The False Teaching
The False Teaching
A common objection is that the writer is opposing Gnostic teaching, which does not make its appearance until well after Peter’s day. But there is no Gnostic system known to us that matches what 2 Peter says; to say that the writer is opposing Gnosticism is to go beyond the evidence. 7It must always be borne in mind that when we meet Gnosticism in the second century, it is a group of eclectic systems that gathered their teachings from a variety of sources. There is no doubt that some of the teachings that were later to appeal to the Gnostics go back to apostolic times, but this does not mean that Gnosticism does. 8The fact that this writer opposes such teaching is no reason for saying he was not Peter.