Peter, First Epistle of – Pharakim

Peter, First Epistle of

No Epistle of the NT has caught more of the spirit of Jesus than 1 Peter. Imbued with a strong love for the risen Christ, and a profound conviction of the truth of the gospel as established in the world by the life, death, and resurrection of the Messiah, the author delineates a rich Christian life on the basis of these evangelical facts,

1. Contents. — I. Thanksgiving and exhortation in view of the Christian salvation, 13-2’0. (i.) The glorious character of the Christian salvation,

13.12_ •(a) A sure inheritance, w.’"^. To God our Father •is ascribed all praise, because by raising Jesus ■Christ from the dead He has begotten us into a living hope certain to be soon realized. (6) A present j^, notwithstanding manifold trials, w.8-3. Sufferings refine faith as fire does gold, and even now the unseen Christ is an object of unspeakable joy, and gives a foretaste of full salvation.

(c) The fulfilment of the promises made to the prophets, and a wonder even to angels, w.’"-‘^. (ii.) Exhortation to realize this hope in a holy life as ■members of a Divine brotherhood, l’8-2"‘. (o) The holy and absolutely just Father requires filial obedience, "w (6) To redeem us from sin the eternal and spotless Messiah was slain, and by His resurrection has awakened us to true f aitn in God. It is in the •Holy God thus revealed that all your faith and hope rest, ■w.’8-2i. (c) The family of God, begotten of the imperishable seed of the gospel, must obey the truth. with sincere mutual love and grow into maturiiy . As livingstones built into the li’ving but once rejected Christ, they form a spiritual temple and also a holy priestnood to offer spiritual sacrifices to God. They have become the new Israel, the people of God, V^2".

brotherhood, 2"-3’2. It must be pure and honourable in the midst of the heathen, 2"- 12. (a) Though free servants of God, Christians must be loyal to the earthly government, and observe their duties to all men in their several stations,

W.13-17. (6) Slaves must be obedient even to harsh masters, showing their possession of Divine grace and their discipleship to Jesus, by enduring suffering like Him whose unmerited death has brought us salvation, w.^^-^.

(c) Wives are to exercise a quiet and gentle spirit, like true mothers in Israel, submitting to their husbands, in the hope that if they are heathen they may be won to the faith by their Christian life. Likewise husbands must honour their wives as equally with themselves heirs of life. 3’-‘.

(d) The duty of a peaceful and kindly life to strengthen

the unity within the brotherhood, w.^-*^.

III. The uses of suffering, S’^M"‘.

(a) Suffering cannot really harm one who has Christ

in his rieart; nay, gentle steadfastness under

persecution may, like our Master’s, win over

others to God, Z"-".

Digression. Quickened in spirit by death, Christ

carried the gospel to the godless world that perished

in the Flood, through which Noah and his family

were_ saved, a type of the Christian who in his

baptism asks God for a good conscience, and is

cleansed through the risen Christ now triumphant

over all His enemies, w.18-22.

(6) Suffering delivers us from our sinful life. Though

your former heathen comrades revile you for

abandoning their life of sensuality, you must

have done with them and leave them to the

just Judge of all, 4’-^.

Digression. In the short time that remains until the

return of the Lord, Christians should live a life

of self-control, exercising brotherly love, hospitality,

and spiritual gifts, 4^-". (c) Your sufferings are not imique, but become a blessing if they are the result of fidelity to your Christian profession, and not of evil conduct. They are a sign that judgment is near, which you may await in a life of well-doing, trusting your faithful Creator, w.^2-19,

IV. Miscellaneous advice, 5*-". (a) Counsel to elder of the Church, and to the younger men, 5’-*. (6) Exhortation to resignation, watchfulness, and trust in the midst of the terrible sufferings that are being endured by the brotherhood everywhere, w.^-".

(c) Personal greetings, w.^^-h,

2. Readers. — Of the provinces in which the readers lived, Galatia and Asia were evangelized by St. Paul, but nothing is known of the evangelization of the rest, nor does the letter assume that St. Peter had any share in it. At first sight it would appear that the readers were Jewish Christians, as some scholars hold that they were, but the body of the Epistle clearly shows that the prevailing element was Gentile, and the words of 1’ are to be taken figuratively of the sojourn of the Christian aa a resident alien on earth, absent from his heavenly fatherland (2’- " 4’-*). Doubtless, however, very many who had been Jews were found in all the Churches of the large cities. The former life of the readers, on the average low level of Asia Minor, had been given over to the vices of the fiesh; perhaps, indeed, their past conduct was the source from which the criminal charges were brought against them afterwards as Christians (2’‘i^- "). The Churches were suffering severely, though there does not seem to have been an official persecution, or a systematic attempt at extermination, for it is assumed that most will remain until the Parousia (4’). So severe was their suffering, that only the strong arm of God could protect them in their temptation (!’-‘412 5s). Christians are easily confounded with criminals (2i2- ■‘■ i» 3"- " 4"i. "), slaves suffer at the hands of their masters, wives from their husbands, but their experience was of the same out the world (5»). The Churches are’ islands In an ocean of heathenism.’

3. Purpose.— This letter is an encouragement to readers who are in danger of lapsing, through suffering, into the unholy life of their neighbours. By recalling the fact of the resurrection of Christ, and by an appeal to the example of His remedial sufferings, the author seeks to awaken their faith and hope in God. They are urged to sustain their moral life in the exercise of a calm and sober confidence in the grace of God soon to be revealed more fully (1" 4’ 5»-‘»), and to commend their gospel to the heathen world by their lives of goodness, entrusting themselves in well-doing to a faithful Creator (4>«).

4. Teaching.— (a) Doctrine.— ‘FaiVa in God as the holy Father and faithful Creator is built upon the solid facts of the gospel, — in particular, the life, death, and resurrection of Christ the eternal Messiah The life of Jesus Christ has made an ineffaceable impression upon the author. Hebrews 7 spotless, the perfect pattern for men, but also the Messiah, who as the Servant of the Lord has by His death ransomed a new people and ratified a new covenant (1:2 18-20 2). By His resurrection He has been exalted to God’s right hand, and will soon return to unveil further glories (1:13 3). The most probable interpretation of 3:18 ff. is that Christ went, during the period between His death and resurrection, to the abode of the dead, and, having preached His gospel to those who had been the wicked antediluvian world, has made it of universal efficacy (cf. Ephesians 4:8–19). In this life Christ becomes an object of inexpressible joy to believers on whom the Spirit has been poured forth (1:2, 8, 12) Peter does not regard the Spirit as the source of Christian virtues, but as the pledge of our future inheritance, as well as of present Divine grace manifested in the ability to endure suffering (4:14). This Spirit was also identified with the pre-existent Messiah, and was the means of His persistence through death (1:11 3:18, 19 4:14). By the Spirit the brethren are also consecrated in a new covenant to Jehovah, thereby receiving the fulfilment of the promise of the Messianic age (1:2). The risen Christ has become the object of the believer’s utter love and devotion, and has begotten in him the living hope of an eternal inheritance.

(6) The Christian life. — At baptism the believer has his conscience cleansed through the risen Christ; and the new life springing from the seed of the word of God planted in the heart grows by feeding upon that word. Holiness is its quality, involving obedience to the truth, freedom from fleshly lusts, self-control under suffering, joy in a present salvation, and hope of life in the incorruptible inheritance. Faith is the act whereby the believer, realizing the worth of the unseen world through the revelation of Jesus Christ, puts complete trust in God. With Christ, the living stone. Christians form the new temple in which the brethren are a royal priesthood. They are the true Israel, a brotherhood which is God’s home on earth. The Christian is a pilgrim on earth, his life one of love to the brethren and of gentle endurance towards the unbeliever, whom he seeks to win to the gospel, while he stands ready girt for his Master’s coming (1:13 5:5–11).

6. Literary affinities.- (a) The OT. — This Epistle is greatly indebted to the LXX, especially to the Psalms and to Isaiah, whose teaching as to the holiness of God and the redemptive efficacy of the sufferings of the Servant of the Lord is echoed (1 P l’»-2ii. Isaiah 52:3 53; 1 P jM. M^ i9 40:6 ff.; 1 p 2:6 ff.: Isaiah 28:16. Psalms 118:22; 1 Peter 2:21 ff. ; Isaiah 53; 1 Peter 3:10 ff.; Psalms 34:12 ff.). Proverbs also is used (1 Peter 2:17. Proverbs 24:21; 1 Peter 4:8. Proverbs 10:12; 1 p 4:18. pr ipi; i p 6:5. Proverbs 3:34).

(6) Book of Enoch. — An acquaintance with this pseudepigraphlc book may be traced in 1 Peter 3:19 2». Cf. Enoch 9 10. 64 69.

(c) The Gospds. — While the Epistle affords no proof of acquaintance with our Gospels, it contains many suggestions of the life and teachings of Jesus. Peter claims to have been a witness of the sufferings and the glory of Jesus (5:1). which may refer both to the Transfiguration and to the appearances of the risen Christ. Christ is set forth as the example for the sufferer, as though His silent endurance of reviling and the agony of the sinless One had been indelibly impressed on the author’s memory; and, as in the Synoptics, Jesus Christ fulfils the prophecy of the Suffering Servant. The great command of Jesus to His disciples to renounce the world, take up the cross and follow Him, seems to re-echo in this Epistle; as Jesus pronounced blessings on those who were persecuted for righteousness’ sake, so does Peter (3:14 4:14). and other words from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:10, 11, 14 e^s) seem to speak in 2:12 3:13–16 5. The parable of the Sower may have supplied the figure of V^-\ the lesson of the tribute money may underlie 2:13, 14; and Christ’s utterance of doom on apostate Israel, especially the parable of Mark 12:1–12. probably suggested the thought of 2:5–10. That the Kingdom of God, so common in the teaching of Jesus, is not referred to, may be due to the fact that the terra had no worthy association for the readers. They had learned to call God ‘Father,’ not ‘King.’

(ft) Acts. — There are similarities with Peter’s speeches in Acts, e.g., the witness of the prophets to the Messiah; Jesus Christ as the Suffering Servant whose death was foreknown to God, and was endured for our sins; His exaltation and near return to Judge the living and the dead (Acts 2:23, 33 S’s 5:30, 31 10:42 2:3). Cf. also 1 Peter 3:20 with Acts 3:19–21.

(c) The Pauline Epistles. — A comparison of Romans with this Epistle reveals striking resemblances between them (1 Peter 1:14. Romans 12:2; 1 Peter 1:22. Romans 12:9; 1 Peter 2:5. Romans 12:1; 1 p 2:6–8, 10. Romans 9:25, 32, 3; 1 Peter 2:13–17. Romans 13:1, 3, 4 ‘; 1 Peter 3:8, 9, Romans 12:16; 1 Peter 4:7–11, Romans 12:3, 6), so close, indeed, in 1 Peter 2:6 and Romans 9:32, that it is all but certain that one Epistle was known to the writer of the other; and Romans must have been the earlier. The more or less obvious relations of Ephesians with 1 Peter (1 Peter 1. Ephesians 1; 1 Peter 1:12. Ephesians 3:5, 10; 1 Peter 2:4–6, Ephesians 2:18–22; 1 Peter 2:18. Ephesians 6; 1 Peter 3:1–7, Ephesians 5:22–33; 1 Peter 3:22, Ephesians 1:20–22) justify the opinion that’ the authors of both letters breathed the same atmosphere’ (v. Soden).

(/) Hebrews. — Many close verbal parallels are found between these Epistles, and their leading religious conceptions are similar. Both have the same view of faith, of Jesus Christ as an example, and as the One who introduces the believer to God, of His death as the sacrifice ratifying the new covenant and taking away sin. Similar stress is laid on hope and obedience; the fortunes of old Israel are employed in both to illustrate the demand for faith on the part of new Israel, and a similar use is made of the sufferings of the readers. Cf. 1 Peter 1:8. Hebrews 11:1; 1 p i20_ Hebrews 9:26; 1 Peter 2:21–23. Hebrews 12:1–3; 1 Peter 4:13 5:1. Hebrews 11:26 13:13; 1 p 4:11. Hebrews 13:21; 1 Peter 5:10. Hebrews 13:21. Though direct literary relationship between the two Epistles cannot be affirmed, the authors may have been close friends, and the readers were perhaps similarly situated.

(g) James. — A comparison of 1 Peter 1:1. James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:6 f.: James 1:2 f.; 1 Peter 1:23, Ja I11-22; 1 Peter 5:5 f.: James 4 close relationship, but the priority can be determined only on the basis of the date of James.

6. Authorship. — According to the present greeting, this Epistle was written by the Apostle Peter, and this is supported by very strong tradition. Polycarp is the earliest writer who indubitably quotes the Epistle, though it was probably familiar to Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Papias, and perhaps Ignatius. Basilides seems to have known it, and it was rejected by Marcion on doctrinal grounds. It is first quoted as Peter’s by Irenseus and Tertullian, and is frequently used by Clement of Alexandria. Its omission from the Muratorian Fragment is not significant; it is contained in the oldest versions, and Eusebius, in full agreement with what we know of early Christian literature, places it among the books which the Church accepted without hesitation. In the Apostolic Fathers, e.g., it is as well attested as Galafians or Ephesians. Harnack suggests that the opening and closing verses were later additions, and that Polycarp did not regard the letter as Peter’s ; but this hypothesis is utterly without textual support, and both paragraphs are fitted compactly into the Epistle. The chief objections to the Petrine authorship are — (1) the Epistle is said to be so saturated with Pauline ideas that it could not have been written by the Apostle Peter; (2) the readers are Gentile Christians living within territory evangelized by Paul, in which Peter would have been trespassing on the Gentiles (Galatians 2:9) (3) there is a lack of personal reminiscences of the life of Jesus that would be strange in Peter; (4) the use of good Greek and of the LXX would be remarkable in a Galilaean fisherman; (S) the persecution referred to in ch. 4 is said to be historically impossible until after the death of Peter.

In answer to (3) reference may be made to 5 (c). (4) is too conjectural to be serious, for ‘there is not the slightest presumption against the use of Greek in writings purporting to emanate from the circle of the first believers. They would write as men who had used the language from boyhood’ (J. H. Moulton). Silvanus also may have had a large share in the composition of the Epistle. The difficulty of (5) is removed if, as we have seen to be probable, no official Imperial persecution is involved. Little is known of its beginnings in the provinces, though from Acts we learn that the Jews soon stirred up hostility against the Christians. Rome is called Babylon, the idolatrous oppressor of the true Israel. This might have happened whenever the Christians began to realize the awakening hatred of the wicked city, mistress of an empire ruled by a deified Nero, even before the persecution of 64 a.d. Undoubtedly there is a close relationship between this Epistle and Paul’s Epistles, closer in thought than in vocabulary. Probably the approximation is nearest in the treatment of morals, as, e.g., marriage, slavery, obedience to civil rulers; and how much of this was common Christian belief and practice. It is, however, striking that in an Epistle so indebted to the Romans the legalistic controversy is passed by, while a different view of righteousness, a change of emphasis as to the import of Christ’s death, and a dissimilar conception of the work of the Spirit are manifest. Nor does the Ephesian idea of the Church appeal to this author. He cannot be called a Paulinist. He has been nurtured on prophetic, rather than on Pharisaic, ideals. Doubtless St. Paul,- a broadly educated Jew, a Roman citizen, and a man of massive intellect and penetrating insight, influenced St. Peter. This much may be inferred from Galatians 2:15–17. On the other hand, St. Paul did not resent St. Peter’s visit to Antioch in Galatians 2:11. Why should not St. Peter, many years later, have written to Churches some of which at least seem not to have been evangelized by St. Paul? But greatly as St. Peter may have been impressed by St. Paul’s masterful construction of Christian thought, his character must have been immeasurably more moulded by Jesus, while his own strong temperament, responsive to the prophetic side of his people’s religion, would change little with the years. It is precisely the ground-tone of the Epistle — in harmony with the spirit of OT prophecy and of the Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels — that makes its Petrine authorship so reasonable.

7. Date.— The belief that St. Peter died in Rome is supported by a very strong chain of evidence, being deducible from Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Papias; and it is held by Dionysius of Corinth, Irensus, Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria. Unless St. Peter had been definitely associated with Rome, it is difficult to understand how he supplanted St. Paul so soon in the capital as the chief Apostle. Evidently the tradition of a 25 years’ episcopate has no historical basis, but St. Peter probably came to Rome after St. Paul, and died perhaps in the Neronian persecution of 64, or possibly later. It is in the highest degree probable that St. Peter wrote this Epistle from Rome before A.D. 64. R. A. Falconer.

Peter, Second Epistle of

This Epistle cannot rank with 1 Peter as a Christian classic; indeed, very many would agree with JUlicher that ‘2 Peter is not only the latest document of the NT, but also the least deserving of a place in the canon.’ Nevertheless, it strilces a pure Christian note in its passion for righteousness.

1. Contents. —

_(i.) Greeting and exhortation, 1’-". The Epistle opens with a salutation from Simon Peter to readers who, through the righteousness of God, have been admitted to the fSl

grivileges of the Apostolic faith. His prayer for increased leasing upon them, through the knowledge of GodandJesus our Lord, is based on the fact that by the revelation of His glorious excellence His Divine power has made a godly life possible for us, and has given nch promises of our ultimately sharing His nature, when we have escaped from this present world perishing in its lust (w.^-^). They are therefore urged to en rich their characterwi til virtues, because only from such a soil will a full Imowledge of Jesus Christ grow; and entrance into His eternal Kingdom depends upon forgiveness of sins, and the zealous effort of the believer to mal£e the gospel call effective by a hfe of virtue (w.’-"). (ii.) The sure witness to the gospel, w.^^-^. The Apostle will hold himself in readiness to remind his readers of the truth; and since.his death may be sudden, he will endeavour to leave them a trustworthy memorial of his teaching; for, unlilce the false teachers, Peter was an eye-witness com-

Eetent to set forth the power and the return of the Lord, aving seen the Transfiguration on the Holy Mount. He also heard the Divine voice that confirmed prophecy, to which they must pay heed, since it was given by the Spirit; but prophecy having such an ori^n can be interpreted only oy the voice of God, not by private opinion.

(iii.) Thefalseteachers, ch. 2. An invasion of false teachers is foretold. These men will subvert the gospel of redemption from sin, and’cause apostasy in the Church. But their doom at the hand of a righteous God, is no less certain than that of the angels who sinned, or the antediluvian world, or Sodom and Gomorrah; though now also, as then, the few righteous will escape (w.^-*) . Sensual, irreverent,brutish, and ignorant of spiritual things, they destroy even the sacred Christian feasts by their revelry, and, like Balaam, seek, for their selfish purposes, to lead their victims into fornication, deluding recently converted believers with a false doctrine of freedom. Had these apostates never known the truth, it would have been better for them (w."-^).

(\v,) Waminff against scepticism as to the return of the Lord, ch. 3. He reminds his readers that it was foretold as a sign of the end that mockers would deny that the Lord will return, but that both the prophets and the Lord proclaimed a day of Final Judgment. The memory of the Flood should be a warning to the scoffers (w.’-‘). God’s delay is intended to give opportunity for repentance, and His purposes, though slowly maturing, will be brought to pass without warning; but the Day may be hastened Dy holy living and godliness. This is the teaclung also of Paul, whose gospel of grace some are seeking to distort into licence. Safety Hes in watchfulness and in growth in the grace and Imowledge of Jesus Christ (w. »-i8).

2. Situation o£ the readers. — Were it not that 2 P3’ seems to refer to 1 Peter, no definite information would be found in this letter as to the locality of the readers. It appears to be an Epistle designed to counteract a particular error affecting a district rather than one Church. It may be inferred that the readers were Gentiles (1’) , and were being misled by distortions of the Pauline doctrine of grace (S’^- though the Churches were undisturbed by any echoes of the Jewish-Christian controversy. Indifference to Christian morality, inducing a dulled spiritual sense, has made them liable to apostasy under the influence of false teachers who are about to invade the Churches. Some are already at work among them (213-18). They seem to have taken advantage of the privilege of porphecy to spread their libertinism, and to have turned the sacred love-feasts into bestial carousals, holding out, especially to recent converts, the distorted promise of Christain freedom. They satisfied their own avarice and lust, and sco£fed at moral responsibility, teaching, it would appear, that there is no resurrection of the body or judgment to come, by playing upon the deferred Christian hope of the Return of the Lord. Apparently they were all of one type, and so wicked as to be compared with the worst sinners of the OT (21. 6. 16). There is no evidence of any speculative system like those of the 2nd cent. Gnosticism, but there are features in common with the practices of the Nicolaitans of the Churches of Pergamum and Thyatira (Eev 2"-"), though no mention is made of idolatry. A greater affinity may be traced with the Sadducaic spirit of portions of the Jewish and semi-pagan world, where scepticism as to spiritual realities went hand in hand with practical immorality. The cities of Syria or Samaria would be a not improbable situation for the readers of 2 Peter.

3. Ptirpose of the Epistle. — It is a mistake to confine the purpose of 2 Peter to the refutation of one error, as, e.g., the denial of the Parousia. It is a loud appeal for godly living and faith in the affirmations of the gospel. Scripture, and the Christian conscience. God’s promises of mercy and threatenings of judgment are Yea and Amen. The writer aims to impress on his readers: (1) that saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is granted only to the virtuous heart; (2) that Jesus Christ is a present power for a godly life, and is certain to return for judgment; (3) the hideous character of the false teachers and the self-evident doom of themselves and their victims; (4) that delay in the Return of the Lord must be used for repentance, for that Day will surely come.

4. Literary afSnities. — (o) The OT. — Though the direct quotations are few (Psalms 90:4 in 3:8 and probably Proverbs 26:11 in 2:22, with remmiscences of Isaiah 34:4 in 3:12, and Isaiah 65:17 66:22 in 3:13). the real indebtedness of 2 Pet. to the OT is very great in the historical examples of ch. 2, and in the view of Creation, the Flood, and the Day of the Lord (3:5, 6, 7) The infiuence of Isaiah is manifest (cf. Isaiah 13 34:4 51:6 66:15 f. with 2 Peter 3:7, 10) and the use of Proverbs may perhaps be seen in 2 Peter 2:17 (Proverbs 10:11 21:6 25:14) and in 2 Peter 2:21 (Proverbs 12:28 16:17, 31).

(6) Book of Enoch. — It cannot be doubted that Enoch 9:1 10:4–6 18:11 has influenced 2 Peter 2:4, 11.

(c) The Gospels. — The most obvious references are in 2 p 1:16–18, which agrees fundamentally, though not precisely, with the Synoptic narratives of the Transfiguration, and in 1:14, which seems to point to the incident in John 21:18, 19. The Synoptic eschatology also, along with OT prophecy, has infiuenced 2 Peter (ct. Mark 13 " II and 2 Peter 3:10–12; Matthew 19:28 25:31, Lk 21:26–28 and 2 Peter 3:12, 13). Matthew 11:27, 29 and the parable of the Sower (Luke 8:10, 15) throw much light on 2 P I2-8; and Matthew 12:28, 29 a-a on 2 Peter 2:19–21.

(d) The Pauline Epistles. — Of these there are very few traces, though 2 Peter 1:13 may be compared with 2 Corinthians 5:1; 2 Peter 2:19 with Romans 6:16; 2 Peter 3:14 with 1 Thessalonians 3:1 5:23, and 2 Peter 3:15 with Romans 2:4 9:22. There are verbal similarities with the Pastoral Epistles, but probably they do not involve anything more than a wide-spread similar atmosphere. According to 3:15, 16, the author seems to know all St. Paul’s correspondence, but he shows astonishingly little evidence of its influence.

(e) Jude. — One of these Epistles must have been used by the author of the other, but there is great diversity of opinion as to the priority, the prevailing view at present being apparently in favour of the priority of Jude, though Zahn and Bigg are strong advocates of 2 Peter. The question is really indeterminable, and, apart from the external testimony of the one to the other, has little bearing on the authorship.

(/) 1 Peter. — (i.) Differences. These are many and serious. 1 Peter is written in fluent Hellenistic Greek while the style of 2 Peter is almost pseudo-literary, and its words are often quite uncommon. 1 Peter quotes largely from the LXX, the use of which can hardly be detected in 2 Peter. The Divine names are different, and different conceptions of Christ’s work and of the Christian life are emphasized — in 1 Peter Jesus is the Messiah whose sufferings, death, and resurrection are the leading motives for the Christian life; in 2 Peter Christ is ‘Saviour,’ who brings power for a godly life to all who have knowledge of Him. Hope and Joy are the notes of 1 Peter, which was written to readers who are buoyed up in suffering by faith in and love to their risen Lord. In 2 Peter false teaching instead of persecution is a source of danger; knowledge takes the place of hope, and piety that of holiness.

(ii.) Resemblances [cf. (i.)].— ^These are manifold and striking. Both Epistles are influenced greatly by Isaiah and in some measure by Proverbs and Enoch. Both teach that Jesus Christ is progressively revealed to the believer, the Parousia being the fulfilment of the Transfiguration or the Resurrection (1 Peter 1:13 4:13 5:1, 2 Peter 1:3, 4, 16). Both emphasize the fact of the Parousia and of Divine judgment; Noah and the Flood are used as examples in both. A similar conception of the Holy Spirit, unique in the NT, is found in 1 Peter 1:10–12 and 2 Peter 1:19–21. In both the Christian life is regarded as a growth from seed (1 Peter 1:23. 2 Peter 1:8 3:18) obedience to the truth, emphasized in 1 Peter 1:22 and 2 Peter 2:2, 21, brings the favourite virtue of steadfastness (1 Peter 2:8 5:10. 2 Peter 1:10 3:17). The law of holy living confers true freedom (1 Peter 1:15, 16 2:15 ff.; 2 Peter 2:19 3:11, 14). xhe virtues of 2 P are paralleled in 1 Peter, being those of a gentle, orderly, patient, kindly life of goodness; and in both the Christian life is regarded as a pilgrimage to an eternal inheritance] (1 Peter 1:1, 4, 2 P in. 13. H),

6 . Testimony of later Christian Literature . — Until the 3rd cent, the traces of 2 Peter are very few. It was evidently known to the author of the Apocalypse of Peter (c. 160 A.D.), though this is questioned without sufficient reason by some scholars. The first certain quotation is found in Firmilian of Caesarea in Cappadocia (c. 250) ; probably it was used by Clement of Alexandria; and Origen knew it, but doubted its genuineness. While Eusebius himself did not accept the Epistle, he placed it, in deference to general opinion, among the ‘disputed’ books. It is not referred to by the scholars of Antioch, nor is it in the Peshitta, the common version of the Syrian Church. The oldest Latin versions also seem not to have contained it; possibly it was absent from the original of Codex B, but it is found in the Egyptian versions. Jerome, and afterwards Erasmus and Calvin, harboured doubts about its genuineness.

6. Authorship. — It will have been evident that there is much in this Epistle to justify the doubt as to its genuineness which has been entertained by many of the greatest Christian teachers from the early centuries; and recent scholarship has not yet relieved the difficulties in the way of accepting the Petrine authorship. They are (1) the remarkable divergence from the First Epistle, which seems to be too radical to be explained by the employment of different amanuenses; (2) the inferior style of the Epistle, its lack of restraint and its discontinuity, notably in l"-2i and ch. 2; (3) the absence of an early Christian atmosphere, together with a tone of disappointment because the promise of Christ to return has been long deferred (3:3 f.) (4) the appeal to the three authorities of the primitive Catholic Church — the Prophets, the Lord, and the Apostles (l"-2i 3:2) (5) the reference to St. Paul’s letters as ‘Scripture’; (6) the extremely meagre external evidence.

Of these difficulties the gravest are (1) and (6). It is almost impossible to hold that the author of 1 Peter could have described his letter in the words of 2 Peter 3:1, and have regarded 2 Peter as a sequel to the same readers. It has, however, been suggested that 2 Peter was written earlier than 1 Peter, and that the Epistles were composed by different amanuenses for different readers. But this hypothesis has not met with much favour. The insufficient witness is also serious, and though singly the other difficulties may be removed, their cumulative effect is too much for a letter already heavily burdened. But if the evidence is against direct Petrine authorship, is the book to be summarily banished into the middle of the 2nd cent, as entirely pseudonymous? Probably not. (1) There are no features of the Epistle which necessarily extrude it from the 1st century. Doubts as to the Parousia and similar false teaching were not unknown in the Apostolic age, and some of the most distinctive features of the 2nd cent., such as developed Gnosticism and Chiliasm, are conspicuous by their absence. Also the reference to St. Paul’s letters as ‘Scripture’ is not decisive, for in view of the insistence upon ‘written prophecy’ and its origin (I19-21) it is doubtful whether St. Paul is ranked with the OT prophets. But in any case, by the time of 1 Clement there was a collection of St. Paul’s letters which would be read in churches with some Scriptural authority. Finally, there is much to be said for the view that not the OT Scriptures, but other Christian writings, are referred to in 3:16. (2) 2 Peter contains a large distinctively Petrine element. It has already been shown that 1 and 2 Peter have much in common. They present a non-Pauline conception of Christianity, shared by them in common with the Gospel of Mark and the speeches of Peter in Acts. In Mk. and in 2 Peter Jesus Christ is the strong Son of God, whose death ransomed sinners, and whose return to judgment is described in generally similar outlines. In the Epistle stress is laid on repentance, as in the opening of Mk. and in Acts (2 Peter 3:9–15), and there is a striking similarity between Acts 3:19–21 and 2 Peter 3:11, 12. Likewise the Christian life is regarded as the fulfilment of the new law, and the parables in Mk. of the planting and growth of the seed, supply suggestive parallels for both 1 and 2 Peter. Both Epistles, like the speeches in Acts, are Hebrew in spirit, and are influenced by prophetic motives.

Perhaps the solution that will best suit the facts is to assume that a disciple of Peter, who remembered how his master had dealt with an attack of Sadducaic sensuality in some of the Palestinian Churches, being confronted with a recrudescence of similar evil, re-edited his teaching. This will do justice to the moral earnestness and the true Christian note of the Epistle.

R. A. Falconeh.

Pethahiah

1. The head of the nineteenth priestly course (1 Chronicles 24:16). 2. A Levite (Ezra 10:23, Nehemiah 9:5) in 1 Esdras 9 Patheus. 3. A Judahite officer (Nehemiah 11:24).

Pethor

Mentioned in Numbers 22:5 and Deuteronomy 23:4 as the home of Balaam, in N. Mesopotamia, when he was called by Balak to curse Israel. With this indication agrees the repeated statement by king Shalmaneser 11. of Assyria regarding a certain city which he calls Pitru, that it lay on the river Sagur (modern SajUr), near its junction with the Euphrates. Thus Pethor would seem to have lain a little south of Carchemish, on the west of the Euphrates. J. F. M’Curdy.

Pethuel

The father of the prophet Joel (Joel 1:1).

Petra

See Sbla.

Peullethai

The eighth son of Obed-edom (1 Chronicles 26:5).

Phaath Moab

Phaath moab (1 Esdras 5:11 S’O =Pahath-moab of Ezra 2:6 etc.

Phacareth

Phacareth (1 Esdras 5:34) =Pochereth-hazzebaim, Ezra 2:57.

Phaistjr

Phaistjr (1 Esdras 9:22) -Ezr W^ Pashhur, 1 Esdras 5 Phassurus.

Phaldeus

Phaldeus (1 Esdras 9:44) =Pedaiah, Nehemiah 8:4.

Phaleas

Phaleas (1 Esdras 5:29) =Padon, Ezra 2:44.

Phaiias

Phaiias (1 Esdras 9:48) = Pelaiah, Nehemiah 8:7.

Phaltiel

Phaltiel (cf. 2 Samuel 3:15). The ■ captain of the people" (2 Esdras 5:16).

Phanuel

The mother of Anna (Luke 2:36).

Pharakim

A family of Nethinim (1 Esdras 5:31).