2 Peter
A last letter about not being fooled, and not giving up waiting.
Who wrote it: Says it is from Simon Peter, near the end of his life. Most scholars, including many conservative ones, think it is the latest book in the New Testament, written in Peter's name around 100 to 130 AD; some still defend Peter in the mid 60s. It was the last book to be widely accepted into the canon.
What it is
The writer says he knows his death is near and wants to leave something behind. The first chapter is about growing: add to your faith goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, affection, love. He reminds them that the apostles were not following made-up stories; they saw the glory on the mountain with their own eyes. And he says scripture came from people carried along by the Holy Spirit, not from private interpretation.
Chapter 2 is the reason for the letter. False teachers had arrived, or were coming, who denied the Lord who bought them, promised freedom while being slaves to corruption, and treated grace as a license. The chapter is a furious portrait of them, borrowing heavily from Jude, with the flood, Sodom, and Balaam's talking donkey as warnings. It is the angriest chapter in the letters after Galatians.
Chapter 3 answers a sneer: 'Where is the promise of his coming? Everything goes on as it always has.' The answer is that God's time is not ours, a day is like a thousand years, and the delay is patience, because God does not want anyone to perish. The day will come like a thief. So live holy lives while you wait, and grow in grace and knowledge. Along the way it admits, with a straight face, that Paul's letters contain things that are hard to understand.
Verses worth keeping
- 2 Peter 1:3WEB
seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue,
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsHis divine power has given us everything we need for life and for living God's way, through knowing the one who called us by his own glory and goodness.
'Everything we need' is a strong claim, made before any instructions are given.
8But don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsBut don't forget this one thing, friends: to the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day. The Lord isn't slow about his promise the way some people think of slow. He's being patient with you, because he doesn't want anyone to be lost. He wants everyone to turn back to him.
The delay is not indifference. The verse says it is mercy, and says who it is for.
- 2 Peter 3:18WEB
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsBut keep growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, now and forever. Amen.
The last line. Not 'arrive', but 'grow'.
Read 2 Peter
The full text, every chapter, from the World English Bible, a modern public-domain translation. Pick a chapter below. The highlighted verses are the place to start if you have never read it.
2 Peter 3
1This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you 2that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts 4and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” 5For they willfully forget that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water by the word of God, 6by which means the world that existed then, being overflowed with water, perished. 7But the heavens that exist now and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8But don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat; and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11Therefore, since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness, 12looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
14Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent to be found in peace, without defect and blameless in his sight. 15Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, 16as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away with the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness. 18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
Questions about 2 Peter
Why do scholars doubt Peter wrote this?
The Greek style is nothing like 1 Peter. It uses most of Jude, which would be odd for an apostle copying a lesser-known writer. It refers to Paul's letters as 'Scriptures', which suggests a time after they had been collected. It mentions the apostles as a past generation. And it was doubted in the early church itself; Eusebius listed it among the disputed books. Defenders answer each point, and the church did eventually accept it. Whether by Peter or in his name, it is in the canon and read as apostolic.
Does 2 Peter 3 mean the world will be destroyed by fire?
It says the heavens will pass away and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and then there will be new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells. Some read this as literal destruction and replacement; others as purification, the way the flood was, with the same earth cleansed. Christians disagree, and the passage's own emphasis is on how to live now, not on the physics.