Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 2 Peter · About this commentary
The Second Letter
2 Peter 3:1-2
1 This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you · WEB
The final chapter opens by naming its method — stirring up memory — and by placing prophets and apostles on the same shelf.
This is now the second letter that I have written to you. The reference is to an earlier letter to the same readers, and the writer's aim in both is identical: I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you. He said the same in chapter 1 2 Peter 1:13, and the repetition is deliberate in a document about not forgetting.
The word rendered sincere describes something judged in sunlight and found unmixed. It is a compliment, and it sets the terms — these are not confused readers needing correction but sound ones needing memory.
Verse 2 names what they are to remember, and the pairing is significant. The words spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Two bodies of authority, set side by side without ranking, and this is the shelf on which verse 16 will quietly place Paul's letters as well.
settled What this mark means