What are the similarities between Jude and 2 Peter?

from the old testament

• While both Jude and 2 Peter rely on Old Testament background material, this question concerns the commonalities between these two letters, not the content they use. Therefore, see the New Testament section to support this article’s answer.

from the new testament

• The literary similarities between Jude and 2 Peter are undeniable. Second Peter, being much longer than Jude, covers more material and with greater depth than Jude, but where they do overlap, it seems evident that one author borrowed or built on the other author’s words.
• Because Jude is smaller, most scholars believe that he wrote first, with Peter integrating and expanding his material into his longer work. However, not all scholars agree, suggesting that Jude summarized Peter’s points relevant to his letter. Regardless, the borrowing of material is not plagiarism. Rather, the men were writing around the same time in similar contexts. As they were dealing with the same issues and the other writing was known, the second author was either expanding on the first or summarizing it (depending on who borrowed from whom).
• Jude opened his letter stating that while he “was very eager to write to you about our common salvation,” he “found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). The reason for that was that “certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). So, while Jude wanted to write a general encouragement to the community of faith, he felt compelled to address the problem of false teachers within it.
• Peter, in his letter, has a similar goal. He said, “false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1). While Peter’s second letter is aimed more broadly, a core feature is still the reality of false teachers infiltrating the church.
• It is this common thread between Jude and 2 Peter that links them. Given that these letters were likely written within just a couple of years of each other, this also explains why some of the language is so similar. What follows are seven clear overlaps between them.
• False Teachers: As already stated, false teachers are the primary motivation for both letters. However, neither meant false teachers in a general sense. They both had in mind those false teachers who claimed to be Christians and were living within the community. Jude said they had “crept in unnoticed … and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). Peter similarly said they denied “the Master who bought them,” a reference to them claiming to be Christians while also teaching incorrect things about Jesus (2 Peter 2:1).
• Sensuality: Specifically, these were false teachers whose teaching was sensual. That could refer to either simply being fleshly, unconcerned about sin, but contextually, it seems to be more specifically that they were promoting illicit sexual behavior. Jude said, “pervert the grace of our God into sensuality” (Jude 4), while Peter said that “many will follow [the false teachers’] sensuality” (2 Peter 2:2).
• Certain Condemnation: Both authors make it clear that these false teachers did not enter the community “by accident.” Rather, as Jude said, they were “long ago were designated for this condemnation” (Jude 4). Peter concurred, noting, “Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep” (2 Peter 2:2). Both meant this as an encouragement—the false teachers were not getting away with this deceit, for a particular punishment was already in motion for them.
• Balaam: Both authors then compared the sensual false teachers to Balaam. Balaam was an Old Testament false prophet paid to curse Israel (Numbers 22:5–6). God did not allow him to do so, so he devised another way to cause Israel to fall: he enticed them through the sensuality of the Midianites (Numbers 25:1–3). Likewise, Jude said of the false teachers during his day that they “abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error” (Jude 11). Peter said, “The right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing” (2 Peter 2:15). They were saying that the love of wealth is what enticed the false teachers to act like Balaam, just as he was willing to sell Israel’s soul for money.
• Waterless Clouds: A waterless cloud is an agricultural reference and refers to the uselessness of a cloud that doesn’t bring rain. Both Jude and Peter said that the false teachers were like those useless clouds. They brought nothing of substance. “These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame” (Jude 12–13). Peter added, “These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm” (2 Peter 2:17).
• Angel Rebuke: An interesting commonality of those sensual false teachers was that they apparently practiced rebuking demons (angels), which demonstrated their lack of understanding. Jude said, “In like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But [even] the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, … did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment … But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively” (Jude 8–10). Of those same men, Peter said something similar: “Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction” (2 Peter 2:10–12).
• Sodom and Gomorrah: These cities are famous for their perverse sexual and homosexual practices (Genesis 19:4–5), which God destroyed (Genesis 19:24–25). Jude says that those cities were an example for the false teachers. “Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 7). Peter said, “turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:6).
• Other such examples can be found not only in similar wording but also in similar arrangements of topics. It’s clear that both were dealing with false teachers and that one found the other’s argument flow helpful and integrated it into his letter.

implications for today

Perhaps the most telling aspect of Peter and Jude both focusing on false teachers in the church is that this has always been a major problem. Today, depending on how one defines the Christian community, it can include heretical groups (such as Mormons), unorthodox sects (such as Roman Catholicism), and even some movements (extreme Charismatic and Pentecostal groups).

Within each of these, truth has been mixed with error, so that it is distorted and lost. Rather, they are filled with false teachers. Just like a small amount of leaven affects an entire loaf (Galatians 5:9), it doesn’t take much error to make a “Christian” group non-Christian.

Add to these groups things like YouTube, which gives anyone a platform to say whatever they want, and it’s so important for us to know what is true so we can discern and reject what is false. It’s often been said that a bank teller can spot counterfeit money they’ve never seen before by knowing what real money looks and feels like. Christian: Know Scripture so you can spot errors when you encounter it.