2 Peter 1:13 Meaning and Explanation
“Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Why repeat what people already know? Peter has just admitted that his readers know these things and are established in the present truth, and he still refuses to stop reminding them. His reasoning here is worth hearing by anyone who teaches, parents, or leads: familiarity dulls, and a limited lifetime makes the reminding urgent.
Peter considers it right to keep waking his readers with reminders for as long as he lives in his body. Remembering settled truth is treated as urgent apostolic work.
The Context of 2 Peter 1:13
The verse begins a short personal section running from verses 12 to 15. Peter has finished his chain of virtues and his charge to make calling and election sure, and he now explains his own resolve. Verse 12 says he will not be negligent to put them always in remembrance, though they know these things. Verse 13 states that he thinks it meet to do so while in this tabernacle. Verse 14 gives the reason for urgency: he knows he must shortly put off that tabernacle, as the Lord showed him. Verse 15 looks beyond his decease to lasting remembrance.
What Does 2 Peter 1:13 Mean?
Three phrases carry the sentence. I think it meet renders a judgment of fitness, so Peter presents the reminding as an obligation he has weighed rather than a habit he fell into. This tabernacle names the body as a tent, temporary lodging that gets folded when the journey ends; the following verse confirms the image by speaking of putting it off. To stir you up suggests rousing someone from sleep or shaking a settled liquid so it moves again. And putting you in remembrance identifies the method, which is familiar truth spoken again until it wakes the hearer.
Placed just after the call to diligence, this personal note explains how Peter intends to help his readers obey it. He has granted in verse 12 that they already know these things and stand established in present truth, which makes his persistence a statement about human memory. Knowing a truth and living awake to it are different conditions, and drift happens quietly. Scripture repeatedly treats remembrance as a spiritual discipline: Israel was told to remember the day of deliverance, and the Lord's supper was given with the words, this do in remembrance of me. Peter joins that pattern, spending his remaining time on repetition.
The tent image gains weight from verse 14, where Peter says the Lord Jesus Christ has shown him that he must shortly put off this tabernacle. John 21:18 and 19 record Jesus telling Peter how he would glorify God by his death, and this verse reads like a man living in the light of that word. What he does with the knowledge is striking: he writes reminders. Paul used the same tent picture for the body in 2 Corinthians 5:1 while speaking of a building from God. Both apostles hold the frailty of the body together with confident labor inside it.
2 Peter 1:13 in the Original Language
skenoma (σκήνωμα), 'tabernacle' -- a tent or lodging set up for a season and taken down again. Applied to the body, it pictures a dwelling that houses a person for the length of a journey, which explains the next verse about putting it off.
Bible Verses Related to 2 Peter 1:13
“This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:”
- 2 Peter 3:1
“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:1
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.”
- John 21:18
“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;”
- Deuteronomy 4:9
Where 2 Peter 1:13 Echoes in Scripture
2 Peter 3:1 repeats the purpose almost word for word, where the writer says he stirs up their pure minds by way of remembrance in both epistles. The repetition shows that reminding is a settled program for this letter rather than a passing remark. In chapter 3 the truths recalled concern the promise of the Lord's coming and the words of the prophets and apostles, which suggests the same body of teaching stands behind the reminders here in chapter 1.
How to Apply 2 Peter 1:13 Today
Peter's practice suggests that spiritual maintenance is mostly repetition. We can build reminders into ordinary life: a psalm read at the same hour, a truth written where we will see it, a friend who is free to say the obvious thing again. Those who teach or raise children can take comfort here, since saying a thing the fifth time is faithful work. The tent image adds a second habit. Counting our time as limited helps us decide what deserves the remaining hours, and Peter spent his on strengthening other people's memory of Christ.
Reflection & Prayer
Which truth do we know well and live as though we had forgotten? Naming it is the first stirring. A prayer: Father, I hold much that I have stopped feeling. Wake me where I have grown drowsy, and give me someone who will keep reminding me. Teach me to count my days and spend them helping others remember your Son.