2 Peter
2 Peter answers an awkward early problem: Christ said he'd return and he hadn't.
Read this if you…
- want a farewell letter from a man writing in the shadow of his coming death
- curious about the "a day is as a thousand years" defense of Christ's delayed return
- like watching the early church explain itself to scoffers and second-generation doubters
Skip this if you…
- don't want to read explicitly religious/Christian texts
Why It Matters
2 Peter answers an awkward early problem: Christ said he'd return and he hadn't. Its line that 'one day is with the Lord as a thousand years' reframed the delay as patience, not failure, and gave later Christians a way to handle the same question.
Depicted in Art
Christ floats in radiant white above Mount Tabor between Moses and Elijah; below, Peter, James, and John recoil with arms raised as a desperate crowd presses around a possessed boy.
Raphael, 1520
A bearded Peter in papal pallium holds the keys of the kingdom against his chest, gazing upward — the apostle as foundation of the Church.
Peter Paul Rubens, 1611
John stands at the front holding an open New Testament, reading the opening verses of his Gospel; Peter looks over his shoulder holding the golden key.
Albrecht Dürer, 1526
Christ hands two large keys to a kneeling Peter at the center of a vast paved piazza, the other apostles ranked beside them and a domed temple rising behind.
Pietro Perugino, 1482
Peter is being lifted onto the inverted cross by three executioners, his elderly body twisted, his face turned in pained dignity toward the viewer.
Guido Reni, 1605
Recommended Editions
King James Version
Cambridge University Press · 1611
The most influential and commonly quoted translation in English. The prose rhythm everyone else is responding to, even modern translations.
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Deep Dive
What It's About
This summary gives away plot details.
Notable Quotes
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”
More by Peter
- 1 Peter
c. 63 · Epistle