The Second Letter of Peter

The Second Letter of Peter provides a final warning against false teachers and a call to a spirit of growth in the knowledge and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. It emphasizes the reliability of the apostolic testimony and the divine inspiration of the sacred scriptures as a light shining in a dark place. We see the importance of a life that is marked by virtue and knowledge and self control and perseverance and godliness and brotherly affection and love. This book teaches us that we have been given everything we need for life and godliness through His divine power.

The narrative addresses the skepticism regarding the second coming of the Savior and explains that the delay is a sign of the patience of God who desires that everyone should come to repentance. We are encouraged to live lives of holiness and devotion as we wait for the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness dwells. Peter stresses the need to be on our guard so that we are not led away by the error of the lawless. The Second Letter of Peter invites us to be diligent so that we may be found by the Lord without spot or blemish and at peace.

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Chapters

1 2 3

Chapter 1

¹Simon Peter, servant and Apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have been allotted an equal faith with us in the justice of our God and in our Savior Jesus Christ. ? ²Grace to you. And may peace be fulfilled according to the plan of God and of Christ Jesus our Lord, ? ³in the same manner that all things which are for life and piety have been given to us by his Divine virtue, through the plan of him who has called us to our own glory and virtue. ? ⁴Through Christ, he has given us the greatest and most precious promises, so that by these things you may become sharers in the Divine Nature, fleeing from the corruption of that desire which is in the world. ? ⁵But as for you, taking up every concern, minister virtue in your faith; and in virtue, knowledge; ? ⁶and in knowledge, moderation; and in moderation, patience; and in patience, piety; ? ⁷and in piety, love of brotherhood; and in love of brotherhood, charity. ? ⁸For if these things are with you, and if they abound, they will cause you to be neither empty, nor without fruit, within the plan of our Lord Jesus Christ. ? ⁹For he who does not have these things at hand is blind and groping, being forgetful of his purification from his former offenses. ? ¹⁰Because of this, brothers, be all the more diligent, so that by good works you may make certain your calling and election. For in doing these things, you do not sin at any time. ? ¹¹For in this way, you shall be provided abundantly with an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ? ¹²For this reason, I will always begin to admonish you about these things, even though, certainly, you know them and are confirmed in the present truth. ? ¹³But I consider it just, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up with admonishments. ? ¹⁴For it is certain that the laying to rest of this, my tabernacle, is approaching swiftly, just as our Lord Jesus Christ has also indicated to me. ? ¹⁵Therefore, I will present a work for you to have, so that, frequently after my passing, you may call to mind these things. ? ¹⁶For it was not by following fanciful doctrines that we made known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were made eyewitnesses of his greatness. ? ¹⁷For he received honor and glory from God the Father, whose voice descended to him from the magnificent glory: �This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.� ? ¹⁸We also heard this voice conveyed from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain. ? ¹⁹And so, we have an even firmer prophetic word, to which you would do well to listen, as to a light shining within a dark place, until the day dawns, and the daystar rises, in your hearts. ? ²⁰Understand this first: that every prophecy of Scripture does not result from one�s own interpretation. ? ²¹For prophecy was not conveyed by human will at any time. Instead, holy men were speaking about God while inspired by the Holy Spirit. ?

Chapter 2

¹But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be among you lying teachers, who will introduce divisions of perdition, and they will deny him who bought them, the Lord, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. ? ²And many persons will follow their indulgences; through such persons, the way of truth will be blasphemed. ? ³And in avarice, they will negotiate about you with false words. Their judgment, in the near future, is not delayed, and their perdition does not sleep. ? ⁴For God did not spare those Angels who sinned, but instead delivered them, as if dragged down by infernal ropes, into the torments of the underworld, to be reserved unto judgment. ? ⁵And he did not spare the original world, but he preserved the eighth one, Noah, the herald of justice, bringing the flood upon the world of the impious. ? ⁶And he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, condemning them to be overthrown, setting them as an example to anyone who might act impiously. ? ⁷And he rescued a just man, Lot, who was oppressed by the unjust and lewd behavior of the wicked. ? ⁸For in seeing and in hearing, he was just, though he lived with those who, from day to day, crucified the just soul with works of iniquity. ? ⁹Thus, the Lord knows how to rescue the pious from trials, and how to reserve the iniquitous for torments on the day of judgment; ? ¹⁰even more so, those who walk after the flesh in unclean desires, and who despise proper authority. Boldly pleasing themselves, they do not dread to introduce divisions by blaspheming; ? ¹¹whereas the Angels, who are greater in strength and virtue, did not bring against themselves such a deplorable judgment. ? ¹²Yet truly, these others, like irrational beasts, naturally fall into traps and into ruin by blaspheming whatever they do not understand, and so they shall perish in their corruption, ? ¹³receiving the reward of injustice, the fruition of valuing the delights of the day: defilements and stains, overflowing with self-indulgences, taking pleasure in their feasts with you, ? ¹⁴having eyes full of adultery and of incessant offenses, luring unstable souls, having a heart well-trained in avarice, sons of curses! ? ¹⁵Abandoning the straight path, they wandered astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of iniquity. ? ¹⁶Yet truly, he had a correction of his madness: the mute animal under the yoke, which, by speaking with a human voice, forbid the folly of the prophet. ? ¹⁷These ones are like fountains without water, and like clouds stirred up by whirlwinds. For them, the mist of darkness is reserved. ? ¹⁸For, speaking with the arrogance of vanity, they lure, by the desires of fleshly pleasures, those who are fleeing to some extent, who are being turned from error, ? ¹⁹promising them freedoms, while they themselves are the servants of corruption. For by whatever a man is overcome, of this also is he the servant. ? ²⁰For if, after taking refuge from the defilements of the world in the understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again become entangled and overcome by these things, then the latter state becomes worse than the former. ? ²¹For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of justice than, after acknowledging it, to turn away from that holy commandment which was handed on to them. ? ²²For the truth of the proverb has happened to them: The dog has returned to his own vomit, and the washed sow has returned to her wallowing in the mud. ?

Chapter 3

¹Consider, most beloved, this second epistle which I am writing to you, in which I stir up, by admonition, your sincere mind, ? ²so that you may be mindful of those words that I preached to you from the holy prophets, and of the precepts of the Apostles of your Lord and Savior. ? ³Know this first: that in the last days there will arrive deceitful mockers, walking according to their own desires, ? ⁴saying: �Where is his promise or his advent? For from the time that the fathers have slept, all things have continued just as they were from the beginning of creation.� ? ⁵But they willfully ignore this: that the heavens existed first, and that the earth, from water and through water, was established by the Word of God. ? ⁶By water, the former world then, having been inundated with water, perished. ? ⁷But the heavens and the earth that exist now were restored by the same Word, being reserved unto fire on the day of judgment, and unto the perdition of impious men. ? ⁸Yet truly, let this one thing not escape notice, most beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day. ? ⁹The Lord is not delaying his promise, as some imagine, but he does act patiently for your sake, not wanting anyone to perish, but wanting all to be turned back to penance. ? ¹⁰Then the day of the Lord shall arrive like a thief. On that day, the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and truly the elements shall be dissolved with heat; then the earth, and the works that are within it, shall be completely burned up. ? ¹¹Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what kind of people ought you to be? In behavior and in piety, be holy, ? ¹²waiting for, and hurrying toward, the advent of the day of the Lord, by which the burning heavens shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt from the heat of the fire. ? ¹³Yet truly, in accord with his promises, we are looking forward to the new heavens and the new earth, in which justice lives. ? ¹⁴Therefore, most beloved, while awaiting these things, be diligent, so that you may be found to be immaculate and unassailable before him, in peace. ? ¹⁵And let the longsuffering of our Lord be considered salvation, as also our most beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, ? ¹⁶just as he also spoke in all of his epistles about these things. In these, there are certain things which are difficult to understand, which the unlearned and the unsteady distort, as they also do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. ? ¹⁷But since you, brothers, know these things beforehand, be cautious, lest by being drawn into the error of the foolish, you may fall away from your own steadfastness. ? ¹⁸Yet truly, increase in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory, both now and in the day of eternity. Amen. ?