Early christian writings / commentaries on Peters warning about Paul's letters (2 Peter 3:16-17)

Apologetics
1

I can’t seem to find any early (200AD and earlier) christian writings / commentaries on this piece of scripture 2 Peter 3:16:17:

15 And account the longsuffering of our Lord, salvation; as also our most dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, hath written to you: 16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, brethren, knowing these things before, take heed, lest being led aside by the error of the unwise, you fall from your own steadfastness.

I believe Peter was uniquely positioned

  • Peter knew better than almost anyone the teachings of Jesus
  • Peter knew Paul personally, and could adjust for his personality and writing style
  • Peter had read Paul’s writings
  • Peter knew (better than any later reader) the intended audiences well and the errors Paul was targeting
  • Peter declares them hard to understand (so we can easily develop a different understanding to the one Paul intended, if we think Paul is easy to understand we may have the wrong understanding)
  • Peter directly witnessed mis-use of Pauls writings so much so that inspired by the Holy Spirit he wrote this warning to all believers
  • Peter gave no such warning for any other scripture

Would it be fare to assume from Peter’s perspective that unlearned meant people who were not aware of scripture? I doubt he meant being taught by Pharisees, or other forms of learning like Greek / Roman philosophy.

Based on Peter’s warning, it seems wise that we should first have a strong understanding of the rest of scripture (which have no documented warning from Peter) before diving too deeply into Paul’s letters.

I have only started my journey looking into the early christian writings, but have already spotted very heavy leaning on scriptures just found in Paul’s writings by Jerome (CHURCH FATHERS: Letter 75 (Augustine) or 112 (Jerome)), so now I’m trying to find if any consideration was given to Peter’s warning, so far I can’t find any?! I may be wrong, happy to be corrected, it could just be my lack of searching skills.

3

thanks for replying Stephen,
in the context of this discussion how much does OMNiLogical thinking rely on ideas found just in Paul’s letters?

5

I personally would not assume that. Maybe “unlearned” simply referred to a lack of spiritual knowledge. Maybe they were aware of Scripture but had not received thorough instruction. Although they had heard the Gospel preached, they possibly had not heard it all explained in detail and in the context of the Old Testament. I’ve been hearing the Gospels and hearing them preached and explained for many decades, and I’m still learning.

Still, you may be right, and all your other points make sense.