New Testament

2 Peter

Second Peter is a farewell letter written as its author faces death (), urging believers to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, to hold to the apostolic and prophetic witness, and to reject false teachers who deny the Lord's return and live in license. It answers scoffers who say nothing has changed since creation by pointing to God's patience and the certainty of the Day of the Lord. It belongs in the Bible because it guards the church's hope in Christ's coming and grounds faith in eyewitness testimony and Spirit-given Scripture.

Author: The letter names Simon Peter (1:1), claims he witnessed the Transfiguration (1:16–18) and calls itself his second letter (3:1). Its authorship is the most disputed in the New Testament: some ancient writers already noted doubts, and many modern scholars see it as a farewell testament written in Peter's name after his death, while others defend Peter's authorship, explaining differences from 1 Peter by a different scribe or purpose.
Audience: Believers who had received 'a faith as precious as ours' (1:1), apparently the same readers as an earlier letter (3:1), possibly those addressed in 1 Peter. They are threatened by teachers inside the church.
When: If by Peter, shortly before his death in the mid 60s, since he expects to lay aside his body soon (1:14). Scholars who regard it as pseudonymous usually date it between about AD 80 and 120.
Where: Not stated. If Peter wrote it, Rome is the most likely place, where tradition places his final years.
Genre: Second Peter is a letter shaped like a farewell testament, the last words of a leader preparing his people for his absence, similar in purpose to Moses' speeches in Deuteronomy or Paul's words in Acts 20 and 2 Timothy. Read it as a reminder rather than new teaching: the author says he writes to stir up memory (1:12–15; 3:1–2). Chapter 2 is vivid denunciation, closely parallel to Jude, so read its strong images as warnings drawn from Old Testament examples.

Shape of the book

Growing in Grace and Trusting the Witness · ch 1God's power has given believers everything needed for godliness, so they are to add virtue upon virtue, and they can trust the apostles' eyewitness account of the Transfiguration and the prophetic word spoken by men carried along by the Holy Spirit.
False Teachers and Their Judgment · ch 2False teachers will secretly bring in destructive heresies, but God's past judgments on fallen angels, the ancient world and Sodom, along with His rescue of Noah and Lot, show He knows how to judge the wicked and rescue the godly.
The Day of the Lord Will Come · ch 3Scoffers mock the promise of Christ's coming, but God's timing is not ours, His delay is patience that brings salvation, and believers wait for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells.

Themes

The Knowledge of Christ. The letter begins and ends with knowing Christ: grace and peace come through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord (), and it closes, 'grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ' (). This knowledge is personal and transforming, the opposite of the false teachers' empty claims.
Growth in Godliness. Because God has given precious promises so believers may share in the divine nature (), they are to add to faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love (). Such growth confirms their calling and election (). Traditions explain 'partakers of the divine nature' differently, with Orthodox writers developing it into a doctrine of deification and Protestant writers usually stressing moral renewal, but all agree it does not mean becoming God in essence.
Reliable Witness and Inspired Scripture. The apostles did not follow cleverly devised fables but were eyewitnesses of Christ's majesty (). Prophecy did not come from human will; men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (). Peter also places Paul's letters alongside 'the rest of the Scriptures' ().
False Teaching and Moral License. The false teachers deny the Master who bought them (), promise freedom while they are slaves of corruption (), and exploit others out of greed (, ). Wrong belief and wrong living go together.
God's Patience and the Coming Day. With the Lord a day is like a thousand years (). God is not slow but patient, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance (). The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and believers look for a new heaven and new earth ().

Where Christ is

Second Peter calls Jesus 'our God and Savior Jesus Christ' () and looks to His power and coming. Its central evidence is the Transfiguration, where the Father's voice honored His beloved Son, a preview of the glory of His return. The letter ends with a doxology addressed to Christ Himself ().

The Transfigured Son. Fulfillment. Peter recalls hearing the voice from the Majestic Glory, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased' (), echoing and . The glory seen on the mountain confirms the prophetic word about Christ's coming. (; ; ; )
Our God and Savior. Fulfillment. The Greek of is most naturally read as one person, 'our God and Savior Jesus Christ', an explicit statement of Christ's deity. The doxology in gives glory to Christ, worship the Old Testament reserves for God. (; ; ; )
The Morning Star. Echo. The prophetic word is a lamp in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises (). This likely echoes Balaam's star out of Jacob (), and Jesus calls Himself the bright Morning Star in . (; ; ; )
Noah, Lot and the Coming Judgment. Type. God's judgment by the flood and on Sodom, and His rescue of Noah and Lot, foreshadow the final judgment and rescue at Christ's coming (; ). Jesus Himself used Noah's and Lot's days as pictures of His return. (; ; ; )

Voices

Jerome. He reported that many in his day rejected 2 Peter as Peter's because its style differs from 1 Peter, and he explained the difference by Peter's use of different interpreters or scribes. More from Jerome at CCEL ↗
John Calvin. He accepted the letter as canonical and held that its teaching is worthy of Peter, while allowing that a disciple may have written it at Peter's direction, which would account for the difference in style. Read the full commentary ↗

Reading well, key terms and common misreadings

Read it well

Read Jude alongside chapter 2. The two share much material and order, and comparing them shows how each author shaped it for his purpose.
Notice the language of remembering (1:12–15; 3:1–2). The letter's goal is to anchor readers in what they have already received.
Read 3:8–10 as a pastoral answer to discouragement, not a formula for dating events. The point is God's patience, not a calculation of history.
Keep 1:16–21 in view as the backbone of the letter: eyewitness testimony and Spirit-given prophecy are the two grounds for trusting the promise of Christ's coming.

Key terms

Knowledge ἐπίγνωσις (epignōsis) — Full, personal knowledge, especially of God and of Jesus (1:2–3, 1:8; 2:20). It is the source of grace, peace and godly living.
Godliness εὐσέβεια (eusebeia) — Reverent devotion to God shown in conduct (1:3, 1:6–7; 3:11). The letter sets it against the ungodliness of the false teachers.
Coming παρουσία (parousia) — Presence or arrival, used for Christ's return in glory (1:16; 3:4, 3:12). The scoffers' question is 'Where is the promise of His coming?' (3:4).
Heresies, factions αἵρεσις (hairesis) — Originally a chosen party or school of thought, here destructive teachings that divide the church and deny the Master (2:1).
Carried along φέρω (pherō) — To bear or carry. Prophets spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (1:21), the same verb used for the voice that was borne from heaven (1:17–18).

Easy to misread

Using 3:8, a day like a thousand years, as a key for decoding timelines, such as a thousand-year week of history. The better reading: Peter quotes Psalm 90:4 to say God is not bound by human impatience.
Reading 3:9 as settling the debate over election one way or the other. Calvinist readers often take 'anyone' to refer to the elect among the readers, while Arminian readers take it as God's desire for all people. Both agree the verse explains the delay of judgment as God's patience.
Taking 1:20, no prophecy comes from one's own interpretation, to forbid ordinary readers from studying the Bible. In context it most likely means prophecy did not originate in the prophet's own ideas, as verse 21 explains.
Reading 3:10–12 as teaching that God will simply annihilate the physical world. Some read it that way, but many interpreters stress the end of 3:10, 'laid bare' or exposed for judgment, and the new heavens and earth of 3:13, seeing purification and renewal rather than abandonment.

Further reading: David Guzik, Enduring Word · Matthew Henry on CCEL · BibleProject overview video