PT-6 “Introduction to 2 Peter”

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/12/2025 8:39 PM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus: PT-6 “Introduction to 2 Peter”

            Three days ago on my SD on 2 Peter I began to look at “Petrine Authority Disputed” which speaks of how those who could well be titled as apostates were saying that 2 Peter was not really written by the Apostle Peter, and in this rather long section with different sub-points in it John MacArthur defends the truth that Peter really did write this letter that we find in our New Testament.  I have stated that God is and always was in control of what was written in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments and that reason is good enough for me to know that 2 Peter is a part of the New Testament.  Now I will begin to continue to quote from this sub-point “Petrine Authority Disputed.”

            “The Shepherd of Hermas, also dating from the early years of the second century, says, ‘Go, and tell all men to repent and they shall live unto God; for the Lord in His compassion sent me to give repentance to all, though some of them do not deserve it for their deeds; but being long-suffering the Lord willeth them that were called through His Son to be saved’ (Similitude 8.11.1).  The similarity to 2 Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance,’ is remarkable.

            “That 2 Peter was known in the second century is further suggested by two Gnostic works, The Gospel of Truth and The Apocryphon of John, which contain probable allusions to it.

            “At about the same time that the apostle John penned the book of Revelation (the midnineties of the first century), Clemet of Rome wrote, ‘Let this scripture be far from us where He saith, ‘Wretched are the double-minded, which doubt in their soul and say, ‘These things we did hear in the days of our fathers also, and behold we have grown old, and none of these things hath befallen us’’’(1 Clement 23:3).  Clement seems to be echoing 2 Peter 3:4, which reads ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.’  Both passages relate the skepticism of false teachers, and both go on to warn that judgment is coming (1 Clement 23.5; 2 Peter 3:10).

            “Two other passages in 1 Clement use Greek phrases found in the New Testament only in 2 Peter and in no other extrabiblical writing of that era.  Both use the phrase translated ‘excellent (The NASB renders the same Greek word ‘Majestic’) in reference to God (1 Clement 9.2; 2 Peter 1:17); both also describe the Christian faith as ‘the way of truth’ (1 Clement 35:5; 2 Peter 2:2).

            “Finally, if 2 Peter was written before Jude, then Jude, then Jude is the earliest document to cite it (see the discussion of the relationship between Jude and 2 Peter in the ‘Introduction to Jude’ later in this volume).”  Now it should be noted that I studied the book of Jude before I began this introduction to 2 Peter, so that would also be on my blogs earlier, perhaps last month). “The critics argument that 2 Peter’s supposed literary dependence on Jude proves it was written after Peter’s lifetime depends on two assumptions.  First, the author of 2 Peter had to have borrowed from Jude.  Second, Jude had to have been written after Peter’s lifetime.  Neither assumption, however, can be proved.”

            Now with that I will end this introduction for this evening.  I am asking for prayers for my wife who received some difficult news about her cancer as it has spread to different parts of her body.  Thanks in advance for praying.

9/12/2025 9:06 PM