The punishments and lex talionis {{blockquote|But the wicked and sinners and hypocrites will stand in the midst of a pit of darkness that cannot be extinguished and their punishment will be fire. And the angels will bring their sin and they will prepare for them a place where they will be punished forever, each one according to their transgression. The list of punishments for the damned is likely the most influential and famous part of the work, with almost two-thirds of the text dedicated to the calamitous
end times that will accompany the return of Jesus (Chapters 4–6) and the punishments afterward (Chapters 7–13). The punishments in the vision generally correspond to the past sinful actions, usually with a correspondence between the body part that sinned and the body part that is tortured. It is a loose version of the Jewish notion of an
eye for an eye, also known as , that the punishment should fit the crime. The phrase "each according to his deed" appears five times in the Ethiopic version to explain the punishments. In a dialogue with the angel Tatirokos, the keeper of
Tartarus, the damned themselves admit that their fate is based on their own deeds, and is fair and just. Still, the connection between the crime and the punishment is not always obvious. David Fiensy writes that "It is possible that where there is no logical correspondence, the punishment has come from the Orphic tradition and has simply been clumsily attached to a vice by a Jewish redactor." Callie Callon suggests a philosophy of "mirror punishment" as motivating the punishments where the harm done is reflected in a sort of
poetic justice, and is determined more by symbolism than by the . She argues that this best explains the logic behind placing sorcerers in a
wheel of fire, considered unclear by scholars such as Fiensy. Other scholars have suggested that it is perhaps a weak reference to the punishment of
Ixion in
Greek mythology; Callon suggests that it is, instead, a reference to a
rhombus, a spinning top that was also used by magicians. The magicians had spun a rhombus for power in their lives, and now were tormented by similar spinning, with the usual addition of fire seen in other punishments. However, the next punishments do target children, saying that those who fail to heed tradition and their elders will be devoured by birds, while girls who do not maintain their virginity before marriage (implicitly also a violation of parental expectations) will have their flesh torn apart. This is possibly an instance of mirror punishment or bodily correspondence, where the skin which sinned is itself punished. The text also specifies ten girls are punished – possibly a loose reference to the
Parable of the Ten Virgins in the Gospel of Matthew, although not a very accurate one if so, as only five virgins are reprimanded in the parable, and for unrelated reasons. The Apocalypse of Peter is one of the earliest pieces of Christian literature to feature an
anti-abortion message; mothers who abort their children are among those tormented.
Christology The Akhmim Greek text generally refers to Jesus as , "Lord". The Ethiopic manuscripts are similar, but the style notably shifts in Chapters 15 and 16 in the last section of the work, which refer to Jesus by name and introduce him with exalted titles including "Jesus Christ our King" (
negus) and "my God Jesus Christ". This is considered a sign this section was edited later by a scribe with a
high Christology.
Angels and demons It is unknown how much of the
angelology and
demonology in the Ethiopic version was in the older Greek versions. The Akhmim version does not mention demons when describing the punishment of those who forsook God's commandments; even in Ethiopic, it is possible that the demons are servants of God performing the punishment, rather than those who led the damned into sin. As the Ethiopic version was likely a translation of an
Arabic translation, it may have picked up some influence from Islam centuries later; the references to Ezrael the Angel of Wrath were possibly influenced by
Azrael the Angel of Death, who is usually more associated with Islamic angelology. The children who died by
infanticide are delivered to the angel "Temelouchus", which probably was a rare Greek word meaning "care-taking [one]". Later writers seem to have interpreted it as a proper name, however, resulting in a specific angel of hell appearing named "Temlakos" (Ethiopic) or "
Temeluchus" (Greek), found in the
Apocalypse of Paul and various other sources.
Literary merits Scholars of the 19th and 20th century considered the work rather intellectually simple and naive; dramatic and gripping, but not necessarily a coherent story. Still, the Apocalypse of Peter was popular and had a wide audience in its time.
M. R. James remarked that his impression was that educated Christians of the later Roman period considered the work somewhat embarrassing and "realized it was a gross and vulgar book", which might have partially explained a lack of elite enthusiasm for canonizing it later.
Theology version)|alt=Refer to caption {{blockquote|The Second Coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead, which he told to Peter, who die for their sin because they did not observe the commandment of God, their creator. And this he [Peter] reflected upon so that he might understand the mystery of the Son of God, the merciful and lover of mercy. One of the theological messages of the Apocalypse of Peter is generally considered clear enough: the torments of hell are meant to encourage keeping a righteous path and to warn readers and listeners away from sin, knowing the horrible fate that awaits those who stray. The work also responds to the problem of
theodicy addressed in earlier writings such as
Daniel: the question of why a sovereign and just God allows the persecution of the righteous on Earth. The Apocalypse says that everyone will be repaid by their deeds, even the dead, and God will eventually make things right. Most scholars agree that the Apocalypse simultaneously advocates for both divine justice and divine mercy, and contains elements of both messages. The version of the Apocalypse seen in the Ethiopic version could plausibly have originated from a
Christian community that still considered itself as part of Judaism. The adaptation of the fig tree parables to an allegory about the flourishing of Israel and its martyrs pleasing God is only found in Chapter 2 of the Ethiopic version. While it is impossible to know for sure why it is absent in the Greek Akhmim version, one possibility is that it was edited out due to incipient anti-Jewish sentiment in the church. A depiction of Jews converting and Israel being especially blessed may have fit poorly with the
strong repudiation of Judaism common in the Church during the 4th and 5th centuries. In one passage in Chapter 16, Peter offers to build three
tabernacles on Earth. Jesus sharply rebukes him, saying that there is only a single heavenly tabernacle. This is possibly a reference to the
destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD and a condemnation of attempting to build a replacement "
Third Temple", although perhaps it is only a reference to all of God's elect living together with a unified tabernacle in Paradise. ==Debate over canonicity==