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AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS.--If not a gross imposture, its own internal witness is unequivocal in its favor. It has Peter's name and apostleship in its heading: not only his surname, but his original name Simon, or Simeon, he thus, at the close of his life, reminding his readers who he originally was before his call. Again, in 2Pe 1:16-18, he mentions his presence at the Transfiguration, and Christ's prophecy of his death! and in 2Pe 3:15, his brotherhood with Paul. Again, in 2Pe 3:1, the author speaks of himself as author of the former Epistle: it is, moreover, addressed so as to include (but not to be restricted to) the same persons as the first, whom he presupposes to be acquainted with the writings of Paul, by that time recognized as "Scripture" (2Pe 3:15, "the long-suffering of God," compare Ro 2:4). This necessarily implies a late date, when Paul's Epistles (including Romans) already had become generally diffused and accepted as Scripture in the Church. The Church of the fourth century had, besides the testimony which we have of the doubts of the earlier Christians, other external evidence which we have not, and which, doubtless, under God's overruling providence, caused them to accept it. It is hard to understand how a book palpably false (as it would be if Peter be not the author) could have been accepted in the Canon as finally established in the Councils of Laodicea, A.D. 360 (if the fifty-ninth article be genuine), Hippo, and Carthage in the fourth century (393 and 397). The whole tone and spirit of the Epistle disprove its being an imposture. He writes as one not speaking of himself, but moved by the Holy Ghost (2Pe 1:21). An attempt at such a fraud in the first ages would have brought only shame and suffering, alike from Christians and heathen, on the perpetrator: there was then no temptation to pious frauds as in later times. That it must have been written in the earliest age is plain from the wide gulf in style which separates it and the other New Testament Scriptures from even the earliest and best of the post-apostolic period. DAILLE well says, "God has allowed a fosse to be drawn by human weakness around the sacred canon to protect it from all invasion."
Traces of acquaintance with it appear in the earliest Fathers. HERMAS [Similitudes, 6.4] (compare 2Pe 2:13), Greek, "luxury in the day . . . luxuriating with their own deceivings"; and [Shepherd, Vision 3.7], "They have left their true way" (compare 2Pe 2:15); and [Shepherd, Vision 4.3], "Thou hast escaped this world" (compare 2Pe 2:20). CLEMENT OF ROME, [Epistle to the Corinthians, 7.9; 10], as to Noah's preaching and Lot's deliverance, "the Lord making it known that He does not abandon those that trust in Him, but appoints those otherwise inclined to judgment" (compare 2Pe 2:5,6,7,9). IRENÆUS, A.D. 178 ("the day of the Lord is as a thousand years"), and JUSTIN MARTYR seem to allude to 2Pe 3:8. HIPPOLYTUS [On Antichrist], seems to refer to 2Pe 1:21, "The prophets spake not of their own private (individual) ability and will, but what was (revealed) to them alone by God." The difficulty is, neither TERTULLIAN, CYPRIAN, CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, nor the oldest Syriac (Peschito) version (the later Syriac has it), nor the fragment known as Muratori's Canon, mentions it. The first writer who has expressly named it is ORIGEN, in the third century (Homily on Joshua; also Homily 4 on Leviticus, and Homily 13 on Numbers), who names it "Scripture," quoting 2Pe 1:4 2:16; however (in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 6.25]), he mentions that the Second Epistle was doubted by some. FIRMILIAN, bishop of Cappadocia, in Epistle to Cyrpian speaks of Peter's Epistles as warning us to avoid heretics (a monition which occurs in the Second, not the First Epistle). Now Cappadocia is one of the countries mentioned (compare 1Pe 1:1 with 2Pe 3:1) as addressed; and it is striking, that from Cappadocia we get the earliest decisive testimony. "Internally it claims to be written by Peter, and this claim is confirmed by the Christians of that very region in whose custody it ought to have been found" [TREGELLES].
The books disputed (Antilegomena), as distinguished from those universally recognized (Homologoumena), are Epistles Second Peter, James, Second and Third John, Jude, the Apocalypse, Epistle to Hebrews (compare EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.3,25]). The Antilegomena stand in quite a different class from the Spurious; of these there was no dispute, they were universally rejected; for example, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Revelation of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM (A.D. 348) enumerates seven Catholic Epistles, including Second Peter; so also GREGORY NAZIANZEN (A.D. 389), and EPIPHANIUS (A.D. 367). The oldest Greek manuscripts extant (of the fourth century) contain the Antilegomena. JEROME [On Illustrious Men], conjectured, from a supposed difference of style between the two Epistles, that Peter, being unable to write Greek, employed a different translator of his Hebrew dictation in the Second Epistle, and not the same as translated the First into Greek. Mark is said to have been his translator in the case of the Gospel according to Mark; but this is all gratuitous conjecture. Much of the same views pervade both Epistles. In both alike he looks for the Lord's coming suddenly, and the end of the world (compare 2Pe 3:8-10 with 1Pe 4:5); the inspiration of the prophets (compare 1Pe 1:10-12 with 2Pe 1:19-21 3:2); the new birth by the divine word a motive to abstinence from worldly lusts (1Pe 1:22 2:2; compare 2Pe 1:4); also compare 1Pe 2:9 with 2Pe 1:3, both containing in the Greek the rare word "virtue" (1Pe 4:17 with 2Pe 2:3).
It is not strange that distinctive peculiarities of STYLE should mark each Epistle, the design of both not being the same. Thus the sufferings of Christ are more prominent in the First Epistle, the object there being to encourage thereby Christian sufferers; the glory of the exalted Lord is more prominent in the Second, the object being to communicate fuller "knowledge" of Him as the antidote to the false teaching against which Peter warns his readers. Hence His title of redemption, "Christ," is the one employed in the First Epistle; but in the Second Epistle, "the Lord." Hope is characteristic of the First Epistle; full knowledge, of the Second Epistle. In the First Epistle he puts his apostolic authority less prominently forward than in the Second, wherein his design is to warn against false teachers. The same difference is observable in Paul's Epistles. Contrast 1Th 1:1 2Th 1:1 Php 1:1, with Ga 1:1 1Co 1:1. The reference to Paul's writings as already existing in numbers, and as then a recognized part of Scripture (2Pe 3:15,16), implies that this Epistle was written at a late date, just before Peter's death.
Striking verbal coincidences occur: compare 1Pe 1:19, end, with 2Pe 3:14, end; 2Pe 1:3, "His own," Greek, 2Pe 2:16 3:17 with 1Pe 3:1,5. The omission of the Greek article, 1Pe 2:13 with 2Pe 1:21,2:4,5,7. Moreover, two words occur, 2Pe 1:13, "tabernacle," that is, the body, and 2Pe 1:15, "decease," which at once remind us of the transfiguration narrative in the Gospel. Both Epistles refer to the deluge, and to Noah as the eighth that was saved. Though the First Epistle abounds in quotations of the Old Testament, whereas the Second contains none, yet references to the Old Testament occur often (2Pe 1:21 2:5-8,15 3:5,6,10,13). Compare Greek, 1Pe 3:21, "putting away," with 2Pe 1:14; 1Pe 1:17, Greek, "pass the time," with 2Pe 2:18; 1Pe 4:3, "walked in," with 2Pe 2:10 3:3; "called you," 1Pe 1:15 2:9 5:10, with 2Pe 1:3.
Moreover, more verbal coincidences with the speeches of Peter in Acts occur in this Second, than in the First Epistle. Compare Greek, "obtained," 2Pe 1:1 with Ac 1:17; 2Pe 1:6, Greek, "godliness," with Ac 3:12, the only passage where the term occurs, except in the Pastoral Epistles; and 2Pe 2:9 with Ac 10:2,7; 2Pe 2:9, "punished," with Ac 4:21, the only places where the term occurs; 2Pe 3:2, the double genitive, with Ac 5:32; "the day of the Lord," 2Pe 3:10, with Ac 2:20, where only it occurs, except in 1Th 5:2.
The testimony of Jude, Jude 1:17,18, is strong for its genuineness and inspiration, by adopting its very words, and by referring to it as received by the churches to which he, Jude, wrote, "Remember the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts." Jude, therefore, must have written after Second Peter, to which he plainly refers; not before, as ALFORD thinks. No less than eleven passages of Jude rest on similar statements of Second Peter. Jude 1:2, compare 2Pe 1:2; Jude 1:4, compare 2Pe 2:1; Jude 1:6, compare 2Pe 2:4; Jude 1:7, compare 2Pe 2:6; Jude 1:8, compare 2Pe 2:10; Jude 1:9, compare 2Pe 2:11; Jude 1:11, compare 2Pe 2:15; Jude 1:12, compare 2Pe 2:17; Jude 1:16, compare 2Pe 2:18; Jude 1:18, compare 2Pe 2:1 3:3. Just in the same way Micah, Mic 4:1-4, leans on the somewhat earlier prophecy of Isaiah, whose inspiration he thereby confirms. ALFORD reasons that because Jude, in many of the passages akin to Second Peter, is fuller than Second Peter, he must be prior. This by no means follows. It is at least as likely, if not more so, that the briefer is the earlier, rather than the fuller. The dignity and energy of the style is quite consonant to what we should expect from the prompt and ardent foreman of the apostles. The difference of style between First and Second Peter accords with the distinctness of the subjects and objects.
OBJECT.--In 2Pe 3:17,18 the twofold design of the Epistle is set forth; namely, to guard his readers against "the error" of false teachers, and to exhort them to grow in experimental "knowledge of our Lord and Saviour" (2Pe 3:18). The ground on which this knowledge rests is stated, 2Pe 1:12-21, namely, the inspired testimony of apostles and prophets. The danger now, as of old, was about to arise from false teachers, who soon were to come among them, as Paul also (to whom reference is made, 2Pe 3:15,16) testified in the same region. The grand antidote is "the full knowledge of our Lord and Saviour," through which we know God the Father, partake of His nature, escape from the pollutions of the world, and have entrance into Christ's kingdom. The aspect of Christ presented is not so much that of the past suffering, as of the future reigning, Saviour, His present power, and future new kingdom. This aspect is taken as best fitted to counteract the theories of the false teachers who should "deny" His Lordship and His coming again, the two very points which, as an apostle and eye-witness, Peter attests (His "power" and His "coming"); also, to counteract their evil example in practice, blaspheming the way of truth, despising governments, slaves to covetousness and filthy lusts of the flesh, while boasting of Christian freedom, and, worst of all, apostates from the truth. The knowledge of Christ, as being the knowledge of "the way of righteousness," "the right way," is the antidote of their bad practice. Hence "the preacher" of righteousness, Noah, and "righteous Lot," are instanced as escaping the destruction which overtook the "unjust" or "unrighteous"; and Balaam is instanced as exemplifying the awful result of "unrighteousness" such as characterized the false teachers. Thus the Epistle forms one connected whole, the parts being closely bound together by mutual relation, and the end corresponding with the beginning; compare 2Pe 3:14,18 with 2Pe 1:2, in both "grace" and "peace" being connected with "the knowledge" of our Saviour; compare also 2Pe 3:17 with 2Pe 1:4,10,12; and 2Pe 3:18, "grow in grace and knowledge," with the fuller 2Pe 1:5-8; and 2Pe 2:21; and 2Pe 3:13, "righteousness," with 2Pe 1:1; and 2Pe 3:1 with 2Pe 1:13; and 2Pe 3:2 with 2Pe 1:19.
The germs of Carpocratian and Gnostic heresies already existed, but the actual manifestation of these heresies is spoken of as future (2Pe 2:1,2, &c.): another proof that this Epistle was written, as it professes, in the apostolic age, before the development of the Gnostic heresies in the end of the first and the beginning of the second centuries. The description is too general to identify the heresies with any particular one of the subsequent forms of heresy, but applies generally to them all.
Though altogether distinct in aim from the First Epistle, yet a connection may be traced. The neglect of the warnings to circumspection in the walk led to the evils foretold in the Second Epistle. Compare the warning against the abuse of Christian freedom, 1Pe 2:16 with 2Pe 2:19, "While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption"; also the caution against pride, 1Pe 5:5,6 with 2Pe 2:18, "they speak great swellin g words of vanity."
I. Introduction.
A. Letter was written by the apostle Peter (1:1).
B. Letter written to "them that have obtained a like precious faith"
(1:1).
1. The book of first Peter was written to Jews and Gentiles
dispersed throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and
Bithynia (1 Pet. 1:1).
2. The second letter of Peter was written to the same audience
(1 Pet. 3:1).
a. Faith is precious (valuable) (1:1).
b. Faith is obtained in the righteousness of our God Jesus
Christ (1:1).
c. Righteousness is the quality of being right, or just, and is an
attribute of God. Righteousness is whatever conforms to
the revealed will of God.
d. Jesus was made perfect by his obedience to the will of the
heavenly Father. This was his righteousness. Our precious
faith is in the righteousness of Christ. We are righteous
when we, following the example of Jesus, obey the
commands of God (See Psa. 119:172).
C. Peter commends them to the good gifts of God (grace) and to
magnified peace (1:1).
II. Exhortation to Spiritual Growth (1:2-21).
A. God gives us all things that belong to peace and righteousness
(1:3).
1. The divine power of God gives us peace and righteousness
(1:3).
2. This power works in us through the knowledge of Jesus
who called through his gospel and by his power and honor
(1:3).
B The exceeding great promises of Christ (1:4).
1. Those who have the precious faith are made partakers of the
divine nature (1:4).
a. The divine nature in which the saved partake is not the
natural qualities of God, for finite mortals cannot have
these features, else they would be God.
b. The divine nature we receive is the moral traits of God,
which the writer proceeds to name.
2. Those who are made partakers in the divine nature have
escaped the corruption that is in the world through human
lust (1:4).
C. The impressive beauty of Christian character (1:5-10).
1. We must work hard to develop the traits which God commands us
to have (1:5).
2. Virtue is to be added to faith (1:5). Virtue in this verse
means power or strength, and not moral excellence.
3. In our spiritual power we are to supply knowledge (1:5).
a. Knowledge of Christ and his word, which is absolute
truth, is necessary to salvation (John 8:32; 1 Pet. 1:23).
b. God's truth given in his revealed word lives and tarries
and is incorruptible (1 Pet. 1:23).
4. We are to add self-control to our knowledge (1:6).
5. To our self-control we are to add patience (1:6).
6. To our patience we must add the love of God (1:6).
7. To our love for God we add love of our brethren in Christ
(1:7).
8. To our love of the brethren we are to add love for all
mankind (1:7).
D. The necessity of rigorous application of these teachings to our
life (1:8-11).
1. If these virtues abound in your life, you are not slothful and
unproductive in the knowledge of Christ (1:8).
2. The person who does not add these characteristics to his
faith is spiritually blind (1:9-11).
a. He sees only what is near to him (1:9).
b. He has forgotten the joy of salvation (1:9).
3. Work hard at adding these qualities to your faith to avoid
falling from the grace of God (1:10).
4. Such conduct will assure your entrance into heaven (1:11).
E. The need to be reminded of what we already know (1:12-14).
1. Those who have a precious faith are established in truth, but
still need to recall foundational lessons (1:12).
2. Peter thought it necessary, as long as he was in his body of
flesh on earth, to put us in remembrance (1:13).
3. Peter knew he would die suddenly and violently (1:14). He
did not know when it would happen, and therefore, was
earnest in pressing these lessons on his brethren (1:14).
4. He wanted them to be able to remember his teaching after
he was dead (1:15).
E. The reason for diligent application to Christian principles
(1:16-21).
1. Peter and the other apostles did not follow cleverly cooked
up myths (1:16).
a. They were eyewitnesses of the majesty of Jesus (1:16).
b. God the Father acknowledged Jesus and confirmed his
claims (1:17-18).
c. Peter, James, and John heard the voice of God out of heaven
validating Jesus as his son when they were on the mount
of transfiguration (Matt. 17:5).
2. The voice of God confirming the deity of Jesus made the
word of prophecy more sure (1:19).
a. You will do well to listen to the teaching of Jesus and his
apostles (1:19).
b. God's revelation is like a lamp shining in a dark place,
until the day of final judgment comes, and Christ appears in
the glory of the morning star (1:19).
3. The words of the prophets were not their invention (1:20-
21).
a. Prophecy does not come by the will of the prophet, but by
inspiration of the Holy Spirit (1:21).
b. Since it is the work of God, we must give careful
attention to it.
III. Warning Against False Teachers (2:1-22).
A. False teachers will continue to appear (2:1-3).
1. False prophets came among the people in the past (2:1).
2. False teachers will also come to you (2:1).
a. They will bring false teaching that destroys (2:1).
b. They will deny Christ and bring swift destruction upon
themselves and upon those who receive their false
teaching (2:1).
3. The false teachers will have a big audience, and their
conduct will cause the truth to be spoken against (2:2).
4. The false teachers will be mercenary and greedy, but their
sure destruction is on the way; God will not fail to punish
them (2:3).
B. The judgment and punishment of God does not dwindle and
waste away (2:4-19).
1. When angels sinned, God put them in pits of darkness
awaiting the final judgment (2:4).
2. God destroyed the ancient world by a flood of water (2:5).
3. God burned to ashes the ungodly of Sodom and Gomorrah,
but delivered righteous Lot (2:6-8).
4. The preservation of Noah and Lot, and the destruction of
the others, proves that God rescues the righteous and
condemns the guilty (2:9).
5. The nature of ungodly sinners (2:10).
a. They walk after the flesh in the unnatural lust of
defilement (2:10).
b. They despise the government of God, and in foolhardy
self-will ridicule constituted authority (2:10).
6. The reaction of the angels in heaven (2:11).
a. Righteous angels are greater in power than sinning angels
but still do not rant and rave toward the fallen; they set an
example of moderation which we must imitate (2:11).
7. The attitude and work of false teachers (2:12-19).
a. They are like animals and cannot think (2:12).
b. They are angry and abusive in matters in which they are
ignorant (2:12).
c. They set out to destroy, and shall themselves be destroyed
(2:12).
d. They will receive their just comeuppance (2:13).
e. They carry vice to its greatest pitch and enjoy daytime
debauches (2:13).
f. They are spots and blemishes on the body of Christ
(2:13).
g. They wallow in their guile as they hypocritically
participate in your love feasts (2:13).
h. They have eyes full of adultery (2:14).
i. They cannot stop sinning (2:14).
j. They seduce the unstable (2:14).
k. They are covetous and profane (2:14).
l. They leave the right and do the wrong, following in the
way of Balaam who could be paid to do evil (2:15-16).
m. They profess to be able to teach, but are really wells
without water and clouds without rain; they are reserved
for the blackness of darkness (2:17).
n. They use great, swelling words to cover their ignorance
and entice new converts by lust and lasciviousness (2:18).
o. They promise to make men free from the restraint of law
and commands, but are themselves the slaves of sin
(2:19).
C. Thoughts on fatal apostasy (2:20-22).
1. Saved by a knowledge of Jesus--by his truth--if they go
back into sin, their last condition is worse than it was before
they were saved (2:20).
a. They would have been better off to have never known
the truth than to turn away from the holy commandment
delivered to them (2:21).
b. As the proverb says, they are like dogs eating their own
vomit, or a washed sow wallowing again in the mire
(2:22).
IV. The Second Coming of the Lord (3:1-18).
A. Scoffers will deny his coming (3:1-7)
1. Peter wanted to stir up pure minds by putting them in
remembrance (3:1-2).
a. Remember the words of the prophets (3:2).
b. Remember the commands of the Lord given through the
apostles (3:2).
2. In the last days scoffers would deny that the prophecy
concerning the second coming of Jesus would be fulfilled
(3:4).
a. These scoffers walk after their own lust (3:4).
b. Scoffers would deny his coming on the grounds that all
things continue as they were from the beginning of
creation (3:4).
3. They willfully forget the flood of Noah's time (3:5-6).
a. The world before the flood was "compacted out of water
and amidst water, by the word of God" (3:5).
b. There has been an alteration in the world's makeup since
the time of the flood (3:5).
c. The world before the flood was overflowed with water,
and perished by the word of God (3:6).
d. Therefore all things have not continued as they were from
the beginning of creation.
4. The present world is doomed to destruction by fire (3:7).
B. The reason for the delayed destruction of the world by fire
(3:8-16).
1. With God one day is as a thousand years and a thousand
years as one day (2 Pet. 3:8).
a. This does not mean that God cannot tell time nor read a
calendar.
b. It simply means that time has no meaning to God since he
inhabits eternity.
2. God's promise is sure (3:9).
a. Notice it is promise (singular) and points to the promise
of the second coming of Jesus and the destruction of the
world and the judgment (3:9).
b. God delays the destruction to give sinners time to repent
(3:9)
c. Those who do not repent will perish (3:9).
3. The final day of the world will come without warning, like a
thief (3:10-13).
a. The atmosphere around the world will pass away with a
great noise (3:10).
b. The elements will dissolve with intense heat and the earth
and all works therein will be burned up (3:10).
c. Since all material things are to perish, what kind of person
do you think you should be in all holy living and
godliness (3:11)?
d. We should look for and fervently desire the coming of the
Lord and the destruction of the world (3:12).
e. Christians look for a better world of perfect righteousness
(3:13).
4. The hope of the coming of Christ should intensify our godly
living (3:14-16).
a. We should apply ourselves with great effort to be in
peace, sinless and blameless in his sight (3:14).
b. God's delay in destroying the present system is for our
salvation (3:15).
c. Paul wrote this same thing to you (3:15).
d. Paul wrote things hard to be understood and the careless
wrest this to their destruction (3:16).
C. Closing remarks and appeal (3:17-18).
1. Knowing the Lord is coming, the world will be destroyed,
and we will be judged, do not be carried away by the false
teaching of the wicked (3:17).
2. Grow in grace and knowledge through a painstaking study
of the revealed word (3:18).
"Simon was a Galilean, and he was that out and out...The Galileans had a marked character of their own. They had a reputation for an independence and energy which often ran out into turbulence. They were at the same time of a franker and more transparent disposition than their brethren in the south. In all these respects, in bluntness, impetuosity, headiness, and simplicity, Simon was a genuine Galilean. They spoke a peculiar dialect. They had a difficulty with the guttural sounds and some others, and their pronunciation was reckoned harsh in Judea. The Galilean accent stuck to Simon all through his career. It betrayed him as a follower of Christ when he stood within the judgment-hall (Mark 14:70). It betrayed his own nationality and that of those conjoined with him on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:7)." It would seem that Simon was married before he became an apostle. His wife's mother is referred to (Matt. 8:14; Mark 1:30; Luke 4:38). He was in all probability accompanied by his wife on his missionary journeys (1 Cor. 9:5; comp. 1 Pet. 5:13).
He appears to have been settled at Capernaum when Christ entered on his public ministry, and may have reached beyond the age of thirty. His house was large enough to give a home to his brother Andrew, his wife's mother, and also to Christ, who seems to have lived with him (Mark 1:29, 36; 2:1), as well as to his own family. It was apparently two stories high (2:4).
At Bethabara (R.V., John 1:28, "Bethany"), beyond Jordan, John the Baptist had borne testimony concerning Jesus as the "Lamb of God" (John 1:29-36). Andrew and John hearing it, followed Jesus, and abode with him where he was. They were convinced, by his gracious words and by the authority with which he spoke, that he was the Messiah (Luke 4:22; Matt. 7:29); and Andrew went forth and found Simon and brought him to Jesus (John 1:41).
Jesus at once recognized Simon, and declared that hereafter he would be called Cephas, an Aramaic name corresponding to the Greek Petros, which means "a mass of rock detached from the living rock." The Aramaic name does not occur again, but the name Peter gradually displaces the old name Simon, though our Lord himself always uses the name Simon when addressing him (Matt. 17:25; Mark 14:37; Luke 22:31, comp. 21:15-17). We are not told what impression the first interview with Jesus produced on the mind of Simon. When we next meet him it is by the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 4:18-22). There the four (Simon and Andrew, James and John) had had an unsuccessful night's fishing. Jesus appeared suddenly, and entering into Simon's boat, bade him launch forth and let down the nets. He did so, and enclosed a great multitude of fishes. This was plainly a miracle wrought before Simon's eyes. The awe-stricken disciple cast himself at the feet of Jesus, crying, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5:8). Jesus addressed him with the assuring words, "Fear not," and announced to him his life's work. Simon responded at once to the call to become a disciple, and after this we find him in constant attendance on our Lord.
He is next called into the rank of the apostleship, and becomes a "fisher of men" (Matt. 4:19) in the stormy seas of the world of human life (Matt. 10:2-4; Mark 3:13-19; Luke 6:13-16), and takes a more and more prominent part in all the leading events of our Lord's life. It is he who utters that notable profession of faith at Capernaum (John 6:66-69), and again at Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:13-20; Mark 8:27-30; Luke 9:18-20). This profession at Caesarea was one of supreme importance, and our Lord in response used these memorable words: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church."
"From that time forth" Jesus began to speak of his sufferings. For this Peter rebuked him. But our Lord in return rebuked Peter, speaking to him in sterner words than he ever used to any other of his disciples (Matt. 16:21-23; Mark 8:31-33). At the close of his brief sojourn at Caesarea our Lord took Peter and James and John with him into "an high mountain apart," and was transfigured before them. Peter on that occasion, under the impression the scene produced on his mind, exclaimed, "Lord, it is good for us to be here: let us make three tabernacles" (Matt. 17:1-9).
On his return to Capernaum the collectors of the temple tax (a didrachma, half a sacred shekel), which every Israelite of twenty years old and upwards had to pay (Ex. 30:15), came to Peter and reminded him that Jesus had not paid it (Matt. 17:24-27). Our Lord instructed Peter to go and catch a fish in the lake and take from its mouth the exact amount needed for the tax, viz., a stater, or two half-shekels. "That take," said our Lord, "and give unto them for me and thee."
As the end was drawing nigh, our Lord sent Peter and John (Luke 22:7-13) into the city to prepare a place where he should keep the feast with his disciples. There he was forewarned of the fearful sin into which he afterwards fell (22:31-34). He accompanied our Lord from the guest-chamber to the garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-46), which he and the other two who had been witnesses of the transfiguration were permitted to enter with our Lord, while the rest were left without. Here he passed through a strange experience. Under a sudden impulse he cut off the ear of Malchus (47-51), one of the band that had come forth to take Jesus. Then follow the scenes of the judgment-hall (54-61) and his bitter grief (62).
He is found in John's company early on the morning of the resurrection. He boldly entered into the empty grave (John 20:1-10), and saw the "linen clothes laid by themselves" (Luke 24:9-12). To him, the first of the apostles, our risen Lord revealed himself, thus conferring on him a signal honour, and showing how fully he was restored to his favour (Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5). We next read of our Lord's singular interview with Peter on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where he thrice asked him, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" (John 21:1-19). (See LOVE.)
After this scene at the lake we hear nothing of Peter till he again appears with the others at the ascension (Acts 1:15-26). It was he who proposed that the vacancy caused by the apostasy of Judas should be filled up. He is prominent on the day of Pentecost (2:14-40). The events of that day "completed the change in Peter himself which the painful discipline of his fall and all the lengthened process of previous training had been slowly making. He is now no more the unreliable, changeful, self-confident man, ever swaying between rash courage and weak timidity, but the stead-fast, trusted guide and director of the fellowship of believers, the intrepid preacher of Christ in Jerusalem and abroad. And now that he is become Cephas indeed, we hear almost nothing of the name Simon (only in Acts 10:5, 32; 15:14), and he is known to us finally as Peter."
After the miracle at the temple gate (Acts 3) persecution arose against the Christians, and Peter was cast into prison. He boldly defended himself and his companions at the bar of the council (4:19, 20). A fresh outburst of violence against the Christians (5:17-21) led to the whole body of the apostles being cast into prison; but during the night they were wonderfully delivered, and were found in the morning teaching in the temple. A second time Peter defended them before the council (Acts 5:29-32), who, "when they had called the apostles and beaten them, let them go."
The time had come for Peter to leave Jerusalem. After labouring for some time in Samaria, he returned to Jerusalem, and reported to the church there the results of his work (Acts 8:14-25). Here he remained for a period, during which he met Paul for the first time since his conversion (9:26-30; Gal. 1:18). Leaving Jerusalem again, he went forth on a missionary journey to Lydda and Joppa (Acts 9:32-43). He is next called on to open the door of the Christian church to the Gentiles by the admission of Cornelius of Caesarea (ch. 10).
After remaining for some time at Caesarea, he returned to Jerusalem (Acts 11:1-18), where he defended his conduct with reference to the Gentiles. Next we hear of his being cast into prison by Herod Agrippa (12:1-19); but in the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison gates, and he went forth and found refuge in the house of Mary.
He took part in the deliberations of the council in Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-31; Gal. 2:1-10) regarding the relation of the Gentiles to the church. This subject had awakened new interest at Antioch, and for its settlement was referred to the council of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. Here Paul and Peter met again.
We have no further mention of Peter in the Acts of the Apostles. He seems to have gone down to Antioch after the council at Jerusalem, and there to have been guilty of dissembling, for which he was severely reprimanded by Paul (Gal. 2:11-16), who "rebuked him to his face."
After this he appears to have carried the gospel to the east, and to have laboured for a while at Babylon, on the Euphrates (1 Pet. 5:13). There is no satisfactory evidence that he was ever at Rome. Where or when he died is not certainly known. Probably he died between A.D. 64 and 67.
THE DATE, from what has been said, would be about A.D. 68 or 69, about a year after the first, and shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem, the typical precursor of the world's end, to which 2Pe 3:10-13 so solemnly calls attention, after Paul's ministry had closed (compare Greek aorist tense, "wrote," past time, 2Pe 3:15), just before Peter's own death. It was written to include the same persons, and perhaps in, or about the same place, as the first. Being without salutations of individuals, and entrusted to the care of no one church, or particular churches as the first is, but directed generally "to them that have obtained like precious faith with us" (2Pe 1:1), it took a longer time in being recognized as canonical. Had Rome been the place of its composition or publication, it could hardly have failed to have had an early acceptance--an incidental argument against the tradition of Peter's martyrdom at Rome. The remote scene of its composition in Babylon, or else in some of the contiguous regions beyond the borders of the Roman empire, and of its circulation in Cappadocia, Pontus, &c., will additionally account for its tardy but at last universal acceptance in the catholic Church. The former Epistle, through its more definite address, was earlier in its general acceptance.