1983), World Bible Commentary, Vol.50, Jude-2 Peter, Waco, p.158] . For an early date and (usually) for a defense of the Apostle Peter's authorship see Kruger [ [http://www.etsjets.org/jets/journal/42/42-4/42-4-pp645-671_JETS.pdf Kruger, MJ, (1999) “The Authenticity of 2 Peter,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 42.4, p.645-671] ] , Zahn [e.g. S. T. Zahn, "Introduction to the New Testament" II p. 250] , Spitta [ F. Spitta, "Der Zweite Brief des Petrus und der Brief des Judas" (1885)] , Bigg [ C. Bigg, ‘The Epistles of St Peter and St Jude’, in "International Critical Commentary"] , and Green [ E. M. B. Green, "2 Peter Reconsidered" (1961) and other works.] . Jeremy Duff argues that the various strands of evidence "point towards the period 60–130 CE, with some reason to favour 80–90 CE." [Jeremy Duff. "2 Peter". "Oxford Bible Commentary". Oxford University Press. 2001.]

Canonical acceptance

Acceptance of the letter into the canon did not occur without some difficulty; however, "nowhere did doubts about the letter's authorship take the form of definitive rejection." [Donald Guthrie, "Introduction to the New Testament" 4th ed. (Leicester: Apollos, 1990), p. 806.] The earliest record of doubts concerning the authorship of the letter were recorded by Origen ("c". 185 – 254), though Origen mentioned no explanation for the doubts, nor did he give any indication concerning the extent or location. As D. Guthrie put it, “It is fair to assume, therefore, that he saw no reason to treat these doubts as serious, and this would mean to imply that in his time the epistle was widely regarded as canonical.” [ Donald Guthrie, "Introduction to the New Testament" 4th ed. (Leicester: Apollos, 1990), p. 806.] Origen, in another passage, has been interpreted as considering the letter to be Petrine in authorship. [M. R. James, ‘The Second Epistle General of St. Peter and the General Epistle of St. Jude’, in, "Cambridge Greek Testament" (1912), p. xix; cf. Origen, "Homily in Josh". 7.1.] Before Origen's time, the evidence is inconclusive; [Donald Guthrie, "Introduction to the New Testament" 4th ed. (Leicester: Apollos, 1990), p. 807.] there is a lack of definite early quotations from the letter in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, though possible use or influence has been located in the works of Clement (d. "c". 211), Theophilius (d. "c". 183), Aristides (d. "c". 134), Polycarp (d. 155), and Justin (d. 165). [C. Bigg, ‘The Epistle of St Peter and Jude’, in "International Critical Commentary" (1901), pp. 202-205; R. E. Picirilli, ‘Allusions to 2 Peter in the Apostolic Fathers’, in "Journal for the Study of the New Testament" 33 (1988), pp. 57-83; J. W. C. Wand, "The General Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude" (1934), p. 141.] Eusebius ("c". 275 – 339) professed his own doubts, see also Antilegomena, and is the earliest direct testimony of such, though he stated that the majority supported the text, and by the time of Jerome ("c". 346-420) it had been mostly accepted as canonical. [Donald Guthrie, "Introduction to the New Testament" 4th ed. (Leicester: Apollos, 1990), pp. 808-809, though the exception of the Syrian canon is noted, with acceptance occurring sometime before 509; cf. Jerome, "De viris illustribus" chapter 1.]

Content

This epistle presciently declares that it is written shortly before the apostle's death (1:14). Arguments have been made both for and against this being part of the original text, but this debate largely is centred on the acceptance or rejection of supernatural intervention in the life of the writer.

The epistle contains eleven references to the Old Testament. In 3:15, 16 a reference is made to one of Paul's epistles, which some have identified as 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11. The book also shares a number of shared passages with the Epistle of Jude, e.g. 1:5 with Jude 3; 1:12 with Jude 5; 3:2f with Jude 17f; 3:14 with Jude 24; and 3:18 with Jude 25.

Tartarus is mentioned in 2 Pet 2:4 as devoted to the holding of certain fallen angels. It is elaborated on in Jude 6. Jude 6 however, is a clear reference to the Book of Enoch. Bauckham suggests that 2 Peter 2:4 is partially dependent on Jude 6 but is independently drawing on paraenetic tradition that also lies behind Jude 5-7. The paraenetic traditions are in Sirach 16:7-10, Damascus Document 2:17-3:12, 3 Maccabees 2:4-7, Testament of Naphtali 3:4-5 and Mishna Sanhedrin 10:3. [Christian-Jewish Relations Through the Centuries By Stanley E. Porter, Brook W. R. Pearson]

Audience

The audience in this book are the churches in general.

Background/ Setting

Peter began to think about his limited life, staying on Earth. So, he wrote everything that was in his heart. He also wrote letters warning the people in the churches to beware the false teachers who will come after his death. He lastly reminded the people in the churches that the truth of the Gospel will never change.

Notes

References

* Adams, Thomas B. "A Commentary on the Second Epistle General of Second Peter" Soli Deo Gloria Ministries, 1990. ISBN 978-1877611247
* Green, Michael. "The Second Epistle of Peter and The Epistle of Jude: An Introduciton and Commentary" Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007. ISBN 978-0830829972
* Leithart, Peter J. "The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter" Canon Press, 2004. ISBN 978-1591280262
* Lillie, John. "Lectures on the First and Second Epistles of Peter" Klock & Klock Christian Pub, 1978. ISBN 978-0865241169
* Seton, Bernard E. "Meet Pastor Peter: Studies in Peter's second epistle" Review and Herald Pub. Association, 1985. ISBN 978-0828002905

External links

Online translations of the epistle

* [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%201%20;&version=51; Book of 2 Peter (NLT)] at BibleGateway.com
* [http://www.gospelhall.org/bible/bible.php?passage=2Peter+1 "Online Bible" at GospelHall.org]

Other

* [http://www.ccel.org Christian Classics Ethereal Library]
* [http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=708 A sizeable article giving an overview of the problems with, and ultimately a defense of, the authenticity of II Peter]
*CathEncy|wstitle=Epistles of Saint Peter