Remember After I Am Gone

Peter repeats one of the letter’s most important pastoral words: remember. His readers already know the truth, yet they still need to be stirred up by reminder. He describes his body as a temporary tent and says its putting off is near, just as Jesus had shown him. That statement sends the reader back to Jesus’ words to Peter about the kind of death by which he would glorify God. Peter’s concern is succession of memory: after his “departure,” the church must still be able to recall the apostolic witness. This prepares for the next section, where he insists that the message about Christ’s power and coming was not a cleverly invented myth. In the flow of the letter, remembrance is a defense against both false teaching and scoffing.