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Summary of the Book of Second Peter
I. Introduction.
A. Letter was written by the apostle Peter (1:1).
B. Letter written to "them that have obtained a like precious faith"
(1:1).
1. The book of first Peter was written to Jews and Gentiles
dispersed throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and
Bithynia (1 Pet. 1:1).
2. The second letter of Peter was written to the same audience
(1 Pet. 3:1).
a. Faith is precious (valuable) (1:1).
b. Faith is obtained in the righteousness of our God Jesus
Christ (1:1).
c. Righteousness is the quality of being right, or just, and is an
attribute of God. Righteousness is whatever conforms to
the revealed will of God.
d. Jesus was made perfect by his obedience to the will of the
heavenly Father. This was his righteousness. Our precious
faith is in the righteousness of Christ. We are righteous
when we, following the example of Jesus, obey the
commands of God (See Psa. 119:172).
C. Peter commends them to the good gifts of God (grace) and to
magnified peace (1:1).
II. Exhortation to Spiritual Growth (1:2-21).
A. God gives us all things that belong to peace and righteousness
(1:3).
1. The divine power of God gives us peace and righteousness
(1:3).
2. This power works in us through the knowledge of Jesus
who called through his gospel and by his power and honor
(1:3).
B The exceeding great promises of Christ (1:4).
1. Those who have the precious faith are made partakers of the
divine nature (1:4).
a. The divine nature in which the saved partake is not the
natural qualities of God, for finite mortals cannot have
these features, else they would be God.
b. The divine nature we receive is the moral traits of God,
which the writer proceeds to name.
2. Those who are made partakers in the divine nature have
escaped the corruption that is in the world through human
lust (1:4).
C. The impressive beauty of Christian character (1:5-10).
1. We must work hard to develop the traits which God commands us
to have (1:5).
2. Virtue is to be added to faith (1:5). Virtue in this verse
means power or strength, and not moral excellence.
3. In our spiritual power we are to supply knowledge (1:5).
a. Knowledge of Christ and his word, which is absolute
truth, is necessary to salvation (John 8:32; 1 Pet. 1:23).
b. God's truth given in his revealed word lives and tarries
and is incorruptible (1 Pet. 1:23).
4. We are to add self-control to our knowledge (1:6).
5. To our self-control we are to add patience (1:6).
6. To our patience we must add the love of God (1:6).
7. To our love for God we add love of our brethren in Christ
(1:7).
8. To our love of the brethren we are to add love for all
mankind (1:7).
D. The necessity of rigorous application of these teachings to our
life (1:8-11).
1. If these virtues abound in your life, you are not slothful and
unproductive in the knowledge of Christ (1:8).
2. The person who does not add these characteristics to his
faith is spiritually blind (1:9-11).
a. He sees only what is near to him (1:9).
b. He has forgotten the joy of salvation (1:9).
3. Work hard at adding these qualities to your faith to avoid
falling from the grace of God (1:10).
4. Such conduct will assure your entrance into heaven (1:11).
E. The need to be reminded of what we already know (1:12-14).
1. Those who have a precious faith are established in truth, but
still need to recall foundational lessons (1:12).
2. Peter thought it necessary, as long as he was in his body of
flesh on earth, to put us in remembrance (1:13).
3. Peter knew he would die suddenly and violently (1:14). He
did not know when it would happen, and therefore, was
earnest in pressing these lessons on his brethren (1:14).
4. He wanted them to be able to remember his teaching after
he was dead (1:15).
E. The reason for diligent application to Christian principles
(1:16-21).
1. Peter and the other apostles did not follow cleverly cooked
up myths (1:16).
a. They were eyewitnesses of the majesty of Jesus (1:16).
b. God the Father acknowledged Jesus and confirmed his
claims (1:17-18).
c. Peter, James, and John heard the voice of God out of heaven
validating Jesus as his son when they were on the mount
of transfiguration (Matt. 17:5).
2. The voice of God confirming the deity of Jesus made the
word of prophecy more sure (1:19).
a. You will do well to listen to the teaching of Jesus and his
apostles (1:19).
b. God's revelation is like a lamp shining in a dark place,
until the day of final judgment comes, and Christ appears in
the glory of the morning star (1:19).
3. The words of the prophets were not their invention (1:20-
21).
a. Prophecy does not come by the will of the prophet, but by
inspiration of the Holy Spirit (1:21).
b. Since it is the work of God, we must give careful
attention to it.
III. Warning Against False Teachers (2:1-22).
A. False teachers will continue to appear (2:1-3).
1. False prophets came among the people in the past (2:1).
2. False teachers will also come to you (2:1).
a. They will bring false teaching that destroys (2:1).
b. They will deny Christ and bring swift destruction upon
themselves and upon those who receive their false
teaching (2:1).
3. The false teachers will have a big audience, and their
conduct will cause the truth to be spoken against (2:2).
4. The false teachers will be mercenary and greedy, but their
sure destruction is on the way; God will not fail to punish
them (2:3).
B. The judgment and punishment of God does not dwindle and
waste away (2:4-19).
1. When angels sinned, God put them in pits of darkness
awaiting the final judgment (2:4).
2. God destroyed the ancient world by a flood of water (2:5).
3. God burned to ashes the ungodly of Sodom and Gomorrah,
but delivered righteous Lot (2:6-8).
4. The preservation of Noah and Lot, and the destruction of
the others, proves that God rescues the righteous and
condemns the guilty (2:9).
5. The nature of ungodly sinners (2:10).
a. They walk after the flesh in the unnatural lust of
defilement (2:10).
b. They despise the government of God, and in foolhardy
self-will ridicule constituted authority (2:10).
6. The reaction of the angels in heaven (2:11).
a. Righteous angels are greater in power than sinning angels
but still do not rant and rave toward the fallen; they set an
example of moderation which we must imitate (2:11).
7. The attitude and work of false teachers (2:12-19).
a. They are like animals and cannot think (2:12).
b. They are angry and abusive in matters in which they are
ignorant (2:12).
c. They set out to destroy, and shall themselves be destroyed
(2:12).
d. They will receive their just comeuppance (2:13).
e. They carry vice to its greatest pitch and enjoy daytime
debauches (2:13).
f. They are spots and blemishes on the body of Christ
(2:13).
g. They wallow in their guile as they hypocritically
participate in your love feasts (2:13).
h. They have eyes full of adultery (2:14).
i. They cannot stop sinning (2:14).
j. They seduce the unstable (2:14).
k. They are covetous and profane (2:14).
l. They leave the right and do the wrong, following in the
way of Balaam who could be paid to do evil (2:15-16).
m. They profess to be able to teach, but are really wells
without water and clouds without rain; they are reserved
for the blackness of darkness (2:17).
n. They use great, swelling words to cover their ignorance
and entice new converts by lust and lasciviousness (2:18).
o. They promise to make men free from the restraint of law
and commands, but are themselves the slaves of sin
(2:19).
C. Thoughts on fatal apostasy (2:20-22).
1. Saved by a knowledge of Jesus--by his truth--if they go
back into sin, their last condition is worse than it was before
they were saved (2:20).
a. They would have been better off to have never known
the truth than to turn away from the holy commandment
delivered to them (2:21).
b. As the proverb says, they are like dogs eating their own
vomit, or a washed sow wallowing again in the mire
(2:22).
IV. The Second Coming of the Lord (3:1-18).
A. Scoffers will deny his coming (3:1-7)
1. Peter wanted to stir up pure minds by putting them in
remembrance (3:1-2).
a. Remember the words of the prophets (3:2).
b. Remember the commands of the Lord given through the
apostles (3:2).
2. In the last days scoffers would deny that the prophecy
concerning the second coming of Jesus would be fulfilled
(3:4).
a. These scoffers walk after their own lust (3:4).
b. Scoffers would deny his coming on the grounds that all
things continue as they were from the beginning of
creation (3:4).
3. They willfully forget the flood of Noah's time (3:5-6).
a. The world before the flood was "compacted out of water
and amidst water, by the word of God" (3:5).
b. There has been an alteration in the world's makeup since
the time of the flood (3:5).
c. The world before the flood was overflowed with water,
and perished by the word of God (3:6).
d. Therefore all things have not continued as they were from
the beginning of creation.
4. The present world is doomed to destruction by fire (3:7).
B. The reason for the delayed destruction of the world by fire
(3:8-16).
1. With God one day is as a thousand years and a thousand
years as one day (2 Pet. 3:8).
a. This does not mean that God cannot tell time nor read a
calendar.
b. It simply means that time has no meaning to God since he
inhabits eternity.
2. God's promise is sure (3:9).
a. Notice it is promise (singular) and points to the promise
of the second coming of Jesus and the destruction of the
world and the judgment (3:9).
b. God delays the destruction to give sinners time to repent
(3:9)
c. Those who do not repent will perish (3:9).
3. The final day of the world will come without warning, like a
thief (3:10-13).
a. The atmosphere around the world will pass away with a
great noise (3:10).
b. The elements will dissolve with intense heat and the earth
and all works therein will be burned up (3:10).
c. Since all material things are to perish, what kind of person
do you think you should be in all holy living and
godliness (3:11)?
d. We should look for and fervently desire the coming of the
Lord and the destruction of the world (3:12).
e. Christians look for a better world of perfect righteousness
(3:13).
4. The hope of the coming of Christ should intensify our godly
living (3:14-16).
a. We should apply ourselves with great effort to be in
peace, sinless and blameless in his sight (3:14).
b. God's delay in destroying the present system is for our
salvation (3:15).
c. Paul wrote this same thing to you (3:15).
d. Paul wrote things hard to be understood and the careless
wrest this to their destruction (3:16).
C. Closing remarks and appeal (3:17-18).
1. Knowing the Lord is coming, the world will be destroyed,
and we will be judged, do not be carried away by the false
teaching of the wicked (3:17).
2. Grow in grace and knowledge through a painstaking study
of the revealed word (3:18).