The Second Epistle of Saint Peter

Letters of Peter, also called Epistles of St. Peter the Apostle, abbreviation Peter, two New Testament writings attributed to St. Peter the Apostle but perhaps written during the early 2nd century. The Letters of Peter, together with the Letter of James, the three Letters of John, and the Letter of Jude, are part of the seven so-called Catholic Letters. As the history of the New Testament canon shows, the Catholic Letters were among the last of the biblical literature to be settled on as canonical before the agreement of East and West in 367 CE. During the 2nd and 3rd centuries, only 2 John and 2 Peter were universally recognized. The First Letter of Peter and the Second Letter of Peter generally are placed as the 21st and 22nd books of the New Testament.

 The Second Letter of Peter is principally concerned with the Second Coming of Christ. The author attributes the apparent delay to God’s patience in allowing time for universal redemption and notes that in the sight of God 1,000 years are like one day. The writer also warns against false teachers, whose conduct is as immoral as their words are deceptive. They, and those who follow them, says the writer, will be destroyed in a great conflagration that will precede “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (3:13). Though the author explicitly identifies himself as Peter, numerous textual difficulties created doubts as early as the 3rd century about the actual authorship, which have been reinforced by subsequent scholarship.

(ack The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)             

Saint Peter - Paolo Emilia Besenzi (17th c.) (PD)

The Second Epistle of St Peter

Introduction

1. Symeon Peter, the servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have received an equal privilege of faith with ourselves through the justness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ: may grace and peace be multiplied unto you, in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Exhortation to Christian virtue.

For indeed His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that are unto life and godliness. In virtue of the full knowledge of him who has called us through his own glory and excellence, by means of which he has bestowed upon us the precious and very great promises, so that in consequence of these you may become partakers of the divine nature, and flee from the corruption which is in the world through lust. And for this very reason employ all care to furnish your faith with virtue, your virtue with knowledge, your knowledge with self-control, your self-control with patience, your patience with piety, your piety with brotherly love, your brotherly love with charity.

For if these things exist and increase in you, they will make you neither idle or unfruitful in the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he in whom these things are not present is near-sighted even to blindness, having become unmindful of the washing away of his former sins. Wherefore brethren, be ye the more solicitous to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do this ye shall never stumble; for in this wise shall the entry be furnished unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hence I purpose ever to keep you in mind of these things; although ye know them, and are established in the truth ye now hold. I deem it right, so long as I am in this dwelling-place, to rouse you to remembrance, knowing that the laying aside of this dwelling-place of mine, cometh speedily, as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I shall strive that ye may be able at all times to be mindful of these things after my departure.

For we were not following after fables cunningly devised, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but had been eye-witnesses of his grandeur. For he received honour and glory from God the Father, when these words came forth to him from the majestic glory, 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased'. And this word we heard come forth from heaven, when we were together with him on the holy mountain. And we have the word of prophecy, firmer still, whereto ye do well to give heed, as to a lamp shining in a darksome place, till the day break and the morning star arise in your hearts. Yet this ye must first know, that no prophecy of scripture is matter for private interpretation. For never was prophecy uttered at any time by the will of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

False teachers.

2. But there were also false prophets among the people, even as among yourselves there will be false teachers, who will bring in destructive divisions, and deny the Lord who bought them, bringing upon themselves speedy destruction. And many will follow after their wantonness, by reason of whom the way of truth will be maligned, and in their covetousness they will make their profit of you with feigned words; from of old their judgment lieth not idle, and their destruction slumbereth not. For God spared not angels that sinned, but plunged them into hell's dark caves, delivering them to be kept there for judgment. And the olden world would be spared not, but preserved Noah, the preacher of justness, with seven others, when he brought a deluge upon the world of the impious. And he condemned to overthrow the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, turning them to ashes, and setting them as an example of the things to come upon the ungodly, whereas he rescued the just Lot when he was being troubled by the wanton ways of the lawless; for that just man, dwelling among them, was from day to day tortured in his just soul by seeing and hearing their unlawful works. The Lord then, knoweth how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unjust under chastisement unto the day of judgment, more especially those walking after the flesh in foul desires, and scorning authority. Audacious and self-willed, they revile dignities without trembling, where angels, greater in strength and in power, do not bring a railing accusation against them before the Lord.

   Thee men, on the contrary, like irrational beasts, fit by nature only for capture and destruction, railing at those things of which they are ignorant, shall also perish in their own destruction, being defrauded of the wages of iniquity. They deem it a delight to riot in the daytime, they are blots and stains, revelling in their deceits while they feast with you; their eyes are full of adultery and insatiable in sin; they lure away unstable souls; their hearts are trained to covetousness; they are children of a curse. They have forsaken the straight road and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness; but he received a rebuke for his transgression, when a dumb beast speaking with the voice of man, checked the prophet's madness.

   Yea, these men are springs without water, mists driven before a squall, for whom is reserved dark gloom. For by uttering high-flown vanity, in their fleshly lusts they lure away by wantonness those that are barely escaping from them that live in error. They promise them freedom, whereas themselves are the slaves of corruption; for by whatsoever thing a man is overcome, to that same is he made a slave.

   For if they that by the full knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ have fled from the pollutions of the world, entangle themselves anew therein and are overcome, their last state is become worse than the first. For it were better for them not to have known the way of justice, than having known it to have turned back from the holy commandment delivered to them. In these hath been realized that true saying, 'a dog gone back to his vomit', and a 'sow after a wash to her wallowing in the mire'.

Christ's Second Coming

I am now writing to you, beloved, this second epistle, wherein once more I arouse your sincere mind to remembrance, so that ye may be mindful of the words which were uttered aforetime by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of your apostles from the Lord and Saviour. And this first ye must know, that in the last days mockers shall come with their mocking, men that walk after their own lusts,, and shall say, 'Where is his promised coming? For since the Fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have done from the beginning of creation.' For this they wilfully overlook, that there were a heaven and an earth of old, brought into being out of water and between waters by the word of God, by which water the world that then was perished, overwhelmed in a deluge; whereas the present heaven and earth by that same word have been reserved for fire, and are being kept until the day of the judgment and destruction of the impious.

3. Nevertheless let not this one thing escape you, beloved, that 'with the Lord' one day is as a thousand years, and 'a thousand years as one day'. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some count delay; but he is long-suffering towards you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance. But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, where-in the heavens shall pass away with a crash, and the heavenly bodies shall be burnt and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be disclosed.

   Now while all these things are thus in course of dissolution, what manner of men doth it behove you to be, holy and pious in your manner of life, expecting and speeding the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens shall be dissolved in fire, and the heavenly bodies shall be burnt and shall melt away? But we look for new heavens and a new earth, according to his promise, wherein justness is to abide.

   Wherefore, beloved, looking for those things, strive, that you may be found by him in peace without spot and without blemish, and deem the long-suffering of our Lord salvation, as our beloved brother Paul also has written to you, in virtue of the wisdom given him, even as he does in all his epistles, when he speaketh of these things; wherein are some things hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable wrest to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the scriptures.

Conclusion.

Do ye therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, be on your guard, lest being carried away by the error of the lawless, ye fall away from your own steadfastness, but grow ye in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now and unto the day of eternity. Amen.

   Christ Blessing by Giovanni Bellini (c1459) (ack. Artble)Above text taken from the the Holy Bible, Caxton Publishing Company, Ltd., London, Melbourne, Wellington. The Old Testament in the Douai text, the New Testament in the Westminster text. Copyright (1947) in Westminster version vested in Philip Caraman SJ., other material specially designed and written with copyright by George Rainbird (1958)

'Our Lord's Passion - the Scourging at the Pillar'

During Holy Week, the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, as recorded by the four evangelists, Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, is each read during Holy Mass on four separate days. As we would expect, the accounts of Christ's Passion and Death, are virtually the same, although each evangelist approaches his task from a slightly different angle, with different emphases. In this short post, I have taken an extract from 'Treading the Winepress' - with Christ in His Passion, by Wm Stephenson S.J. in which the writer considers Our Lord's scourging at the pillar. He also raises the question of why we are perhaps rarely moved when considering Christ's Passion, and suggests that it is because we come to it as an intellectual exercise, not sufficiently allowing it to sink into the heart. He proposes that before commencing a contemplation, we should ask for the grace of compassion, that we may taste and see Jesus' sufferings, feel sorrow with Him, weep over His grief and the great pains He bore for us. Finally he suggests that we do well to ask the sorrowful Virgin Mother to obtain for us this precious grace.

             'Christ's Scourging at the Pillar'  by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) (Wikipedia)                                                                                                              

The punishment of 'scourging', the horror of which is almost beyond utterance or thought, though also a distinctive penalty, usually preceded the death sentence under Roman administration – which sentence itself was sometimes commuted to it. It was a cruel and shameful form of punishment, which at that time was in full use in the Roman provinces, whilst by law every Roman citizen was exempt. So terrible was the punishment that under the fury of the stripes, the unfortunate victim, amid screams and bodily torture, sometimes fell in a senseless heap, or was taken away a mass of bleeding flesh, only to find deliverance in death, if, indeed, he had not already died.

Is it any wonder, then, that at the pre-vision in Gethsemani of such an ordeal, Our Lord shrank back in fear, imploring His Father to remove the Chalice from Him? But through the excess of love He had for man – for each one of us-- He freely offered Himself to be scourged.

SS. Matthew and Mark dismiss Jesus' scourging with a phrase, saying no more because people of their time knew its nature well. St John in a single sentence records this dreadful punishment, which (it is said) in horror and suffering equalled crucifixion: “Then therefore, Pilate took Jesus, and scourged Him.” The scourging was one of Christ's severest sufferings, one which He usually mentioned when foretelling His Passion. It was this torment, this baptism in his own blood, that all but killed Him. In picturing the scene it will help the memory, and help us also to stir up within us the affections, if we ask; Who? What? Why?

So terrible was the punishment of scourging, that in the criminal law of the Jews, the number of lashes was strictly limited to forty; but in Roman law no such limitation existed, all being left to the pleasure – to the ferocity-- of the lictors. What then, do the soldiers do? Seizing Jesus, they drag Him rudely into the public courtyard, where there is a short pillar with a chain attached, the sight of which must cause Him to shudder. They strip Him of His garments, and fasten Him to the pillar, hands and arms tightly bound, His bare back nearly horizontal. Then these strong men, only too eager to vent on any Jew the intense grudge they bear against the Jewish nation, gird themselves to do their savage work – to scourge Christ.

According to tradition, they have scourges of cord, or, probably, the flagellum, of which Roman writers speak with horror; scourges armed at the end with drops of lead or small sharp-pointed bones. At the given signal, each man begins to work with his scourge upon the virginal body of the Saviour, the purest, most perfect body ever made. Incited by the demons, each and all vent their rage in lashing Him till the skin is broken, the flesh torn, and the body from the sole of the foot to the top of the head is one sore, covered with blood. It makes small difference to these men if they draw blood. They strike away, one after another, till every member of that immaculate Body agonizes with pain, and keep on striking Our Lord standing in His own blood, till He falls on the pavement, His body a mass of bleeding flesh. “We have seen Him” exclaims the prophet, “there is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness, (no, not even) sightliness, that we should be desirous of Him” (Is..53)

(ack. 'Treading the Winepress' by Wm Stephenson S.J. - 'With Christ in His Passion.'

- fourth edition (1971) published by Cahill & Co Ltd., Dublin, for Irish Messenger Office.)