Who Wrote This Book? The apostle Peter wrote to warn believers against false teachers who had invaded the Christian Community. His hope was that, being forewarned, they would be forearmed and not be taken in by errors of false teachers.

Note: The Book of 2 Peter is only 3 chapters; take the time to read it in full in a quiet area, everything there is still alive and continuing today. Be forewarned of today’s false teachers, for they have the past to be familiar with to enhance the way they teach, as we do to learn from what was taught. Joyce

Date of Writing: The book was probably written in Rome, sometime between A.D. 64 and 68.

Theme of the book: The second letter from Peter was written to the same people who received the first letter: believers who were scattered throughout Asia Minor, in what is present day Turkey.

During this period emperor Nero was on the throne in Rome, where Peter wrote the letter. Nero was a man without moral principles and his volatile nature created an uncertain and unsteady political climate. As the church, the Christians in Asia Minor were in danger of being led astray by the eloquent but erring teachers.

As followers today, many wish to spread the word and do a good job. Others may have the desire to spread the word, but when they don’t truly understand they can be led astray by false teachers. Those false teachers have the ability to take novice (good intentioned) followers and entice them into their fold, subsequently sending them out with a distorted message. This is how cults are able to attract believers and turn them into cult members. Read the end of 2 Peter; this is part of his warning: beware and be informed, not reformed.

Key Verses:

2 Peter 1:21 (NIV) For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 2:4-9 (NIV) ⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; ⁵ if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; ⁶ if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;⁷ and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless ⁸ (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— ⁹ if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

2 Peter 2:20-21 (NIV) If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. ²¹ It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.