The Early Reception of 2 Peter 3:15–16

Abstract This article analyzes the early reception history of 2 Peter 3:15–16. The reception historical work is carried out with a focus on two questions that remain central to the exegesis of the passage: (i) whether or not there is a critique of Paul in this text and (ii) what 2 Peter is referring to when it says that there are some things in Paul’s letters that are “hard to understand.” In the course of the article, the findings are brought to bear on scholarship operating out of the New Perspective on 2 Peter (NP2P) and a list of Pauline texts/doctrines with which patristic interpreters associated the δυσνόητος statement in 2 Peter 3:16 is assembled. The piece concludes with a reflection on the significance of this for future scholarship on these verses.