Peter's second letter and the letter of Jude
2 Peter 1:12–21; 3:1–2; Jude 1:1–4
Knowing his death was near, Peter wrote to remind believers of the truth and to warn against false teachers. Jude, the brother of James, wrote a short, urgent letter against similar false teachers, urging believers to contend for the faith.
For no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 1:21 (World English Bible)
Peter appealed to his own eyewitness experience of the Transfiguration (2 Peter 1:16–18) and to Scripture, written by men carried along by the Holy Spirit. Much of Jude closely parallels 2 Peter 2.
Ancient witnesses outside the Bible
Historical sources, not Scripture.
- 1 Enoch 1:9 — the passage Jude quotes (Jude 14–15)
Dating notes
2 Peter about AD 65–67, shortly before Peter's death (Ussher: AD 66); Jude about AD 65–80. Many modern scholars doubt that Peter wrote 2 Peter; the letter names him as author. The date is an estimate; Scripture doesn't say when the book was written.