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Peter and Jude

  1. Lesson One
    Overview of 1 Peter
    21 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  2. Lesson Two
    Something Old, Something New (1 Peter Review)
    18 Activities
  3. Lesson Three
    2 Peter
    16 Activities
  4. Lesson Four
    Jude
    14 Activities
  5. Lesson Five
    Case Study: Peter (1 and 2 Peter Review)
    18 Activities
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Peter and Paul were two different personalities who appear to have clashed at times in their ministries. Paul recounted one such scene in his letter to the Galatians:

When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”
Galatians 2:11-14 (NIV)

But in spite of this very public confrontation, and whatever issues they may have had, Peter and Paul were united in their commitment to the gospel. Their thinking may have developed at different paces, and with different points of emphasis, but Peter’s gospel was Paul’s gospel, which was always Jesus’ gospel. 

This is evident in reading 1 Peter and noting parallels with Paul’s letters, some of which are listed in the table below. 

1 Peter (NIV)Paul (NIV)
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority … (1 Peter 2:13)Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. (Romans 13:1)
… or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. (1 Peter 2:14)Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. (Romans 13:2-3)
Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. (1 Peter 2:16)You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. (Galatians 5:13)
Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2:17)Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. (Romans 12:10)

Table quoted from: Pheme Perkins, First and Second Peter, James, and Jude, 1995, pp. 48-49.

While some scholars doubt that Peter wrote 2 Peter, this letter also reflects a spirit of reconciliation and ultimate agreement between the two men, while hinting at a difference in approach and emphasis: 

Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 
2 Peter 3:15-16 (NIV)