Many years ago, Crowfoot, the chief of the Blackfoot confederacy in southern Alberta, Canada, gave the Canadian Pacific Railroad permission to cross the Blackfoot land from Medicine Hat to Calgary. In return, the railroad gave Crowfoot a lifetime pass to ride on the railway. He put it in a leather case and wore it around his neck for the rest of his life. But there is no evidence that he ever used it to travel anywhere on the Canadian Pacific trains.

We may chuckle at the chief’s neglecting to use his pass, but many Christians are just like him in not availing themselves of the unlimited promises of God. They may put them on a plaque on the wall, but practically they never actually use God’s promises in their daily lives. But in our text, Peter wants us to know that…

God has granted to us everything we need for life
and godliness through knowing Christ and
trusting in His all-sufficient promises.

That statement sounds pretty good. You wouldn’t think that among Bible-believing Christians it would be controversial in any way. But, sad to say, it is. Back in 1991, John MacArthur published Our Sufficiency in Christ [Word Publishing]. In the preface, he anticipated that the book would be controversial due to a widespread lack of confidence in Christ’s sufficiency in the contemporary church. He wrote (p. 19), “Too many Christians have tacitly acquiesced to the notion that our riches in Christ, including Scripture, prayer, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and all the other spiritual resources we find in Christ simply are not adequate to meet people’s real needs.”

He goes on to lament that many evangelical churches and seminaries put more of an emphasis on psychotherapy than on God’s Word. To support his point, he says, listen to any call-in talk show on Christian radio or visit a Christian bookstore and note the proliferation of so-called “Christian” recovery books. The counsel dispensed through these means may have a few biblical references scattered throughout, but it doesn’t encourage Christians to avail themselves of their riches in Christ. MacArthur writes (p. 31),

“Christian psychologists” have become the new champions of church counseling. They are now heralded as the true healers of the human heart. Pastors and lay people are made to feel ill-equipped to counsel unless they have formal training in psychological techniques.

The clear message is that simply pointing Christians to their spiritual sufficiency in Christ is inane and maybe even dangerous. But on the contrary, it is inane and dangerous to believe that any problem is beyond the scope of Scripture or unmet by our spiritual riches in Christ.

I can affirm MacArthur’s words from my own ministry experience. Almost always when I have spoken on this subject, I have received intense criticism. I have been accused of not caring about hurting people. I have been told that my message about the all-sufficiency of Christ is dangerous, because it will discourage hurting people from going for the counseling that they desperately need. They might even commit suicide because rather than referring these hurting people to a trained therapist, I have encouraged them to trust in Christ. I have been told that I don’t understand the deep-seated problems that some people are wrestling with. So when I say that Christ is sufficient, I am giving pat, simplistic advice to complicated problems.

To clarify, I am not against counseling. I encourage mature, godly Christians to offer biblical counsel to less mature believers who are hurting. And I am not against the proper use of medication in some situations. My problem is not with giving counsel, but with giving unbiblical counsel. On more than one occasion, people who have come to talk to me about their problems have volunteered that they went to a professional “Christian” counselor in town, but he didn’t help them. I asked, “Did he pray with you?” No. “Did he open God’s Word and show you how to apply it to your situation?” No. “Well, did he at least talk about God’s Word, encouraging you to read it and explaining how it could help you?” No. “Well, then, you did not receive Christian counsel!”

Also, when people accuse me (or anyone who holds to the all-sufficiency of Christ) of being uncaring and of keeping people from getting the help they really need, they are assuming that Christ can’t really help hurting people! The implication is, people’s problems are too-deep seated and entrenched for the Bible to do any good. The Bible may be nice to refer to once in a while for an uplifting thought, but when you’re struggling with deep problems, you need the expertise of a trained therapist! And so, they set aside as superficial and impractical the inspired words of our text.

But if the words of Scripture mean anything, they mean that God has granted to us everything we need for life and godliness through knowing Christ and trusting in His all-sufficient promises. A younger believer may not be aware of God’s promises and so he needs a godly counselor to help him understand and apply those promises to his situation. But he doesn’t need anything in addition to what God has provided for us in Christ. It’s all there; we just have to understand what we have and how to apply it.

It’s like when an international student comes here and does not understand our banking system. He needs someone to explain the system and to go to the bank with him for a few times, until he knows how to set up and then use his account. Well, we have an inexhaustible account in Christ! Either it is sufficient for our every need or the Bible is untrue. It is the job of more mature Christians to help newer Christians know how to use the Bank of Heaven. So I pray that rather than be controversial, this message will help you understand and use the precious and magnificent promises that are yours if you are in Christ. Our text makes two main points:

1. God provides His all-sufficient resources as a gift through knowing Christ (1:3).

The flow of thought here is not easy, but let me try to explain it (Thomas Schreiner provides help in The American Commentary, 1, 2 Peter, Jude [Broadman], p. 290). In verse 2, Peter states his desire that grace and peace would be multiplied to us in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Verse 3 then explains the resources that bring multiplied grace and peace. God has granted these resources to us through knowing Christ, whom Peter further describes as the one “who called us by His own glory and excellence.” (The New KJV follows a textual variant that omits one Greek letter, changing “His own” into “through” or “by.”) “By these” (v. 4) refers back to Christ’s glory and excellence. By or through these qualities, He has granted to us His precious and magnificent (or “very great”) promises so that by them, we become partakers of the divine nature, thus escaping the corruption that is in the world by lust. There are three points to explore in verse 3:

A. God grants us everything pertaining to life and godliness.

I understand “life” to refer to the eternal life that we receive at the moment we trust in Christ (John 3:16). The Bible teaches that all of us are naturally dead in our sins, under God’s wrath (Eph. 2:1-3). Dead men do not need a moral code to live by. They don’t need some helpful hints for happy living. They need life! God imparts new life—eternal life—as a free gift through Jesus Christ, whose sacrificial death paid the penalty for all who believe in Him.

If you do not possess eternal life in Jesus Christ, nothing else I say in this message matters to you. Christianity is, as Henry Scougal put it in the late 1600’s, The Life of God in the Soul of Man. The apostle John put it (1 John 5:11-12), “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” So make sure that you have received eternal life as God’s gift through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ!

But this eternal life is not something that pertains only to heaven, but is useless now. Rather, it begins at the point of trusting in Christ as Savior and it continues throughout eternity. Thus eternal life impacts in a most practical way how we live daily life here and now. Peter is asserting that God has granted to us everything that we need to deal with life’s problems, whether major or minor. His Word tells us how to deal with suffering and how to face death (whether our own or that of a loved one). It tells us how to work through relational difficulties. It tells us how to manage our finances. It gives us instruction on how to handle our emotions. It tells us how to gain wisdom for every situation in life.

We would be here all day if I listed all the verses that claim the sufficiency of God’s provision for us in Christ, but consider just a few. In 1 Corinthians 1:4-5, Paul told that problem-plagued church, “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge.” In verse 30 of the same chapter he states, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.” In 2 Corinthians 9:8, he wrote to the same congregation, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.” Later (2 Cor. 12:9), he reported how in his intense trial, the Lord said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

In Ephesians 1:3, Paul says that God “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” In Ephesians 3:8, he mentions “the unfathomable riches of Christ.” He goes on in that chapter (3:19) to pray that we “will know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that [we] may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” In Colossians 2:10, he says that we have been made complete in Christ. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, he says that Scripture makes us adequate for every good work.

For thousands of years the Bible has been adequate to equip the saints to go through unspeakable tragedy, to face persecution and even martyrdom. Our problem today is not that the Bible is incapable of dealing with our problems, but rather that we do not know the vast resources that God has put there for us. As John MacArthur wrote (Our Sufficiency in Christ, p. 27), “To seek something more [than what we have been given in Christ] is like frantically knocking on a door, seeking what is inside, not realizing you hold the key in your pocket.”

Peter not only says that God has given us everything pertaining to life, but also to godliness. Godliness is inextricably bound up with eternal life. If you possess eternal life in Christ, you will be growing in godliness, or Christlikeness. While we will never attain perfection in this life, we should see evident growth in obedience to God’s Word, as summed up in the two great commandments of love for God and love for one another. Peter goes on in chapter 2 to describe the ungodly behavior of the false teachers, who profess to know Christ, but deny Him by their deeds (Titus 1:16).

But, how does God grant us everything pertaining to life and godliness? Peter shows that…

B. God grants us everything pertaining to life and godliness by His divine power.

In other words, we are not talking about some techniques or principles that you could find in Reader’s Digest or in a popular self-help book. Peter is talking about something that requires divine power. There is some ambiguity as to whether “His” refers to God the Father or to Jesus Christ. John MacArthur (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, 2 Peter & Jude [Moody Publishers], p. 26) argues that it refers to the Lord Jesus. If it referred to God, the word divine would be superfluous, since deity is inherent in God’s name. Also, using divine to refer to Jesus’ power emphasizes His deity. In verse 16 Peter again refers to Christ’s power, which Peter had seen.

In verse 3, Christ’s power is primarily the power of imparting new life at the moment of salvation. In Ephesians 1:19, Paul prays that God would enlighten the eyes of his readers’ hearts, so that we would know “what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” He goes on to relate it to God’s mighty power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him above all other powers. This means that conversion is not primarily a human decision that everyone has the ability to choose. Conversion requires God’s resurrection power, calling us from death to life. Just as Jesus cried, “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:43) and that dead man came back to life, so He must call us out of death into eternal life. The instant that we are alive spiritually by His power, we also receive everything pertaining to life and godliness. And we receive the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit to produce godliness in us.

C. God grants us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ, who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Many commentators refer “Him who called us” to the Father, not to Christ, because they say that divine calling is always attributed to God. But, Jesus said (Luke 5:32), “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” So here it may refer to Christ. “His own glory and excellence” refers to the majesty and moral perfection of Christ.

We come to know Christ personally when He effectually calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9; see, also 1 Pet. 1:15; 2:21; 3:9; 5:10; 2 Pet. 1:10). The Bible speaks of a general call of the gospel that goes out to all (John 7:37), but also of an effectual call that always results in salvation (Rom. 8:30; 1 Cor. 1:26). Christ’s calling us by His own glory and excellence means that we are effectually drawn to Him when He opens our eyes to see His majesty and beauty. All of Jesus’ earthly life displayed His glory and moral excellence, so that John could say (John 1:14), “And we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Peter refers to seeing Christ’s glory on the Mount of Transfiguration (2 Pet. 1:16-18).

But the cross is the supreme demonstration of the glory and moral excellence of Jesus Christ (John 12:27-28; 13:31-32; 17:4-5). It was there, as the sinless Son of God bore our shame, that the sky was darkened, the earth quaked, and the tombs were opened so that the dead were raised. It was there that the Father’s perfect love and justice met. It is at the cross that we see the glory and virtue of Christ, “who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 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 Pet. 2:22-23).

We come to know Christ when He opens our eyes to see His glory and excellence at the cross. At that point, we begin a lifelong quest to know Him more deeply (Phil. 3:8-10). That growing, personal knowledge of Christ as our all in all supplies us with all that we need for life and godliness.

But we still must look at the all-sufficient resources of verse 4:

2. God’s all-sufficient resources are contained in His precious and magnificent promises (1:4).

As I said, “by these” refers back to Christ’s glory and moral excellence,” especially as seen at the cross. When we come to salvation by seeing the glory and moral perfection of Christ who died for us, we inherit all of His precious and very great promises. These promises especially relate to salvation—things like forgiveness of sins, perfect acceptance before God, a personal relationship with God through Christ, where we experience His abundant love, the certain hope of eternity in heaven, and much more. But they also include all of the promises of the Bible that relate practically to life and godliness—victory over sin, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, wisdom and strength to deal with trials, and peace that passes understanding. As Paul says (2 Cor. 1:20), “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes.”

In verse 4, Peter mentions two benefits of God’s all-sufficient promises, one positive and one negative:

A. God’s precious and magnificent promises cause us to become partakers of the divine nature.

Peter says, “by them [God’s promises] you may become partakers of the divine nature.” He is referring not only to a future possibility, but also to a present reality. When God calls us to salvation, He imparts to us His life, eternal life (Col. 3:3; 1 John 5:11). We are born again, so that we become children of God (John 1:12-13; 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:23). Part of the gift of eternal life includes the indwelling Holy Spirit, who works over time to produce holiness in us (1 Cor. 6:19; Gal. 5:16).

So when Peter says that we are partakers of the divine nature, he does not mean that we become “little gods,” as some false teachers assert. There is always an inherent difference between the eternal Creator and His finite creation. Rather, Peter means that we share in the very life of God, so that His moral excellence progressively becomes ours. Finally, when we see Jesus, we will be like Him, apart from all sin. In the meanwhile, we are to be growing in holiness (1 John 3:2-3). In verse 4 Peter states what God has done for us, imparting His very life to us so that we may become holy. In verses 5-7, he spells out our responsibility to grow in godliness.

B. God’s precious and magnificent promises enable us to escape the corruption that is in the world by lust.

At the moment that we are born again, so that God’s life dwells in us, we are set apart from this evil world unto God. We now belong to Him. We share in His nature, which includes moral excellence. Due to sin, the world is morally like rotting garbage. People in the world live for their lusts, whether it be sex or greed or self-centered pride. But God’s precious and great promises deliver us from that corruption (Col. 1:13).

Does Peter mean that believers in this life are completely free from the corrupting lusts that characterize the world? No, because in 1 Peter 1:14-15 he exhorts us, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.” In 1 Peter 2:11 he adds, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” The difference is, before we were saved, we didn’t fight against these fleshly lusts. In fact, we loved them and wallowed in them. But now, we hate them and fight against them.

So it’s an “already, but not yet” sort of thing. Already, we have been set apart from the world unto God through His life within us. When Jesus returns, we will be totally free from sin. In the meanwhile, we must fight against the lusts that wage war against our souls. It’s a constant battle, but one that we can win because we are partakers of the divine nature through the precious and magnificent promises of the gospel. God’s power that imparted new life to us is available to give us victory over the lusts of the flesh.

Conclusion

Peter’s point in our text is that God has graciously given us everything that we need for life and godliness through knowing Christ and through trusting in His wonderful promises. If you are defeated by sin, either you do not understand the all-sufficient resources that God has freely given to you, or worst case, you do not have His new life dwelling in you. His promises give you unlimited resources in Christ. Don’t be like Chief Crowfoot and put them around your neck, but never use them! Grow in your knowledge of Christ and His promises and He will satisfy your soul!

Application Questions

1. We use modern medicine for illnesses. Why not use psychology for emotional or mental illnesses?
2. Are we pushing the text too far to say that God’s resources in Christ are sufficient for all of life and godliness? Discuss.
3. Can you think of one problem for which psychology has an answer that the Bible lacks? What implications does this have?
4. How would you counsel a professing Christian who is defeated by lust? Anger? Depression? Anxiety? Bitterness?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2009, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

My ninth-grade English teacher pulled off a phenomenal feat: she motivated a bunch of teenagers, who at first couldn’t care less about expanding their vocabularies, to learn 120 vocabulary words. I think I could score 100 on a test on those words today, almost fifty years later! I still know the meaning of sesquipedalian (a person who uses long words), erudite (scholarly), osculate (to kiss), pensive (thoughtful), and many more.

How did she do it? She used several methods. For one thing, she would use the words in a humorous way, so that you had to know the meaning of the word to understand the joke. She also used the words in sentences with students’ names. If she used your name, you wanted to know what she was saying about you: “I saw erudite Steve osculating with pensive Pam.” Steve and Pam (and the rest of the class) wanted to know what that meant!

Also, she had the equivalent of a contest, where we had to find all 120 words in print, cut the sentences out (this was before the copy machine was invented!), and paste them into a notebook. So we all competed with one another to find sesquipedalian, osculate, cogitate, petulant, and all the other words. Years later, in my thirties, I went over to her house and thanked her for being such a great teacher. She knew that motivation is a key to learning and she was a master motivator!

That leads me to ask, why would anyone want to spend significant time and effort in this New Year to read and study God’s Word? Why expend the energy and discipline to set your alarm early enough to get out of bed and spend time with the Lord each morning? Why say no to temptation when yielding would feel so good? Why be patient, kind, gentle, and self-sacrificing towards others, especially when they don’t seem to appreciate your efforts? In short, what motivation is there to be diligent to grow in godliness? What’s in it for us?

Perhaps you think that it’s wrong to ask those questions. Shouldn’t we do those things apart from any benefit to us because they’re the right thing to do? But Peter asked essentially the same thing and the Lord did not rebuke him. Peter said (Matt. 19:27), “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” Jesus replied (Matt. 19:28-29),

“Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

Jesus was saying that the eternal benefits should motivate us to endure whatever hardship we now encounter in following Him. In our text, Peter is spelling out the benefits of growing in godliness to motivate us to persevere in the process. He’s saying,

The benefits of growing in godliness are fruitfulness,
assurance, perseverance, and eternal blessings.

In verses 1-4, Peter sets before us the resources that God has graciously provided for us: He has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness through knowing Christ and through His precious and magnificent promises. Then in verses 5-7, he shows our responsibility to grow in godliness, as summarized by seven qualities that we are to add to our faith. Now (8-11) he shows the results or benefits of growing in godliness to motivate us to hang in there when it would be easier to go with the flow of the world and the flesh. If we grow in godliness, we will have the satisfaction of knowing that our lives are fruitful in light of eternity. We will enjoy the assurance of knowing that God has called and chosen us as His own. We will not fall away from the faith. And, when we step into eternity, there will be a grand welcome!

1. Growing in godliness results in fruitfulness in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (1:8-9).

“These qualities” refers back to the seven qualities that we are diligently to supply on the foundation of our faith in Christ (1:5-7): moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Peter explains why (“For”) we should apply all diligence to supply these qualities (1:8): “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.” Then he explains further and warns (1:9), “For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.” Note three things:

A. There is a direct link between growth in godliness and fruitfulness.

Peter states his point negatively to call attention to what happens if you do not grow in godliness: you will live a useless, unfruitful life. Nobody in their right mind would set out at age 20 and say, “I’d like to waste my life!” Nobody writes out a plan for a wasted life: “I think I’ll devote three hours per day, 21 hours per week, to watching television!” (That is the national average!) “I also plan to become addicted to alcohol and drugs. I plan to live so selfishly and with such disregard for others that I will shred all of my relationships. Also, I plan to spend far more than I earn so that I will run up huge debts.” No one plans to be useless and unfruitful! And yet, many people end up that way!

But, to put it positively, how can I be useful and fruitful in my Christian life? How can I use the time, talents, and treasure that God has entrusted to me so that one day I will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant”? It’s easy to be busy in the Lord’s work, but I don’t want to be just busy—I want to be useful and fruitful.

As a pastor, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that fruitfulness is measured in terms of numbers: “If I can pastor a large, growing church, write best-selling books, and travel all over the world to influence thousands of other Christian leaders, I will be fruitful.” Ministering to large numbers may indicate success in human terms, but we need to measure fruitfulness by God’s criteria. In church history, there are a few well known men like Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. But there are thousands of faithful, fruitful men and women whose names are known only to God. What distinguished these faithful saints to God and made them fruitful was that they devoted themselves to growing in godliness.

In 1981, I read the two-volume autobiography of C. H. Spurgeon. He was an amazing man whom God used mightily. One day as I was jogging in the woods, I asked the Lord one of those “far beyond all you can ask or think” prayers. I prayed, “Lord, use me as You used Spurgeon!” I didn’t hear any voice, but almost instantly the thought popped into my mind, which I believe was from the Lord, “Which Spurgeon? Charles or John?”

I stopped jogging and just stood there so I could think about the implications of that question. John Spurgeon was the father of the famous Charles. He was a faithful pastor in England for many years. He actually outlived his famous son. If it had not been for the famous Charles Spurgeon, no one would have ever heard of John Spurgeon. Yet, he and thousands of others like him were godly, fruitful servants of the Lord. It was as if the Lord was saying to me, “You focus on being as faithful and godly as John Spurgeon and leave it to Me as to whether you become as influential as Charles Spurgeon!” Peter is telling us, “Focus on growing in godliness and you will be fruitful in your Christian life.”

B. If you truly know Christ, you will want to be useful and fruitful in serving Him.

When Peter says, “in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,” is he talking about growing to know Christ more deeply as you grow in godliness, or is he talking about coming to know Christ at the point of conversion as the basis for growing in godliness? There could be some of both here. Peter later talks about growing to know Christ more deeply (2 Pet. 3:18). But since Peter has talked about “the true knowledge of Christ” in reference to conversion (1:3), I understand him here (1:8) to be saying, “If you have truly come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be growing in godliness and seeking to be useful and fruitful in serving Him.”

John Calvin observes (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on 2 Peter 1:8, p. 374), “For the knowledge of Christ is an efficacious thing and a living root, which brings forth fruit.” In other words, if God has opened your eyes to the glory of the gospel of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6), so that you have come to know Him, your life will show it. You will be growing in the godly character qualities that Peter lists (1:5-7). And you will be seeking to make your life useful and fruitful to the Master who shed His blood to redeem you. If you’re not living with a view to how God can use you to bear fruit for His kingdom, then you’re wasting your life.

This does not mean that you must go into so-called “full time Christian ministry.” Rather, it means that in whatever situation you find yourself, whether at home, at school, or at work, you have the mindset that you want to be useful and fruitful for the Lord Jesus Christ. Life is a vapor (James 4:14)! Don’t waste it living for selfish pursuits or for things that will perish. Live so as to grow in godliness so that you will be a clean vessel, “useful to the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21b).

C. If you are not growing in godliness, you are short-sighted, forgetting your purification from your former sins.

Some understand verse 9 to be referring to those who are not truly saved, who may have been following the false teachers. One reason for this view is that Peter changes from the second person in verse 8 to the more impersonal third person in verse 9, but then reverts back to the second person, along with the warm “brethren” (the only time Peter uses that word) in verse 10. Also, the word “blind” seems to fit the unbelieving, but not true believers. But to say that those in verse 9 are not truly saved, you must say that they were never really purified from their former sins; they only claimed to be purified, perhaps through baptism.

I think, rather, that Peter was talking about some in the church who truly had been purified from their sins, but now they were drifting. Peter shifts from “you” to “he” so as not directly to accuse the majority of his readers. But if his word of warning applied to some, they should take heed. “Blind” and “short-sighted” are used somewhat synonymously. The literal translation is, “they are blind, being short-sighted.” These people were so focused on their present circumstances that they were not growing in the qualities mentioned in verses 5-7. They had become virtually blind to what Christ had done for them in cleansing them from their sins. This forgetful and willful blindness, due to their temporal focus, quenched their motivation to be diligent to grow in godliness.

So Peter brings us back to motivation. To grow in godliness requires applying all diligence, because you won’t grow effortlessly. Growth in godliness requires hard work and discipline over the long haul. What motivates you to keep at it? Answer: Remember what Christ did for you! He shed His blood on the cross to purify you from your sins. Remembering God’s grace shown to you at the cross will motivate you to apply all diligence to keep growing in godliness. Without keeping the cross in view, you will drift into ungodly living and will waste your life in light of eternity. So the first benefit of growing in godliness is fruitfulness in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Growing in godliness requires diligence and results in assurance of salvation (1:10a).

A. Growing in godliness requires diligence.

Verse 10 follows from and applies verses 8 & 9: “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you.” “Brethren” shows that Peter is talking to Christians here. “Be diligent” is the verb related to the same noun in verse 5. Peter is saying, “One way to be certain that God has called and chosen you is to be diligent to grow in these godly character qualities.” The same message sums up the book of First John, but is stated specifically in 1 John 2:28, “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming” (see, also, 1 John 3:18-21).

We will look at assurance next. But here, Peter again is emphasizing that growth in godliness requires diligence. It doesn’t happen without deliberate, concentrated effort. If you’re cruising on spiritual autopilot, then take heed to Peter’s exhortation to be all the more diligent to make certain about God’s calling and choosing you. The way you do that is to be diligent to grow in godliness.

B. Growing in godliness results in assurance of salvation.

There are a lot of mistaken notions about assurance of salvation in our day. Most evangelicals think that if you prayed to receive Christ, you are eternally secure and should never doubt that fact. But they overlook the clear biblical truth that new life in Christ always manifests itself in the fruit of godliness. As a result, there are thousands of professing Christians who are not growing in godliness, but they think that they are eternally secure in Christ.

In verse 10, Peter brings together two things that we often separate: God’s sovereignty in calling and choosing us and our responsibility to be diligent to grow in godliness so that we grow in assurance about God’s calling and choosing us. In chronological order for us, God’s calling comes first. This means that we heard the gospel and God opened the eyes of our darkened understanding and imparted new life to us so that we believed in Christ (1 Pet. 2:9; 2 Pet. 1:3). Then, after believing in Christ, through His Word we come to understand that the reason God called us to salvation is that He first chose us before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4-5). Our salvation is totally from God. If He had not chosen us and called us, we would still be lost in our sins.

How, then, do we gain the assurance that God has called and chosen us? First, have you heard the call to repent of your sins and believe in Christ and did you obey that call? Second, how do you know that your repentance and faith were genuine? The answer is, God changed your heart so that now you desire to grow in godliness so that you will grow to know Him better. You desire to please and obey the Lord who gave Himself on the cross to rescue you from judgment. As 1 John 2:3 says, “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” And, you take none of the credit for your salvation. You realize that it is all due to God’s sovereign grace in calling and choosing you while you were still in your sins.

So, the benefits of being diligent to grow in godliness are fruitfulness—you won’t waste your life; and, assurance that God called and chose you to eternal life, as confirmed by your desire to be diligent to grow in godliness.

3. Growing in godliness results in perseverance in the faith (1:10b).

Peter further explains the idea from 1:10a: “for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.” “These things” refers back to verses 5-7. But, does Peter mean that if you are diligent to practice these qualities you will never sin? That seems unrealistic, in that “we all stumble in many ways” (James 3:2). “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). The Lord’s Prayer tells us to ask forgiveness for our sins often. So Peter does not mean that we can attain to sinless perfection if we practice these things.

Rather, in the context of the false teachers who had turned away from the faith, Peter means that if you are diligent to grow in godliness and thus confirm your calling and election, you will not turn away from God and commit apostasy as the false teachers had done (Thomas Schreiner, The New American Commentary, 1, 2 Peter, Jude [Broadman & Holman Publishers], p. 305).

Believers who are cultivating the godly qualities listed in verses 5-7 are walking closely with the Lord. They are seeking to know Him better and to please Him every day. As they practice these things, it will safeguard them from stumbling in the sense of falling away from the faith. Jude, which parallels 2 Peter 2, ends his short letter (Jude 24), “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy….” The means that God uses to help us persevere in the faith is to motivate us to grow in godliness.

Verse 10 also teaches us that moral failure is almost always at the heart of false teaching. False teachers come up with their wrong doctrine to justify their immoral lifestyles. Whenever someone starts teaching weird doctrine, almost always something is wrong morally in his life. Finally, Peter gives us an eternal benefit:

4. Growing in godliness results in eternal blessings (1:11).

Verse 11 explains (“for”) verse 10: “for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” “Supplied” is the same word that we saw in verse 5, which meant to richly supply as a philanthropist would supply the chorus or theater. Peter means that if we are diligent to grow in godliness, God will welcome us into our eternal dwelling with Him in heaven. Thomas Schreiner explains (ibid., p. 306, italics his), “Peter was not concerned here about rewards but whether people will enter the kingdom at all. He insisted that people cannot enter it without living in a godly way.”

This is not to say that salvation is by works, but rather that genuine salvation always results in a life of growing godliness. If you’re not applying all diligence to grow in godliness, you need to examine yourself. Maybe, like those in verse 9, you have forgotten what Christ did for you at the cross. If so, confess your sin and take steps to grow in godliness. But if you can shrug off the cross, then you aren’t headed for heaven.

The abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom (this is the only time “eternal” is used with “kingdom”) may have behind it the picture of a returning war hero who is welcomed into the city with great fanfare. In the same way, “our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (this designation of Christ is only used in 2 Peter [here], 2:20; 3:2 [Lord and Savior], 18) will welcome those who have been diligent to grow in godliness into the eternal city.

Conclusion

So Peter is motivating us to be diligent to grow in godliness by showing us the benefits. Looking back, see what God has done for us in Christ. By His divine power, He has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness (1:3). He has granted us His precious and magnificent promises so that by them we have become partakers of His divine nature (1:4). We have the very life of God in us. And, He has cleansed us from all our sins (1:9). He took the initiative to choose us and call us to salvation (1:10). In light of these great benefits, be diligent to grow in godliness.

In the present, growing in godliness will give us the joy of being useful and fruitful to the Lord, so that we don’t waste our lives. It will give us assurance of salvation. It will keep us from stumbling and falling away from the Lord. In the future, the Lord will welcome us into His eternal kingdom, where we will dwell with Him in indescribable blessedness forever. In light of these great benefits, be diligent to grow in godliness.

Application Questions

1. How can we know whether our lives are truly fruitful for God’s kingdom? What biblical criteria are there?
2. Should we give assurance of salvation immediately after a person professes faith in Christ, or should that come later? Why?
3. Can a true Christian fall away from the faith permanently? If not, why not? How can the fallen person know if he’s saved?
4. Does the prospect of heaven motivate you to live for Christ now? If not, how can you gain this motivation?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2010, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Have you ever had a conversation with someone about Christ in which the person said, “I’m glad that you believe in Jesus and that that works for you, but I’m into [fill in the blank]”? It could be a religious cult, or some method for achieving your greatest potential, or whatever. Maybe you responded by saying, “But let me tell you how Jesus changed my life.” The other person listened politely, but still said, “That’s great for you! I’m happy that Jesus helped you like that. But I’ve found great help in [fill in the blank]. Why should I believe in Jesus?”

In 1969, I was one of ten seminary students who spent the summer in West Los Angeles, working at the Jesus Christ Light and Power House, a ministry center near the UCLA campus. In the evenings, we often walked around the streets of Westwood where we encountered hordes of enthusiastic young people who invited us to come to meetings where they promised that our lives would be changed. They would give miraculous-sounding testimonies of ways that their lives had been changed. One young woman told me that she needed a car. She pointed to a brand new Corvette and said, “There it is!” Another told me of how she had been alienated from her mother for years, but now they had become close friends.

Was Jesus Christ the key to these changed lives? No, not at all. Rather, these enthusiastic witnesses had all begun to chant a Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist chant. I did not attend any of their meetings, but some of my friends who did said that it reminded them of a Campus Crusade College Life meeting, where glowing testimony after testimony told of how lives had been dramatically changed—not by Jesus Christ, but rather by chanting this Buddhist chant.

This leads me to ask, “How do you know that your faith in Christ is true?” If someone says that chanting a Buddhist mantra works for him, is that equally true? In other words, what is the foundation of our faith? Does it rest on personal experience: “Jesus changed my life”? While I hope that Jesus has changed your life, I also hope that you see that your faith needs a more substantial foundation than that. Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Buddhists, and many with other belief systems can point to changed lives. How do we know that biblical Christianity is the only truth that will get us right with God and give us eternal life?

In 2 Peter 1:16-21, the apostle gives us two elements that make up a sure foundation for our faith: (1) the apostolic witness to Jesus Christ (1:16-18); and, (2) the written prophetic revelation of God in Scripture (1:19-21). Since we now have the apostolic witness in the New Testament, the two elements are just one foundation, the Word of God. But today we will only look at the apostolic witness. In verses 16-18, Peter is saying that…

The foundation of our faith is the apostolic witness to Jesus Christ.

Peter lays this foundation before he deals directly (chapter 2) with the false teachers that were plaguing the early church. One error of these false teachers was to deny the apostolic teaching that Jesus would return bodily to earth. They scoffed (3:4), “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.”

So in our text, Peter boldly counters these scoffers (1:16), “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.” The word “for” connects the thought with Peter’s previous words. The sense is, “I want you to always be able to call these things to mind after I’m gone, because they are true. We didn’t make up clever stories. We were eyewitnesses of what we are handing off to you.” So the foundation of our faith is the apostolic witness to Jesus Christ. We can note four things about this apostolic witness:

1. The apostles explicitly deny making up tales about Jesus Christ.

Is Peter responding to the charges of the false teachers, that he was following cleverly devised tales, or he is referring to the cleverly devised tales of the false teachers in contrast to the eyewitness testimony of the apostles? Perhaps there is some of both, that the false teachers were accusing the apostles of following cleverly devised tales, but Peter is turning it back on them, saying, “It is not we who are following cleverly devised tales (as they assert), but rather they are following cleverly devised tales. We apostles are following and proclaiming what we have seen and heard.”

In verses 12-15, Peter uses the first person pronoun, I, but in verses 16 & 18, he shifts to the plural, we. He is bringing in here the testimony of the apostles, in particular, of Peter, James, and John who were with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration where they saw His majesty and glory. In verse 18, “we ourselves” is emphatic. The plural pronouns make it clear that this was not a subjective vision or dream that Peter experienced by himself. Rather, it was an actual experience that Peter, James, and John all saw and heard.

Peter explicitly denies that they were making up or following cleverly devised tales. In that day, as in every age, there were religious charlatans who made a nice living by claiming to have some new revelation that would help their followers get whatever they wanted. Like the guru in Sedona who recently came into the public eye when three of his followers died in a sweat lodge ceremony, these false teachers invariably charge a substantial fee for their services (2:15). Often they use their followers for sexual gratification (2:14, 18). They lure people by promising them something, such as freedom from their problems (2:19). But their teaching is false and so their promises never truly deliver.

The Greek word translated tales is the word from which we get our word, myths. It was often used in the Greek culture to refer to stories about the Greek gods. These stories were not literally true, but they conveyed a message that contained helpful instruction (Thomas Schreiner, The New American Commentary, 1, 2 Peter, Jude [Broadman and Holman Publishers], p. 313). Perhaps they were fables with a moral lesson, but the stories were not true.

Paul used this word negatively to refer to other false teachers. He told Timothy (1 Tim. 1:3-4) to “instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.” He warned him (1 Tim. 4:7), “But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women.” There is nothing wrong with grandma telling her grandkids the story of Little Red Riding Hood, but it’s not true and it has no place in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul also instructed Titus (Titus 1:13-14) to reprove his hearers severely, “so that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.” He was referring to unbelieving Jews who added fanciful embellishments to Old Testament stories. And in his final charge to Timothy, where he strongly exhorts him to preach the word, Paul adds (2 Tim. 4:3-4), “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, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

Each time he contrasts the truth with myths. Myths are made-up stories or fables. The truth refers to revelation from God through His chosen apostles and prophets as recorded in His Word (John 17:17). Such truth supremely focuses on God’s revelation in His Son who said (John 18:37), “for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth.” He also said (John 14:6), “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” The truth about Jesus is made known to us through the witness of the apostles. They were not making up tales. Rather, they report to us what they saw and heard about Jesus.

2. The apostolic witness centers exclusively on the person of Jesus Christ as the glorious, majestic Son of God, equal with the Father.

Peter is referring here to one specific occasion, namely, when he and James and John were with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. We will look more at that in a moment. But for now I want you to see that Peter here exalts Jesus Christ as the glorious, majestic Son of God, equal with the Father. (He will mention the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, in verse 21.)

Majesty can also be translated “splendor,” “greatness,” or “magnificence.” It is used once to refer to the greatness of God (Luke 9:43) and one other time, in the mouth of Demetrius, the Ephesian idol-maker, to refer to their “great goddess Artemis,” who was in danger of being “dethroned from her magnificence” (Acts 19:27). Here (1:16), Peter uses majesty to refer to Jesus on the mount of transfiguration, when (Matt. 17:2), “His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.” Moses and Elijah appeared there with Him (we don’t know how the three disciples identified them). Peter says (2 Pet. 1:17) that Jesus “received honor and glory from God the Father,” whom Peter also identifies as “the Majestic Glory,” who said (1:17), “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased.” Glory refers to the shining brightness of Jesus’ face and clothes. Honor refers to the words of approval that came from heaven (Schreiner, p. 315).

Just prior to the experience on the mount of transfiguration, Jesus had predicted His impending death on the cross. Peter had rebuked Jesus for such a thought, only to have Jesus strongly rebuke Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan” (Matt. 16:21-23). Jesus went on to affirm that His disciples, too, would have to deny themselves and take up the cross to follow Him.

So the disciples were undoubtedly confused. If Jesus is the Messiah, then why all this talk about death on the cross? What about His reigning in power and glory on the throne of David? In that context, Jesus said (Matt. 16:28), “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” The account of the transfiguration immediately follows, where the three apostles saw Jesus in the glory that He will have in His future kingdom.

When the Father said of Jesus, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased,” it identified Jesus as the Messiah of Israel. The phrase about Jesus being God’s Son comes from the Messianic Psalm 2. In Psalm 2:6, God says, “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.” Peter here refers to the mount of transfiguration as “the holy mountain,” because they met with God there. (We do not know exactly where it was, but it may have been somewhere on Mount Hermon.) In Psalm 2:7, Messiah says, “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’” The psalm goes on to promise to give the Son the nations as His inheritance and that He will break them with a rod of iron (Rev. 19:15).

The part about Jesus being beloved and well-pleasing to the Father comes from another Messianic prophecy, Isaiah 42:1 (note the O.T. reference to the Trinity here), where the Father says, “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.” So in the context, the experience of seeing Jesus transfigured told the confused disciples, “Jesus is the glorious, majestic promised Messiah and King. His impending death on the cross does not negate His future reign in power and glory.”

Jesus is the eternal Son of God who laid aside His glory and took on human flesh through the virgin birth. As such, He is fully God and fully human, apart from sin. He did not and could not surrender any of His divine attributes, or He would have ceased to be God, which is impossible. But, He voluntarily laid aside the use of some of His divine attributes as He took on the form of a servant and became obedient to death on the cross (Phil. 2:5-8). As Charles Wesley put it in “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing,” “Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, hail the incarnate Deity.”

So on this one occasion, the veil was lifted and the disciples saw the intrinsic glory of Jesus that He shared with the Father before the creation of the world (John 17:5). The apostolic witness reveals this unique, glorious, majestic Son of God to us.

3. The apostolic witness affirmed that Jesus Christ is coming again in power and glory.

When Peter says (1:16), “we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” a few commentators understand it to be referring to Christ’s first coming, where His power was especially revealed in His miracles and in this revelation on the mount of transfiguration. I used to think that that was the meaning. But the word translated coming (parousia) is always used elsewhere in the New Testament in reference to Christ to refer to His second coming. Since Peter was dealing with false teachers who scoffed at the idea of Christ’s second coming (2 Pet. 3:4), almost all commentators understand “the power and coming” of 1:16 to refer to His second coming.

The meaning of verse 16, then, is that the apostles had not devised the idea of Christ’s second coming as a clever tale. As we’ll see in a moment, their experience on the mount of transfiguration was a prophetic glimpse of what it will be like when Jesus returns in power and glory. Jesus had specifically predicted that He would come again to receive His followers unto Himself in heaven (John 14:1-3). Also, when Jesus ascended into heaven after the resurrection, the angels said to the disciples (Acts 1:11), “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” Since He ascended bodily, He will return bodily. Since He ascended visibly, He will return visibly. Since He ascended suddenly, He will return suddenly.

While Christians differ over many of the details of Christ’s return, all who believe the Bible as the Word of God affirm that He will return bodily in power and glory to judge the wicked and to bring final redemption and eternal glory to His people (Heb. 9:28). All who have tasted of God’s grace in Christ are “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:13). This is not a minor theme in the New Testament. If anyone denies the second coming of Jesus, he denies the gospel and a major part of biblical revelation. As His redeemed people, we should be living daily in the hope of His coming, longing for the day when He will appear (2 Tim. 4:8).

So the apostles specifically deny making up tales about Jesus Christ, especially with reference to His second coming. The apostolic witness centers exclusively on the person of Jesus Christ as the glorious, majestic Son of God, equal with the Father. The apostles also clearly proclaimed that Jesus Christ will return in power and glory. Finally,

4. The apostles affirm being eyewitnesses of the majesty of Jesus Christ on the mount of transfiguration.

The apostles witnessed Jesus’ glory and majesty from the time of His baptism to His ascension. As the apostle John put it (John 1:14), “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” So the question is, why does Peter here bring up the transfiguration as the prime example of seeing Jesus’ majesty, rather than the resurrection or the ascension?

For one thing, the transfiguration was the only time Peter saw Jesus in His majesty and glory. Stephen looked into heaven and saw the glorified Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55-56). Paul saw the glory of Christ in the blinding flash of light on the Damascus Road, when he heard His voice (Acts 9:3-8). He also had the experience of being caught up into heaven, where he heard things which a man is not permitted to speak (2 Cor. 12:4). John would later see the glory of Christ on the Isle of Patmos (Rev. 1:12-20). But this was Peter’s only experience of seeing the glory of Christ, and he could never forget it.

But his main reason for referring to the transfiguration here is that it guarantees Christ’s coming again in power and glory, which the false teachers were ridiculing (3:1-4). It was a brief, prophetic display of what it will be like when the kingdom of God comes in power (Matt. 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27). If the transfiguration was a historical event, so the second coming will be historical. It is not just a “spiritual” coming. While Jesus’ first coming presented Him as the humble, gentle, suffering servant, His second coming will be as the conquering warrior, ruling the nations with a rod of iron, judging all of His enemies (Rev. 19:11-16; Matt. 26:64).

As you consider this amazing revelation of Jesus’ glory on the mount of transfiguration, the question comes to mind, “Why did Jesus only pick Peter, James, and John to witness this event?” If it happened today with a future political leader, his press aides would have staged the event before a full stadium, with the cameras rolling. But Jesus excluded nine of the twelve and then commanded the three who saw it not to say anything about it until after He had risen from the dead (Matt. 17:9).

We can’t know the exact reasons why the Lord limited this revelation to these three, but His choice reveals His abundant grace for sinners. Jesus had just rebuked Peter by calling him Satan! He also knew that Peter would deny Him on the night before His crucifixion. James and John clamored for first place among the twelve. But the Lord picked those three, perhaps to teach us that if we know Him, it is not because of our worthiness, but rather because of His grace.

Also, the other disciples had to rely on the witness of these three. That required humility on their part. They had to set aside the pride that would have caused them to say, “Why do these three get the special revelation? They aren’t any better than we are!” True, they weren’t any better. But God chose to reveal the glory of Christ to them, and the others had to accept their witness. So do we. Have you done that?

Conclusion

Some think that faith means closing your eyes to all evidence and leaping blindly into the dark, hoping that somehow it will turn out well. That is stupidity, not faith. Faith is only as good as its object. To have faith in a broken-looking airplane, where the wings are held on by baling wire and the motor barely runs would be really dumb. You should put your faith only in a plane that shows evidence of being trustworthy.

In our text, we have the testimony of a man who spent more than three years with Jesus Christ. For most of those three years, he saw the humanity of Jesus. He saw Jesus hungry, tired, and finally, rejected and crucified by sinners. But he also saw Jesus feed the 5,000, walk on water, heal the sick, and raise the dead. He saw Jesus in His glory on the mount of transfiguration. He saw Him risen from the dead and he saw Him ascend into heaven, with the angelic promise that He is coming again in power and glory. This apostolic witness to Jesus Christ is the foundation of our faith.

The question is, do you accept the apostolic witness to Jesus Christ? Have you bowed before His majesty and trusted Him as your Savior and Lord? If not, why not? There is more than sufficient evidence for your faith.

Application Questions

1. Why must our faith be in objective truth, not in subjective feelings or ideas? If it’s in objective truth, then how is it faith?
2. Is the deity of Jesus Christ essential to the gospel? Can a person be saved who denies His deity? Why not?
3. Why is the bodily second coming of Christ a vital part of the gospel? What are the implications if He is not coming again?
4. What part do spiritual experiences have in the life of faith? Should we seek such experiences?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2010, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

When you think of cruelty, you probably think of terrorists blowing up innocent people or of evil parents abusing a little child. But you probably wouldn’t think of heresy. Some years ago I read a book with the intriguing title, The Cruelty of Heresy [Morehouse Publishing, 1994], by FitzSimons Allison. While in my estimation, he focuses too much on the temporal rather than the eternal consequences of heresy, his title is still provocative: heresy is cruel. It destroys lives for time and eternity.

In the same vein, John MacArthur (The MacArthur Study Bible, New American Standard Updated Edition [Nelson Bibles], pp. 1924, 1925) writes, “Nothing is more wicked than for someone to claim to speak for God to the salvation of souls when in reality he speaks for Satan to the damnation of souls.” Those who promote heresy are the ultimate terrorists in that they deceive people to follow a path that leads to the eternal terrors of hell.

At the end of chapter 1, Peter lays out the foundation for our faith, which is the inspired Word of God. He knows that he is about to pass off the scene and he wants his readers to stand firmly on the truth of God’s Word. But he also knows that false prophets are a perpetual threat to God’s people. So in contrast to the godly prophets who spoke for God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, he begins chapter 2 by contrasting them with the false prophets who have plagued God’s people down through the ages.

Some understand Peter’s use of the future tense in our text to mean that the false teachers were not yet present in the churches. But later (2:13, 15, 17; 3:5) Peter indicates that they are already there. So by using the future tense Peter probably is alluding to prophecies by Jesus that pointed to the coming of these false teachers (Thomas Schreiner, The New American Commentary, 1, 2, Peter, Jude [Broadman Publishers], p. 327; Michael Green, The Second Epistle of Peter and the Epistle of Jude [Eerdmans], p. 93). The Lord knew that they would come. Their presence does not negate His sovereign control over His church.

It’s interesting that in 2 Peter 2 there are no direct exhortations or commands. Rather, Peter just describes the false teachers and their evil ways at length. It’s as if he is holding up a Most Wanted Poster with some hideous, evil-looking characters, saying, “This is what these guys look like, so watch out for them!” So chapter 2 serves as a warning. In our text, Peter is saying,

Beware of false teachers because they leave a trail of spiritual devastation in their wake!

Peter gives us seven reasons to beware of false teachers:

1. Beware of false teachers because they are a perpetual threat to God’s people.

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you ….” The first phrase refers back to the history of God’s people in the Old Testament. Satan is a liar and the father of lies. He deceived Eve in the garden and he has used false teachers to deceive the unsuspecting ever since.

In Deuteronomy 13, Moses warned Israel about false prophets who would deceive by performing signs and wonders to get people to go after false gods. He sees this as so severe a threat that he says that even if it is your brother, your child, or even the wife you cherish, you must not follow him or her after these false gods. Rather, you must not have pity on him, but must expose him so that he can be put to death (Deut. 13:6-10). That seems extreme to us, because our age is so tolerant of false doctrine. We shrug it off as not being a big deal. But Moses knew that false teachers would infect many, causing irreparable damage to God’s people.

It’s significant that Peter says that these false teachers will be “among you.” Paul warned the Ephesian elders of the same thing (Acts 20:29-30), “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” He goes on to warn them to be on the alert. False teachers arise from within the church and often do a lot of damage before they are confronted. If they leave, they invariably take a lot of people with them who are angry at the church for being so unloving and judgmental.

It is true that Christians have wrongly divided over minor doctrinal disputes, personality conflicts, and other petty issues. Such divisions are sin. But it is also a sin to minimize doctrine to the point where in the name of love and unity, we tolerate false teachers who deny the fundamental doctrines of the faith. These foundational truths include the triune nature of God; the full deity and humanity of Jesus Christ; His virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary atonement on the cross, bodily resurrection, ascension, and personal return. Also, we cannot waver on the essentials of the gospel: that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. Underlying all of these truths is the divine inspiration, authority and complete infallibility of the Bible.

J. C. Ryle, the godly 19th century Anglican bishop, wrote (Warnings to the Churches [Banner of Truth], pp. 110-111),

Controversy in religion is a hateful thing. It is hard enough to fight the devil, the world and the flesh, without private differences in our own camp. But there is one thing which is worse than controversy—and that is false doctrine tolerated, allowed, and permitted without protest …. Three things there are which men never ought to trifle with—a little poison, a little false doctrine, and a little sin.

So just because someone claims to be an evangelical pastor or evangelist does not mean that he is sound in the faith. False teachers have always arisen from within the church. Beware!

2. Beware of false teachers because their methods are subtle and deceptive.

Peter says (v. 1) that these false teachers “will secretly introduce destructive heresies.” They will use (v. 3) “false words.” We get our word “plastic” from the Greek word for “false.” It meant, “made up,” or “fabricated.” The false teachers were accusing Peter and the apostles of following “cleverly devised tales” (1:16), but Peter counters by saying that they are making up their own stories and doctrines. In contrast to the inspired prophets and apostles, who wrote down God’s revealed truth in His Word, these false teachers were tools of Satan to promote deception.

The Greek word translated “secretly introduce” means to bring in from outside. They add worldly concepts to the Bible and give them the same authority as Scripture. One example of this from recent years is the concept of “self-esteem,” or “loving yourself.” That idea did not come into the church from the Bible. You will search in vain for any verse that encourages you to build your self-esteem or to love yourself more than you do. Sometimes advocates of this teaching will use as a proof text, “love your neighbor as yourself.” They argue that you must love yourself before you can properly love your neighbor and even before you can love God. But a glance at the context (Matt. 22:37-40) will show that there are two great commandments, not three, namely, to love God and to love our neighbor. Love for self is assumed as the minimal standard. If we would just love our neighbor as much as we do in fact love ourselves, we would fulfill the command.

False teachers often use Scripture, but they twist it by bringing in teaching from outside to pervert the true meaning of Scripture. Often, they are not up-front about their agenda. They cleverly work in a little error here and another error there, until they have taken people into a complete denial of the gospel. Paul warned that just as Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, even so his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:13-15). But they use subtlety and deception to gain followers.

3. Beware of false teachers because their doctrine is destructive.

Peter calls their teaching, “destructive heresies.” The word heresy originally was a neutral term that referred to a school of thought or a teaching. It can also refer to factions or divisions within the church (Gal. 5:20; 1 Cor. 11:18; Titus 3:10). But by adding the word “destructive,” Peter shows that he is talking about seriously wrong doctrine that destroys lives and churches and, if unchecked, leads to eternal judgment.

Peter takes us to the root of their destructive heresy when he adds (2:1), “even denying the Master who bought them.” Master is a strong word for Sovereign or Owner. We get our word “despot” from it, but in New Testament times it did not have the negative connotation that “despot” has in our language. It was used for the earthly master of slaves or to emphasize God’s absolute lordship.

Here (and in Jude 4) it refers to Jesus Christ. These false teachers were denying, both by their teaching and lifestyle, the lordship of Jesus Christ as the rightful owner of His people. If someone claims that you can believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and yet not submit to Him as Lord, it is destructive doctrine. It deceives people into thinking that they are saved because they “accepted Christ.” But Jesus said that He will say to such people, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matt. 7:23). They will be damned because their lives denied “the Master who bought them.”

But that phrase plunges us into a world of theological controversy! Some would argue that it supports the view that those who are saved can lose their salvation. But there are many Scriptures that affirm that God keeps all whom He saves (John 6:39; 10:27-29; Rom. 8:1, 29-39). Peter himself had denied the Master who bought him, yet the Lord did not cast him off.

Others use this phrase as proof that Christ died for all people, even for those who ultimately reject Him. The Master bought these heretics who end up in eternal condemnation. In other words, the verse seems to teach what is called “unlimited atonement.”

I thought about taking an entire message to deal with the extent of the atonement (many books have been written on this subject!), but instead I’m going to try to clarify things in a few paragraphs here. I used to think that Christ died to pay the penalty for all people, but that the benefits of His death only apply to those who trust in Him as Savior and Lord. In other words, Christ’s death made salvation possible for everyone, but actual only for those who believe. It’s like a gift that has been paid for and is being offered. But to be effective, the person must receive the gift. This is the most common view among evangelicals today.

But by reading the Puritan John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ [Banner of Truth], I came to see that that is an inadequate view of the atonement. Owen points out (p. 61) that either Christ endured the wrath of God for “all the sins of all men, or all the sins of some men, or some sins of all men.” If He died for all the sins of all men, then all men will be saved, which is clearly against the teaching of the Bible. Some counter, “But Christ died for all sins except for unbelief. Men are lost because they do not believe in Christ.” But, Owen counters (p. 62), is unbelief a sin or not? If not, why should sinners be punished for it? If it is somehow not atoned for by the blood of Christ, where does Scripture teach this? And, there are many Scriptures that say that people will be judged for many other sins (e.g., Rev. 20:12, 13; 21:8). Why would God judge them for these sins if they were all (except unbelief) atoned for?

If Christ died for some sins of all men (the sin of unbelief in Christ being excepted), then all men have some sin to atone for, and thus no one can be saved. This leaves as the only possible option that Christ died for all the sins of some men, namely, the elect. Christ came to save His people (the elect) from their sins (Matt. 1:21). He came to secure the eternal redemption of all that the Father had given to Him (John 6:39-40). His death actually paid their penalty. At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit quickens the elect sinner from spiritual death to spiritual life. He believes in Christ and Christ’s saving work is applied to his soul.

I do not have time to deal with the verses that seem to indicate that Christ died even for those who are eventually lost. (James Boice and Philip Ryken, The Doctrines of Grace [Crossway Books], pp. 126-134, give a brief treatment of this.) But let me try to explain why Peter says that these unbelieving heretics deny “the Master who bought them.”

Peter is making a comparison between the situation in Israel (v. 1, “false prophets arose among the people”) and that in the early church (“just as there will be false teachers among you”). In the context of warning Israel about false teachers, Moses describes God as (Deut. 13:5), “the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery….” Later, Moses rebuked the people, whom he calls (Deut. 32:5) “a perverse and crooked generation,” by asking rhetorically (Deut. 32:6), “Is not He your Father who has bought you?” In other words, the Old Testament refers to the exodus as God’s redeeming or buying His people (see also, 2 Sam. 7:23), even though only a remnant among them were truly saved. The redemption language was applied to the entire nation, even though not all were what we would call “born again.”

Peter applies this analogy to the church. Just as Israel as a nation were the redeemed people of God, although not all were saved, so the church is now God’s redeemed nation (1 Pet. 2:9-10), and yet there are some among them who are not truly saved. They professed to be redeemed, but by their deeds they denied Him (Titus 1:16). So Peter here is not giving a theological treatment on the extent of the atonement. Rather, he uses the analogy of God’s people being bought by the Master to show the heinous nature of the false teachers’ sin. They associated with the chosen nation (the church). The Master bought the church, just as God bought or redeemed Israel through the Exodus. Yet these heretics did not obey Him. They denied the Master who bought them and the result for them and all that follow them will be swift destruction.

So, beware of false teachers because they are a perpetual threat to God’s people; their methods are subtle and deceptive; and, their doctrine is destructive.

4. Beware of false teachers because their influence is alluring.

“Many will follow their sensuality…” (2:2). They had a large following. They were “successful!” It’s amazing how the Christian world thinks that if a man has a huge following, he must be sound in the faith. If he builds a megachurch, the Christian world looks to him as a leader, without questioning what he teaches.

These false teachers invariably cater to the flesh. They do not preach against sin. They do not mention divine judgment or hell. They avoid truths like denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following Christ no matter what the cost. Rather, they soothe people with uplifting thoughts about how much God loves you and wants you to have your best life now. If they ever mention the death of Christ, they say that He did it because He believed in your great worth. Now you need to believe in yourself and ask God to help you fulfill your dreams. People follow that kind of false teaching by the droves, because it feeds their pride.

5. Beware of false teachers because their motives are impure.

Peter shows that these men are driven by two related evil motives: sensuality and greed. At the root of both of these is their own self-centeredness and pride. They want to exploit their followers to gratify themselves.

There is always a connection between false doctrine and impure living. Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out which came first, but invariably, they are intertwined. False doctrine leads to ungodly living, but the reverse is also true. If a man gets involved in sexual sin, the Bible convicts him. So he has to change the teaching somehow to dodge his guilty conscience.

Years ago, I had a roommate who came to Christ through the man who eventually founded the Children of God cult. They flourished during the hippie “free love” days. This man, who started out orthodox in the faith, fell into sexual sin. He encouraged all sorts of sexual sin among his followers. But, of course, he had to veer greatly from Scripture to do that. He got involved in demonism and all sorts of false teaching. Wrong behavior leads to wrong doctrine and wrong doctrine leads to wrong behavior.

6. Beware of false teachers because their teaching and lifestyles result in dishonor to the way of the truth.

Peter says (2:2), “because of them the way of the truth will be maligned.” The Christian faith is the way of the truth because Jesus Himself is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). But when professing Christians, and especially professing Christian leaders, do not live according to the truth of God’s Word, unbelievers mock and disregard the truth. The TV preachers who live lavishly while milking their audiences for more money and the well-known pastors who get exposed in sex scandals cause the world to scoff at the faith. Steer clear of them all!

7. Beware of false teachers because they and all that follow them are heading toward eternal destruction.

Peter uses the word “destruction” 5 of the 18 times that it appears in the New Testament. He speaks of (v. 1) “destructive heresies” and the “swift destruction,” which the false teachers will bring on themselves. He adds (v. 3), “their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep.” He also uses the word in 3:7 in reference to “the day of judgment and the destruction of ungodly men” and again in 3:17, where he says that the false teachers twist the Scriptures “to their own destruction.” And, he uses the verb in 3:6 to describe how God destroyed the world through the flood.

Contrary to what some teach, the destruction of the wicked does not refer to their annihilation. Rather, it refers to their eternal punishment in the lake of fire (Matt. 25:46; Rev. 17:8, 11; 20:14, 15; 21:8). The fact that these wicked men’s judgment is from long ago means that God declared judgment on false teachers in the Old Testament, centuries before. The phrase, “their destruction is not asleep” personifies destruction as an executioner, always ready to administer God’s sentence on those who teach and follow false doctrine. Again, Peter is not talking about minor doctrinal differences, but rather about false teachings that lead people to damnation. He does not seem to hold out any hope that these false teachers could be reclaimed for the truth. But he wrote to warn us, so that we would not be taken in by their destructive doctrines.

Conclusion

False teachers abound today. Years ago, I received an advertisement in the mail trying to entice me to buy a book, The Good Lord, in which the author, who went by the name of Paul Moses, claimed to have discovered the greatest thing since the church began. It was purportedly based solidly on the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. The author claimed to have discovered that God is always good and thus he would never threaten anyone with everlasting torment in hell. He would never send plagues or catastrophes to wipe out thousands of people. He wants everyone to be rich and no one to be sick or hungry. He has a bright future for everyone in the world. All you had to do was buy his book to find out how you can change your view of God and get all the blessings!

I’ve never heard of that man since, but there are plenty just like him, promoting similar damnable errors, not just in the U.S. but also all around the globe. But their teachings are cruel because they lead people who follow them to eternal destruction. False teaching is not neutral. It is not just a minor deviation. It is evil to the core. Beware of false teachers!

Application Questions

1. How can we determine which doctrines are serious enough to qualify as “damnable”? What criteria apply?
2. How far should we go in preserving unity in the church? When is it necessary and right to divide?
3. So-called “non-lordship” salvation proponents argue that to require submission to Christ as Lord is to add works to faith as the basis for salvation. Why is their thinking seriously flawed?
4. Discuss: Everyone “limits” the atonement in some way. Either you limit its effectiveness by basing it on human will, or you limit its extent by applying it to the elect.

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2010, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation