8. The Grace of God, Part I (Ephesians 1:5-12; 2:1-10)
Introduction
I have a friend whose experience gives us some insight into the doctrine of the grace of God. He had just returned from Viet Nam where he had served in the Army. Upon his release he had sufficient funds to fulfill a long-time desire to own a new Jaguar. Early one morning he was driving in a remotely populated part of Oklahoma which, he reasoned, was the perfect place to find out how fast the car could go. The speedometer was easing its way past 160 as the powerful sports car reached the top of a small rise. Just beyond, a highway patrolman was waiting. A law-abiding citizen, my friend slammed on the brakes, slid past the officer at 150 miles per hour, and came to a halt some distance down the road.
Before long, the officer caught up and stood beside the sleek convertible. “Do you have any idea how fast you were going?” he inquired. “Well, roughly,” was the deliberately evasive reply. “One hundred sixty-three miles per hour!” the officer specified. “That’s about what I thought,” my friend confessed, somewhat sheepishly. Guilt was obvious, and there was no possible excuse to be offered. My friend could only wait to discover what this fiasco was going to cost. He meekly waited for the officer to proceed. To his amazement the patrolman queried, “Would you mind if I took a look at that engine?”
The fine points of high performance automobiles cannot be discussed quickly, so both went on to a coffee shop where they could talk further. A while later, both of the men shook hands and went their separate ways. My friend was elated, for the officer had not given him a citation.
That is about as close to grace as one can come on this earth, but it is still not quite up to the standard of biblical grace. (I say that because biblical grace would be demonstrated only if the patrolman had paid for the coffee.)
The principle of grace is as fundamental to Christianity as that of justice is to Law, or love is to marriage. Christianity cannot be understood apart from an adequate grasp of grace. The doctrine of grace distinguishes the Christian faith from every other religion in the world, as well as from the cults.36 Rightly understood and applied, the doctrine of grace can revolutionize one’s Christian life. It is for this reason that we have determined to spend the next three lessons on this fundamental doctrine.
Grace Defined
As I approach this study of the grace of God I am fully aware of the fact that most Christians suppose they know all they need to on the subject. A major factor in this misconception is that quick and easy definitions have been given for grace. Grace, we all know, is God’s unmerited favor. In acrostic fashion we have been taught to define grace as God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense … GRACE. These are simply inadequate, and thus we must devote this entire message to a more precise definition of grace. We will attempt to accomplish this by a series of statements or propositions which will be explained in some detail.
(1) Grace is a part of the character of God. Grace is most frequently spoken of as a commodity, that is distributed, and such it is. But first and foremost, grace is a description of the character of God, which is displayed by His gifts to men. God is a God of grace, and He desires to make this known not only to men, but also to the angelic hosts.
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fulness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:5-12).
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:1-10).
This attribute of grace37 has always been a part of God’s character since God is immutable or changeless (cf. James 1:17). Some have supposed that the God of the Old Testament is someone other than the God of the New. But we know that the grace of God is frequently evidenced in the Old Testament Scriptures. Men of God knew Him as a God of grace.
But He, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; And often He restrained His anger, And did not arouse all His wrath (Psalm 78:38).
“And they refused to listen, And did not remember Thy wondrous deeds which Thou hadst performed among them; So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But Thou art a God of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness; And Thou didst not forsake them” (Nehemiah 9:17).
The grace of God was that attribute which most displeased Jonah, the “pouting prophet,” as some have called him. God called him to preach to the Ninevites, knowing that the Assyrians would later serve as His chastening rod on disobedient Israel. Jonah foolishly fled to Tarshish, attempting to thwart the will of God. By means of a storm, some sailors, and a large fish God arranged a change in his plans. Eventually Jonah did preach to the Ninevites, but his response to their repentance was disgraceful:
But it greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore, in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that Thou art a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity” (Jonah 4:1-2).
It was the grace of God that angered Jonah because this time grace was granted to the enemies of Israel. To Jonah, patriotism was more important than preaching or piety. Ironically, it was grace which kept God from dealing with Jonah as severely as his sin would require. How gently God asked Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry?” (4:4).
David sinned by numbering the Israelites, contrary to the advice of Joab (1 Chronicles 21:1ff.). God rebuked David through the prophet Gad, giving him a choice of one of three calamities: three years of famine; three months of defeat by the hand of their enemies; or three days at the hand of the Lord (verses 11-12). David’s response reveals his grasp of the grace of God:
“I am in great distress; please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are very great. But do not let me fall into the hand of man” (verse 13).
The gracious character of God was fully manifested in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the revealer of the Father (John 1:18), the exact representation of the Father (Hebrews 1:3):
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. … For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ (John 1:14, 17).
Paul can therefore write to Titus:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men (Titus 2:11).
In both His words (Luke 4:22) and His works (Matthew 9:36; 14:14; Mark 6:31, etc.) Jesus demonstrated grace. He did not come to judge or to condemn, but to forgive and to save (John 3:16-17; 8:10-11).
We can do nothing else but conclude that God is, was, and will ever be a God of grace. That is His character, and it is therefore the ultimate cause of His graciousness toward men.
(2) Grace is epitomized on the cross of Calvary. While the grace of God is described in the Old Testament, it is not defined until the New Testament. I believe that we cannot grasp the grace of God except in the light of Calvary.
Grace is not merely a part of the plan of redemption, but it is the silver cord that runs through every facet of the work of redemption. Election, the sovereign choice made in eternity past of those who would be saved (cf. Ephesians 1:4), is called a “choice of grace” (Romans 11:5, NASV margin).38 The entire work of Christ in coming to earth, dying for sinners, and being crowned with glory, is said by the writer to the Hebrews to be “by the grace of God” (Hebrews 2:9). In no way was this prompted by man (cf. Romans 10:6-8). Our redemption is “according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7). Our calling (cf. Romans 8:28, 30), the sovereign act of God by which we are drawn irresistibly to Him, is said to be “through His grace” (Galatians 1:15). Justification, that judicial pronouncement that we are innocent of any guilt and whereby we are declared righteous through the work of Christ, is a gift of His grace (Romans 3:24; Titus 3:7). When all is said and done, every element of the work of salvation is the work of God through grace and not of our own making. Men believe by the grace of God:
And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he helped greatly those who had believed through grace (Acts 18:27).
The terms “salvation” and “grace” therefore become virtually synonymous:
… which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth (Colossians 1:6).
The gospel is the “gospel of grace” (Acts 20:24); the Scriptures are the “word of His grace” (Acts 14:3; 20:32).
(3) While grace has always existed as a part of the character of God and was epitomized on the cross of Christ, it is expressed in a wide variety of forms. Grace takes many forms in the Bible, and it is well to define it so that the diversity of these forms is taken into account. Since we will discuss some of these later in greater detail, let me briefly enumerate some of the forms which grace takes.
Common grace is that benevolence which is poured out upon all men, regardless of their spiritual condition:
“But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you; in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:44-45).
“And in the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with good and gladness” (Acts 14:16-17).
God is gracious in making provision for the salvation of all men39 and in commanding its universal proclamation. He is also gracious in delaying judgment, thereby giving men ample time to repent (2 Peter 3:9). One might also imply that God is gracious in not revealing more than He does to those who reject Him, since greater knowledge brings greater judgment (cf. Luke 12:47-48).
Saving grace is that generous provision of salvation on the cross of Calvary and the securing of it by divine intervention, as we have already outlined above.
“But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are” (Acts 15:11).
Securing grace is that manifestation of God’s benevolence by which Christians are kept secure in spite of sin.
Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2).
Through Silvanus, our faithful brother (for so I regard him), I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it! (1 Peter 5:12).
Just as a lost man cannot obtain salvation through any good work of his own, neither can the Christian maintain his salvation by doing good works. Salvation is obtained and maintained by grace alone.
Sanctifying grace is that grace which works within the true believer in such a way as to bring growth, maturity, and progress in the process of becoming Christ-like:
Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God (Acts 13:43).
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me (1 Corinthians 15:10).
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. (2 Peter 3:18)
Serving grace is the enablement to minister in such a way as to manifest the life of our Lord through the saints as members of His body. It refers to acts of generosity and giving (cf. Acts 4:33ff.; 2 Corinthians 8:1ff.). It specifically refers to spiritual gifts (the term “gift” is a derivative of the word “grace”).
But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift (Ephesians 4:7).
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God (1 Peter 4:10).
Sustaining grace is grace given at special times of need, especially during adversity or suffering.
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).
Perhaps some of these distinctions are a bit arbitrary, but the point remains that grace is manifested in a variety of ways. Grace seeks us and saves us; grace keeps us secure; grace enables us to serve and to endure the tests and trials of life. Grace will bring about our sanctification in this life and will ultimately bring us to glory. From beginning to end we are the object of divine grace.
(4) Grace is pure. If we were to describe grace to the chemist, we would say that grace is an element, not a compound. In more biblical terms, grace is never a mixture of divine benevolence and human effort:
Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness (Romans 4:4-5).
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace (Romans 11:6).
Grace is entirely the work of God, unprompted by man, undeserved by man, and without regard to anything that the object of grace will later accomplish:
And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger” (Romans 9:10-12).
It was God’s choice that Jacob rule over Esau without regard to any works which either would do; in fact, Jacob was chosen even before he was born. A longer look at the life of Jacob would indicate that God’s purposes for Jacob’s life were accomplished in spite of him.
J. I. Packer describes grace this way:
What is grace? In the New Testament grace means God’s love in action towards men who merited the opposite of love. Grace means God moving heaven and earth to save sinners who could not lift a finger to save themselves. Grace means God sending His only Son to descend into hell on the cross so that we guilty ones might be reconciled to God and received into heaven. ‘(God) hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him’ (2 Corinthians 5:21).40
To make even the slightest contribution to our salvation is to rule out the possibility of grace. For one thing, any contribution on our part would be exaggerated in our own minds. Someone has told the story of a man who was condemned to death for embezzlement. The royal family took pity on the man, however, and determined to help him. The king contributed $2000 from the royal treasury, while the queen gave $1000 and the crown prince $980. The people in the gallery passed the plate and collected another contribution of $19.90. The total amount of $3999.90 was only a dime short of that which was required, but it was not enough. The king reluctantly said that the man had to die. The crowd in the gallery sighed. Suddenly the condemned man reached into his pocket and found a dime, just what he needed. He was free!
The point of this story is that no matter how small the contribution of the condemned man, it would become, in his mind, of too great importance. God is demonstrating His grace to the world and the angelic hosts (Ephesians 1:3-12), and He will not share His glory with sinful man. It is either all of grace or it is not grace at all.
Worse yet, our efforts to contribute to God’s saving grace are an affront to Him. Suppose, as someone has suggested, that the President of the United States invites you to a magnificent banquet. It is an evening that you will never forget. But as you leave that evening you greet the President at the door and wish to show your appreciation. You say to him, “Mr. President, I want to thank you so much for the wonderful evening. I know this must have been a very great expense, so I would like to make a small contribution to help cover the cost.” You then press a dime into his hand and leave. That is no compliment. That is an insult! Grace does not require, nor will it accept, any contributions from its recipients.
All of this has been stated somewhat negatively. In reality, though, this is a very positive truth: the grace of God is absolutely free! We do not have to earn it—indeed we cannot earn it. This truth is not an easy one to believe because we have come to doubt that anything can really be free any more. An advertisement tells us that we will get a free pizza, but the small print informs us that we have to buy a large pizza first. We are promised a weekend on the lake with $50 spending money, but we know that we will be open game for the salesman so long as we are there. God’s grace is not like that. We cannot earn it, nor will we find that after we are saved we come to regret our decision because of some small print in God’s offer of salvation.
(5) Grace is sovereign. Since we have no claim on God’s grace and cannot contribute anything to it, then grace must be sovereignly bestowed. As God said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion” (Exodus 33:19; cf. Romans 9:15). The necessary conclusion is that which follows in Romans 9:16:
So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs but on God who has mercy.
Some are greatly troubled by the fact that grace is bestowed sovereignly, but what other basis is there for its distribution? In Romans 9:14 Paul asks the question: Can God be just when grace is given to some but not to others? He answers his own question by reminding the reader that justice can only condemn all men, for all have sinned. We dare not plead for justice with God, for justice can only be satisfied by our condemnation. Grace operates on a totally different basis. Grace does not give men what they deserve, but what God delights to give, in spite of their sin. God is only unjust if He withholds from men benefits which they rightfully deserve, but He is gracious in bestowing upon men salvation and blessings which they could never merit. C. I. Scofield has been quoted as saying,
Grace is not looking for good men whom it may approve, for it is not grace but mere justice to approve goodness. But it is looking for condemned, guilty, speechless and helpless men whom it may save, sanctify and glorify.41
(6) While the Law is the standard of righteousness, grace is the source of righteousness. While the Law defines righteousness, only grace delivers it. The Law was never intended to be a means of obtaining grace; it was given to demonstrate to men that grace was desperately needed:
Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets (Romans 3:19-21).
At its heart, legalism is a humanly-devised system whereby a man may strive to produce his own righteousness by rigid adherence to a prescribed code of conduct. It is almost always external in nature, that is, it evaluates actions rather than attitudes and motives (cf. Matthew 6:1ff.). Worse yet, legalism tends to lower the standards God has set. In the Sermon on the Mount our Lord persisted in raising the standards set by the scribes and Pharisees, not lowering them (cf. Matthew 5:17-48). Because of their lowering of God’s standards the rich young ruler could unashamedly say to our Lord, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up” (Mark 10:20). What an incredible thing to be able to say. Only a legalist could do so. While the legalists of Jesus’ day placed burdens on men that they could not bear (Matthew 23:4), they found all sorts of loopholes by which to avoid the demands their traditions made on others (Matthew 23:16-24). Jesus lightened the burden, not by lowering God’s standards, but by providing enablement to meet them (Matthew 11:28-30; Romans 8:1-4).
No matter how pious legalism appears on the outside, it dishonors God by revealing a deep-seated distrust of God. Stop and think about it for a minute. Why do men insist upon putting agreements in writing? Why are legal contracts necessary? For only one reason—men are fallible. At best, we tend to forget the things we have committed to do. At worst, we never intended to do them in the first place. A legal contract gives one man a basis for forcing another to do what he has promised.
Do you really believe God is so unreliable that we must create a contract which binds Him? All of the biblical covenants are those which were initiated by God, not man. And most of these covenants are unconditional; that is, they are not conditioned by any action on man’s part, but only on the faithfulness of God Himself. Legalism by its very nature implies that God is so untrustworthy that we must be sure to get it down in contractual form. Far better it is to leave blessings in the hand of the One who is gracious.
I heard a true story which serves to illustrate this point. Not many years ago most employers discriminated greatly in their hiring practices (as many still do!). As a result it was necessary to attempt to correct this evil by passing Laws which punished discrimination. One afternoon an employer was called upon by a minority labor leader, who demanded that a certain number of minority laborers be hired immediately. The employer thought about it for a moment and then picked up the phone, instructing his secretary, “Miss Jones, I want you to fire the last 25 minority laborers I hired.” The reason, he explained to the demanding leader, was that he had hired 25 more minority laborers than the Law had required. Now I do not wish in any way to condone or condemn what either of those men did. I simply wish to point out that the demands of the Law are only required where evil men are involved (cf. 1 Timothy 1:9-10). Where grace prevails, Law will only restrict gracious activity, not promote it. Legalism cannot co-exist with grace:
You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by Law; you have fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4).
For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under Law, but under grace (Romans 6:14).
(7) Grace is given only to the humble. When our Lord came to the earth, He came to minister to the poor, the suffering, the needy. To the “poor in spirit” Jesus offered the riches of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus had come to this earth in order to minister to those who were in need and knew it. When Jesus chose to associate with the needy rather than with the elite of His day, it greatly offended the Jewish religious leaders:
And when the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax-gatherers, they began saying to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax-gatherers and sinners?” And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:16-17).
Pride offended turned to jealousy (cf. Mark 15:10), so that if the religious leaders of Israel couldn’t persuade Jesus to endorse their ideology, they concluded that He must be done away with (cf. John 11:47-50).
Jesus put His finger on this matter of pride when He told the parable of the Pharisee and the tax-gatherer in Luke 18. The Pharisee had no appreciation for his own sinfulness, and thus he could pray, “God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get” (Luke 18:11-12). The tax-gatherer, however, was humbled by the awareness of his sinful condition and so petitioned a gracious God for mercy: “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” (Luke 18:13). Jesus said it was this humble sinner who went home justified (verse 14).
Grace is the goodness of God on behalf of sinners who humbly acknowledge their own deficiency and thus their dependence upon God’s grace for forgiveness and salvation:
But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6; cf. 1 Peter 5:5).
(8) While sin is an occasion for grace, grace is never to be an occasion for sin. Many of the objections to the biblical doctrine of grace originate from the abuses of this doctrine in the lives of Christians. Any biblical doctrine can be misapplied in such a way as to justify sin in our lives. In Romans 5 Paul taught that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (verse 20), but he quickly went on to say that this is no incentive to careless living:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (Romans 6:1-2)
We who have died to sin cannot casually and carelessly persist in sin, for it is inconsistent with our new life in Christ. Grace must never be used as an excuse for sin:
Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God (1 Peter 2:16).
(9) Grace is always granted in harmony with God’s other attributes. It is possible at this point to misunderstand the grace of God by supposing that grace somehow is granted at the expense of God’s holiness or His justice. Nothing could be further from the truth. Grace does not set aside the requirements of justice; it satisfies them. The Christian is no longer guilty before God and need not stand under the condemnation of God for sin. But someone does have to pay the penalty for sin. For the Christian that person is our Lord Jesus Christ:
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).
In Romans 3 Paul dealt with the need for grace to be shown in such a way as not to violate the justice of God:
Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Romans 3:24-26).
Grace, then, meets the demands of justice and holiness rather than to set them aside. Grace is never granted at the expense of any of God’s attributes. This is a comforting thought which we should pause to ponder. Can you possibly conceive of a God who is all-powerful and all-knowing and yet whose power could be employed at a mere whim? During the Hitler regime the Nazis had seemingly unlimited power combined with an intelligence network that was frightening. That knowledge and power were frequently exercised at the expense of justice, truth, and mercy. God is not like that. God’s infinite power and wisdom are always employed in accord with His attribute of grace. Praise God for that!
(10) Grace is both positive and negative in what it gives. Grace is the outpouring of God’s unsolicited and undeserved goodness upon sinful men. This goodness, however, may not always be recognized, for sometimes it comes in the form of pain and suffering. Paul wrote to the Philippian saints:
For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake (Philippians 1:29).
The word “granted” is the verb form of the word “grace.” Few would disagree that belief in Christ is a gift of God’s grace, but Paul insists that suffering is every bit as much a gift from God. This is so because trials are sent into the life of the saint in order to perfect his faith and to draw him nearer to the Savior (cf. Hebrews 12:1ff.; James 1:2-4).
Stated another way, God is gracious to men not only in what He provides, but also in what He prohibits. Look at the grace of God in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were told that they could freely eat of every tree of that garden, save one. That was a provision of grace. What an abundance of good things that garden must have contained. But God also forbade them to eat of the fruit of one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now Satan successfully diverted the attention of Adam and Eve from the gracious provision of God to His one prohibition. What they did not realize (and Satan surely did not point out) was that God was not only gracious in the provision of the garden with all of its delights, but also in the prohibition not to eat of the one tree. How painful for Adam and his wife and for mankind were the consequences of partaking of what God prohibited!
My friend, God is good not only in what He gives, but also in what He withholds and what He takes away. While we may not understand the reasons why, if we believe that God is a God of grace we must be able to say like Job, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
Conclusions
Let me conclude with just a couple of observations and applications of the doctrine of the grace of God, remembering that we have not yet completed our study on this great doctrine.
First of all, I have come to see the doctrine of the grace of God as one of the dominant themes of the Bible. In musical terms, the grace of God is like the melody line of a beautiful song. As a rule, only one note carries the melody, and all of the other notes serve to compliment that note with a harmony. I believe that grace is the dominant note in God’s dealings with man. His justice, His holiness, His omnipotence, and His omniscience are all an integral part of the music of His character and activities, but grace stands apart and above them all.
Is that really the way that you and I view God most of the time? I must confess that it is not so with me. Often times I find myself thinking of God in less complimentary ways. I am surprised when “good things” come into my life, and I know they are from God. And when suffering or trials enter my life, I tend to think that God is somehow punishing me or giving me what I deserve rather than dealing with me according to grace.
There is nothing Satan would rather convince you of than that God’s way is the way of drudgery and the dismal. God, according to Satan, never has a smile on His face, but always a frown. Yet Paul refers to his God, the God of grace, as the One who “richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). It is Satan who desires to keep us from enjoying the good things of life:
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude (1 Timothy 4:1-4).
This study of the grace of God has reminded me of the goodness of God in His dealings with mankind in general, and with me in particular. Whatever comes into my life, it has come from the God of all grace, who has purposed to enrich my life by His gift, whether it be in what He gives or what He denies me.
Another thing that has come to mind in this study is the startling realization that it is the grace of God that fallen men most detest. If lost men really thought that God is a harsh and cruel deity who deals severely with all who offend Him, they would cower in His presence, and they would do everything possible to avoid His wrath. Men do not fear God, however; they disdain Him. They interpret His grace as weakness and His delay of judgment as inability to achieve His purposes. Men who are sinners do not want to admit their own guilt and thus do not want to petition God for grace. They will have heaven on their own terms or not at all. Thus lost men will go to hell because they hate grace and will have none of it.
Man does not like to think of God showing grace. “Grace—which means the full and free forgiveness of every sin, without God demanding or expecting anything from the one so forgiven—is a principle so opposed to all man’s thoughts and ways, so far above man, that he dislikes it. His own heart often secretly calls it injustice. He does not deal in this way and he does not like to think of God doing so.”42
My unsaved friend, if you have never realized it before, God is gracious. In His grace He has spoken to men through His Word, informing them that they are sinners and warning them of the wrath that is to come. In His grace God has sent His Son to the cross of Calvary in order to satisfy the requirements of His justice by punishing His Son in their place. If you will but admit your sin and your helpless state and call upon Him for salvation, you will be saved. God’s grace is for sinners like you and like me. He will either deal with you in grace, or you must face the consequences of rejecting His gracious offer of salvation.
36 “Furthermore, the concept of grace is the watershed that divides Roman Catholicism from Protestantism, Calvinism from Arminianism, modern liberalism from conservatism. The Roman Catholic Church holds that grace is mediated through its priests and sacraments, while Protestantism generally does not. The Calvinist feels that he glorifies the grace of God by emphasizing the utter helplessness of man apart from grace, while the Arminian sees the grace of God cooperating with man’s abilities and will. Modern Liberalism gives an exaggerated place to the abilities of man to decide his own fate and to effect his own salvation entirely apart from God’s grace, while conservatism holds that God’s grace is necessary for salvation. Man is evolving, according to Liberalism, into a kind of superman who is coming to the place where he needs no outside help, certainly not the grace of God.” Charles C. Ryrie, The Grace of God (Chicago: Moody Press, 1963), pp. 10-11.
37 Many are the theologians who have recognized grace as an attribute of God. Buswell, for example, writes: “The goodness of God in this sense—that is, the grace of God—is the most amazing theme in all the Bible. The most astounding truth ever proclaimed is that God is and remains absolutely just and at the same time He justifies—He makes just and right—the one who, being unjust, unrighteous, defiled, and guilty, puts his faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:26).
“Oh the goodness of God, the goodness of God! This is the gospel message. This is what the Bible is all about, from the sacrifice of Abel, all through the generations of man’s sin and God’s longsuffering, until the new heavens and the new earth ‘wherein dwelleth righteousness’ (2 Peter 3:13).” J. Oliver Buswell, A Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1962 ), I, pp. 69-70.
38 I realize that in Romans 11 the choice made is that of a nation (Israel) rather than an individual. While there are other differences as well, the point here is that election in principle (whether of individuals or nations) is a matter of grace, not works.
39 There is a lively discussion at this point on the subject of limited atonement. I will only say this: I believe the death of Christ made provision for the salvation of all men (cf. 1 Timothy 4:10, 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 2:2). I believe the death of Christ actually purchased the salvation of only the elect. I believe the death of Christ thereby provides the basis for a universal offer of salvation while recognizing that only some (namely, the elect) will be saved.
Some believe that this creates an inconsistency within the Godhead: “How can Christ die to save all men if God only chose to save some?” I believe God purposed the death of Christ to be broader than just procuring the salvation of the elect, but also in providing payment for all.
40 J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973), p. 226.
41 Scofield is quoted by William McDonald, The Grace of God (Oak Park, Ill.: Midwest Christian Publications, 1960), p. 6.
42 J. N. Darby as quoted by McDonald, The Grace of God, pp. 20-21.
Related Topics: Basics for Christians, Law
9. The Grace of God, Part II (Romans 6:12-14; 7:1-25)
The Relationship of Law and Grace,
or Is Your God a Grouch?
Introduction
J. B. Phillips once wrote an excellent little book entitled, Your God Is Too Small. His thesis, as I remember it, was that we fail to appreciate the greatness of God and that our faith is not limited by God’s inadequacies, but by our failure to comprehend His greatness and power. I think I would like to write a similar book on the subject of the grace of God. The title of my book would be, Your God Is a Grouch. If most Christians are anything like the God they serve, then their God must be a grouch.
I see this false perception of God reflected in most of the movies that have ever been produced about the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ. Frequently He is characterized as austere and cold. We see Him as another John the Baptist, condemning virtually everything and everyone around Him. We remember Jesus scolding His disciples and lashing out at the money-mongers in the temple. It was not until a recent movie on the life of Christ that anyone ever attempted to portray our Lord as a man who loved people, enjoyed life, smiled at little children, laughed at (and with) His disciples, and frequently had a twinkle in His eye. I think this touches a side of our Lord that some don’t seem to believe exists.
But if our Lord is thought of as austere in the Gospels, the God of the Old Testament can be nothing less than a grouch. After all, didn’t He burden the people of old with an unrealistic and impossible system of Laws and codes? And didn’t He command the Israelites to kill all of the Canaanites? How can we possibly square the grace of God with the giving of the Law? And how is the New Testament saint, who is “not under Law but under grace,” to relate to the Law of the Old Testament?
The relationship of the New Testament believer to the Old Testament Law was perhaps the most pressing problem of the early church. Peter’s desire to keep the Jewish food Laws was so strong that it took a dramatic incident to convince him that these Laws had been set aside. This revelation effectively opened the door to evangelizing the Gentiles (Acts 10:1ff.). Later, when Peter failed to apply God’s instruction to his relationships with certain Gentiles, Paul had to rebuke him publicly (Galatians 2:11ff.). The first major council of the church centered around the issue of the relationship of Gentile converts to the Law of the Old Testament (Acts 15:1ff.). The entire epistle to the Galatians was written because of the heresy taught by the Judaizers that one could be saved only by faith in Christ plus law-keeping.
The relationship of Law and grace is one that has troubled the church over the centuries. Even today it continues to perplex and confuse Christians. Some would go to the extreme of making obedience to the Law a requirement for salvation. At the opposite extreme, others would insist that we are under no obligation to any rules or commands and that we may live as we please. Neither of these positions is acceptable so far as the Bible is concerned, and only by a careful study of the relationship of Old Testament Law to New Testament grace can we find the proper balance for Christian living.
The Law in the Old Testament
When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai holding in his hands the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written, he found the people in a state of anarchy. In just a short time they had become engaged in idolatrous worship and revelry (Exodus 32:15ff.). Moses angrily threw down the stone tablets, shattering them at the foot of the mountain (32:19). Had the Old Testament Law been such a terrible thing, I would have thought that Moses would have used those tablets to beat the Israelites over the head. At least he could have crammed the Law down their throats rather than wasting all that valuable gold.
This act of Moses implies what the Bible elsewhere confirms about the Law, that it was given from the hand of a gracious God. I believe Moses threw down the tablets because he felt the Israelites were unworthy of them. He viewed the Law as a manifestation of God’s grace, and in the light of their sin, he did not intend for them to have it. If the Law were as evil as some think today, what more fitting punishment for the nation Israel than the “burden” of the Law? The Law given at Sinai was not intended to be a burden, however, but a blessing. Allow me to briefly mention a few of the reasons why the Old Testament Law was a blessing and not a burden to the people of God.
(1) It was God’s grace that brought Israel out of Egypt, just as His grace would enable them to possess the promised land. If it were works that would merit the redemption of Israel from their bondage in Egypt, why was the Law not given until after their exodus? To underscore the role of grace in the lives of the people of God the Law was given to the Israelites with this reminder:
… Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself?’ (Exodus 19:4).
“The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).
“Know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you. Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you. It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people” (Deuteronomy 9:3-6)
It was God who had redeemed His people. They had done nothing to merit His grace in delivering them from bondage. God had been true to Himself and to His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so He would fulfill His promise by bringing them safely into the land and driving out the Canaanites.
(2) The Old Testament Law was gracious in that it clearly defined the standards a righteous God set for His people. The Law was an integral part of the covenant between God and the nation Israel. It defined the relationship between God as king and the people as His servants, whom He had redeemed out of bondage in Egypt. As a holy and righteous God He could only bless the Israelites as they lived in conformity to His character. As God put it, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). God could not bless sin and disobedience, and so the Law prescribed the kind of behavior which would be blessed. Blessing and obedience were directly related. Obedience to the Law assured the people of God that they would possess the promised land and drive out the Canaanites. Obedience likewise assured them of intimate fellowship with God and an exalted position among the nations.43
‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’ (Exodus 19:5-6a).
“You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it; so that you may prolong your days on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deuteronomy 11:8-9).
(3) The Law was given so that future generations might come to trust and obey the God who had redeemed the Israelites. The faith of the fathers must be passed on to succeeding generations. The Law was given as a means of communicating the basis for this faith:
“Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. … And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:1-2, 6-7).
“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the LORD commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt; and the LORD brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand”’ (Deuteronomy 6:20-21; cf. also verses 22ff.).
The Law was much more than the Ten Commandments, just as it was far more than the commands and prohibitions of God. The Law was the entire Pentateuch (and frequently more than this), which contained the account of the history of God’s dealings with the nation. It contains the call of Abraham and the working of God in his life and in the lives of his descendants. Since salvation has always been by faith and not by Law-keeping, each new generation had to come to know the God of their fathers in a personal way, by faith. The five books of Moses served the same function for the ancient Israelites as the Gospels do for men today. Saving faith is also a historical faith.
(4) While the Law set a standard of righteousness that was impossible to keep, it also contained a provision for sin. An integral part of the Law of the Old Testament was the sacrificial system. It was God’s gracious means of dealing with the sin which the Law defined:
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “If a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against the LORD’s holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to the LORD: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation in silver by shekels, in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. And he shall make restitution for that which he has sinned against the holy thing, and shall add to it a fifth part of it, and give it to the priest. The priest shall then make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and it shall be forgiven him” (Leviticus 5:14-16).
We know from the New Testament that the sacrificial system was only provisional. It did not remove sin; it merely passed over it for a time (cf. Romans 3:25; Hebrews 10:1-4). Nevertheless, this sacrificial system foreshadowed and prophesied concerning that “Lamb of God” who was to come and remove sins once for all (cf. John 1:29). The salvation which was promised in Genesis 3:15 was said to come through the seed of Abraham (Genesis 12:3), and later it was more specifically promised through the offspring of Judah (Genesis 49:8ff.). This salvation was typified by the “sacrifice of Isaac” (Genesis 22) and by the offering of the passover lamb (Exodus 12).
And so the Old Testament Law was gracious in that it revealed the need for a remedy for sin, provided a temporary solution, and promised a permanent deliverance through faith, not works.
(5) Israel’s apostasy was always accompanied by a neglect of God’s Law, while her revival and restoration were accomplished by a return to the Law of God.
Thus says the LORD, “For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not revoke its punishment, because they rejected the Law of the LORD and have not kept His statutes; their lies also have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked” (Amos 2:4).
Therefore, the Law is ignored and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted (Habakkuk 1:4).
Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the book of the Law in the house of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan who read it. … Then the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king went up to the house of the LORD and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant, which was found in the house of the LORD. And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant (2 Kings 22:8; 23:1-3; cf. also Nehemiah 8:1ff.).
(6) The Law of God was perceived by those who were spiritual as something holy and righteous and good. While some may look upon the Law as a burden, godly men of old regarded it as a great blessing:
Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for the day is holy, do not be grieved.” And all the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words which had been made known to them (Nehemiah 8:9-12).
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, And in His Law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:1-2).
The Law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Thy servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward (Psalm 19:7-11).
O how I love Thy Law! It is my meditation all the day (Psalm 119:97).
Even in Old Testament times the purpose of the Law was frequently misunderstood. Men perceived it to be a means of earning merit before God. As the Israelites were about to possess the land under the leadership of Joshua, he urged them to determine whether or not they would follow God rather than the pagan gods of their forefathers:
“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:14 -15).
The people enthusiastically (and naively) announced that they would serve the God of Israel (24:16-18), but Joshua realized that they did not really grasp the implications of this nor of the impossibility of keeping the Law of God apart from divine grace. Therefore, he warned them, saying:
“You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you.” And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.” And Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses” (Joshua 24:19-22).
Throughout the history of Israel the tendency of the people was to emphasize religious forms as opposed to the essence of their religion that was the heart of the Law:
For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6).
Repeatedly God sent His prophets to instruct the people concerning the real purpose of the Law. Because of the hardness of the hearts of the Israelites and their resistance to the intent of the Law, the prophets were rejected, persecuted, and put to death (Matthew 23:29-31).
To summarize, the Law as represented in the Old Testament was not grace, but it was gracious. It was never intended to establish a works-oriented system of approaching God. It revealed the righteousness of God and the relationship between the covenant people of Israel and Yahweh, their king. As such, the Law was good, inspiring the worship, praise, and service of those who truly knew God. Many did misinterpret and misuse the Law, but such is the nature of sin—to abuse that which is good and to make it an instrument for evil.
The Law in the New Testament
Both in the Old Testament and the New, the term “law” had a wide variety of meanings. We cannot simply speak of “the Law” in the New Testament without first saying that the definition and interpretation of “the law” in the New Testament is probably the single most critical issue. This is what turned the scribes and Pharisees against Jesus. This is what constituted the Judaizers to be heretics. We shall begin by defining the “law” as the scribes and Pharisees viewed it and then move to our Lord’s definition as evidenced by His life and teaching. Finally, we shall look at the “law” through the life and teaching of the apostles.
The “law” according to Pharisaism. During the 400 years of silence between the Old Testament and the coming of Christ, God had been silent, but Judaism had not. The scribes and Pharisees had come to equate righteousness with conformity to a prescribed code of conduct. This “code” was not really the Law of the Old Testament, but it was the traditions of the Pharisees which had been wedded to the Old Testament Law. For example, God’s Law had prescribed that a man should keep the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8). What had been a simple commandment became a complicated system of rules and regulations:
The Law lays it down that the Sabbath Day is to be kept holy, and that on it no work is to be done. That is a great principle. But these Jewish legalists had a passion for definition. So they asked: What is work? All kinds of things were classified as work. For instance, to carry a burden on the Sabbath Day is to work. But next a burden has to be defined. So the Scribal Law lays it down that a burden is “food equal in weight to a dried fig, enough wine for mixing in a goblet, milk enough for one swallow, honey enough to put upon a wound, oil enough to anoint a small member, water enough to moisten an eye-salve, paper enough to write a customs house notice upon, ink enough to write two letters of the alphabet, reed enough to make a pen”—and so on endlessly. So they spent endless hours arguing whether a man could or could not lift a lamp from one place to another on the Sabbath, whether a tailor committed a sin if he went out with a needle in his robe, whether a woman might wear a brooch or false hair, even if a man might go out on the Sabbath with artificial teeth or an artificial limb, if a man might lift his child on the Sabbath Day. These things to them were the essence of religion. Their religion was a legalism of petty rules and regulations.44
By the third century A.D., a written compilation of these oral traditions was completed. It was known as the Mishnah and contained 63 tractates on various subjects of the Law. In English it makes a book of about 800 pages.45 Later Judaism set itself to the task of interpreting these interpretations. These commentaries on the Mishnah are known as Talmuds. The Jerusalem Talmud consists of 12 printed volumes; the Babylonian Talmud has 60 volumes.46
On the one hand, the meticulous definition of the Old Testament Law by the Pharisees made the Law almost impossible to keep. It seemed, therefore, to set an even higher standard than the Law as given by God. But all of this “red tape” served to hinder only the masses, for the Pharisees also had devised clever ways of avoiding the Laws which they so scrupulously taught:
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’ You fools and blind men; which is more important, the gold, or the temple that sanctified the gold?” (Matthew 23:16-17).
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others” (Matthew 23:23).
Consequently, the Jewish leaders not only hated the Lord Jesus, but they despised the masses who followed Him:
“No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? But this multitude which does not know the Law is accursed” (John 7:48-49).
Because of this incredible legal system, a devout Jew could actually claim to be perfect according to the demands of the Law—the Law, that is, according to the Pharisees. The rich young ruler unashamedly made this claim (Matthew 19:20), and so did the apostle Paul (Philippians 3:4-6), but when the apostle came to faith he then referred to himself as “chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).
It is absolutely crucial for us to understand this Pharisaical view of the Law, for it sets the background for the entire New Testament. Much of the New Testament is devoted to a correction of this misconception of the Law.
The “Law” according to Jesus. Paul reminds us that Jesus was “born under the Law” (Galatians 4:4). He perfectly fulfilled the Law of God, thus being qualified to die for the sins of the world (1 Peter 2:22). Nevertheless, He was continually accused of being a law-breaker. He was guilty, of course, if the “Law” was that devised by the Pharisees. It was here that Jesus’ view of the Law differed so greatly from His opponents. The Sermon on the Mount, perhaps more than anything else, is Jesus’ hermeneutical system for interpreting the Old Testament. The difference between Jesus’ approach to the Law and that of the Pharisees can be summarized by three observations:
(1) Jesus did not view the Law as an unbearable burden which men must merely endure, but He saw it as an evidence of the goodness (grace) of the heavenly Father. For example, the Pharisees looked upon the Sabbath as superior to man. Man could only submit to God’s prohibitions, even though they made life miserable. Thus the Pharisaical Law might prohibit a hungry man from eating on the Sabbath or Jesus from healing one who suffered. The Law, according to Jesus, was intended to be for man’s benefit, and so He could heal a man on the Sabbath without violating the Law. Man was not created for the Sabbath, Jesus insisted, but the Sabbath for the benefit of man (Mark 2:27). The spirit of the Law was more important than the letter, Jesus taught, but this was a point of view no self-respecting legalist could ever accept.
As I think back over the Old Testament, I cannot think of one instance in which a person was condemned for some technical violation of the Law, as specific and particular as it was, In every case I can think of, men were judged by God because their motives and attitudes were evil.47 Jesus points this fact out to the legalists of His day, but they cannot grasp it.
(2) Jesus saw the inward motive of a man to be as important as the outward act. According to Pharisaism a Jew could lust after a woman so long as he did not commit adultery with her. A man could hate his brother, but he could not kill him. Jesus said that the inward thoughts of lust and hate are as evil as the outward acts of adultery and murder (cf. Matthew 5:21ff.). Teaching this view of the Law, Jesus raised the standards of the Law far higher than any man could ever hope to meet. He did not come to do away with the Law, as the Pharisees accused, but to fulfill it. And while the Pharisees proudly claimed to uphold the Law and establish their own righteousness by their works Jesus taught that one would have to demonstrate far greater righteousness than they did to ever enter into the kingdom of God:
“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).
(3) Jesus taught that the Law would not be put away until the heavens and the earth pass away:
“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18).
According to our Lord, there is some sense in which the Law has abiding value, even in the age of grace, for He said that it would not pass away until that time when heaven and earth also pass away.
The “Law” according to the apostles. Frequently the term “Law” is employed in the New Testament with reference to the Old Testament Law, the Law as God gave it and as our Lord interpreted it. This Law included not only the Ten Commandments, but the entire Pentateuch—(the first five books of the Bible) and sometimes even the whole Old Testament. Whenever the apostles speak of God’s Law as given in the Old Testament, they do so with the greatest respect. It is never conceived of in any other way than something good:
Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law (Romans 3:31).
What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. … So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good (Romans 7:7-8, 12).
In Romans 7 Paul taught that the Law is not evil, but good. Just as the beginning of this chapter speaks to Christians, I believe that Paul is speaking as a Christian in the later part of the chapter. He is speaking, then, of his relationship as a Christian to the Law of the Old Testament.
While the Law is used by sin to arouse the desires of the flesh (verse 5), it is not sinful. The Law serves to point out sin by defining it; it does not produce sin (verses 7-8). The Law is no more evil for defining sin than an x-ray is evil for identifying a cancerous tumor. Sin uses the Law to get a handle on men, taking advantage of the weakness of the flesh. Sin’s misuse of the Law for evil purposes only shows how sinful sin is (verse 13). Since we cannot overcome sin by our natural resources (the flesh), sin makes use of the Law to overpower us. The problem is not with God’s perfect Law, and not even with our flesh, but with sin that abuses the Law and overpowers our flesh. In his innermost self, his spiritual man, Paul wanted to do what the Law commanded, just as he desired to cease doing what the Law forbade (verses 14-19).
The solution to Paul’s problem (and every Christian’s) is not the abolition of the Law, but the power to overcome sin and to live righteously as the Law demands. So Paul does not tell us that the Law has died to us, but rather that we have died to the Law (cf. verse 4).48 In Christ we have died to the Law in that the penalty for our sins has been paid. The Law can no longer condemn the one who has paid his debt (cf. Romans 8:1). On the other hand, by walking in the Spirit we have the power to fulfill the requirements, the standards of righteousness, which the Law prescribes. In Christ the requirements of the Law are met—negatively by dying in Christ and positively by living in Him and walking by His Spirit.
Paul never conceived of God’s Law as evil. In fact, he continued to live in accordance with much of the Old Testament Law after his conversion. Paul circumcised Timothy in order that his ministry might be enhanced (Acts 16:3). He made vows in Old Testament fashion (Acts 18:18), and he was anxious to observe the feast of Pentecost. Perhaps most significantly, Paul made an effort to convince his fellow Jews that he still kept the Law. When Paul returned to Jerusalem, he knew by prophetic revelation that he was facing great danger (Acts 21:10-14). James and the other elders were well aware of the charge against Paul that he had set aside the Law of Moses and was instructing other Jews to do likewise (21:18-21). Their advice was that Paul publicly worship in accordance with the Law as a rebuttal to the charges against him, and this he did (21:22-26). Observance of the Law in this situation was neither wrong, nor did it cause Paul to “fall from grace.”
The Jerusalem Council, whose meeting is recorded in Acts 15, distinguished between Judaism and Christianity. They concluded that a Gentile did not need to keep the Law in order to be saved. Neither did the council prohibit Jewish Christians from continuing to practice their Jewish heritage. Continuing to practice that which was a part of the Jewish culture was never considered to be putting oneself “under Law.” Thus the circumcision of Timothy, the observance of the feast of Pentecost, and Paul’s actions in Acts 21 were not a surrender to the Jewish legalists, but a concession to the culture of Judaism for the sake of more effective ministry. This also explains how Paul could come to the Gentiles without his Jewish trappings or to the Jews with them (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). Concession can be made in matters of culture, and so Timothy was circumcised. Concession cannot be made in the matter of a doctrine so crucial as that of salvation, and thus Paul refused to circumcise Titus (Galatians 2:3-5).
Paul did not hesitate to appeal to the Old Testament Law as a basis for his teaching and commands. In 1 Corinthians 9:8-10 Paul appealed to the Law to prove that the one who ministers has the right to be supported by those to whom he ministers. In chapter 14 of this same epistle Paul underscored the necessity of women keeping quiet in the public meeting of the church (that is, not taking a public leadership role) with the words “as the Law also says” (verse 34). In Romans 13:8-10 Paul stated that the Law is fulfilled by living according to the principle of love.
James, too, had a high regard for the Law of God. He called it “the royal Law” (2:8) and the “Law of Liberty” (1:25; 2:12). While the “Law” to James might have been broader than just the Old Testament Law, I doubt that his expression excludes it. John certainly held a similar view, for he wrote: “And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3).
I have gone to considerable effort to underscore the biblical fact that the Old Testament Law was never viewed as being evil, but only as good. This is as true in the New Testament as it was in the Old. I have not said all that there is to say about the Law yet, but this must be agreed upon first: God is a gracious God, and the giving of the Law in no way contradicts this aspect of His character. Dispensationalists (with whom I still consider myself to be in basic agreement) have all too frequently ignored this truth, and so I have labored long to fix it in our thinking. Now we must go on to look at what it means when Paul says that we are “not under Law, but under grace.”
While the Old Testament Law was gracious (because God is a God of grace), it was never grace. Grace and truth were personified in Jesus Christ, and grace was accomplished on the cross of Calvary, as we have already shown in our last message. The Law of the Old Testament was gracious in that it defined both sin and righteousness, and it demonstrated the need for salvation. It also made a temporary provision for sin and promised that a greater and final salvation would come. The Law was only able to condemn, but never able to save:
For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (Hebrews 10:1-4).
But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the Law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to49 Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:23-26).
The Law is good and not evil. Here is a biblical truth, but there is even greater news: If the Old Testament Law was good, New Testament grace is better. That is the point of the book of Hebrews. The author of this great epistle never sought to undermine or question the greatness of the old covenant, only to underscore the superiority of the new covenant and the grace which it brought to man. The angels were good, but the Son is far better (Hebrews 1:3-4). Moses was a mighty man, but Jesus was far greater (3:1ff.). The rest of the Sabbath was wonderful, but grace brings a greater rest (4:1ff.). The high priest of the old order was powerful, but our great high priest has passed through the heavens (4:14ff.). The old covenant was good; the new covenant is much better. That is the point of the New Testament. The new covenant is not enhanced by discrediting the old (as is often done), but by seeing how it overshadows the old.
Perhaps the relationship of the old covenant and its Law to the new covenant and grace can best be grasped by illustration. Engagement is good, but marriage is far better. I have not yet met a newly-engaged couple who were miserable and unhappy. They are so full of joy they can hardly contain themselves. The bride-to-be does everything possible to display her ring and announce her engagement. The groom-to-be proudly introduces his beloved. Yet once this couple is married, they never wish to go back to the former state of engagement. Those of us who are married can testify to this. Why? Because marriage offers freedoms and privileges which engagement does not.
Now engagement is a wonderful institution. I know of very few pastors who would encourage a couple to get married without a sufficient engagement period. It serves to give the couple time to get to know each other better. It enables them to make decisions and plans for their marriage. It even gives them the opportunity of backing out of a bad marriage. Engagement is intended for primarily one reason: preparation. Once these preparations have been completed, however, engagement has fulfilled its task. From then on it is not a blessing, but a burden.
So it is with the Law of the Old Testament. It established a covenant relationship between men and God. It prepared them for the grace to come by defining sin and declaring the universal need for grace. It even gave promise of grace to come and made temporary provision for sin until that time. But once grace came in the person of our Lord Jesus, who would ever wish to go back to that former covenant?
There is a great dispensational truth here. God was gracious in the giving of the Law, for by the old covenant He prepared us for the new. But those who would wish to go back to that old covenant would be choosing the good over the better. More than this, now that grace has come it is evil to ever consider going back to that system which could only promise salvation but not provide it, which could only condemn but not save. Going back is therefore not only foolish, but evil. It disregards the adequate provision of righteousness and forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ. In this sense, Christians must not be under Law, but under grace.
Beyond the dispensational dimension there is a dangerous doctrinal error which is promoted by some and practiced by many others. The term “Law,” as we have seen, can be defined in a variety of ways. “Law” to our Lord held a vastly different meaning than it did to the Pharisees. Frequently when the New Testament writers use the term “Law” (especially without the article “the” in the original text, e.g., Galatians 2:16; 5:18; Romans 6:14-15) they are not speaking of the Old Testament Law, but of Law as a principle. “Law” becomes a system of works whereby men strive to produce a righteousness of their own as opposed to accepting the righteousness of Christ offered by grace. This I believe to be an essential dimension included in the term “Law” when we are told that we are “not under Law, but under grace.”50
Taken in this sense, Law and grace are not two different dispensations, the one good and the other better, but two ways: the way of death and the way of life. Every unsaved man is under Law in that he is seeking to establish a righteousness of his own rather than to accept God’s righteousness through Christ. To attempt to earn righteousness by the keeping of the Old Testament Law or any other set of standards is to reject the principle of grace and the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. This, Paul says, is not just “another gospel,” it is no gospel at all (cf. Galatians 1:6ff.).
Conclusion
The implications of our study are manifold, but I shall only touch on some of the major areas of application.
To view the Old Testament Law as evil is to see it in a way that is inconsistent with both the Old and New Testaments. The Law is not grace, but it was gracious. It defines both righteousness and sin. It provided temporarily for the sins of those who violated its demands. It promised a Savior who would fulfill its demands and permanently remove sin.
The Law has been fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ and has been superceded by a new and better covenant. Even though the Law was good, we cannot return to it. Since salvation has come in Christ we cannot “turn back the clock” and live as men once did under the old dispensation.
Law as a system of obtaining righteousness by observing a set of rules, whether they be biblical or not, is completely opposed to grace. We cannot earn righteousness, either to be saved, keep saved, or enhance our standing with God as Christians.
Legalism is a misuse of God’s Law. Legalism places emphasis only upon external acts and ignores the motivation and the means employed to accomplish these acts. It does not consider the spirit of the Law, but only the letter. The remedy for legalism is not the abolition of any and all rules or commands, for the New Testament is full of imperatives and commands, but obedience that stems from gratitude and which is empowered by grace. Grace was never intended to do away with the Law altogether, but to overcome sin and to fulfill the requirements of the Law (Romans 8:4).
The Law of the Old Testament still has great value for the New Testament Christian. It continues to serve as a standard of righteousness. It provides us with both warning and instruction which is profitable in our Christian experience:
Now these things happened to them as an examples, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1 Corinthians 10:11).
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
The Scripture which Paul refers to in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is first and foremost that contained in the Old Testament. If Paul says that it is profitable, then we had better take heed.
One of the most valuable functions of the Old Testament is that it provides us with principles which relate to our lives. It is true that some things have been set aside, but even here there is much to learn in principle. The principle of faith is illustrated in the lives of the Old Testament saints (cf. Hebrews 11). When Abraham listened to his wife Sarah and had a child by Hagar, we can learn that taking action in unbelief is sin and has far-reaching consequences (cf. Genesis 16). The command not to muzzle the ox while it was threshing (Deuteronomy 25:4) was intended to teach us that a laborer should not be deprived of his wages (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:8ff.). In fact, Paul tells us that the real point of that command had little to do with the ox, but with the principle behind it, for he asks, “God is not concerned with oxen, is He?” (1 Corinthians 9:9). While we need to consult the New Testament to see if the Old Testament Law has been set aside or modified (e.g., the concept of the priesthood—a few, to all Christians), most of the teaching of the Old Testament finds ready application in the life of the Christian.
I fear that in our reaction to the evils of legalism many of us have tended toward the opposite extreme—that of resisting any absolutes or commands, as though this were inconsistent with Christian liberty. James’ “Law of liberty” (2:12) reminds us that liberty is not the absence of rules, but the ability to keep them, for the glory of God and our good. Let us end by taking note of Peter’s warning:
Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God (1 Peter 2:16).
43 This may appear to be inconsistent with what has been said above. If the exodus and the possession of the land of Canaan were a work of God’s grace, then how can they also be conditioned by Israel’s obedience to the Law? The answer is the same as it would be to the question, “How can salvation be totally a matter of God’s grace and yet conditioned upon man’s acceptance?” Even man’s acceptance is ultimately the work of grace (Acts 13:48; 16:14; Philippians 1:29). Grace does not necessitate human inactivity or passivity, only that the activity of grace is achieved by divine power.
44 William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew (Edinburgh: The Saint Andrew Press, 1963), 1, pp. 124-125.
47 Uzzah, for example, was not slain just because he touched the ark of God, while this was forbidden, but because of his irreverence which occasioned this act (cf. 2 Samuel 6:7). The sacrifices of the Israelites were not as important to God as the heart attitude of loyalty to God (Hosea 6:6).
48 I am aware of Colossians 2:14, but here it is not the Law which is nailed to the cross, but only the “certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us.” It is thus not the Law, as such, which is nailed to the cross, but only the condemnation which the Law pronounces on our sin.
49 The words “to lead us to” in verse 24, as has been frequently pointed out, are supplied by the translators. It is probably better to translate simply “until,” and thus reading, “Therefore the Law has become our tutor until Christ, that we may be justified by faith.”
50 Murray states: “The assumption on which this argument is based is that ‘under the law’ refers to the Mosaic or Old Testament economy. It is true that sometimes the expression has that signification (cf. Gal. 3:23-4:4). But it is a fallacy that has done prejudice to the interpretation of the Roman epistle at the hands of some of its ablest expositors to suppose that ‘under law’ has this restricted scope.” John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959), 1, p. xix.
Murray later has an excellent description of the inadequacies of the Old Testament Law: “(1) Law commands and demands. (2) Law pronounces approval and blessing upon conformity to its demands (cf. 7:10, Gal. 3:12). (3) Law pronounces condemnation upon every infraction of its demand (cf. Gal. 3:10). (4) Law exposes and convicts of sin (cf. 7:7, 14; Heb. 4:12). (5) Law excites and incites sin to more aggravated transgression (cf. 7:8,9,11,13). What Law cannot do is implicit in these limits of its potency. (1) Law can do nothing to justify the person who has violated it. (2) Law can do nothing to relieve the bondage of sin; it accentuates and confirms that bondage.” Ibid., p. 229.
Related Topics: Theology Proper (God), Basics for Christians, Law
10. The Grace of God, Part III (Romans 12:1-21)
Grace in the Christian’s Daily Walk
Introduction
Happiness to some is seeing the bad guy get what he deserves. Some time ago while I was in college, my partner Ted and I were washing the dormitory windows. Dan, the dorm’s persistent practical joker, decided to shake the ladder Ted was standing on. Ted responded by wringing out his sponge on Dan’s head, and that’s when all the trouble really started. From there it went from bad to worse, eventually flooding the hall and drenching Ted. Ted went to change his clothes and refill his bucket. I minded my own business (for once) and stayed on my ladder washing windows.
A few minutes later Ted re-appeared with dry clothes and a full pail. Just about this time, George, the head resident, came into the room where I was washing the windows to see what all the commotion was about. I was on the outside of the window, and George was on the inside peering out and talking to Dan on the ground two stories below. Suddenly Ted’s pail protruded from the window beside us, and the plunging water swamped Dan, who stood sputtering below. Now Ted didn’t know that George, the head resident, was in the room beside the window from which he drenched Dan. And George was unaware of Ted’s intentions until it was all over. All George could do was to try to catch the culprit. All I could do was to give some advice to Ted: “Run, Ted!” It was to no avail. Ted ran into George’s waiting arms. George looked Ted squarely in the eye and said, “Man, Ted, you got him dead center!” With that George turned around and went back to his room. Even old George enjoyed seeing a fellow get what he deserved.
This basic desire to see justice meted out is what keeps us glued to our television sets until the very end of the program. We want to see the villain get what he (or she) has been asking for. I think that is why so many of us like to watch “Little House on the Prairie”—we can’t wait to see that snooty Mrs. Olson humiliated. And that woman is such a great actor that we delight in her downfall.
If happiness is seeing the wicked come to justice, then misery is watching people get things they don’t deserve. We can all identify with the vexation of the psalmist, who agonizes over the prosperity of the wicked (cf. Psalm 37, 73). It doesn’t seem right that a man should be rewarded for doing evil. For this reason some find it very difficult to rejoice when a sinner becomes the recipient of the grace of God. The scribes and Pharisees were angry that Jesus spent His time with the unworthy (Mark 2:16). The “unprodigal” son of Luke 15 was angered by the grace of his father toward the “prodigal” son, who had acted so foolishly. The laborers who worked hard all day for an agreed wage were angry with the master who paid those who worked fewer hours the same wage (Matthew 20:1-16).
If it is difficult for us as sinners to accept the grace of God in our lives (and it is), it may be even more difficult for us to accept the grace of God in the life of another, especially when we know that person to be undeserving. Have you ever had the experience of struggling over the success of a classmate when they have become more successful or prominent than you? Have you ever said to yourself, “Why should he have succeeded? He only got C’s in class.” Grace is hard to receive, and it may even be harder to accept when others are its recipients.
Humanly speaking, there is one thing harder to accept than grace being given to one whom we don’t really like. The most difficult thing of all is for us to give grace to one we know to be undeserving, when they have been spiteful to us and grace is at our expense. And yet the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments has commanded us to be gracious to others.
“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him” (Exodus 23:4-5; cf. also Proverbs 25:21-22).
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you; in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:43-45).
Until now we have been speaking of the grace of God as it was demonstrated in Jesus Christ, providing a just salvation by His Son, according to His choice, and without any merit on our part. Having spoken of God’s grace to His saints we must now come to grips with one of the practical realities of the doctrine of grace: the demonstration of God’s grace through His saints. Our final lesson on the grace of God will deal with the grace of God demonstrated in the daily lives of the saints.
Grace as Motivation
The most commonly used method of motivation is either fear or guilt. “If you don’t do such and such,” we tell our children, “I’ll spank you.” That’s fear. “If you don’t teach this Sunday school class, your priorities are all messed up.” That’s guilt. Fear and guilt can be proper motives for the Christian, but grace is a far better motive for serving God and others. I notice this in Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians as he is encouraging their diligence to carry through in their commitment to contribute financially to the needs of the saints:
I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:8-9).
How easy it would have been for Paul as an apostle to simply order the saints to “cough up” and complete the giving they had previously committed to do. Perhaps they had lost some of their initial enthusiasm to give, especially if their own budgets were feeling the pinch. Instead, Paul encouraged them to give, reminding them of the grace of God in providing salvation at so great a cost to Him. Neither fear nor guilt, but only grace could motivate the kind of giving which ministered to others and brought glory to God.
Grace is a wonderful motivation for Christian service. It appeals to our highest aspirations and emotions. Paul spent the first eleven chapters of his epistle to the Romans expounding the grace of God. Not until chapter twelve did he turn to the matter of our Christian obligations. And when he finally did so he began with a reminder that it is grace that should prompt the saints to a life of sacrificial service:
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship (Romans 12:1).
As we can see in this verse, grace is not only the motivation for service, but it is also the motivation for worship. Grace in the Bible is not only used of the gracious acts of God toward men, but of the grateful response of thanksgiving and praise from men toward God. That is why we often call mealtime prayers “grace.” The writer to the Hebrews stressed the need for grateful thanksgiving when he wrote:
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude [literally, “let us have grace”], by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe (Hebrews 12:28).
Worship and grace are virtually inseparable. Repeatedly in the Psalms the writer would praise God for His faithfulness and mercy. Perhaps this same kind of response is implied in 1 Corinthians 14:26:
What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, …
If not, it is clearly stated in Colossians 3:16-17:
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you; with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness [literally, “grace”] in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Worship and service are always to be done with gratitude, and gratitude is always an appropriate response to grace.
I have always been troubled by the way some people approach the Lord’s Supper (or communion service), for it is often inconsistent with the doctrine of grace. They fail to understand what is so clearly stated in 1 Corinthians 11:27:
Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
What the New American Standard Version has translated “in an unworthy manner,” the King James Version has rendered “unworthily.” Both translations stress the fact that the word employed is an adverb, not an adjective. In spite of this, countless Christians warn those about to partake of the bread and the cup that they should not partake of these if they are in an unworthy condition. As a result, communion often begins with a kind of introspective soul-searching, as if to rid ourselves of the sins which make us unfit to partake.
Now let me ask you, is that what Paul has told us to do? No! The manner in which the Corinthian Christians partook of the elements was unworthy of the body and blood of our Lord. Some were drunk and unruly, not waiting for the rest to arrive (1 Corinthians 11:21, 33). How could such a drunken act ever be honoring to our Lord? No wonder these Christians were disciplined for their conduct (verse 30).
But if the death of our Lord on the cross of Calvary was a work of grace, then how could any Christian ever suppose that he could possibly come to the point of being worthy of the Lord’s table? That is the point of it all. We are not worthy. He alone is worthy, and He has given Himself for lost sinners. Let us never come to the Lord’s table apart from remembering that it is a reminder of grace, and men are never worthy of God’s grace. We worship at the Lord’s table because of the gratitude and praise which grace occasions.
Grace also motivates prayer. One of the great hindrances to my prayer life is the feeling of unworthiness. When I am particularly aware of sin in my life, I hesitate to go to the Lord because I know that while He is holy, I am not. The writer to the Hebrews says that this thinking fails to grasp grace as the basis for prayer:
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence, to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Do we struggle with the pull of sin? Our Lord has partaken of human frailty, and while He did not succumb to temptation, He is sympathetic with our temptations. While we have failed, He did not. Consequently, we may come to Him as One who is both merciful and mighty. In His might He gives the grace to overcome sin, and in His mercy He gives forgiveness. Since grace is not overcome by sin, but sin by grace, we can come to Him with confidence in prayer. What better place for the sinner to come than to the “throne of grace”?
Grace has motivated Christians to pray throughout the ages. It was the grace of God which encouraged Nehemiah to appeal to God on behalf of the wayward people of Israel:
“But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly; they became stubborn and would not listen to Thy commandments. And they refused to listen, and did not remember Thy wondrous deeds which Thou hadst performed among them; so they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But Thou art a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness; and Thou didst not forsake them” (Nehemiah 9:16-17).
The record of Daniel’s moving prayer reveals that he had a firm grasp of God’s grace. His petition is a request that God will continue to act in grace toward Israel:
“And now, O LORD our God, who hast brought Thy people out of the Land of Egypt with a mighty hand and hast made a name for Thyself, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have been wicked. O Lord, in accordance with all Thy righteous acts, let now Thine anger and Thy wrath turn away from Thy city Jerusalem, Thy holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people have become a reproach to all those around us. So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Thy servant and to his supplications, and for Thy sake, O Lord, let Thy face shine on Thy desolate sanctuary. O my God, incline Thine ear and hear! Open Thine eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Thy name; for we are not presenting our supplications before Thee on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Thy great compassion” (Daniel 9:15-18).
What is particularly interesting about Daniel’s prayer is what he doesn’t say. In 9:2 we are told that Daniel had read in Jeremiah’s prophecy that the end of Israel’s captivity was near, and so also the time of her return to Palestine. Since this return was a part of God’s revealed plan, Daniel could have approached God on the basis of His promise and held God to His word. Daniel could have claimed this promise of God, but instead he chose to cling to the grace of God and appeal to Him as a God of mercy and grace.
How different are the prayers of the unrighteous, who know not the grace of God:
“The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, ‘God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get”’ (Luke 18:11-12).
Only those who know the grace of God have the confidence that they can petition a God who will hear and answer because of His mercy and compassion.
And so the grace of God serves to motivate the saint to serve, to worship, and to pray.
Grace as the Means
What grace encourages, grace also empowers. Grace inspires the desire to serve God, but desire alone is not sufficient (cf. Romans 7:14ff.). Grace also enables us to do those things that we want to do to please God.
Every Christian knows that it is by grace that we are saved (Ephesians 2:8). What some Christians are not aware of is that it is also by God’s grace that we stand. “Grace is greater than all my sin,” the song writer has observed, and so it is. Grace not only overcomes sin to save us, but it keeps us secure in that salvation.
Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2).
The same grace that saves also sanctifies:
Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God (Acts 13:43).
“And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32f).
The sanctification of the Christian is a growth in grace:
Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were thus occupied were not benefited (Hebrews 13:9).
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18a).
Grace also provides the means for Christian service. Serving grace has been granted to all who believe:
But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift (Ephesians 4:7).
We will not be surprised, then, to learn that the term employed for spiritual gifts is the Greek word charisma, a derivative of the Greek term for grace, charis:
And since we have gifts [charismata] that differ according to the grace [charis] given to us, let each exercise them accordingly … (Romans 12:6a).
As each one has received a special gift [charisma], employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace [charitos] of God (1 Peter 4:10).
Christian service is not a matter of self-effort, but of divine enablement. Spiritual ministry brings about spiritual results. Anyone can teach, but only Spirit-empowered teaching transforms lives. Anyone can tell another about salvation in Christ, but only the Spirit of God can take that message, impress it upon the heart, convict of sin, and bring about spiritual life. Christian service is a ministry of grace:
For our proud confidence is this, the testimony of our conscience that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you (2 Corinthians 1:12).
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed (2 Corinthians 9:8).
As we minister by the grace of God we are caused to be humbled by the fact that any results are to the glory of the God who works in us through grace. Also, we are stimulated to greater diligence because He is faithful:
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me (1 Corinthians 15:10).
And for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline (2 Timothy 1:6-7).
In times of special need greater grace is available to the saint (cf. James 4:6). This “greater grace” is particularly needed in times of suffering and tribulation. Comfort and hope in times of testing are said to be the result of grace:
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17).
When Paul suffered his “thorn in the flesh” he appealed to God to remove it, but God’s reply was that His grace would be sufficient for him to endure it:
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ my dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
The grace of God is appropriated to those in weakness and inability, not to those who are strong.
Peter, likewise, did not promise the removal of suffering and persecution, but he did assure his readers of sufficient grace to endure:
And after you have suffered for a little, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you (1 Peter 5:10).
Grace as the Manifestation of the
Character of God Through the Lives of Christians
While grace and truth were personified in our Lord Jesus Christ, grace is also to be manifested in the lives of the saints. He has saved us “to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Ephesians 1:6). As a result we can see that grace is a guiding principle for the Christian’s conduct in the world.
Early in the book of Acts the church was born as the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. In the introduction to the book of Acts, Luke implied that what “Jesus began to do and teach” (1:1) the Holy Spirit continued to do through the church (1:2ff.). In Acts 4 Luke reported that “abundant grace was upon them all” (4:33). The first example which Luke chose to illustrate this grace was the generosity of the saints in responding to the financial needs of others. Barnabas was cited as a specific example of this grace (4:36-37), while Ananias and Sapphira provided a contrast to it (5:1-6). Nowhere is the grace of God more evident than in the way people use the financial and material resources God has given them. When God gets hold of our wallet, brother, that’s grace!
As an encouragement to the Corinthian saints, Paul wrote of the generosity of the Macedonians, who willingly gave out of their poverty (2 Corinthians 8:1ff.). Three times in verses 1-7 Paul referred to their giving as a work of grace (8:1,6,7). Their giving would demonstrate the grace of God to the needy and would bring about praise to God:
Because of the proof given by this ministry they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you (2 Corinthians 9:13-14).
God’s grace is also demonstrated in the life of the Christian through the words that he utters:
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear (Ephesians 4:29).
Our words have tremendous power to heal or to hurt, to encourage or to exasperate. In Ephesians 4 Paul teaches that falsehood cannot edify. He says that we once used our tongues to lie, but this cannot continue (Ephesians 4:25). Some people think they are being gracious by telling an untruth, or at least by failing to say anything and thereby leaving a false impression. It is not gracious to see a brother or sister persisting in sin and yet to remain silent:
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy (Proverbs 27:6).
While it is always wrong to lie or deceive, telling what is truth is not necessarily going to demonstrate grace. The truth told in the wrong way can be just as damaging as a lie. In our day and time, honesty has become a virtue, and “letting it all hang out” has become the way of the world. Often times this is just an excuse for venting our feelings of bitterness, anger, and hostility. Earlier in Ephesians 4 Paul has told us to speak the truth in love (4:15). In Philippians truth is not the only standard for what we contemplate:
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things (Philippians 4:8).
The book of Proverbs has much to say about speaking in such a way as to benefit the hearer:
The lips of the righteous bring forth what is acceptable, But the mouth of the wicked, what is perverted (10:32).
He who despises his neighbor lacks sense, But a man of understanding keeps silent. He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets, But he who is trustworthy conceals a matter (11:12-13).
The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, But the mouth of fools spouts folly (15:2).
The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, And adds persuasiveness to his lips. Pleasant words are a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones (16:23-24).
Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances. Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear (25:11-12).
Speech that is gracious is first true, then timely, and finally tactful. To be truly gracious our speech must focus upon the One who is full of grace and truth and upon the good news of the gospel, which is the message of God’s grace to men:
Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person (Colossians 4:5-6).
While Paul’s words above apply to every conversation, they seem to be specifically aimed at our conversation with those outside the household of faith. We must be gracious in our conversation, tactfully whetting the appetite of those who are being drawn toward spiritual things.
Perhaps the greatest opportunity to manifest the grace of God is in granting forgiveness to those who sin against us. In the passage we have cited previously (Matthew 5:43-45) our Lord told His listeners that the standard of the world with regard to those who sin against them is too low. The world says we are to love our friends and hate our enemies. If we are to be like our heavenly Father, Jesus said, we must demonstrate grace to those who sin against us. The “common grace” of God is seen in His provision of the sun and the rain. These He gives to the good and the evil alike. If we are to be God-like, that is, if we are to be gracious as God is, then we must be kind to our enemies as well as to our friends.
Did you ever stop to realize that grace can only be shown where sin has occurred? We can only be gracious to others when they have sinned against us. That is necessary by virtue of the definition of grace. Grace is not only undeserved, but it is the opposite of what is deserved. Justice is served when the evildoer is punished. Grace is granted when the evildoer is forgiven at the expense of the victim. If we are to show grace to others, the only opportunity we have to do so is when they sin against us. If this is true, then grace begins where most of us want to stop.
Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:17-21).
Romans 12 is a wonderful exposition on the expression of grace in the life of the Christian. Chapters 1-11 of the epistle have defined the grace of God. Now in chapter 12 Paul exhorts us to demonstrate grace. Verses 1 and 2 use God’s grace (“the mercies of God,” chapters 1-11) as the motive for our service. Verses 3 through 8 speak of spiritual gifts (graces) as the means of our service. Verses 9 through 21 describe the manifestation of grace in the Christian’s life, reaching its epitome in our gracious response to those who sin against us.
Grace is never overcome by sin. “Where sin increased,” Paul wrote, “grace abounded all the more (Romans 5:21). When others sin against us, grace should abound in us. Grace should never be overcome by sin, but grace should overcome sin. Thus in Romans 12 we see grace as the motive, the means, and the manifestation of God in our service to Him.
Conclusion
As I now see it, grace is not only the keynote of God’s character, but it should also be the dominant note of our lives as well. Grace is the principle which should motivate, empower, and regulate our conduct in the world.
As I look through the epistles of the apostle Paul I am struck by the fact that grace is one of the first words from the pen of the apostle, just as it is usually one of the last. Grace is the alpha and omega of Paul’s letters. In Romans 1 Paul wrote, “ … Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:7). In the final chapter of this great epistle Paul concluded, “The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you” (16:20). Now this was not the accepted way to introduce and conclude a letter in Paul’s day, and yet nearly every epistle of his is similar in this regard. Paul uses the term “grace” so freely simply because it is such a vital part of the Christian’s walk. “It is grace that taught my heart to fear,” as the hymnist has written, just as it is grace that “will lead me home.”
May I suggest that no principle would so radically transform your marriage than the principle of grace. Rather than negotiate and barter in marriage, suppose that you make the commitment to live according to the principle of grace. When a harsh or critical word is spoken, respond with grace rather than to make a defense or to retaliate. Rather than to wait for your mate to earn your favor, give it unearned and unsolicited, just as God has done for you. Let this same principle apply in your relationships with your friends, your neighbors, your fellow workers, and especially your enemies.
I must tell you that there is no way that you can demonstrate God’s grace until you have first of all experienced it in your life. You must acknowledge that you are a sinner, deserving of God’s wrath rather than His grace. You must believe that grace has been given only in the person of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. You must understand that grace was accomplished only as justice was satisfied by Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary where He bore the penalty for your sins and mine. To experience God’s grace you must receive His righteousness and accept the salvation which He offers by trusting in His Son.
While the true Christian has experienced the grace of God in salvation, he or she cannot produce grace by will power or good intentions. Grace comes only from God. The grace which you and I are to show others is the grace which God gives to us and through us. The “means of grace” that the Bible talks about are His Word (“the word of His grace,” Acts 20:32), His Spirit (“the Spirit of grace,” Hebrews 10:29), prayer made to the “throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16), and the grace that is given to the saints which enables them to build up another (Ephesians 4:7; 1 Peter 4:10).
May we find the grace of God sufficient for our every need, and may others see the grace of God through us “to the praise of the glory of His grace.”
Related Topics: Basics for Christians, Sanctification, Law
1. Second Peter Is Not Second Class
Introduction
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:
1:12 Therefore, I shall 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 And 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 may be able to call these things to mind. 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 And 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.
3:1 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.
3:14 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 to be 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 (emphasis mine).
How would like to have a surgeon operate on you who took years to pass his medical exams and graduated at the bottom of his class? Vinny, the fellow being defended by his cousin in the movie, “My Cousin Vinny,” barely made it through law school. He took several tries before passing the bar exam; his grammar was bad and his manners were deplorable. Still worse, he had never even defended anyone. Yet Vinny was the one called upon by his cousin, who had been charged with murder by a small-town southern sheriff.
The Book of Second Peter carries some of these same characteristics. It was the last book of the New Testament to be accepted into the canon of Scripture. Biblical scholars criticize the author for his grammar and style, and even allege the author to be someone other than Peter, a man who lived in the second century rather than the first, and who wrote as though he were the apostle.
Second Peter seems to be the New Testament epistle which receives little respect1 even from evangelical scholars.2 It also appears to be the most neglected book in the New Testament. After reading a statement like the one from noted scholar William Barclay below, who would want to study 2 Peter?
The great interest of Second Peter lies in the very fact that it was the last book in the New Testament to be written and the last to gain entry into the New Testament.3
Barclay finds this epistle “interesting” because it is regarded as second class. Somehow, when viewed in this light, the book becomes less likely to be taken seriously. Simon Kistemaker, a conservative biblical scholar, observes:
From a survey of books and articles written in the twentieth century, we conclude that this epistle has suffered from scholarly neglect. This neglect can be attributed to a view, held by many scholars, that the apostle Peter did not write this letter. They affirm that a late first-century or an early second-century writer who assumed the name of Peter composed this epistle. Scholars who accept apostolic authorship also have taken insufficient notice of II Peter.4
Our purpose in this message will be to demonstrate the clear claim of the writer to be Peter, the apostle of our Lord and the author of 1 Peter. Our further purpose will be to show that this book is indeed no second class epistle, but a book which deserves our respect and serious study. Our final purpose will be to gain an overview of the overall message and structure of 2 Peter in preparation for studying the book.
Who Wrote 2 Peter?
The objections to Peter’s authorship may be summed up as follows,5 with a response to each objection.
(1) The early church was apparently reluctant and certainly slow to accept 2 Peter into the canon of Scripture. Barclay sums up the negative response of the ancient church to this epistle:
For long it [2 Peter] was regarded with doubt and with something very like misgiving. There is no trace of it until after A.D. 200. It is not included in the Muratorian Canon of A.D. 170 which was the first official list of New Testament books. It did not exist in the Old Latin Version of the Scriptures; nor in the New Testament of the early Syrian Church. The great scholars of Alexandria either did not know it or were doubtful about it. Clement of Alexandria, who wrote outlines of the books of Scripture, does not appear to have included Second Peter. Origen says that Peter left behind one epistle which is generally acknowledged: “perhaps also a second, for it is a disputed question.” Didymus commented on it, but concluded his work by saying: “It must not be forgotten that this letter is spurious; it may be read in public; but it is not part of the canon of Scripture.” Eusebius, the great scholar of Caesarea, who made a careful investigation of the Christian literature of his day, comes to the conclusion: “Of Peter, one Epistle, which is called his former Epistle, is acknowledged by all; of this the ancient presbyters have made frequent use in their writings as indisputably genuine; but that which is circulated as his second Epistle we have received to be not canonical although, since it appeared to be useful to many, it has been diligently read with the other Scriptures.” It was not until well into the fourth century that Second Peter came to rest in the canon of the New Testament. It is the well-nigh universal judgment of scholars, both ancient and modern, that Peter is not the author of Second Peter. Even John Calvin regarded it as impossible that Peter could have spoken of Paul as Second Peter speaks of him (3:15, 16), although he was willing to believe that someone else wrote the letter at Peter’s request.6
On a more positive note, A. T. Robertson writes,
It was accepted in the canon by the council at Laodicea (372) and at Carthage (397). Jerome accepted it for the Vulgate, though it was absent from the Peshito Syriac Version. Eusebius placed it among the disputed books, while Origen was inclined to accept it. Clement of Alexandria accepted it and apparently wrote a commentary on it.… There are undoubted allusions also to phrases in II Peter in Aristides, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Ignatius, Clement of Rome … Athanasius and Augustine accepted it as genuine, as did Luther, while Calvin doubted and Erasmus rejected it. It may be said for it that it won its way under criticism and was not accepted blindly.7
Our first response should be: “But they did accept it.” Because there were doubts and even some apparent reluctance makes its acceptance into the canon of Scripture even more impressive. An epistle which receives slow and careful scrutiny and then is received as Scripture surely has received the “seal of approval” by the ancient church.
Having said this, we must be perfectly clear that the authority of Scripture is not ultimately determined on the basis of human approval. Unbelievers cannot, will not, and do not receive the things of the Spirit of God (see 1 Corinthians 2:6-16). Peter was slow to accept converted Gentiles into the church on a par with believing Jews, but this does not cast any doubt on the truth of this doctrine. Often, we are reluctant to acknowledge the truth because it condemns us and requires us to change. Peter’s second epistle may have been more cautiously considered because its teachings were hard to swallow.
(2) The contents of this epistle make it difficult to believe it came from the same pen as the First Epistle of Peter.
There is no mention of the Passion, the Resurrection and the Ascension of Jesus Christ; no mention of the Church as the true Israel; no mention of that faith which is undefeatable hope and trust combined; no mention of the Holy Spirit, of prayer, of baptism; and no passionate desire to call men to the supreme example of Jesus Christ. If one took away these great verities from First Peter there would be little or nothing left, and yet none of them occurs in Second Peter.8
This charge is almost ridiculous. If Peter were writing for the second time to the same readers (3:1), would he say the same things he had said in his first epistle? Do we expect 2 Timothy to repeat 1 Timothy? Do we challenge Paul’s authorship of 2 Timothy because he does not speak of elders and deacons there as he did in the first epistle to Timothy? Of course the subject matter is different!
Yet, having said this, I do not mean to imply there is nothing in common between 1 and 2 Peter. Peter indicates in 2 Peter that he assumes the things he has written in 1 Peter. For example, in 1 Peter 2:1, he writes that those who teach destructive heresies are guilty of “denying the Master who bought them.” Surely Peter expects his readers to think in terms of the redemptive work of Christ, the teaching they received in the preaching of the gospel and in the reading of 1 Peter (see especially 1 Peter 1:18-21; 2:22-25; 3:18-22; 5:1).
A number of the great themes of 1 Peter are seen in 2 Peter as we shall later demonstrate. Even though they may not be restated, the themes of 1 Peter are assumed in 2 Peter. There is a very strong correspondence between 1 and 2 Peter, as we shall show.
(3) In style9 and character, there are notable differences between 1 and 2 Peter. Of course there are differences, and we should not be surprised by them. Peter told us his first epistle was written through Silvanus (1 Peter 5:12). No such reference to Silvanus is found in 2 Peter. Peter therefore appears to have written his second epistle with his own hand (compare Galatians 6:11). Second Peter is exactly what we should expect from the hand of an untrained writer such as Peter (see Acts 4:13).
(4) Peter speaks too fondly of Paul,10 and his reference to his writings can only suggest a late (second century) date for the writing of this epistle. Liberal scholars cannot fathom the unity of the body of Christ, and thus they look upon Paul and Peter as men whose personalities and theological positions clash throughout their lives. Even John Calvin seems to find this view tolerable.11 The Bible expects more of those who are filled with the Spirit of God,12 and though Paul had to confront Peter, this in no way set them at odds with each other. Indeed, after Peter is rebuked by Paul (Galatians 2:11-21), it seems his respect for Paul was even greater as evidenced by his words in 2 Peter 3.
That Peter seems to look upon the apostles as men of a by-gone era comes as no surprise. After all, Peter views himself in this same way (2 Peter 1:12-15). Some of the apostles (like James, see Acts 12:2) had already died, and others (like Peter) were not far behind. It was time for others to take up the torch. This same perspective can be found in Hebrews 2:1-4.
It is argued that Peter could not have spoken of Paul’s writings as he did, since these would not have been collected and considered a part of the New Testament Scriptures until the second century:
Above all there is the reference to the letters of Paul (3:15, 16). From this it is quite certain that Paul’s letters are known and used throughout all the Church; they are public property, and furthermore they are regarded as Scripture and on a level with ‘the other Scriptures’ (3:16). It was not until at least A. D. 90 that these letters were collected and published, and it would take many years for them to acquire the position of sacred Scripture. It is practically impossible that anyone should write like this until midway through the second century A.D.13
A moment to reflect on Barclay’s words here might prove helpful as they are typical of much that is written and taught in the name of scholarship. William Barclay is a scholar. His commentaries provide a great deal of helpful insight into the Greek culture and the background to biblical texts. He is also a liberal theologian, and as such he does not hold to all of what might be called orthodox theological positions. When we see statements like the one above, we should not be intimidated by his scholarship or the confidence with which he speaks.
Barclay’s comments fly in the face of what is written in this biblical text. Does the author of this epistle claim to be the apostle Peter? Yes, he does (1:1, 12-19). We are forced to conclude then that either Barclay or our author are wrong. I am sticking with the author.
Barclay’s conclusion simply do not stand under scrutiny. Consider these comments. (1) Peter does not list all of Paul’s writings; he simply refers to Paul’s “letters” (3:16). Barclay speaks as though all of his letters must be spoken of by Peter, which, in his mind, is impossible. (2) Barclay seems to have forgotten who helped Peter in the writing of his first epistle—Silvanus (1 Peter 5:12). Assuming that Silvanus is Silas (as Barclay does, p. 274), then we know he was closely associated also with Paul and the writing of at least two of his epistles (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1). Peter would have ready access to at least some of Paul’s writings earlier than others. (3) Peter is an apostle, and as such he would greatly influence the church as to Paul’s apostleship and the inspiration and authority of his writings. Rather than seeing Peter’s comments about Paul’s letters as the result of the church’s acceptance of them as Scripture, I suggest that Peter’s words are a significant cause of the church’s acceptance of his epistles.
(5) A very obvious similarity exists between 2 Peter and Jude, causing some to conclude the author of 2 Peter may have borrowed, either from Jude or from a different source. There is a very close relationship between these two epistles:
A quick glance at the second chapter of II Peter and the Epistle of Jude proves to any reader the parallelism of these writings. Jude’s letter totals twenty-five verses; nineteen of these are paralleled in II Peter. This parallelism includes not only words and phrases; also the order of presentation is virtually the same.14
The Christian should not go beyond the Scriptures (see 1 Corinthians 4:6; Revelation 22:18-19). Christians are marked out by their common faith. They should not emphasize their idiosyncracies or strive for novel and unique interpretations (see 2 Peter 1:20-21). We are not to proclaim “new truths” (contrast Acts 17:19-21); we are to continue to proclaim “the old, old, story, of Jesus and His love” (as one song says, see Galatians 1:6-10; 2 Timothy 3:1-4:8). Peter may have employed the same source as Jude, or one may have borrowed from the other. There is no copyright on Scriptural truth. It is certainly not beneath Peter to have employed the material of another or to have written something very much like another.
The Authorship of 2 Peter According To The Author
If you are willing to take the words of this epistle at face value, the authorship of 2 Peter is clear and indisputable. The author is “Simon Peter,15 a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ” (1:1). He is a man who will soon die (1:14), just as Jesus had indicated to him in John 21:18-19. He is the Peter who, along with James and John, witnessed the transfiguration of our Lord (1:16-18; compare Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36). This man assures us he is not writing a cleverly devised tale but the sure Word of God, brought about through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (1:19-21). He further tells us this is his second letter (3:1), which squares perfectly with the writing and preservation of 1 Peter (1 Peter 1:1). Finally, in his closing words, Peter testifies to the inspiration and authority of Paul’s epistles as Scripture and warns of those false teachers who would seek to distort or deny them (3:14-16).
Let us compare the internal evidence (in the text of the epistle itself) for the authorship of 1 Peter with that we have considered in 2 Peter. In 1 Peter, there are but two references to the author: 1 Peter 1:1 and 1 Peter 5:1. Only the first is specific. The evidence for Peter’s authorship of 2 Peter is much stronger than it is for 1 Peter! Why do critics not challenge the authorship of 1 Peter? Why do they focus their attack on 2 Peter?
If we take the words of the writer of 2 Peter on face value, Peter is the author. We can therefore fix an approximate date for the time of its writing. Peter tells us his time of departure is near. Since Peter died around A.D. 67 or 68, this epistle must have been penned shortly before this time. The epistle would thus have been written shortly before the fall of Jerusalem and the scattering of the nation Israel.
The Implications of the Authorship of 2 Peter
The authorship of 2 Peter offers one of two choices with profound implications:
But the claim to Petrine authorship, if not genuine, leaves the Epistle pseudonymous. That was a custom among some Jewish writers and even Christian writers, as the spurious Petrine literature testifies (Gospel of Peter, Apocalypse of Peter, etc.), works of a heretical or curious nature. Whatever the motive for such a pious fraud, the fact remains that II Peter, if not genuine, has to take its place with this pseudonymous literature and can hardly be deemed worthy of a place in the New Testament.16
On the authorship of II Peter only two views exist, and they color the interpretation of this epistle: either Peter wrote the letter or it comes in pseudonymous form from the hand of a forger or a secretary.17
We have two choices then. (1) We accept the epistle as it stands and its author’s claim that he is Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. If we do so, then we accept the authority of the writer and the epistle, and we dare not contradict it. (2) We reject the claims of the author, and reject this book as fraudulent. The issue here closely parallels our response to the claims of Jesus Christ to be the promised Messiah: either He is the Son of God, as He claims, with absolute power and authority, or He is a fraud, to be rejected and ignored.
Other Evidence of Petrine Authorship
A. T. Robertson concludes that Peter must be the author of this epistle, and that satisfactory explanations can be given for every objection:
“The writer makes use of his own contact with Jesus, especially at the Transfiguration of Christ (Mark 9:2-8 = Matt. 17:1-8 = Luke 9:28-36). This fact has been used against the genuineness of the Epistle on the plea that the writer is too anxious, anyhow, to show that he is Symeon Peter (1:1).… It is possible also that the experience on the Mount of Transfiguration may have been suggested by Peter’s use of exodus for his own death (1:15), the very word used by Luke (9:31) as the topic of discussion between Jesus and Moses and Elijah.” There is also in 1:13 the use of ‘tent’ (skenoma) for the life in the body, like Peter’s use of ‘tents’ (skenas) to Jesus at that very time (Mark 9:5 = Matt. 17:4 = Luke 9:33). In 1:14 Peter also refers to the plain words of Jesus about his coming death (John 21:18f.).”18
Kistemaker contends in his commentary on 2 Peter that many similarities are found between 1 and 2 Peter. He provides us with this comparison of the two epistles:
Similarities Between 1 and 2 Peter
|
1 Peter |
2 Peter | |
|
1:10-12 |
inspiration of the Old Testament |
1:19-21 |
|
1:2 |
doctrine of election |
1:10 |
|
1:23 |
doctrine of the new birth |
1:4 |
|
2:11-12 |
need for holiness |
1:5-9 |
|
3:19 |
sinful angels in prison |
2:4 |
|
3:20 |
Noah and his family protected |
2:5 |
|
4:2-4 |
immorality and judgment |
2:10-22 |
|
4:7-11 |
exhortation to Christian living |
3:14-18 |
|
4:11 |
doxology |
3:1819 |
I would add several other topics which are emphasized in both of Peter’s epistles:
(1) Fleshly lusts (see 1 Peter 2:11; 4:2; 2 Peter 1:4, 6; 2:2, 10-14)
(2) Prophecy, the Christian’s future hope (1 Peter 1:10-12; 2 Peter 1:17-21)
(3) The revelation or second coming of Christ (1 Peter 1:13; 2:12; 2 Peter 3)
(4) The important role of the Scriptures (1 Peter 1:22–2:3; 3:1; 2 Peter 1:2-4, 17-21; 3:1-2, 14-16)
(5) The testimony of the O.T. to N. T. truths or doctrines (1 Peter 1:10-12, 14-16, 23-25; 2:5-9; 3:10-12;
(6) Peter 2:4-9, 15-16, 22; 3:5-7)
(7) Opposition to our faith and walk (1 Peter 2:11-12, 18-25; 3:14-22; 4:1-6; 5:8-10; 2 Peter 2:1–3:4, 14-16)
The Continuity of 1 and 2 Peter
Peter does deal with many of the same topics and themes in both of his epistles. The close relationship between these epistles can also be demonstrated by the continuity which exists in their teaching. The teaching of 1 Peter flows into that of 2 Peter. The Book of 2 Peter is not so much a repetition as an extension of Peter’s teaching in 1 Peter.
(1) In 1 Peter, the Christian is the one under attack. In 2 Peter, the gospel, or the Christian hope, is under attack.
(2) In 1 Peter, the attack against the church comes from without, from unbelievers (see 1 Peter 4:1-6); in 2 Peter the attack against the church comes from within, from those who at least profess to believe in the Lord Jesus (see 2 Peter 2:1, 20-22).
(3) In 1 Peter, there is an emphasis on the believer’s certain hope of glory at the return of Christ; in 2 Peter, there is the certainty of the condemnation of those who deny the gospel.
(4) In 1 Peter, the emphasis falls upon our Lord’s first coming and His suffering and death as the payment for our sins (see 1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:18); in 2 Peter the emphasis falls upon the glory of our Lord as demonstrated at His transfiguration (2 Peter 1:16-19).
(5) In 1 Peter, the believer is to fix his hope on the glory yet to be revealed at the coming of our Lord (1 Peter 1:13; 2:11); in 2 Peter the believer is tempted by false teachers to fix his hope on the present, with its fleshly pleasures, and to ignore the future (2 Peter 2:1–3:4).
Conclusion
Peter is the author of this, his second epistle. In 1 Peter, he challenges us to fix our hope on eternal things and to live in the present in light of eternity. He calls upon us to endure present suffering and to deny fleshly lusts, for the eternal glory our Lord will bring at His second coming. In 2 Peter, the apostle holds forth the Word of God and its teaching as our defense against false teachers, who are dominated by fleshly lusts and who appeal to these lusts in their followers. He turns us to Old Testament examples of God’s divine intervention in history to deliver His holy ones and to bring judgment upon those who are disobedient and unbelieving.
The principle problem underlying 1 Peter is suffering, brought about by the persecution of unbelievers. The Christian is to recognize suffering as a divinely ordained test of our faith, sent to strengthen us in our faith and to set us apart from others. Our faith is to manifest itself in fixing our hope on the glory that is to come at the revelation of Christ, in our present fear of God and commitment to holiness, in our submission to those in authority, and in our resistance to Satan.
The principle problem underlying 2 Peter is the seductive heresies of false teachers who pervert the gospel, distort the Scriptures, downplay eternity, and seek to entice followers who will join with them in their addiction to fleshly lusts. We are to overcome these men and their errors by standing firmly on the promises of God’s sure and certain Word, by personal growth and maturity in our faith, by taking note of God’s dealings with the righteous and the rebels in Old Testament times, by looking for our Lord’s return, and by taking heed to the inspired epistles of other apostles such as Paul.
Initially, I believed the principle theme of 2 Peter was false teachers, and that theme is indeed prominent. But this is a negative truth. If we are to carry out Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 4:8 and 9, we must set our minds on what is true and wholesome and edifying—not on what is false. When one searches for the positive theme of 2 Peter in this light, the theme becomes very obvious. The sufficiency of the Scriptures is the principle theme of 2 Peter. False teachers are the dominant topic in chapter 2, and the first few verses of chapter 3, but the truths of the Word of God dominate every chapter.
In chapter 1, the Scriptures are the basis for our growth and progress in the faith:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 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, in order that by them you might become partakers of [the] divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust (2 Peter 1:2-4).
It is the sure and certain Scriptures to which we do well to pay attention:
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 And [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 (2 Peter 1:17-19).
In the last verses of chapter 1 and the first verses of chapter 2, we are warned concerning what false teachers will do to pervert the Scriptures in order to justify their sin and to seduce others to follow them:
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.
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 And 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 (2 Peter 1:20–2:3).
If these false teachers distort and deny the Scriptures, the Scriptures set us straight. The Scriptures instruct us over and over again about God’s intervention in history to deliver His saints and to keep the unrighteous under punishment, until God’s day of judgment comes.
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 thereafter; 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 with [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 (2 Peter 2:4-9).
The false teachers downplay eternity and deny a coming day of judgment:
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” (2 Peter 3:3-4).
Peter counters this by writing his inspired second epistle, exhorting them to remember and submit to the teachings of our Lord and His apostles:
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 (2 Peter 3:1-2).
The Scriptures prove the false teachers to be in error, for they not only tell us the world was created by God separating the land from the water, but also that the world of Noah was destroyed as God flooded it with water, bringing judgment because of man’s sin (2 Peter 3:5-6). The Scriptures describe God as eternal, not time-bound, so that 1,000 years of human time is like a day to God. The delays in divine interventions which seem long to us are not long at all to God (2 Peter 3:8). God’s “slowness” in judging the world is due to His mercy and grace and not to His disinterest (3:9).
The Scriptures include the writings of the apostle Paul, to which Peter gives apostolic approval and recommendation (3:14-16). These Scriptures are not always easy to understand, and thus false teachers twist and destroy them. Nevertheless, the inspired epistles of Paul, like the two epistles from Peter, are designed to help believers stand in times of testing and temptation.
We should not at all be surprised that Peter would turn us to the Scriptures in light of his soon departure by death and the emergence of false teachers. This same emphasis can be found in the teachings of our Lord, shortly before His death (see John 14:24-26; 15:7, 10-12; 16:1-15; 17:14-17; 21:15-17). And it was also the emphasis of the apostle Paul:
28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build [you] up and to give [you] the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:28-32; see also 2 Timothy 2:22–4:8).
False teachers abound in our day, and 2 Peter is a book we must study and apply to our lives. However, we should first, without reservation, accept this epistle fully as Scripture, just as it claims. We must also, as the epistle teaches, come to a greater appreciation of the sufficiency of the Scriptures for our every need. Peter does not seek to attract followers of his own. Rather, he challenges us to follow our Lord and come to a deeper and deeper love and appreciation for the Scriptures—the divine provision for knowing God and submitting to Him—and the provision for knowing and resisting fraud.
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, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust” (2 Peter 1:3,4).
1 Second Peter is one of the neglected books of the New Testament. Very few people will claim to have read it, still less to have studied it in detail. E.F. Scott says, “It is far inferior in every respect to First Peter;” and goes on, “It is the least valuable of the New Testament writings.” It was only with the greatest difficulty that Second Peter gained entry into the New Testament, and for many years the Christian Church seemed to be unaware of its existence. William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, [rev. ed], 1976. The Daily Study Bible Series, p. 283.
2 “Every book in the New Testament is challenged by some one, as indeed the historicity of Jesus Christ himself is and the very existence of God. But it is true that more modern scholars deny the genuineness of II Peter than that of any single book in the canon. This is done by men like F. H. Chase, J. B. Mayor, and R. D. Strachan, who are followers of Christ as Lord and Saviour.” A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1933), VI, p. 139.
3 William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, [rev. ed], 1976. The Daily Study Bible Series, p. 288.
4 Simon J. Kistemaker, Peter and Jude (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House), 1987. New Testament Commentary Series, p. 213.
5 Essentially I am following the arguments against Peter’s authorship as outlined by William Barclay on pages 285-288.
7 A. T. Robertson, pp. 139-140.
9 “There are some 361 words in I Peter not in II Peter, 231 in II Peter not in I Peter.” A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1933), VI, p. 141.
10 “This fact (3:15f.) has been used as conclusive proof by Baur and his school that Peter could not have written the Epistle after the stern rebuke from Paul at Antioch (Gal. 2:11f.). But this argument ignores one element in Peter’s impulsive nature and that is his coming back as he did with Jesus. Paul after that event in Antioch spoke kindly of Peter (I Cor. 9:5). Neither Peter nor Paul cherished a personal grudge where the Master’s work was involved.” A. T. Robertson, VI, p. 142.
11 Even John Calvin regarded it as impossible that Peter could have spoken of Paul as Second Peter speaks of him (3:15, 16), although he was willing to believe that someone else wrote the letter at Peter’s request. William Barclay, p. 285.
12 See 1 Corinthians 1:10-17; Philippians 2:1-8; 4:2-3.
15 Literally, the text in verse 1 of chapter 1 reads, “Simeon Peter. . . .” This is even a more dramatic indication that it is the Peter of the Gospels. But this does not impress the critics. They scoff at this choice of words, saying the imposter is “trying too hard.” The critics do not make their decisions on the basis of the evidence; rather, they view the evidence in the light of their presuppositions.
16 A. T. Robertson, VI, p. 140.
17 Simon J. Kistemaker, Peter and Jude (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House), 1987. New Testament Commentary Series, p. 215.
18 A. T. Robertson, VI, pp. 140-141.
19 Simon J. Kistemaker, Peter and Jude (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House), 1987. New Testament Commentary Series, p. 220.
Related Topics: Introductions, Arguments, Outlines
2. The Gospel According to Peter (2 Peter 1:1-4)
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; 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, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust (NASB emphasis mine).
1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: 2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires (NIV).
Introduction
Fundamentally, false teachers attack the gospel of Jesus Christ. While the church today may be soft on such things, the apostles were not (see Acts 20:29-32; 2 Corinthians 11:2-4; Galatians 1:6-10). In chapters 2 and 3 of 2 Peter, Peter exposes the error of those false teachers who prey upon the churches. He focuses in chapter 1 on the positive dimension of the spiritual life, summarizing in verses 1-11 what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about. In verses 12-21, Peter turns to the only source, and the only standard, for teaching and practice—the Scriptures as divinely revealed and authenticated to the apostles.
Our lesson will be restricted to the first four verses of chapter 1 in 2 Peter. In these verses, Peter distills for us the essence of the gospel. He indicates this is not just “his” gospel, but the gospel revealed through Christ, attested to by the Father, and consistent with the teaching of the apostles. To be able to recognize false teachers, we must first be crystal clear about the truth which they seek to undermine, pervert, and distort. Peter gives in these four verses the fundamentals of the gospel.
The Gospel According to Peter
When the Lord Jesus left His disciples to ascend and be with His Heavenly Father, He left the apostles in charge. It was to them and through them that His Word was to be conveyed to others (see Matthew 16:19; John 14:26; 16:12-15; Hebrews 1:1-2; 2:1-4; 2 Peter 1:12-19; 1 John 1:1-4). In these first verses of his second epistle, Peter reminds his readers of just what the gospel is. These verses summarize the gospel according to Peter and the apostles, as opposed to the “new gospel” of the false teachers (2 Peter 2 and 3; see also Galatians 1:6-10; 2 Corinthians 11).
(1) Peter’s gospel is an apostolically defined gospel. Peter introduces his second epistle by identifying himself as an apostle (verse 1). Thus, the gospel he defines is the apostolic gospel. Defining the gospel was the mission of the apostles (Galatians 1:6-10; Ephesians 2:20; 3:5). When a “false gospel” is introduced, it is often by “false apostles” (see 2 Corinthians 11:13). The true gospel is the gospel “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3).
(2) Peter’s gospel is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel in which Jesus Christ is central. Man is not central in the first four verses of this epistle; the Lord Jesus Christ is central. It is His righteousness which saves us (verse 1). It is through knowing Him that grace and peace are multiplied to us (verse 2). It is His divine power which grants us everything necessary for life and godliness. True knowledge comes through Him who called us (verse 3). His precious and magnificent promises enable us to become partakers of the divine nature (verse 4).
The false gospels of the false teachers seek to turn us from Christ to something or someone else:
11 But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity [of devotion] to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3).
1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and [attaining] to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, [resulting] in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, [that is,] Christ [Himself], 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with persuasive argument. 5 For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. 6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted [and now] being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, [and] overflowing with gratitude. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ (Colossians 2:1-8).
In these four verses, Peter presents the Lord Jesus as much more than a mere man. He is Peter’s Lord and Master, the One whom he serves (verse 1). He is not only a messenger of God, He is God. He has divine power (verse 3) and the divine nature (verse 4). He is God, “our God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (verse 1).20
(3) Peter’s gospel proclaims a salvation which rests on the righteousness of God, made available to sinful men in the person and work of Christ (verse 1). Man’s problem is his sin, his unrighteousness, which has brought him under the condemnation of a holy God (see Romans 3:23; 6:23). Peter writes here of the “corruption that is in the world through lust” (verse 4). No man can meet the divine standard of righteousness, for there is none righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10). God’s provision for sinful man is in Jesus Christ. He died in the sinner’s place, bearing the penalty for man’s sins. More than this, He offers the sinner His righteousness, so that we might be justified in God’s sight. This salvation is available to all who trust in Him, by faith (Romans 3:21-26).
(4) Peter’s gospel is the manifestation of sovereign grace. Nowhere is these verses does Peter speak of what we do to merit God’s salvation. He speaks of God’s grace and of His sufficient provision for our salvation in Christ. This passage has nothing to say about man’s contribution and everything to say about God’s perfection, power, and provision. The righteousness of which we partake is the righteousness of God in Christ which was bestowed upon us (verse 1). It was not that we sought after God (see Romans 3:11), but that God chose us, sought us, and “called us by His own glory and excellence” (verse 3).
Our salvation is a faith we have “received” (verse 1). The word “received” is the translation of a somewhat unusual term found only four times in the New Testament. It is an expression which gives no credit to the recipient of divine blessings. The term refers to a selection by the casting of lots. Note other passages where this term is used:
Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense (Luke 1:9-10, NIV, emphasis mine).
“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it” (John 19:24, NIV, emphasis mine).
“For he was counted among us, and received his portion in this ministry” (Acts 1:17, NASB, emphasis mine).21
If one were elected to office by a landslide vote, the winner might take pride in his election. But when one wins the lottery, the winner is elated at the victory but should feel no sense of pride in the outcome. His winning had nothing to do with him, his merit, or his worth. It simply fell to his lot to win. So it is with our “reception” of the gospel. It was given to us by grace so we could take no pride in it (see Romans 3:27; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; 4:7).
(5) Peter’s gospel is available to the whole world; it is not an exclusive gospel available only to the Jews. Peter writes that we have received “a faith that is of the same kind as ours” (verse 1). This unfortunately is not a very good translation, as one can see from the rendering of this text in other versions:
1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:1, KJV, emphasis mine).
1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours (2 Peter 1:1, NIV, emphasis mine).
The emphasis does not seem to be that the recipients of this epistle share the same kind of faith (as opposed to the false “faith” of the false teachers). The emphasis seems to be the quality of faith they share. The “us” would therefore seem to be (1) the apostles, (2) the Jewish saints, or (3) both. These Gentile saints are not second class citizens; they are full-fledged members of the household of faith, a truth Paul emphasizes in his epistle to the Ephesians:
11 Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” [which is] performed in the flesh by human hands—12 [remember] that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both [groups into] one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, [which is] the Law of commandments [contained] in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, [thus] establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20 having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner [stone], 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:11-22).
As seen in Acts 10 and 11, and again in chapter 15, this lesson did not come easily to Peter nor to the Jewish saints in Jerusalem.22 It is a lesson Peter momentarily forgot, one he was reminded of by Paul in Galatians 2:
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he [began] to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how [is it that] you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? 15 We [are] Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles; 16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified. 17 But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! 18 For if I rebuild what I have [once] destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness [comes] through the Law, then Christ died needlessly” (Galatians 2:11-21).
The gospel knows of no second-class citizens in the kingdom of God. This is because salvation is by grace and not of works. All men stand equal before God, because it is His righteousness in Christ which saves us and not our own righteousness.
(6) Peter’s gospel does not promise men everything they want or think they need; it does promise them all they truly need, in Christ (verse 2). The false teachers promise people what they want in the flesh:
1 I solemnly charge [you] in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season [and] out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but [wanting] to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths (2 Timothy 4:1-4; see also 2 Corinthians 2:17; 4:1-2; 2 Timothy 3:1-7; Jude 4, 16, 18).
The gospel turns men from sin to righteousness. Unlike the false teachers, who turn the grace of God into a pretext for sin (Jude 4), Peter speaks of salvation as a deliverance: “… having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust” (verse 4).
The “needs” of the flesh are deceptive and corrupt and can be characterized as “lusts.” Their end is corruption and death. False teachers speak of God as the great “need-meeter,” as the One who “is there for us,” eager and ready to satisfy our fallen desires. Peter speaks of God as all-sufficient who has made provision for all our true needs. The provisions of which Peter speaks are:
- faith (verse 1)
- righteousness (verse 1)
- grace and peace (verse 2)
- everything pertaining to life23 and godliness24 (verse 3) and
- His precious and magnificent promises (verse 4).
(7) The gospel Peter speaks of is a gospel which transforms men. Comparing the Peter we find in the Gospels and the new Peter we find in Acts and Peter’s epistles, we can readily see Peter was transformed by the gospel of which he writes. The man who once argued with his peers about who was the greatest now speaks of himself as a bond-servant of Christ (verse 1). The man who sought to rebuke his Lord and to prevent Him from suffering is now the man who writes of the glory of His suffering, and ours as well (see 1 Peter). The man who would not evangelize Gentiles (see Acts 10 and 11) and thought of Gentile converts as second-class saints (see Galatians 2:11-21) now speaks of them as equals (2 Peter 1:1). Peter indeed was not the same man we saw in the Gospels; Peter was transformed by the gospel.
The gospel did not just transform Peter; the gospel is the means by which God intends to transform every believer. It delivers us from the “corruption that is in the world through lust” and transforms us into the image of our Lord, so that we become partakers of His divine nature (verse 4). This is the teaching of Paul and John as well:
11 And He gave some [as] apostles, and some [as] prophets, and some [as] evangelists, and some [as] pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all [aspects] into Him, who is the head, [even] Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. 17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in [the likeness of] God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth (Ephesians 4:11-24, emphasis mine).
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined [to become] conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren (Romans 8:29, emphasis mine).
2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is (1 John 3:2, emphasis mine; see also 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Peter 1:14-16).
(8) The gospel according to Peter leads to discipleship. The gospel is about man’s deficiencies and God’s sufficiency. It is about God’s provisions for life and godliness which men accept as a gift of grace, in Christ. Men contribute absolutely nothing to their salvation, for it is the work of God in Christ. While men may not strive to contribute to their salvation, they are challenged to strive to grow in their Christian walk as disciples of our Lord. The gospel of verses 1-4 is the basis for Peter’s charge in verses 5-7. God is the One who sets the lost and undeserving on the path of salvation. This path becomes for the believer a path of discipleship, where we diligently strive to please Him as we appropriate the resources He has provided.
The “false gospel” of the false teachers leads to a life of self-indulgence; the gospel of the apostles leads to self-discipline and self-denial. Those who have trusted in Him who died on the cross are those who are willing to take up their own cross to follow Him.
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions (Colossians 1:24).
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Conclusion
That which stands out clearly in our text is the deficiency of man and the sufficiency of God. Man is unrighteous; God is righteous and He offers righteousness to men in Christ. Man is corrupted by worldly lusts; God is holy and offers men the opportunity to become partakers in the divine nature. We have nothing God needs or wants from us regarding our standing righteously before Him. And we have nothing which God does not have and which He has not made available to us. The gospel is about our need and God’s provision, in Christ.
Closely related to the emphasis on man’s poverty and God’s provisions is the important role of knowledge. Knowledge is referred to in verses 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8. Whenever man departs from God and from divine revelation, he is ignorant. Ignorance is the opposite of knowledge, and it is deadly. Peter told the Jews that when they murdered and disowned the Holy and Righteous One, the Prince of life, they acted in ignorance (Acts 3:14-17). Likewise, the idolatry of the pagan Athenians was ignorant (Acts 17:23, 30). Paul speaks of the ignorant unbelief of the Jews (Romans 10:3) and of his own ignorance as a persecutor of the church (1 Timothy 1:13). Peter has written in his first epistle that ignorance is evident in conforming to one’s lusts, while implying that knowledge leads to obedience (1 Peter 1:14). Peter also indicates that the resistance of unbelievers springs from ignorance (1 Peter 2:15). Later in 2 Peter we are told that false teachers are willfully ignorant of the reality of divine judgment in history (2 Peter 3:5). Ignorance is not bliss; it is death.
The New Testament instructs us that the cure for ignorance is knowledge. Let us note the emphasis on knowledge in verses 2, 3, 5, 6, 8. I take this to be doctrinal knowledge, for it certainly is knowledge of God and knowledge from God. It is scriptural knowledge, and it is true knowledge as opposed to false knowledge. This is the knowledge that protects the believer from false teachers and their teaching.
This knowledge is also the means by which grace and peace are multiplied to us (2 Peter 1:2). Everything pertaining to life and godliness is granted to us through the knowledge of Him who called us (1:3). Knowledge is one of the virtues the Christian should diligently pursue (1:5, 6).
The knowledge of which Peter writes is the knowledge of God as taught by the divinely revealed Word of God. It is also doctrinal knowledge, a propositional knowledge. Some tell us they do not worship doctrine—they worship Jesus. But, apart from doctrine, we cannot know which Jesus we worship. The maturing Christian is marked by his knowledge of God through the Scriptures (see Ephesians 1:15-23; 4:13; Philippians 1:9; Colossians 1:9-10; 2:2; 3:10; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Timothy 2:25; 3:7; Titus 1:1).
Knowledge can be perverted so that it becomes the enemy of love (see 1 Corinthians 8:1). Ideally, knowledge informs and regulates love (Philippians 1:9) and promotes godly living (Colossians 1:9-10). Godly teaching and instruction leads to love (1 Timothy 1:5). We also see from the Scriptures that knowledge of God leads to intimate fellowship with God:
10 That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death (Philippians 3:10).
I ask you, my friend, do you “know God,” or are you still ignorant? The way to know God is through His written Word and through the Word Incarnate, Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us about God, and the Lord Jesus revealed God to us in human flesh. He is God, manifested in human flesh; He died in our place and suffered the penalty for our sins. He is the righteous One who offers His righteousness to all who believe in Him, by faith. To know Christ is to know God and to have eternal life.
If you are a Christian, my question to you is a bit different. Are you growing in your knowledge of Christ? Do you know more of Him today than when you first believed? Is your walk with Him more intimate than before? Is there evidence of continued growth in your life? There should be. Our God is infinite, and our knowledge of Him in this life will never be complete. But we should be constantly growing as we feast on His Word and fellowship with other believers.
This message is about the gospel, as defined by Peter and the apostles. If you are a Christian, you may think you have already dealt with the gospel and therefore you do not have to consider this message. This is wrong thinking. The gospel is not just the truth we believe. It is not just the truth we proclaim to the lost. The gospel is the truth we live here on earth:
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk in Him (Colossians 2:6).
Because the gospel is the truth, it is under constant attack by Satan, by our culture, and by false teachers. Consequently, we are inclined to forget the importance of the gospel and slowly drift away from it. For this reason, both Peter and Paul felt it necessary to remind Christians about the central truths of the gospel. Peter writes in his second epistle:
12 Therefore, I shall 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 And 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 may be able to call these things to mind (2 Peter 1:12-15).
And Paul writes to the Philippians:
21 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things [again] is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you (Philippians 3:1; see also 1 John 2:21).
This is one of the reasons we at Community Bible Chapel believe the Lord instructed us to remember Him weekly by commemorating His death at the Lord’s Table (see Luke 22:14-20; Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34). May each of us be challenged to never allow this celebration to become routine or mere tradition. May the truths of the gospel never cease to warm our hearts, filling them with gratitude and praise toward Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. And may we grow in the “knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord 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” (2 Peter 2b, 3).
20 Even Barclay emphasizes the claim to Christ’s deity in this text: “The Authorized Version translates, ‘the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ,’ as if this referred to two persons, God and Jesus; but, as Moffatt and the Revised Standard Version both show, in the Greek there is only one person involved and the phrase is correctly rendered our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Its great interest is that it does what the New Testament very, very seldom does. It calls Jesus God. The only real parallel to this is the adoring cry of Thomas: ‘My Lord and my God’ (John 20:28).” William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, [rev. ed], 1976. The Daily Study Bible Series, p. 294.
21 My paraphrase of this verse would read: “For he was counted among us, and received his allotted portion of this ministry.”
22 Barclay comments on the uniqueness of the name “Symeon” found only in 2 Peter 2:1 and in Acts 15: “What has this to do with the name Symeon, by which Peter is here called? In the New Testament, he is most often called Peter; he is fairly often called Simon, which was, indeed his original name before Jesus gave him the name of Cephas or Peter (John 1:41, 42); but only once in the rest of the New Testament is he called Symeon. It is in the story of that Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 which decided that the door of the Church should be opened wide to the Gentiles. There James says, ‘Symeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name’ (Acts 15:14). In this letter which begins with greetings to the Gentiles who have been granted by the grace of God privileges of equal citizenship in the kingdom with the Jews and with the apostles Peter is called by the name of Symeon; and the only other time he is called by that name is when he is the principal instrument whereby that privilege is granted.” Barclay, p. 292.
23 The term Peter uses for “life” here is found 134 times in the New Testament in the King James Version. Of these 134 occurrences, hardly more than a half dozen speak of “life” in terms of physical, earthly life. Almost always they speak of “life” in its fullest sense--eternal life in Jesus Christ. And so Peter is here assuring us that the gospel is the promise of all that we need for true “life,” life in Christ. The following verses emphasize the eternal or spiritual dimensions of true life which comes from God by faith: Luke 12:15; 21:16-18; John 5:24-26, 39-40; 6:27, 33, 35, 54, 63, 68; 8:12; 10:10; 11:25; 12:25, 50; 21:30; Acts 2:28; 3:15; 5:20; 2 Corinthians 4:10; Galatians 6:8; Ephesians 4:8; Colossians 3:4; 1 Timothy 4:8; 2 Timothy 1:1; Titus 1:2; 3:7; James 1:12; 1 John 1:1, 2; 3:14, 15; 5:11, 12, 13, 16, 29; Jude 21; Revelation 2:7, 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 22:1, 2, 14, 17, 19.
24 See 1 Timothy 3:6; 4:7,8; 6:3,5,6,11; 2 Timothy 3:5; Titus 1:1; 2 Peter 1:3,6,7; 3:11.
Related Topics: Soteriology (Salvation)
3. The Pursuit of Christian Character (2 Peter 1:5-7)
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; 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, in order that by them you might 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.
Introduction
I have heard some incredible promises in my lifetime, just as you probably have also. Most often advertising promises far more than it delivers. But the promises of our text are completely reliable. Indeed, the benefits of heeding Peter’s words, and the consequences of neglecting them, are great:
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 (2 Peter 1:8-11).
Heeding Peter’s words keep us from being useless and unfruitful in our relationship with Jesus Christ (verse 8) and enables us to live in the present in light of our past conversion and our hope for the future (verse 9). Doing as Peter instructs can keep us from stumbling and assure us a triumphant entry into the kingdom of our Lord. Conversely, neglecting Peter’s instruction diminishes our perception and confidence in the salvation God has provided and sets us up for a fall.
Peter’s own words should convince us to pay careful attention, for the benefits pertain to our past, our present walk, and our future hope. May we approach our text with a deep sense of its importance and an open and willing heart eager to hear and heed what God’s Spirit has revealed.
Observations
In preparation for a more detailed study of Peter’s words, we must stand back and look at the big picture to understand the context for our further study. Note these observations about our text.
(1) Peter is writing to those who are saved about their sanctification, and not to the unsaved about their salvation. Peter does not challenge his readers to work hard in order to be saved, but to strive diligently because they are saved (see verse 1).
(2) Peter calls for diligent, disciplined, life-long effort on the part of the Christian (verse 5a). This is a discipleship text which requires discipline and self-denial. It is a challenge to every Christian for all the days of their lives. No Christian ever works his way through this text to move on to other pursuits.
(3) The Christian’s efforts are based on the sovereignty of God and the sufficiency of His provisions (verses 1-4). Peter has already laid the foundation for the Christian’s exertion. In verses 1-4, Peter emphasizes the sovereignty of God in salvation. Salvation has been accomplished by God, through Christ, apart from human works or merit. Peter also stresses the sufficiency of God’s provisions for our salvation and sanctification. God has provided all that is necessary for life and godliness (verse 3).
(4) Verses 5-7 contain a list of character qualities for which God has made provision and for which every Christian should strive. This is not a list of imperatives, duties, or activities. Peter is not writing about “how to,” but about the kind of person the Christian should strive to become.
(5) The character qualities we are to pursue are also the character traits of God. Peter has written in verse 4 that God has provided for us to become “partakers of the divine nature.” These character qualities he then lists are the particular character qualities of God which should also be evident in our lives.
(6) Peter gives us a list unlike any other list in the Scriptures. In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul lists the “fruit of the Spirit.” First Timothy 6:11 has yet another list of godly qualities the Christian should pursue. None of the New Testament lists are exactly alike, which suggests that Peter has given us a selected list and that there are other character qualities to pursue. It also implies Peter’s list was compiled for a particular reason. I believe this list of qualities was chosen because of the false teachers who will seek to distort the truth of the Scriptures and seek to seduce men to follow them. If the character qualities of verses 5-7 are also the attributes of God, they are in dramatic contrast to the character of the false teachers and their followers.
(7) A purposeful order and relationship is evident in this list of character qualities. This list of character qualities is not presented in a way that suggests a random order. Each quality builds upon the qualities before it. The sequence of qualities begins with faith and ends with love. These qualities are similar to the ingredients in a cake recipe where all ingredients are needed, but they should be added in the proper order.
Characteristics of a Growing Christian
(1) Faith. The first characteristic of the growing Christian has a uniqueness to it—the Christian is not instructed to supply faith. Faith is a given, something upon which the Christian builds. According to Peter, faith is given, for the readers of this epistle are those who “have received a faith of the same kind as ours” (verse 1). Faith is something we have received, not something we are to supply—because faith is a gift from God (see Romans 8:28-30; Ephesians 1:3-6; 2:8).
Faith begins as saving faith and then becomes the faith without which it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6); whatever does not originate through faith is sin (Romans 14:23). Our faith is based upon the revealed word of God (2 Peter 1:4; see Romans 10:8, 17). Our faith is tested, proven, and strengthened by the trials and adversity God allows to come into our life (1 Peter 1:6-7). Faith is not only the basis for belief but also the basis for our behavior (see Hebrews 11).
Our Lord Himself is the object and the source of our faith; Christ is also the model for our faith. It is easier to think of the Lord Jesus as the object of faith than to think of Him exercising faith. But His faith was exercised when He submitted to the will of the Father by taking on human flesh and suffering and dying at the hands of sinful men:
23 And while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously (1 Peter 2:23, emphasis mine).
If you have not come to a personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you cannot possibly pursue the course Peter prescribes in our text. To enter into that “faith,” which is of the same kind as the apostles (verse 1a), you must know God through Jesus Christ and find the righteousness you desperately lack in none other than Jesus Christ (verse 1b). Knowing Him brings grace and peace (verse 2). Only by His power are we granted everything necessary for life and godliness (verse 3). The basis of our salvation is the work of Christ, and the basis for our future hope is the promises of God. All we need to know about these is recorded in God’s Word (verse 4a). Trusting in God’s provisions, as revealed in God’s Word, makes us partakers of the divine nature and delivers us from the corruption of fleshly lusts (verse 4b). Taking on the divine nature does not happen quickly; it happens by the process of sanctification (verses 5-11). While this sanctification is individual, it also takes place through the body of Christ, the church (Ephesians 4:11-16). The process of sanctification is completed not in this life, but when we are with Him in glory (Philippians 3:8-14; 1 Peter 5:10; 2 Peter 3:13; 1 John 3:1-3).
(2) Moral Excellence. Of all the virtues listed by Peter in our text, this is by far the most difficult virtue to grasp. Two problems have troubled me in my study of this quality. First, the precise meaning of the term rendered “moral excellence” by the New American Standard Bible. The difficulty in defining the word Peter uses here can be inferred from the various ways it is translated:
- “virtue”—KJV, NEB, Berkeley
- “resolution”—Moffatt
- “goodness”—Goodspeed, Jerusalem Bible
- “moral character”—Williams
- “manliness”—Helen Montgomery—The Centenary Translation
- “Noble character”—Weymouth
- “real goodness of life”—Phillips
The second problem is that “moral excellence” precedes “knowledge.” One would think “knowledge” would be a necessary prerequisite to “moral excellence,” rather than the reverse.
The key to resolving these two problems seems to be found in the usage of this term in the Greek Translation of the Old Testament in the texts below:
- “I am the LORD, that is My name;
- I will not give My glory to another,
- Nor My praise to graven images” (Isaiah 42:8, emphasis mine).
- Let them give glory to the LORD,
- And declare His praise in the coastlands (Isaiah 42:12, emphasis mine).
- “The people whom I formed for Myself,
- Will declare My praise” (Isaiah 43:21, emphasis mine).25
When we compare these Old Testament uses of Peter’s term with all the New Testament occurrences of this same term, the meaning begins to come into focus:
8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things (Philippians 4:8, emphasis mine).
9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR [God’s] OWN POSSESSION, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9, emphasis mine).
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 (2 Peter 1:3, emphasis mine).
The King James Version of “virtue” most often refers to a characteristic or quality of God. In the Isaiah texts, it is that for which God is praised or praiseworthy. In Isaiah 42:8 and 12, it is an expression poetically paralleled with the glory of God. God’s glory is His virtue, His excellencies, for which He is worthy of praise. No wonder Paul will instruct the Philippian saints to set their minds on that which is both “excellent” and “worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8).
If His excellencies are God’s very nature, His glory for which men should praise Him, then our condition as unbelievers is exactly the opposite:
23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
Man in his sinful state refuses to give glory to God, deifying himself instead:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper (Romans 1:18-28).
God revealed His nature, His divine power and glory to sinful men, but they refused to give glory to Him. Instead of worshipping God their Creator, they worshipped created things. Instead of believing the truth, they believed a lie. As a consequence of their sin, God gave them over to a depraved mind so they could no longer grasp the truth. Apart from divine grace and intervention, sinful men were hopelessly lost.
The good news: God did act. He sought out sinful men and gave them faith in His Son. He enabled them to become partakers of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Since a part of this nature is His “own glory and excellence” (verse 3), it is little wonder this should become a part of our character as well. The “moral excellence” we are to “add” to our faith is the excellence of God’s nature, which He makes available to us in Christ. We are to “add” it to our faith by acknowledging it as good, as desirable, as worthy of praise, and as that which we wish to emulate in our own lives.
But why does excellence precede knowledge? I think we can understand this in light of Romans 1. Sinful men rejected the glory of God and established their own glory. As a result, they were darkened in their minds, unable to grasp divine revelation and truth. As a result of our salvation, we are now able to recognize the excellencies of our Lord and regard His excellencies as worthy of praise, embracing them as qualities we desire in our own life. When we embrace these virtues, we are then able to grasp the knowledge which comes next in the list of virtues. The apostle Paul puts it this way:
17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in [the likeness of] God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth (Ephesians 4:17-25; see also Ephesians 1:13-23).
To embrace the excellencies of God is to strive after them and then to express them in our lives to the glory and praise of God:
9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR [God’s] OWN POSSESSION, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9, emphasis mine).
Embracing and pursuing the excellencies of God means having the spirit of mind which exalts the Word of God and explores the Word for the knowledge of Him who saved us. Thus we see how “virtue” or “excellence” precedes “knowledge.”
17 “If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or [whether] I speak from Myself” (John 7:17).
In summation, the excellence or virtue of God is God’s glorious nature, which is our ultimate good we should pursue as the goal of our character to the praise and glory of God. Doing so produces a mindset receptive to the knowledge of God revealed through the Scriptures.
“Excellence” is greatly emphasized these days in the secular culture and also in the church. I must say with deep regret that none of the excellence sought after today is that of which Peter speaks in our text. The “excellence” often sought by Christians concerns numbers and worldly standards and appearances rather than the moral character which emulates the excellencies of our Lord to His praise and glory. But this is not a new problem. This same mindset characterized the saints of old, causing King Lemuel to write about the “virtuous woman” in Proverbs 31:10-31, where he contrasted the worldly standard of physical beauty with the moral excellence26 of godly character:
29 “Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all.” 30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, [But] a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised (Proverbs 31:29-30).
(3) Knowledge. In our former state as unbelievers, we were not knowledgeable; we were ignorant:
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts [which were yours] in your ignorance (1 Peter 1:14; see Ephesians 4:17-18).
The solution to our ignorance is having our minds transformed with the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, knowledge which comes from the Scriptures (see John 17:17; Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 4:17-24; Colossians 1:9-11) and is communicated through the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:6-16; Ephesians 1:17).
This is a doctrinal knowledge, a knowledge revealed in Scripture with clear biblical support. While it must be a doctrinal knowledge revealed in Scripture, it is also an experiential knowledge of God. This experience is not divorced from Scripture; rather, it is the experiencing of Scripture. The writer to the Hebrews puts it this way:
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes [only] of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:12-14).
Paul writes:
9 For this reason also, since the day we heard [of it], we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please [Him] in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light (Colossians 1:9-12).
This “knowledge” must also be understood as contrasting and contradicting the false knowledge of the false teachers who would undermine both the truth and the faith of the saints if they could:
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 And 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… 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. (2 Peter 2:1-3, 17-19).
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 to be 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 lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you 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 (2 Peter 3:14-18).
The knowledge of God is essential to our growth in Christian character and our ability to recognize and avoid those who teach what is false.
(4) Self-control. William Barclay informs us that the term rendered “self-control” means literally “to take a grip of oneself.”27 Self-control is the opposite of self-indulgence. As unbelievers, we are dominated by our physical appetites, enslaved as we are to them:
1 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts [which were yours] in your ignorance (1 Peter 1:14).
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest (Ephesians 2:1-3).
But we have been delivered from our bondage to the flesh:
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone [as] slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness (Romans 6:15-18; see Romans 8:12-13).
Living a godly life requires us to master the flesh and make it our servant, rather than our master:
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but [only] one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 25 And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then [do it] to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Sin uses the flesh to keep us in bondage (Romans 7:14-21). Satan and the world encourage us to live according to the flesh. But being a child of God requires that we live no longer for the flesh or in the power of the flesh. Our flesh still has a strong attraction, as Paul’s words in Romans 7 and our own experience make painfully clear. Only by God’s grace can we overrule fleshly lusts, and because of His provisions, we must diligently strive to do so. The prompting of the flesh must be brought under control, and we are to heed the prompting of the Spirit of God, as He speaks through the Word of God (see Romans 8:1-8; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; 3:16-17; 4:6).
False teachers appeal to fleshly lusts. They gather a following by proclaiming a gospel which indulges the flesh rather than crucifying it:
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 And 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.… 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 and that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; … 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 (2 Peter 2:1-3, 9-14, 18-19).
Such false teaching is not uncommon in the pulpit today. The “good-life gospeleers” offer a different gospel than the apostles. Rather than proclaim a gospel which involves suffering and self-denial, they proclaim a “better” gospel of self-indulgence and success in life. They promise that those who possess enough faith can escape suffering and adversity and be guaranteed peace and prosperity. They promise that when one gives a little, one may be assured of receiving much more in return. These rewards are not looked for in heaven as much as on earth, now.
The gospel of the apostles was very different:
24 But some days later, Felix arrived with Drusilla, his wife who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul, and heard him [speak] about faith in Christ Jesus. 25 And as he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for the present, and when I find time, I will summon you” (Acts 24:24-25).
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 Envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:19-23).
Let us not dilute the gospel to make it attractive to men by appealing to their fleshly lusts. We must proclaim the message of the gospel in its fulness and its simplicity, knowing that only through the Spirit of God are men enabled to grasp the truth of the gospel and quickened to do so (1 Corinthians 2:1-5, 14-16; 2 Corinthians 2:14-17; 3:1-11; 4:1-15).
(5) Perseverance.28 “Faith” brings us into relationship with God through Jesus Christ. “Moral excellence” seeks the character of God as the standard and goal for our own character. “Knowledge” describes what God is like, and what we should be like as well. “Self-control” enables us to curb our physical passions and to make our bodies servants of the will of God. The next character trait—“perseverance”—enables us to persist in our pursuit of godly character, even when we suffer for doing so.
If self-control has to do with physical pleasures, perseverance has to do with pain. Our natural tendency is to pursue pleasure and flee from pain. The gospel calls for us to identify with Christ, which includes identifying with Him in His suffering:
21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22 WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; 23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting [Himself] to Him who judges righteously; 24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. 25 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls (1 Peter 2:21-25).
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. 25 Of [this church] I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the [preaching of] the word of God, 26 [that is,] the mystery which has been hidden from the [past] ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:24-27).
Perseverance is the frame of mind and character which persists in doing what is right even though doing so may produce difficulties, suffering, and sorrows. Perseverance is the commitment to suffer in the short term in order to experience glory for eternity. Perseverance was exemplified by our Lord:
1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:1-3).
Perseverance also includes patience. In the light of eternity, suffering is light and momentary (see 2 Corinthians 4:17), but when our Lord’s tarrying seems to be endless, we desperately need patience to persist in the stewardship God has given to each of us. The false teachers point out that our Lord has not returned as proof that He will not. They urge men to live for the moment and to pursue fleshly pleasures, doubting the reality of a day of judgment or even our Lord’s return as told in Scripture (2 Peter 3:1ff.). Knowing that in God’s economy one day is as 1,000 years, and 1,000 years is like a day, we must patiently persist in doing what is right, looking for our eternal rewards when He returns.
(6) Godliness. The terms Peter employs here for “godliness” are infrequently used in the New Testament.29 This may be because the same expression was the most common word for religion in the pagan culture of Peter’s day.30 Godliness refers to practical religion, or, perhaps we should say, practiced religion. Godliness is the religion we practice in our day-to-day walk. It is …
“… the attitude of reverence which seeks to please God in all things. It desires a right relation with both God and men. Godliness brings the sanctifying presence of God into all the experiences of life.… This characteristic distinguishes the true believer from the ungodly false teachers (2:5-22; 3:7).”31
The Old Testament Law related true faith to the daily aspects of living. The New Testament does the same:
14 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, even while for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you shall receive greater condemnation.… 23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others” (Matthew 23:14, 23).
27 This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of [our] God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, [and] to keep oneself unstained by the world (James 1:27).
We were once “ungodly” as unbelievers, ripe for the judgment of God (see 2 Peter 3:7). Now that we have come to newness of life in Christ, we must put off our old way of life and put on the new:
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts [which were yours] in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all [your] behavior; 16 because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY” (1 Peter 1:14-16).
8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, [and] abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its [evil] practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him (Colossians 3:8-10).
(7) Brotherly kindness32 (Greek: Philadelphia33). “Brotherly kindness” is the love saints should have for one another as fellow-believers. It is a love based in part on what we share in common with the One we love. There is a certain element of reciprocity involved, for ideally we should be a blessing to our brother in Christ, and he should be a blessing to us.
This love, based on a shared relationship with Christ, can be sensed immediately even though two saints may never have met before. I well remember my first trip to India. Having arrived without anyone to meet me at the airport, I was very much alone. After a long train ride, I joined a group of Indian believers who were complete strangers. As we rode to our destination in an old van, we began to sing some of the hymns of the faith. A deep sense of brotherly love was evident as we found a bond of love in Christ.
This does not mean that brotherly love is a snap, that it is automatic. If it were, Peter would not have found it necessary to command us to pursue it with diligence, not only in his second epistle but also in his first:
22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, (1 Peter 1:22, emphasis mine).34
Sin not only alienates men from God, it also alienates them from one another. Thus, when men come to faith in Christ, they are united with Him and also with their fellow believers. This union of believers with one another crosses every barrier, racial or social:
11 Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” [which is] performed in the flesh by human hands—12 [remember] that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both [groups into] one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, [which is] the Law of commandments [contained] in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, [thus] establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity (Ephesians 2:11-16).
While God has removed the barrier between fellow-believers, this is something we must strive to practice and to preserve. It is a humanly impossible task for which God has provided the means to accomplish. As believers, we must diligently strive to practice brotherly kindness by employing these means.
(8) Love.35 This love is “agape love,” which might be called the highest love. It is also the capstone of all the virtues the Christian should pursue. Michael Green shows its uniqueness:
“In friendship (philia) the partners seek mutual solace; in sexual love (eros) mutual satisfaction. In both cases these feelings are aroused because of what the loved one is. With agape it is the reverse. God’s agape is evoked not by what we are, but by what he is. It has its origin in the agent, not in the object ... This agape might be defined as a deliberate desire for the highest good of the one loved, which shows itself in sacrificial action for that person’s good. That is what God did for us (Jn. 3:16). That is what he wants us to do (1 Jn. 3:16). That is what he is prepared to achieve in us (Rom. 5:5). Thus the Spirit of the God who is love is freely given to us, in order to reproduce in us that same quality.”36
While “Phileo love” is directed toward fellow-believers, “Agape love” is universal in scope. It is a love which applies both to believers and to unbelievers:
12 And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all men, just as we also [do] for you (1 Thessalonians 3:12).
Agape love is not prompted by what the other person is or does, but by a love rooted in what God is. It is the love of God which flows through us.
19 We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
Paul speaks of this love as the greatest of the Christian virtues (1 Corinthians 13:13).
As we love others we manifest the perfections of God to men:
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR, and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you 45 in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on [the] evil and [the] good, and sends rain on [the] righteous and [the] unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? 47 And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more [than others]? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48).
Conclusion
This 2 Peter passage makes several contributions to the Christian. First, it shows that the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man are not incompatible. We need not choose one in place of the other. The sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man are interdependent truths. Man cannot contribute to his salvation. Though the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, God did for us what we could not do for ourselves. All we must do is receive it, and even this occurs by divine grace. But once we have come to faith in Christ, we are to diligently strive after godly character—for God has provided the means for “life and godliness.” We strive in our Christian walk because He has given us the means. The sovereignty of God should never be an excuse for passivity or inactivity; rather, His sovereignty is the basis for disciplined living. The Christian life is not: “Let go, and let God;” it is “Trust God, and get going!”
Our text also contributes lessons on discipleship for the Christian. Salvation is the first step of discipleship. We must first believe in the gospel and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. Having done so, we must then forsake our former manner of life and former manner of thinking and engage ourselves in the pursuit of holiness. We are not merely saved to be rescued from the torment of hell and enter into the blessings of heaven. We have been saved to “proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of the darkness and into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). We have been saved to become partakers of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) and, by so doing, bring glory to Him.
We must be careful that our presentation of the gospel does not minimize what salvation is all about. Jesus never did (Matthew 5:1-16; Luke 9:57-62), and neither did Paul (Acts 14:22; 24:25; 2 Timothy 3:12). While men and women are saved so they may enter into God’s blessings, they are saved primarily to bring glory to God by manifesting His excellencies to men and to celestial powers (Ephesians 1:1-12; 3:10).
How interesting that Peter speaks of love as the end product of the Christian’s striving and not the source of it. Many wait to “feel” love and then act upon it. Peter tells the Christian he or she has already received faith, and they are to act on it so the outcome is love. For Peter, love is a result and not merely a cause. It seems to me we must say from the Scriptures as a whole that love is both a cause and an effect. Peter would have us strive to obtain love by obediently pursuing the characteristics of the divine nature.
Our text provides the means for Christian growth and also the means for how stumbling can be prevented. I wish the Christian community would wake up and see how we have exchanged Peter’s inspired list for another list, a list provided not under inspiration but from the warped thinking of unbelievers. According to a distressing number of believers, the key to understanding success in the Christian life, as well as failure, is “self-esteem.” Poor self-esteem is the source of failure; good self-esteem is the basis of success. Not according to Peter. Who, then, will you believe?
This leads to one of the most significant contributions of our text. In Galatians 5, Paul lists the “fruit of the Spirit” (verses 22-23), the qualities God produces through the work of the Holy Spirit. The key to manifesting the “fruit of the Spirit” is to “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16).
Peter has a list of qualities which includes some in Paul’s list in Galatians 5. But Peter does not emphasize the work of the Spirit, as true and as essential as the Spirit’s work is. What does Peter emphasize as the basis for Christian growth? Peter emphasizes the Word of God. He speaks of our salvation and our sanctification as the result of knowing God through His revealed Word. This is the thrust of his entire first chapter. In chapters 2 and 3, Peter shows how false teachers seek to undermine the Word and turn saints from the truths of Scripture. How quickly, how easily we are turned from the truths God has revealed in His Word to the alleged “truths” of men, who appeal not to the spirit but to the flesh. Let us recognize that the knowledge of God not only saves us but sanctifies us. This does not happen independently of the Spirit, but through the Spirit, as He illuminates the Word of God in our hearts.
Our text also tells us that Christian growth is neither automatic nor is maturity merely a function of time. I fear many Christians have a “civil service” mentality concerning their Christian growth. They seem to think that time alone results in growth and maturity. This is not the case:
11 Concerning him we have much to say, and [it is] hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes [only] of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:11-14).
Christian growth does take time, but growth occurs as believers diligently and obediently seek to grow, in the power of the Holy Spirit and through the provision of the Scriptures. The writer to the Hebrews rebukes his readers for failing to grow. Growth results from the application of biblical truth to daily living. Growth occurs when we employ the resources God has supplied through His Word.
Failing to grow does not mean that we simply grow stagnant, never moving beyond where we are in our spiritual life. No; failure to grow means we move backwards. According to Peter, failure in striving toward Christian growth and maturity sets us up for a fall. That which we once possessed we can lose. This happened to the church at Ephesus, who lost their first love (Revelation 2:4). If we do not use what we have, we lose it:
24 And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it shall be measured to you; and more shall be given you besides. 25 For whoever has, to him shall [more] be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him” (Mark 4:24-25).
Believer friend, I urge you: press on toward Christian maturity. Do not be content with where you are; press forward, even as the apostle Paul revealed about his own walk:
10 that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained [it], or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of [it] yet; but one thing [I do]: forgetting what [lies] behind and reaching forward to what [lies] ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; 16 however, let us keep living by that same [standard] to which we have attained (Philippians 3:10-16).
Are you growing colder as you get older in your Christian life? Or, are you, like Paul, pressing toward the upward call, seeking to know the Lord Jesus more and more intimately? May we all press on in the power of the Spirit of God, and through the provision of the Word of God.
25 Even with all the difficulties the translators have in determining what word best conveys Peter’s meaning in 2 Peter 1:5, the translations of the same term in these texts in Isaiah are consistently rendered “praise.”
26 It should be pointed out that the term Peter employs for “moral excellence” is not found in Proverbs 31:10, but the thought is certainly the same.
27 William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, [rev. ed], 1976. The Daily Study Bible Series, p. 302.
28 See Luke 8:15; 21:19; Romans 2:7; 5:3; 8:25; 15:4; 2 Corinthians 1:6; 6:4; 12:12; Colossians 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 1;3; 2 Thessalonians 1:4; 3:5; 1 Timothy 6:11; Titus 2:2; Hebrews 12:1; James 1:3,4; 5:11; 1 Peter 2:20; 2 Peter 1:6; Revelation 1:9; 2:2, 3, 19; 3:10; 13:10; 14:12.
29 Acts 3:12, 1 Timothy 2:2; 3:16; 4:7, 8; 6:3,5,11; 2 Timothy 3:5; Titus 1:1; 2 Peter 1:3,6,7; 3:11.
30 “The word eusebeia is rare in the New Testament, probably because it was the primary word for ‘religion’ in popular pagan usage. The ‘religious man’ of antiquity, both in Greek and Latin usage (where the equivalent word was pietas), was careful and correct in performing his duties both to gods and men. Perhaps Peter uses it here in deliberate contrast to the false teachers, who were far from proper in their behaviour both to God and their fellow men. Peter is at pains to emphasize that true knowledge of God (which they mistakenly boasted they possessed) manifests itself in reverence towards him and respect towards men. There is no hint of religiosity here. Eusebeia is a very practical awareness of God in every aspect of life.” Michael Green, 2 Peter and Jude (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1987), revised edition, p. 79.
31 D. Edmond Hiebert, Second Peter and Jude (Greenville, South Carolina: Unusual Publications, 1989), p. 54.
32 “But godliness cannot exist without brotherly kindness. ‘If any one says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar’ (1 Jn. 4:20). Love for Christian brethren is a distinguishing mark of true discipleship, and represents yet another area where the false teachers were so distressingly deficient. ... Love for the brethren entails bearing one another’s burdens, and so fulfilling the law of Christ; it means guarding that Spirit-given unity from destruction by gossip, prejudice, narrowness, and the refusal to accept a brother Christian for what he is in Christ. The very importance and the difficulty of achieving this philadelphia is the reason for the considerable stress on it in the pages of the New Testament (Rom. 12:10; 1 Thes. 4:9; Heb. 13:1; 1 Pet. 1:22; 1 Jn. 5:1).” Green, p. 79.
“‘Brotherly kindness’ . . . ‘the brother-love’ or ‘brotherly affection’ toward fellow members of the family of God is the fruit of the new life (1 Peter 1:22). The term expresses the warm, brotherly affection between those who are spiritual relatives in the family of God. It is more than a passing disposition of fondness for fellow believers; it manifests itself in overt acts of kindness toward them (Gal. 6:10). It was this affectionate relationship in the early Church among Christian converts, in spite of their diverse status and varied backgrounds, that amazed the pagans around them.” Hiebert, p. 54.
33 We find this term in Romans 12:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:9; Hebrews 13;1; 1 Peter 1:22 (see also 3:8); 2 Peter 1:7.
34 It should be noted that in 1 Peter 1:22, both the noun, Philadelphia, and the verb, Agape, are found. Some seek to make too much of the distinction between “Phileo love” and “Agape love.” These two terms are sometimes interchanged. This is true in John 21:15-17.
35 Matthew 24:12; Luke 11:42; John 5:42; 13:35; 15:9,10,13; 17:26; Romans 5:5,8; 8:35,39; 12:9; 13:10; 14:15; 15:30; 1 Corinthians 4:21; 8:1; 13:1,2,3,4,8,13; 14:1; 16:14,24; 2 Corinthians 2:4,8; 5:14; 6:6; 8:7,8,24; 13:11,14; Galatians 5:6,13,22; Ephesians 1:4,15; 2:4; 3:17,19; 4:2,15,16; 5:2; 6:23; Philippians 1:9, 17; 2:1,2; Colossians 1:4,8,13; 2;2; 3:14; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 3:6,12; 5:8,13; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 2:10; 3:5; 1 Timothy 1:5,14; 2:15; 4:12; 6:11; 2 Timothy 1:7, 13; 2:22; 3:10; Titus 2:2; Philemon 1:5,7,9; Hebrews 6:10; 10:24; 1 Peter 1:8; 4:8; 5:14; 1 John 2:5; 3:1,16,17; 4:7,8,9,10,12,16,17,18; 5:3; 2 John 1:3,6; 3 John 1:6; Jude 2,12,21; Revelation 2:4,19.
Related Topics: Spiritual Gifts, Sanctification
4. A Secured Faith that Keeps the Saints from Stumbling (2 Peter 1:8-11)
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; 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, in order that by them you might 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.
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.
Introduction
One of my seminary professors announced to our class that he would be gone for a week. An excellent golfer, he had been invited to speak to a group of believers who were golf professionals. I asked if he planned to preach a “golf” theme similar to Billy Sunday who used to preach with a “baseball” theme. If so, I suggested his title might be, “Where will you be at the last hole?” I was rewarded with a chuckle from this southern gentleman, who pondered a moment before saying, “If you think of any more titles like that before I leave, give me a call.”
A “golf title” for the 2 Peter 1:8-11 text which we are considering in this message might be, “How to avoid the sand traps of the Christian life.” In the first four verses of his epistle, Peter lays a foundation for what follows by reminding his Christian readers of the sufficiency of the resources which our sovereign God has provided for our salvation and for our sanctification:
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; 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, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust (2 Peter 1:1-4).
In these verses, Peter sets out the goal of our salvation and its means. Through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we have been given faith in Him, resulting in a salvation which destines us to become like Christ. Having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust, we are now destined to become partakers of the divine nature (see also Romans 8:28-29). The means by which God works in and through us is His Word, “His precious and magnificent promises” (verse 4).
In verses 5-7, Peter explains the method by which we work out our faith and strive toward Christlikeness. Beginning with faith, Peter sets out eight character qualities for which the believer should diligently strive:
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.
These verses go much further than a mere explanation of the steps to Christian maturity—they exhort us to exert ourselves in the pursuit of holiness. Contrary to the views of some (certainly not most Calvinists), the sovereignty of God is no excuse for laziness or inactivity. Indeed, inactivity is one of the evils from which we are to be delivered (see verse 8). The sovereignty of God and the sufficiency of His provisions are the basis for our diligent pursuit of Christian character as laid out in verses 5-7.
What a wonderful incentive to godly living we find in verses 1-7. God has saved us from our sins through the righteousness of His Son. He has purposed for us to be conformed to the image of His Son. He has made every provision for us, as we strive by His grace, to attain the divine qualities of verses 5-7. Now, in verses 8-11, Peter provides even further motivation for us to apply all diligence in supplying what God requires of us and produces in us.
The Structure of Our Text
Our text falls into two main parts. Verses 8 and 9 outline the negative benefits of pursuing holiness as previously described in verses 5-7. Verses 10 and 11 are another exhortation to believers to pursue holiness, with a two-fold assurance: those who do so will never stumble (verse 10), and those who do so will have an abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (verse 11).
Assumptions
Looking at our text more broadly will help before we begin a detailed study of verses 8-11.
(1) This text is a battlefield. No one can approach this text with a neutral frame of mind. Each of us has our own preferences and presuppositions based upon our desires, our experiences, our previous exposure to teaching, our own personal study, and our own theological persuasions. In days gone by, the teaching of John Calvin influenced the way some interpret this text. In more recent times, the so-called “Hodges/MacArthur Controversy” has tended to polarize Christians into opposing sides, and this text is viewed as critical by both.
In studying this text over the past several weeks, I have been painfully aware that I have friends on both sides of this debate. I love and respect my friends on both sides. I feared that in my exposition of this text, I would side with one group and alienate the other. My apprehension has now increased as I came to the conclusion that I can side with neither position, and thus I may offend all.
If we cannot set aside our biases, at least we should acknowledge them, and pray that God may, through His Spirit, use this text to reshape our theology rather than allow our theology (or just plain prejudice) to warp our interpretation of this text.
(2) Peter assumes his readers are saved. While every audience of believers may include some who are lost, Peter writes to this group of saints as if they were true believers. Consider these statements in verses 1-12:
“… to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, … ” (v. 1).
“ … in your faith supply… ” (verse 5).
“having forgotten his purification from his former sins” (verse 9).
“Therefore, brethren, … ” (verse 10).
“… to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you” (verse 12).
In our text, Peter is not seeking to create doubt in the minds of his readers about whether they are saved. Rather, he is writing to them as though they were saved.
(3) In these verses, Peter does not teach that a person must work to earn or obtain their salvation. Verses 1-4 emphasize that we have been saved solely on the basis of the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. We in no way contribute to our salvation through our own efforts or works. Verses 5-7 call upon every Christian to diligently strive to supply the virtues which the grace of God makes possible for the saint. We do not work to be saved; we work because we have been saved. A living faith works (see James 2). But that faith has been received (2 Peter 1:1).
(4) The list of dangers Peter enumerates does not include “losing one’s salvation.” Just as Peter, nor any other biblical author, does not teach that one is saved by works, neither does he teach that one stays saved by works. All things are of Him, through Him, and to Him (Romans 11:36). We possess nothing spiritually which we have not received from God (1 Corinthians 4:7). Our salvation is certain because He is faithful and does not change, and no one shall pluck us from His hand (see James 1:17; Philippians 1:6; John 10:27-30).
(5) The list of dangers Peter enumerates in this text does not include “doubting one’s faith.” In the current faith/works debate, both sides seem to agree that 2 Peter 1:8-11 is about assurance. Those who emphasize faith insist that the believer’s assurance is to be found in God, in His sovereignty, and in the sufficiency of His provisions. Those who stress the necessity for works (as an evidence of faith) insist that there is some measure of assurance to be gained by obedience and fruitfulness. As we see God at work in our lives, we are more confident that our faith is alive and well, they say. I see a measure of truth in both positions, but I do not see Peter emphasizing assurance in this text. It is not assurance that is so prominent, but what we attain (an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God, verse 11) and what we avoid (uselessness, unfruitfulness, blindness, short-sightedness, forgetfulness, stumbling).
The Benefits of Pursuing Holiness
In 1 Peter 1:13-21, Peter exhorted the saints to leave behind their former manner of thinking and conducting themselves and to pursue holiness, because God is holy (see especially verses 14-16). In that text, Peter did not spell out how holiness was to be pursued to the degree that he now does in 2 Peter 1:1-11. Here Peter informs us that the goal is to “become partakers of the divine nature”—becoming conformed to the image of Christ (see also Romans 8:28-30; Ephesians 4:13). The basis for this is found in the redemptive work God has accomplished in Christ and the provision of His Word. The means by which this is accomplished is our diligent pursuit of holiness, as we depend upon God and His provisions for our growth and maturity.
All of this has been spelled out in verses 1-7. Now, in verses 8-11, Peter enumerates some of the personal benefits the Christian gains from the pursuit of holiness. These benefits are described both negatively and positively. Peter begins with the negative benefits in verses 8-9 and then urges us to “be all the more diligent to make our calling and election sure,” with the assurance that “as long as you practice these things,” you will never stumble, and you will have an abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Benefits of Being Blessed By What We Avoid
Salvation brings with it two-fold blessings. We are blessed by what we gain just as we are blessed by what we escape or leave behind. For example, we are blessed by being justified, declared righteous through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We are also blessed by what we leave behind or escape: our sins are forgiven and forgotten. Those who are saved gain entrance into heaven; we are likewise blessed by escaping the horrors of hell. In Peter’s words, we not only “become partakers of the divine nature,” we also “escape the corruption that is in the world by lust” (2 Peter 1:4). Let us consider those blessings which Peter lists that we experience by escaping evil and its consequences.
(1) The blessing of avoiding uselessness and unfruitfulness (verse 8). The term rendered “useless” may also mean “idle.” An “idle” person is unproductive and thus useless. One who is not diligently pursuing holiness, as Peter describes in verses 5-7, is idle and useless. One who diligently pursues holiness is being useful.
The “useless” or “idle” saint may not immediately appear to be either idle or useless. He or she may be very busy. They might be called “hard-working” or even a “workaholic” by their peers. The sluggard of the Book of Proverbs also works hard at what he likes, but he is idle with regard to those things that are demanding or disgusting to him. The one who pursues holiness is neither idle nor useless with regard to spiritual attitudes and actions.
Our Lord had some very harsh words for those who are lazy and idle. Consider His words to this steward:
24 “And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no [seed.] 25 And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground; see, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I scattered no [seed.] 27 Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my [money] back with interest. 28 Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ 29 For to everyone who has shall [more] be given, and he shall have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. 30 And cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:24-30, emphasis mine).
This slave did not make use of what the master had given him. He was idle and unprofitable, and his punishment was severe.37
I understand the term “unfruitful” to be a synonym of “idle” or “useless,” further explaining what Peter meant by the first term. To be idle is to be unprofitable or unfruitful. Fruitfulness has always been regarded as characteristic of the saint and unfruitfulness a condition to be avoided (see Psalm 1:3; Matthew 3:7-10; 7:17-19; 13:23; John 15:1-8; Galatians 5:22-23; Philippians 1:11). Our Lord’s cursing of the barren fig tree is indicative of His displeasure toward those who are unfruitful (see Matthew 21:19-22).38
(2) The blessing of avoiding blindness and short-sightedness (verse 9). Those who are not saved are blind to spiritual truth:
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
The Christian’s spiritual eyes are opened so that spiritual truth can be seen. The Christian is divinely enabled to “see” the “unseen:”
14 “And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; 15 FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, AND WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES LEST THEY SHOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I SHOULD HEAL THEM.’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear” (Matthew 13:14-16).
17 “‘Delivering you from the [Jewish] people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, 18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me’” (Acts 26:17-18).
1 Now faith is the assurance of [things] hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1; see also Hebrews 12:1-2).
8 And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory (1 Peter 1:8).
16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Spiritual sight is divinely given at the time of one’s conversion, and spiritual illumination continues to take place through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 2:6-16).
As we have seen above, the “eye” is used of more than merely physical sight. The “eye” is used to refer to one’s perception and desires:
15 “‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’” (Matthew 20:15).
34 “The lamp of your body is your eye; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness (Luke 11:34 NAS).
14 Having eyes full of adultery and that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children (2 Peter 2:14).
The key to understanding Peter’s words regarding blindness may well be found in this text in Matthew:
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11 And He answered and said to them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12 For whoever has, to him shall [more] be given, and he shall have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; 15 FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, AND WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES LEST THEY SHOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I SHOULD HEAL THEM. ‘ 16 But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. 17 For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see [it]; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear [it]” (Matthew 13:10-17).
According to Jesus’ words here, the ability to continue to “see” as he should is dependent upon his response to what he has already “seen.” To fail to appropriate previous revelation makes one increasingly blind to spiritual realities. Practicing the truth one has received causes one to possess that truth and prepares them for “seeing” further truths.
This is what Peter teaches in our text. The pursuit of verses 5-7 is putting into “practice” the knowledge God has provided, a knowledge sufficient for “life and godliness.” To fail to pursue holiness is to become increasingly blind. Spiritual blindness manifests itself as short-sightedness.39 Instead of “fixing our hope” on the spiritual and eternal certainties which God has promised and provided for us, we see only in the present. No wonder this generation has been called the “now generation.” It is a sad statement of the spiritual blindness of our age, a blindness which has resulted from ignoring the truths of the Word of God. The pursuit of holiness keeps us from impaired spiritual vision.
(3) The blessing of avoiding forgetfulness concerning our purification from our sins of the past (verse 9). We have a neighbor who suffers from Alzheimers disease. She does not remember who anyone is, including her husband. Perhaps even worse, she does not remember who she is. Forgetfulness is a terrible ailment. I think we would almost rather be offended by someone, especially our mate, than be forgotten by them.
In one sense, Christians are to forget the past. We should not be haunted by guilt, for those sins which have been forgiven. We are not to rest upon the laurels of past achievements but “press on for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). But we should never forget what we once were apart from Christ, and what we have now become, in Christ (see Ephesians 2:11-22). We are to rejoice in our redemption. We are to be constantly filled with gratitude. We are to remember that our sins have been forgiven.
Paul never forgot who he was and what God had done in his life, forgiving him of his sins and trans-forming him from a persecutor of the church to a preacher of the gospel:
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service; 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. And yet I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; 14 and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are [found] in Christ Jesus. 15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost[of all.] 16 And yet for this reason I found mercy, in order that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, [be] honor and glory forever and ever. Amen (1 Timothy 1:12-17).
This message is being written on my computer which has several forms of “memory.” One form is known as “ram”—random access memory. This memory must be “refreshed” literally millions and millions of times, or it will be lost. When the power to the computer is turned off (or goes off in a thunderstorm), all “ram” memory is lost in a fraction of a second.
Our memory of spiritual things is just about as volatile and short-lived. This is why we are reminded so often in the Bible. How many times did Jesus repeat the same truths to His disciples? How many times in the Scriptures are we admonished not to forget what God has said and done? How many times are we encouraged to remember the great spiritual truths of the Bible?
Peter’s words indicate to us that the pursuit of holiness, as described in verses 5-7, is a divinely appointed means of keeping our memories refreshed, of preventing forgetfulness. When we cease to strive after holiness, we become forgetful of our forgiveness from our sins. A kind of spiritual Alzheimers disease sets in, and we become a different person than we once were when our spiritual memories were intact.
How does the pursuit of holiness refresh our memory? I think Paul tells us in Colossians 2:
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted [and now] being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, [and] overflowing with gratitude (Colossians 2:6-7).
The spiritual life should be pursued in the same way we were saved. Salvation is the way of the cross. Sanctification is likewise the way of the cross (see 1 Peter 1:17-21). Thus, we must “take up our cross daily” if we are to be our Lord’s disciples. To pursue holiness is to walk in the way of the cross, to die to self and to live out the life of Christ (see Romans 6:2-11; 1 Peter 2:18-25; 3:15-22; 4:1-2).
False teachers take forgetfulness to the extreme. They not only forget the Master and His redeeming work on Calvary, they deny Him (see 2 Peter 2:1, 20-22). But the individual of our 2 Peter 1:8-11 text is not one who doubts his salvation; he is one who so carelessly lives his life he does not even remember it. He goes about his daily life as though he were not saved, not a new creation, not a possessor of eternal life. His life thus becomes one centered about this world and what it has to offer (see 2 Timothy 4:10). Christians in this condition are indistinguishable from unbelievers, so far as their attitudes and actions can be judged by others.
Peter’s Exhortation and Assurances
(1:10-11)
With his introductory word “therefore,” Peter indicates that verses 10-11 flow out of the verses which precede them. The Christian not only seeks godliness, he shuns ungodliness (compare Romans 12:9). The Christian should therefore delight in Peter’s words in verses 8 and 9. We should all find the promise of avoiding uselessness and unfruitfulness, blindness or short-sightedness, and forgetfulness a great encouragement to the pursuit of holiness.
Peter’s exhortation is now put before the reader:
10a … be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you…
I must admit I am not excited about the way the translators of the NASB have rendered this exhortation. Consider the ways other translations have rendered this text:
Wherefore then rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure (KJV).
Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure (NIV).
All the more then, my friends, exert yourselves to clinch God’s choice and calling of you (NEB).
Brothers, you have been called and chosen: work all the harder to justify it (Jerusalem Bible).
Set your minds, then, on endorsing by your conduct the fact that God has called and chosen you (J.B. Phillips).
Exert yourselves the more then, brothers, to confirm your calling and election (Berkeley).
So, dear brothers, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen (Living Bible).
To properly interpret verse 10, we must do several things. First, we must locate every biblical passage which employs the terms rendered “make certain about” in the NASB. From all these texts and various uses of these terms, we must decide what the options are for translating this term. We must consider these options in the light of biblical theology. Finally, from the immediate context of verse 10, along with the broader context of the previous verses, we must decide which of these options best conveys Peter’s meaning here.
The term Peter uses in verse 10, rendered “make certain about,” is also found in Romans 4:16; 2 Corinthians 1:7; Hebrews 2:2; 3:6, 14; 6:19; 9:17; and 2 Peter 1:19.
One of the most critical texts is Romans 4:16:
16 For this reason [it is] by faith, that [it might be] in accordance with grace, in order that the promise may be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (Romans 4:16, emphasis mine).
In this text, Paul not only employs the term “certain,” he also uses it in such a way that we can tell what Peter cannot mean where he employs the same term. Paul writes that God has designed “it” (justification) to occur “by faith,” so that “the promise” (of justification or salvation) might be certain. In the context, Paul instructs us that if salvation were by our works, it would not be certain because it would depend on us. Justification by faith makes the promise of salvation—of the forgiveness of sins (see verses 7-8)—certain. We can therefore hardly suppose that Peter is now saying the opposite, namely, that we make our election and calling certain by our works, by working hard at the pursuit of holiness.
Now let us consider the other passages where the adjective40 “firm” or “certain” is employed:
7 And our hope for you is firmly grounded [“stedfast,” KJV], knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are [sharers] of our comfort (2 Corinthians 1:7, emphasis mine).
2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable [“stedfast,” KJV], and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense (Hebrews 2:2, emphasis mine).
6 But Christ [was faithful] as a Son over His house whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end (Hebrews 3:6, emphasis mine).
14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm [“stedfast,” KJV] until the end (Hebrews 3:14, emphasis mine).
19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a [hope] both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil (Hebrews 6:19, emphasis mine).
17 For a covenant is valid [only] when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives (Hebrews 9:17, emphasis mine).
19 And [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 (2 Peter 1:19, emphasis mine).
From all the uses of this term in the Bible, it seems the expression refers either to setting something in motion—to activate or fix something securely—so it cannot be moved. A will is not activated—set in motion—until the death of the one who made the will (Hebrews 9:17). Christ set in motion the promises of the Old Testament prophets in such a way that they cannot be stopped (see Romans 4:16; 15:8). Paul’s hope for the Corinthians was firm; it was unshakable (2 Corinthians 1:7). The prophetic word has been made sure by the miraculous display of power which accompanied its origins (see Mark 16:20; Hebrews 2:2, 3; 2 Peter 1:19) and thus we see that God’s promises are a solid foundation, something we can trust as sure and certain. Just as God does not change (see James 1:17), neither does His Word. We have “an anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:19) which cannot be moved. We are therefore held fast and secure.
Peter is not urging us to “make certain about” our election and calling. Our election and calling are from God, and they are not reversible (see Romans 8:29-30; 11:29). On the one hand, the God who has called us will confirm us to the end:
4 I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who shall also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:4-8).
On the other hand, we are not to be passive in our salvation and sanctification. We must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive the salvation God has provided through Him (see John 6:28-29; Acts 2:38; 16:31; Romans 10:8-15). Likewise, while faith is a gift from God (2 Peter 1:1), we must add to our faith through the provisions God has given to us (2 Peter 1:3-7).
I believe the exhortation in verse 10 is but an intensified repetition of that given in verses 5-7:
5a Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply … (2 Peter 1:5a).
10a Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure … (2 Peter 1:10a).
We are to continually strive to grow in our faith and in the godly qualities Peter spells out in verses 5-7. As we do so, we confirm, or establish, that which God began and which He is committed to establish in and through us. To make our calling and election sure is to make it stable. It is to set our lives on a course that cannot, and will not, be changed or moved away from the faith. It is to become so solid and stable that we will not be moved, especially by those who come to us with another gospel:
13 Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all [aspects] into Him, who is the head, [even] Christ (Ephesians 4:13-15).
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted [and now] being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, [and] overflowing with gratitude. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ (Colossians 2:6-8).
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not [in] vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58).
6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel (Galatians 1:6).
6 But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind (James 1:6).
Peter buttresses his exhortation to pursue holiness by summing up the benefits in two contrasting promises. On the one hand, the pursuit of holiness gives us a stability, a steadfastness which keeps us from stumbling. Since Peter is writing to Christians here, I do not believe he is referring to a “fatal fall” which results in the loss of one’s salvation. I believe he is speaking of the kind of stumbling which results in being useless and unfruitful, but not complete destruction.
24 When he falls, he shall not be hurled headlong; Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand (Psalms 37:24).
14 The LORD sustains all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed down (Psalms 145:14).
16 For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, But the wicked stumble in [time of] calamity (Proverbs 24:16).
The term “stumble” is used elsewhere in Romans 11:11 and James 2:10; 3:2 (twice). In these texts “stumble” seems to mean “to sin.”41 Peter surely knew what it meant to “stumble.” And so do we. But sinning is not inevitable. It is avoidable, by the pursuit of godliness in the power and provisions of God. When we cease to grow in Christian character and conduct, we set ourselves up for a fall.
If our diligence to make our calling and election sure keeps us from stumbling, it also promises us something very positive—it promises us an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God:
11 For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you (2 Peter 1:11).
The Bible teaches that some Christians will enter into God’s kingdom by the proverbial “skin of their teeth:”
12 Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is [to be] revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).
5 [I have decided] to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 5:5).
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep (1 Corinthians 11:28-30).
It is certainly possible for a Christian to live in such a way that God removes him from this life (1 Corinthians 5:5; 11:28-30). I do not think one would expect a “Well done, good and faithful servant!” upon his arrival in the presence of God. He will be saved, yet as by fire (1 Corinthians 3:15). For the Christian who pursues holiness, there is a far better entrance into the kingdom of God. It is an entrance we eagerly anticipate (see Philippians 1:19-23; 3:14; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10). It is an entrance abundantly supplied to us. This is the reward of diligently seeking to confirm our calling and election.
Conclusion
While God has ordained that we will be conformed to the image of His son (Romans 8:28-30), we are to be actively involved in this process. There is a sense in which the growth process involves the entire body of believers. Paul speaks of this corporate growth in Ephesians 4:11-16 and elsewhere in relation to the concept of spiritual gifts. But there is also a sense in which spiritual growth is a life-long personal endeavor, to be strenuously engaged in by every individual believer. This is what Peter urges us to do in our text.
Each individual believer is to pursue holiness, actively striving to manifest the “divine nature” in his or her life, not only because this is our destiny but because it is our duty. And we are to actively do so not only because of what it promises but also because of what it prevents.
The dangers Peter speaks of here are very real dangers for the Christian. Who should know better than Peter himself? These things can and do happen to Christians. They do happen when we fail to pursue holiness, as urged in verses 5-7. When we pursue spiritual growth through God’s provisions, we begin to manifest the “divine nature” of God. When we cease to grow, we stumble, and we become hardly distinguishable from the false teachers described later, or even rank pagans.
The promises of God are just as certain as the warnings and threats of the Word. The threats or the promises of Scripture are “made sure” by our acting, either in obedience to the commands or in disobedience. Our actions activate the promises or the threats. We avoid the sandtraps of life, as outlined here by Peter, by pursuing holiness—the characteristics of God which He has purposed to be ours. We may possess the promises by making use of what God has provided:
24 And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it shall be measured to you; and more shall be given you besides. 25 For whoever has, to him shall [more] be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.” (Mark 4 NAS)
11 Concerning him we have much to say, and [it is] hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes [only] of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:11-14).
This text does not focus on doubt, but on faith and the proper aspirations and fears faith instills within the Christian. We are to remember what we once were and the redemption we have received in Christ. But we are not to be content with what we are now in Christ. We are to press on to a greater and more intimate knowledge of Christ and to a more complete obedience to His will and His Word.
Our motivation should be to become more like our Master and to fulfill the task for which we were chosen and called. Our confidence is in Him, in His character and His provisions for our growth, godliness, and final salvation. We labor and strive, not to earn our salvation but to demonstrate the salvation God has accomplished in Christ. Our dread should be in falling short of what God’s provisions have enabled us to become.
This text from the pen of Peter has caused me to think differently about what Paul has written to us in 1 Corinthians 10:
13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).
I have always thought the “way of escape” was not evident until the time of crisis, and the escape was by some kind of divine intervention. Such “escapes” do take place occasionally, but we should not seek to force them by leaping from the pinnacle of some temple, as Satan sought to tempt our Lord, thereby forcing the Father to come to His rescue (see Matthew 4:5-7). I have heard Christians say, “If God doesn’t want me to do this, He will stop me.” The problem is that what they are doing is biblically wrong. They should turn from sin rather than expect God to rescue them from it.
Peter’s words, found in 2 Peter 1:5-11, are God’s “way of escape.” We do not have to enter into temptation. We should desire to stay as far from temptation as possible (see Matthew 6:13). The pursuit of godly character—the pursuit of holiness—as Peter has described it in these first 11 verses of his second epistle, is God’s primary means of escape. Growth in godliness keeps us from sin.
I would like to ask you two simple questions as we conclude this text.
First, have you been born again? If you have not been born again, then you do not have life in Jesus Christ, and thus you cannot expect to grow spiritually. Peter is writing to those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. If you have not yet trusted in Him for the forgiveness of your sins, then there is no need for you to think about growth. Peter urges us to add to the faith which God has given to us (verse 5). I urge you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved from your sins.
Second, I must ask you who are Christians, are you really growing? Christianity is not like civil service— the more time you spend, the better it is assumed you are at your job and thus the more you can expect to be paid. Christians do not grow automatically. Growth and maturity are not merely matters of time. No, spiritual growth and maturity are matters of disciplined, diligent effort, of discipleship. If you are not growing in Christian character, then you are becoming blind and forgetful and unfruitful. You are setting yourself up for a fall. Each of us should take these words of Peter to heart, and seek to obey them by God’s grace and to His glory.
Let these qualities be ours and increase so that we may be useful and fruitful, not blind or short sighted, forgetting our purification from former sins, but making certain of His calling and choosing, for as long as we practice these things we will never stumble, and in this way, our entrance into the eternal kingdom will be supplied to us. To God be the glory, great things He has done!
37 Some seek to explain this master’s sentence of judgment as the “loss of rewards” which results in “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” I understand this to refer to hell and its eternal torment. This slave was not a true believer, which is evident by his conduct. His “one talent” seems to have been the gospel, which he did not embrace by faith. Thus, to fail to make use of the gospel was, for him, sufficient cause for eternal torment.
38 Once again, as with the “wicked, lazy slave” in Matthew 25:24-30, I understand the fig tree to represent the unbelieving Jews of Israel. They made profession of holiness, but they surely did not manifest its fruits, and thus they were worthy of divine wrath.
39 I understand “blindness” or “short-sightedness” to be virtually synonymous terms. To be spiritually blind is to see only physically and only in terms of this life. We do not view this life in the light of eternity. Next Peter will show that we not only fail to see ahead, we also forget the forgiveness of sins we have experienced in the past.
40 The verb form of this term is found in Mark 16:20; Romans 15:8; 1 Corinthians 1:6, 8; 2 Corinthians 1:21; Colossians 2:7; Hebrews 2:3; 13:9.
41 “Literally the verb means ‘stumble’, ‘trip’, and so comes to mean ‘sin’ (so Jas. ii. 10; iii. 2).” J. N. D. Kelly, The Epistles of Peter and of Jude (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1969), p. 309.
Related Topics: Faith, Sanctification
5. Peters Readiness to Remind (2 Peter 1:12-21)
12 Therefore, I shall 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 And 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 may be able to call these things to mind.
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 And 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.
Introduction
I never cease to be amazed at the tabloid headlines each time I pass the check out stands at the grocery store. They are unbelievable. Recent headlines reported that Abraham Lincoln had been resuscitated for nearly a minute. Headlines claiming that Elvis Presley is still alive or a woman had a baby with a monkey’s head rival other sensational headlines. The stories are so ludicrous no one believes them. We know better than to suppose such journalism should be taken seriously.
Biblical revelation is similar but dramatically different from tabloid truth. Biblical revelation may seem similar in that it too may be hard to believe. We read of God’s miraculous intervention in the lives of men, of promises of forgiveness of sins and eternal life in the presence of God—all which seem too good to be true. Yet Biblical truth is radically different from tabloid truth because it is always true—in the past, in the present, and in the future. Biblical truth is the basis for life and godliness; it is meant to be believed and acted upon by faith.
The apostles were convinced of the adequacy and authority of the Scriptures, including the Scriptures which came through their hands under the inspiration and control of the Holy Spirit. As our Lord approached the end of His earthly ministry, He began to emphasize the crucial role of the Scriptures (see John 14:25-26; 15:7; 16:12-14, 25-26; 17:17). As Peter and Paul approached the day of their departure, they too began to emphasize the importance of the Scriptures to those whom they would leave behind (see Acts 20:25-32; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; 4:2; 1 Peter 1:22–2:2; 2 Peter 1:12-21).
In our text, Peter writes of his eminent death and his determination to remind them of the things recorded in the Scriptures. He speaks plainly of the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures and their importance as God’s final revelation. Let us remember that the text we are reading is a part of that inspired revelation, given through the apostles, for our edification.
An Overview of 2 Peter 1
Verses 12-21 naturally flow from what Peter has written in verses 1-11. In verses 1-4, Peter has informed us that from His divine nature (power, glory, excellence, righteousness), God has provided all that is necessary for life and godliness (faith, grace, peace, knowledge, His precious promises), enabling us to escape from the corruption that is in the world through lust and to become partakers of the divine nature. In brief, God has provided everything we need for salvation and sanctification.
In verses 5-7, Peter calls for Christians to pursue the path of discipleship. We are to appropriate these divine provisions by diligently and energetically pursuing holiness (faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love). The things for which God has made provision, we are to make our pursuit.
In verses 8-11, Peter speaks of the benefits of the pursuit of holiness, as provided for by God (verses 1-4) and as pursued by the Christian (verses 5-7). As children of God, the pursuit of holiness assures us of avoiding what we should dread—uselessness and unfruitfulness, blindness and short-sightedness, forgetfulness of our former cleansing from sin and stumbling. The pursuit of holiness assures us of attaining what we greatly desire as saints—an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God.
Peter’s Readiness to Remind
(1:12-15)
12 Therefore, I shall 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 And 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 may be able to call these things to mind.
It is clear in verses 12-15 that Peter is intent on reminding his readers. He sets out to remind them of what they already knew and embraced as the truth. It is impossible to “remind” someone of what they never knew. He seeks to remind them of truths which they continue to embrace as the truth, and he reminds them of the things he has already written in verses 1-11.42
Peter’s commitment to remind his readers is not a passing fancy nor a fad. He is committed to “always remind them” (verse 12). It is clear from his words that he intends his reminding to persevere. He will continue to remind them as long as he has breath. He will do so with his dying breath.
In fact, Peter will even seek to remind his readers after he has drawn his last breath. Peter knows the day of his departure is near (verse 14) as our Lord indicated to him (John 21:18-23). As he writes, he seems aware that he is being used of God to pen Scripture and that his words will be used of God until the Lord Jesus returns to remind saints who have not yet been born. Writing this epistle greatly prolongs Peter’s ministry of reminding.
The Reasons for Peter’s
Commitment to Remind His Readers
(1:16-19)
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 And 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.
Peter reminds us of those things vital to our spiritual lives, to our escape from the corruption that is in the world through lust, and to manifesting the evidences of the divine nature in our lives. His reminders are the “truth” (verse 12) which gives us “true knowledge” (verses 3, 8) of God. More importantly, these truths are God’s truth, truth from God (verse 21) and also truth which has been communicated by the Spirit of God (verses 20-21), through the Son of God and witnessed to by the Father (verses 16-19).
This “truth” has not been conjured up in Peter’s mind but is “truth” which has come from God. It is apostolic truth which God communicated through all of His inspired apostles—not just Peter (note the “we”43 in verses 16, 18, 19). It is the “truth” our Lord spoke to the disciples of which the Spirit reminded them:
25 “These things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14:25-26).
3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, 4 God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will (Hebrews 2:3-4).
There are “false apostles” (see 2 Corinthians 11:13) who claim to speak for God but who are merely espousing “cleverly devised tales” (2 Peter 1:16). Peter contrasts these tales with the Scriptures God revealed through His apostles. To demonstrate the certainty (“more sure”) of the Scriptures revealed through the apostles, Peter turns to the transfiguration of our Lord which he, along with James and John (see Matthew 17:12), witnessed.
Like the Old Testament prophets, Peter and the other apostles wrote of the “power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 16). The apostles revealed that which was consistent with the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets, but their writings were also “eye witness” accounts. The apostles did write of things they heard from our Lord, but they also wrote as witnesses of what they saw. At the transfiguration, they witnessed the “power and glory of our Lord’s coming.” Jesus Himself indicated they would:
27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and WILL THEN RECOMPENSE EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. 28 Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matthew 16:27-28).
38 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” 9:1 And He was saying to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power” (Mark 8:38–9:1).
At the transfiguration of Jesus, this is exactly what Peter and his two fellow-apostles saw:
2 And six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; 3 and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. 4 And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus (Mark 9:2-4).
It is also what Paul saw:44
6 “And it came about that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, 7 and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ 8 And I answered, ‘Who art Thou, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ 9 And those who were with me beheld the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. 10 And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go on into Damascus; and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do’” (Acts 22:6-10; see also Acts 9:1-9; 26:12-18; compare Acts 1:21-22; 1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:1-11).
All of the apostles witnessed the glory and power of the Lord Jesus, the glory we too shall see when He comes to reign on the earth. The apostles were not “whistling in the wind;” they actually witnessed the things of which they write.
And so it is that the apostles, (“we,” verse 19) have a “the prophetic word made more sure.” I used to think the “we” here referred to “we saints,” but this does not seem to be the case. Peter asserts that they, the apostles (in contrast to false teachers), have a more sure word from God, a word to which “we” (“you,” verse 19) do well to heed. These apostles “saw the light,” the light, as it were, of the glory and power of our Lord. When we take heed to the Scriptures God has revealed through them, we have all the “light” we need. And this light will be sufficient for whatever period of time it takes for God’s purposes to be fulfilled and His kingdom to be established on this earth. We need no other “light,” particularly not the false “light” of “cleverly devised tales.” Peter’s words here strongly imply that the canon of Scripture is closed and that no further “prophecies” will be given.
The Danger of Polluting Prophecy
(1:20-21)
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.
The Scriptures are God’s “light” for men. Peter has already warned us about trusting in the “cleverly devised tales” of men, as opposed to the “more sure” prophecies of the Word of God. While some may lead men astray by other “revelations” than the Word of God, it is also possible for men to teach falsehood by distorting the Scriptures. This is the danger Peter addresses in verses 20 and 21. He will again speak of the distortion of prophecy in relation to Paul’s epistles in chapter 3:
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 [to be] 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 (2 Peter 3:14-16).
The Constitution of the United States of America has been radically “rewritten,” not by the writing of a new constitution per se but by a radical interpretation of the old. The same thing happens to the Scriptures when men with twisted minds try to grapple with the “straight and narrow” of God’s Word. At times, the distortion of divine truth may be unwitting since the unbelieving cannot and will not receive divine truth (see 1 Corinthians 2). But some actually distort the Scriptures deliberately. Peter warns his readers against such twisting of Scripture.
If the Scriptures are to be interpreted correctly, they must be interpreted consistent with their origin and nature. Two essential elements of biblical interpretation are addressed in these verses.
(1) Biblical interpretation is not a “private” matter. That which attracts some people to certain interpretations is the very uniqueness of the interpretation. Peter warns us that uniqueness should serve as a red flag rather than an attraction. Think of it. How was biblical prophecy revealed? It has been revealed through a diverse group of men over a number of centuries. Peter has already indicated (1 Peter 1:10-12) that these prophets did not even fully understand their own writings. If God’s prophetic Word was revealed to a number of men, then how can its interpretation be “private property,” the exclusive possession of one man? Biblical prophecy is “hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16; 1 Peter 1:10-12). There are many things over which Bible students disagree. We should be most confident about those matters with which a large number of saints agree, not just the saints of our age but those who have grappled with the Scriptures over the centuries of the history of the church. I would much rather embrace the interpretation for which godly men suffered and died than the new and novel interpretations which give men prominence and prosperity.
(2) Biblical interpretation can only be achieved through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Prophets did not originate prophecy; they were instruments of the Holy Spirit who used them to speak from God. Prophecy does not begin with man’s will but with God’s will. Thus, the interpretation of prophecy must not be subject to man’s will. Conversely, man’s will must be subject to the Scriptures, as the Spirit of God makes their meaning clear.
6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden [wisdom,] which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8 [the wisdom] which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; 9 but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND [which] HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” 10 For to us God revealed [them] through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the [thoughts] of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the [thoughts] of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual [thoughts] with spiritual [words.] 14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man (1 Corinthians 2:6-15).
The Holy Spirit is the key to accurate interpretation, and the accuracy of this interpretation will be indicated, in part, by the consensus of many interpreters.
Conclusion
Years ago, Joe Bayly wrote a book on death entitled, The View From A Hearse. In later editions, the title was changed to The Last Thing We Ever Talk About. Frankly, I like the first title best. I believe Bayly’s first title could also serve as the title for this message. Peter is writing from the perspective of his imminent death. This second and final epistle penned by Peter is his “view from a hearse.”
What a different man Peter is here from the Peter of the Gospels. In the Gospels, Peter resisted our Lord’s discussion of His death (see Matthew 16:21-28) and was none too excited about Jesus’ words concerning his own death (see John 21:18-23). Now, his death is not a dreaded possibility but an accepted certainty. Now, Peter views death through the hope of the gospel and the certainty of his future inheritance (see 1 Peter 1:7). In light of the limited time Peter has left, he is all the more intent on fulfilling his calling. He seeks to remind not only those living in his day, but those of us who read his epistle today of the life-transforming truths of the Word of God. When the perspective of the hearse is shaped by the hope of the gospel, we will see that the one thing which matters most is man’s relationship to God through Jesus Christ, and that this relationship must be based on the truths of the Word of God, not on the cleverly devised claims of men.
Just as Peter viewed his life and ministry from the hearse, so should we. We should recognize that the time is short and that only what is done for Christ will last. Paul put it this way:
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we are of [the] day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. 11 Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
Peter will close this epistle with these words:
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, on account 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 (2 Peter 3:11-13).
As we live out our days, there is no higher calling than to remind one another of the truths of the Word of God. Men do not need our advice nearly so much as they need to heed God’s Word. Men do not need new truth, but to be reminded of God’s truth, the old, old story of God’s redeeming love in Christ.
Peter reminded his readers, including us, by writing this inspired epistle. If we are to be reminded of the only truths which are eternally important, that reminder will come from the Scriptures. And if we are to be reminded constantly, then we must constantly be in the Word ourselves, for this is where God’s reminders are found.
As Peter saw his days of ministry coming to their conclusion, he sought not only to employ his energy in that which would eternally benefit his readers, he sought to employ his efforts in such a way as to outlive him. Peter continues to minister to this day because he wrote this epistle which we are studying. Peter was “laying up treasure in heaven;” he was being a “good steward.” While you and I cannot minister beyond the grave by writing Scripture, there are ways we may invest our time, our gifts, and our resources so that our ministry outlives us. Let us give serious thought to how we may be good stewards of the gospel, as Peter was.
I believe Peter’s words in this text call into question any who would claim to have a “prophetic revelation” for men today. As I understand the Scriptures, God has spoken finally and fully in His Son and through the apostles (see Hebrews 1:1-3; 2:1-4). We need no additional revelation. What we really need is to continually be reminded of what God has already said in His Word. We need to seek to understand and apply these truths more fully.
And as we come to the Scriptures, let us not seek to make them conform to our will and our distorted perspective and desires. Let us come to them looking to the Spirit of God to illuminate our hearts and minds so that God’s truth transforms us into conformity with His divine nature.
The apostles are all gone, but their words are not. They were content to depart knowing they had fulfilled their calling by being used of God to speak for Him through their inspired writings. May you and I by God’s grace take heed to their writings as God’s “more sure word of prophecy.” And, “even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you,” may we be diligent to be in God’s Word so that we “may be able to call these things to mind.”
42 If this is the case, verses 1-11 provide us with a very concise summary of the truth of the gospel, those truths which are essential for salvation and sanctification (or, in Peter’s words, “life and godliness”).
43 It is apparent from 2 Peter 3:14-16 that Peter includes Paul among the apostles (“we”) through whom God has revealed His truth.
44 I have wondered why the account of Saul’s conversion was recorded three times in the Book of Acts. Was one account not enough? The account in chapter 9 (verses 1-9) is in the third person, while the accounts in chapters 22 (verses 4-11) and 26 (verses 12-18) are in the first person. But perhaps the primary reason is to emphasize the fact that Paul is a true apostle, having seen the risen Lord as did the rest of the apostles.
Related Topics: Prophecy/Revelation
6. False Teachers (2 Peter 2:1-3)
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 And 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.
Introduction
My wife Jeannette and I recently spent several relaxing days in northern Ontario with Bill and Marilyn McRae.45 During our visit, I installed sensor lights to come on automatically as they approached their cottage. When I removed the existing light fixture, I discovered some of the insulation from the electrical wires was missing. When I removed a piece of the siding to gain better access to the wires, I was greeted by a little black head peering over the siding. At first I thought it was a mouse, but when it screeched and spread its wings, I knew it was a bat. Indeed, several bats tumbled to the deck, creating quite a commotion especially with our wives. Although I had not realized it, those little creatures had crept in unnoticed, nibbling away at the wiring insulation and creating a very real unseen hazard.
Peter writes in the second and third chapters of his epistle about the unseen danger of false teachers who arise within the church. Such teachers are often unrecognized, especially in their earliest forms, partly because they profess to share a “like precious faith.” Yet, they secretly introduce false teaching, teachings which are destructive to themselves and to all who follow them.
When we think of “false teachers,” our minds immediately turn to false religions or the cults. We think of a man like David Koresh whose bizarre teachings resulted not just in his own death, but the fiery death of scores of men, women, and children at his Waco compound. False teachers do prey on the church from without, but they can also arise from within (compare Acts 20:28-30). These are the “false teachers” Peter warns us about in his second epistle.
These two chapters in 2 Peter very closely parallel the teaching which we find in Jude. Jude therefore provides an illuminating commentary on the Book of Second Peter. As we study chapters 2 and 3 of 2 Peter, we will refer to Jude’s epistle.
False Teachers Throughout History
False teachers and their teachings have always posed a danger to those in the household of faith (and those outside as well). After Israel’s exodus from Egypt, God warned that false prophets would arise:
1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you” (Deuteronomy 13:1-5; see also verses 6-18; 18:14-22).
False prophets did arise throughout the history of Israel (see 1 Kings 22:1-12; Isaiah 9:15; 28:7; Jeremiah 5:31; 6:13; 23:1-40; Ezekiel 13:3-4). The Lord Jesus also warned of false prophets (Matthew 7:15-23; 24:11-28). The apostles also had much to say about false prophets and teachers (Acts 20:28-35; 2 Corinthians 11:3–12:13; Galatians 1:6-9; Philippians 3:1-2; Colossians 2:8-15; 1 Thessalonians 1:3-12; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 6:3-5; 2 Timothy 2:14-26; 3:2-8, 13; 4:14-18; Titus 1:10-16; 3:9-11; 1 John 2:18-29; 3:2-12; 4:1-6; 2 John 7-11; 3 John 9-10; Jude). In the first three verses of chapter 2, Peter begins to describe the false teachers who will arise. We must look carefully at his words, for such “wolves” as these will arise among us as well.
The Context of Our Text
In the first chapter of his epistle, Peter summarizes the all-sufficient work of our sovereign God in making provision for our salvation and sanctification (verses 1-4). Included in these provisions are the “precious and magnificent promises” of Scripture which make it possible to “become partakers of the divine nature.” Peter urges us in verses 5-7 to make use of these divine provisions and to pursue the character qualities of the divine nature. Verses 8-11 spell out the fruits of the pursuit of holiness in terms of what we avoid as well as what we gain.
Verses 11-21 stress not only the importance of the Scriptures but their certainty. In contrast to the “cleverly devised tales” of false teachers, the Scriptures are a “more sure word of prophecy,” which come from men who have witnessed the power and glory of the resurrected Christ (verses 16-19). Peter diligently reminded men of the truths of the Scriptures while he was alive, but he also writes so that we can be reminded after his death (verses 12-15). These Scriptures must be interpreted correctly, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and in a way consistent with the interpretation of godly saints throughout history (verses 20-21). (I am much more comforted by knowing that my understanding of a biblical text agrees with the interpretation of a saint of old, who suffered and died for his faith, than by embracing the bizarre interpretation of a Rolls Royce-driving televangelist who lives in Beverly Hills and whose only suffering is measured by the number of viewers his latest scandal cost him.
As in his first epistle (1:10-12), Peter calls our attention to the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets which find their fulfillment in the Christ of the Gospels. These prophecies are “sure” when interpreted correctly. But just as God raised up prophets, false prophets also arose as we see throughout the Old Testament Scriptures. Peter assures us that we likewise should look for false teachers to arise as they have done throughout history. In chapters 2 and 3, Peter describes these false teachers and their teaching so that we may avoid them and the errors they promote.
What We Need To Know About False Teachers
(2:1-3)
First, Peter strongly infers that we should regard anyone who claims to be a “prophet” as a false prophet. False prophets arose in earlier days, and we should expect false teachers to arise in our day. Why this switch from “false prophets” to “false teachers” in verse 1? The reason is evident from Peter’s teaching in chapter 1. The apostles were raised up as God’s instruments to record God’s full and final revelation in Christ. They saw the power and glory of the resurrected Lord. Their writings were superintended by the Holy Spirit, who caused them to remember all that the Lord had taught while He was with them. Their prophecies, like those of the Old Testament prophets, are thus a “more sure word of prophecy” which provides sufficient light for us until the coming of our Lord (1:19). Paul was the last of the prophets whose writings are also inspired and authoritative (3:14-16). Since these original apostles have accomplished their appointed task, no further prophets are required:
1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away [from it.] 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, 4 God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will (Hebrews 2:1-4).
Second, Peter teaches us to expect false teachers to arise. Although the need for prophets has ceased, the need for teachers of the Scriptures continues. Among those who teach, we should expect some to be false teachers. They hold a Bible in their hands and tell us they are teaching the Scriptures, but their teaching is false. Their interpretation has not come from the Holy Spirit but from their own will (see 1:20-21). False teachers are no mere possibility; they are likely, and we must be watchful so we are not led astray by them. Our knowledge of Old Testament history should prepare us to be on guard against false teachers, for they will surely arise.
Third, Peter teaches us to expect false teachers to arise from within the church as well as from without. In Old Testament times, false prophets arose “among the people” (verse 1). So also in our time, false teachers will arise “among us” (literally “among you,” verse 1). It is easy to identify false teachers in other religions or in liberal or apostate churches. It is relatively easy to expect false teachers to arise from without. But Peter tells us they will also arise from within the community of believers, from within our own church. This same warning comes from Paul in the Book of Acts where he admonishes the elders of the Ephesian church:
28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build [you] up and to give [you] the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:28-32, emphasis mine).
Fourth, the teaching of these false teachers is destructive to the teachers and to all who follow their teaching and practice. Peter calls the teaching of the false teachers “destructive heresies,” which will “bring swift destruction upon themselves” (verse 1). Their judgment is not “idle” nor is it “asleep” (verse 3).
Fifth, false teachers bring reproach upon true saints and the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of these impostors, “the way of truth will be maligned,” Peter says. We suffer from the presence of false teachers. “How?” you might ask. We suffer because these false teachers seek to gain status and recognition by identifying themselves as true saints and associating with true believers. In 1 Peter, we were instructed that unbelievers can be expected to react against the righteousness of the saints because they are threatened by it (1 Peter 4:1-4). We are to expect to be maligned for doing what is right (1 Peter 2:12, 15, 20). When the sin of false teachers is exposed, the unrighteous may almost delight in lumping all professing Christians together so that we are wrongly associated with the folly of fraudulent saints.
David Koresh is but one example of how this can happen. Koresh was not orthodox. One could hardly call him Christian (whether he or his followers did or not). While the evangelical community looked upon Koresh and his followers as a cult, the secular press has not been so discerning. Those who like to use the excuse, “The church is full of hypocrites,” see little difference between Koresh and his followers and mainstream evangelicalism. They leap at the opportunity to find a reason to ridicule us and reject our faith.
Sixth, these false teachers are not always readily apparent. False teachers certainly do not represent themselves as those who make a false profession of faith. They rise up as those who are one with us in Christ. As Jesus warned, they come as “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7:15). They carry out their ministry in Jesus’ name, and they are just as surprised at being called unbelievers as we are when we realize they do not share a “like precious faith” with us:
15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn [bushes,] nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will know them by their fruits. 21 Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS’“ (Matthew 7:15-23).
Our Lord’s words here indicate that we dare not attempt to distinguish false teachers from the true merely on the basis of their ability to perform mighty works. A true prophet need not perform great works. Such was John the Baptist, a prophet without mighty works but with mighty words (John 10:41). If a prophet declares that something will happen, and it does not, then he is a false prophet (see Deuteronomy 18:20-22). But the ability to perform great works does not prove one to be a prophet. His doctrine must also conform to the Word of God (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). Jesus teaches that the “fruit” which distinguishes false teachers from the true is not just their mighty deeds. We must also take careful note of the fruit of their own character and that of their followers.
Seventh, false teachers can be identified by their morals and their motives. False teachers are driven by their own lusts rather than led by the Holy Spirit.46 Greed motivates their ministry—not grace (verse 3). They do not seek to give sacrificially to others; they seek to gain from others. They do not seek to edify others but to exploit them (verse 3). Their life is one of sensuality (verse 2), not true spirituality. More details will be given about the character and conduct of false teachers as Peter develops his argument in chapter 2. The false teachers of whom Peter writes are self-centered, self-serving, and self-indulgent (verse 10, 12-14). Worse yet, they are lost (verses 4-6, 12, 17-22; see Jude 4, 7-8, 12-13, 15, 19).
Eighth, false teachers can be recognized by their methods. When false teachers “arise,” their heresies are “secretly introduced” (verse 1). They “creep in unnoticed” (Jude 4). These false teachers are devious and deceptive, not wishing to be known for what they are. In some cases, they do not even recognize their own condition. They not only deceive, they are themselves deceived (2 Timothy 3:13; see 2 Peter 2:13). They rely on slick methods rather than on the Spirit of God and appeal to the lusts of the flesh (compare 1 Corinthians 2; 2 Corinthians 2:17; 4:1-2).
Ninth, false teachers can be recognized by their message. False teachers deny the truth and deal in error. The “way of truth” is maligned, and their words are false (verses 2 and 3). Their doctrines are heresies which are “destructive,” while the truth leads to “life and godliness” (1:3). They claim to teach the Word of God, but they actually twist and distort the Scriptures so their interpretations justify their lifestyle and their lusts (see 3:16).
Both Peter and Jude inform us as to how far these false teachers will go:
1 … even denying the Master who bought them (2 Peter 2:1).
4 … ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (Jude 4).
Jude says they pervert grace, twisting it so that it becomes a pretext for sin. Peter might say that rather than seeing grace as an escape from our former lusts (1 Peter 1:14; 2:11; 2 Peter 1:4), it is an excuse for our former lusts.
The ultimate and most abominable error is that these teachers go as far as to “deny the Master who bought them.” I believe Peter’s words have their origin in the language of the Old Testament in reference to the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Jude also ties the “purchase” of these false teachers to the redemption of Israel from slavery in Egypt:
1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you. 6 If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him. 9 But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery (Deuteronomy 13:1-10, emphasis mine).
4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe (Jude 1:4-5).
For some, 2 Peter 2:1 is a proof-text for their view of the atonement or at least a very crucial battle ground. Those who hold to an “unlimited atonement” (those who believe that Christ’s atoning death was for the sins of all men, saved or lost) point to this verse as proof for their position. They believe Peter is saying that Jesus died for the sins of even these unsaved heretics. Those who believe that the sacrificial death of Christ on Calvary was atoning only for the sins of the elect say otherwise. My personal opinion is that Peter is not trying to indicate the extent of the atonement here, but rather he is indicating the extent of the error to which false teachers will go. To focus on the debate over limited or unlimited atonement takes our eyes off the truth Peter is trying to teach us here—the danger of unbelieving false teachers who deny the Master.
Peter chose to describe the false teachers of our day against the backdrop of the false prophets who arose after the exodus. Just as there were false prophets in those days, there will most certainly be false teachers in ours. And just as those false prophets denied the Master who purchased them from Egyptian slavery, making them His slaves (see Leviticus 25:42, 55), so the false teachers go so far as to deny the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just how do they deny Him? Peter seems to imply they deny His authority. The original word rendered “master” in our text can be transliterated “despot.” It is a term which describes the relationship of a slave to his “master.” The false teachers are arrogant, assuming authority which is not theirs. They have no respect for those in authority (2 Peter 2:10-11; Jude 8). They actively seek to undermine those in authority and to establish their own authority. As Satan rebelled against God’s authority, so he disguises himself as an “angel of light” by means of these, his servants (see 2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
Furthermore, the false teachers deny Christ as their Master by seeking to diminish His nature and attributes. They deny His humanity or deity (or both). They deny that He is the promised Messiah. They deny His promised return to punish His enemies and to reward the righteous. They deny His death and physical resurrection. They deny the sacrificial atonement which He accomplished at Calvary. As the false prophets rose up among the Israelites after the exodus and opposed Moses, so false teachers will arise among the saints and oppose the Lord Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
While visiting with Bill and Marilyn, Jeannette and I had a chance to discuss this passage, and Bill pointed me in a very helpful direction. Bill related that this last year he was asked to speak to a group of Christians and was assigned the topic, “Who is Jesus Christ?” He wondered why they had chosen this particular subject and why it was considered important for this group of believers.
A little later, Bill had the occasion to spend some time with a very popular Christian speaker and apologist on the college campuses across Canada. Bill asked him what he considered the most significant question on college campuses today. Without hesitation, the man responded, “Who is Jesus Christ?”
You see, there are many Jesus’ proclaimed today. There is Jesus the liberator and Jesus the revolutionary. There is Jesus the teacher and Jesus the example. There is Jesus the healer and Jesus the burden-bearer. Homosexuals and adulterers point to “an unconditionally accepting Jesus,” seeking to show that Jesus is on their side. Even the demons are willing to accept certain aspects of our Lord’s identity, but not His authority.
We want to have “Jesus the way we like to think of Him.” We would rather conform Jesus to our views and values than have Him transform ours. In his early days as a disciple, Peter believed in Messiah, but he wanted nothing to do with a suffering Savior. The Jewish religious leaders, along with the nation Israel, also looked for the coming “Messiah.” But it was not the Messiah the prophets described. So they rejected the true Jesus, because He was not their kind of Messiah. He was the wrong Jesus, and they liked their kind of Messiah better.
In the parable of the soils, two of the soils initially received “Jesus,” but when they learned what kind of “Jesus” He really was, they fell away (see Matthew 13:5-7). The crowds congregated around Jesus when they thought He came to give them a free meal (John 6:22-27). But when He began to speak of His death, the crowds vaporized (see John 6:60-65).
The false teachers speak of “Jesus,” but it is a “Jesus” of their own making, a “Jesus” with whom sinful men feel comfortable and affirmed. They wish to follow and imitate such a person, but they deny the real Jesus, substituting a more palatable Jesus. So it is that false teachers gain a following by tickling the ears of those who will not have the real “Jesus.”
How do false teachers arise? Peter does not tell us exactly, but we can suggest some ways false teachers might arise so that our Lord and Master is denied. First, they distort the emphasis of Scripture. They emphasize the “acceptable” aspects of our Lord’s nature and mission, while minimizing or denying those aspects of His being and ministry which sinful men find offensive. One can always point to Jesus as “our example” with little chance of being ill-treated for doing so.
Second, false teachers can deny Jesus by narrowing the field of maladies for which the cross of Christ provides the solution. In evangelical circles, the cross is still the solution for our sin and guilt. But it seems to be inadequate for our “addictions,” of which there are many with more being added daily to the list. Many of the problems we once thought were spiritual are now considered psychological, and thus they must be solved by “trained specialists” rather than by simply being cleansed by the shed blood of our Savior.
The Bible calls addictions “sin,” and our bondage to these sins is only broken through our identification with Christ and His cross (see Romans 6). A well-known psychiatrist wrote a book entitled, Whatever Happened to Sin? One might just as easily ask, “Whatever happened to the cross?” We sing songs with words like, “There is power, power, wonder working power; there is power in the blood of the Lamb.” But do we really believe this? If not, the false teachers have already arisen, and we have fallen for their false doctrines.
Peter speaks of false teachers in this text, but he is speaking to each of us. He warns those who would become false teachers of the destruction which lies ahead for them (compare James 3:1-12). He also warns every Christian to be on the alert, for false teachers will arise. While Christian leaders have a responsibility to guard the flock from false teachers (Acts 20:28-39; 1 Timothy 1:3-11; 2 Timothy 2:23-26), this does not absolve us of our personal responsibility to be on guard for false teachers. There is only one way we will be able to spot false teachers: we must be knowledgeable concerning the truth of the Word of God. We dare not become lazy and expect others to do our studying and thinking for us (see 1 John 2:26-27).
Finally, this text speaks to those who may not truly know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. You may believe in “Jesus.” You may believe in Him as the Son of God, as a great healer, or a great teacher. You may believe that He was a great leader and that He cared deeply for sinners. But to be saved, you must believe in His atoning work on your behalf on the cross of Calvary. You must believe that He was the God-man who bore the penalty for your sins, and that, as the risen Savior, His resurrection is, for you, life from the dead. Not until you believe in the real Jesus of the Bible will you be saved. May God grant you ears to hear and eyes to see, so that you might turn to Jesus for salvation this day.
45 Bill was a fellow-student at Dallas Theological Seminary and a Bible teacher with whom I was associated at Believers Chapel in Dallas. He is now the Chancellor of Ontario Theological Seminary and Ontario Bible College in Toronto.
Related Topics: False Teachers
7. The Certainty of Deliverance and Destruction (2 Peter 2:3b-10a)
3b 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 thereafter; 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 with 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 (2 Peter 2:3b-10a).
- God knows how to deliver the righteous from judgment.
- God knows how to deliver the wicked to judgment.
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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 thereafter; 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 with 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, and especially those who indulge the flesh in [its] corrupt desires and despise authority (2 Peter 2:3b-10a).
Introduction
The movie “Pollyanna” portrays a preacher who is harsh and judgmental. Sunday after Sunday, he preaches “hellfire and brimstone” messages, virtually scorching his audience with the wrath of God. Pollyanna finally comes to his rescue by telling the preacher about her father who was also a preacher. Her father avoided the negative texts and instead preached the “happy texts,” those texts with words which seem to offer encouragement and comfort and leave one feeling good after hearing them.
“Happy texts” can only be happy for those to whom they apply. Likewise, “unhappy texts” are those which desperately need to be heard and heeded by those who are in peril. The good news is that the “unhappy texts” warn men about destruction to bring them to repentance so that they will receive God’s salvation, which alone makes men truly “happy” (see Matthew 5:3-16).
Our 2 Peter 2 text is one everyone desperately needs to hear and to heed, for it speaks both of the destruction of the wicked and of the deliverance of the righteous. Peter seeks to prove his point by turning our attention back in time to the ancient days described in the first half of the Book of Genesis. He draws upon two major events in ancient history, the destruction of civilization and the deliverance of Noah and his family at the flood (Genesis 6-9), and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah along with the deliverance of Lot and his two daughters (Genesis 18-19).
The Context
In the last part of chapter 1, Peter emphasizes that the apostles have a “more sure word of prophecy” (1:19), because they have seen the glory and power of the Lord Jesus Christ at His transfiguration. Thus, the Scriptures which Peter and the other apostles have penned are our guiding light until the time when the Lord comes and illuminates us fully (1:19). The Scriptures must be interpreted correctly, however, prompted not by the impulses of our flesh but by the Holy Spirit through Whose promptings the inspired Scriptures were written (1:20-21).
True prophets were continually opposed by the false prophets of old, who rose up among the people to lead them astray. They secretly introduced false teaching which brought destruction on them and their followers. False teachers can likewise be expected in our time. They will do the same thing, enticing men with their sensuality and, in their greed, gaining from the following they attract (2:2-3). This error goes so far as these false teachers, like the false prophets before them, denying the Master who bought them (2:1). The judgment of such men “from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep” (2:3b).47
What does Peter mean when he says their judgment is not idle from long ago? He explains in verses 4-10a. The expression, “from long ago” is found elsewhere only in 2 Peter 3:5 (“long ago”). There, Peter speaks of the creation of the earth and the separation of land and water, later to be inundated by water in the judgment flood of Noah’s day (3:6). Peter is telling us that the events of ancient times have a great deal of bearing on the events of our own day. The deliverance of divine judgment on the wicked and the rescue of the righteous from temptation in ancient times is proof positive that God will not only deliver the righteous from temptation, but He will deliver the wicked to eternal judgment (2:9).
The Structure of the Text
The structure of our text is indicated by the words “if” in verses 4, 6, and 7, and “then” in verse 9.48 Verses 4-8 set down the destruction of the ancient world by the flood and of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire, along with the divine deliverance of Noah (and his family) and Lot (with his two daughters). Peter’s argument goes like this:
“If God doomed the disobedient angels, destroyed the ancient world of Noah, and turned the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, does He not know how to deliver the wicked to judgment; and if God spared Noah and Lot and their families, does this not show us that God knows how to deliver the righteous from temptation?”
Verses 4-8 are therefore written to document the statement that the destruction of false teachers has, from long ago, been a certainty, and at the same time reaffirms that those who diligently pursue godly character, God will not allow to fall but will rescue them from worldly temptations (see 1:8-11).
Deliverance and Destruction at the Flood
(2:4-5)
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness,49 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; …
There are those who see the confinement of the angels in 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6 as unrelated to the events of the flood, and to these verses in Genesis chapter 6:
1 Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore [children] to them. Those were the mighty men who [were] of old, men of renown. 5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 And the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD (Genesis 6:1-8).
They believe the “sons of God” were men who were of the “godly line of Seth.” They believe the “fall” and subsequent incarceration of some angels referred to by Peter (2:4) and Jude (verse 6) occurred at some other time and is not related to the Genesis flood.
I believe they are wrong and that Peter and Jude are referring to the “fall” of some angels at the time of the flood. The Scriptures never refer to a “godly line of Seth.” Nor does this merely human view of Genesis 6 explain the appearance of the Nephilim, those “supermen” of ancient times (verse 4). Neither does it square with the biblical use of the expression, “the sons of god.”
That the expression “sons of god” sometimes refers to angelic beings can be seen in Job 1:6 and 2:1 (see also Psalm 29:1). That angelic beings can take on masculine (never feminine) bodies is evident in many texts. It is most clear in Genesis 19 where these “angel-men” were thought to be men and were so convincing as such that they were desired as men and sought out by the homosexuals living in Sodom. If Peter is not speaking of the “fall” of some angels as described in Genesis 6, then he is referring to an event not recorded in the Old Testament, and this seems hard to accept. How could Peter refer to an undocumented “fall” with the assumption that his readers will know what incident he is referring to as with the events related to Noah (Genesis 6-9) and those related to Lot (Genesis 18 and 19)? The intermarriage of angels and women would also explain the appearance of the Nephilim, the super race of Noah’s day. This inappropriate sexual union of angels and humans fits precisely into the contexts of 2 Peter and Jude, where sensuality and sexual aberrations is the reason for divine judgment.
There is one further argument in favor of the fallen angels being the “sons of God” in Genesis 6. The main point Peter emphasizes is the certain doom of those false teachers whose doctrine and practice corrupts those who follow them. If the “sons of God” in Genesis 6 are the angels referred to in 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6, then their destructive involvement with the human race is very similar to that of the false prophets of old and the false teachers of more recent times. They themselves are immoral, and their teaching promotes immorality. If they had not been judged and placed in confinement, they would have destroyed the entire human race.50
Consequently, I understand Peter to be referring to the judgment of fallen angels and the destruction of sinful men by means of the Genesis flood in verses 4 and 5. Regardless of whether or not you accept this interpretation, it is clear that certain angels fell and were subsequently placed in confinement awaiting their final day of judgment. God will deal in judgment with those who sin, especially those who seek to corrupt others. They are kept in confinement not only to await their final doom but to keep them from continuing their corrupting work until that day of doom arrives.
The flood did not only concern fallen angels or the super race they seem to have been producing. It was also about the sinful men and women of Noah’s day. Interestingly, Peter does not emphasize the specific details of men’s sins, neither those of the civilization of Noah’s day nor those of the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah. In Genesis 6:5, the sins of that civilization are described in terms of the hearts of men and not in terms of their outward actions. Later in Genesis 6:11-13, the deeds of that society are summed up with the terms “corruption” and “violence.”
It was a sinful and corrupt society. Yet God did not immediately wipe out that civilization. He gave the earth’s population nearly a generation to repent as the ark was being constructed. Finally, the wickedness of that generation reached full bloom, and the time for judgment arrived. With the flood, God wiped out every living soul. Only Noah and his family were spared by finding refuge in the ark which brought them safely through the flood. And so in the flood we see both divine destruction and divine deliverance.
Destruction and Deliverance at Sodom and Gomorrah
(2:6-8)
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 thereafter; 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 with their lawless deeds).…
Here Peter says plainly what he implies elsewhere in this text: the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the deliverance of Lot and his daughters is an example, a prototype of future deliverance and destruction (verse 6). What happened “long ago” (verse 3) is not just an ancient story; it is written as a warning to the wicked of the days yet to come (verse 6) and as an encouragement to the righteous who will read of these events in future years as well (see Romans 15:4; Hebrews 11).
A few chapters further into the Book of Genesis, we find man’s sin reaching full bloom once again in Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities. God chose to reveal His purposes concerning these cities to His friend Abraham:
17 And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? 19 For I have chosen him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice; in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” 20 And the LORD said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. 21 I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know” (Genesis 18:17-21).
Abraham’s appeal to God is fascinating in the light of Peter’s argument:
22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the LORD. 23 And Abraham came near and said, “Wilt Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep [it] away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from Thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are [treated] alike. Far be it from Thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” (Genesis 18:22-25).
Abraham rightly understood that justice required God to distinguish between the just and the unjust. It would not be right to destroy the righteous along with the wicked. God must distinguish between the two. And distinguish He did. God did not spare the wicked men of Sodom and Gomorrah. He destroyed them with fire, turning the cities to ashes. But He did spare Lot and his daughters. God delivered the righteous from judgment, and He delivered the wicked to judgment.
Peter’s words recall the familiar account found in Genesis 18 and 19 concerning Lot and his daughters and their rescue from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. What is new and surprising to us is that Lot is identified by Peter as a righteous man. Peter is emphatic on this point. Three times in verses 7 and 8 he refers to Lot as righteous. We would hardly have expected this. Lot was the one who took the better (watered) land, leaving Abram with the less desirable land (Genesis 13:1-13). Lot offered his virgin daughters to the wicked men of Sodom and Gomorrah to use as they pleased, if they would not molest his guests (Genesis 19:8). Lot is made drunk by his daughters and then while in a drunken stupor, he becomes the father of their sons (Genesis 19:30-38).
How then can Peter call Lot a righteous man? We must first recognize that Abraham appealed to God to spare the righteous. Only Lot and his daughters were spared. Therefore, we must assume that God considered them to be righteous. But Peter goes further. Clearly by divine enlightenment, Peter describes the response of Lot’s heart and soul to the sin of his society. Lot observed the wickedness of his fellow-citizens, and he was deeply grieved by what he saw and heard (verse 8). Not only did Lot grieve over the sins of his society, he grieved continually, “day after day” (verse 8). Would that I could say in all honestly that I am as deeply and consistently grieved by the sin of my day as Lot was by the wickedness of his. All too often we pride ourselves for not participating in the sin practiced all around us, and yet we take a kind of pleasure in seeing and hearing it (such as on television or in the movies).
Too many want to judge the righteousness or wretchedness of a man by mere outward appearances. They want to judge a man on the basis of where he lives or in terms of with whom he associates. God judges a person on the basis of what is in their heart. Lot may have lived in a wicked city, among very wicked men, but he never loved the “world” in which he lived. He loathed their sin, and it brought him constant grief.
We tend to think of righteous suffering primarily in terms of persecution. Peter, in his first epistle, has much to say about the suffering the ungodly cause us in reaction to the righteousness which God works out through our lives. But here Peter indicates a very different kind of suffering, a kind of suffering we (along with our Lord, see Mark 3:5; 9:19; 16:14; John 14:9; Hebrews 5:7) may experience in our souls—the suffering we experience from being in a fallen and imperfect world, a world tarnished by sin (see also Romans 8:18-25).
The Lesson To Be Learned
(2:9-10a)
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 …
If ancient history teaches us anything, let it be this: God knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and how to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment. Let us consider both statements Peter makes here, for they are vitally important truths.
First, the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation. What the text does not say (but we are inclined to suppose) is that God knows how to keep the godly from destruction. It is easy to think Peter is making two contrasting statements:
This is true, and it can even be seen in the stories of the rescue of Noah and Lot, along with their families.
Peter is saying that God is able to keep the righteous righteous (this is no misprint), even when they are living in a most unrighteous environment. God was able to keep Noah and Lot and their families from succumbing to the temptation of their society, even when that corrupt and violent society was so corrupt it was ripe for divine judgment.
Christians today are becoming too much like the Pharisees of old. They wrongly suppose that holiness is measured in terms of the distance we put between ourselves and “sinners.” The Bible speaks of holiness more in terms of our loss of affection for the world and its sinful lusts. We suppose that if we isolate ourselves and our families from the world, we will be untainted by it. What an encouragement we find in Peter’s assurance that God knows how to rescue us from temptation, even when we live in the midst of a society that is corrupt and violent, ripe for divine judgment.
Second, God knows how to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment. Once again, we may be tempted to jump to the wrong conclusion. Peter’s examples from ancient history are not intended to demonstrate merely that God has judged sinners or that God will judge them, though this is true. Peter’s examples are cited to prove that God not only knows how to keep the righteous from falling into temptation, but that He also knows how to keep the unrighteous for the great eternal judgment which is yet to come. The judgment of the society of Noah’s day, of those fallen angels, and of Sodom and Gomorrah is not complete. Their judgment is only partially complete, and they still await their final doom. They are being kept for judgment, a judgment still to come, a judgment described in the Book of Revelation:
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I [saw] the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. 7 And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, 8 and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. 9 And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 11 And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one[of them] according to their deeds. 14 And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:4-15).
The ultimate judgment is not temporal but eternal. In the words of the Book of Revelation, the final judgment is not the “first death,” but the “second death.” Those who were judged at the flood and in the fire which came upon Sodom and Gomorrah experienced the first death. But this judgment is only temporal. It is but the “first fruits” of God’s judgment. The angels were cast into Tartarus,51 and not really into hell, which takes place at the end of time as described in Revelation 20. The term “hell” in 2 Peter 2:4 is a translation of the term TARTARUS, and not one of the terms employed for “hell.” The angels were put out of circulation, so that they could no longer corrupt mankind. They were confined, kept in solitary confinement so to speak, awaiting their final judgment at the return of Messiah. The same is true for the men and women who perished in the flood and in the fiery judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), our Lord describes Lazarus as entering into some of the bliss of his eternal rewards, yet without yet entering into heaven. He also describes the rich man’s torment while he awaits his final day of judgment. The wicked who perish as a result of God’s temporal judgment have not yet tasted His full and final judgment, but they are being preserved for it like a condemned murderer awaits the day of his execution while confined on death row.
The wicked are kept “under punishment,” Peter tells us. That is, their doom is not only certain, it is sealed. They are now destined for destruction with no hope of rescue. Their destiny is irreversible. There are those who teach reincarnation. This false teaching makes a promise which it cannot keep—that men and women can have another chance after they die. The Bible teaches that death seals one’s fate. Our Lord taught this in Luke 16. The apostle John teaches this in Revelation 20. This is Peter’s teaching here. It is also what the writer to the Hebrews taught:
27 “… it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
And so Peter is not teaching us that the judgment of the wicked at the flood or at Sodom and Gomorrah is the final judgment; he is teaching that this temporal judgment demonstrated at the flood and at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, is a prototype of the final judgment yet to come. It is a demonstration that God both can and will judge the wicked, just as He can and will rescue the godly from temptation.
Conclusion
Our text has some important principles and implications of those principles for men today.
(1) Peter makes it clear that the events of ancient times are relevant and applicable to us today. The judgment of the ancient world of Noah’s day and of Sodom and Gomorrah in Lot’s day is an example for men who live today (verse 6), an example which indicates that God is able and willing to deliver the wicked to judgment and to rescue the righteous from temptation.
(2) The principle of judgment and deliverance, demonstrated in the flood and in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, is not one which Peter invented. It is a theme frequently referred to by the Old Testament prophets, by our Lord, and by other New Testament writers. The flood and the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah become symbols of divine judgment and of divine rescue. And so we see these themes frequently arising in the Old Testament and in the New. For example, the flood theme can be seen in Psalm 18 (all); 29:10-11; 32;6-7; 69:1-2, 13-15; 90:5; 124 (all); Isaiah 17:12-14; 43:107; 51;9-11; 54:9; Nahum 1:6-8. Sodom and Gomorrah become symbols of divine judgment, as can be seen in Deuteronomy 29:23; 32:32; Isaiah 1:9-10; 3:9; 13:19; Jeremiah 23:14; 49:18; 50:40; Lamentations 4:6; Ezekiel 16:40-59; Hosea 11:8; Amos 4:11; Zephaniah 2:9; Matthew 10:15; 11:23-24; Luke 10:10-12; 17:26-30; Romans 9:29; Jude 7; Revelation 11:8. This is not the limit of the allusions to these themes in the Scriptures but rather a sampling of them.
Perhaps the closest parallel to this passage in 2 Peter comes from the lips of our Lord Himself, where He refers to both these events as an example of divine judgment in the past. Jesus especially emphasizes the spiritual dullness of the doomed as they blindly continue pursuing the fleshly pleasures of life, aloof to the imminence of their own doom:
26 “And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; 29 but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:26-30).
How could Peter not have had our Lord’s teaching in mind as he turns our attention to these same two incidents?
(3) Peter wants us to understand that biblical history is more than history alone; it is prophecy. Because God does not change, His character and His dealings with men do not change. The way God has dealt with sinners and saints in ancient times becomes a pattern for the way in which He deals with men throughout time and eternity. Old Testament history is therefore directly relevant to us and to our times.
(4) This text should serve as a warning to the wicked that a day of judgment is coming which sinful men dare not ignore and cannot escape. There may well be a day of temporal judgment, for an individual or for a nation. But there is also the ultimate day of eternal judgment which every sinner will face.
(5) The warnings which this Scripture and others declare to sinners are denied by false teachers. Not only will the wicked face divine judgment, they now seek to deny it. This is especially true of the false teachers:
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” (2 Peter 3:3-4).
Ultimately, this denial of judgment comes from the “father of lies,” the devil, who from the very beginning sought to deny divine judgment. And so after God assured Adam and Eve they would die for partaking of the forbidden fruit of the garden, Satan sought to assure them otherwise:
4 “You surely shall not die” (Genesis 3:4).
(6) The sins which characterized the people of old, who were destroyed by the flood and by fire, seem no greater than those which characterize our nation today. Violence and corruption characterized these condemned societies. How different is our society from those which were doomed? I do not think the difference, if any, is great. Does this mean divine judgment is imminent for us? Personally, I think it is. The only ones who would disagree with this, in my opinion, are those who are false teachers.
(7) The good news for sinners: there is time to repent and be saved from the wrath of God. God delayed His judgment on these corrupt societies. God had His witnesses in those wicked places. People were given an opportunity to repent, and they did not. The God who did not spare the people of Noah’s time and who did not spare the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, is also the God who did not spare His own Son, sending Him to die in the sinner’s place so that we might be declared righteous in Him and thus be delivered from sin and judgment:
31 What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us (Romans 8:31-34).
There is no need to perish in our sins, for Christ has died for sinners, bearing the wrath of God, bearing the punishment for our sin. To be saved from the wrath of God, all we must do is acknowledge our sin and trust in the Lord Jesus as our Sin-bearer, who died and was raised in our place. He bore our sins; He offers us His righteousness. All we must do is to receive it by faith. And when we do, we have the assurance that God will not deliver us to judgment but will deliver us from temptation.
(8) The good news for the Christian: God will rescue us from temptation. We may live in a society so wicked that it is ripe for judgment. We may see and hear the evidences of the corruption and violence of our time, but we need not succumb to it. God’s grace is such that we will not only escape from the icy grip of temptation, but we will actually come to loathe it as Lot did.
(9) The task of the righteous: practice righteousness and proclaim the good news of the gospel to a condemned people who face God’s temporal and eternal wrath. Noah was a “preacher of righteousness” (verse 5), and so, I believe was Lot (see Genesis 19:9). This is our calling as well (see 1 Peter 2:11-12, 24; 3:15-16).
(10) Thank God that those whom He makes righteous are not perfect. What a comfort to be told that Lot was a righteous man. We surely know that he was not perfect. His righteousness was not due to his good works but to Christ’s righteousness, which he believed in and received by faith. It was Christ’s righteousness which caused him to grieve over the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was Christ’s righteousness which was victorious over the temptations of that society. And, it is Christ’s righteousness which will save, sanctify, and keep us from temptation and judgment as well.
47 See 1 Kings 18:27; Ps. 44:23; 121:4; Isaiah 5:27; see also Psalm 73:8-10.
48 Technically, in the Greek text the “if” is only found in verse 4, but it has been employed in verses 6 and 7 because this is the inference of the original text.
49 “These angels were cast down ‘to pits of darkness’ (sirois zophou). This reading is very uncertain. The manuscript evidence is about evenly divided between ‘pits’ (sirois or seirois) and ‘chains’ (seirais). The textual editors differ in their preference, and our English versions also vary.” Dr. D. Edmond Hiebert, Second Peter and Jude (Greenville, South Carolina: Unusual Publications, 1989), p. 97.
50 It is also interesting to note that while the Genesis 6-9 incident (if angels are involved here) speaks of the corrupting influence of fallen angels, who prey upon the women of that day in Genesis 18 and 19, unfallen angels are the instruments of divine destruction and deliverance, and the male inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah seek to corrupt or destroy the angels.
51 “Peter says that God condemned the sinning angels to the lowest depths of hell. Literally the Greek says that God condemned the angels to Tartarus (tartaroun). Tartarus was not a Hebrew conception but Greek. In Greek mythology Tartarus was the lowest hell; it was as far beneath Hades as the heaven is high above the earth. In particular it was the place into which there had been cast the Titans who had rebelled against Zeus, the Father of gods and men.” William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, [rev. ed], 1976. The Daily Study Bible Series, p. 321.
Literally, the word is not a noun but a verb. God “tartarized” the angels; that is, He cast them into tartarus.
Related Topics: Hell, Heaven, Suffering, Trials, Persecution