Peter’s second letter is very clearly written with the end of the apostolic age in sight. His own death is near (1:14) and most of the other apostles have already finished their course. He wants to make sure that his readers - people he has pastored, either in person or at a distance - are grounded in the settled truth of the gospel, that they would grasp that the prophetic message is completely reliable (1:19). They may not be the apostolic generation and, as such, may not have witnessed the astonishing events that Peter and others did (1:17f), yet they have a faith which is as precious as that of the apostles (1:1). They haven’t been sold short.
In that light, the first verse of chapter 2 is very interesting. Peter wants them to be on their guard because, just as there were false prophets among the people previously (he is referring to Old Testament times) so there will be false teachers among them. Do you see what Peter did there? Blink and you’ll miss it. The future, for them, will have no equivalent of the prophets of old. Yes, there will be false teachers - those who will take and twist, distort and deny the settled, received truth he has referred to. But it seems that the age of prophets who bring fresh revelation is past - the whole tenor of his letter breathes that air; it has a finality of truth, a finality that is inherent in the coming of the Messiah.
That’s not to say terms such as ‘prophet’ or ‘prophetic’ cannot be used in other ways, with a more nuanced meaning. But it is to say that something has ended. Peter seems to be quite clear about that. The fact that he doesn’t need to labour his point suggests that it wasn’t something his readers were unfamiliar with either.
