The meaning of this is dependent on how we take “So also” in the previous verse. All his letters seems to suggest that Peter knew several of Paul’s letters; it may even indicate that at that time there was already in existence a collection of Paul’s letters. Paul of course wrote to particular Christian communities and to individuals; later on his letters were collected and bound together and were made available to the Christian communities at that time. Another possible rendering is “This is what he talks about in all his letters.”

The description of Paul’s letters as difficult is definitely borne out by the collection of them that we have. Not that all of his letters are of this nature, but some things in them are hard to understand. This expression translates a rare Greek word used of writings that are difficult to interpret. This characteristic of Paul’s letters is mentioned with a purpose: it explains how they can be misused by people. Here the ignorant and the unstable are singled out as “twisting” the contents of Paul’s letters. Ignorant translates a word used nowhere else in the New Testament. It means not simply ignorant but “unlearned,” “uneducated,” “uninstructed,” and is used primarily of people who have not received sufficient instruction in the interpretation of scripture, and who are therefore prone to error. Unstable on the other hand describes those who are not firmly rooted in the teachings of the Christian faith and are therefore easily misled. The same word is used in 2.14, where it is translated as “unsteady” (Good News Translation “weak”). Whether it is the false teachers who are being referred to here or believers who have been misled by these false teachers is not at all clear. In 2.14 it is those who are ensnared by the false teachers who are described as “unsteady.” So perhaps it is also these same people who are referred to in this verse. However, it may be more natural to speak of the false teachers as “twisting” Paul’s ideas. The word used here is literally “to twist,” “to torture,” “to dislocate” (as in dislocating the limbs of a person on a rack), and is an appropriate word to describe the act of distorting or misinterpreting the Scriptures through faulty methods of interpretation. There are various ways of translating this term; for example, New English Bible “misinterpret,” Jerusalem Bible “distort,” Good News Translation “explain falsely,” Translator’s New Testament “pervert.” Whether the followers of the false teachers are capable of deliberately perverting the meaning of Paul’s ideas is debatable.

This act of distortion is not limited to Paul’s letters but includes the other scriptures. Scriptures is literally “writings,” but in this context as well as in other contexts, the term is used to describe writings that are accepted as authoritative by the believing community and suitable for various functions within the community, including worship, proclamation, nurture, and apologetics or defense of the faith. Other marks the letters of Paul as part of this collection of authoritative writings. It is very likely that the whole Old Testament is also included in this category. However, it is difficult to be sure as to what else is being described as scriptures. It must be kept in mind that at that time a definitive list of authoritative books had not yet been fixed but was in the process of formation. Many writings that are now excluded from the present list of biblical books were at one time or another regarded as authoritative by the Christian community. It was only very much later that a definitive list of twenty-seven books for the New Testament was fixed. In view of all this it probably is not possible to determine the actual content of the authoritative writings that Peter is referring to; this, however, does not reduce the importance of the phrase, since it shows that an authoritative collection started to evolve very early in the history of the Christian church. Scriptures may also be expressed as “holy writings.” The phrase as they do the other scriptures can be expressed in many languages as “as they do with other parts of the holy writings.”

The result of all this misinterpretation is the destruction of those who are involved in such distortions. Destruction here should be understood not in a physical but in a spiritual sense, and includes loss of salvation and subjection to God’s punishment. To their own destruction may also be expressed as “and so cause themselves to be destroyed” or “and so cause themselves to suffer (or, receive) destruction.”

It should be noted that in Revised Standard Version to their own destruction is placed immediately after twist, whereas in Good News Translation it is placed at the end of the verse and is marked clearly as a result of distortion of scripture.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Second Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .