Peter, Second Epistle of

The Second Epistle of Peter is a farewell letter from the apostle, written in anticipation of his death, warning against the same false teachers addressed in Jude — libertines who deny the Lord and mock the promise of his return. The letter opens with the apostolic eyewitness testimony of the transfiguration as the foundation for the reliability of prophetic Scripture, which Peter grounds in the divine rather than human will as its source. Its most distinctive section is the apocalyptic passage of chapter 3, which declares that the Lord is not slow about his promise but patient, and that the present heavens and earth are stored for fire.

The letter's authorship is the most debated of any New Testament book, with many scholars attributing it to a Petrine school rather than Peter directly; the church's eventual acceptance of it as canonical reflects a judgment about its apostolic content.