Second Peter 2:10-17

After arguing in chapter 1 that the Old Testament prophets could be trusted in their testimony to Christ (and so Christ and His righteousness should be trusted), Peter shifts in chapter 2 to a discussion of false teachers in chapter 2.  In verses 1-9, he argues that if God didn’t spare angels in their fall from heaven, the world in the flood, or Sodom and Gomorrah in their destruction, he will certainly destroy those who “deny the Lord who bought them” (and rescue those who have trusted Christ).

In verses 10-17, Peter develops a description of the “worst offenders.”  In teaching about these characteristics in our church, it was clear that people see them in our world today just like Peter saw them in his world two millennia ago . . .

Verses 10-11 – Leaders/teachers who hunger for immorality (“the lust of uncleanness”) and despise authority are “especially” kept under punishment until the Day of Judgment.  They are presumptuous (bold at overstepping boundaries, here moral and ethical ones) and self-willed (do whatever they want).  Sounds like almost everything one hears on the news today; things haven’t changed.

Verses 10-12 – These leaders/teachers are not afraid to speak evil of “glories” and things they don’t understand.  While angels don’t curse or rebuke their equals (see Jude 8-10), these folks aren’t afraid to speak abusively of their superiors.  I hear speech like that almost every day when I’m in town!

Verses 12-17 – In these verses, Peter gives several word pictures to help people understand the emptiness of the false leader/teacher lifestyle.  They are like:

• “Natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed” – Such animals aren’t good for anything, and only bring trouble.  They’re dangerous.  They find pleasure (we get the word “hedonism” from this Greek word) in carousing (consuming excessive alcohol) in the daytime.  Sound familiar?
• “Spots and blemishes” – The context here is a dinner.  People are gathered around a well-prepared table, everything is beautiful, and there is the spot . . . It doesn’t fit, it’s ugly, we try to get rid of such things as soon as we can.  They have a heart trained (we get the word “gymnastics” from this Greek word) to want things that are not theirs.
• Those who are “following the way of Balaam” – Balaam was an Old Testament prophet who was willing to trade his loyalty to his God and his people for money.  Loving money sure hasn’t changed, has it?!
• “Wells without water” – These leaders/teachers build the expectation that people will find something in that lifestyle, but when they get there, all they find is a black hole . . .
• “Clouds driven by a tempest” – What farmers want from clouds is rain, nothing else.  These clouds, however, arrive with danger and destruction, bringing the bad without the good.  If someone is wise, they will see these leaders/teachers coming from a distance and run for cover . . .

Second Peter 2:1-9

Peter has just been speaking, at the end of chapter 1, about how the writings of the Old Testament prophets could be trusted, and how Christ’s transfiguration (as a foreshadowing of Christ’s future Kingdom) served as a further confirmation of those writings.  And Peter had been a witness of Christ’s glory that day, so he could testify “first-hand.”  In chapter 2, Peter begins by contrasting those Old Testament prophets with the false teachers who had already begun to infiltrate the church.

Verse 1 – These “pseudo” teachers “bring in alongside” heresies which both deny the Lord who bought them and result in their own destruction.  This seems to problematic to some, but if Christ paid the price for the sins of the whole world, then He died for their sins as well; that doesn’t mean that they received His forgiveness, and obviously their teaching about Him was false.  The truth which stood in contrast to these false teachers had already been proclaimed by Peter at the beginning of his letter (1:1).  “Like precious faith” in Christ’s righteousness as “our God and Savior” was a short way to say that one had to trust in the Person and Work of Christ as the Old Testament prophets (and New Testament apostles) presented Him.

Verses 2-3 – The false teachers exploit with “deceptive” words, which in Greek is plastois, the word we get “plastic” from.  Plastic was often the material used to make a copy of something that was “not the real thing” (like a plastic gun, for instance).  It might look real, but it doesn’t have the same substance . . .  Peter also uses “destructive” and “destruction” twice in verses 1-3, and ancient authors would often repeat terms like that to demonstrate their certainty (confirmation, establishment).

Verses 4-9 – These verses are a single sentence, and serve as Peter’s illustration of the contrast between those who believe falsehood and those who believe truth (and obviously those beliefs generally affect their actions).  Peter gives 3 examples of judgment and 2 of preservation.  The judgment of angels is a strong argument because angels are above mankind, but still were judged.  The flood is a strong argument because the judgment was worldwide, only sparing 8 people!  But why would Peter give one verse each to those first two examples, and then three verses to the events surrounding Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah?  The false teachers prominent in Peter’s day would have not only promoted a false view of Christ, they seem to have been promoting immorality as well, which the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah would have especially addressed.  Peter was targeting his audience well.

How might this all relate to us and to our church?  I’d suggest there are several ways:

• The eternal judgment Peter speaks about revolves around false teaching, which results in false beliefs.  While those false beliefs may or may not result in “bad behavior,” only believing the truth will result in “preservation” (escaping judgment).
• Our generation wants to believe that God is all-loving and would never execute judgment, but if the Bible is to be believed, then God’s justice must be believed as well, not just His love and grace.
• It’s popular to be practical, as though practice is all that matters, leaving our brain at the door when we enter the room.  Peter, along with the rest of the writers of the Bible, is clear in maintaining that our beliefs are the most important piece of the puzzle, determining our eternal destiny!

Second Peter 1:12-21

Peter has just finished encouraging his readers to grow in their walk with God so that they will have an “abundant” entrance into His Kingdom, and now turns to his reason for the exhortations in verses 5-11.  Peter recognizes that this letter may very well be his last will and testament . . .

Verses 12-15 – Peter makes it clear that there is something he wants them to remember by giving them the trio of words “remind, reminding, reminder;” it is clear that these truths are important to him!  He considers his body a “tent,” letting his readers know that for him, this is simply a temporary dwelling.  Beyond that, he wants them to remember what he says long after his “decease,” sometimes translated “departure,” but the Greek word is the word is exodus (literally “a way out”), which we readily recognize.  The wordplay here, however, seems to be missed by most, because Peter has just told his readers that he wants them to have an abundant entrance (Greek eisodos, literally “a way in”) in verse 11 . . .

Verses 16-18 – Peter says that the reason he should be heard is because he was an eyewitness of Christ’s transfiguration (Matthew 17 recounts this event), when Christ appeared to Peter, James and John as He will be in His future Kingdom.  For Peter, this was a defining moment and proved that Christ was the Messiah who would come again to establish His Kingdom like the Old Testament prophets predicted.

Verse 19 – For Peter, the Transfiguration was a proof that the Old Testament prophets could be trusted.  Peter says that heeding their words (here especially about the Second Coming) is like having “a light that shines in a dark place,” Part of that word picture here is recognizing your true situation (you’re in the dark), and part is recognizing your dependence on and need for the light (the prophetic word).  The light is needed until the dawn comes with its morning star.  In the word picture, the dawn refers back to Christ’s Second Coming, with the morning star referring to Christ and our future encounter with Him (“rises in your hearts”), and His return will begin a “new day” in history.

Verses 20-21 – Peter furthers his argument about the trustworthiness of the Old Testament prophets by arguing that their words were words spoken as they were “carried along” by the Holy Spirit.

There are various views about the phrase “one’s own interpretation” in verse 20.  A solution can be found in the use of the Greek word epilusis for “interpretation,” because it’s not the word we would expect to see.  A literal translation of the Greek word would “loosing,” with the idea that a prophecy “lets loose” something supernatural.  The idea, then, is that God’s prophets never “let loose” on their own, the Holy Spirit carried them along as they spoke (the same word used of the wind carrying along a sailboat).  Peter concludes that the fact that God was the one carrying them along is another reason that they (and he) should be trusted.

So what does all that have to do with us?  Here are perhaps a few ideas:

• If Peter viewed his body as a “tent” as he prepared for his “exodus” to his permanent home, do we share his view?  Or are we so attached to “stuff” that we really don’t want to think that way . . .
• Peter’s concern was for his hearers to be well-prepared for their exit from this life and “entrance into the everlasting kingdom.”  How are we using our time both at our church and away to help others along the right path toward the right destination?
• Are we dependent on God’s Word as our only light in our current darkness?

Second Peter 1:5-11

In his introduction, Peter states that faith in Christ’s righteousness is what unites Peter with his readers.  One of the results of their faith was that they became “partakers of the divine nature” (verse 4).  But having a new identity doesn’t guarantee that someone will live in a way that is consistent with that nature . . . so Peter goes on to encourage them to live that out more and more through their actions.

Verse 5 – Based on their sharing in the “divine nature,” Peter tells his readers they are to add to their faith.  There a couple things to notice here.  First of all, faith is already assumed, which means that it is the foundation for everything else, upon which everything else depends.  Beyond that, faith isn’t the end all, after which someone has “arrived.”  It is a starting point.

The first block Peter adds to the foundation of faith is virtue.  Within Greek philosophy of the day, virtue would have been the ultimate character attribute, but Peter places it at the bottom of his list!  He then adds knowledge, but uses the normal word for knowledge (gnosis) instead of the word he used in the first several verses to describe a relationship with Christ (epignosis).  The point here is that within the relationship, we still need to learn and think . . .

Verse 6 – Peter adds three more blocks in his discussion of growth as a believer: self-control, perseverance and godliness.  This makes great sense.  You learn who you are (knowledge), you act in line with who you are (self-control), and then you do that more and more consistently (perseverance).  As you live out who you are more and more, you reflect God your Father (godliness) more and more.

Verse 7 – Of the seven “steps” Peter gives in his progression of the believer’s life, the first five are more personal, and the last two in verse seven are more social.  Brotherly kindness is providing for the needs of those around you, while love (Greek agape) goes the next mile, selflessly putting others above ourselves.  No wonder it’s at the top of the list; it’s the most like God, and the most difficult thing for us . . .

Verses 8-11 – Here Peter contrasts (1) the fruitfulness of the believer who is growing according to the pattern he’s given to (2) the blind and short-sighted believer who has forgotten that they have been forgiven (cleansed).  These verses have presented difficulty to interpreters, first and foremost because of the phrase “make your calling and election sure (certain).”  Interesting that Peter seems to present this as a possibility, yet those who take election to be equal to eternal life usually admit that a person can never truly be sure they are one of the elect!  Those same interpreters usually take verse 11 to simply mean that the elect get into heaven, although here whatever Peter is talking about clearly depends on works (“if you do these things”), not just faith, which doesn’t jive with verse 1.   So what are we to do?

The key word that most interpreters seem to avoid is the word “richly” in verse 11.  If the Bible teaches the doctrine of rewards, and I believe it does, then the degree to which we live out God’s will in our lives will certainly affect the richness of our entrance into God’s Kingdom.  Eternal life is obtained by faith in Christ’s work (didn’t He say, “It is Finished”?), but blessing now and rewards in eternity are obtained by our growth in Christ.

But how does that make our “calling and election sure?”  If those are about “conforming us to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29), then making sure of them is accomplished when we see ourselves looking more and more like Him.  Seen that way, Peter is arguing that believers should strive to look more and more like Jesus, because it will positively affect (blessings/rewards) their lives both now and in eternity.  Who do you want to look like?

Second Peter 1:1-4

The letter of Second Peter was written toward the end of Peter’s life, and Peter knew his end was near . . . the letter even reads at points like something of a last will and testament.  At this still very early stage of the church, there were corrupting influences within the church, and Peter wrote this letter largely to defend against those influences, as well as to point people back to the truth.  It is interesting to note that, even in his introductory comments, Peter uses language that would have confronted some of the errors that seem to have crept into those early churches.

Verse 1 – Peter makes it clear that he has a mixed audience (both Greek and Hebrew believers) here and in verse 2.  Here he uses both his Hebrew name, Simon, and his Greek name, Peter.  If Peter shares a “like precious faith” with his readers, he says it is “by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”  Peter says several things here that would have confronted the early heretics:

• Faith in Christ is faith in His righteousness, not in our own or anything we might do.  It’s NOT faith “plus” anything, because then it would not be faith in His righteousness.  Biblical faith here is trusting that Christ’s righteousness is everything, and He is the one who was able to say, “It is finished.”
• In Greek, the phrase “our God and Savior Jesus Christ” has only one article, which means that Peter believed that Jesus is God, and Jesus is Savior.  Both of those assertions would have been offensive to the heretics (some things don’t change, do they?).  To claim that Jesus is God would mean that God could become a physical human being, an idea many in Peter’s day would have rejected.  To claim that Jesus is Savior would mean that His death was a sacrifice on our behalf (to “rescue” us), and that there was a necessary price to be paid; the early heretics would have rejected that idea as well.

Verse 2 – Grace (the Greek greeting “Charis”) and Peace (the Hebrew greeting “Shalom”) would be another way for Peter to show that his audience included both Jewish and Greek believers.  Grace and peace will be multiplied through the knowledge (Greek epignosis) of God and Jesus, here separated . . . which only makes sense if Peter viewed Jesus as part of the Trinity.  Otherwise, how can one speak of Jesus as God yet somehow distinct from God?

Verse 3 – Peter claims that Christ’s “divine power” gives believers everything they need for life and godliness if they know (Greek epignosis again) Him.  Christ’s divinity and the idea that “knowing” Him was all one needed would both have been offensive ideas to the early heretics.

Verse 4 – Peter here claims that believers become “partakers of the divine nature” (from the Greek physis), with the idea that within their physical bodies they have the “divine.”  While this is consistent with the New Testament idea of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it (again) would have offended those early heretics.

So what are we to learn from this, Peter’s introduction?  Several things worth noting:

• Peter, like the other New Testament writers, makes it clear at the outset that trusting Christ alone is the only requirement for membership in God’s family.  When people say, “You have to believe and __________” (or “_________ and believe”), they’ve already missed the mark.
• For Peter to present so many confrontational ideas in a greeting should tell us that he had a great concern for preserving the truth, and that even at that early stage the truth was under attack.
• The attack on the truth hasn’t changed, in fact that attack just seems to have intensified.  Do we share Peter’s concern for maintaining the purity of the truth?