Sermon Tone Analysis

Today we are going to look at 2 Peter and Jude.

These two letters are very similar in their content though with different purposes.

They have borrowed either from the same sources that must have been well known to them at the time, or Jude used Peter’s material or vice versa.

So, first I am going to give an introduction to 2 Peter and then we will have an introduction to Jude before looking at a couple of verses.

INTRO TO 2 PETER

Author

In the NIV we do not see the nuance of Simon Peter’s name.

In the original it says Simeon.

This is how his Jewish name actually is and so it is natural for him to use the original form of his name.

It is like my surname Thomas in Macedonian - it’s pronounced the same but it is spelt without the ‘h’.

In Greek his name is Simon but in Hebrew Simeon.

I’ve never understood why people’s names change depending on where you live.

Now, let me be clear.

The majority of scholars do not think that this was written by Peter the Apostle.

Few dispute the first letter but the second, what we are looking at today, was not.

I will explain why they are wrong.

First, of course, is that this is Holy Scripture, and it does not lie to us: It says it is Simeon therefore it is Simeon.

Not only that, throughout this letter he talks of seeing Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and also about his own impending death that was prophesied.

This means that the letter was written sometime before his death in about 67AD.

Not only that but if this is someone claiming to be Peter and it was not the early church would have rejected this letter outright for they would have regarded it as a forgery.

I think the onus is on others to prove that he did not write the letter rather than on us to prove he did.

I think, actually, I know, this was written by Simon Peter for it says so. That’s enough for me and should be for us all.

We do not know where this letter was written from but it was probably Rome as he is expected to have been in prison by this time awaiting his crucifixion.

This, of course, is only known from tradition and like all tradition it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Let us not be caught up in arguments about things we can never be sure about but it is helpful to know that this is what is thought to have happened for Peter, for tradition says, he was crucified upside down by Emperor Nero because Peter did not want to die the same way as his master.

Purpose

Peter, in his second letter, calls upon us to establish right and practical living based upon the teachings of the Apostles.

We are called to grow spiritually.

All this so that we can combat apostasy in the Church and immoral practices.

Peter wrote to warn against false teachers and the negative influence they can have on moral living.

Jesus is coming back and those who are not doing His will, will be condemned.

Persistence in faithfulness to the Word will be rewarded.

The letter emphasises true knowledge of God while facing false teaching and encourages readers to maintain Christian virtue in the midst of the world’s vice.

If we ask for directions, as Sylvia mentioned to me happened to her in Italy, and we ask the wrong person they are likely to send us on a wild goose chase.

We need someone to be clear and concise about how to get to our destination.

This is Peter and this letter.

The main theme is ‘the knowledge of God’.

We need answers on the great questions relating to eternal judgement, the coming Kingdom, and how to live as a result.

It is then down to us how we hear but if we do not hear, that is, we do not live according to this knowledge then we could hear Peter say instead; “Don’t say I didn’t tell you”.

True knowledge can only come from a true knowledge of Jesus as God’s Son.

True knowledge can only come knowing God and fully living as committed disciples.

True knowledge can only come from knowing God and that Jesus will return.

In summary:

First, this letter is written to establish, strengthen, and stabilize Christians in the true knowledge of God.

the letter intends to rebuke, warn, and correct those among us who teach and revel in any other knowledge of God.

It is worth bearing in mind what James says in:

These need to be sound in their doctrine and in their lives for what they teach and what they do can have a profound effect upon the beliefs and moral outworking of the Christian lives of others.

We are called into the knowledge of God and through it live lives that are fruitful for Him.

Such knowledge will also keep us from falling and ensure us that we will enter the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ.

We are, then, to make every effort to grow in this knowledge and live out the Christian faith.

And when I say knowledge I do not just mean head knowledge but a firsthand experience of God through Christ.

Outline

Let me give a quick outline of 2 Peter:

Greeting (1:1-2)

Grow in faith (1:3-11)

Scripture that is worth following (1:12-21)

Warnings about not losing our way (2:1-22)

Reminders that hold us fast (3:1-10)

Be fruitful whilst waiting for Christ to return (3:11-18)

Now I will introduce the letter from Jude:

INTRO TO JUDE

Author

The first thing to note is his name.

In English we call him Jude.

I am not entirely sure why this is for the Greek clearly calls him Judas.

It may be to avoid the notorious one of the same name who betrayed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

But Judas is his name and it will become clear why this is important in a moment.

Jude opens his letter calling himself a slave of Jesus and all people who are close to Jesus are happy to own this title but Jude is even more special for he does not draw attention to the fact that this is the brother of Jesus.

We know who he is for he mentions his brother James who also wrote the letter in our bibles of the same name and who was leader of the Church in Jerusalem as mentioned in Acts 15 and we find out that he is Jesus’ brother from Galatians 1:19.

I know that for those brought up in the Catholic Church it might come as a shock but not to those who know their bibles: Jesus was born first through the virgin birth but afterwards Mary had other children through Joseph: They are named in Mark 6:3 and in Matthew 13:55-56.

They were James, Joses, Judas and Simon.

He also had sisters, plural, but we do not know their names.

Mary, plainly, did not remain a virgin despite what the Catholic and Orthodox Churches teach.

Jude was not a believer at first, like his brother James, or for that matter any of his siblings but he now believes that Jesus, his brother is the Messiah who came to save the world.

Therefore Jude acknowledges that he is the servant of Jesus.

Now, not only that, Jude was with Jesus day in day out throughout their childhood and beyond - if there was anything to suggest Jesus was not sinless, anything to suggest He was not what He claimed to be - it is family that discovers it first - and Jude had nothing bad to say only good about Jesus and was happy to own the title of servant.

We should note that some scholars have wondered whether whether this was an authentic letter simply because it quotes from works that are apocryphal.

But those parts he does quote can be taken as being absolutely true and were taken into Holy Scripture under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

We will come to these quotes in due course.

Purpose

Whilst the purpose of Peter’s letter is about the knowledge of God, living right and stability in one’s life in God; Jude’s purpose is to defend the Church against intruders who seek to undermine a Christian’s faith.

The purpose is set out clearly in verse 3: contend for the faith.

In Peter’s letter we are to expend all our energy on knowing God; in Jude we are to expend our energy on the very real fight against false teachers.

We will find that they both write with similar objectives from different angles.

Both warn of false doctrine or teaching along with promiscuous living for this invites God’s judgement.

Jude uses very active words: we are to remember the words of the apostles, we are to keep ourselves in the love of God, we are to build one another up, we are to pray in the Spirit, we are to wait for God’s mercy, we are to contend for the faith in words and deed.

And it is this last one that Jude is most insistent on.

He wants contenders and he wants them now.

Outline

Let me give a quick outline of Jude:

Greeting (1-2)

Purpose (3-4)

God’s past judgement (5-7)

Warning about false teachers (8-16)

Be faithful (17-23)

Doxology (24-25)

So, let us come to the first couple of verses of 2 Peter:

2 Peter:

Verse 1

As with all the letters in the New Testament the author introduces himself, in this case, as Simeon Peter, a slave and an apostle of Jesus.