Discover the Basics of the Book of 2 Peter
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Discover the Basics of the Book of 2 Peter
This introductory course is designed to provide key insights into the book of 2 Peter by pulling together a number of key resources: overview videos from Fast Facts and The Bible Project, helpful contextual information from The ESV Study Bible, commentary recommendations from The Gospel Coalition, a single sermon that sums up the book from beginning to end by Mark Dever, and much more. By watching, listening to, and reading these resources, you’ll be better prepared to read, study, teach, or preach the book of 2 Peter.
The primary form is the epistle, with its usual elements. Partly on the basis of 2 Peter 1:13–14, where Peter asserts that he will soon depart this life, it is customary to view 2 Peter as adhering to some of the conventions of the farewell discourse. Motifs that belong to that genre include the author’s (a) announcing that he is near the end of his earthly life, (b) reminding his followers of what he has taught them, (c) commanding his followers how to live, and (d) predicting what will happen in the future. In a farewell discourse, a leader has his last chance to influence his followers in the right direction for the sake of the movement in which he has been a guiding light. Second Peter is also filled with famous proverbs and aphoristic statements, vivid poetry and imagery, and an eschatological (end-time) discourse (ch. 3).
Much of the letter falls into place if one grasps that Peter’s horror at false teaching (see esp. ch. 2) is set over against the reliability of God’s prophetic word (2 Pet. 1:19–21; 3:1–2). These two motifs converge in the vision of the last chapter, where biblical prophecy about the return of Christ is aggressively offered as a rebuttal of scoffers (false teachers) who denigrate biblical prophecy. In 2 Peter, true and false teaching engage in a combat of huge proportions.
Taken from the ESV® Study Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright ©2008 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For more information on how to cite this material, see permissions information here.
Second Peter teaches that the grace of God in Christ truly transforms and empowers Christians to live righteously, even in the face of opposition. This grace, introduced in 2 Peter 1:2–4, serves as the foundation for the remainder of the exhortations. The indwelling Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Pet. 1:4, which characterizes Christians as “partakers of the divine nature”) produces virtuous “qualities” in followers of Christ (2 Pet. 1:8–12), which in turn results in fruitful lives.
2 Peter 1:2–4
2 Peter 1:5–15
2 Peter 1:16–21
2 Peter 2:1–10
2 Peter 2:11–22
2 Peter 3:1–13
2 Peter 3:8–10
2 Peter 2:7–9; 3:13–18
Peter writes this brief, final reminder to the churches so that his readers will by God’s grace live a life that is pleasing to God. In doing so, Peter must also combat the false teachers who were apparently exerting pressure on the churches to depart from the true knowledge of Christ (see esp. ch. 2). The false teaching is not only a theological challenge but also a moral one, holding forth some form of sexual permissiveness as a legitimate Christian lifestyle. While the false teaching can be described based on what Peter writes, it is historically impossible to identify who the false teachers were. For example, there is no clear historical evidence that these teachers were Gnostic or proto-Gnostic.
It is also impossible to identify with certainty the churches Peter is addressing. The leading historical candidates are the churches of Asia Minor, for Peter wrote his first letter to these churches (1 Pet. 1:1–2), and in this letter Peter mentions that this is his second letter to these same people (2 Pet. 3:1).
Christians are to hold fast to the truth in Christ while patiently awaiting the second coming.
Taken from the ESV® Study Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright ©2008 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For more information on how to cite this material, see permissions information here.
Taken from the ESV® Study Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright ©2008 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For more information on how to cite this material, see permissions information here.
The following recommendations are from D. A. Carson, New Testament Commentary Survey. 7th ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2013.