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2 Peter 1 – Last Will and Testament of Simon Peter
For where there is a legal ‘will,’ there must also be a death brought forward in evidence—the death of him who made it.

Hebrews 9:16 Weymouth New Testament

In the year of our Lord, 54

The New and convincing Testament of the Apostle Peter

The Apostle writes his final testimony from Rome, providing convincing truth of Christ which many of us have sought as a new testament of good news.

Hearing now a second Epistle read in our church from Simon Peter, the saints consider assurance of their salvation.

Even the Jews will agree that Jesus had died some thirty years ago now. But among them many also maintained their faithful testimony of the Lord’s resurrection on the third day after Jesus’ crucifixion.

Furthermore hundreds of Jews, Gentiles and Romans alike had reported numerous appearances of the risen Christ Jesus during a time of forty days after the Cross and His burial in Jerusalem.

Jews see a fulfillment of prophetic Scripture and Greeks amazingly now seem included in a New Covenant as elect in the fellowship of the church — chosen and elect to eternal life by God the Father of all creation in the Sacrifice of His Only Son Jesus Christ for our sins.

And Peter has confirmed this!

Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Simon Peter

The Last Will of Peter – Remember His Teaching

Simon Peter, a prisoner for the Gospel in Rome, has good reason to believe that this second epistle may be the Apostle’s last letter to the church.

Historical context of Peter’s Second Epistle
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Recent AD First Century Historical Events (all dates approximate)
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- ~ AD 30-33 – Resurrection of Jesus Christ witnessed by Simon Peter and the Apostles and more than 500 witnesses (some still living at the time of Peter’s two Epistles).
  - Peter & John jailed in Jerusalem for their testimony of Christ as the risen Messiah of Israel
- ~ AD 37 – Caligua Caesar declares himself a god
- ~ AD 40 Peter proclaims the Gospel to the Gentiles in Joppa and other towns
- ~AD 41-54 – Claudius Caesar rules the Roman Empire
- ~AD 44 – the Apostle James, brother of John also of Jesus’ inner circle, is martyred
- ~ AD 49 – Jews (including followers of “the Way”) expelled from Rome
- ~ AD 54-68 – Nero Caesar rules the Roman Empire
- AD 50’s – John Mark, a scribe to Peter who had previously accompanied Paul on his first missionary journey, writes his GOSPEL which is read in churches as testimony primarily of the Apostle Peter.
- ~ AD 60 – Paul is brought to Rome, placed under house arrest and later released.
- AD 60’s – The Apostle Matthew records his GOSPEL.
- AD 60’s – Luke, an esteemed gentile physician to Paul, records his GOSPEL followed by a second volume detailing the ACTS of the Apostles.
- ~AD 62 – James, leader of the Jerusalem church, author of his own epistle and half-brother of Jesus is martyred.
- AD 64 – Peter and Paul remain diligent in sending several epistles (from Rome)to the church
19 JULY, 64 AD – a great fire burns for six days, consuming many structures in Rome.

2 Peter 1:

Simeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have received the same kind of faith as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been strengthened in the truth which is present with you.

I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has indicated to me.

And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.

2 Peter 1:12-15 LSB

meta emos exodos

.. ‘after my decease,’ translates the King James.

‘to have these things always in remembrance.’

v.15 KJV

What this Apostle of Christ Jesus is about to tell those chosen for eternal life reminds us of the Apostolic faith we must remember. Peter’s witness stands against those like the Caesar’s — Caligula and Nero — idolatrous men who declare that they have become gods.

Peter’s testament here In his second epistle stands firmly against a false gospel and philosophies seeping into the churches.

One false gospel seeking to undermine the Way and Truth will later claim to be a “Gospel of Peter,” introducing heresies opposed to the true faith of the Apostles.

So Peter reminds of of his unique witness of the Divine Jesus of Nazareth.

Peter’s Testimony of Christ’s Divine Nature

For we did not make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, following cleverly devised myths,

but being eyewitnesses of His majesty.
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Peter testifies to his EYEWITNESS of the GOOD NEWS previously recorded in THREE GOSPELS.
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For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory:

“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

2 Peyer 1:17 NKJV

and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

v. 18 LSB

Apostolic testimony or idios interpretation?

And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.

2 Peter 1:19 NASB20

Know this first of all,
that no prophecy of Scripture comes by one’s own interpretation [idios epilysis].
2 Peter 1:20 LSB

For no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

The Stage is set for the Debate of False Prophets

As I have pointed out from this current historical context of Peter’s second epistle to the Church, not only do Rome and local communities oppose the true gospel, but in fact, many Christians trained in Jewish culture have an agenda of their own to convert Christ’s church to more palatable heresies desired by many.

The Greeks and Romans did not care whether their gods really existed. They were myths and they knew they were myths.
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(May I interject that the same applies to Hindus, Buddhists, Universalists and many other compromising polytheistic or atheistic religions of this century.)
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[Referring to vs.16-18]

Peter was not ready to put off his mortal tent for a myth but for that which he had witnessed.

RC Sproul 1-2 Peter – An Expositional Commentary, p.203

NEXT: Accepting Apostolic Testimony OR Following False Prophets

Talk of JESUS . com

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
November 7, 2025
2 Peter – Introduction to a Second Apostolic Letter
We begin our SERIES from the Epistles of three Apostles with Simon Peter.

Peter – a Foundation of Apostolic Faith

Our best impressions of Simon Peter from the Gospels and the early ACTS of the Apostles cannot fully convey the heart of this ROCK whom JESUS had claimed for building His Church..

We tend to recall moments from back in the AD 30’s with Peter in Jerusalem.. Yet even then the Apostle was sent to surrounding towns with the Gospel.

33 Years – Journeys from Capernaum to Rome

C

Capernaum

Jesus had appeared to Peter and others as they fished near the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The Lord instructed Simon Peter and the Apostles to go into all the world with the Gospel — Good News that they had all seen and touched, and had heard and obeyed the Lord – the risen Christ JESUS.

Now it is Simon Peter who will build not one church in Jerusalem, Capernaum or even Rome, but a living Church throughout the world (of Rome) — connected by the love of Christ and the Holy Spirit into a fellowship of saints sanctified and separated to the faith of eternal life in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter’s gospel is an apostolic gospel; Simon Peter’s faith is a Christian faith

ACTS 9-12 Miraculous Missionary Acts of Peter

So now after Jesus’ ascension, the Apostle will sojourn between Capernaum, Jerusalem and other Jewish communities of Galilee, eventually meeting Jewish believers from every corner of the world who will come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Simon Peter, sought out as a criminal by leading Jews opposing their own Messiah, would eventually be brought to Rome. Christ’s leading Apostle would also eventually be crucified there, but not until an appointed time after many years proclaiming the Gospel.

Like Paul and other Apostles, Peter wrote epistles and instructions for many years to those he had encouraged in the churches throughout Asia.

2 Peter

The World into which the Apostles Preached
- ~ AD 30’s – AD 60’s
We cannot fully appreciate the magnitude of Jesus’ great commission with only the Gospel accounts or even all Scripture of the Old Testament.

This is due a historic extended silence of God during a post-exilic gap which includes the powerful reign of Alexander the Great (of Macedonia) prior to the dominance of Rome.

a ROMAN world

The Messiah of Israel was given into a Roman world, not a Judaic land.

This Jewish fisherman, Simon Peter of Capernaum on the Sea of Tiberius (so renamed by Rome), though not a Roman, lived a daily existence dependent on Rome, This same dependence had also Romanized the half-Jewish Herod’s, adopted into an all-inclusive culture of the Caesar’s.

Without stepping into the Jewish controversies into which Jesus sometimes ventured about the state of Abrahamic or Mosaic of Semitic faith, let’s just say that Simon Peter’s faith, both before meeting the Messiah and after Jesus’ resurrection until now, is not specifically tied to either the Jewish sects returned from Medo-Persia or those Jews left in a devastated Israel and Judah.

Simon Peter sought to preach the Gospel to his fellow Jews, many who were local proselytes. Rome frequently rejected Jews, often sent on their way at any sign of controversy in distant provinces.

The Apostle writes to churches in lands once dominated by Alexander. And thousands of Jews had remigrated into a European world from an ancient Asia, once dominated by the Babylonians, Medes and Persians. [See your Old Testament.]

Greek culture prevails long after the return of the Jews into a Herodian re-built Roman Jerusalem.

The Twelve Apostles (and I include Matthias) led by Simon Peter were all Jews. And the scattered Jews throughout a world now dominated by Rome wanted to hear from these Apostolic witnesses of the risen Son of David, the Messiah Jesus.

a Second Epistle of Simon Peter
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In case you missed the definition of Epistle, you may read it HERE from our introduction. 
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Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

2 Peter 1:1 NIV

Who is Peter writing to?

We’ll get back to that in the context of this second letter, but let’s take a quick glance at his first epistle for an introductory clue.

παρεπίδημος Aliens of the Diaspora

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

Anatolian peninsula

1 Peter 1:1-2a ESV

We can suppose that both epistles of Peter were sent to all of these churches on the Anatolian peninsula — all Roman provinces throughout modern-day Turkie.

some scholars date the Second Epistle of Peter in AD 64

These Jewish Christians, members of the Diaspora, are addressed here as pilgrims or sojourners… Jews expelled.. and living in a pagan environment.

1&2 Peter An Expositional Commentary, R.C. Sproul

Simon Peter: To the pilgrims

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To the pilgrims of the Dispersion..

1 Peter 1:1a New King James Version
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"But WAIT.." as the old late-night TV ad suggested.. 
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You probably have the WRONG PICTURE of PILGRIMS with an implanted prejudice of clashing cultures.

παρεπίδημος – parepidēmos

properly, “one who comes from a foreign country into a city or land to reside there by the side of the natives; hence, stranger; sojourning in a strange place, a foreigner“

Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee,

Genesis 26:3a KJV – Oath of the LORD to Isaac, son of Abraham in Garar, a location south of Gaza – Source BLB
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Alien, migrant, immigrant, foreigner — all have subtle prejudicial meaning.
 
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These Christians to whom the Apostle’s write are rejected by former friends, neighbors and in workplaces. This sect of Jews following the way of the Messiah [or Christos] were also deported along with their families from their homes and Hellenist hometowns.

Therefore Christ-followers must sojourn to distant towns throughout the world of Roman citizens and pagans, those who rejected Jews anyway for the intolerance of their ONE GOD.

Why do they want to hear from Simon Peter?

Place yourself into any of the varied cities or towns in the Roman provinces addressed by the Apostle in ~ AD 64.

RC. Sproul in his PREFACE to 1-2 Peter offers one of the best descriptions of the heart of the saints receiving Simon Peter’s letter in the context of their situation:

Imagine what it would be like to receive a letter from someone who was a personal friend of Jesus during his earthly ministry?
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Referring specifically to Peter, James and John, eyewitnesses to the glory of the transfigured Christ, Dr. Sproul continues:
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A letter from a man such as this is a treasure for the church. His letter, beyond the value of his own eyewitness testimony and his intimate friendship with Jesus carries with it the weight of the divine inspiration of God the Holy Spirit.

ibid. R.C, Sproul

Why does Peter write a SECOND Epistle to them?

Remembering our AD 1st century cultural setting of the Church, as we discovered in Paul’s missionary journeys, the people living here are Hellenists.

Hellenists worshiped the tree of knowledge — towering temples of their gods — where philosophers plucked the forbidden fruit of wisdom.

Roger@TalkofJesus.com

Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble

2 Peter 1:10 NKJV
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Again, quoting R.C. SPROUL from: BE ALL THE MORE DILIGENT TO MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE, concerning the recipiants of 1 Peter (likely the same churches): 
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The gnostics took a variety of religions and philosophies and thought to blend them to produce a new religion or philosophy… They targeted the early Christian community.. The only way the Gnostics could seduce Christians to believe their heresy was to undermine the authority of the Apostles.

ibid. p.6

Therefore,

Simon Peter, doulos and Apostle of Jesus Christ

2 Peter 1:1

writes an epistle —
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(Remember the one definition emphasizing its impact as a letter of written command?) —
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to encourage Elders ‘ (and those saints willingly obedient to their teaching [doctrine] and authority)

in the (precise and correct) KNOWLEDGE of God [epignōsis theos] and of Jesus our Lord..

NEXT .. 2 PETER 1:

His precious and magnificent promises

Partakers of the Divine Nature
October 18, 2025
a brief Epistle from Paul to Ephesus
ACTS 20 – a farewell meeting

We have recently been reading some of Paul’s early letters to churches. Now the Apostle sends a brief Epistle to Ephesus to set up a parting embrace with the leaders of the Ephesian Church before the apostles sail toward home.
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Previously we learned that an epistle is not simply a letter from Apostles but from any authority to others. In Acts 15 we examined one sent from the Council in Jerusalem to several churches.
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Epistle from the Council of Jerusalem – Acts 15:20

The apostles send several epistles to churches throughout the MISSIONS of PAUL and others.

Ephesus to Assos – by land and by sea

But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go by land [on foot].
Acts 20:13 LSB – the apostles depart Ephesus

Picture the Apostle Paul after having been personally involved in the resurrection of a young man in Troas. He journeys on foot no doubt considering this miracle and the Lord’s will for his next destination.
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Their route on a Roman ship would have been ~42 nautical miles along the coastline while Paul's overland hike was about 28 miles.
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Once arriving in Assos Paul probably sends a message to the leaders in Ephesus where the Apostle had been so instrumental in leading the Church. His messenger may have set sail separately to Ephesus with an Epistle.

14 And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene.

15 And sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios;

and the next day we crossed over to Samos;

and the day following we came to Miletus.

and the day following we came to Miletus. For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.
Acts of the Apostles 20:15b-16 LSB – Luke records that the return of the apostles sent out on Paul’s third missionary journey will bypass Ephesus on their way home.

What’s the hurry to worship in Jerusalem?

Paul’s earlier hike to Assos following the time of the miraculous events at Troas would have given the Apostle time to consider his witness of the risen Christ twenty years ago.

In Jerusalem Paul would have met MANY witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection.

AND Paul would have met those present seven years before Christ appeared to him who along with the Apostles had received the Holy Spirit in an upper room on Pentecost.

What’s the occasion? Festival of Weeks + Pentecost

ALL had been sent out into all the world by the Spirit. What would be next for each of these witnesses of the risen CHRIST JESUS?

Hurrying home for Pentecost

~A.D. 57 Paul and the apostles to the gentiles have already traveled almost 2000 miles to this point in their 2700 mile THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY.

They still have over 700 miles (as the crow flies) to reach Jerusalem AND with several stops in ports along the way of their voyage back to Jerusalem.

A meeting in Miletus

Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.
Acts of the Apostles 20:17 LSB – Paul commands the Ephesian elders to come to him in Miletus

NEXT in Acts 20:

The Apostle recalls their shared witness of Christ in Ephesus and commands the Ephesian Church to be watchful.

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
March 12, 2024