2 Peter 3


2 Peter 3 is the third 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". The epistle is traditionally attributed to Peter the Apostle, but some scholars consider it to be a work of Peter's followers, written between 60 and 90 CE.

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:
There is an obvious relationship between the texts of [|2] Peter and the Epistle of Jude. Comparing the Greek text portions of 2 Peter 2:1–3:3 to Jude 4–18 results in 80 words in common and 7 words of substituted synonyms.
The shared passages are:
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 reminds the addressees about the writer to re-emphasize the epistle's authority before the exposition of the central issue in verses 3–13, the timing of Jesus' second coming.

Verse 1

Peter emphasizes the unity of this epistle with the first one and the consistency of his teaching with those of the prophets and apostles. Hugo Grotius suggested that these are the opening words of a new letter, rather than a reference to an earlier one.

Verse 2

Here Peter emphasizes the unity of the writings of the prophets in the Old Testament with the apostolic teachings in and.
A reading των αποστολων ημων εντολης is given in the Textus Receptus, and this is described by Heinrich Meyer as "the commonly accepted reading", whereas των αποστολων υμων εντολης is preferred in the Westcott-Hort critical text. Meyer calls the latter version "the true reading". Accordingly, some English translations refer to "the command given through your apostles" or others to "the commandment of us, the apostles...".

Verse 3

  • Cross reference:
  • "Walking after their own lusts" : doing as one pleases by thinking that there is no judgment.

    Verse 4

  • "The fathers": The reference to Noah's flood in verses 5–6 indicates that they are likely the Old Testament patriarchs.

    Verses 5–6

  • "Willingly ignorant" : 'conveniently forgotten' that God had intervened in judgment at the time of Noah's flood.

    Verse 8

  • "With the Lord one day is as a thousand years" indicates that God's perspective on time is very different from men's ; and any 'delay' is the result of God's mercy to give time for repentance.

    Verse 9

The Lord is not "slack", literally meaning the Lord does not delay or loiter. The same word is used in Timothy 3#Verse 15|1 Timothy 3:15] in reference to Paul's possible delay in travelling to meet Timothy in Ephesus. Marvin Vincent sees here "besides delay, the idea of lateness with reference to an appointed time".

Peroratio (3:14–18)

The final five verses of the epistle contain the concluding part of the discourse, starting with the phrase: "Therefore, beloved" and continue with a tone similar to the opening in the first chapter, echoing the 2 Peter 1:1–2 with the final words as the last reminder of this epistle's major theme, that is, 'the judgment day will come'.

Verses 15–16

  • "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'.
The reference to "all his epistles" indicates that the community of believers had started to gather Paul's epistles, although it need not imply that the collection was already complete.