Publisher's Synopsis
The Petrine author writes of his addressees undergoing "various trials" (1 Peter 1:6), being "tested by fire" (1:7), maligned "as evildoers" (2:12) and suffering "for doing good" (3:17). Based on such internal evidence, biblical scholar John Elliott summarizes the addressees' situation as one marked by undeserved suffering.[13] A number of verses in the epistle contain possible clues about the reasons Christians experienced opposition. Exhortations to live blameless lives (2:15; 3:9, 13, 16) may suggest that the Christian addressees were accused of immoral behavior, and exhortations to civil obedience (2:13-17) perhaps imply that they were accused of disloyalty to governing powers.[1] However, scholars differ on the nature of persecution inflicted on the addressees of 1 Peter. Some read the epistle to be describing persecution in the form of social discrimination, while some read them to be official persecution. Second Peter quotes from and adapts Jude extensively, [2] identifies Jesus with God, and addresses a threatening heresy which had arisen because the anticipated Second Coming of Christ had not yet occurred. It is the only New Testament book to treat other New Testament writings as scripture. Second Peter was one of the last letters included in the New Testament canon and is one of the texts that were in dispute before the canon was finalized.
