- Chapters
- 3
- Verses
- 0
- Where it sits
- The Catholic Epistles
What it is
A farewell. Peter writes as a man who knows the putting off of his tent is near, and the letter has the shape of a last testament: grow in virtue while you can, and watch for the teachers who are coming.
Two of those he answers by name. The libertines, who use grace as cover. And the scoffers who ask where the promise of His coming is, since everything continues as it was from the beginning of creation.
Known for
1:4, partakers of the divine nature — one of the central texts behind the Orthodox teaching on theosis. 3:8. 3:10.
Where it sits
This is the book to read the site’s method on, because the doubt is not a modern invention. Eusebius, in the fourth century, wrote that the second epistle had not been received as canonical though many found it profitable, and listed it among the disputed writings. Jerome, in 392, said many thought it not Peter’s on account of its difference in style from the first. That is precisely the argument modern scholars make.
They add three more: that chapter 2 closely reworks the letter of Jude; that the delay of Christ’s return is treated as a settled problem of a later generation; and that it refers to a collection of Paul’s letters as already circulating and already being twisted. Those persuaded date it to the second century. Defenders place it before 68, by Peter or by a close disciple.
It is Scripture in the Orthodox Church, and has been for sixteen centuries. That the road there was argued is a matter of record, not a scandal.
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