2 Peter Overview

THE MESSAGE OF SECOND PETER

While current skeptics argue the authorship of the two epistles of Peter in the New Testament, I believe there is very clearly sufficient evidence for these two letters having been written by the apostle before his death in the mid-60’s of the first century. What is amazing about this book written nearly two thousand years ago is how timely it is to our current world. While we should always remember that the Bible was not written to us, but was written for us, this book is especially relevant. This book is only three very short chapters and I would encourage you to read it slowly and let the teachings it contains really sink in. Let’s take an overview of the book, highlighting some specific words he has for us today.

INTRODUCTION

Peter begins the letter by identifying himself and with the usual greeting that we see in other NT epistles. He then quickly moves on in verses 3-15 to discuss what God has given to the true Christian, and how this Christian can know that he is safe in the hands of God. In Verse 3, he tells us that God has given us everything that we need for living a Godly life through the knowledge and through the glory and goodness of God. He is emphasizing that the ability to live a Christian life does not come through self-discipline, but through the Holy Spirit. In verse 4, we are told that the Christian actually shares in the divine nature of God so that we are able to escape the corruption of the world.

In verses 5-9, Peter gives a list of character traits which he says every Christian should exhibit. He says we should not just exhibit these traits, but that we should exhibit them in increasing nature. These traits include faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly affection and love. However, these traits aren’t presented as just a list, but we are told to supplement each one with the one that follows. What I believe Peter is telling us in this is that the true Christ follower will grow with these traits building up to showing the love of God to others in a recognizable way. Jesus said that the true Christian will be known by his love. Paul said that we may have all knowledge and ability in the world, but without love, we are nothing.

Peter goes on to tell us that if we exhibit these traits, we will not be useless and unfruitful and even that this will lead to a rich entry into the eternal kingdom of God. He says that the person that lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his past sins. Please pause as you read verse 9, where those words are written. I believe that if we do not recognize who we are without God, and live in gratitude for his forgiveness, we will miss out on the fullness of the Christian life. This is what happens when we continually compare ourselves with anyone we can find with whom we may think we compare favorably. The truth is that I am a spiritual failure without God. I can never allow myself to forget that. My favorite part of this section is that we are told that if these traits are growing within us that we confirm our calling and election to his family. There is no greater peace in life than knowing to whom I belong.

PETER GETS EVIDENTIAL

The next section is where it gets fun. In verses 16-21, we are told very directly how Peter knows all of this is true. He was an eyewitness. Peter says that he and the other apostles did not follow people who spoke great and convincing words. Instead, they followed the evidence. The saw and heard Jesus be transformed on the mountain and God speak over him that Jesus was his son. Matthew 17:1-13. Peter then points out that there is strong evidence of the credibility of Jesus as Messiah from the fulfillment of prophecy, and that the reader would do well to pay attention to it. He points out that real prophecy does not come from man, but from God.

I would encourage you to look up the probabilities of a single man fulfilling so many prophecies as Jesus did. There are actual mathematicians who have ventured to calculate this and the number is astounding. There is a such thing as a probability reaching the point of impossibility in mathematics, and the calculation shows that this one was reached and far surpassed. Just to get you started, Jesus had to be born of the line of Abraham, of the line of Isaac, of the line of Jacob, of the line of Judah, of the line of David, conceived by an unwed mother, born in Bethlehem, born to a poor family, born a calculable number of years after the Jews returned from captivity, not be accepted by his own people, be betrayed by one of his followers, crucified, rise on the third day, and the list can go on.

NOW IT GETS FRIGHTENING

Peter then moves into chapter 2 of the letter in which he discusses at length the coming of false teachers. You do not have to look very far to know this is true. Take a moment sometime to just Google the words, “preacher scandals.” Your screen will be full. The latest is megachurch pastor Robert Morris who has been indicted for child sex crimes. However, he is just one of a long list of preachers and other church members who have been involved in such activity. Peter tells us that many will follow the depraved ways of these leaders and that the truth will be maligned because of them. He further says that they will exploit people with their greed and their made up stories, but that they will be destroyed at the right time.

He goes on in chapter 2 to give us more detail of what to look for in these false teachers. He calls them “creatures of instinct,” and says they “slander what they do not understand.” The “delight in deception” while they feast with you. He tells us that they never stop looking for sin and that they seduce people who have hearts trained in greed. It almost sounds like Peter is discussing current events as you read the words of chapter 2. I believe that there has never been such a climate of culture that is as greedy and money driven as the one in which we live today. We will forgive and overlook anything from people as long as it does not hurt, and especially if it helps, our pocketbook.

In verse 18, he tells us that these people use boastful and empty words to influence, actually he says seduce again, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error. While this may sound strange, I believe that Peter is speaking here about those who may seem to want to be real Christ followers, but do not really know how. It may be those who are not confident that they can learn God’s ways by reading the scripture, or those who simply come under the sway of charismatic leaders. Peter says that they do this by promising freedom to people who do not realize that they are actually living as slaves to sin.

When I went to law school many years ago one of my favorite phrases that I learned was “inextricably intertwined.” It means that two things are so wound up together that you cannot get them apart. I just thought the phrase sounded cool. However, I truly believe that what Peter is talking about to some extent is that the church cannot get inextricably intertwined in things like greed and governing. As the church in the United States has gotten progressively more involved in politics since the mid-1970’s, church attendance has gotten progressively smaller. Many churches seem more intent on entertaining and continuing to bring in large sums of money than in the study of scripture and being known for loving others. While we are told in scripture to judge those within the church, we are likewise told that we have no place to judge those on the outside. Yet, how can we even judge those on the inside, when we do not hold ourselves accountable to the standards set for us in scripture? It is a frightening thing when the church has lost its way, and you are in as great a danger for child sex abuse inside the church as outside, and many times we see church leadership covering it up. It simply cannot be tolerated.

A HAPPY ENDING

In chapter 3, we get the happy ending. Peter tells us that a day is coming, and will come upon us like a “thief in the night,” when Jesus returns and makes things right. We are not to be concerned that this time doesn’t come when we think that it should, but to understand this as being God’s plan for as many to come to his family as possibly can. He says that what we are waiting for is actually an entirely redone universe, where righteousness dwells.

There is one particularly funny part of the ending of this book. Peter says that “dear brother Paul” has written to the readers according to the wisdom given to him. He says Paul speaks about all these things in his letters, even if they are a bit hard to understand. I love that. He says that the untaught and unstable will twist Paul’s words just as they do with everything else.

In this last section, Peter encourages the reader to be careful and make every effort to be found without spot of blemish when Jesus returns. He tells them to be on guard so as to not be led astray by these false teachers. He ends by saying that we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus, and that all glory is to be given to him.

That is really the key. If I receive the praise I am going about life in the wrong way. If the preacher or the singer, or the coach, is getting the praise, he or she is going about it the wrong way. We are told that whatever we do, we are to do it for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31. That is the standard.