1 and 2 Peter and Jude

Charles’s treatment of 2 Peter and Jude is unusually substantial and original for the compressed REBC format. He is especially strong on literary strategy, moral argument, and the relationship between theology and conduct. In Jude, drawing on his own earlier monographic research, he perceptively traces the letter’s remarkable economy of expression, including its triplets, contrasts, typology, and strategic use of Jewish traditional material, while persuasively resisting attempts to relocate the letter into a late Gnostic or “early Catholic” setting. His 2 Peter commentary develops an insightful “moral apologetic” in which the issue is not simply the timing of the parousia but the reality of divine judgment and the moral order of creation. Much of the conceptual framework for this reading, however, had already been anticipated by Neyrey, whom Charles himself acknowledges and sometimes corrects, so the 2 Peter section is somewhat less original than the Jude treatment. The format limits detailed interaction, but Charles repeatedly offers unusually high exegetical payoff for the space available.

This is a very nicely laid out commentary series, and is aimed at expositors although does not always have the space required to fully explore the kind of details preachers might be interested in. He argues that 1 Peter presents a Christian ethic which responds to suffering by following the example of Christ. He does devote space to demonstrating the similarities between 1 and 2 Peter, and between 2 Peter and Jude, which he argues have different purposes, despite their similarities. 2 Peter is concerned with ethics while Jude is concerned with heresy. [Full Review]

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