2 Peter
Introduction

1 2 3

Contradictions
Absurdities
Injustice
Intolerance
Cruelty and Violence
Science and History
Family Values
Women
Language
Prophecy
Interpretation
Good Stuff

Encyclopedia Articles
-Wikipedia
-Columbia Encyclopedia
-Catholic Encyclopedia

Other Versions
-NWT
-JST
-NRSV
-NIV
-Douay-Rheims
-NAB

Get the SAB
on CD 		"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." -- 2 Peter 3:4

Second Peter for Skeptics

Although this epistle claims to have been written by Peter, Peter was almost certainly not its author. It is thought to have been written around 90-100 CE, long after Peter's death. The late date (probably the last of the New Testament books to be written) is suspected because: 1) verses 3:3-4 make excuses for the failure of the expected second coming of Christ, 2) the author refers to "all of the letters of Paul" in a way that indicates that Paul's epistles were already considered equal to "the other scriptures", and 3) the epistle depends upon the letter of Jude, which is thought to have been written around 80-100 CE.

Highlights

  •  Lot, who in Gen.19:8 offers his two virgin daughters to a crowd of angel rapers and later (19:30-38) impregnates them, is called a "righteous man" in 2:8.

  • The author believes the story in Numbers (22:28-30) about the talking ass. 2:16

  •  Those who lose their faith are like dogs that eat their own vomit. 2:22

  •  The author of 2 Peter is aware of the failed expectations of early believers. He knows that Jesus, who was supposed to come soon, didn't come at all. Many have begun to ask, "Where is the promise of his coming?" 3:4

  • Paul's epistles are hard to understand. And that those who try to understand them, as with the other scriptures, do so "unto their own destruction." 3:16