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This second epistle - In order to guard them against the seductions of false teachers, he calls to their remembrance the doctrine of the ancient prophets, and the commands or instructions of the apostles, all founded on the same basis.
He possibly refers to the prophecies of Enoch, as mentioned by Jude, Judges 1:14, Judges 1:15; of David, Psalm 1:1, etc.; and of Daniel, Daniel 12:2, relative to the coming of our Lord to judgment: and he brings in the instructions of the apostles of Christ, by which they were directed how to prepare to meet their God.
This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you - This expression proves that he had written a former epistle, and that it was addressed to the same persons as this. Compare Introduction, Section 3.
In both which I stir up your pure minds … - That is, the main object of both epistles is the same - to call to your remembrance important truths which you have before heard, but which you are in danger of forgetting, or from which you are in danger of being turned away by prevailing errors. Compare the notes at 2 Peter 1:12-15. The word rendered “pure” ( εἰλικρινής eilikrinēs) occurs only here and in Philemon 1:10, where it is rendered “sincere.” The word properly refers to “that which may be judged of in sunshine;” then it means “clear, manifest;” and then “sincere, pure” - as that in which there is no obscurity. The idea here perhaps is, that their minds were open, frank, candid, sincere, rather than that they were “pure.” The apostle regarded them as “disposed” to see the truth, and yet as liable to be led astray by the plausible errors of others. Such minds need to have truths often brought fresh to their remembrance, though they are truths with which they had before been familiar.