“A Faith as Precious as Ours”
2 Peter was the book questioned most of all in the early church. Should it be part of the New Testament? Why did some areas have a copy while others didn't? The question was much easier as the church wrestled with other books. The heretical books written by Cerinthus, Valentinus of Rome, Basilides of Alexandria and other were obviously Gnostic and rejected Jesus as the Savior (John's epistles and Gospel were at least partly an attack on the theology of Cerinthus). Other books such as the Gospel of Thomas were written too late to be considered by the early church (you can't include a book that hasn't been written yet in a collection) and the Gospel of Thomas in particular includes quite a bit of false doctrine woven along with stories lifted almost word for word from Luke.
2 Peter has a different style of writing than 1 Peter. This is probably due to Peter writing this letter himself. 1 Peter has a more classical Greek style and was probably dictated to a scribe (an amanuensis). This letter was also less widely circulated than the first letter. But people were probably more cautious about it than suspicious: Many of the things Peter says are also said in Jude's epistle, sometimes with almost identical words (we will talk about these things as they occur in chapter 2). It has also been said that 2 Peter is quoted far less by the early church fathers than the rest of the New Testament. I have found a few places where 2 Peter seems to brush past the pens of the Apostolic Fathers of the late first and early second centuries.
1. "Noah, a preacher of righteousness" (2 Peter 2:5).
"Noah preached repentance..." (1 Clement 7:6).
2. "Their idea of pleasure is to carouse (
tryphes) in broad daylight..." (2 Peter 2:13).
"Lawlessness, drunkenness, wicked carousing (
tryphes poneros)..." (Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 8,3).
3. "In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, 'Where is this "coming" he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.'" (2 Peter 3:3).
(It is written:) "Miserable are the double-minded that doubt in their heart, who say, 'We heard these things long ago in the times of our fathers, but we have grown old, and none of them has happened to us.' You fools!" (1 Clement 23:3).
4. "...being kept for the day of judgment (
kriseos) and destruction of ungodly (
asebon) men" (2 Peter 3:7).
"...and not the ungodly (
asebon), who are judged (
krinomenon)" (2 Clement 18:1).
(Both the noun
kriseos and the participle
krinomenon are related to each other and our English word "crisis").
5. "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years..." (2 Peter 3:8).
"For with him a day is like a thousand years..." (Barnabas 15:4).
6. "To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." (2 Peter 3:18).
"To him be glory for ever and ever! Amen." (2 Clement 20:5).
Summary of background on 2 Peter:
Whereas 1 Peter gives support and encouragement toward outer (physical) persecution, 2 Peter warns against false teacher and false doctrines (inner persecution). 2 Peter makes several statements about Peter's time with Jesus, and also says it is the "second letter" (3:1). There is no reason to reject it's theology or authorship; it was simply less widely known.
Peter wrote this letter late in his life to Christians, especially Gentiles; the same group (this was their "second letter" from him) as in 1 Peter: "Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia" (1 Peter 1:1). These were the same Christians Paul had written to in Galatians, and was intended for people throughout the area of Asia Minor (Turkey). Written around 64 or 65 AD, from Rome, this letter is a warning about false teachers and an encouragement to Christians to persevere in their faith. Part of the trouble among these Christians was the growing error of Gnosticism, a belief in a secret higher Knowledge (Greek
gnosis) obtainable outside the Word of God.
