2 Peter
The great apostle Peter
writes from a jail cell in Rome while awaiting his imminent death. The letter
he writes is probably intended for the same group of believing Gentiles in that region of what is now modern Turkey. He wrote his first letter to encourage these believers undergoing persecution. He writes his second letter to counter an equally horrendous persecution, the false
teaching inundating the church with heresy. He attempts to teach Christians
in how to defend themselves against these false teachers and their lies. Other
themes for this letter – Peter wanted to motivate his readers to continue to develop their Christian character
and he explains wonderfully how a believer can have assurance of his salvation.
A recurring theme is the importance of knowledge of true doctrine as the primary solution to false
teaching.
Chapter 1 - Growing In the Knowledge of God
Peter introduces himself
as a slave (a willing bondservant), putting himself on an equal basis with the Christians he is writing to. He also calls himself “an apostle of Jesus Christ, thus giving him the uniqueness of being called
to walk with Christ and to be a witness of His Resurrection. This is crucial
as he establishes his authority to counter the false teaching in the church.
1.
What is the “precious faith we have?” (A)
Precious meaning equal in rank, standing, position, honor. Christians have all
received the same precious, priceless saving faith. The faith he speaks
of is a subjective faith, that is, the Christian’s power to believe for salvation. Faith and belief speak of the human side of the salvation equation – what we must do to be
saved. God initiates faith when the HS wakes up the
dead soul in response to hearing the Word of God (Eph. 2:8).
2.
“As we come to know Jesus our Lord…”- To what degree should we know Jesus? (A) The Greek implies a larger, more thorough, and intimate knowledge, built
on knowing the truth about God. Simply knowing about Jesus is not enough. Many people know about Jesus but are never saved and Christians who know Him superficially
never grow in the faith. We know the truth through devotion to study His
Word, by surrendering completely to Him, making Him Lord of our life, and sharing
a deep, personal life with Christ Jesus.
3.
V.3 – “His divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life.” Obviously, this is not referring to material possessions but to spiritual
blessing. The genuine Christian is eternally secure in his salvation and will
persevere and grow because he has received everything necessary to sustain eternal life through Christ’s
power (not our own!). We don’t need to ask God for
more to lead a godly life; we have every spiritual blessing we will ever need for perfect, godly living (Eph. 1:3).
4.
How do we share His divine nature (v.4)? (A) The idea is
the same as being born again, born from above, being in Christ, or being the home of the Trinity. When we are saved, we become God’s children, and thereby share in God’s nature by the
possession of His eternal life. We do not become little
gods, but have the HS in us.
5.
With everything given to us, why must we “add” (apply the benefits of these promises)
to our faith? And with what effort (vv.5, 10)?
God has given us all of the tools needed for the Christian life. The question
is, what are you going to do with these tools? The Christian is required
to make every effort alongside of what God has done. We
do this as we live a life of personal righteousness.
6.
List the attributes that result from living the Christian life to its fullest. (A) These build, one on top of the other. Vv. 5-8 –
a life of moral excellence (virtue), knowing God better (knowledge), knowing
God better leads to self-control; self-control leads to patient endurance; patient endurance leads to godliness;
godliness leads to love of other Christians; leads to love for everyone.
7.
Why is this moral progress and productive knowledge (v.8) so desirable for believers (vv. 4, 10,11)? It helps us “escape the decadence caused by evil desires in our lives
(v.4).” Working hard to grow in these virtues keep us from stumbling
or falling away (v.10). When our time is done, God will open
the gates of heaven to us to enter the eternal kingdom of our Lord (v.11).
8.
What event of Jesus’ life does Peter recall in vv.16-18? (A) He is talking about the Transfiguration, that marvelous event that was a preview
of His majesty to be evident at the Second Coming. He tells this wonderful story
to rebut the false teachers who accused him of telling lies and making up stories. He
establishes his own authority by seeing Christ’s splendor with His own eyes.
9.
What point is Peter making in vv.20-21? (A) False prophets
either pervert Scripture of make up their own. The Mormons claim
that their earthly prophet’s “revelation” has more weight than the Word of Christ. Peter makes the point that Scripture is not from man- that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the
prophets themselves. The HS moved the prophets to speak from God. He alone is the divine author and originator of all Scripture.
The original copies of Scripture are therefore inspired.
Chapter 2 –The
Danger of False Teachers
1.
Having just praised the true prophets, whom does he now condemn (v.1)?
Why? (A) He condemns false teachers that are among the faithful. Peter says that they will teach destructive heresies about God and even turn against
Him. He says that many will follow their evil teaching and Christ and His true
way will be slandered. Their true motive is love of money
and they exploit people thru their lies.
2.
If it is so plain that judgment awaits these false teachers, why do so many people follow them (vv.2-3,14,18-19)? First we must consider what it is that these false teachers taught. Rather than any one teaching, heresy is in question. What
is heresy? It is any teaching that a man can believe what he whishes to
believe instead of accepting the truth of God that he must believe. How
often have you heard professing Christians say something like, “Well, I just don’t believe that” or “I
think that it says this…” Christianity for them is reduced to a Smorgasbord
of doctrine, picking and choosing that which agrees with their personal opinions rather than God’s infallible
truth. These teachers denied that the Lord bought them (paid the ransom) with
His blood. They rebelled at the thought that, by His purchase, every believer
belonged absolutely to Christ. They refused to belong to anyone. V.14 speaks of the false teachers lusts and their drawing the people into sin by playing
to their lusts (not just sexual, but anything that corrupts and takes over the person’s will). VV.18-19 – Because these teachers are sinners, they lure people back into the very sin they have
walked away from, using the argument that God is a God of grace and His grace was inexhaustible, therefore, they were free
to sin as they liked, for grace would forgive. They made grace a reason to sin.
3.
If these false teachers are so evil, why does God allow them to teach in His church? (A) God has always given man the choice to follow Him in truth or to follow the course of evil. He gives every believer the power of His Spirit to resist and overcome that
evil. He didn’t choose robots to be His children!
4.
Peter gives examples of how God deals with evil in vv. 4-9 and implies
how He will deal with these teachers and how He will deal with the faithful. (A)
He cites the flood of Noah as God dealt with ungodly people as well as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing
them to heaps of ashes. However, through the punishment, we see the survival
and rescue of the righteous; Lot saved from Sodom and the eight of Noah’s family saved from the waters. “The Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while
punishing the wicked right up until the Day of Judgment (v.9).”
5.
How is that a comfort to Peter’s readers and how is it a comfort to us? (A) God never changes –the way he dealt with the godly even before Christ and after His death
and resurrection, will be the way he deals with all believers. He can
only do good and not evil. The false teachers of our day will be judged side by side with those throughout history.
6.
What other images does Peter use to describe the deceitfulness of the false teachers (vv.17-19)? (A) He describes dried up springs of water and clouds that promise rain,
but are blown away by the wind. In the Middle East where water is such a precious
commodity, these images of the promise of life sustaining water that ends up in disappointment would strike home. The false teachers were the same - all show and no substance.
7.
What freedom do they promise (v. 19): Freedom from sin? From
the laws? From judgment? Freedom
from the obligation to do good to others and to Christ? All of the above? How is their interpretation of freedom different from that of true Christians? Of course, the answer is “all of the above.” The 60’s “peace” movement set the course for the depravity that followed. Peace to do what? In reality, they preached a form of anarchy,
everyone doing their own thing and no one accountable to another. Christ said,
“Do on to others...” not do on to yourself. It is not about us and
our individual rights. Jesus certainly taught the opposite. He taught his followers to give unto Caesar what belonged to Caesar, to obey all government and its officials,
to love above all else. V.19 reads, “With lustful desire as their bait,
they lure back into sin, those who have just escaped from such wicked living.”
You don’t coax an alcoholic to just have one little drink. You don’t
take someone who suffers from sexual perversion to x-rated movies or worse, etc. That
is what these evil men did. They burned with lust while preaching a false gospel
of license to sin covered by grace.
8.
Peter gets to the heart of the matter in vv. 20-22. What
do these verses imply about a person’s salvation? Can one lose it? Or were these people never converted? Why
do you think so? (A) Peter is no longer talking about the false teachers, but
to their victims. These are people who had reformed but who had not been born
again. Through a partial knowledge of Christ and of Christian principles,
they had turned from a life of sin and begun a moral makeover. They then came
under the influence of the false teachers and because involved again with the very sins from which they had been temporarily
delivered. Jesus dealt with this very problem with a parable in Matt. 12: 43-45
(p. 805). As in the parable, their house was empty, swept, and put in order,
but they had never invited the Savior to live in it. These people were
never true believers. They demonstrated that by the last state that their nature
was still unclean and evil. The lesson is, that reformation alone is not
only insufficient, but it is dangerous because it can lull a person into false security. One can receive a new nature only by being born again and that through repentance and
faith in our Lord Jesus.
Chapter
3 –The Day of the Lord Is Coming
Peter reminds his readers
that in the last days, (they and we are in the “last days”) , Scoffers would come who laugh at the truth and do
every evil thing they desire. Since Satan has been on this earth, that statement
has been true.
1.
What is the scoffers main argument? (A) V.4 – that
Jesus promised to return, but where is He? They use the argument that
there is no change in the earth’s status; everything is the same as it’s always been. The implication is that it will remain that way, so why bother with Christ.
2.
V.5 gives us a hint of their false nature, “They deliberately forget that God…” The false teachers, in their eagerness to avoid the doctrine of judgment, deliberately
ignore the two major previous divine disastrous events- the creation and the flood. The false teachers taught that everything has always been the same, but in the Creation, God wondrously
created the world in a six day, explosive event. In just six days, the earth
exploded on the scene. Gen.1, “In the beginning God created (without
any pre-existing materials) the heavens and the earth (implying that there were neither – no universe). The earth was without form, and void (meaning not finished in shape and as
yet uninhabited by any creatures); and darkness was on the face of the deep (the earth was covered by water before
land emerged).” “ Then
God said,” and so on until it was good in God’s eyes. “God
used those same waters to destroy the world with a mighty flood.” The waters of judgment destroyed all but eight
people. God has promised that the world would once again be destroyed, not by
water, but by fire and the ungodly would perish.
3.
V. 9 can be confusing if taken out of context. Who are the people referred to in this verse as “for your sake”? (A) The NKJV reads, “The Lord… is long suffering toward us, not will that any
would perish but that all should come to repentance.” Who are
the “us,” “any,” and “all”? (A) “Us”
or “your” is the saved, the people of God. He waits
for them to be saved. God endures all of the stink of this world and its evil,
waiting patiently while He is calling and redeeming His own. The
“any” refers to those whom the Lord has chosen and will call to complete the redeemed,
that is, us. Since this whole passage is about God’s destroying the wicked,
His patience is not so He can save all of them, but so that He can receive His own (He can’t be waiting for everyone
to be saved, since the emphasis is that He will destroy the world and the ungodly).
Those who do die and go to hell, go because they are sinners and worthy only of hell and have rejected the only
way to heaven, Jesus Christ, not because they were created for hell and predetermined to go there. The way to condemnation is the refusal to repent and accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. The “all should come to repentance” must refer to
all who are God’s people who will come to Christ to make up the full number of the people of God. The reason for His delay in coming is that He waits patiently for His chosen to repent and come
to Him.
4.
What exactly is the Day of the Lord (v.10)?
(A) It refers to the future time of judgment when God judges the wicked on earth and ends this world system
in its present form. The OT prophets saw it as a day of darkness and damnation,
a day when the Lord would act to justify His name, destroy His enemies, reveal His glory, establish His
kingdom, and destroy the world. It occurs at time of the Tribulation
on earth (Rev. 6:17), and again 1,000 years later at the end of the millennial kingdom just before the creation of the new
heavens and new earth (Rev. 20:1-21:1).
5.
Read v.11 aloud - What does this verse mean to you. Should it make you sit up and take notice? Are their things
to change in your life, people to forgive, peace to be made, service to offer for His glory, people to evangelize, to love? How are you going to live these “last days”?
6.
What “Day” is he referring to in v.12? (A) He refers to the “Day of God” different from the Day of the Lord. It refers to the eternal state, in preparation of which the heavens and the earth are burned up
and the new creation is made.
7.
Can you feel the joy of the promise made in v. 13” (A) “But we are looking forward to the new heavens and the new earth He has promised, a world
where everyone is right with God.” The world will never experience
sin again. No more sorrow, no more tears, no more anguish and no more death. God through the Lord Jesus makes all things right.
8. So we are admonished to make the most of this time left on earth, with no worry or fear about the Day of the Lord or
judgment. We are called to live a life pure and blameless, at peace
with God.
