EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/15/2025 10:22 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-9 “Introduction to 2 Peter”
Six 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 continue to quote from this sub-point “Petrine Authority Disputed.”
Much has been made of the differences in style between Peter’s two epistles. But the differences are not as significant as many confidently assert. The commentator Joseph Mayor, who denied that Peter wrote 2 Peter, nevertheless admitted, ‘There is not that chasm between [1 and 2 Peter] which some would try to make out’ (cited in D. Edmond Hiebert, Second Peter and Jude: And Expositional Commentary ‘Greenville, S.C. : Unusual Publications, 1989] , 12). Nor do the two brief epistles that Peter wrote provide enough material to definitively establish his style.
“Some argue that the vocabulary of the two epistles is so different that the same author could not have written both books. However, the percentage of words common to 1 and 2 Peter is roughly the same as the percentage common to 1 Timothy and Titus, both written by Paul and similar in content. It is also similar to the amount of common to the amount of common vocabulary found in 1 and 2 Corinthians (Kruger, ‘Authenticity, 656-57).
“The difference in vocabulary and style between 1 and 2 Peter can be accounted for in part by their different themes: 1 Peter was written to comfort those undergoing persecution, 2 Peter to warn of the danger of false teachers. Through it adds nothing to the argument, the differences in style may reflect that Silvanus (Silas) acted as Peter’s amanuensis for 1 Peter (1 Peter 5:12), a common practice in Peter’s day. Under the apostles direction, Silvanus may have smoothed out his grammar and syntax. But since Peter was most likely in prison when he wrote 2 Peter (see ‘Date, Place of Writing, and Destination’ on page 14), he might not have had access to an amanuensis and thus may have written the epistle in his own Hand.
“The change that 2 Peter reflects a grasp of Hellenistic philosophy beyond what Peter could be expected to know not only foolishly presumes to know what Peter actually knew, but also overlooks the influence of Peter’s environment on him. He was born and reared in Galilee, which even in Isaiah’s day was known as ‘Galilee of the Gentiles’ (Isa. 9:1). Nearby was the Gentile region known as the Decapolis (Matt. 4:25; Mark 5:20; 7:31). Further, it is now known that many of the Hellenistic terms Peter used were in common usage in his day. The apostle used terms his readers were familiar with, without investing them with the shades of meaning that the Greek philosophers gave them.
“Despite the supposed differences in style of 1 and 2 Peter, there are remarkable similarities between the books. The wording of the salutations of both epistles, ‘May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure’ (1 Peter 1:2) and ‘Grace and peace be multiplied to you’ (2 Peter 1:2), is identical in the Greek, and the phrase is found nowhere else in the New Testament. Other words common to both books but rare in the rest of the New Testament include arête (‘excellence’ ; 1 Peter 2:9; 2 Peter 1:3, 5), apothesis (‘removal,’ ‘laying aside’; 1 Peter 3:21; 2 Peter 1:14), Philadelphia (‘love of the brethren,’ ‘brotherly kindness’; 1 Peter 1:22; 2Peter 2:12; 3:1, 2, 16; 2 Peter 2:7; 3:11), and aselgeia (‘sensuality’ ; 1 Peter 4:3; 2 Peter 2:2,7, 18). Further, 2 Peter, like 1 Peter, contains Semitic expressions consistent with Peter’s Jewish background.”
9/15/2025 10:53 PM
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