Readings:
Jeremiah 9
Sirach 39
2 Peter 1

Jeremiah 9

God continues his lament over the coming destruction of Judah and their exile. There’s an interesting line at the end of this chapter that he says

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will punish all those who are circumcised but yet uncircumcised- Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert that cut the corners of their hair; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

Jeremiah 9:25-26

This fits with his early charge against them that they go and do all kinds of evil and then come to offer sacrifices at the temple with no desire or plan to reform and repent. They may be circumcised in the flesh, but not of heart. This is the exact same charge that Saint Stephen proclaimed just before he was stoned to death. And the consequences for that group and generation was exactly the same as for this generation that Jeremiah is addressing; death, destruction of the city and temple, and expulsion from the land.

2 Peter 1

The second epistle of Saint Peter is about half as long as the first, and written in a slightly different style. That has caused some to question it’s authorship and dating. Some fathers in the early church thought that this letter was written by someone using “Simon Peter” as something of a pen name to add apostolic authority to his own writing. This has been embraced and expanded on by many modern scholars but is not a universal opinion either now or back then.

But just as many biblical scholars point to evidence that it was in fact written by Saint Peter. I see no compelling reason to doubt this claim and assuming it’s true then we can date this letter to some point before his martyrdom in the mid 60s.

The purpose of the letter was to combat heretical teachers who had began to show up in many of the churches founded by the apostles in Asia Minor and other parts of the Roman Empire. These new teachers were contradicting the teachings of Christ and of his apostles. Peter felt compelled to set the record straight on some of their claims and to issue a warning to the church to beware of these false teachings.

Peter starts by telling them that they must remember their calling, but it’s not enough to just avoid vices, we have to also grow in virtue and that is how God strengthens us to avoid sin and live the Christian life. (See Grow In Faith )

He then moves into an eyewitness testimony to say that these aren’t mythological events and figures that they are all risking their lives to proclaim and follow, there was a real Jesus, he is truly divine, and Peter himself witnessed this divinity. See The Transfiguration of Christ

Readings:
Jeremiah 10
Sirach 40
2 Peter 2