who are not recent converts (i. 12), “ein fur weite Kreise der Kirche bestimmtes pastorales Rundschau”’ (Spitta, op. cit., p. 483). 1 Peter also is general in its destination. 2 Peter may well be addressed to the same localities as 1 Peter, although to a later generation of Christians, under different circumstances. This would also supply a motive for the use of the Apostle’s name.
2. False Teachers.—The description of the false teachers given in chap. ii. is taken in the main from the Epistle of Jude. It ought to be noted, however, that the object in view in the two Epistles is somewhat different. Jude is, above all, a polemic against the false teaching, 2 Peter is written with a view to confirming the faith of the Christian communities in the face of the delayed Parousia.
, The false teachers in 2 Peter “have brought a new idea into the field... . They cast doubt on the Christian eschatological expectation
. appealing in support of their view to a deeper knowledge of Christ (i. 2, 3, iii. 18, cf. i. 16-18), a particular conception of the Ο.Τ. (i. 20, iii. 16), and certain Pauline positions (iii. 15 f., cf. ii. 19)” (Von Soden, of. cit., p. 194). They are ‘‘ mockers”’ (ἐμπαῖκται) who say, ποῦ ἐστὶν ἡ ἐπαγγελία τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ; (ili. 4). In this fact, we may find a partial explanation of the use made by 2 Peter of Jude. He makes use of an authoritative description of their real character, making certain changes dictated by his own views as to the use of apocryphal books (e.g., omission of story of Michael), and by the special circumstances of those he addresses.
A remarkable circumstance in the language employed is that the writer speaks at one time of the false teachers as about to come (ii. 1 f., iii. 3), at another as though they were already active (ii. 11, 12, 17 f., 20, iii. 5, iii. 16). All such explanations as that the writer projects himself into the future, and from that point of view vividly regards future events as actually happening; or that he is at one time thinking of communities where the ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι are actually at work, and at another of communities where their influence has not yet penetrated, may be set aside. The simplest explanation seems to be that again the writer, when he speaks of them in the present tense, throws off the prophetic mask, and depicts what he knew was actually happening.'
Do the characteristics mentioned in this Epistle point to 4 Gnostic sect? It has been pointed out that there is one important difference between the libertines of Jude’s Epistle and those of
1 Henkel suggests that the False Teachers, who are active in other communities, are regarded as presenting only an imminent possible danger to the readers of 2 Peter {Der Zw. B. des Apostelfiirsten Petrus, p. 37 ff.).