The Second Letter of Peter

An Explanation of This Letter Especially for You

Rock Solid #10 (Letter of James and the First and Second Letter of Peter)

Ger de Koning

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© 2016 by Ger de Koning. All rights preserved.

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New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

Contents

Abbreviations of the Names of the Books of the Bible 5

Old Testament 5

New Testament 6

Explanation of general format 7

The Second Letter of Peter 8

Introduction 8

2 Peter 1 9

2Pet 1:1-2 | Salutation and Blessing 9

2Pet 1:3-7 | Divine Nature and Spiritual Growth 12

2Pet 1:8-15 | An Abundant Entrance 16

2Pet 1:16-21 | The Prophetic Word 20

2 Peter 2 24

2Pet 2:1-6 | Examples of God’s Judgment 24

2Pet 2:7-16 | The Way of Balaam 28

2Pet 2:17-22 | To Turn From the Known Way 32

2 Peter 3 36

2Pet 3:1-9 | Scoffers Get an Answer 36

2Pet 3:10-18 | Grow in the Grace and Knowledge 40

Other Publications 44

Abbreviations of the Names of the Books of the Bible

Old Testament

Gen – Genesis

Exo – Exodus

Lev – Leviticus

Num – Numbers

Deu – Deuteronomy

Jos – Joshua

Jdg – Judges

Rth – Ruth

1Sam – First Samuel

2Sam – Second Samuel

1Kgs – First Kings

2Kgs – Second Kings

1Chr – First Chronicles

2Chr – Second Chronicles

Ezra – Ezra

Neh – Nehemiah

Est – Esther

Job – Job

Psa – Psalms

Pro – Proverbs

Ecc – Ecclesiastes

Song – Song of Songs

Isa – Isaiah

Jer – Jeremiah

Lam – Lamentations

Eze – Ezekiel

Dan – Daniel

Hos – Hosea

Joel – Joel

Amos – Amos

Oba – Obadiah

Jona – Jonah

Mic – Micah

Nah – Nahum

Hab – Habakkuk

Zep – Zephaniah

Hag – Haggai

Zec – Zechariah

Mal – Malachi

New Testament

Mt – Gospel of Matthew

Mk – Gospel of Mark

Lk – Gospel of Luke

Jn – Gospel of John

Acts – Acts of the Apostles

Rom – Letter to the Romans

1Cor – First Letter to the Corinthians

2Cor – Second Letter to the Corinthians

Gal – Letter to the Galatians

Eph – Letter to the Ephesians

Phil – Letter to the Philippians

Col – Letter to the Colossians

1Thes – First Letter to the Thessalonians

2Thes – Second Letter to the Thessalonians

1Tim – First Letter to Timothy

2Tim – Second Letter to Timothy

Tit – Letter to Titus

Phlm – Letter to Philemon

Heb – Letter to the Hebrews

Jam – Letter of James

1Pet – First Letter of Peter

2Pet – Second Letter of Peter

1Jn – First Letter of John

2Jn – Second Letter of John

3Jn – Third Letter of John

Jude – Letter of Jude

Rev – Revelation

Explanation of general format

PERSONAL PRONOUNS are capitalized when pertaining to Deity.

BRACKETS [ ] are used in this commentary in the Bible text to indicate words which are not found in the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek but implied by it.

SHARP BRACKETS < > are used in this commentary in the Bible text to indicate words possibly not in the original writings.

When ASTERISKS * are used in New Testament quotations, it is to mark verbs that are historical presents in the Greek which have been translated with an English past tense in order to conform to modern usage. The translators recognized that in some contexts the present tense seems more unexpected and unjustified to the English reader than a past tense would have been. But Greek authors frequently used the present tense for the sake of heightened vividness, thereby transporting their readers in imagination to the actual scene at the time of occurrence. However, the translators felt that it would be wise to change these historical presents to English past tenses.

ALL CAPS in the New Testament quotations are used in the text to indicate Old Testament quotations or obvious references to Old Testament texts.

The Second Letter of Peter

Introduction

In the second letter we have from Peter in the Bible Peter addresses the same believers as in his first letter. We can derive this from the first verse of chapter 3 of this second letter (2Pet 3:1). As in the first letter ‘the government of God’ is the central thought in this letter. The difference is that in the first letter it is about the government of God over the believers, while in this letter it is about God’s government over the unbelievers.

God rules. He is sovereign and firmly in control of the government of the world, even if to the natural eye it appears otherwise. Therefore you should not judge the things as they present themselves to you, but you should see them all in the light of God’s Word. That’s why this letter is also of great importance in order not to be confused by the actions of the ungodly who even seem to have the right on their side. That is just an appearance and appearances are deceiving.

Peter writes this letter as his spiritual testament. His departure is coming soon. In his first letter he encouraged the believers with a view to the persecutions and the sufferings they were enduring. In the kingdom of peace it will not be like that at all. That’s where he has drawn their attention to, over and over again. His second letter is full of warnings with a view to the destruction that is worked by the deceivers.

This is a character of other ‘second letters’, like the second letter to the Thessalonians and the second letter to Timothy. Then the point is not that much about dangers from the outside, from the world, but more from within, from within professing Christianity. You are also to be kept from the deceivers.

In both letters the coming of the Lord will change everything. Also in his second letter Peter refers to that coming. Thereby he even goes further than the coming of the Lord to establish the kingdom of peace. He writes about the eternal condition of the new heavens and the new earth. That is a great encouragement to be faithful and to see to it that the deceivers will get no chance to undermine the faith of God’s children.

2 Peter 1

2Pet 1:1-2 | Salutation and Blessing

1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;

V1. The letter has been written by Peter. He is its sender. Unlike in his first letter, he calls himself here “Simon Peter”. ‘Simon’ is the name that his parents gave him. It is, you could say, his old name. The Lord Jesus has given him his new name ‘Peter’ (Jn 1:42; Mt 10:2; 16:18). That Peter introduces himself by his double name, is remarkable. It says, I think, a lot of his spiritual mind. He is at the end of his life. He knows who he is in Christ. Still, he has not forgotten his origin.

Further on, in verse 9, he reminds his readers that he, who forgets what he was in the past, is blind and shortsighted. The longer a person goes his way with the Lord, the better he will know the Lord Jesus, but also the more he will understand what he himself is by nature. That will only make his awareness of grace increase. By introducing himself as Simon, he says to his readers that he is not better than them. By introducing himself also as Peter, he indicates that he addresses them as a brother among the brothers.

But he comes on behalf of another, on behalf of “Jesus Christ”. He is His “bond-servant”. What he has to say, he says because the Lord Jesus orders him to. He is completely subjected to His authority. That is not a burden, but a joy. He loves to call himself like that. There is nothing more wonderful than being a bond-servant of Him Who has redeemed you from the power of sin and has delivered you from death and the judgment after death (Heb 9:27).

Peter, however, is not only a bond-servant, he is also an “apostle”. That means that he speaks with authority. He not only comes because he is a bond-servant, but he comes also with the authority of the Lord Jesus and speaks in His Name. Therefore, what he has got to say was mandated by the Lord Jesus and he passes that on with the authority of His Sender. Ultimately it is not Peter who addresses you, but the Lord Jesus. That will on the one hand prevent you from reading this letter as a human writing and on the other hand impress you of the power of God that speaks from this letter.

Peter addresses his letter “to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours”. He mentions in addition that he and they owe that to “the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ”. The faith is precious, it is of special value. Here it is not so much the fact that you believe, that is your personal faith, but more about what you believe, about everything that the faith contains. What faith contains, are all blessings that are given to you in Christ. Those blessings are not only meant for an elite, a special group of privileged believers, but they are for all believers.

Peter especially addresses the Jews. They are raised with the thought that their own righteousness, the fulfillment of the law, gives the blessing of everything that God has promised. They have committed themselves to that as a people at Mount Sinai (Exo 19:8). But on that basis, they forfeited the blessing and each right to it forever because of their disobedience and the rejection of the Lord Jesus. That blessing can now only be obtained by faith in the rejected and glorified Lord. In what Christ has done, the basis has been laid for God to still give all the promised blessing to everyone who believes.

It is His righteousness, which means His righteous dealings, in response to the work of His Son, to give the opportunity to everyone who believes in the Son to partake of the precious value of all that faith contains. Therefore Peter speaks about the “righteousness” of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Also, by “the righteousness of our God”, you may remember that God is faithful to the promises He made to the fathers of Israel. In His righteousness He will fulfill all His promises.

Because Peter speaks about “our God and Savior Jesus Christ”, you see that God and the Savior Jesus Christ are One Person (cf. Tit 2:13). This Name connects this verse with the Old Testament, which those to whom Peter is writing, know so well. God calls Himself ‘Savior’ in Isaiah 45 (Isa 45:15). He does that with a view to the approaching end of Israel. A Savior or Redeemer is needed when the end of the existence of a nation or of a human being comes into view. Therefore this Name is fitting in this letter in which we read about the end of everything that has been created (Lk 1:47; 1Tim 2:3; 4:10; Tit 1:3; 2:10; 3:4; Jude 1:25). This Name also shows that the Lord Jesus is both Savior and Yahweh of the Old Testament.

Therefore when He is presented by Peter as the origin of the precious faith, it also reminds them of the faithfulness of the God of Israel, Who has granted this faith to His people. This faith is now no longer associated with God’s earthly people, but with God’s heavenly people, in whom we find the things that God gives. In Christendom they have been revealed as truths. It is a great grace to be able to see that.

V2. Peter concludes his introductory words by wishing his readers “grace and peace”. He does so, however, in a penetrating way. He is aware, and he therefore wants to make his readers aware of it too, that those who live by faith, will have to face heavy weather. While great dangers are appearing and increasing (Mt 24:12), he is very much aware of the equally multiply grace and peace. Where the threat appears to be that great, grace and peace abound all the more (cf. Rom 5:20b).

Therefore Peter speaks about a ‘multiplication’ of grace and peace. He wants you to be more and more aware of the grace that is available to you to enable you to live your life in this end time. You do not have to go through it by your own power and with your own means. Nor can you. Entrust yourself to the grace of God. You have learnt to know Him as “the God of all grace” (1Pet 5:10). Therefore you will also be able to endure the toughest circumstances with an increasing peace in your heart.

To this blessing Peter connects “the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord”. Here you have the firm foundation to experience the fulfillment of the wish of Peter. By your personal relationship with God and with the Lord Jesus you will learn to know Them better and better. You gain that knowledge by reading and studying God’s Word. That’s what you are doing now and that is a good thing.

God and the Lord Jesus reveal Their plans in the Bible. If you know them, you will not easily be led into confusion and despair. By reading the Word the Holy Spirit will show you everything what God’s plan is with the Lord Jesus. Christ is the center of all God’s thoughts. If your thoughts are focused on the same center, you will find the support and nourishment for your faith there. Your faith will develop itself and expand itself further and further in that knowledge. This is how the multiplication happens that Peter wishes you on behalf of Jesus Christ.

Now read 2 Peter 1:1-2 again.

Reflection: Which encouragements do these verses contain?

2Pet 1:3-7 | Divine Nature and Spiritual Growth

3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of [the] divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in [your] moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in [your] knowledge, self-control, and in [your] self-control, perseverance, and in [your] perseverance, godliness, 7 and in [your] godliness, brotherly kindness, and in [your] brotherly kindness, love.

V3. Everything you have received and that has been summarized in the expression “faith” (verse 1), has been granted to you by God’s “divine power”. You yourself did in no way contribute to it or paid the slightest bit for it. What you have received has been really “granted” to you. That is all a gift of grace from God.

What is it that you have received? He has delivered you from the power of sin and has given you the forgiveness of your sins. He has given you free access to the sanctuary, in His presence. You are allowed to come there to worship Him and ask for His help. He has given you the Holy Spirit and His Word. He has provided you with the prospect of an inheritance. These are just some blessings that have become your portion because He has given them to you.

No one has been able to keep Him from doing that. Everything that God has granted to you by His Divine power is fully fitted to enable you to live the life that is only worthy of living. That is a life to His honor, a life in holiness and dedication to Him. It is a life that is entirely focused on God alone, a life that shows true Godliness, a life in holy respect for Him, which He values and in which He finds His pleasure.

You can only live to His honor according to the extent of the knowledge you have of Him, Who has called you. God’s power doesn’t become visible in your life through signs and wonders that you might perform, but through your actions in accordance with the knowledge you have of Him. What do you know about Him? You know about Him what you have seen of Him. Thereby it is important how you have come to know Him, your first encounter with Him. He called you at the beginning of your life as a believer. You have come to Him because He has called you.

And how did He call you? It is said here “by His own glory and excellence [or: virtue]”. You were living in your sins and you were not able to save yourself. Then God revealed Himself to you in His “glory”. Such a great power came from that, that you were drawn to Him, as it were. Abraham had such an experience. He saw the God of glory and left the idolatrous environment where he was living (Jos 24:2-3; Acts 7:2). Also Paul was completely changed in his course by that glory (Acts 22:6-11). It is inevitable that you have seen something of God’s glory, for nothing else could cause you to give up the world.

“Excellence” [or: virtue, i.e. spiritual courage and power] here indicates something that exceeds everything. God possesses a glory and excellence by which every earthly glory and excellence utterly pales. With ‘excellence’ is also associated the power of your calling. He who sees the glory and excellence of God, if the eyes have been opened for it, experiences an irresistible attraction.

V4. By His glory and excellence He “has granted to us His precious … promises”, which are promises of great value. They are also “magnificent” promises. It is all those promises that are “yes” and “amen” in Christ (2Cor 1:20). Thus you have received the Holy Spirit as a pledge of the promise that you will receive the inheritance (Gal 3:14; Eph 1:13-14). Another promise is that you are already now may have eternal life, while the full enjoyment of it will be given to you when you are in the Father’s house (Tit 1:2; 1Jn 2:25; Jn 17:3). Aren’t they “precious and magnificent promises”? First, before you go further, just take a moment to thank the Father for this.

All those promises for which you have just given thanks, show that you are a partaker of the Divine nature. Without the possession of God’s nature, in other words, without life of God, you would neither have possessed those promises nor would you have been able to enjoy them in fellowship with God.

The possession of the Divine nature and what you are able to enjoy as a result is a huge contrast to the life you used to live. Everything you used to long for was connected to the world and to destruction. Your lusts were fed by the world and could only end up in destruction. It was all filthy and unclean and only focused on satisfying your own lusts. You did not care at all about what you did to yourself and others and above all that, to God. You didn’t care about the fact that because of that you were heading for eternal judgment. Now you have escaped from all that. You have fled from that and by Divine power you have been taken out from that atmosphere. That’s also something you may thank Him for.

V5. Except a reason to thank Him eternally for it, it is also an exhortation to make efforts to seek God’s honor in all things. His Divine power should make you to diligently make use of it. If you think that everything is all right, it may prove that you are not a partaker of the Divine nature. For the possession of the Divine nature will make you conscious that you live in a world that seeks to eradicate your testimony. A person who really is a partaker of the Divine nature, which is given to him by Divine power, will desire to do everything that glorifies God, Who has blessed him abundantly. He will exert his best efforts to bring that about.

Then Peter shows the seven phases that bring faith to its optimal functioning. “Faith” is the faith in the Divine power and the glory of Christ that will be revealed. That is not a dogma, not a doctrine, but the reality which is the fundamental point. We go our way in that confidence of faith. That confidence of faith has to be deepened.

1. Therefore, “for this very reason”, “moral excellence” must be added to the faith, which is your trust in God, applying all diligence. If there is true faith, our confidence of faith will surely be tested. We will then not be scared by that, on the contrary, it will only be an occasion for us to show, especially then, spiritual courage and power. The hardships will be overcome instead of giving in to the pressure of relinquishing the faith.

2. The difficulties will drive you out to God. You will seek and experience the fellowship with Him and in that way gain more knowledge. Therefore “knowledge” follows after showing moral excellence or spiritual courage and power. If knowledge is not added, the tests will only become emotional events, where there is a great danger of showing off.

Excellence, or courage and power, can only function well if there is knowledge of God’s purpose with the test of faith. By growing in the knowledge of God’s will, you will rightly use the spiritual energy. In that way knowledge will become a guide for your conduct. It leads you to a deeper familiarity with God that works in your heart and that is seen in your conduct. It prevents you from error.

3. V6. Knowledge must function in the right way. Therefore “self-control” must be added to knowledge. You may grow in the knowledge of God, you may get to know Him and His plans better and better, but then the important thing is that you make use of that knowledge in the right way.

The intention is not that you should think that with all the knowledge you’ve gained you should serve God uninhibitedly and that wherever you go you see a reason to do that. Real knowledge will focus your heart on Christ. He always perfectly faithfully did the will of God and He did that in perfect rest. He never let Himself be overwhelmed or be rushed to do something. His life was led by the knowledge of God’s will.

4. If you are willing to do the will of God in this way you will surely face resistance from the world. The Lord Jesus also had to do with that, but in no way did He let Himself be drawn away from the path of obedience to His God. He went on with perseverance. That goes also for you. Therefore you should add “perseverance” to self-control. The reason why self-control and perseverance are asked of you, is because you have an old nature and because you live in an environment that seeks to draw you away from God and His matters.

5. It goes without saying that you must persevere in the good things and that you must also bring them into practice in the right way. You could easily persevere in meaningless things. Therefore you should add “godliness” to it. Godliness is the consciousness of living in the presence of God. From there automatically, as it were, the next aspect flows.

6. V7. If there is godliness, if your heart has such fellowship with God, then “brotherly kindness” will not be a difficult task. It will not be difficult to love all who are partakers of the same Divine nature. You will love your brothers and sisters with a love that will only increase the more you are in fellowship with God.

7. Brotherly kindness ultimately leads to “love”, that is the highest love, the Divine love. With brotherly kindness you may find that there are things that make loving one another easy. Divine love goes much further, for God also loves even if there is nothing worthy of being loved. It is the source, the revelation of love at the highest level. If this is the way you love, then you are connected to eternity and can resist the spirit of the age.

Now read 2 Peter 1:3-7 again.

Reflection: Make a list of some blessings that Divine power has given to you. What can be expected from you as a result of that?

2Pet 1:8-15 | An Abundant Entrance

8 For if these [qualities] are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these [qualities] is blind [or] short-sighted, having forgotten [his] purification from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; 11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. 12 Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you [already] know [them], and have been established in the truth which is present with [you]. 13 I consider it right, as long as I am in this [earthly] dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 knowing that the laying aside of my [earthly] dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.

V8. In the previous verses you saw the seven steps of spiritual growth of your faith. You have seen that your faith grows when you add in the right order the following aspects: excellence or virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, Godliness, brotherly kindness and love. One follows the other. You cannot omit or displace one of them, for if you do, the growth will stop right there. If all these aspects in the growth of your faith have the right place, the result will be that you will get to know the Lord Jesus better and better. The more you know of the Lord the more you will love and serve Him.

The presence and efficacy of these ‘growth agents’ are the necessary conditions to grow. If they are there and are working, they prove their efficacy in the fruit that they produce. That fruit is a life in which the characteristics of the Lord Jesus become visible and in that way the Father is glorified.

V9. When these things are lacking, there will be no spiritual activity and no fruit. It proves that you are “blind” and “short-sighted”. I do not think that this applies to you, but still it is important for you to see the danger of it. To be blind means to be without the insight in God’s thoughts about the Lord Jesus. He who is blind has not grown to maturity. He who is shortsighted can only see things that are very close. To be shortsighted means that only the present time is considered, here and now, and not the future, the kingdom to come. There is no distant view. A person who is blind and shortsighted is therefore blind for the heavenly things and is shortsighted as far as it concerns the earthly things. He does not look any further than here and now.

The cause of that is that he has “forgotten [his] purification from his former sins”. Indeed he is converted, for otherwise there could be no mention of purification. A person who is not converted has never been purified from his sin. However, he is not to be distinguished from the people of the world, for although he is converted he lives as someone of the world. Did not Peter himself have such an experience? Was he not blind for his own weakness in the night that the Lord Jesus was delivered? Was he not shortsighted when he thought of having to defend the Lord? Was he not in the company of the world when he was standing with the foes of his Lord to warm his hands at the same fire? Had he not forgotten his former sins when he betrayed his Lord?

What happened to Peter can also happen to you and me. Fortunately, as far as Peter is concerned, it all turned out well and he has been restored. Therefore there is also hope for everyone who has forgotten the purification of his former sins.

V10. In order to be kept from such a situation, Peter appeals again to be diligent. Brothers and sisters have a collective origin. They are called and chosen by God. This awareness is a positive exhortation to be diligent. If you know for sure that you are called and chosen, it will stir you up to be diligent in making certain about God’s “calling and choosing you”. The point is that you for yourself unshakably hold on to what has been unshakably fixed with God. God has called you in the time. There is no doubt that God has called you. That He would call you was already fixed in eternity, for He has chosen you before the time. God’s call and God’s choice are unshakably fixed.

From God’s side everything is fixed, but you must show your position in practice. As far as your responsibility goes, you must realize your position, hold on to it and live up to it. God wants to see people who acknowledge His rights in their lives. Here on earth, where the Lord was rejected, God longs to see people who remind Him of the Lord Jesus. Such a life also prevents you from stumbling. You do not have to be afraid of false teachers who could draw you away from the path of faith, the path that leads to the eternal kingdom.

V11. If you make spiritual progress, it does not only give security, but it goes together with a promise. That promise is “the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”. Each believer will enter that kingdom, but not each believer will do that in the same way. Peter speaks about an entrance that “will be abundantly supplied to” those who make their call and being chosen certain. The “eternal kingdom” is the kingdom of God in its eternal form. The Lord Jesus will reign a thousand years over the kingdom of God, but also thereafter that kingdom will not cease to be God’s kingdom. As a matter of fact, it will change in form when eternity begins, whereby there will be a new heaven and a new earth (2Pet 3:13).

The reign of the Lord Jesus is an everlasting reign (cf. Rev 22:5). Terrestrial kingdoms come and go. That is not the case with the kingdom of “our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”. The moment it begins it remains forever (cf. Dan 2:44; 7:14; Lk 1:32-33). When He has established His kingdom He will reign over it with all His own who have accepted Him in the time of His rejection. He will give each of His own a task in His kingdom, according to the faithfulness with which they have served Him in the time of His rejection.

He will abundantly supply entrance to all who have made efforts to get to know Him better (verses 5-8) and who have diligently made their call and being chosen certain (verse 10). In that way He will especially honor those people in contrast to those who have lived after their own insights, though they were saved, yet as through fire (1Cor 3:14-15). I hope that you will make your best efforts to gain that abundant entrance.

V12. Peter’s point is not to proclaim new things. God did not include his letter in His Word to reveal to you something you did not already know. The importance of this letter and of other subjects that are dealt with more than once in God’s Word, is that you do not forget them. Repetition is often also meant as a confirmation, to be a safeguard (Phil 3:1). To assume something to be familiar, is not a reason not to talk about it. It is important to keep the truth in remembrance (2Tim 2:14; Tit 3:1; Jude 1:17).

The value of repetition is often underestimated. There are, I believe, not many people who, by reading or hearing something once, never forget it. Of course there are some particular things you read or hear, that are unforgettably engraved in your memory, but those are exceptions. You need repetition to remember and work out everything that God’s Word is telling you. Therefore you have to read it continually. People who say that they have read through the whole Bible once and therefore know what it says, have no relationship with God and no self-knowledge.

By faith in the Lord Jesus you know “the truth which is present with [you]” (cf. 1Jn 2:20-21). ‘The truth … present’ means ‘the truth that is spoken of’. You have been confirmed in the truth that Peter is speaking about here, by the teachings that you have already received on that from him.

V13. Peter doesn’t think that his work is finished yet. He has concluded that it is necessary to go on to remind about that as long as he lives. With “this [earthly] dwelling” or “tent” he means his body, with which he serves the Lord on earth. At the same time ‘tent’ indicates that it is a temporary dwelling place (cf. 2Cor 5:1-8). He faithfully has achieved the task the Lord has given him, until the end of his life. ‘Retirement’ and taking it easy are out of the question with him. He wants to continuously exhort his brothers and sisters, the lambs and sheep that were entrusted to him by the Lord, for living a life in which God is glorified.

V14. He knows that he has not got much time to live anymore. He knows this because “our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear” to him. By that Peter refers to what the Lord said in John 21 (Jn 21:18-19). It is not that certain whether he has been given another special revelation about his end of life besides that. In any case, the Lord told him that he would be imprisoned and die a painful, violent death.

V15. Instead of worrying about that, he is making his best efforts to leave a permanent remembrance with his beloved brothers and sisters, regarding everything that he had shared with them. That’s the reason why he writes this letter. He knows that the truth will survive the death of the servant. Therefore, in view of his death, he reminds them of the truth of the coming glory of Christ and the faith life of the Christian who is looking forward to that. He does that diligently, in spite of his already advanced age.

His efforts to share these things with them and to permanently draw their attention for it, is a proof that there is no apostolic succession. Everything that God had thought of to be significant for all His own through the ages, He has written down in His Word. There these things are written down in indelible script. This is why you can still read, so many ages after Peter’s death, his encouraging words. Do your profit with it!

Now read 2 Peter 1:8-15 again.

Reflection: Why is Peter so anxious to remind you of what you know?

2Pet 1:16-21 | The Prophetic Word

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”— 18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 [So] we have the prophetic word [made] more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is [a matter] of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

V16. Peter leaves no doubt that the coming of Christ in majesty is a reality. Any doubt that might arise about this, he radically represses. That doubt could be spread if his readers would listen to the false teachers who claim that that coming is a devised tale. There are also today many Christians, also leading scholars, who declare such a coming of the kingdom to a fairy tale. Let yourself not be fooled, in one way or the other, by such people who are inspired by the devil. Listen to Peter. Then you listen to a man who is completely rightly minded and who is able to tell you about what he himself has experienced.

He is not a follower of a fata morgana, an illusion. What he has told them about “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”, is not a story that he had made up, but he was one of its “eyewitnesses”. He is not an eloquent fantasist, but a sober realist. He and the other apostles – he also speaks on their behalf, that can be derived from the word “we” – were one in their testimony. It is not just the testimony of one single witness, but of several apostles. What they have made known is based on their own observation.

They have seen the Lord Jesus in radiant glory and majesty. That happened, as he says in verse 18, “on the holy mountain”, that is the mountain of transfiguration. There he and James and John were given, as it were, a foretaste of the appearance of Christ in glory and of the power that goes together with it. That glory and power will characterize “our Lord Jesus Christ” during the millennial kingdom of peace, when He will be reigning on earth.

V17-18. After referring to the visible testimony, the testimony that he has seen with his own eyes, Peter then speaks about the audible testimony. He and the two brothers have heard what God the Father testified of His Son. Peter still remembers exactly what God the Father said. In what He said, the Father gave honor and glory to the Son. Peter must certainly have remembered how he proposed to build three tents, one for the Lord Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah, and how as a response to that, the Father directed all attention to His Son.

No one can stand in His shadow. He alone is worthy of receiving all honor and glory. The Father did that to prevent any misunderstanding that His Son would be put on a par with even the greatest men from His people (Mt 17:4-5). Out of His wonderful dwelling place the Father spoke out His undivided pleasure in His Son. He has given honor and glory to Christ (Heb 2:9).

In the voice that they heard, the pleasure of God in His Son was echoing. That voice came from “the Majestic Glory”, that is the cloud as the symbol of the dwelling place of God. This cloud was above the tabernacle as the visible sign of God’s presence among His people. That cloud overshadowed the three disciples. Out of the cloud “such a voice” came. The pleasure that came from “the Majestic Glory” in that voice to the Lord Jesus, was the expression of that glory. He was the Object to Whom the Father had given honor and glory.

The whole scene there on that holy mountain was shining of glory. And Peter and John and James were also there. That scene made a permanent impression. They had believed that Christ was the fulfillment of the prophecies.

V19. Through what they had seen and heard on that holy mountain, they had “the prophetic word [made] more sure”. Peter expresses himself in the most forceful words to take away every doubt concerning the coming of the kingdom. Then he emphasizes the prophetic word. You “do well to pay attention” to it. You pay attention to it if you consider it, if it determines the direction of your life. The prophetic word is “as a lamp” (Psa 119:105). In its light you are able to see how everything develops in the direction of the fulfillment.

You need that lamp, because the world is “a dark place”. The world is saying that it is enlightened, but without Christ it is really only darkness (Jn 1:5). The translated word ‘dark’ means ‘filthy’, ‘dirty’. The world with all its splendor and magnificence is according to God a filthy place and that’s how it is also to the Christian who is taught by God. The only light that shines through this filthiness, is the light of the prophecy.

The people of the world imagine that they are able to transform the world into a kingdom of peace. It is an illusion that they can cherish till the Lord Jesus comes and will judge all unrighteousness. The prophecy foretells His coming in many ways and with His coming the end of the day of man.

If you really pay attention to the prophecy you will surely want to study the prophecies diligently. That will prevent you from the foolishness to cooperate with the world in its search for a world peace. You will separate yourself from the world and point out to the people in the world the coming of the Judge, so that they may convert from their sins to escape from the judgment. You know that His coming is near, that He will come as “the sun of righteousness” (Mal 4:2). After exerting the judgment He will establish His kingdom of peace, the eternal kingdom. Then the day of Christ will come, the day of His glory and then the lamp will not be needed anymore. Then the prophetic word will be fully fulfilled.

Peter, however, does not speak about the sun, but about the “morning star”. Before the dawning of the day, the morning star arises. With the morning star the Lord Jesus is meant (cf. Rev 2:28; 22:16) as the One Who brings light. The morning star appears when it is still dark, but at the moment that the day is dawning. The appearance of the morning star announces the rising of the sun.

Therefore Peter says that the morning arises in your heart, which means that, while there is darkness around you, your heart is focused on the nearby coming of the Lord Jesus. In that way you live as if the kingdom has already come and you now already consider the rights of the Lord Jesus, like it will soon happen over the whole earth. You are, to say it with another word of the Scripture, ‘a son of the day’ (1Thes 5:5), that is someone who now already has that day in his heart.

V20. For a sound study of the prophecy, Peter gives some more significant instructions at the end of this chapter. In the first place, “know this first of all”, you should not see a prophecy separately, but you should see it in relation with other prophecies. In this way Peter passes on the significant rule that you should always compare Scripture with Scripture. If you don’t do that you will manipulate the prophetic word and interpret it as it best suits you. But the fulfillment of the prophecies happens in the way it is written in the Word and not according to your own ideas. The key for the right understanding of the prophecies is Christ, His suffering and the glory thereafter. The testimony of Jesus is after all the spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10b).

V21. It is of great importance to bear in mind that prophets have not spoken from their own will, but from God. The origin of God’s Word in its whole, amongst them the prophecies, is not in the will of man. It is to be compared with the new birth that also comes from God alone, without any contribution of man (Jn 1:13).

God the Holy Spirit has used men to have His Word to be written. Those men were ‘holy’ men, because God had set them apart for this service. They indeed wrote on their own initiative, but at the same time they were “moved” or ‘led’, ‘carried’ by the Holy Spirit (2Tim 3:16). In that way they did not write down their own thoughts, but what God wanted them to write. Not the authors were inspired, but what they wrote was inspired. Here you see what inspiration is: the efficacy of the Holy Spirit in the Bible authors at the moment of their writing.

To sum up, you learn from what Peter says here that there are three elements in the inspiration:
1. The Divine authorship of the Bible. God has ‘breathed out’ His Word; it comes from Him, it is not a writing about God, but from God.
2. The human instrument. The writers were ‘holy’ men, which means set apart to write down what was ‘breathed in’ by Him, according to His will – which did not happen at the expense of their own style, for they were not just ‘type writers’.
3. The written result. The product of the ‘breathing’ of God and of ‘moved’ by the Spirit of the authors is the Word of God as you now may have in your hands.

Now read 2 Peter 1:16-21 again.

Reflection: What is the importance of the prophetic word for you?

2 Peter 2

2Pet 2:1-6 | Examples of God’s Judgment

1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in [their] greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and [if] He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing [them] to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly [lives] thereafter;

V1. In contrast to those who were moved by God (2Pet 1:21), the true prophets, Peter now refers to the prophets who are moved by the devil, the “false teachers”. Everything that comes from God, which is therefore good, is copied by the devil. The false prophets are the weed that looks very much like wheat (Mt 13:24-25). They are among the people of God, among whom Peter has his ministry. He warns the believers of them. False prophets and false teachers are not a new phenomenon. They were also there among God’s people in former times (Jer 23:11-21). They proceed their work in the false teachers, who in the meantime have populated professing Christianity.

There are not few people today who pretend to be prophets while pretending to be teachers. False teachers have been able to enter the Christian company because God’s Word is hardly read, if at all. That is because many Christians have no life of God and those who have, find it hard to read God’s Word. That especially applies to the prophetic word. That’s the reason why they do not pay attention well to it (2Pet 1:19).

He who does not know what God’s Word says about the future, is an easy prey to false teachers who surely know how to picture a beautiful future. They let themselves be paid for that too (Mic 3:11). False teachers twist God’s Word and give another meaning to biblical words. They say things that people love to hear (Jer 5:31). Their message is completely in line with people who only live for here and now; they love to hear that (2Tim 4:3-4).

These false teachers seek to “secretly introduce destructive heresies”. Their teachings always cause conflicts and division because they never point to the Lord Jesus, but they always seek their own honor and glory. They look for unstable souls and win these souls for their destructive teachings. In that way they gather people around themselves and separate these people from the fellowship of believers of which they first were a part. Heresy or faction is a work of the flesh and not of the Spirit (Gal 5:20). In it is the germ of destruction.

False teachers do not operate openly, but secretly. That proves that they are doing works that belong to the darkness. Such works cannot stand the light. Therefore, be alert as soon as you notice that a person is secretly trying to win your support for his ideas, for instance about forming a church. Test what you encounter against God’s Word.

Ask yourself whether the proposal is doing justice to the authority of the Lord Jesus. Another character of a false teacher is namely that he denies the Master by Whom he is bought. He first pretends to be doing what the Master says, but soon it will become apparent that he does not consider Him at all.

That he has been bought by the Master does not mean that he is a believer. He has indeed been bought, but not redeemed. The Lord Jesus is the Owner of the universe and everything in it, including the people. Through His work on the cross He has bought the world. He bought the world to possess the treasure that was hidden there (Mt 13:38,44). In the same way He has control over all flesh, that is all people. He uses that power to give eternal life to those who were given to Him by the Father (Jn 17:2).

The authority of the Lord Jesus is unlimited, but these corrupted people do not consider that. Their corrupt actions will quickly and unexpectedly bring an appropriate judgment of destruction over them. It is a destruction which they have prepared for themselves (Rom 9:22). They draw the judgment toward themselves. He Who will judge them is the One of Whom they now deny the rights He has over them.

V2. They are dragging “many” in their slipstream on the way to destruction. Their lawless view of life and their way of living is attractive for the mass of people. If you follow them, you do not need to take anything into account. You can follow your lusts without restraint. The example of the false teachers shows it. This is the way they love to hear and experience the truth. Away with that narrow-minded thinking of petty Christians who take the Bible as an enslaving principle for their lives. They too can read themselves and they cannot read anywhere that God forbids you to go wild as you like it. Love is after all from God and can be enjoyed limitlessly. Limitations are invented by man. And a human being is a free creature.

The fact that by this way of thinking and acting “the way of the truth will be maligned” (cf. Rom 2:24), does not arise with them or they refuse to have anything to do with it. With ‘the way of the truth’ the whole Christian truth is meant, both in teaching and in life. Unbelievers dislike and scoff at God’s truth because Christians who talk about standards and values trample God’s truth.

V3. Their lawless life comes from their “greed”. Not only their deeds are corrupt, but also inwardly they are full of corruptness. They seek to rob money from their followers. Through their wonderful speeches and argumentations that they completely invented themselves, they make their victims. These naive people are systematically robbed from their identity and property.

For false teachers, there is no humanity. They are predators who see humans only as merchandise to earn money. In Babylon the Great (Rev 17:5), which stands for the roman-catholic church in the end time, the predator has come to maturity (Rev 18:12-13). The judgment has already been established a long time ago and will definitely happen. There is no slumber, no dozing off, as if it will be all right and perhaps pass.

V4. That God will absolutely judge corruption, is illustrated by Peter with three examples from the past. The first example is with regard to the angels who have sinned. By comparing Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7 with Gen 6:2, the sin of the angels is the sin that is described in Jude 1:6. These angels took human form and had sexual intercourse with women. In that way they abandoned the place that was given to them by God. This is a terrible disobedience that God must punish. Therefore He did not spare them.

He who falls away from God, deliberately and purposefully proves to go against Him and to defy Him in His Being. He was indebted to His righteousness to commit these angels “to pits of darkness”, away from the earth and away from heaven. They had chosen for the darkness and that they received as a prison. They are in assured custody in the vestibule of hell until this day, awaiting final judgment. This will be executed at the end of the millennial kingdom of peace when all evil will be forever locked up in hell, the lake of fire.

V5. The second example is the flood that came upon the “ancient world”. God could neither spare the ancient world. The cause is the persistence of man in his wickedness. Man continuously invents evil, until the whole earth has been completely filled by it (Gen 6:5-12). God has been patient for a long time, no less than one hundred and twenty years (Gen 6:3). In those days God warned men in His mercy.

Through Noah He revealed His righteousness to men that He has to judge sin. At the same time he gave the way for salvation in the ark that Noah was to build. Each blow of the hammer was a warning for a coming judgment. Unfortunately, the preaching of Noah remained without result, but without this changing the content of his message. The proof, the flood, came. Noah, together with his household that also entered the ark (Heb 11:7), was the only one who was protected against this disaster that destroyed everything.

V6. The third example is the judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities were full of the most horrible sins. The life of the people in these cities consisted of satisfying all of their physical needs and lusts, from eating and drinking till a general experiencing of homosexual intercourse (Lk 17:28-29; Gen 19:4-5). This deeply depraved way of living calls God’s judgment upon itself. God’s action in judgment is most emphatically mentioned in the judgment on these cities (Gen 18:20-21; 19:24).

Also the radicalism of the judgment is impressive. Peter speaks about a point of “reducing [them] to ashes”. It is in no way possible to make something from ashes. God also overthrew [Darby Translation] these cities. These cities had overthrown God’s order of creation by their homosexual conduct and they therefore received an appropriate punishment.

There is another aspect attached to this judgment and that is that it serves as a deterrent example for each who would consider to live such an ungodly life. You sin against your own life if you follow the life of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in their sinful practice of life.

The city of Amsterdam breathes the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole Dutch society is heading fast in that direction because it is infused by that spirit. Let yourself be warned by this example and remain faithful to God and His Word.

Now read 2 Peter 2:1-6 again.

Reflection: What is it that Peter is warning about?

2Pet 2:7-16 | The Way of Balaam

7 and [if] He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard [that] righteous man, while living among them, felt [his] righteous soul tormented day after day by [their] lawless deeds), 9 [then] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in [its] corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, 13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; 15 forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the [son] of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, [for] a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.

V7. The same God Who brings judgment on the ungodly, is the God who delivers the righteous. If you know the history of Lot as it is described in Genesis, then you must be rubbing your eyes to make sure that you’re not mistaken about what is said of Lot here, that he was “righteous”. It is even said three times.

He was everything but a Noah, who preached righteousness. The righteousness of Lot had not become visible, it was not reflected, neither in his words and nor in his deeds. Still he was a righteous man, inwardly. Therefore we had to be informed by the Scripture itself, for else we would have never known. Of course it does not do credit to Lot. It also will do you no credit if no one knows that you are a believer or if other believers have to put a question mark on your faith because they do not see anything of it.

V8. That Lot indeed was a believer, appears from the fact that he was truly suffering by what he saw around him. He saw immoral people living in lawlessness. He dwelled in their midst and came into contact with them day by day. He heard their dirty talking, he saw their filthy behavior and that all cut through his soul. He was filled with disgust by what he saw and heard. In that respect he is an example for Christians who are saying that it doesn’t affect them when they for instance watch sexually oriented scenes in a movie. Does it also cut through your soul when you see the immoral signs on the billboards along the road or when you hear filthy speech around you?

V9. The examples that Peter has mentioned make clear that the Lord knows how to distinguish between “the godly” and “the unrighteous”. That appears from His dealings with them. His dealings with Godly people appears from their deliverance. His dealings with unrighteous people appears from the judgment that He brings on them.

He knows the temptations that people are facing, who have respect for Him. These temptations are tests of faith: outer circumstances in which believers may find themselves, through which their faith is tested. The Lord knows how to deliver His own from it. He is able to change the circumstances or to help them through these circumstances, or even, like the case of Lot, to take away the believer out of those circumstances.

The unrighteous are reserved for judgment. None of the unrighteous will escape judgment. No one can run away from God. For those who do not want to bow before God, black darkness has been reserved (verse 17). This forms a great contrast with the believers who are reserved for the inheritance, while the inheritance is reserved for them (1Pet 1:4-5).

V10. After the examples that have demonstrated the inescapability of God’s judgment, Peter continues to expose the false teachers. Among them there is a category that operates more depraved than the false teachers already do in general. It is a category of men who surrender themselves to the filthy lusts of their flesh and who, in limitless arrogance, treat all authority given by God with contempt. Those people especially will be struck by God’s judgment.

Today it is about ‘Christian’ teachers who, in order to satisfy their own dirty lusts, teach that you are allowed to have sex with whoever you want. In order to succeed they know how to manipulate the truth of God’s Word in such a way that they convince others of their freedom and that they can live out their lusts in that way.

They have the audacity to defy any authority that makes them feel constrained. They are that arrogant and proud that they feel no hindrances to blaspheme and reject God’s authority. Blaspheming is falsely accusing and deliberately evil speaking of something or someone, in order to make the other despicable. An example of that you find in the feminist theology that rejects and disempowers God’s order of creation and refuses to speak about God as Father.

V11. In their recklessness and arrogance these kind of people go that far, that they exalt themselves above the mightiest angels. Angels who in power and holiness go far beyond these void and through and through depraved people (Psa 103:20; 2Kgs 19:35), do not dare what these people dare to (Jude 1:9; Zec 3:2). Their big words and blasphemy are proven to be completely reprehensible by the conduct of these powers who are many times greater.

V12. The people who are guilty of that, are unbelievers who arrogantly call themselves Christians. They behave “like unreasoning animals” and therefore they are classified in line with them. Balaam is even classified below the animals, for he is lectured by an animal (verse 16).

As less able as natural unreasoning animals, false teachers are able to ponder on these things with insight. They simply do not understand what they are talking about, even though they use such learned words. Just as unreasoning animals are born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, false teachers are caught and destroyed. They are acting after their evil nature and receive the result of their actions.

They are not created for destruction as if they were destined to, but they will be destroyed in their own destruction. They bring themselves under destruction. In that way a person, who practices a sexually free way of living, may be infected by AIDS and in this way receive the wages that goes hand in hand with his life in unrighteousness.

V13. They exercise their activities for wages and this is the way that God will repay them. By that I do not mean that all people who for instance have AIDS, have received this disease as wages for their life in unrighteousness. A person can also contract this disease by an inaccurate action of others. I heard about someone who was infected by a transfusion of contaminated blood. A person can also contract a disease while nursing someone with an infectious disease.

“A pleasure to revel in the daytime”, when normal people are working, is the highlight of pleasure for them. Instead of being generous they are greedy and gluttonous. And consider thereby that Peter does not talk about their behavior in the world, but in the midst of the Christian company. They carouse “with you”. They succeeded in taking their place in the midst of Christians to mingle with them. There they take part in eating and drinking in a way that reveals where their life consists of.

Exactly because of this kind of people, separation is needed. If we allow them to act their way freely, they will ‘blemish and spot’ the Christian community. “Blemishes and spots” are no adornment, but taint what is beautiful and clean. That’s why they must be removed as soon they become visible.

V14. While they are feasting, their eyes go restlessly to and fro to lustfully look at beautiful women as much as they can (cf. Job 31:1). In their mind they commit adultery (Mt 5:28). They have no restraints on their consumption and no restraints on their sexual lusts. People who cannot control themselves when it comes to eating and drinking often also not able to control themselves in other areas either. They are constantly sinning, without any moment of pausing.

They seek how they can entice “unstable souls”, people who are not firmly rooted in the Scripture (cf. Col 2:7), to profit from them. This behavior comes forth from “a heart trained in greed”. They have developed a sense by which they know exactly who to make prey to their greedy desires.

Peter succinctly calls them “accursed children”, or better, children of curse. They come from a curse and are a curse for all who come into contact with them. Their end is in accordance to that, for the Lord Jesus will send them to the eternal fire as accursed ones (Mt 25:41).

V15. False teachers have known the right way (cf. 1Sam 12:20-24; Hos 14:9), that is the way of obedience to God and His Word, but have abandoned it. Then they also distort the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10). After the error of Balaam (Jude 1:11) and the doctrine of Balaam (Rev 2:14) they will end up on the way of Balaam and will follow his way.

By speaking about “the way of Balaam” Peter sets Balaam as the example of going a way that makes religion a merchandise. You find his history in Numbers 22-24. There it appears that he presented himself as a prophet of God, while he was planning to curse God’s people because he was offered a lot of money to do so. That is considered by God as ”wages of unrighteousness”. It is wages that is earned by doing evil works.

V16. In a special way God hindered the foolishness of the prophet to curse His people. He gave the “mute donkey” that Balaam rode on, the ability to speak “with a voice of a man”. The donkey rebuked Balaam for his own transgression. He struck the donkey three times, while the donkey only carried him and protected him against calamity (Num 22:22-33). He proved by that that he was blind to the warnings and persistently continued his own way. By letting the donkey speak to him, God made clear how foolish the prophet was. Subsequently, God allowed Balaam to continue his way, while He forced him to bless His people.

Also today God has His methods to speak to false teachers and He often does that in a way that makes stubborn, money-hungry false teachers despicable. It would be a good thing if they want to listen for their own well-being, otherwise they will partake of the fate of Balaam (Num 31:8).

Now read 2 Peter 2:7-16 again.

Reflection: Which characteristics of false teachers are given in these verses?

2Pet 2:17-22 | To Turn From the Known Way

17 These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. 18 For speaking out arrogant [words] of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, 19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, [returns] to wallowing in the mire.”

V17. False teachers are like “springs without water”. They promise refreshment to people who need it, but instead they give bitterness. It is no living water that comes from the spring that they pretend to be, but death. That is in direct contrast to the well of living water which is the Lord Jesus. He gives water that in each that receives it, becomes a well of water with which they can refresh others (Jn 4:14; 7:38-39). From that well false teachers have never drunk, for they refuse to believe in Him Who is the well. They can be compared with broken cisterns that can hold no water (Jer 2:13).

These people are also to be compared with ”mists driven by a storm”. When someone is shrouded in clouds he does not know where he is and he also is in no way able to show someone else the way. Clouds can in no way offer any guidance and orientation. Their use of language is foggy, their statements are floaty, the tone is soothing. They appeal only to the emotion.

They are mercilessly and restlessly being driven by elusive forces (cf. Jam 3:4). You can be kept from being tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine if you heed the teaching of the gifts that are given by the Lord to His church (Eph 4:14-15).

The clouds in which the false teachers are shrouded and in which they shroud others who listen to their doctrines, will transfer in complete “black darkness”. They have shrouded themselves and others in the clouds, the black darkness is reserved for them by God. That is where they will end up too, because God will bring them there.

It is the place where all light is absent. “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1Jn 1:5). In the black darkness even the smallest trace of God’s presence is missing. There is nothing worse for a person than when God has abandoned him and has totally delivered him to what he has chosen.

V18. False teachers talk a lot but their talk means nothing. It is a load of hot air: arrogant, hollow and without content. Countless people let themselves be fooled by them and trust and build on those empty words. Their speech is full of words that activate the “fleshly desires”. Their false doctrine intrigues people because it gives them the nice feeling that they can satisfy their sexual lusts in a lawless way and that they can also limitlessly surrender themselves to all kinds of evil.

Their words gain entrance in those who are still seeking the true meaning of life, because they did not find it in the company of wanderers to which they first belonged. In their search they also listen to these false teachers. Because they themselves have no handhold at all on the truth of God’s Word and are also naïve in their personal examination of it, they are caught by the greedy hands of these wicked people.

V19. The bait that the false teachers hold out to unstable souls, is the promise of “freedom”. Freedom in every view is the highest goal to independent man. People also think that in the church of God there should be freedom. We should not be slaves of traditions. You must be able to give substance to life with God in your own way. It is no one’s business in what way you do that. You do not acknowledge authority, you determine for yourself whatever you want. That message is swallowed like sweet cake. There is no requirement to take responsibility. It is all about pleasure, about my pleasure, of course.

But people who are preaching this are “slaves of corruption” themselves (Jn 8:34; Rom 6:16). They are “overcome” by the devil and “enslaved” by him. They let themselves be used by him, but they are blind to the fact that they are nothing more than his accomplices. In their loud proclamation of freedom, they do not realize that as slaves of the devil they are his mouthpiece.

However, you enslaved by God (Rom 6:12-14) because God has overcome you by His love. That has brought you into true freedom. True freedom means that you are under the obedience of God with thereby the new nature that wants nothing more than being obedient to Him. As long as a person is not under the control of the Lord Jesus, he is not free, for the Lord Jesus alone can indeed make free (Jn 8:36).

V20. It is about those who first have been going the way of the Christian, but became apostate. They first confessed to be Christians, but they turned back to the outward uncleanness of the world, “the defilements of the world”, from which they, by becoming a Christian, escaped (2Pet 1:4). It is evident that with the people at issue here, everything has been only outward appearance. Their knowledge turns out to be nothing but an external, intellectual, knowledge only.

People may come to the conclusion, that of all the world religions, Christendom has the best credentials. It is a religion of tolerance and loving care and freedom. That may be appealing and win a person to be a supporter of it. There is nothing of conviction of sin and repentance of it; there is no mention of any necessity of conversion to God and of salvation by the blood of Christ at all. Inwardly nothing has changed.

What has attracted them in Christendom, is experienced only in a selfish sense: others must tolerate me, others must make sure that I lack of nothing, I am free to do what I like to do. They confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, but not in the way the Bible instructs us. Their confession that He is Lord, is just a lip confession (Mt 7:21-23; Lk 6:46). Their confession that He is Savior, is nothing more than the confession that He is a ‘Whole-Maker’ – that meaning also is in the word ‘Savior’ – of situations they do not know how to deal with.

As soon as such people come into contact with false teachers, they seem to be highly susceptible to the nonsense that these people rave about. The false idea that they have of the Lord Jesus, is a perfectly prepared basis for receiving more corrupt ideas about Him. Once they are dragged along on the trail of the false teachers, they are irresistibly drawn to “the defilements of the world” in which they were previously imprisoned and become “entangled” in them again. Once they got entangled they cannot resist anymore and are “overcome” by it. The world completely has caught hold of them again. Their situation then becomes worse than when they converted outwardly (cf. Mt 12:45).

V21. The greater the privileges a man has, the greater his responsibility is to live up to them. Therefore a person who has known the will of God and didn’t do it will receive many lashes (Lk 12:47-48). It just seems like it is only dangerous to know much of God’s Word and that it is safer to pretend that you know nothing of it. Such a perception, however, does not testify any love for the Lord Jesus and the Word of God.

Peter is saying this with a view to those who complacently present themselves as Christians who know everything and where everyone can get satisfaction concerning the teaching about the truth. Of course you have to pay for it. Such people are more responsible than people who were not raised with the Bible. They have no regard for “the holy commandment” of the Lord, that is the word of the Lord to be holy (1Pet 1:16). They were just outwardly holy, without possessing the holy nature as a result of conversion and faith.

V22. He who has been familiar with the meaning of Christendom and has even joined that company for a while, but yet again chooses the defilements of the world, is like a dog and a sow. Peter uses a proverb or a metaphor with two pictures that are both a truthful expression of what happens if a person has confessed the Christian faith and then returns to the world.

The first picture is that of a dog. A dog is an unclean animal that, without any emotion, gluttonously and shamelessly fills its stomach with whatever it finds or gets to eat (Isa 56:11). A dog knows no measure. When it has eaten too much, it vomits it out. When it gets hungry again, it eats its own vomit. This picture is applied to people who first said goodbye to the world and, by the influence of false teachers, return there. They did not find inward satisfaction in the world and abandoned it. Now they still go back to it. This proves that they inwardly have not really changed. The dog remained a dog.

They not only inwardly returned to the world, the vomit. It is also to be seen in their life. Outwardly they are like the sow that returns to wallowing in the mire. You may wash a sow and make him smell nice, but as soon as it gets the chance to wallow itself in the mire, it will do that. It feels at home in the mire. That is the big difference with a sheep, a picture of the believer. A sheep may fall into the mire, but it doesn’t feel at home there and wants to get out of it again.

Now read 2 Peter 2:17-22 again.

Reflection: What kind of people is this portion dealing with?

2 Peter 3

2Pet 3:1-9 | Scoffers Get an Answer

1 This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior [spoken] by your apostles. 3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with [their] mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For[ever] since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” 5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God [the] heavens existed long ago and [the] earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 8 But do not let this one [fact] escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

V1. After the false and corrupted teachings of wicked people in chapter 2, in this chapter Peter rebukes unbelief that denies the return of the Lord. That denial is based on the opinion that in the visible creation everything remains as it was as from the beginning. In saying this he addresses the true believers and clarifies to them what the meaning of true prophecy is. It is necessary to emphasize that because unbelief manifests itself all the more strongly and scoffs the faith. Therefore he points out again the importance of the written Word (2Pet 1:20).

He wrote both of his letters to remind you that a “sincere mind” is the necessary condition to understand God’s Word and to apply that to your life. A sincere mind appears from the attitude which you adopt toward the Scripture. Do you unconditionally agree to it when the Scripture speaks, or do you have objections to it? Without a full subjection of yourself to the Scripture you will not learn to know the truth and you will drown in speculations of people who think to know better than God.

V2. You are to test everything that comes to you by the Scripture. That’s what Peter is referring you to. That alone will give your heart steadfastness. He does not refer to new apostles or elders. Still less he refers to the church as if the church would be able to teach anything and exert authority. He refers to the Word of God that comes to you in the writings both of the Old Testament and of the New Testament. For the content of the Old Testament he reminds us of “the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets”. For the content of the New Testament he reminds us of “the commandment of the Lord and Savior [spoken] by your apostles”.

The holy prophets of former times have spoken on behalf of God to get the people back to the obedience of the law and to warn them for God’s punishment if they persevere in their disobedience. Their message fully opposes that of the false teachers of the previous chapter. The commandment, which comes from the Lord and Savior, expresses the will of the Lord that comes to you by the apostles (cf. Mt 28:19c). All of that you find in the written Word of God. The big question is: how do you stand toward the authority of the inspired Word. The answer to that question determines whether you are able to resist the opponents of truth or be overcome by them.

V3. It seems that Peter, when he comes back to the theme of true prophecy, is immediately aware of the great resistance of the enemies of God and His Christ. The proclamation of the truth and holding on to God’s Word always stir up resistance. Opponents do not reveal themselves as long as the lie is preached. But as soon as the light of the truth comes shining through, they will appear and let themselves be heard. And mind you that these are no incidents. With the words “knowing this first” Peter emphasizes that you need to seriously consider that such people will manifest themselves more and more “in the last days”.

It must be an extra proof to you that the end of all things is near (1Pet 4:7). As soon as you speak about the coming of Christ to execute judgment, they point their finger at their forehead and declare you crazy. They will not listen to you and will ridicule you with their mockery. They express themselves like that because they follow after their own lusts. They want to live on like that. The thought of a coming Christ as a ‘joy killer’ does not fit in there.

V4. To support the validity of their assertion, they point to what they see as the always unchanging course of events “since the fathers fell asleep”. By speaking about ‘the fathers’ you see that you have to do with people who consider themselves as God’s people. Applied to our times, it is about people who find themselves in professing Christianity. It is precisely the Christian theologians who mock with what faith embraces. They know the statements concerning the coming of the Lord, but they ridicule it. They ask where is  His coming, which after all is announced so long ago.

However, it is not an honest, but a mocking question. They do not believe in it because they are modernists. It does not fit to their perception of the laws of nature. Scientifically, it is absolutely not possible that a dead person becomes alive, goes to heaven and then comes back. They indeed speak about “the beginning of creation”, but it is still the question if they also mean to say that God has created the earth in six days. By that they can just as much mean that God has let the universe exist through evolution. The foolishness of men who refuse to bow their knees to God’s Word, knows no limits.

V5. Peter exposes the hidden cause of this ignorance. There is malevolence involved in this. These people are not willing to be familiar with God’s actions. It is a guilty, deliberate ignorance. They are, as it were, seeking a visible proof with their eyes closed. Foolish as they are, they deliberately distort the truth of how creation began. In their foolishness they try to explain the origin of life by the development of things. Ultimately, a little bit of common sense must lead to the conclusion that creation has been created by Someone outside and not by itself. Nevertheless, man seeks an explanation for the existence of the universe with the exclusion of God.

To the faith it is simple. Creation has come into being by an action of God and indeed by His Word (Heb 11:3). He has spoken and it was done, “for He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Psa 33:9a). His Word is His power. By reading Genesis 1 you see that the earth was called by God to appear and then it exists in the midst of the waters.

V6. The same Word of power that created the worlds, called the water to appear to destroy the earth. Those same waters that surrounded the earth, came again over it through the flood. Also then there were mockers. Noah could say all he wanted and warn of the coming flood as an expression of God’s wrath, but also then the people waved away his words. They simply did not believe in the possibility of an intervention of God in judgment and they mocked Noah because of his words. They did that “until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all” (Lk 17:27). That was the end of their laughter. This is also what will happen to those who mockingly respond to the warning that another judgment is coming. Christ will come to judge the world.

V7. Peter even goes further and refers to the definite judgment. He points at the destruction of heaven and earth and the perdition of ungodly men. The former world was flooded by water, the present world will be destroyed by fire. For this definite judgment “the present heavens and the earth … are being reserved”.

The doom of the world is not worked by man, although men and their behavior form the cause. The world is preserved by the same mighty Word of God as by which He has created the worlds. He is reserving everything for the day of judgment. When unrighteousness has reached its peak He will execute judgment. Nothing and no one can prevent that.

V8. The day of the judgment comes after the day of the Lord, i.e. the whole period that includes His appearance for judgment and His government during the millennial kingdom of peace. The time for that has not come yet and sometimes it seems that the mockers are right. Then remember that the aspect of ‘time’ does not mean to God what it means to you and me. God surely takes our perception of time into account. He knows the duration of a day. Therefore, for instance, He cuts short the days of the great tribulation that His own will have to suffer (Mt 24:22). But to God time doesn’t exist. With Him one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. “Do not let this one [fact] escape your notice”, Peter says. If you consider that, it will give you courage to persevere. Look at how God has worked through the ages. He sees the end from the beginning and He works toward it.

V9. The first argument, that it has always been like this and that therefore the promise of His coming cannot be true, has been refuted by referring to the flood. The second argument, that it already had been going on for so long, also has been refuted by referring to the ‘timeless’ God. But that is still one part of the response. The judgment is not only delayed because time does not count for God, but also because He is longsuffering. It is absolutely no “slowness”, as some mockingly claim. Mockers have no idea that God for their sake has not sent the Lord Jesus yet.

People mock the love of God, while precisely that love restrains Him from judging them. Look at yourself. I do not know how old you are and for how long you have known the Lord Jesus. But assuming that you’ve known the Lord Jesus for three years already, just consider carefully where you would have been if the Lord Jesus had come four years ago. Aren’t you overwhelmed by the patience of God? He did not want you to perish, but that you would come to repentance. That same patience is what He is showing again and again toward people who would perish if the Lord would come now.

Now read 2 Peter 3:1-9 again.

Reflection: What all appeals to you in these verses?

2Pet 3:10-18 | Grow in the Grace and Knowledge

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord [as] salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all [his] letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as [they do] also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him [be] the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

V10. When you read here about “the day of the Lord”, it is not meant a period of twenty four hours, but a longer period of time. A little further you read about “the day of God” (verse 12) and in the last verse of this chapter about “the day of eternity”. Needless to say that by that not days are meant as we know them. ‘The day of God’ is the period wherein God is in publicly control and ‘the day of eternity’ is the day without an end. ‘The day of the Lord’ is a period in which the Lord is publicly in control.

At present man is still in control. That’s because satan is still the ruler of the world and has power over man. There will come an end to that period and that end is near. The day of the Lord begins when He appears on the clouds and radically beats down the resistance of man against Him and the henchmen of satan will be thrown in hell (Rev 19:11-21). Then satan will be caught and thrown in the abyss where he will be locked up for a thousand years (Rev 20:1-3). In that time the Lord Jesus will be reigning in righteousness and peace (Rev 20:4-6).

The dawning of the day of the Lord will be completely unexpected and also undesired to the mockers and all godless people, just as it applies to the visit of a thief (Mt 24:43; 1Thes 5:2,4; Rev 3:3; 16:15). That day will end with “intense heat” by which “the elements will be destroyed”. At the end of the millennial kingdom the great white throne, on which the Lord Jesus will be seated, will be established. When that happens, the earth and heaven will flee from Him (Rev 20:11). That will not happen noiseless, but with “a roar”.

All the elements of which heaven and earth are consisted of and secured its existence, including all works that were ever done by people, will melt with intense heat. Everything that man has built for his own glory and comfort, will appear to be fuel for the fire of God’s judgment. Nothing will remain hidden, nothing will remain unfindable for that fire. All wicked works and all wicked things “will be burned up” (cf. Jn 3:19-20). Everything that the flesh has ever put its trust in, will disappear forever.

V11. If you read this and allow the content to penetrate you, it will activate you to a “holy conduct and godliness”, which is a Godly life. What Peter has just described cannot help but arouse a desire to live like that now, that sin in no way has any grip on any part your life. Besides, it is not a request, but you, who confess to be a child of God, ought to.

If everything is to be destroyed – and that’s what will happen! – what are you then living for? A holy conduct is a conduct separate from the world. Godliness means that you are focused on God’s honor in your life. Of course, there are a lot of things in life that are fun to do or to have. The world knows nothing better and cannot do any better than seeking for those things. Your position in this is determined by your view on the future. Is it like Peter presents it here? Is it a reality for you that the day of the Lord is at hand (Jam 5:8-9)? You don’t answer this question with your mouth, but by your way of life.

V12. Your life on earth and the things on earth are temporary. The things on earth will be destroyed, but your life is standing in the perspective of “the coming of the day of God”. On the day of God there will be nothing else to be seen than God and everything that is His (1Cor 15:28). You may expect that day. Your holy conduct and your godly life will stir up resistance and hostility of the world. That can only increase your desire for the day of God. You can reach out for that day, you can expect it.

Peter even speaks about the “hastening the coming” of that day. The exact meaning of that is not quite clear to me, but I have some thoughts about it. It may be that by looking forward intensely to that day, it will come sooner. The more you live in connection with God and doing His will, the sooner time will pass and in that way that day will also come sooner. Another thought is that it may be that by your testimony people will repent, whereby the last one will soon be added to the church. When the church is complete, the Lord Jesus will come and then the fulfillment begins of everything which Peter has talked about.

In itself, the moment of the dawning of the day of God is fixed in God’s plan (Mt 24:36). In His sovereignty, however, God has also given the lives of His own a place in His plans. It is the same as with praying. You may say that praying is useless, for everything happens anyway as God has determined it. Nevertheless, you read several times that God lets Himself be entreated (Gen 25:21; Ezra 8:23). God gives the prayer of His own a place in His plans. By praying you can help in hastening the day of God by your way of life.

God Himself will let that day come by burning the heavens and making the elements be melted. Still, you do not look forward to the final judgment, but to the day of God. It is necessary for the judgment to have taken place, so that the day of God may come.

V13. What you of course are looking forward to and what you are expecting is the fulfillment of the promise that there will be “new heavens and a new earth”. That is the moment that sin will be taken away from the world (Jn 1:29). Everything that reminds of sin will then be removed. There will be absolutely no remembrance of that anymore. Everything will then completely be made new (Rev 21:1-5). Then “righteousness” will “dwell” there. That means that righteousness has come to rest, for there is nothing more left for which justice needs to be maintained.

Also in the millennial kingdom of peace there is a new heaven and a new earth (Isa 65:17-18). The curse will then be removed from creation which came on it through the sin of man (Rom 8:19-22). “The face of the ground” will be renewed (Psa 104:30). There will be peace everywhere, for the King of peace will reign (Isa 9:5-6). Many prophecies speak about it (Isa 11:6-10; 35:1-10). Still it is not the perfect condition. People can still sin, which will then immediately be punished with death (Isa 65:20; Psa 101:8). The Lord Jesus reigns and righteousness rules.

V14. If you look forward in that way to the new, the desire will be there to be diligent to meet the Lord in a condition that is according to His heart. “Spotless” means that nothing of the old life, that is your life in sin, can be found with you anymore. It is about you who do not maintain any old, sinful habits anymore. “Blameless” means that other people cannot blame you for anything anymore. Briefly said it means that the Lord Jesus is seen in your life. He was and is the perfect One without spot and Who is blameless.

Your efforts to meet the Lord like that will give you inner peace. Then He will not find you in a condition where you are quarreling with others. You will, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men (Rom 12:18).

V15. “The patience of our Lord” is not slackness or forgetfulness. He will really return. You do not need think that He will forget you if He delays His coming for a longer time. Consider that His patience is “salvation”. You may keep in mind that as long as He doesn’t come He is seeking the salvation of sinners (1Pet 3:20). When He comes to take you up, then the time of grace will be definitely over.

To underline his teaching, Peter appeals to “our beloved brother Paul”. It is wonderful to see that Peter writes about Paul like that. You may recall that Paul once opposed him to his face (Gal 2:11-14). That did not cause Peter, as it appears here, to have any sense of a grudge or bitter feelings toward Paul. Paul was a wise reprover and Peter had a listening ear (Pro 25:12; 15:31).

Peter reminds his readers that Paul also wrote to them about patience. He probably means the letter to the Hebrews. Also in other letters Paul wrote about it. He did that, Peter says, “according to the wisdom given him”. He fully acknowledges the ministry of Paul as a ministry given to him by the Lord. It is important that you too acknowledge each ministry that the Lord gives to another person and that you also see the wisdom of the Lord in them carrying out that ministry.

V16. Peter also takes note that “all letters” of Paul, “speaking in them of these things”, are a part of the Holy Scripture. With the words “as also the rest of the Scriptures” – which are the Scriptures of the Old Testament – he puts these letters on par with them.

Not everything that Paul has written is easy to understand. Even Peter had some difficulties with some things. But what is hard to understand is therefore not untrue. That must never cause a person to justify his ignorance about the Word of God. Even less should it lead to “distort” it. Nonetheless, it happens by “the untaught and unstable”. An ‘untaught person’ is someone who has not learned because he presumes to know everything better. He who trusts in himself is stupid. He is also ‘unstable’. Such a person has no foothold and wanders through life. He is in fact dangerous, for he is eloquent and pretends to know everything. Such people are trying to get hold of you.

V17. But you are warned. You know everything “beforehand”. “Be on your guard”, watch over yourself and over what you have become and have got in Christ. If you are not steadfast you are in danger to be “carried away”. The “unprincipled men” are erring because they do not take account of God and His Word. Keep them at a distance. Do not consult them with your cares and need. They will only drag you away into their corrupt view on things with the result that you lose “your own steadfastness”. You will then wander together with them and end up in ruin, if you do not return to Him by His grace .

V18. To be kept from that you ought to grow spiritually. ‘To grow’ means to become mature and strong. You must grow “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”. It is about you becoming more and more aware of the “grace” of the Lord Jesus, understanding it better and living in it more and more. Just consider it often that He is your Lord and Savior and how that happened. To succeed in that you should read God’s Word. By reading God’s Word you also learn to know Him better, for also by growing in “knowledge” it’s all about Him, “our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”.

He alone is worthy of all glory, “now”, on earth in your life of suffering, and soon it in “the day of eternity”, that is when the everlasting perfection has come.

Now read 2 Peter 3:10-18 again.

Reflection: What efforts do you make to be found without spot and blameless when the Lord comes?

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