Book of 2 Peter Summary

2 Peter is a farewell letter. Peter writes knowing his death is near, and he wants the churches to remember what he taught after he is gone (1:14-15). His first letter dealt with pressure from outside the church. This one deals with danger from inside: teachers who twist the faith for money, treat grace as permission to sin, and laugh at the idea that Jesus will return. Peter answers in three short chapters. First he urges believers to keep growing, adding one quality of character to another. Then he exposes the false teachers and reminds readers how God has judged rebels in the past while rescuing the faithful. Finally he explains why Christ's return seems delayed: God is patient and wants people to repent. The word "knowledge" and related forms appear about 15 times, and the letter ends with a call to grow in grace and in knowledge of Jesus (3:18).

2 Peter at a glance

Who wrote 2 Peter, and why?

The letter names Simon Peter as its author (1:1). The writer says he saw Jesus' glory on the holy mountain and heard God's voice there (1:16-18), which matches the transfiguration, when Peter, James and John were with Jesus (Matthew 17:1-5). He calls this his second letter to the same readers (3:1), and he says Jesus had shown him that his death was coming soon (1:14), perhaps recalling Jesus' words to him after the resurrection (John 21:18-19). Early tradition says Peter was crucified in Rome under Nero, who died in AD 68, so if Peter wrote it, the letter comes from about AD 64–68.

No New Testament book has had its authorship questioned more. In the third century Origen noted that some doubted it, and Eusebius later listed it among the disputed books. It was fully accepted in the fourth century. Many modern scholars think a follower of Peter wrote it in his name between AD 80 and 120. They point to Greek that differs sharply from 1 Peter, the use of material also found in Jude, a reference to Paul's letters as a collection (3:15-16), and the mention of "the fathers" having died (3:4). Others defend Peter's authorship. They answer that the two letters deal with different subjects, that Peter used a secretary for 1 Peter (1 Peter 5:12) and may have used a different one here or written it himself, and that the writer's personal details are hard to explain as invention.

The readers had learned the faith from the apostles, but false teachers had come among them. These teachers denied the Lord who bought them (2:1), lived immoral lives, exploited people for money (2:3) and promised freedom while being slaves to corruption themselves (2:19). Some scoffed at the promise of Christ's return because nothing seemed to change (3:3-4).

How 2 Peter is structured

1:1-11: add to your faith

Peter writes to those who have received a faith as precious as the apostles' own, through the righteousness of "our God and Savior Jesus Christ" (1:1). Many readers see that phrase as calling Jesus God. He prays that grace and peace will grow in them through knowing God and Jesus (1:2).

God's divine power has given believers everything they need for life and godliness through knowing the one who called them. Through his great promises they can share in the divine nature and escape the corruption that desire causes in the world (1:3-4). So they must make every effort to add to their faith a list of qualities, each building on the one before: goodness, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, kindness to fellow believers and, last of all, love (1:5-7). If these qualities are growing, believers will not be useless or unfruitful in knowing Christ. Someone who lacks them is nearsighted and blind and has forgotten that his old sins were washed away (1:8-9). Peter urges them to confirm their calling by living this way; then they will not stumble and will be richly welcomed into Christ's eternal kingdom (1:10-11).

1:12-21: eyewitnesses and prophets

Peter plans to keep reminding them of these things even though they know them, as long as he lives in "this tent," his body. He knows he must soon put it aside, and he wants them to be able to recall his teaching after his departure (1:12-15).

The apostles did not follow clever myths when they spoke about Jesus' power and coming. They saw his majesty with their own eyes. They heard the Father's voice from heaven declare Jesus his beloved Son, when they were with him on the holy mountain (1:16-18). They also have the prophetic word, which is completely reliable. Readers should pay attention to it as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in their hearts (1:19). No prophecy of Scripture came from the prophet's own interpretation. Prophecy never came by human will; people spoke from God as the Holy Spirit carried them along (1:20-21). This passage, along with 2 Timothy 3:16, is one of the main New Testament texts on how Scripture was given.

2:1-10: false teachers and God's judgment

Just as there were false prophets among Israel, there will be false teachers among the churches. They will slip in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring swift destruction on themselves (2:1). Many will follow their sensual ways, and the truth will be slandered because of them. In their greed they will exploit people with made-up stories, but their judgment has long been on its way (2:2-3).

Peter gives three examples from the past. God did not spare the angels who sinned but held them in chains of darkness for judgment (2:4). The Greek verb here refers to Tartarus, a name the Greeks used for the deepest prison of the underworld. Many link this to Genesis 6:1-4, as Jewish writings like 1 Enoch did. God did not spare the ancient world but brought the flood, while protecting Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others (2:5). He reduced Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes as a warning, but rescued Lot, a righteous man who was distressed by the lawless behavior around him (2:6-8). The conclusion: the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and how to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment (2:9).

2:10-22: a portrait of the false teachers

These teachers follow corrupt desires and despise authority. They are bold and arrogant, and they insult glorious beings, though even angels do not bring insulting charges against them before the Lord (2:10-11). Like animals acting on instinct, they mock what they do not understand (2:12). They party openly in daylight and are stains and blemishes at the church's shared meals. Their eyes are full of adultery and never stop sinning. They lure unstable people and are trained in greed (2:13-14).

They have left the right way to follow Balaam, the prophet who loved the wages of wrongdoing, until a donkey spoke with a human voice and stopped his madness (2:15-16; Numbers 22:21-33). They are springs without water and mists driven by a storm (2:17). With big, empty words they appeal to sensual desire and draw back people who had barely escaped from error. They promise freedom, but they are slaves of corruption, since people are slaves to whatever has mastered them (2:18-19). If people escape the world's corruption by knowing Christ and are then caught up in it again, they end up worse than before. It would have been better never to have known the way of righteousness than to turn from it (2:20-21). Peter applies two proverbs: a dog returns to its vomit, and a washed pig goes back to the mud (2:22; Proverbs 26:11).

Much of this chapter closely parallels the letter of Jude (Jude 1:4-18). Most scholars think one writer used the other, or both drew on a common source. Opinions differ on which came first.

3:1-13: the day of the Lord

Peter says this is his second letter, written to stir up their sincere minds by reminding them of the prophets' words and the Lord's command given through the apostles (3:1-2). In the last days scoffers will come, following their own desires and asking where the promised coming is. Since the fathers died, they say, everything has continued as it was from the beginning of creation (3:3-4).

Peter's first answer is that they forget something on purpose. By God's word the heavens and earth were formed out of water, and by water the world of that time was flooded and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are kept for fire on the day of judgment (3:5-7).

His second answer concerns time. With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day (3:8; Psalm 90:4). The Lord is not slow to keep his promise, as some think. He is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but wanting everyone to come to repentance (3:9). The day of the Lord will come unexpectedly, like a thief. The heavens will pass away with a roar, the elements will melt in the heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up (3:10). Some early manuscripts read that the earth and its works will be "found" or exposed, which suggests judgment that lays everything bare. Readers differ on whether Peter describes the world's destruction or its purifying renewal.

Since everything will be dissolved, believers should live holy and godly lives as they wait for and even hasten the coming of God's day (3:11-12). Following God's promise, they look for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness is at home (3:13; Isaiah 65:17).

3:14-18: final words

While they wait, they should make every effort to be found by him at peace, spotless and blameless. They should regard the Lord's patience as salvation, just as Paul also wrote to them with the wisdom God gave him (3:14-15). Paul's letters contain some things hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people twist, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction (3:16). Placing Paul's letters next to "the other Scriptures" is one of the earliest signs that Christians were treating them as Scripture.

Knowing all this in advance, believers must guard themselves so they are not carried away by the error of lawless people and lose their footing (3:17). Instead, they should grow in the grace and knowledge of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The letter ends with praise: to him be glory now and forever (3:18).

2 Peter chapter by chapter

Click any chapter number to read it.

Main themes of 2 Peter

Knowledge of Christ

True knowledge of Jesus is the ground of godly living (1:2-3; 3:18).

Spiritual growth

Faith should grow into virtue and love (1:5-8).

Reliable revelation

The apostles were eyewitnesses, and the prophets spoke from God (1:16-21).

False teaching

Wrong belief and wrong living go together (2:1-3; 2:19).

Christ's return

The delay is God's patience, and the day will come (3:9-10).

Lessons from 2 Peter

• Keep growing. Faith is meant to produce character (1:5-8).
• Remember what you know. Forgetting God's grace leads to drift (1:9; 1:12).
• Test teachers by their lives. Greed and immorality are warning signs (2:3; 2:14).
• Read delay as mercy. God waits so more people can repent (3:9).
• Live ready. The hope of a new creation shapes holy living (3:11-14).

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