Page 121 - New Testament Survey Student Textbook

Overview of I Peter

2 Peter: Living in the Power of Christ

As Christianity grew more in influence, churches began to encounter more false teachers in their midst.
Second Peter was written to warn about one of these groups, who were saying that Jesus would not
return, so they could live any way they liked. Against this view, 2 Peter argues that the Day of the Lord is
surely coming, and that believers should live in light of this truth.

Background
Author

Internal evidence points to Simon Peter, an apostle of Jesus as the author of the book (2 Pet 1:1). He
speaks of having witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration (2 Pet 1:16–18) and is familiar with Paul and his letters
(3:15–16). Never the less, 2 Peter seems very different from 1 Peter, and thus there was some debate in
the early church about 2 Peter’s authorship. Here some scholars say that “The attribution to Peter does
not necessarily mean it was compiled or finalized by him; it could indicate the letter is based on Peter’s
eyewitness account of Jesus and Peter’s teachings (likely just prior to his death).” 162 These scholars
underscore that, “the differences between 1 Peter and 2 Peter could be due to Peter using different
secretaries for the two letters—which is what the church father Jerome suggests (compare 1 Pet 5:12,
which names Silvanus, also known as Silas, as Peter’s secretary for 1 Peter).” 163

Date

162 Barry, J. D., et al.
163 Ibid
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