Peter warns of the impending end of the World
A SCEPTICAL BIBLE READING OF THE SECOND
EPISTLE OF PETER
Chapter 1
Much shorter than
1 Peter.
Like the preceding Epistle, 2 Peter is addressed to all
Christians and intended for mass circulation. After general greetings and
wishes for God to be with and in all, Peter reveals that he expects to die
soon. (Verse 14)
He reflects with pride on being present when Jesus
delivered his Sermon on the Mount.
He then changes
tone and becomes a hellfire preacher, criticizing false teachers within the
Christian orders. He reminds us of the Flood and Sodom & Gomorrah. The good may suffer
now, as Lot did, but their hour of deliverance is at hand. Lot, you may recall,
got kidnapped by an invading army, lost his wife in the destruction of Sodom,
hid out his last days in a cave and got raped in his bed by his own daughters.
Accepting that
some evil comes of mere ignorance of the good, Peter is particularly unforgiving of
Christians who have seen the light (been converted) but still consciously,
wilfully misbehave. He compares them with little subtlety or charm to (verse
22) “a dog returning to its own vomit.”
Chapter 3
He worries about Christians who scoff at his notion of the
end of the world’s imminence. He warns everyone to repent before it is too
late. He is very much of a ‘The End Is Nigh’ pitch of hysteria now. He tells
the Christians that they could be risking being like those in Noah’s time who
chose not to believe the Flood was imminent. (This is an odd example as God
clearly intended to save Noah and family among the humans anyway).
The end-times will come swiftly according to Peter,
catching us unaware if we are not vigilant. He uses the poetic, well known and
often quoted phrase, “like a thief in the night” (Verse10).
Peter seems to be ranting, demanding repentance and mass
conversions. Here is the Bible at its fiercest and most passionate in calling
on us to change our ways. Even Revelations is discreet by comparison to 2
Peter.
This is the first
New Testament book to recognize the preceding works
as a set body of scripture, indicating that the books from the Gospels onwards
were now being anthologised into the canon.
Arthur Chappell
© Copyright. Arthur Chappell
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