THE CHRISTIAN'S ATTITUDE TOWARD ERROR AND IMMORALITY
The Second Epistle of Peter and the Epistle of Jude
1. AUTHENTICITY
The Second Epistle of Peter and the Epistle of Jude are among the least known and most seriously questioned parts of the New Testament. Even in ancient times their authenticity was disputed; in the third and fourth centuries there were some at least who desired to exclude them from the New Testament. These ancient doubts have been continued in the modern Church. By very many scholars of the present day, Second Peter and Jude are assigned to second-century writers who falsely assumed the names of an apostle and of a brother of the Lord.
Against such views as these, a number of arguments might be employed. But the strongest argument of all is provided by the self-witness of the epistles themselves. Second Peter, in particular, not only lays claim to apostolic authorship in the address, but is written throughout in the name of an apostle. Either it was really written by an apostle or else it was a deliberate fraud. The latter alternative is excluded by the epistle itself. Second Peter does not look at all like a pseudonymous work, but is a weighty bit of writing, full of the sincerest moral earnestness. Both Second Peter and Jude ring true, with the genuine apostolic note.
2. SECOND PETER AND FIRST PETER
Resemblances have often been pointed out among all three divisions of the New Testament material attributed to Peter. Second Peter has been shown to resemble not only First Peter, but also the speeches of Peter as they are reported in The Acts. Such similarities of course point to a common authorship. It cannot be denied, however, that differences stand side by side with the similarities. In the comparison of the epistles with the speeches, such differences are of course not surprising. The total difference of subject and the wide interval of time provide an amply sufficient explanation. But how is it with the difference between Second Peter and First Peter?
(1) Difference of Purpose and Subject.—In the first place, the difference may be partly explained by the difference of purpose and subject. First Peter is a presentation of the glories of the faith in order to encourage Christians under trial and make them feel their separateness from the world; Second Peter is a solemn warning against dangerous perverters of the life of the Church.
(2) Difference of Time.—In the second place, a considerable interval of time may separate the two epistles. Here we find ourselves on uncertain ground. On the whole it is perhaps better to put the epistles near together at the close of Peter's life.
(3) Work of Silvanus.—In the third place, recourse may be had to the hypothesis, mentioned in the last lesson, which attributes a considerable share in the composition of First Peter to Silvanus.
(4) Conclusion.—Finally, there may be still further possibilities of explanation which cannot now be detected. The differences of style and of thought between the two epistles of Peter are far from sufficient to show diversity of authorship, and it must be remembered that similarities are to be balanced against the differences.
3. VALUE OF SECOND PETER AND JUDE
Although Second Peter and Jude are not so familiar as most of the New Testament, yet even these two brief epistles have entered deep into the mind and heart of the Church.
(1) Expressive Phrases.—Even the inimitably expressive phrases and sentences that have been derived from the epistles have produced no small enrichment of Christian life. The "exceeding great and precious promises," and the "partakers of the divine nature" of II Peter 1:4, the chain of virtues in vs. 5-7, the "make your calling and election sure" of v. 10, the "sure word of prophecy" of v. 19, the description of inspired prophecy in vs. 20, 21—"no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost"—the "vexed his righteous soul" of ch. 2:8, the "railing accusation" of v. 11; Jude 9, the "stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance" of II Peter 3:1, the "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" of v. 9, the "faith which was once delivered unto the saints" of Jude 3, the magnificent doxology of vs. 24, 25—a review of these passages as they appear in the King James Version will bring some realization of the profound influence which even the most obscure books of the New Testament have exerted both upon the English language and upon the character of Christian men.
The influence of Second Peter and Jude, however, is not merely the influence of isolated phrases. The epistles as a whole have a distinctive message for the Church. That message is twofold. It embraces in the first place an emphasis upon authority, and in the second place an insistence upon holiness.
(2 )The Emphasis Upon Authority.—The adversaries who are combated in Second Peter and Jude were impatient of restraint. Apparently they distinguished themselves, as possessing the Spirit, from the ordinary Christians, as being merely "natural." Jude 5, 19; II Peter 2:12. They appealed to their own deeper insight, instead of listening to what apostles and prophets had to say. In reply, Peter and Jude insisted upon the authority of the Old Testament prophets, and upon the authority of the apostles, which was ultimately the authority of Christ. See especially II Peter 3:2.
A similar insistence upon authority is greatly needed to-day. Again men are inclined to appeal to an inward light as justifying freedom from ancient restraints; the Christian consciousness is being exalted above the Bible. At such a time, renewed attention to Second Peter and Jude would be salutary. False notions are rife to-day with regard to apostolic authority. They can be corrected by our epistles. Peter as well as Paul exerts his authority not in an official or coldly ecclesiastical way, but with an inimitable brotherliness. The authority of the apostles is the authority of good news. Subjection to such authority is perfect freedom.
The authority which Peter and Jude urge upon their readers is a double authority—in the first place the authority of the Old Testament, and in the second place the authority of Christ exerted through the apostles. For us, however, the two become one. The apostles, like the Old Testament prophets, speak to us only through the Bible. We need to learn the lesson. A return to the Bible is the deepest need of the modern Church. It would mean a return to God.
(3) Insistence Upon Holiness.—The second characteristic of Second Peter and Jude is the insistence upon holiness. Religion is by no means always connected with goodness. In the Greco-Roman world, the two were often entirely separate. Many pagan cults contained no ethical element whatever. The danger was therefore very great that Christianity might be treated in the same way. The early Christians needed to be admonished ever and again that their God was a God of righteousness, that no unclean thing could stand in his presence.
Insistence upon holiness is in itself no peculiarity of Second Peter and Jude. It runs all through the New Testament. But in these epistles it is directed more definitely perhaps than anywhere else against the opposite error. The opponents of Peter and Jude did not merely drift into immorality; they defended it on theoretical grounds. They were making a deliberate effort to reduce Christianity to the level of a non-ethical religion. Such theoretical defense of immorality appears, indeed, in a number of places in the apostolic Church. A certain party in Corinth, for example, made a wrong use of Christian freedom. But what is more or less incidental in First Corinthians forms the main subject of Second Peter and Jude. Christianity is here insisting upon its thoroughly ethical character.
At first sight the message might seem obsolete to-day. We always associate religion with morality; we can hardly understand how the two ever could have been separated. It is to be feared, however, that the danger is not altogether past. In our thoughts we preserve the ethical character of Christianity. But how is it with our lives? How is it with our religious observances? Are we not constantly in danger of making religion a mere cult, a mere emotional excitement, a mere means of gaining earthly or heavenly advantages, a mere effort to bribe God by our worship? The danger is always with us. We need always to remind ourselves that Christian faith must work itself out in holy living.
Peter in his second epistle has provided us with one important means to that end. It is the thought of Christ's coming. There can be no laxness in moral effort if we remember the judgment seat of Christ.
In the Library.—Purves, "Christianity in the Apostolic Age," pp. 267-270, 282-285. Davis, "Dictionary of the Bible": Warfield (supplemented), article on "Jude." M'Clymont, "The New Testament and Its Writers," pp. 137-143. Ellicott, "A New Testament Commentary for English Readers," vol. iii, pp. 437-463, 505-519: Plummer, "The Second Epistle of St. Peter" and "The Epistle of St. Jude." Zahn, "Introduction to the New Testament," vol. ii, pp. 194-293. The last-named work is intended primarily for those who have some knowledge of Greek, but can also be used by others.