---
title: 2 Peter 3:16
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/2-peter-3-16/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/2-peter-3-16.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 2 Peter 3:16
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 2 Peter 3:16

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> He writes this way in all his letters, speaking in them about such matters. Some parts of his letters are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

## JW Usage

JWs cite 2 Peter 3:16 — "hard to understand" things that the "untaught and unsteady" twist — to argue that the Bible requires an authoritative interpreter. Since the Watchtower is God's sole channel, its publications provide the necessary guidance to avoid misunderstanding Scripture. Independent Bible reading apart from Watchtower literature is presented as a doorway to apostasy.

## Protestant Usage

Peter says some of Paul's writings are "hard to understand" — not that they are impossible to understand or that an organisation must mediate them. The Bereans in Acts 17:11 were praised for checking an apostle's teaching against Scripture directly. If checking Paul is noble, checking the Governing Body — which itself admits it is "neither inspired nor infallible" — cannot be ignoble. The Watchtower inadvertently admitted in 1981 that reading the Bible without its publications leads back to "apostate doctrines" like the Trinity. Rather than asking why the Bible disagrees with them, they concluded independent reading is dangerous. Second Timothy 3:16-17 in the NWT says Scripture makes the man of God "fully competent, completely equipped" — a stronger sufficiency claim than many Protestant translations. If Scripture fully equips, no additional publication system is necessary. First John 2:27 in the NWT adds: "the anointing that you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you."

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Independent Bible Reading — Why the Watchtower Fears It](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/independent-bible-reading.md) — Acts 17:11 / 2 Timothy 3:16–17 / 1 John 2:27 [Authority]
- [Canon Circularity — Who Gave You the Bible?](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/canon-borrowed-capital.md) — Distributed convergence, not top-down decree, gave the church its 66 books [Authority]