Analysis of Letters Styles - Book Report/Review Example

The only thing that can be safely ascertained from the similarity is that both 2 Peter and Jude shared a common apostolic message. The first point that deserves attention is the fact that there is a significant difference between 1 Peter and 2, Peter, in style and tone. To illustrate, the first one is written with the aim of strengthening the persecuted Church while the second is intended to give a warning to those Churches where there are false teachers. Still, it is not possible to claim that both letters are addressing different people because the second letter begins with the acknowledgment that the readers are already aware of the first letter. That means the audience is the same in both cases. However, the issue at hand is to ascertain as to how the similarity arose between 2 Peter and Jude. In ascertaining who depended on the other’s work, it is necessary to find out who wrote first. A look into 2 Peter 2:1-3 provides adequate evidence to reasonably conclude that Peter wrote first.

To illustrate, in 2:1-3, Peter says: “false prophets arose among people…just as there will also be false teachers among you…many will follow the sensuality…the way of the truth will be maligned…in their greed they will exploit you with false words.” Admittedly, the entire episode is in the future tense as if the situation, at the time of writing, is yet to arise. Similar points are visible in the case of Jude too. When one looks into Jude 4, one reads: “certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation”. . Admittedly, Peter has marked them out by saying that ‘there will be false teachers among you.

From the analysis, one thing becomes clear: 2 Peter appeared before the Letter of Jude; and when Peter wrote the second letter, the false teachers had not appeared. Also, by the time Jude wrote the letter, false teachers had already appeared in many Churches. Lastly, Jude was aware of the previous writings about the appearance of false teachers. Thus, it becomes possible to reduce the number of questions to two: did Jude borrow from 2 Peter, or did both of them borrow from a common source? Drawing from the work of Eusebius, Barry Smith points out that many works including 2 Peter, the Letter of Jude, and 2nd and 3rd Letters of John were all considered as disputed books and ancient leaders were reluctant to accept them as genuine works.

Admittedly, it is rather surprising to note that the work of Peter, who was named ‘Rock’ by Jesus Christ, who was considered as one of the pillars of the Church, and who spent a considerable amount of time witnessing the incidences in the life of Jesus Christ, was rejected by the Church at first. Also, it is surprising to note that 1Peter did not face any rejection in the early Church. Thus, it is only reasonable to conclude that Peter was forced to write the second letter in a very different context which is very similar to the context of the Letter of Jude.

That means, both works appeared at around the same time; that is between the 6th and 10th decade A.D. A thorough look into the work of Jude reveals that he draws from even the second-temple Jewish writing known as Enoch. This gives sufficient information to believe that Jude was a Jew as it is not easy for a non-Jew to be familiar with the