Second Letter of Peter and Letter of Jude

The Second Letter of Peter is quite similar to the letter of Jude, and for this reason, we will treat them together, or better said, we will begin with the letter of Jude, which is very short writing and the last of the canonical series of Catholic Letters, but it was probably the note that served as a model for the Second Letter of Peter.

The Letter of Jude is attributed to an apostle bearing this name. We are more familiarly acquainted with Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed the Lord, but there was also another apostle who bore this name: Judas Thaddaeus, also called Judas of James, brother of James the Less and, therefore, brother of Jesus, a close cousin. He must also have been the son of Cleophas, but again we are not sure that the author is really the apostle Judas Thaddaeus.

The name Judas is widespread in the Jewish environment and it is possible that a late first century Christian took the name of an apostle to address this exhortation. A little bit like the other Catholic Letters, we find ourselves here, more than in front of a letter, in front of a homily.

The problem that Jude's letter faces is the corruption within the Christian community caused by certain teachers of heresies. It seems that these people belong to Paul's entourage, but they are not true disciples of Paul. It is a degenerate 'paulinism.' They are those people who mistakenly pass themselves off as followers of St. Paul. They deform him, and they adapt him and ruin him, creating havoc and disorder in the Christian community. Against these people, Jude pronounced a fiery homily, reprimanding them energetically.

Let us see some passages of this rebuke: "Woe to them! They followed the footsteps of Cain. and like Balaam, go astray, because of money: they will, finally, perish, like the rebellious Korah.” It refers to three negative figures of the Old Testament: Cain, Balaam, Korah. We know Cain well, murderer of his brother; Balaam was a magician, an oriental sorcerer summoned to curse Israel; Korah is a priest who rebelled against Moses. The author refers to these characters of the Old Testament who in some way were known and spread by the Gnostic currents of Egypt and, probably, these adversaries were initiating that degenerate strand of Egyptian Gnosticism.

Jude continues: “When you celebrate your love-meals, they spoil everything, coming only for the food, and shamelessly seeing to their own needs. They are like clouds, carried along by the wind, which never bring rain, like trees, without fruit at the end of autumn, twice dead when uprooted. The scum of their vices is splashed, like foam on the rough waves of the sea, they are like shooting stars, which the thick darkness engulfs for ever.”

Let us note that the language is full of images and, in fact, the author writes in a beautiful Greek language. He shows that he knows literature and can coin strong images. The tone is virulent. He even quotes a text from the Old Testament apocryphal tradition, the Book of Enoch, saying, "The patriarch Enoch, the seventh after Adam, said these words about them: The Lord comes with thousands of angels, to judge everyone, and call the wicked to account, for all the evil deeds they committed; he will punish all the injurious words, the impious sinners uttered against him.”

After strongly rebuking and blaming these teachers of falsehood, the author addresses the addressees: “But, most beloved, remember what the apostles of Christ Jesus, our Lord, announced to you.” The author speaks of the apostles as if they were already dead, "remember what the apostles announced." He has placed himself in the sphere of the apostles, but he already belongs to a few generations later. We are towards the end of the first century, in a very probably Egyptian environment; the Egyptian city of Alexandria could be the place of origin of these writings because the polemical tone seems to reflect the condition in which Christianity was found in Egypt towards the end of the first century.

This short and strong text was used by the compiler of the second letter of Peter. Whereas for the first one, we are very sure of the paternity of Peter, although the material author is Silvanus, in the case of the second letter, we find a text written after Peter's death, by an anonymous author, also from the Alexandrian Egyptian milieu, who, putting himself in Peter's place, tells the same things to the same teachers of falsehood that Jude addresses, to the point that the second letter of Peter contains three chapters, and the second chapter is almost identical to the letter of Jude, and he seems to have taken that other text and framed it with other reflections.

Let's look at some particularly significant teachings from these two documents. First of all, the author shows at the beginning a beautiful theological synthesis, he says: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and piety. First, the knowledge of the One who called us through his own glory and Might, by which—with the knowledge, with the gnosis— we were given the most extraordinary and precious promises. Through them, you share in the divine nature, after repelling the corruption and evil desires of this world.”

The most important and new idea in this discourse is that Christians become partakers of the divine nature. It is a great idea; we are not only delivered from evil, but we become partakers of the divine nature; it means that we become gods; we become partakers of the divine nature. Not only genuine people with redeemed human nature but we are deified.

This is an idea that western theology has not had much follow up, while the Eastern Fathers gave particular emphasis to this aspect; thus, in the Orthodox liturgy, there is an insistent emphasis on the deification of humankind, and it is a beautiful and theologically appealing discourse that we must learn to assimilate and develop. We have been made partakers of the divine nature.

The author goes on to emphasize the importance of faithfulness to the apostolic tradition, remaining faithful to what the apostles transmitted, without deviating by following false teachers. He says that the apostolic tradition fits perfectly in the prophetic tradition. Putting himself in Peter's place, the author says that he was an eyewitness of the Lord Jesus, transfigured on the mountain, when he heard the voice of God in the presence of the Law and the Prophets that guaranteed that Jesus is the beloved Son in whom God is well pleased. Now Jesus becomes the best confirmation of the word of the prophets and you will do well to pay attention to him, “as to a lamp shining in a dark place." The word of Christ is the light that illuminates our darkness.

"Know this well: no prophecy of Scripture can be handed over to private interpretation (no biblical text interpreted by himself), since no prophecy comes from human decision." In other words, no one wrote these texts by his own idea, and no one can read these texts according to his own ideas. It is not an autonomous text, left to the interpretation of anyone; it is a text that is born in the tradition of the community and is rightly interpreted within the community because it is the community that is the bearer of the Spirit. "No prophecy comes from human decision, for it was men of God, moved by the Holy Spirit, who spoke.” The written texts, the scriptural texts, the biblical texts are inspired.

This is another great idea that this second letter of Peter teaches. Inspired by the Spirit, they are bearers of truth, but they must be read in the same spirit that inspired them. And to be sure to interpret them correctly in the original spirit it is necessary to be in communion with the community. I, privately, alone, with my head and my intelligence, cannot pretend to understand the meaning, especially if I am going against the interpretation of the community. These are important clarifications that have marked the whole history of biblical interpretation.

Then follows the second chapter which, as I said, takes up almost literally the text of Jude, threatening and accusing the teachers of falsehood. Finally, the third chapter, always against the false teachers, emphasizes the eschatological aspect, that is, the announcement of the final fulfillment of history. It accuses these false teachers who say that nothing has changed, that the coming of Jesus Christ has not changed the situation, everything is as before.

“And they will say, ‘What has become of his promised coming? Since our fathers in faith died, everything still goes on, as it was from the beginning of the world.’” They deny that there has been a substantial change. This is a very interesting point because the Christian community of the early years was excited, convinced that there had been a substantial change. A change and that it was imminent. Gradually these enthusiasms cooled, many went into crisis, they spoke of the delay of the parousia, that is, of the glorious coming of Christ, and asked: where is this promise?

In reality, the apostles had never announced an imminent end, a total transformation of the world, but many had believed it; they had deluded themselves that it would happen, they did not understand what they were expecting, they went into crisis; they criticized everything. That's why these Christian teachers, at the end of the first century, claim credit for strong apostolic authority, for example, they assume Peter's own name to be able to repeat what Peter would say if he were present here now, in this corrupt situation. “Do not forget, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day.” He intends to say: it is not for you to evaluate the times of history. The Lord's way of acting is inscrutable. His criterion of time is completely different from ours, that is, there is a gulf of difference between a day and a thousand years, and you have only waited a few years and you say that nothing has happened and, consequently, everything is groundless.

“The Lord does not delay in fulfilling his promise, though some speak of delay; rather, he gives you time, because he does not want anyone to perish, but that all may come to conversion.” The interpretation is not about the delay; it is about patience: If the end has not yet come to pass, is not a bad thing. It is a good thing. There's still time to change, to improve, to convert. “The Day of the Lord is to come like a thief. Then, the heavens will dissolve with a great noise; the elements will melt away by fire, and the earth, with all that is on it, will be burned up.”

This is a text that really speaks of the end of the world. There is an evolution in the focus of the announcement. In a first phase, it spoke of the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, as a reconstitution of the kingdom of Israel, a new organization on earth; now a cosmic end is announced with the image of fire, the elements are burning and being consumed by the heat. But if you consider that all this will be dissolved in this way, deduce the necessity of good behavior; it is the opposite of what these teachers of falsehood teach.

Falsehood teaches that everything is permissible, that you can allow yourself any kind of behavior because nothing happens. Precisely because it is going to happen, you must be blameless in holiness of conduct and piety. “Therefore, beloved, as you wait in expectation of this, strive, that God may find you rooted in peace, without blemish or fault. And consider, that God’s patience is for our salvation, as our beloved brother, Paul, wrote to you, with the wisdom given him.”

This final detail is very interesting. Peter's second letter refers to Paul's letters. We are now in a late phase; Paul's letters already exist and are known, collected, and are even considered inspired like the rest of the Scriptures. Notice how it continues: “He (Paul) speaks of these things in all his letters. There are, however, some points in them that are difficult to understand, which people, who are ignorant, and immature in their faith, twist, as they do with the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.”

There are several important things to keep in mind; Paul's letters are compared with the other Scriptures. So, we are now at the end of the first century. There is already a collection of Pauline epistles that Christians read, interpret and consider inspired as prophetic text. The New Testament was already born as a written collection. It is mentioned that in the Pauline letters, there are complex elements, and we know that too. As we read them, we can see that. Some passages can be misinterpreted. In fact, they were misunderstood.

These are the characters rebuked in the letter of Jude and the Second Letter of Peter: these false interpreters of Paul described as ignorant and unstable, who do not understand and are not balanced. “So then, dearly beloved, as you have been warned, (he who forewarns is not a traitor) be careful, lest those people who have gone astray, deceive you, in turn, and drag you along, making you stumble, and finally fall away.

Grow in the grace and knowledge.” This Catholic Letter is also an invitation to grow in grace and knowledge, in the true gnosis, in the authentic knowledge of Christ.