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New Testament — Topic 35

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New Testament — Topic 35

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Peter Old and Wise. Once a feisty and impetuous fisherman, Peter came to be regarded as an elder statesman of Christianity. The letter known as 2 Peter presents his experienced counsel as the antithesis of troubling innovations.

The letter of 2 Peter often is valued as a witness to the developing life of the Christian church as it moved into the postapostolic era. We see a church that is searching for some way of defining what is acceptable and what is not. Scripture might provide the standard for making such determinations, but scripture needs to be properly interpreted (1:20-21; 3:16). Likewise, apostolic tradition may provide some basis for defining what is orthodox (1:1; 3:2), but this assumes that there is a clear understanding of what the apostles taught. Church history eventually would show that most Christian groups make a claim for their teachings being scriptural and apostolic (including groups with widely divergent views, and ones that are labeled “heretical”). Over time, most Christian sects devised strategies for evaluating the acceptability of ideas or behaviors: they developed hierarchies of leadership authorized to make such determinations and they adopted creeds or confessional statements definitive of what was considered normative. In 2 Peter we get a snapshot of a church in which such measures have not been fully implemented. Thus, the struggle against perceived heresy is not from the top down but rather from the bottom up: the author of 2 Peter does not try to silence the teachers by issuing official and authoritative declarations but instead makes his appeal to their audience. Thus, one thing that this snapshot reveals is that, at this point in church history, maintenance of orthodoxy was more a matter of persuasion than of pronouncement.

The New Testament letter known as 2 Peter leaves no doubt that it is to be read as correspondence from the apostle Peter (see 1:1, 17–18), but almost all New Testament scholars think that the book is pseudepigraphical, written quite some time after Peter’s death. In fact, many scholars who are reluctant to grant that any other writing of the New Testament might be pseudepigraphical sometimes make an exception in the case of this one book.

There are at least three reasons for this. First, the arguments in favor of pseudepigraphy seem to be exceptionally strong (see box 26.2 on p. 484). Second, attribution of this letter to the apostle Peter does not have the support of church tradition (the letter is not even mentioned in writings of the Western church until the third century, and even then, it is referred to as a “disputed writing”). Third, many Christians have less trouble accepting this letter as pseudepigraphical because of the type of work that it appears to be: most scholars think that this letter employs an ancient genre of literature called testament.

Plagiarism is taken very seriously nowadays. Any student who copies large segments of someone else’s work and presents it as his or her own is likely to suffer harsh penalties. In the ancient world, however, the standards were different. One of the most interesting aspects of the New Testament letter known as 2 Peter is that it borrows heavily from another New Testament letter, the one attributed to Jude, a brother of Jesus. By most estimates, about nineteen of Jude’s twenty-five verses have been reworked to reappear somewhere in 2 Peter (see box 26.1 on p. 483). This was, of course, noticed in ancient times, although back then most authorities thought that Jude had borrowed from 2 Peter instead of the other way around. Either way, it doesn’t appear to have bothered anyone. Imitation may truly have been regarded as the sincerest form of flattery.

Students who want to understand the New Testament writings in terms of their historical sequence might prefer to read the chapter on Jude prior to reading this one. It is not necessary to do this, however, for the original readers of 2 Peter probably would not have known the letter of Jude or been aware that the author of the work that they were reading had borrowed so freely from an earlier composition.

  • Introduction
  • Overview
  • Historical Background
  • Parallels between Jude and 2 Peter
  • Major Themes in 2 Peter
  • Conclusion

The Delay of the Parousia

When Jesus did not return as soon as expected, many Christians perhaps asked the question that 2 Peter attributes to scoffers: “Where is the promise of his coming?” (3:4). The letter’s response is threefold: (1) the promise of Christ’s return is not derived from speculative myths (1:16) but rather is grounded in the actual experiences of the apostles, of trustworthy people such as Peter, who saw Jesus transfigured before him in what was essentially a preview of the parousia (1:17-18); (2) fulfillment of the promise appears to be slow in coming only when viewed from a human point of view, but “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years” (3:8); (3) the reason why Jesus has not returned yet is that God is merciful and wants to give more people a chance to repent (3:9). This last point leads to the startling conclusion that humans can hasten the time: the readers are to imagine that Christ wants to return but is reluctant to do so when this would bring condemnation to so many. If Christians are earnest in evangelism, and if more people are brought to the godliness that comes from knowing Christ (1:3), then, indeed, the parousia might come.

The Certainty of Judgment

Apparently, the false teachers reasoned that if Christ was not going to return (at least, not anytime soon), they need not fear divine judgment (3:3-4). To counter this, the author cites biblical precedents that show God does intervene violently in history (2:4-6). In fact, God destroyed the world once before, at the time of the flood (2:5; 3:5-6), and will do so again. This time, however, the end will come by fire (3:7, 10–12). This destructive judgment will be followed by a more positive re-creation of a new heaven and a new earth (3:13; cf. Rev. 21:1), for God not only punishes the unrighteous but also rescues the godly (2:9). Still, the emphatic point for this letter is that there will be accountability, and this means that the ungodly will be condemned (2:9-10; 3:7, 16), including the false teachers and their followers (2:1, 3, 12, 17).

Godliness

The assault on false teaching in 2 Peter is set within the framework of a call for Christians to grow in godliness—that is, to lead lives pleasing to God. The problem, according to this letter, is that the world is a dark place (1:19); it has been corrupted by lust (1:4) and is characterized by licentiousness and lawlessness (2:7-8). Still, it is possible to escape from this corruption (1:4) and lead a virtuous life (1:5-9). How? The letter claims that God’s power provides everything needed for life and godliness and that this is accessed through knowledge of God (1:2-3). Thus, 2 Peter posits a close connection between knowing and doing, between theology (beliefs, doctrine, ideology) and ethics (behavior, conduct, practice).

The letter stresses knowledge of the future and knowledge of the past:

· Knowing the future: unlike the false teachers, the readers know the truth about God’s coming judgment, and so the question becomes “What sort of persons should we be?” (cf. 3:11). The obvious answer is: persons who lead “lives of holiness and godliness” (3:11; cf. 3:14).

· Remembering the past: Christians who fail to exhibit virtuous behavior may be deemed “nearsighted and blind” with regard to the past (1:9). For the false teachers, the problem was ignoring the record of God’s past judgments (2:10), but in a more general sense, nonvirtuous believers may be “forgetful of the cleansing of past sins” (1:9): they fail to appreciate what God has done for them, and, more to the point, they fail to see their call and election by God as an opportunity to move forward in righteousness (1:10).

These points are emphasized because the letter wants to stress both the prospect for growth and the danger of backsliding. On the one hand, those who move backward, who escape the world’s defilements only to become overcome by them once again, are in a worse state than if they had never known the way of righteousness (2:20-21). On the other hand, those who move forward will become participants in the divine nature (1:4), which probably means that they will possess the immortality and moral perfection attributable to God (cf. 3:14). The point seems to be that Christians can have righteous lives already in this world full of corruption, and they can grow in the grace and knowledge of God while waiting for new heavens and a new earth, where “righteousness is at home” (3:13).

The letter of 2 Peter opens with a traditional salutation and blessing, identifying it as a message from the apostle “Simeon Peter” to all believers who share his faith (1:1-2). The author declares that God has provided believers with everything necessary for a godly life, and he exhorts them to capitalize upon this in fruitful ways that will confirm their election (1:3-11). His own death is near, and he is writing to them so that after he is gone they will be able to recall those things that they know now to be true (1:12-15). He was a witness to the transfiguration of Jesus, which confirms the truth of Christ’s power and coming, to which Spirit-inspired prophecies also attest (1:16-21). The author then announces that false teachers will arise in the church, marked by both “destructive opinions” and “licentious ways” (2:1-3a). He provides a brief history of God’s judgment upon the wicked to make clear that these false teachers will also be condemned (2:3b–10a). Then, he launches a blistering attack on the teachers, describing them as greedy, moral reprobates who promise freedom but deliver slavery (2:10b–22). The author says that he is writing to remind the readers to hold fast to the tradition delivered to them by prophets and apostles (3:1-2). Next, he turns his attention to the second coming of Jesus, dispelling arguments that scoffers use to reject its relevance (3:3-9) and exhorting the readers to live in anticipation of the fiery judgment and glorious salvation that it will bring (3:10-13). The letter concludes with a few final exhortations and a doxology to Jesus Christ (3:14-18).

v. 4 stole into the community 2:1 bring in opinions secretly

v. 4 long ago designated for condemnation 2:3 condemnation pronounced long ago

v. 4 pervert the grace of God 2:2 way of truth is maligned

v. 4 licentiousness 2:2 licentious ways

v. 4 deny our Master 2:1 even deny the Master

v. 6 angels kept in chains in deepest darkness for judgment 2:4 angels kept in chains in deepest darkness until judgment

v. 7 Sodom and Gomorrah serve as an example 2:6 Sodom and Gomorrah made an example

v. 7 unnatural lust 2:10 depraved lust

v. 8 defile the flesh, reject authority, and slander the glorious ones 2:10 indulge their flesh, despise authority, and slander the glorious ones

v. 9 archangel did not bring a condemnation of slander 2:11 angels do not bring a slanderous judgment

v. 10 slander what they do not understand 2:12 slander what they do not understand

v. 10 like irrational animals, live by instinct, and are destroyed 2:12 like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, will be destroyed

v. 11 “Woe to them!” 2:14 “Accursed children!”

v. 11 abandon themselves to Balaam’s error 2:15 follow the way of Balaam

v. 11 error for the sake of gain 2:15 wages of doing wrong v. 12 blemishes on your love feasts 2:13 blemishes (at your feasts)

v. 12 feast with you without fear 2:13 revel while they feast with you

v. 12 waterless clouds 2:17 waterless springs

v. 12 clouds carried along by the winds 2:17 mists driven by a storm

v. 13 deepest darkness reserved for them 2:17 deepest darkness reserved for them

v. 16 bombastic, flatter people 2:18 bombastic, entice people

v. 17 remember predictions of apostles 3:2 remember commandments spoken through apostles

v. 18 in the last time, scoffers will come, indulging their own lusts 3:3 in the last days, scoffers will come, indulging their own lusts

What was a “testament”? Basically, a testament presented the final words of some heroic figure as a deathbed soliloquy that provided insight on matters of contemporary relevance. These books always were pseudepigraphical, and they were popular not because readers thought that someone had actually discovered a long-lost message from a figure of the past but because sometimes the works really did seem to capture the essence of what the heroic individual stood for and to express what he or she might have wanted to say to the current generation. We have copies of numerous testaments, including the Testament of Moses, the Testament of Job, the Testaments of the Three Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob), and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (the twelve sons of Jacob). Such books were read widely by Jews in the Second Temple period and by both Jews and Christians in the first two centuries of the Christian era. Scholars have observed that 2 Peter contains the key elements of this genre of literature.

The only problem with viewing 2 Peter in these terms is that testaments were not usually incorporated into the format of a letter. Still, the dominant view of New Testament scholarship is that 2 Peter was written as “a testament in letter form.” Indeed, the combination of two genres (letter and testament) may be what got 2 Peter in trouble: because it looks like a letter rather than a testament, its pseudonymity seemed like a mark of forgery rather than a literary device. As a result, 2 Peter had a harder time gaining admittance to the canon than did books that were completely anonymous (Hebrews). It even met with more resistance than the similar letter of Jude, which church leaders did not like nearly as much but which they had no reason to suspect was pseudepigraphical.

A few scholars do think that 2 Peter can be regarded as a letter composed by the apostle Peter, written around 62–65, and sent by him from Rome to the same churches in Asia Minor to which he had written 1 Peter (see 1 Pet. 1:1; cf. 2 Pet. 3:1). The assumption for 2 Peter, then, is that Peter knew that his martyrdom was near (1:14) and wanted to summon their loyalty to his legacy and to warn them proleptically about future heretical teachers who, he knew, would come to them (2:1). This scenario takes everything in the letter at face value, but among modern New Testament scholars this is very much a minority position.

More often, 2 Peter is regarded as the latest book in the New Testament. The author assumes that his readers know the letters of Paul as a group or collection of writings that are studied, interpreted, and misinterpreted as scripture within the Christian church (3:15-16). Thus, many scholars conclude that 2 Peter was written in the second century, possibly a full generation later than any other New Testament book. An intermediate view holds that the letter is pseudepigraphical but was written somewhat earlier, around 80–100. This allows for it to have been written by a disciple of Peter—that is, someone who actually had known the apostle and felt authorized to speak in his name.

A primary purpose of the letter is to warn readers about false teachers and to counter the effects of “destructive opinions” (2:1).

A comparison of 2 Peter with Jude reveals that the people spreading dangerous ideas in both contexts appear to have several things in common:

· they are members of the Christian community who have gone astray (2 Pet. 2:15, 21–22; Jude 12);

· they operate surreptitiously in a manner that shows no respect for authority structures (2 Pet. 2:1, 10; Jude 4, 8);

· they profit from what they are doing and so may be governed by a love for money (2 Pet. 2:3; Jude 11);

· they entice or flatter people, fooling them into thinking that they have their interests at heart (2 Pet. 2:14, 18; Jude 16);

· they exhibit a lifestyle marked by shocking moral laxity (2 Pet. 2:10, 13; Jude 8, 18);

· they lure people into licentiousness, which may very well involve sexual exploitation (2 Pet. 2:2, 10, 14, 18; Jude 7–8, 16).

The author of 2 Peter also adds a couple of new allegations regarding his opponents that go beyond what is said of the troublemakers encountered in Jude:

· they scoff at the promise of Christ’s coming and seem to reject out of hand the notion that God will intervene in the world’s affairs or bring judgment (2 Pet. 3:3-9);

· they appear to rely upon idiosyncratic interpretations of scripture, twisting Old Testament prophecies and certain obscure passages in Paul’s letters to garner support for their ideas (1:20-21; 3:16).

Scholars struggle to connect the false teachers in 2 Peter with some identifiable group known to us from history. Two suggestions have been offered:

  1.  Christians influenced by Gnosticism (see pp. 39–41). Gnostics used creative mythologies to promote their ideas (cf. 1:16) and also were known for collecting the letters of Paul and interpreting them in ways that supported their way of thinking (cf. 3:15-16). Some gnostics were given to moral libertinism, based on a spiritualized notion of resurrection that defined salvation as a present experience that could have rendered the need for a parousia or final judgment obsolete. And gnostics rejected the role of God as creator of the earth, a point that is also emphatically proclaimed in this letter (3:5). 

  2.  Christians influenced by Epicureanism (see box 1.4 on p. 36). Epicureans rejected divine intervention into human affairs, claiming that the continuity of history revealed there was no need to appease the gods or fear their wrath (cf. 3:4). And, even though the philosophy was intended to inspire wise and responsible choices, it sometimes had the opposite effect, causing some Epicureans to become crass “pleasure seekers” who celebrated what was supposed to be freedom from anxiety as a total freedom from accountability instead (cf. 2:19).

Although we cannot be sure of the details, 2 Peter certainly addresses the problem of Christians living in a pluralistic society. The believers addressed in this letter are used to contending with the corruption of a world that is opposed to God (1:4; 2:20; cf. 2:8), but now the danger to their faith is coming from within the community itself. The dangerous ideas that the false teachers present in an enticing way are a threat not only to “unsteady souls” and recent converts (2:14, 18) but also to the more mature believers who are stable and established in the faith (1:12; 3:17).

In sum, the letter known as 2 Peter appears to be a communication from some representative of orthodox Christianity written in Peter’s name to urge believers to hold to traditional apostolic teaching, particularly with regard to eschatology and ethics (1:12, 15; 3:1-2). The author seeks to refute skepticism with regard to Christ’s parousia and the concomitant judgment (1:16; 3:1-4, 9), and he encourages his readers to strive for the true godliness that is to be the mark of all true believers (1:3-18). In doing this, the letter explicitly claims that it is offering nothing new: the goal is simply to remind the readers of what they already know (1:12), lest they lose their stability (3:17).

2 Peter.

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