📖 Biblical Definition
Peter's second and final epistle, written shortly before his AD 67 martyrdom under Nero. 2 Peter 1:13-14: Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. Three chapters: (1) calls believers to grow in grace and knowledge of Christ, listing the Christian virtues to be added to faith (1:5-7), reminding readers of the apostles' eyewitness testimony to Christ's majesty (1:16-18); (2) exposes false teachers within the church, with extended description of their character and doom (much of this chapter parallels Jude); (3) reaffirms the day of the Lord against scoffers who deny Christ's return, gives the famous one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (3:8), and closes with practical exhortation to growth in grace. The letter's urgency comes from its proximity to Peter's death.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
2 PETER, n. The second epistle of Peter, his last written testimony.
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2 PETER, n. The valedictory epistle in which the apostle, knowing his death is imminent, exhorts the churches to add to their faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love; warns sharply against false prophets and licentious teachers; and confirms the prophetic word and the coming day of the Lord against scoffers.
📖 Key Scripture
2 Peter 1:5-7 — "Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control…to brotherly kindness love."
2 Peter 1:21 — "For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."
2 Peter 2:1 — "But there were also false prophets…even as there will be false teachers among you."
2 Peter 3:9 — "The Lord is…not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
False teachers rebranded as 'diversity of voices'; the day of the Lord dismissed as primitive.
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2 Peter 2 is the most ferocious chapter on false teachers in the New Testament — greedy, sensual, despising authority, twisting Scripture to their own destruction. Modern Christianity prefers to call this 'a different perspective' and platforms it. Peter would have called it what it is: a wolf in the pulpit.
Chapter 3 anticipates the scoffer: 'Where is the promise of His coming?' Peter answers that delay is mercy, not absence. The Lord is patient; the day will come like a thief; the elements will melt with fervent heat. Knowledge of Christ is the only foundation that survives the fire.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Key terms: epignōsis (full knowledge), pseudodidaskalos (false teacher), parousia (coming).
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G1922 — epignōsis — full knowledge
G5572 — pseudodidaskalos — false teacher
G3952 — parousia — coming, presence
Usage
"2 Peter is a dying apostle's alarm bell."
"False teachers rise from inside — that is why discernment matters."
"Delay is not denial; the Lord is patient, not absent."