A comparison of 2Peter and the Epistle of Jude (offered to help you study both books). Everyone recognizes this issue, but nobody quite knows what to do about the fact that 2Peter 2 and Jude are basically the same words and points in the same order. Why are the two books so similar?
Three possibilities explain the situation:
- Peter wrote first and Jude later borrowed from Peter.
- Jude wrote first and Peter later borrowed from Jude.
- Both Peter and Jude borrow from some third letter that is lost to us.
See: 06 2Peter 2:1-3 Why 2Peter 2 and Jude are so similar
| Topic | 2 Peter | Jude |
| remind, even though you know | 1:12 Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. | 1:5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. |
| false prophets under judgment | 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. | 1:4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. |
| angels | 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; | 1:6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, |
| Sodom and Gomorrah | 2:6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; | 1:7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. |
| reject authority | 2:10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, | 1:8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. |
| angels did not dare to judge | 2:11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. | 1:9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” |
| like unreasoning animals | 2:12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, | 1:10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. |
| the error of Balaam | 2:15 forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet. | 1:11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. |
| water and black darkness | 2:17 These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. | 1:12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; 13wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. |
| arrogant speech | 2:18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, | 1:16 These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. |
| remember the words | 3:2 that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. | 1:17 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, |
| mockers | 3:3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, | 1:18 that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” |
Series: 2Peter: How to find Life
Study Resources: 2Peter Resources
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