Since Peter died as a martyr under Nero, this epistle is believed to have been written a few years prior to Emperor Nero’s death (68 A.D.) History tells us that Nero held Peter responsible for the conversion of Simon Magus, a favorite magician/entertainer of Nero, to Christianity (see Acts 8:9-24). Similar to Peter’s first book, the authorship of Second Peter is also questioned, perhaps even more than any other book of the Bible. It is often thought to be a forgery, to be classified as either a pseudepigraphal book, or at least considered not part of the canon, like the Apocryphal books. But we see that most of the early church writers, commentators, and leaders each accepted Peter as the book’s author. Including Origen, Clement of Alexandria, the Council of Laodicea (372 A.D.), the Council of Carthage (397 A.D.), and Jerome when he translated the Bible into Latin (known as the Latin Vulgate). As pointed out earlier in this commentary’s chapter 2 - Introduction to 1 Peter, it was popular during the first three centuries of Christianity to ‘enhance’, ‘elaborate’, and ‘expand’ the Word of God. Note the use of quotes, these additional books, or more accurately “short stories,” are seriously flawed and very much corrupt, and often fanciful, clearly NOT the Word of God! What is, and what is not,, “the Word of God” is one of the more often asked questions asked within Christianity, followed by “How did we get the Bible we have today?” There really is no simple or quick way to answer these questions as there are several things to consider, but just so you know, there are a number of basic guidelines most scholars and Christian organizations have agreed to as acceptable criteria.[1]
Other challenges to Peter’s second epistle include the use of similar language as the book of Jude. Some believe that Peter quoted Jude, which would have been written later. Both Peter and Jude have similar messages to their audiences but just because they use similar language in their letters does not necessarily support a specific authorship timeframe. One of the Bible’s greatest proofs as being the Word of God is through the consistent use of words, idioms, metaphors, and symbolic language from book to book (scholars refer to this as expositional constancy as discussed in Chapter 10).
Second Peter is similar to the book of Second Timothy and the book of Deuteronomy, as these books are each considered the last books written by their authors (some refer to this concept as a ‘swan song’). Each one essentially pleading with their readers to listen carefully and heed the warnings each author offers. Interestingly, each author emotionally pleads for obedience to God and to watch out for false teachers. In the case of Peter and Paul, they clearly warn of the coming apostasy in the church.
What does the word apostasy mean? It refers to the falling away from one’s beliefs or principles. What do they mean when they are warning about a coming apostasy in the church? It means that the church will be influenced from within to slowly depart from God and His Word. Many are quick to say, “that’s preposterous,” but could Peter and Paul be speaking about a time like today? What do you think? Some say we no longer need Christianity or for that fact, any other religion, since science has effectively replaced mythology (facts vs. beliefs), saying modern thinking has superseded ‘ancient thought’. It doesn’t take much to see how the erosion from believing fully in God’s Word can begin. All it takes is to start accepting the need for millions, or billions, of years to fit in evolution (known as theistic evolution), a big bang cosmology instead of a Creator, etc. If you think the book of Genesis is a fairytale (as some Christian denominations do), then you begin questioning the fall of man. If you question the fall of man, then you may ask the question, why do I need a Savior? If there is no need for a Creator, or a Savior, then there is really no need for a God. If no need for a God, then there must not be any absolutes. If no absolutes exist, then there must not be any rules people have to follow. One then could conclude that if there are no rules then a person can do anything they want! It is dangerous to follow our own lusts, pleasures and desires. Moses warned not to follow what we thought was right in own eyes (see Deuteronomy 12:8). We see this cycle of obedience followed by rejection of God into disobedience over and over again throughout the Old Testament. This was even more painfully obvious in the book of Judges, which concludes with this statement: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit” (Judges 21:25 NIV, also seen in Judges 17:6). I remember one license plate frame that may be a way to summarize this way of thinking: “No God, No Peace - Know God, Know Peace.”
Besides the multitude of alternate religions (including Hindu, Islam, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Free Masonry, New Age, the Occult, and many more literally too many to list), Christianity is already deeply involved in many hazardous and erroneous variations of theologies and practices, including prosperity gospel teaching, the emergent/emerging church movement, Gnosticism (redressed several times throughout history but still very much alive today), works-based salvation (including Roman Catholic), and ecclesiology (many religions point to heaven or we all worship the same God) to name a few.
Like Jesus and most of the epistle writers, Peter will be addressing the issue of false teaching. The book of Second Peter may actually address the subject with greater intensity than any other single location in the Bible, perhaps this is why the book is under so much criticism. Our enemy the devil does not want us to read this book (remember the last chapter regarding 1 Peter 5:8-9). Peter will provide for us some understanding that will help us shield out some of the devil’s flaming arrows (see Ephesians 6:16).
Peter will also be pointing us to essential and basic Christian doctrine that will help us avoid false teaching by understanding our salvation, understanding Scripture, understanding how to recognize false teaching and false teachers, and understand our future (or perhaps our present age).
To prepare for our study of Second Peter please read Nehemiah 8:8; 2 Timothy 2:15; Colossians 3:16; Matthew 7:15; Acts 20:29-30 and 17:11 before beginning. Sadly, Christians can become indifferent to God’s Word and disregard it, or worse, ignore it and hold it in contempt. We need to be found reading, pondering (thinking it through), studying, and living the Word of God. The New Testament demonstrates that corruption of God’s Word can begin very quickly as seen through many of Paul’s letters that were to churches that had already modified the truth. The book of Revelation also contains seven letters dictated to John from Jesus in chapters two and three. One way to view these letters would be as a form of a ‘report card’ to each church. Written before the turn of the first century five of those seven churches already had serious issues. Corruption continued long after the church was formed, in 1517 Martin Luther began the reform movement attempting to change the horrific Roman Catholic viewpoint of salvation. William Wilberforce in 1797 wrote “A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians in the Higher & Middle Classes in the Country Contrasted with Real Christianity.” As you can see it doesn’t take long for man to develop alternate ways to misinterpret and distort Scriptures requiring some God-Appointed people along the way to seek revival or reconciliation.
Some of these improper interpretations may have come from a lack of diligence in studying the Bible, while others were introduced with deception in mind. In either case, we need to be like the Psalmist and delight in reading and applying the Word of God in our lives (see Psalm 1). How can we please God if we don’t fully understand His whole counsel? Read the Bible regularly and know Him! After all, He chose His Word to reveal Himself to us.
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[1] Geisler, N. L., & Nix, W. E. (1986). A General Introduction to the Bible (Rev. and expanded., pp. 222–231). Chicago: Moody Press.