The letter identifies its sender as Simeon Peter, claims eyewitness memory of the Transfiguration, and presents itself as Peter's final reminder. Traditional attribution therefore dates it before Peter's death, around AD 64–67, perhaps from Rome. Most critical scholars, however, regard it as a later testament written in Peter's name, often around AD 100–125; its place and exact audience are unknown, though 3:1 may point back to 1 Peter's Asia Minor churches. This general exhortation calls believers to grow in virtue and reliable knowledge, exposes teachers whose corruption matches their doctrine, and answers scoffers who deny Christ's return. Its canonical connections are unusually visible: it reworks material shared with Jude, appeals to the Transfiguration and prophetic Scripture, and treats a collection of Paul's letters as authoritative while directing hope toward new heavens and a new earth.
Peter summons believers to cultivate a chain of virtues that flows from genuine knowledge of Christ, grounds his teaching in eyewitness testimony of the Transfiguration, defends the prophetic word as Spirit-carried, and warns against false teachers who repeat the pattern of history's great judgments.
Peter answers the scoffers who deny Christ's return by grounding God's patience in his eternal perspective and salvific purpose, announces the dissolution of the present cosmos and the arrival of new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells, and calls the community to grow in grace while waiting.