| 2 PETER |
| Explanatory Footnotes |
| 1:14 Approaching Death The person writing these words was nearing death, a fact that may partially explain the book's forceful tone. An eyewitness (1:16) of Jesus on earth was watching a young church stray from Christ's clear teaching. This letter may offer the last chance to oppose the deterioration. 2:5 Three Worlds Second Peter refers to three great ages of the earth. The first, the ancient world, was destroyed by the flood in Noah's day. The present time, in which we are now living, will be destroyed by fire (3:10). But the author points with hope to an age that has not yet come: a new heaven and a new earth (3:13). 3:10 The Fate of the Earth The time of global destruction described here was a common theme in letters to the early churches. Talk of a coming judgment and the overthrow of the existing world threatened and alarmed Rome, the chief power in the existing world then. Such doomsday prophecies aroused Roman hostility against Christians. 3:15 A Fellow Author This comment is one of the rare instances in which a New Testament author refers directly to another New Testament book. Evidently, 2 Peter was written late enough that a group of Paul's letters already existed. Scholars use clues like this one to date books of the Bible. |