Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
2 Peter 1:1-21, A reminder before the tent is folded
Simeon Peter writes to those who share a faith as precious as his, through whom they may share in the divine nature, and urges them to add virtue to virtue. Knowing his death is near, he means to remind them, for he was an eyewitness of Christ's majesty on the holy mountain, and the prophetic word is a lamp in a dark place until the morning star rises.
2 Peter 1:1-21, in every translation this tool compares.
The writer, naming himself Simeon Peter, reminds his readers that God has given them all they need to share in his own life and escape the world's corruption, and urges them to build one virtue upon another. Aware that he will soon die, he wants to leave them a lasting reminder. His message rests on what he saw with his own eyes when God's voice honored Jesus on the mountain, and on the prophets, whose words came from God and give light until Christ's day dawns. Who wrote the letter, and when, is one of the most disputed questions in the New Testament.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/patrons-and-benefactors\/","n":"Patrons, clients and benefactors","s":"Favors in the Roman world came with strings. A patron gave help and protection, the client paid it back in loyalty and public honor, and rulers who gave gifts to the public were hailed as benefactors.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/imperial-cult\/","n":"Caesar worshiped as savior and lord","s":"Augustus and the emperors after him were hailed as savior, lord and son of a god, and in the eastern provinces they were worshiped. The titles the Gospels give Jesus were already being used for Caesar.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/spirit-of-prophecy\/","n":"The Spirit of prophecy","s":"Jews of Jesus' day linked God's Spirit above all with prophecy. Many believed the prophets had fallen silent long ago, and they looked for the day God would pour out his Spirit again.","r":""}
Author and date are open questions; the Zondervan dictionary says it has "the poorest external attestation of any book in the canon". Wright and Bird list eight reasons for doubt, among them the use of Jude, Paul's letters called Scripture and very different Greek, and with Bauckham read it as a farewell testament in Peter's name, a transparent fiction. Carson, Moo and Morris ask why, if so, the early church argued over it, and with Keener, the cultural backgrounds notes and the ESV and CSB Study Bibles accept Peter. Wright's commentary takes a middle line: it is meant to come from Peter in some sense, even if he did not physically write it. Dates run from 64 to 68 (the study Bibles) to 80 to 90 (Bauckham) or 150 to 200 if 2 Peter used the Apocalypse of Peter (Wright and Bird, reporting Grünstäudl); Carson, Moo and Morris think the Apocalypse used 2 Peter, making about 150 the latest date. The star rising from Jacob (Numbers 24:17) was widely read as the Messiah, and may lie behind the morning star (1:19) (Wright's commentary). The holy mountain was probably a spur of Hermon, not Tabor (the Zondervan dictionary; Rasmussen's atlas).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to 2 Peter (Authorship and Date, Opponents, Genre), introduction to 2 Peter 1:3-11, and on 2 Peter 1:1-2, 1:3-4, 1:5-7, 1:12, 1:13, 1:14, 1:15, 1:16, 1:17, 1:19 and 1:20-21
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, Introduction to 2 Peter (Authorship, Date), and notes on 2 Peter 1:1, 1:4, 1:13, 1:14, 1:16, 1:17, 1:18, 1:19 and 1:20-21
- ESV Study Bible, Introduction to 2 Peter (Author and Title, Date), and study notes on 2 Peter 1:16 and 1:19
- CSB Study Bible, Introduction to 2 Peter (Author, Background)
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 32, Origins of 2 Peter, Date of 2 Peter, and The Argument of 2 Peter, sections 1 to 4, with the box quoting Andrew Mbuvi, Jude and 2 Peter
- J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entries Peter, Second Letter of, and transfiguration
- Carl G. Rasmussen, Zondervan Atlas of the Bible, The Life of Christ
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 20, 2 Peter, Author (Motive), Date, and note 4
- N. T. Wright, Early Christian Letters for Everyone, comment on 2 Peter 1:1-11 and 1:12-21
