Your Guide to the Best 2 Peter & Jude Commentaries

You should study Jude and 2 Peter.

Jude is often called the “most neglected book in the New Testament.”¹ David deSilva laments, “If Bible publishers stopped printing Jude, it might take years for some people to notice.”² Yet, while Jude’s epistle may be quite short, by some accounts a mere 464 words in the original Greek,³ it offers a dense and important account.

• It has much to say about God’s judgment against wickedness (Jude 4–7, 11–16).
• It issues an important call to persevere in the faith, urging believers “to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” (Jude 3).
• It contains a higher density of material on angels than any other New Testament book (Jude 6, 9).
• It presents a fascinating text-critical debate as to whether it was “Jesus” or the “Lord” who “delivered his people [Israel] out of Egypt” (Jude 5).
• It mentions “love feasts,” an early Christian communal practice (Jude 12).
• It raises questions about inspiration and canonicity, alluding to the assumption of Moses where Michael disputes with the devil over the body of Moses (Jude 9) and quoting the Book of Watchers in 1 Enoch (Jude 14–15; cf. 1 Enoch 1.9).
• It ends with an astounding doxology (Jude 24–25).

But above all, it forces us to develop a rich theology of heresy! As John Calvin wrote:

Now, if we consider what Satan has attempted in our age, from the commencement of the revived gospel, and what arts he still busily employs to subvert the faith, and the fear of God, what was a useful warning in the time of Jude, is more than necessary in our age.⁴

Meanwhile, neglect and doubt as to 2 Peter’s authorship has led it to be regarded as the “ugly stepchild” of the New Testament.⁵ However, I regard 2 Peter as a canonical capstone, drawing on several parts of the New Testament:

• It recalls Matthew’s transfiguration account in order to showcase the glory of King Jesus and celebrate Peter’s own testimony (2 Pet 1:16–18).
• It reminds his audience of Jude’s warning about false teachers (2 Pet 2:1–3).
• It takes up the contested nature of Paul’s letters and legacy in the early church (2 Pet 3:15–16).

Second Peter is a book that calls us to consider

• Theosis/deification (2 Pet 1:3–4)
• Christian virtues (2 Pet 1:5–7)
• Biblical inspiration (2 Pet 1:19–21)
• The dangers of heresy (2 Pet 2)
• The promise of Jesus’s second coming (2 Pet 3:1–13)

Second Peter stresses the importance of learning to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18). I like how N. T. Wright puts it:

I have a sense that this letter might be a word for our times. If our desire is to bring God glory both now and in the day when his new age dawns, we could do a lot worse than study it carefully, pray it in, take it to heart, and put it into practice.⁶

Second Peter and Jude are worth your study. But what commentaries and resources can help you along the way?

Technical commentaries

In study and sermon preparation, I always think it wise to consult at least one technical commentary that gets granular, puts everything under the microscope, and declares a heads up on what the scholars are saying about a book or passage.

When it comes to the dense scholarly commentaries on Jude and 2 Peter, there are two clear winners:

Bauckham, Richard. 2 Peter, Jude. World Biblical Commentary. Word, 1983.

This is the commentary you have to get if you want to wrestle with the Greek text, historical-critical questions, and scholarship on these two epistles. It’s slightly dated now—a second edition is apparently coming with Darrian Lockett—but Bauckham is a wise exegete who sifts the evidence with laser-like focus and possesses an amazing knowledge of ancient sources.

Frey, Jörg. The Letter of Jude and the Second Letter of Peter: A Theological Commentary. Baylor University Press, 2018.

Jörg Frey stands in the line of German scholars like Martin Hengel. He is an expert in ancient Judaism and Greco-Roman religions, and his commentary is the best up-to-date technical work on Jude and 2 Peter right now. Filled with reasoned and judicious analyses of the text, it shows sensitivity to the theological questions and matters these epistles raise for modern readers.

Intermediate commentaries

If you want something robust and comprehensive, but not as technical or bogged down in scholarly debates, then I recommend the following:

Davids, Peter H. The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude. Pillar New Testament Commentary. Eerdmans, 2006.

Davids is an expert in the Catholic Epistles and well-known for his work on James and 1 Peter. He provides an accessible, learned, and erudite analysis of Jude and 2 Peter that covers everything you need to know. This is probably the #1 commentary I’d recommend to students and preachers who want something serious but not too scholarly or intimidating.

Schreiner, Thomas R. 1–2 Peter and Jude. Christian Standard Commentary. Holman Reference, 2020.

Although Schreiner is mainly a Pauline scholar, he does make the odd foray into biblical theology and other parts of the New Testament. In this volume, Schreiner has delivered a sober and capable analysis of both letters, and his conclusions are always well reasoned. It’s somewhat conservative in its historical judgment, but no worse because of it.

Reese, Ruth Anne. 2 Peter and Jude. Two Horizons New Testament Commentary. Eerdmans, 2007.

I like Reese’s commentary because she wrestles with exegetical and theological questions with acumen and wisdom. It is a commentary that dares to ask, “Well, so what?” in its engagement with the text. A good complement to any collection of commentaries on Jude and 2 Peter.

Mbuvi, Andrew M. Jude and 2 Peter. New Covenant Commentary. Cascade Books, 2015.

Mbuvi has an excellent knowledge of these letters and their scholarly debates, and yet writes an accessible and commendable intermediate commentary. His African perspective is fresh and illuminating. The “fusing the horizons” sections are great models for thinking about application.

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Accessible and practical commentaries

As for commentaries that are less taxing on the reader, written for the non-specialist but still a rich resource for preachers, I recommend these:

• Green, Michael. 2 Peter and Jude. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. InterVarsity Press, 1987.
• Lucas, Dick, and Christopher Green. The Message of 2 Peter and Jude. Bible Speaks Today. InterVarsity Press, 1995.
• Moo, Douglas J. 2 Peter, Jude. NIV Application Commentary. Zondervan, 1996.
• Wright, N. T. Early Christian Letters for Everyone. SPCK, 2011.

Of all these, Lucas/Green is my pick for something light, devotional, and immediately applicable.

Other useful works

Bauckham has two other works on Jude and 2 Peter which I recommend:

• Bauckham, Richard. Jude–2 Peter. Word Biblical Themes. Zondervan, 1990.
• Bauckham, Richard. Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church. T&T Clark, 2004.

Good complements to any commentaries are Davids’s theology of 1–2 Peter, Jude, and James and, for those wanting to dive deeply into the original languages, his analysis of the Greek text:

• Davids, Peter H. A Theology of James, Peter, and Jude. Biblical Theology of the New Testament. Zondervan, 2014.
• Davids, Peter H. 2 Peter and Jude: A Handbook on the Greek Text. Baylor University Press, 2011.

If I had to add some extra commentaries, it would be these:

• Green, Gene L. Jude and 2 Peter. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Baker Academic, 2008.
• Harink, Douglas. 1 and 2 Peter. Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. Brazos, 2009.
• Perkins, Pheme. First and Second Peter, James, and Jude. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. John Knox, 1995.

For a study of that intriguing textual variant in Jude 5, I’d start with these:

• King, Daniel. “The Textual History of the New Testament and the Bible Translator.” Bible Translator 68 (2017): 20–37.
• Houghton, Hugh A. G. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2025.

For Jude’s use of non-canonical sources, in addition to the standard commentaries I’d consult the following:

• Lanier, Gregory R. Noncanonical Influences on the New Testament: Apocryphal Prophets and Athenian Poets. Broadman & Holman, 2024.
• Scott, James M. “Jude the Obscure: The Letter of Jude and the Enochic Heritage,” Journal of Theological Studies 74 (2023): 137–67.

Related content

• Does Jude Quote Enoch as Prophecy? | Wes Huff on Jude 14–15
• Demonology: What Does the Bible Say About Demons?
• When Did Jesus Preach to Spirits in Prison? | Thomas Schreiner on 1 Peter 3:18–22