1:1Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 1:2Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 1:3seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue; 1:4by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust. 1:5Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge; 1:6and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control patience; and in patience godliness; 1:7and in godliness brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love. 1:8For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1:9For he who lacks these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. 1:10Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. 1:11For thus will be richly supplied to you the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
1:12Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth. 1:13I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you; 1:14knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 1:15Yes, I will make every effort that you may always be able to remember these things even after my departure. 1:16For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 1:17For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 1:18This voice we heard come out of heaven when we were with him in the holy mountain.
1:19We have the more sure word of prophecy; whereunto you do well that you take heed, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the day star arises in your hearts: 1:20knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. 1:21For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.
2:1But there also arose false prophets among the people, as among you also there will be false teachers, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. 2:2Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned. 2:3In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn't linger, and their destruction will not slumber. 2:4For if God didn't spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved to judgment; 2:5and didn't spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly; 2:6and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly; 2:7and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked 2:8(for that righteous man dwelling among them, was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds): 2:9the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment; 2:10but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries; 2:11whereas angels, though greater in might and power, don't bring a railing judgment against them before the Lord. 2:12But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed, 2:13receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the day-time, spots and blemishes, reveling in their deceit while they feast with you; 2:14having eyes full of adultery, and who can't cease from sin; enticing unsettled souls; having a heart trained in greed; children of cursing; 2:15forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrong-doing; 2:16but he was rebuked for his own disobedience. A mute donkey spoke with man's voice and stopped the madness of the prophet. 2:17These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever. 2:18For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error; 2:19promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for by whom a man is overcome, by the same is he also brought into bondage.
2:20For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state has become worse with them than the first. 2:21For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 2:22But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, "The dog turns to his own vomit again," and "the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire."
3:1This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you; 3:2that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior: 3:3knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts, 3:4and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." 3:5For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water, by the word of God; 3:6by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. 3:7But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 3:8But don't forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 3:9The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 3:10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 3:11Therefore since all these things are thus to be destroyed, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy living and godliness, 3:12looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire will be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 3:13But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness.
3:14Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent to be found in peace, without blemish and blameless in his sight. 3:15Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you; 3:16as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 3:17You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness. 3:18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
Notes:
[1] back to 1:10 The word for "brothers" here and where context allows may also be correctly translated "brothers and sisters" or "siblings."
[2] back to 2:2 TR reads "destructive" instead of "immoral"
[3] back to 2:4 Tartarus is another name for Hell
Go to the Chronological List of all Early Christian Writings
Please buy the CD to support the site, view it without ads, and get bonus stuff!
Early Christian Writings is copyright ©
Peter Kirby <E-Mail>.
Kirby, Peter. "Historical Jesus Theories." Early Christian Writings. <http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement-hoole.html>.
