2 Peter 3

2 Peter 3 is the third (and the last) chapter of the Second Epistle of Peter in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The author identifies himself as "Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ" and the epistle is traditionally attributed to Peter the Apostle, but there are charges that it is a work of Peter's followers between 60-90 CE.[1][2][3]

2 Peter 3
1 John 1 →
The end part of the Second Epistle of Peter (3:16-18) and the beginning of the First Epistle of John (1:1-2:9) on the same page of Codex Alexandrinus (AD 400–440).
BookSecond Epistle of Peter
CategoryGeneral epistles
Christian Bible partNew Testament
Order in the Christian part22

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 18 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

Old Testament references

Relationship with the Epistle of Jude

There is an obvious relationship between the texts of 2 Peter and the Epistle of Jude.[5] Comparing the Greek text portions of 2 Peter 2:1–3:3 (426 words) to Jude 4–18 (311 words) results in 80 words in common and 7 words of substituted synonyms.[6]

The shared passages are:[7]

2 PeterJude
1:53
1:125
2:14
2:46
2:67
2:10–118–9
2:1210
2:13–1711–13
3:2-317-18
3:1424
3:1825

A reminder of the coming of the Lord (3:1–13)

2 Peter 3:1-2 reminds the addressees about the writer to re-emphasize the epistle's authority before the exposition of the central issue in verses 3–13 about the timing of Jesus' second coming.[8]

Verse 1
Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder),[9]

Peter emphasizes the unity of this epistle with the first one and the consistency of his teaching with those of the prophets and apostles (verse 2).[10]

Verse 2
that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior,[11]

Here Peter emphasizes the unity of the writings by the prophets in the Old Testament with the apostolic teachings in 2 Peter 1:19–21 and 1 Peter 1:10–12.[10]

Verse 3
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,[12]
  • Cross reference: Jude 18
  • "Walking after their own lusts" (NRSV: "indulging their own lusts"): doing as one pleases by thinking that there is no judgment.[13]

Verse 4
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.[14]

Verses 5–6
5For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:[15]
  • "Willingly ignorant" (KJV; NKJV: "willfully forget"; NRSV: "deliberately ignore"): 'conveniently forgotten' that God had intervened in judgment at the time of Noah's flood.[10]

Verse 8
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.[16]
  • "With the Lord one day is as a thousand years": indicates that God's perspective on time is very different from men (cf. Psalm 90:4; Jubilees 4:30; Sir 18:9—11; 2 Apoc. Bar. 48.12—13; Ps.-Philo, Bib. Ant. 19.13); and any 'delay' is the result of God's mercy to give time for repentance (cf. Romans 2:4; 2 Esd 7:33; Plut. Mor. 549b; perhaps Mark 13:10; also Habakkuk 2:3).[17]

Peroratio (3:14–18)

The final five verses of the epistle contain the concluding part (peroratio) of the discourse, starting with the phrase: "Therefore, beloved" (verse 14, and used again in verse 17) and continue with a tone similar to the opening in the first chapter, echoing the 2 Peter 1:1–2 ('grace, knowledge, and Jesus as Savior') with the final words ('day of eternity') as the last reminder of this epistle's major theme, that is, 'the judgment day will come'.[17]

Verses 15–16
15and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.[18]
  • "The longsuffering of our Lord": or "God's patience", in the sense of 'giving time for unbelievers to be saved and for believers to be working out their salvation'.[19]
  • "All his epistles": indicates that the community of believers have started to gather Paul's epistles, although need not suggest that the collection was already complete.[19]

See also

References
  1. Duff 2007, p. 1271.
  2. Davids, Peter H (1982). I Howard Marshall and W Ward Gasque (ed.). New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistle of James (Repr. ed.). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans. ISBN 0802823882.
  3. Evans, Craig A. (2005). Craig A Evans (ed.). Bible Knowledge Background Commentary: John, Hebrews-Revelation. Colorado Springs, Colo.: Victor. ISBN 0781442281.
  4. Kirkpatrick, A. F. (1901). The Book of Psalms: with Introduction and Notes. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Book IV and V: Psalms XC-CL. Cambridge: At the University Press. p. 839. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  5. Callan 2004, p. 42.
  6. Callan 2004, p. 43.
  7. Robinson 2017, p. 10.
  8. Duff 2007, p. 1273.
  9. 2 Peter 3:1 NKJV
  10. Wheaton 1994, p. 1394.
  11. 2 Peter 3:2 NKJV
  12. 2 Peter 3:3 KJV
  13. Coogan 2007, p. 404 New Testament.
  14. 2 Peter 3:4 KJV
  15. 2 Peter 3:5–6 KJV
  16. 2 Peter 3:8 NKJV
  17. Duff 2007, p. 1274.
  18. 2 Peter 3:15–16 NKJV
  19. Wheaton 1994, p. 1395.

Sources
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