Who wrote 1 and 2 Peter?

Answer 1

The two Epistles of Peter both claim to have been written by the apostle Peter, both addressed themselves to the same church and both claim to have been sent at approximately the same time.

1 Peter

Eric Eve writes, "Despite 1 Pet 1:1, the author is unlikely to have been the apostle Peter. The cultured Greek of the epistle makes it perhaps the most literary composition in the NT. The apostle Peter probably knew some Greek, but 1 Peter does not look like the product of an unlettered (Acts 4:13) Galilean fisherman. It employs a sophisticated vocabulary and its author appears to have some command of the techniques of Hellenistic rhetoric. He is also intimately acquainted with the OT in the LXX, whereas we should have expected the Galilean Peter to have been more familiar with an Aramaic Targum or the Hebrew."

I Peter contains no evidence at all of familiarity with the earthly Jesus, his life, his teaching, and his death, but makes reference only in a general way to the sufferings of Christ. It is scarcely conceivable that Peter would neither have sought to strengthen his authority by referring to his personal connections with Jesus nor have referred to the example of Jesus in some way.

Based on his command of the Greek language and his familiarity with the Greek Septuagint (LXX), the author of 1 Petermay have been a Jew of the Hellenistic diaspora.

On the other hand, Peter says in 5:12 "with the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly". Professional scribes such as Silas would have no trouble at all writing eloquent Greek.

2 Peter

More people have challenged 2 Peter as "authentic" than any other book of the New Testament. None of the early Fathers definitely quoted 2 Peter and it was not even mentioned in the second century.

2 Peter has a different style of writing than 1 Peter, but the same literary style as Jude. Most of 2 Peter and Jude are parallel, and 15 of 25 verses in Jude actually appear in 2 Peter. So the author of 2 Peter is most probably not the same person as the author of 1 Peter, but may be the same as the author of Jude.

Answer 2

Whoever wrote 1 Peter was clearly not the author of 2 Peter - the styles are too different. While some have sought to attribute 1 Peter to the apostle Peter, this is not plausible with 2 Peter, which is almost universally considered by scholars to have been written between 124 and 150 CE. Exactly when 1 Peter was written has not been established, but it was probably late in the first century.

Bishop Eusebius of Caesaria, a leading church historian in the fourth century describes 2 Peter as 'disputed'. He says, "Those that are disputed, yet familiar to most, include the Epistles known as James, Jude, and 2 Peter, and those called 2 and 3 John, either the work of the evangelist or of someone else with the same name."

As for 1 Peter, in many theological stances, it is considered so close to Pauline thought that some critics would put that writing in the Pauline rather than the Petrine school. Even if it was written early enough to come from Peter, this seems unlikely.

In summary, 1 Peter and 2 Peter were written by two different, anonymous authors probably quite separated in time. Neither author was the apostle Peter.

Answer 3

Another answer from our community:The books of peter, that is one and two were writtenby Peter himself.