New Catholic Bible/The Second Letter of Peter

**The Second Letter of Peter**, as translated by the Catholic Book Publishing Corp in the New Catholic Bible.

## INTRODUCTION

### Awaiting the Day of the Lord

With this Letter we find ourselves already at the beginning of the second century. The Church is experiencing a difficult transition from the primitive stage to the post-apostolic stage. For several decades her members have lived the newness of the Christian Faith and, so to speak, sung its praises; the coming of Jesus remained near and his return was thought to be imminent.

Now these two poles are disappearing from view, the former in the past and the latter in a future that is more and more out of focus. A distance is being established with respect to the immediate experience of Christianity’s beginnings. A new climate must be forged for remaining in the faith and practicing the Christian life in everyday existence.

Such a transformation is not achieved without crisis. It bears the visage of uncertainty as well as anxiety.

The first point that comes under attack is orthodoxy. The most diverse religious ideas and the most varied Gnostic currents are unfurled within the Empire, often accompanied by immorality. Will Christianity simply vanish in the wake of this maelstrom of competing ideas and morals?

The delay of the Parousia, or Return of Christ, has already disquieted spirits. Now there is danger that Christians will resign themselves to this delay to the detriment of a fundamental aspect of the Christian symmetry and conscience. Will the tension toward fulfillment and the perspective of being confronted with a judgment be lost in out-of-focus ideas that have no impact on life?

In order of time, this writing was probably the last of the New Testament and thus of the entire Bible. It is a spirited exhortation to discouraged spirits; even more vigorously it attacks the spreaders of dangerous doctrines that sow disorder. It does not lack power when it evokes the final devastation of the world, but it also teaches patience, the sense of living under the judgment of God, and progress in faith and in grace.

In defending the essentials of the faith, the Letter emphasizes the word of God as transmitted by the Prophets and the Apostles, and it already cites the Letters of Paul as forming a literary whole well known in the Church. This passage bears witness to the awareness of Biblical inspiration and also to the conviction that Scripture must be interpreted within the Church.

To get his meaning across, the author imitates a literary genre current in the Judaism of the time: the testament of the ancestors— in other words, the practice of placing one’s own exhortations and advice in the mouths of Patriarchs who are about to die. Our author has thought of the man who took first place in the origins of Christianity, namely, Peter, who speaks in Jesus’ name (see 1 Tim 1:14-15). St. Jerome tells us that many denied Peter was the author of the document.

This Letter seems strange to us by reason of its many expressions and its very style. But it contains an important lesson for Christianity, which must be able to accept ongoing history, even while refusing to settle down calmly in it. The Letter claims to be a continuation of the First Letter of Peter (see 2 Pet 3:1), but in fact it is to be connected rather with the Letter of Jude, from which it takes various themes and explains them more fully. (See Introduction to Jude.)

###  **The Divisions of The Second Letter of Peter**

The Second Letter of Peter may be divided as follows:

**I: Salutation (1:1-2)**

**II: Exhortation to Growth in Christian Virtues (1:3-21)**

**III: Warning against False Teachers (2:1-22)**

**IV: The Fact of Christ’s Return (3:1-16)**

**V: Conclusion (3:17-18)**

## CHAPTER 1

### Address.

**1** Simon Peter,

a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: **2** may grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge

of God and of Jesus our Lord.

### Strengthen Your Vocation.

**3** His divine power has bestowed on us everything that is necessary for life and for devotion through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue. **4** By these he has given us his precious promises, great beyond all price, so that through them you may escape from the corruption with which evil desires have infected the world and thereby may come to share in the divine nature.

**5**

In view of all this, you should make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, **6** and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with piety, **7** and piety with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.

**8** If you possess these qualities and they increase in abundance, they will prevent your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ from being ineffective and unfruitful. **9** For anyone who lacks them is near-sighted or blind, since he has forgotten how his past sins were washed away.

**10** Therefore, brethren, be diligent in providing a firm foundation for your call and election. If you do this, you will never stumble, **11** and you will receive a glorious welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

**12**

### The Witness of an Apostle.

Therefore, I will continue to emphasize these things repeatedly, even though you already know them and are well grounded in the truth you possess. **13** For I think it is right, to refresh your memory as long as I remain in this body,

**14** since I know that my death

will come soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. **15** And I shall also make every effort to ensure that you will always recall these things after my departure.

**16** We did not rely upon cleverly concocted myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rather, we had beheld his majesty with our own eyes. **17** For he received honor and glory from God the Father when a voice came to him from the transcendent Majesty, saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” **18** We ourselves heard this voice that came down from heaven, when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

**19**

### Pay Close Attention to the Message of the Prophets.

This confirms the message of the Prophets more fully for us. You would do well to pay close attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

**20** First of all, however, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of private interpretation. **21** No prophecy ever came from human initiative. Rather, when people spoke as messengers of God, they did so under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

## CHAPTER 2

### False Teachers Will Arise.

**1** Just as there were false prophets who arose among the people, so there will be false teachers among you. They will introduce their disruptive views and even deny the very Master who redeemed them, thus bringing swift destruction on themselves.

**2** Many will be seduced by their licentious ways, and because of these teachers the way of truth will be brought into disrepute. **3** In their greed they will exploit you with concocted stories.

### The Condemnation of False Teachers.

However, their condemnation has been hanging over them for a long time, and the destruction awaiting them does not slumber. **4** For God did not spare the angels who sinned, but he cast them into the dark abyss to be chained, where they are being held until the judgment.

**5** Nor did he spare the ancient world,

even though he saved Noah, a herald of righteousness, one of eight, when he brought a flood upon the world with its godless people.

**6** God also reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, thereby condemning them to total ruin and making them an example of what awaited the ungodly. **7** However, he rescued Lot, an upright man who was sickened by the licentiousness of the lawless society in which he lived **8** for that man was greatly tormented in his righteous soul by the crimes that he saw and about which he was told day after day.

**9** Therefore, the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials and to hold the wicked for punishment until the Day of Judgment. **10** Above all, he will punish those who succumb to the desires of their corrupt human nature and show no respect for authority.

### The Ways of False Teachers.

Bold and headstrong, they are not afraid to insult celestial beings, **11** whereas angels, despite their superior strength and power, do not bring slanderous accusations against such men in the Lord’s presence.

**12** These men are like wild beasts, mere creatures of instinct born to be caught and killed.

They pour abuse on things they do not understand, and in their corruption they also will be destroyed, **13** receiving the penalty

for doing wrong. They regard it as a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. While they share your table, they are ugly blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures.

**14** They have eyes that are always on the trail of adultery, insatiable in their desire for sinful pursuits. They seduce unstable people, and their hearts are fixed on greed. Truly, they are an accursed brood.

**15** They have abandoned the straight path and have gone astray, following in the steps of Balaam, the son of Beor,

who loved to receive payment for wrongdoing. **16** However, he received a rebuke for his crime when a mute donkey spoke with a human voice and put a stop to the prophet’s madness.

**17** Such people are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of darkness has been reserved. **18** They speak boastful words devoid of meaning, and by arousing licentious desires of the flesh they entice people who are just escaping from living in error.

**19** They promise them freedom, although they themselves are slaves of depravity.

For people are slaves of whatever has mastered them. **20** If they have escaped the world’s defilements through coming to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then again become entangled and are overpowered, they are worse off in this latter state than they were before.

**21** It would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back and abandon the holy commandment that was handed on to them. **22** What happened to them manifests the truth of the proverbs:

“The dog returns to its own vomit,”

and

“The washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud.”

## CHAPTER 3

### The Day of the Lord Will Come.

**1** Beloved, this is now the second letter I have written to you. In both of them I have tried to stir up your memories for a clear understanding **2** so that you might remember the words spoken in the past by the holy Prophets and by the apostles at the command of our Lord and Savior.

**3** First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will appear who have led lives of indulgence. **4** They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ that was promised? Ever since our ancestors

died, everything has remained just as it was from the beginning of creation.”

**5**

These people deliberately ignore the fact that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago, and that the earth stands out of water and in water. **6** Furthermore, by these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. **7** By the same word, the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and the destruction of sinners.

**8** But do not ignore this one fact, beloved: with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. **9** The Lord does not delay in keeping his promise, as some think in terms of delay, but he is patient with you. It is not his wish that any should perish but rather that all should be brought to repentance.

**10** However, the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a mighty roar,

and the elements will be dissolved in flames, and the earth and all that it contains will be disclosed.

**11**

### Wait for and Speed the Day of God.

Since everything is to be destroyed in this way, consider what sort of people you ought to be, living holy and saintly lives. **12** Wait for and speed the coming of the Day of God,

on which the heavens will be set ablaze and all the elements will melt because of the intense heat. **13** We eagerly await the promised new heavens and a new earth

in which righteousness dwells.

**14** Therefore, beloved, in expectation of all this, do everything possible to lead blameless lives that are above reproach so that he will find you at peace. **15** Think of our Lord’s patience as your opportunity to be saved;

our beloved brother Paul told you this when he wrote to you with the wisdom that was given to him, **16** speaking of it

in all his letters. In them, there are some things that are difficult to understand, which the ignorant and the unstable distort in the same way that they distort the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

### Guard against Error and Grow in Grace.

Therefore, beloved, you have been forewarned about this. Take care that you are not led astray by the errors of unprincipled people and thus lose your secure position. **18** Rather, grow in the grace and the knowledge

of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

### Doxology.

To him be glory both now and for all eternity. Amen.

## FOOTNOTES

**2 Peter 1:1:**

From the very first words,

the author addresses believers,

those who have received

salvation

or

righteousness.

He insists

on faith

and

on knowledge

of the Lord,

the Christ.
**2 Peter 1:1:**
**Simon Peter:**
**see** **notes** **on**
**Matthew 16:18;** **Matthew 16:19;** **And John 1:42.**
**Servant:**
**see** **note** **on**
**Romans 1:1.**
**Apostle:**
**see** **notes** **on**
**Mark 6:30;** **Romans 1:1;** **And** **Hebrews 3:1-Hebrews 3:6.**
**To those:**

probably

the same addressees

as in

**1 Peter 1:1.**
**2 Peter 1:2:**
**Knowledge:**

a key theme

of the Letter

**(see** **2 Peter 1:3,** **2 Peter 1:5,** **2 Peter 1:8;** **2 Peter 2:20;** **And** **2 Peter 3:18),**

probably

to combat the claims

of the Gnostics.
**2 Peter 1:3:**

Christianity

is not just another religious theory

among those

that are actually in vogue.

To believe

is to place oneself personally

under the very action of God

and

to know that

the destiny of human beings

is accomplished in his eternal Kingdom.

Christians live in communion with God;

the earthly dimension

does not suffice for them.

And these great realities

are not mere words;

they demand a radical change

in the manner of

conceiving one’s destiny

and

conducting one’s existence.

Thus,

regardless of the historical distance

from the time of its foundation,

the Christian life

constitutes a new state

of existence.
**2 Peter 1:4:**
**Share in the divine nature:**

an expression found

only here in the Bible.

The author

uses it

to express the fullness

of divine life in Christ

**(see** **John 1:12;** **John 14:20;** **John 15:4f;** **Romans 6:5;** **1 Corinthians 1:9f;** **And** **1 John 1:3b).**
**2 Peter 1:5:**

The author

lists the virtues

that are needed

for a genuine

Christian life.
**2 Peter 1:9:**

This is similar

to the warning

in the Johannine Letters

against the Gnostics

**(see** **1 John 1:8f),**

who claimed to know God

without keeping the commandments.
**2 Peter 1:11:**
**Kingdom of . . . Christ:**

it is also

the Kingdom

of the Father

**(see** **Ephesians 5:5;** **2 Timothy 4:1;** **And** **Revelation 11:15).**
**2 Peter 1:12:**

The testimony of

an Apostle

has a greater value

than any arbitrary

Gnostic speculation.

To emphasize this point,

the author presents his work

as a testament of Peter,

who reminds the readers

that the Lord had told him

of his proximate death

**(see** **John 21:18-John 21:19)**

and

insists above all

on the fact that

he had been

a witness

of the Transfiguration

**(see** **Matthew 17:1-Matthew 17:13;** **Mark 9:2-Mark 9:13;** **And** **Luke 9:28-Luke 9:36),**

an event that bore witness

to the glory of Christ

and

thereby guaranteed

his glorious Return,

which was

being challenged

at this time.
**2 Peter 1:3:**
**Body:**

literally,

“tent.”
**2 Peter 1:14:**
**My death:**

literally,

“the time for laying aside this tent.”
**2 Peter 1:19:**

While awaiting

the great

Day of fulfillment,

Scripture constitutes the light

on the human journey.

It cannot be handed over

to the

arbitrary interpretations

of

teachers

of

fortune

who construe it

in their own peculiar way;

the inspiration of the Spirit

must be respected.
**2 Peter 1:21:**

Under the inspiration

of the Holy Spirit:

**see** **note** **on**
**2 Timothy 3:16.**

Both

God

and

the authors

were active in producing Scripture:

God

was the source of the content,

but the writers

used all their talents

to set that message down.
**2 Peter 2:1:**

The portrait

of the false teachers

is drawn in living colors.

They

deny Christ

and

his salvation,

disfigure the Gospel’s

grand ideas about life,

and seek their own

profit

and

personal success.

They “are not afraid to insult celestial beings”

**(2 Peter 2:** **v.** **10)**—

either the angels

or

the evil powers

whom they claim

the right to judge

although this right

belongs to the Lord.

The teachings of the Gnostics

multiply theories

about the heavenly beings.

But these lofty speculations

do not prevent them

from being

propagators of immorality;

the author likens them to Balaam,

who at this time

had become the prototype of the

false,

venal,

and

corrupting teacher

**(see** **Numbers 22:2—Numbers 24:25;** **Deuteronomy 23:5;** **And** **Revelation 2:14-Revelation 2:15);**

all of their preaching

focuses only

on

false freedom,

enslavement,

and

degeneracy.

Despite all this,

these teachers of falsehood

call themselves Christians.

The notice of their fate

is severe.

The author recalls

the great chastisements

of the past,

the fall of the heavenly beings,

the Flood,

the unforgettable

cursed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,

and the story of Balaam.

These illustrations

are taken from ancient Biblical accounts

**(see** **Genesis 6:1-Genesis 6:2;** **Genesis 6:5—Genesis 8:22;** **Genesis 19:1-Genesis 19:29;** **And** **Numbers 22:2—Numbers 24:25).**

Above all,

the author

wishes

to exhort the believers

to stand firm in their faith

so that they will be spared

on the day of judgment,

as were

Noah

and

Lot.

Once in a while

people have need of

such efficacious admonition

in order to

take stock of their

spiritual life.
**2 Peter 2:4:**

The Bible

gives no details

on the sin of the angels.

**The dark abyss or Tartus:**

the term

used by the Greeks

for the place

where the most wicked spirits

were imprisoned.
**2 Peter 2:5:**
**The ancient world:**

the world

before the Flood.
**2 Peter 2:11:**
“from the Lord.”
**2 Peter 2:13:**
“receiving a reward.”

“in their love feasts.”
**2 Peter 2:14:**
**Accursed brood:**

literally,

“children of a curse.”
**2 Peter 2:15:**
**Balaam, the son of Beor:**
**see**
**Numbers 22–Numbers 24.**

Even though

God had forbidden Balaam

to curse Israel,

Balaam was intent on doing it

because he wanted the money

he had been promised by Balak.

In the same way,

the false teachers

wanted to extract money

from those who listened to them.
**2 Peter 2:19:**
**Freedom . . . depravity:**

the

“scoffers”

use

“freedom”

to divest themselves

of the moral law.

But it is

faith in Christ

that leads to good behavior

and

true freedom

**(see** **Romans 6:15;** **James 1:25;** **And** **1 Peter 2:16).**
**2 Peter 2:22:**
**The dog . . . vomit:**

see

**Proverbs 26:11.**
**The washed . . . mud:**

its source is unknown.

The dog that

returns to its own vomit

and

the sow that is washed

portray people

who have made

a religious profession

or

outward change

without an inner change

that affects their nature.

They soon return

to their true nature.
**2 Peter 3:1:**

We know

the spectacle

of an immutable universe;

the days fly by

and

the seasons return.

Could the fate of the world

change someday?

Christians of that day

are

loath to think of it

and

quick to deny it.

To eliminate this uncertainty,

the author first of all

recalls the teaching of

the Prophets,

the Apostles,

and

Christ himself

about the end of the world.

Furthermore,

in the Bible

there are two or three passages

that make us reflect:

the manner

in which the cosmos

rises in the midst

of the initial disorder

as well as

the drowning of everything

at the Flood;

hence,

our world

does not have the promises

for eternity.

What then

is the reason

for the long delay?

There are two reasons:

first,

the Lord

does not count time as we do;

above all,

his mercy is immense

and

he awaits the conversion of everyone.

But the announcement of the end

remains

such as was taught by the Gospels

**(see** **Matthew 24:43;** **Luke 12:39-Luke 12:40;** **And** **1 Thessalonians 5:2).**

In the face of

the unforeseeable

character of history

and

the unforeseeable

plan of God,

there is the temptation

to take refuge

in the name of the perpetuity

of the cosmos.
**2 Peter 3:4:**
**Our ancestors:**

the faithful

of the

first Christian generation.
**2 Peter 3:5:**

God

created the world

by his word,

and that word

will be just as active

in the final conflagration.
**2 Peter 3:10:**
**The Day of the Lord . . . a mighty roar:**

this “Day”

is also mentioned

in

**Acts 2:20,** **1 Corinthians 5:5,** **And** **1 Thessalonians 5:2**

and

refers to

Christ’s Second Coming,

repeating

the sayings

of the Prophets

**(e.g.,** **Joel 2:1;** **And** **Zephaniah 1:7).**

This coming is certain,

but the time is known

only to the Father

**(see** **Mark 13:32).**

It will arrive

suddenly,

unexpectedly,

and without warning

**(see** **1 Thessalonians 5:1-1 Thessalonians 5:3),**

ushering in the solemn judgment

**(see** **Acts 17:31).**
**The heavens will disappear with a mighty roar:**

this is

apocalyptic,

figurative

language

like that of

the

Books of Daniel

and

Revelation.
**2 Peter 3:11:**

What is it

that

is delaying

the coming of the Messiah?

The sins of human beings.

This is what many thought

among the Jewish circles,

and our author shared that conviction.

He wishes above all

to encourage Christians

to stand fast

and

make progress in the faith.

Their eyes are not fixed

on a hazy horizon;

rather,

they live

from the promise

of an unimaginable renewal

of

humankind

and

the world

through the Christ

who comes.
**2 Peter 3:12:**
**Day of God:**

synonymous with

“Day of the Lord.”

The idea

of a final conflagration,

found only here

in the New Testament,

was common

in apocalyptic writings

and

in Greco-Roman thought.
**2 Peter 3:13:**
**New heavens and a new earth:**

promised by Isaiah

**(Isaiah 65:17;** **And** **Isaiah 66:22)**

and

confirmed by Revelation

**(Revelation 21:1).**
**2 Peter 3:15:**
**Your opportunity to be saved:**

literally,

“salvation.”
**2 Peter 3:16:**
**Speaking of it:**

the teaching

just set forth in this Letter,

which is also found in Paul:

God’s saving will

**(see** **Romans 2:4;** **Romans 9:22f;** **And** **1 Corinthians 1:7f);**

Christ’s return

**(see** **1 Thessalonians 4:16f;** **And** **1 Corinthians 15:23-1 Corinthians 15:52);**

getting ready

for the judgment

**(see** **Colossians 1:22f;** **Ephesians 1:4-Ephesians 1:14;** **Ephesians 4:30;** **And** **Ephesians 5:5-Ephesians 5:14);**

God’s just judgment

**(see** **Romans 2:5-Romans 2:9);**

and God’s forbearance

as time to repent

**(see** **Romans 2:4).**
**Other Scriptures:**

this comparison

of Paul’s Letters

with the

rest of Scripture

indicates

that Christian writings

are on a par

with the

Old Testament Books

**(see** **2 Peter 1:21;** **And** **2 Timothy 3:16).**
**2 Peter 3:18:**
**Grow in . . . knowledge:**

the author

closes

by stressing knowledge

once more

**(see** **note** **on** **2 Pet 1:2).**

To him be glory:

this doxology

corresponds

to the one

in

**1 Peter 5:11.**

## OTHER BOOKS OF THE NEW CATHOLIC BIBLE TRANSLATION

 **THE BOOKS OF THE CATHOLIC BIBLE IN THE NEW CATHOLIC BIBLE TRANSLATION**

### Old Testament

#### Pentateuch/Torah:

1. The Book of Genesis
2. The Book of Exodus
3. The Book of Leviticus
4. The Book of Numbers
5. The Book of Deuteronomy

#### Historical Books:

1. The Book of Joshua
2. The Book of Judges
3. The Book of Ruth
4. The First Book of Samuel
5. The Second Book of Samuel
6. The First Book of Kings
7. The Second Book of Kings
8. The First Book of Chronicles
9. The Second Book of Chronicles
10. The Book of Ezra
11. The Book of Nehemiah
12. The Book of Tobit
13. The Book of Judith
14. The Book of Esther
15. The First Book of Maccabees
16. The Second Book of Maccabees

#### Poetic Books:

1. The Book of Job
2. The Book of Psalms
3. The Book of Proverbs
4. The Book of Ecclesiastes
5. The Book of the Song of Songs
6. The Book of Wisdom
7. The Book of The Wisdom of Ben Sira

#### Prophetic Books:

1. The Book of Isaiah
2. The Book of Jeremiah
3. The Book of Lamentations
4. The Book of Baruch
5. The Book of Ezekiel
6. The Book of Daniel
7. The Book of Hosea
8. The Book of Joel
9. The Book of Amos
10. The Book of Obadiah
11. The Book of Jonah
12. The Book of Micah
13. The Book of Nahum
14. The Book of Habakkuk
15. The Book of Zephaniah
16. The Book of Haggai
17. The Book of Zechariah
18. The Book of Malachi

### New Testament

#### The Four Gospels

1. The Gospel according to Matthew
2. The Gospel according to Mark
3. The Gospel according to Luke
4. The Gospel according to John

#### Pauline Epistles

1. The Letter to The Romans
2. The First Letter to The Corinthians
3. The Second Letter to The Corinthians
4. The Letter to The Galatians
5. The Letter to The Ephesians
6. The Letter to The Philippians
7. The Letter to The Colossians
8. The First Letter to The Thessalonians
9. The Second Letter to The Thessalonians
10. The First Letter to Timothy
11. The Second Letter to Timothy
12. The Letter to Titus
13. The Letter to Philemon

#### The General Epistles/Catholic Epistles

1. The Letter of James
2. The First Letter of Peter
3. **The Second Letter of Peter**
4. The First Letter of John
5. The Second Letter of John
6. The Third Letter of John
7. The Letter of Jude