3:1–2 · Recapitulation and introduction of the second part of the argument: Our author pauses to recapitulate: this is a second letter (the first is not necessarily 1 Peter), and both simply remind the addressees what they already know from the Scriptures (“holy prophets”) and those evangelizing them (“your apostles”).

3:3–7 · Mockers shown to be illogical: These teachers are the “scoffers” predicted to come in the “last days.” (Many in the early church believed they were in the “last days.”) Obviously, if one is living immorally, one can hardly believe in a judgment in which one will be called to account. These teachers therefore deny that there will be a “coming” of Jesus and that “he will judge the living and the dead” (to quote the later Apostles’ Creed). Perhaps they thought that all j…