2 Peter 1 King James Version (KJV)
1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.
15 Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Commentary
A year or two after writing his first letter, Peter wrote and sent off the letter that we know as 2 Peter. It appears to have been sent to the same group of churches as 1 Peter, namely, churches of the northern provinces of Asia Minor where he had carried out a widespread evangelistic and pastoral ministry
| 2 Peter Commentary |
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| 2 Peter 1 Commentary |
| 2 Peter 2 Commentary |
| 2 Peter 3 Commentary |
| 2 Peter KJV |
(2 Peter 3:1; cf 1 Peter 1:1).
Reasons for writing
At the time of writing, Peter was in prison in Rome, probably awaiting execution (2 Peter 1:14). (According to tradition he was crucified in Rome during the latter half of the AD 60s.) He had heard of the activity of false teachers, and wanted to reassure the Christians of certain truths he had taught them
(2 Peter 1:10-16).
The false teaching seems to have included ideas that became fully developed in the Gnostic heresies of the second century. Gnostics were people who claimed to have higher spiritual knowledge (see background notes to Colossians and 1 John), but this led to a separation between belief and behaviour. They argued that their knowledge placed them in a realm where the deeds of the body no longer affected the purity of the soul. Therefore, for people who possessed this higher knowledge, immoral practices were not wrong.
Peter announced God’s punishment on those who taught such things, and urged true Christians to pursue holiness with greater diligence (2 Peter 1:5-8; 2:1-3). He also opposed those who mocked the Christians’ belief in the return of Jesus Christ. Again he condemned the false teachers but reassured the believers (2 Peter 3:3-4,9-10).
Some illustrations and arguments that Peter used in this letter are similar to those found in the letter of Jude. This suggests that both writers used material that was in common use among those who opposed the false teaching.