27.9

Did Peter Write 2 Peter? (Box 27.2)

Most scholars believe the letter called “2 Peter” was written pseudepigraphically some years after the death of the apostle Pete. Here are a few reasons why:

• It does not appear to be written by the same person who wrote 1 Peter.
• It exhibits a reliance on Jude, which they think was written after (or close to) the time of Peter’s death.
• It is written from a strongly Hellenistic perspective inconsistent with what might be attributed to a person of Palestinian Jewish background.
• It regards the second coming of Christ as something that might not occur for thousands of years (3:8).
• It looks back on the time of the apostles as a sacred bygone era (3:2, 4).
• It refers to Paul’s letters as a collection of writings that are being interpreted as Scripture (3:15–16).
• It seeks to address the concerns of Christians a generation or more after Peter’s death.

These points are disputed by scholars who think that Peter did write the letter.