Our Glorification: The Implications of Christ’s Return – 2Pe 3:14-16 places emphasis upon our future glorification and the implications of Christ’s Return. The apostle Peter tells us to be diligent to live a godly lifestyle so that we may obtain salvation. Peter is not using the word “salvation” in this passage in its narrow sense by referring to our initial salvation experience. Rather, Peter is referring to our entrance into Heaven through the process of sanctification. He then refers to the Pauline epistles for an explanation of this salvation.

Paul the apostle, in his epistles, laid the foundation for the doctrine of the early Church. The Catholic Epistles emphasize perseverance in the Christian faith, but the Pauline epistles establish doctrine. Thus, Peter refers to the doctrine of salvation which Paul laid down in his epistles, which doctrine is sometimes hard to understand, and is often twisted. This salvation includes the process of foreknowledge, justification, sanctification and glorification, which we may summarize in the phrase “divine election.”

Comparison of Peter and Paul Regarding Their Understanding of the Office and Ministry of Jesus Christ – Andrew Wommack notes that although Peter had spent more time with Jesus than Paul, it was Paul who received more revelation of who Jesus Christ was as the Son of God. Paul had the experience of knowing Christ Jesus only in His glorified, spiritual existence, while Peter walked with Jesus in the natural for years in His pre-glorified body. Thus, Paul focused entirely upon spiritual insights of the revelation of Jesus Christ, while Peter struggled with his physical senses in understanding these divine truths. [109] This illustrates the statement made by Jesus Christ when He told the Thomas, “because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” (Joh 20:29)

[109] Andrew Wommack, “Sermon,” Andrew Wommack Bible Conference, Kampala, Uganda 3 June 2010.

2Pe 3:14  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

2Pe 3:14 “be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless” – Comments The two-fold description of being “ ” (without spot or blemish) alludes to the animal sacrifice offered in Temple worship. This phrase is used by Peter in his first epistle (1Pe 1:19) and similar phrases are found frequently in early Christian literature. [110] J. Ramsey Michaels says the Greek word is not a Hebrew “ceremonial term” and it is not found in the LXX; however, the Greek word is ceremonial, being used in the LXX (Num 19:2). [111]

[110] Richard J. Bauckham, 2 Peter, Jude, in Word Biblical Commentary: 58 Volumes on CD-Rom, vol. 50 (Dallas, Texas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), comments on 2 Peter 3:14.

[111] J. Ramsey Michaels, 1 Peter, in Word Biblical Commentary: 58 Volumes on CD-Rom, vol. 49, eds. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker (Dallas: Word Inc., 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 3.0b [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2004), comments on 1 Peter 1:19.

Num 19:2, “This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:”

1Pe 1:19, “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”

That is, we are to be found with no sin at His Coming (2Co 11:2).

2Co 11:2, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”

2Pe 3:15  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

2Pe 3:15 “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation” Comments – In other words, we must consider this long delay of His coming as an opportunity for us to be saved and prepared for this event. Peter has just said that the Lord “is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2Pe 3:9)

2Pe 3:15 “even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you” Comments – Charles Bigg notes that scholars are divided on what particular Pauline epistle that Peter was referring to in 2Pe 3:15. He says it makes no difference because in his next statement Peter notes that Paul speaks of these issues in all of his epistles. [112]

[112] Charles Bigg, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude, in The International Critical Commentary, eds. Charles A. Briggs, Samuel R. Driver, and Alfred Plummer (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1903), 300.

2Pe 3:16  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

2Pe 3:16 “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things” Comments – Peter refers to Paul speaking in the present tense, rather than having spoken in the past. Thus, Bigg suggests that Paul was still alive at the time of this writing, [113] and it would have been towards the end of both of their lives, since Peter refers to his near departure (2Pe 1:14), and Paul’s many epistles.

[113] Charles Bigg, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude, in The International Critical Commentary, eds. Charles A. Briggs, Samuel R. Driver, and Alfred Plummer (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1903), 299.

2Pe 3:16 “which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest” – Comments – BDAG says that the Greek word (unlearned) refers to “heretics” within the context of this epistle There are a number of illustrations in the book of Acts where Paul’s adversaries twisted his teachings in order to bring an end to his ministry (Act 21:21; Act 21:27-29; Act 24:5-6). In Paul’s epistle to the Romans he asks rhetorical questions as if to recall the debates he encountered in the synagogues through his years of ministry (Rom 3:7-8; Rom 6:1).

Act 21:21, “And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.”

Act 21:27-29, “And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him, Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place. (For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)”

Act 24:5-6, “For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes: Who also hath gone about to profane the temple: whom we took, and would have judged according to our law.”

Rom 3:7-8, “For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.”

Rom 6:1, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”

However, the phrase “which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest” also reflects an ignorant uneducated person in general. It has been my experience as a missionary that a simple-minded person can be unstable in his beliefs and easily persuaded by other.

2Pe 3:16 “as they do also the other scriptures” Comments – In 2Pe 3:16 Peter equates Paul’s writings to other divinely inspired Old Testament Scriptures. The New Testament church, because of its Jewish heritage, immediately incorporated the Old Testament Scriptures into its daily worship. However, these new believers quickly realized that some of the Old Testament teachings, such as the Law of Moses, must now be interpreted in light of the New Covenant. We see this challenge taking place at the first council of Jerusalem in Acts 15.

Act 15:1-2, “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.”

In addition to the recognition of the Old Testament, the apostles realized that they had been given the authority to reveal the new covenant with as high authority as they held the Jewish Old Testament. According to 2Co 3:1-11, they were appointed ministers of this new covenant.

The major requirement for all of the New Testament writings to be considered “divinely inspired Scripture” was apostolic authority. These twenty-seven books had to have been either written by one of the twelve apostles, or either been imposed by these apostles upon the churches as an “instrument” of the Church, to be read and obeyed by all. Thus, we see the Gospels and Paul’s epistles being read in gatherings alongside the Old Testament Scriptures, and being elevated to equal authority as other sacred Scripture.

Therefore, Paul’s qualifications as a minister of the new covenant was elevated to a level higher than others due to the fact that God had given him the calling of writing much of the New Testament. Paul realized that his writings were on an equal level of authority as the Old Testament Scriptures.

Therefore, Paul held the authority to speak on the level of authority that Christ Jesus spoke while on this earth.

Note similar Scriptures that indicate how the New Testament writings became elevated by apostolic authority to become equal to the Old Testament Scriptures:

1Co 14:37, “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.”

2Co 3:6, “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”

Col 4:16, “And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.”

1Th 4:2, “For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.”

1Th 5:27, “I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.”

2Th 2:15, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”

1Ti 5:18, “For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.”

1Pe 1:12, “Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.”

Rev 1:3, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

An admonition to steadfastness:

v. 14. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

v. 15. And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you,

v. 16. as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction.

v. 17. Ye, therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.

v. 18. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.

In the fact that the new earth will be the abode of righteousness there is included a solemn warning to all believers: Therefore, beloved, because you are expecting these things, use all diligence to be found spotless and blameless in His sight. We Christians know that a life of sanctification, in which we avoid sin and earnestly strive to fulfill the will of God in every respect, will not merit salvation. But as children of God our one desire is to please our heavenly Father by leading such lives as conform to His will. Having been made partakers of the redemption of Christ, we have also received His complete fulfillment of the Law of God, His righteousness has been imputed to us. For this reason it is possible for Christians at least to make a beginning in a life of sanctification.

Of one thing the Christians must never lose sight: And consider the long-suffering of our Lord as salvation. The fact that the Lord has so much patience with the people of the world, also with us, that He does not send punishment as often as we deserve it and in the measure that we deserve it, means salvation for us. The present time is still a time of grace for us, and we should, be earnestly concerned about making the best of this time, knowing that God’s reward of grace will come upon us, be given us, in the end.

St. Peter now refers to the letters of Paul to substantiate his words: Just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, has written you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these things, in which are some difficult passages, which the unlearned and unsteady distort, as also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Two points are here evident, the inspiration of the letters of Paul and the agreement between the doctrine as taught by the various apostles. Peter says of Paul that he is a beloved brother, a teacher of the Church with himself, that Paul did not write his own philosophy, but wrote what the Wisdom from on high prompted him to say. Peter may have in mind especially the letters of Paul to the Galatians and to the Ephesians. In these letters, as well as in others which Paul sent to various congregations, he treated of the same doctrines, the same fundamental truths of Christianity; which Peter had here discussed, and taught the same facts. But with a note of sadness the apostle continues, stating that some people who were uneducated, that lacked both mental training and balanced judgment, and some that were unsteady, that were not yet fully and soundly established in Christian doctrine, had distorted or twisted his words and sayings. They had done the same thing also with the other Scriptures, with the writings of the prophets, apostles, and evangelists, and that to their own damnation. It seems strange that the Holy Scriptures, containing, as they do, the fundamental truths of salvation in such simple, unmistakable passages, should yet give a great many people, usually such as lack the training for intensive explanation of the Bible, occasion to teach the greatest heresies. It is but necessary to glance over a few pages in the books published by the most modern sectarians in order to be convinced of the truth of this statement. What Paul and Peter and all the apostles taught of Christian liberty, of sin and grace, of the corruption of man’s nature, of salvation by grace only, all these doctrines are garbled and twisted and modified until it is impossible for the readers to get any satisfaction out of the presentation. And the authors, unless the belief of their heart differs from the belief of their pen, will receive to themselves damnation. We simply follow Luther’s rule and explain the difficult passages in the light of those that are absolutely clear. And where a solution is not possible, we cheerfully teach our hearts patience, knowing that everything shall be made plain to us when we reach our home above.

Incidentally, we heed the warning of the apostle: You, then, beloved, knowing this before, be careful, lest, carried away by the error of lawless men, (you) fall away from your own foundation. It is by means of warnings such as these that Christians are enabled to be on the lookout for sectarians that pervert the gracious Gospel of Jesus Christ. They know what they may expect, and they conduct themselves accordingly. They will not permit the false interpretations of godless and impious men to swamp them, to carry them off their feet, to lose their foundation. They have the trustworthy, the solid basis of the Gospel, and they will not risk the shifting sands of man’s interpretation of the Word. The Word interprets itself, and we should be satisfied with the explanation thus offered, and not seek interpretations which are intended to satisfy human reason.

With this thought in mind the apostle concludes: But grow in the grace and in-the understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is the Christian’s happiness: to increase in grace, in the conviction founded on the Gospel that we possess the grace of God in Christ Jesus, that His merits have been imputed to us, and that our inheritance is awaiting us above. By becoming more firmly established in this conviction day after day, we also grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; for those facts are the essential facts for this life and for the world to come. Therefore we join the apostle in his fervent doxology in praise of Christ the Savior: To Him be glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Summary. In speaking of the certain corning of the day of the Lord, the apostle warns against the scoffers that ridicule the idea, emphasizes the certainty of the Lord’s return, shows what attitude the Christians should assume, and admonishes them to show all steadfastness in faith.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

2Pe 3:14. In peace, without spot, and blameless By the words in peace, some understand that they should be at peace with their own consciences; others, that the Christians should be at peace with one another, or with mankind in general. But it seems more likely, that St. Peter means they should endeavour to be found at last in peace with their great Judge; and that, by endeavouring in this life, under divine grace, to be without spot and blemish. The corrupt Christians are called spots and blemishes among the Christians at their love-feasts: in opposition to such a character, the true Christians were to keep themselves without spot or blemish. See 1Pe 1:19.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

2Pe 3:14 . , , ] The participle does not give the explanation of the : “wherefore, because we expect this” (Wiesinger, Schott), but the waiting for it belongs to the exhortation (Dietlein, Brckner, Steinfass).

] , cf. 1Pe 1:19 : , besides here only in Phi 2:15 , “ unblamable ” (Deu 32:5 : ); reverse of the false teachers: , chap. 2Pe 2:13 .

] not equal to , nor is it the dat. comm. (Schott); and as little: “with reference to him” (Hofmann); but: “ according to His ( i.e. God’s) judgment .”

] refers not to the future time of the judgment, but to the present time of the expectation.

] This adjunct does not belong to , as Beza considers probable, but to . . .; it gives the life-element, in which the Christian must move (so, too, Brckner); cf. Eph 1:4 : ; 1Th 3:13 : , if he would be found an : is here not “concord” (Pott, Augusti), nor is it “the good conscience,” but peace, in the full meaning of the word; the addition is explained from 2Pe 3:15 . Dietlein incorrectly takes as the object to be supplied to , which are here used not as relative, but as absolute adjectives; at the same time, too, he limits , in the conception of it, to “peace of the church, especially to peace in relation to the church authorities.” Not less erroneous is it to regard, with Steinfass, as the opposite “of all division between the Jewish and the Gentile elements.” The interpretation of de Wette: “to your peace,” equivalent to (Beza: vestro bono, clementem illum videlicet ac pacificum experturi), cannot be justified on linguistic grounds.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

Ver. 14. That ye may be found of him ] Watching, working, well doing. See Trapp on “ Mat 24:42 “ See Trapp on “ Mat 24:44 “

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

14 .] Exhortation founded on this expectation . Wherefore, beloved, expecting (as ye do) these things (the pres. part. gives the reason of the verb following: and does not, as Huther and Dietlein, belong to the exhortation, : for the Apostle has just assumed as a patent fact), be earnest ( , aor.: not the daily habit so much, as the one great life-effort which shall accomplish the end, is in the Apostle’s mind) to be found (at His coming. This word shews plainly enough that a personal coming of the Lord, as in 2Pe 3:4 , is in the view of the Apostle throughout, as connected with the proceedings of the great Day. The form of expression reminds us forcibly of Mat 22:11 ff.) spotless (reff.) and blameless (cf. 2Co 6:3 ; 2Co 8:20 ; also . , the contrast, above, ch. 2Pe 2:13 . From the connexion there with a feast, it seems very probable that in both passages the parable of the wedding garment was floating before the Apostle’s mind) in His sight (so, and not, “ by Him ,” or “ of Him ,” as E. V., must we render: see reff.) in peace (second predicate after : the . were with reference to God ( ); this, in reference to your own state and lot: in peace among yourselves, in peace with yourselves, in peace for yourselves, with God. But perhaps an expression so familiar to the Eastern tongue as , may have an onward as well as a present meaning, as in and (reff. and Luk 7:50 ; Luk 8:48 ): and be taken of that eternal peace, of which all earthly peace is but a feeble foretaste):

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

2Pe 3:14 . . is dative = “in relation to Him,” or “in His sight”. Cf. Rom 7:10 . ; Eph 1:4 , . For , cf. note on 2Pe 3:13 . occurs in Epistle of Aristeas (ed. Wendland), with reference to sacrificial victims. . Peace and righteousness are one. Cf. Psa 85:10 . The “welldoers” will be able to meet the Parousia with calm expectation.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

2 Peter

BE DILIGENT

2Pe 3:14 .

As we pass the conventional boundary of another year, most of us, I suppose, cast glances into the darkness ahead. To those of us who have the greater part of our lives probably before us, the onward look will disclose glad possibilities. To some of us, who have life mostly behind us, the prospect will take ‘a sober colouring from an eye that hath kept watch over man’s mortality,’ and there will be little on the lower levels to attract. My text falls in with the mood which the season fosters. It directs our onward look to a blessed certainty instead of a peradventure, and it deduces important practical consequences from the hope. These three things are in the words of our text: a clear vision that should fill the future; a definite aim for life, drawn from the vision; and an earnest diligence in the pursuit of that aim, animated by that hope.

Now these three–a bright hope, a sovereign purpose, and a diligent earnestness–are the three conditions of all noble life. They themselves are strength, and they will bring us buoyancy and freshness which will prolong youth into old age, and forbid anything to appear uninteresting or small.

So I ask you to look at these three points, as suggested by my text.

I. First, then, the clear hope which should fill our future.

‘Seeing that ye look for such things.’ What things? Peter has been drawing a very vivid and solemn picture of the end, in two parts, one destructive, the other constructive. Anticipating the predictions of modern science, which confirm his prophecy, he speaks of the dissolution of all things by fervent heat, and draws therefrom the lesson: ‘What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?’

But that dissolution by fire is not, as people often call it, the ‘final conflagration.’ Rather is it a regenerating baptism of fire, from which ‘the heavens and the earth that now are’–like the old man in the fable, made young in the flame–shall emerge renewed and purified. The lesson from that prospect is the words of our text.

Now I am not going to dwell upon that thought of a new heaven and a new earth renewed by means of the fiery change that shall pass upon them, but simply to remark that there is a great deal in the teaching of both Old and New Testaments which seems to look in that direction. It is, at least, a perfectly tenable belief, and in my humble judgment is something more, that this earth, the scene of man’s tragedy and crime, the theatre of the display of the miracle of redeeming love, emancipated from the bondage of corruption, shall be renewed and become the seat of the blessed. They who dwell in it, and it on which they dwell pass through analogous changes, and as for the individuals, the ‘new creation’ is the old self purified by the fire of the Divine Spirit into incorruption and righteousness, so the world in which they live shall, in like manner, be ‘that new world which is the old,’ only having suffered the fiery transformation and been glorified thereby.

But passing from that thought, which, however interesting it may be as a matter of speculation, is of very small practical importance, notice, still further, the essential part of the hope which the Apostle here sets forth–viz., that that order of things towards which we may look is one permeable only for feet that have been washed and made clean. ‘Therein dwelleth righteousness.’ Righteousness there, of course, is the abstract for the concrete; the quality is put for the persons that exhibit it. And just as the condition of being at home in this present material world is the possession of flesh and blood, which puts creatures into relationships therewith, and just as it is impossible for a finite, bodyless spirit to move amongst, and influence, and be influenced by, the gross materialities of the heavens and the earth that now are, so is it impossible for anything but purity to be at rest in, or even to enter into that future world. ‘The gates’ of the New Jerusalem ‘shall not be closed day nor night’; but through the ever-open gates none can pass except they who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. There stand at the gates of that Paradise unseen, the repulsions of the angel with the flaming sword, and none can enter except the righteous. Light kills the creatures of the darkness.

‘How pure that soul must be

Which, placed within Thy piercing sight,

Shall shrink not, but with calm delight

Can live, and look on Thee!’

Thus, then, brethren, an order of things free from all corruption, and into which none can pass but the pure, should be the vision that ever flames before us. Peter takes it for granted that the anticipation of that future is an inseparable part of the Christian character. The word which he employs, by its very form, expresses that that expectance is habitual and continuous. I am afraid that a great many so-called Christians very seldom send their thoughts, and still less frequently their desires, onwards to that end. In all your dreams of the future, how much space has been filled by this future which is no dream? Have you, in these past days, and do you, as a matter of habitual and familiar occupation of your mind, let your eyes travel on beyond and above the low levels of earth and peradventures, to fix them on that certainty?

Opticians make glasses with three ranges, and write upon a little bar which shifts their eyepieces, ‘Theatre,’ ‘Field,’ ‘Marine.’ Which of the three is your glass set to? The turn of a button determines its range. You can either look at the things close at hand, or, if you set the eyepiece right and use the strongest, you can see the stars. Which is it to be? The shorter range shows you possibilities; the longer will show you certainties. The shorter range shows you trifles; the longer, all that you can desire. The shorter range shows you hopes that are destined to be outgrown and left behind; the longer, the far-off glories, a pillar of light which will move before you for ever. Oh, how many of the hopes that guided our course, and made our objective points in the past, are away down below the backward horizon! How many hopes we have outgrown, whether they were fulfilled or disappointed. But we may have one which will ever move before us, and ever draw our desires. The greater vision, if we were only wise enough to bring our lives habitually under its influence, would at once dim and ennoble all the near future.

Let us then, dear friends, not desecrate that wondrous faculty of looking before as well as after which God has given to us, by wasting it upon the nothings of this world, but heave it higher, and anchor it more firmly in the very Throne of God Himself. And for us let one solemn, blessed thought more and more fill with its substance and its light the else dim and questionable and insufficient future, and walk evermore as seeing Him who is invisible, and as hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord.

II. Then, secondly, note the definite aim which this clear hope should impress upon life.

If you knew that you were going to emigrate soon, and spend all your life on the other side of the world, in circumstances the outlines of which you knew, you would be a fool if you did not set yourself to get ready for them. The more clearly we see and the more deeply we feel that future hope, which is disclosed for us in the words of my text, the more it will prescribe a dominant purpose which will give unity, strength, buoyancy, and blessedness to any life. ‘Seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent.’ For what? ‘That ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.’

Now mark the details of the aim which this great hope impresses upon life, as they are stated in the words of my text. Every word is weighty here. ‘That ye may be found.’ That implies, if not search, at least investigation. It suggests the idea of the discovery of the true condition, character, or standing of a man which may have been hidden or partially obscured before–and now, at last, is brought out clearly. With the same suggestion of investigation and discovery, the same phrase is employed in other places; as, for instance, when the Apostle Paul speaks about being ‘found naked,’ or as when he speaks about being ‘found in Him, not having mine own righteousness.’ So, then, there is some process of examination or investigation, resulting in the discovery, possibly for the first time, of what a man really is.

Then note, ‘Found in Him,’ or as the Revised Version reads it, ‘in His sight.’ Then Christ is the Investigator, and it is before ‘those pure eyes and perfect judgment’ that they have to pass, who shall be admitted into the new heavens and the new earth, ‘wherein dwelleth righteousness.’

Then mark what is the character which, discovered on investigation by Jesus Christ, admits there: ‘without spot and blameless.’ There must be the entire absence of every blemish, stain, or speck of impurity. The purer the white the more conspicuous the black. Soot is never so foul as when it lies on driven snow. They who enter there must have nothing in them akin to evil. ‘Blameless’ is the consequence of ‘spotless.’ That which in itself is pure attracts no censure, whether from the Judge or from the assessors and onlookers in His court.

But, further, these two words, in almost the same identical form–one of them absolutely the same, and the other almost so–are found in Peter’s other letter as a description of Jesus Christ Himself. He was a Lamb ‘without blemish and without spot.’ And thus the character that qualifies for the new heavens is the copy of us in Jesus Christ.

Still further, only those who thus have attained to the condition of absolute, speckless purity and conformity to Jesus Christ will meet His searching eye in calm tranquillity and be ‘found of Him in peace.’

The steward brings his books to his master. If he knows that there has been trickery with the figures and embezzlement, how the wretch shakes in his shoes, though he may stand apparently calm, as the master’s keen eye goes down the columns! If he knows that it is all right, how calmly he waits the master’s signature at the end, to pass the account! The soldiers come back with victory on their helmets, and are glad to look their captain in the face. But if they come back beaten, they shrink aside and hide their shame. If we are to meet Jesus Christ with quiet hearts, and we certainly shall meet Him, we must meet Him ‘without spot and blameless.’ The discovery, then, of what men truly are will be like the draining of the bed of a lake. Ah, what ugly, slimy things there are down in the bottom! What squalor and filth flung in from the houses, and covered over many a day by the waters! All that surface work will be drained off from the hearts of men. Shall we show slime and filth, or shall we show lovely corals and silver sands without a taint or a speck?

These are the details of the life’s aim of a Christian man. And they may all be gathered up into one. The end which we should seek as sovereign and high above all others is the conformity of our character to Jesus Christ our Lord. Never mind about anything else; let us leave all in God’s hands. He will do better for us than we can do for ourselves. Let us trust Him for the contingent future; and let us set ourselves to secure this, that, whether joy or sorrow, whether wealth or poverty, whether success or failure, whether sweet companionship or solitary tears be our lot for the rest of our lives, we may grow in grace, and in the knowledge and likeness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Make that your aim, and freshness, buoyancy, enthusiasm, the ennobling of everything in this world, and the bending of all to be contributory of it, will gladden your days. Make anything else your aim, and you fail of your highest purpose, and your life, however successful, will be dreary and disappointed, and its end will be shame.

III. Lastly, notice the earnest diligence with which that aim should be pursued, in the light of that hope.

Peter is fond of using the word which is here translated ‘be diligent.’ Hard work, honest effort, continuous and persevering, is His simple recipe for all nobleness. You will find He employs it, for instance, at least three times in this letter, in such connections as, ‘Besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue,’ and so on through the whole glorious series; and again, ‘Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.’ So, then, there is no mystery about the way of securing the aim; work towards it, and you will get it.

Now, of course, there are a great many other considerations to be brought in in reference to the Christian man’s means of becoming Christlike. We should have to speak of the gifts of a Divine Spirit, of the dependence upon God for it, and the like; but for the present purpose we may confine ourselves to Peter’s own prescription, ‘be diligent,’ and that will secure it. But then the word itself opens out into further meanings than that. It not only implies diligence: there may be diligence of a very mechanical and ineffective sort. The word also includes in its meaning earnestness, and it very frequently includes that which is the ordinary consequence of earnestness–viz., haste and economy of time.

So I venture, in closing, just to throw my remarks into three simple exhortations. Be in earnest in cultivating a Christlike character. Half-and-half Christians, like a great many of us, are of no use either to God or to men or to themselves. Dawdling and languid, braced up and informed by no earnestness of purpose, and never having had enthusiasm enough to set themselves fairly alight, they do no good and they come to nothing. ‘I would thou wert cold or hot.’ One thing sorely wanted in the average Christianity of this day is that professing Christians should give the motives which their faith supplies for earnest consecration due weight and power. Nothing else will succeed. You will never grow like Christ unless you are in earnest about it any more than you could pierce a tunnel through the Alps with a straw. It needs an iron bar tipped with diamond to do it. Unless your whole being is engaged in the task, and you gather your whole self together into a point, and drive the point with all your force, you will never get through the rock barrier that rises between you and the fair lands beyond. Be in earnest, or give it up altogether.

Then another thing I would venture to say is, Make it your business to cultivate a character like that of Jesus Christ. If you would go to the work of growing a Christ-like spirit one-hundredth part as systematically as you will go to your business to-morrow, and stick at it, there would be a very different condition of things in most of our hearts. No man becomes noble and good and like the dear Lord ‘by a jump,’ without making a systematic and conscious effort towards it.

I would say, lastly, Make haste about cultivating a Christlike character. The harvest is great, the toil is heavy, the sun is drawing to the west, the evening shadows are very long with some of us, the reckoning is at hand, and the Master waits to count your sheaves. There is no time to lose, brother; set about it as you have never done before, and say, ‘This one thing I do.’

And so let us not fill our minds with vain hopes which, whether they be fulfilled or not, will not satisfy us, but lift our eyes to and stay our anticipations on those glories beyond, as real as God is real, and as certain as His word is true. Let these hopes concentrate and define for us the aims of our life; and let the aims, clearly accepted and recognised, be pursued with earnestness, with ‘diligence,’ with haste, with the enthusiasm of which they, and they only, are worthy. Let us listen to our Master, ‘I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh.’ And let us listen to the words of the servant, which reverse the metaphor, and teach the same lesson in a trumpet call which anticipates the dawn and rouses the sleeping soldiers: ‘The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 2Pe 3:14-18

14Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16as 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. 17You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18but 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.

2Pe 3:14 “be diligent to be found by Him in peace” This is an aorist active imperative, which emphasizes urgency. Believers have a responsibility to live godly lives. There must be an appropriate covenantal response to God’s love.

The second verbal is an aorist passive infinitive. It apparently refers to “the day of God” in 2Pe 3:12. Jesus often uses the illustration of believers as stewards put in charge of their master’s estate. They must be ready at any time for His return and at that time to give an account of their stewardship (cf. Mar 13:33-37; Luk 18:8).

Peace is only possible if (1) the person has responded to the gospel offer; (2) the person understands the gospel message; and (3) the person is daily living out the gospel. The false teachers and their followers fail on all three counts and they have no peace!

“spotless and blameless” This phrase is used in 1Pe 1:19 to refer to Christ (cf. Joh 8:46; Joh 14:30; Luk 23:41; 2Co 5:21; Heb 4:15; Heb 7:26-27; 1Pe 2:22; 1Pe 3:18; 1Jn 2:2; 1Jn 4:14). It is an OT metaphor to describe the purity of sacrificial animals (cf. Lev 22:19-20). We are to live in light of (1) Christ’s example, (2) Christ’s commands, and (3) Christ’s coming!

2Pe 3:15

NASB, NRSV”regard the patience of our Lord assalvation”

NKJV”and accountthat the longsuffering of our Lord issalvation”

TEV”Look on our Lord’s patience as the opportunity he is giving you to be saved”

NJB”Think of our Lord’s patience as your opportunity to be saved”

To whom does this refer (1) Christians who are already saved or (2) the ungodly and rebellious false teachers and their followers? It is obviously looking back to God’s patience in 2Pe 3:9. Some take advantage of God’s mercy to sin and live self-centered lives. Others embrace God’s forgiveness and emulate His character.

“just as our beloved brother Paul” This phrase clearly shows that there was no tension between Paul and Peter. Each of them recognized the call and giftedness of the other (cf. Gal. 2 7-10). The incident recorded in Gal 2:11-21 did not cause a permanent rift.

“wrote to you” It is uncertain as to which of Paul’s letters this refers. If the recipients (Asia Minor) are the same as 1 Peter and Paul wrote Galatians to a northern group of churches in Asia Minor, then Galatians was written early to the same area that 2 Peter is written to, and the best possible option is Galatians. But in reality we do not know.

Option number two is that since the general topic of this chapter is the Second Coming, then possibly Paul’s early letters to the Thessalonians is what is referred to. Option three is that some speculate that part of Romans functioned originally as a cyclical letter. For me Galatians or Romans, which are Paul’s more salvation-oriented theological books, are probably the best guess.

2Pe 3:16 “as also in all his letters” Much of the criticism of 2 Peter being written by the Apostle Peter relates to this reference to Paul’s letters. It is true that all of Paul’s letters were gathered together and circulated under the title “The Apostle,” but this happened much later than Peter’s death under Nero (A.D. 64-68). However, this text does not assert how many of Paul’s letters Peter is talking about, nor does this reference imply the circulation of the entire corpus.

“speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand” What things? (1) Revelation (cf. 2Pe 3:2); (2) the last days (2Pe 3:3-4 a); (3) creation (2Pe 3:4-5); (4) the flood of Noah (2Pe 3:6); (5) judgment day (2Pe 3:7; 2Pe 3:10); (6) God’s time (2Pe 3:9); (7) the Second Coming (2Pe 3:12); (8) the new age of righteousness (2Pe 3:12-13); (9) personal salvation (2Pe 3:14 a, 15a); (10) godly living (2Pe 3:11; 2Pe 3:14 b); or (11) something in chapter one or two?

Whatever it was the false teachers misunderstood it and twisted it to their own ruin. In this sense it is possibly Paul’s emphasis on salvation as a free gift from God apart from human works of righteousness (i.e., justification by faith). It is possible that James (cf. Jas 2:14-26) corrects another misunderstanding of Paul’s preaching.

“which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures”It is helpful to me to realize that the Apostles who personally walked with Jesus for several years did not always understand Him (cf. Mar 9:32; Luk 2:50; Luk 9:45; Luk 18:34; Joh 2:22; Joh 10:6; Joh 12:16; Joh 16:18). Neither did all the Apostles understand the writings of other Apostles. We are called to be a faithful witness and godly covenant brother! None of us understands all things.

In the NT the term “Scriptures” always refers to the OT. The NT was not completed and compiled until the end of the first century. Most of the familiar texts on inspiration and trustworthiness of Scripture refer to the OT (cf. Mat 5:17-19; 1Co 2:9-13; 1Th 2:13; 2Ti 3:16; 1Pe 1:23-25; 2Pe 1:20-21).

This is one of the very few places where NT writings are equated with OT Scriptures. Peter affirms Paul’s inspiration and the authority of his writings by this phrase.

“to their own destruction” The Bible is God’s self-revelation to a lost and needy world. Sinful humans (i.e., false teachers) twist it to their own peril. Judgment is coming; Jesus is the only hope; everyone will stand before God one day!

2Pe 3:17 “knowing this beforehand” False teachers are always present! The readers were worried about the false teachers’ use of Scripture (i.e., OT) and Apostolic writings (cf. 2Pe 3:2). There are several biblical ways to discern a false teacher.

1. signs or wonders, but in the name of another god (Deu 13:1-5)

2. accurate prediction of the future, but in the name of another god (Deu 18:18-22)

3. lifestyle (Matthew 7; James, 1 John, and 2 Peter)

4. miracles are not automatically a sign of God (Mat 24:24)

5. message must be Christocentric (1Jn 4:1-6)

6. misinterpretation of God’s revelation (2Pe 3:2)

“be on your guard” This is a present middle imperative. This is a military term like 1Pe 1:4. Believers have a personal responsibility to continue to check and evaluate what others say about God/Christ. There are deceivers both within and without the fellowship (cf. Eph 4:14; Eph 6:11-12). Do not be spiritually naive!

“so that you are not carried away” This is an aorist passive participle. It is the opposite of the OT term for faith that meant to be firm-footed (i.e., steadfastness or stability). This same term describes Peter’s own actions in Gal 2:13.

2Pe 3:18 “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior” This is a present active imperative. It has been a central theme of the book. Believers guard against error by growing in the knowledge of the gospel and living out the gospel. This is parallel to Jud 1:20.

“To Him be the glory” This phrase is used predominately of God the Father (see note at 1Pe 4:11, cf. Jude; 2 Pet. 3:24-25), but occasionally of Christ (cf. 2Ti 4:18; 2Pe 3:18; Rev 1:6).

In the OT the most common Hebrew word for “glory” (kbd) was originally a commercial term which referred to a pair of scales and meant “to be heavy.” That which was heavy was valuable or had intrinsic worth. Often the concept of brightness was added to express God’s majesty (cf. Exo 19:16-18; Exo 24:17; Isa 60:12). He alone is worthy and honorable. He is too brilliant for fallen mankind to behold (cf. Exo 33:17-23; Isa 6:5). God can only be truly known through Christ (cf. Jer 1:14; Mat 17:2; Heb 1:3; Jas 2:1).

The term glory is somewhat ambiguous.

1. it may be parallel to “the righteousness of God”

2. it may refer to the holiness or perfection of God

3. it could refer to the image of God in which mankind was created (cf. Gen 1:26-27; Gen 5:1; Gen 9:6), but which was later marred through rebellion (cf. Gen 3:1-22)

It is first used of YHWH’s presence with His people in Exo 16:7; Exo 16:10; Lev 9:23; Num 14:10.

NASB, NRSV”both now and to the day of eternity”

NKJV”both now and forever”

TEV”now and forever”

NJB”in time and eternity”

This is literally “both now and unto a day of age.” It is a unique form of a typical ending, somewhat parallel to Jud 1:25. The Jews saw history in terms of two ages, an evil age and a coming age of righteousness. This coming age is synonymous with the eternal kingdom. See Special Topic at Mar 13:8.

“Amen” This word is absent in the ancient uncial Greek manuscript B (i.e., Vaticanus), but present in P72, , A, and C. See Special Topic at Mar 3:28.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

such = these.

be diligent. See 2Pe 1:10.

of Dative case. No preposition.

without spot. See 1Ti 6:14. blameless. Greek. amometos. See Php 1:2, Php 1:15.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

14.] Exhortation founded on this expectation. Wherefore, beloved, expecting (as ye do) these things (the pres. part. gives the reason of the verb following: and does not, as Huther and Dietlein, belong to the exhortation, : for the Apostle has just assumed as a patent fact), be earnest (, aor.: not the daily habit so much, as the one great life-effort which shall accomplish the end, is in the Apostles mind) to be found (at His coming. This word shews plainly enough that a personal coming of the Lord, as in 2Pe 3:4, is in the view of the Apostle throughout, as connected with the proceedings of the great Day. The form of expression reminds us forcibly of Mat 22:11 ff.) spotless (reff.) and blameless (cf. 2Co 6:3; 2Co 8:20; also . , the contrast, above, ch. 2Pe 2:13. From the connexion there with a feast, it seems very probable that in both passages the parable of the wedding garment was floating before the Apostles mind) in His sight (so, and not, by Him, or of Him, as E. V., must we render: see reff.) in peace (second predicate after : the . were with reference to God (); this, in reference to your own state and lot: in peace among yourselves, in peace with yourselves, in peace for yourselves, with God. But perhaps an expression so familiar to the Eastern tongue as , may have an onward as well as a present meaning, as in and (reff. and Luk 7:50; Luk 8:48): and be taken of that eternal peace, of which all earthly peace is but a feeble foretaste):

Fuente: The Greek Testament

2Pe 3:14. , expecting) with trembling and with joy. This word has a wide meaning-, of Him) God.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

2Pe 3:14-18

CONCLUDING EXHORTATIONS

AND DOXOLOGY

2Pe 3:14-18

14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight.–The “things” toward which they looked were the matters which the apostle had just presented:the second coming of Christ, the destruction of the world, and the new heavens and earth. Because such stupendous events were certain to occur, it was virtually important that all who desired to escape the destruction certain to come upon the wicked should “give diligence” (strive earnestly, 2Pe 1:10) to be found “in peace” (with both God and man), “without spot” (undefiled), and “blameless” (not condemned).

15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation;–Instead of regarding an apparent delay in judgment upon the world as an indication of slackness on God’s part, it should be gratefully received as a token of his longsuffering and patience to enable man to have every possible opportunity to come to repentance.

Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you;–This second epistle of Peter, like the first, was written to Christians living in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Paul wrote letters likewise bearing testimony to God’s patience and longsuffering to brethren dwelling in some of the same provinces, e.g., to the Ephesians, Colossians, and Galatians. From this significant allusion to Paul, we learn that Peter was acquainted with the writings of that apostle; that those to whom he wrote them were familiar with them; that he was on intimate terms with Paul, having addressed him as his beloved brother; and that he considered Paul’s writings as inspired and equally authoritative with his own.

16 As also in all of his epistles, speaking in them of these things; –It is probable that the epistles of Paul were at this time being read in the churches generally and were thus enjoying a much wider circulation than among the congregations to which they were primarily addressed. The brethren would obviously desire to exchange the letters that had been received from the apostle; and from such exchange they must have come to be well known to all the saints. The churches in Asia Minor would thus be acquainted, not only with the letters to the Galatians, the Ephesians, and the Colossians, but also the epistles to the Thessalonians, the Corinthians, the Romans, etc. In each of these there were numerous references to the themes Peter had just been discussing. The judgment is taught in 1Th 3:13; Rom 14:10; the resurrection of the dead in 1 Corinthians 15; heaven, the future abode of the righteous, in 2Co 5:1-10; the end of the world and the destruction of the wicked in 2Th 1:7-10; 2Th 2:1-12.

Wherein are some things hard to be understood,–In these epistles were many matters, in the very nature of the case, hard to be understood. Subjects of such profound import would obviously involve difficulties of interpretation, and the preconceived notions which the people had–particularly the Jews–added to the difficulties. It is significant that Peter said that in these epistles were “some things” hard to be understood. It was not his intention to assert that all of Paul’s writings were of this nature, but only such as dealt with the themes particularly under consideration. If such were hard to be understood even by Peter, an inspired man, we need not despair if we find them difficult today. And if Peter, an inspired man, regarded them as difficult, it is utter folly to assume that any so-called successor of his could do any better with them. He who seeks earnestly to find his duty in the sacred writings will not be disappointed; the scriptures are able to make one wise unto salvation. (2Ti 3:15.) “If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching . . .” (Joh 7:17.) The difficulties to which the apostle refers are not such as involve the plan of salvation or the duties of the Christian life. On these matters the teaching is clear and explicit, simple and plain.

Which the ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.–The “ignorant” are the “uninstructed,” the “unstedfast” those without definite convictions. Such are unable, from lack of accepted principles, to arrive at a conclusion regarding the meaning of a passage because they are unstable in all matters. It will be seen that those who wrest the scriptures to their own destruction are men who are uninstructed in the way of truth and who lack the stability of character necessary to espouse a position and hold it. Such wrest the scriptures. “Wrest” (strebloo) means to twist, to turn from the proper position, to torture, to pervert. It is used here of those who twist the scriptures from their intended purpose in order to make them teach matters never intended by the sacred writers. Those guilty of doing this did not limit their perversion to the subjects primarily referred to, but to other scriptures, even to those dealing with simple and elementary matters of the Christian life. Such a course leads inevitably to destruction because it produces a manner of life that must eventually result in destruction.

Important considerations which follow from this are: (1) The destruction which results is due, not to the scripture or its writers, but to its improper handling by men. (2) The passage does not teach that all scripture is difficult of understanding and should not be read. (3) It does not lend support to the view that man needs an infallible interpreter of the scriptures. (4) What is taught is that some scripture is hard to understand and that evil men utilize such for ungodly purposes. (4) The lesson, by implication, is-that we should be on guard against any interpretation contrary to the general teaching of the Bible. It is clear that Paul’s writings were then generally accepted as scripture, and that Peter, another inspired man, so regarded them.

17 Ye therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own stedfastness.–To be “forewarned” is to be “forearmed,” and such was the purpose of the apostle’s admonition here. The pronoun “ye” is in emphatic position; others had been led astray by false teachers; “ye . . . beware.” “Beware” signifies to keep watch, to be on one’s guard. The saints to whom Peter wrote were therefore to maintain unceasing vigilance lest they, too, should be “carried away” (led off) by the error of the wicked, and so fall from their own stedfastness. This warning is significant only on the supposition that it is possible to fall. If, as some allege, it is impossible for a child of God to fall from grace, this warning is without force. The conclusion is irresistible that Peter’s readers would escape the destruction of the wicked only by being constantly on their guard against the seductions of the wicked.

18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and for ever. Amen.–“Grace” is here used to sum up all the favor of God, which favor increases toward us as we advance in stature as his children. To grow in “knowledge” is to become better informed in the doctrine of Christ, and to enter more fully into sympathy with his cause. He is the divine giver of the grace in which Christians are to grow, and the object of the knowledge which they are to possess. The doxology with which the epistle concludes ascribes glory to Christ forever, literally “to the day of eternity.” The Greek phrase thus rendered, eis hemeran aionos, occurs only here in the sacred writings. It is proper to refer to eternity as a day, because it is indeed an everlasting one, without a yesterday to precede it, or a tomorrow to follow it.

REVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE CHAPTER

1) What are the main points of this chapter?

– The scoffers will come (2Pe 3:1-9)

– The day of the Lord will come (2Pe 3:10-18)

2) How did Peter seek to stir up his readers’ minds? (2Pe 3:1-2)

– By reminding them of the words of the prophets and the commandments

of the apostles

3) What would scoffers be saying in the last days? (2Pe 3:3-4)

– “Where is the promise of His coming?”

– “For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they

were from the beginning of creation.”

4) What do they willfully forget? (2Pe 3:5-6)

– That by the Word of God the world was once destroyed by water

5) What does the Word of God say concerning the heavens and the earth?

(2Pe 3:7)

– They are kept in store and reserved for fire until the day of

judgment and perdition of ungodly men

6) What should we be careful not to forget? (2Pe 3:8)

– That time is meaningless to the Lord

– With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years

as one day

7) How will the day of the Lord come? (2Pe 3:9)

– As a thief in the night

8) What will happen when that day comes? (2Pe 3:9)

– The heavens will pass away with a great noise

– The elements will melt with fervent heat

– The earth and the works that are in it will be burned up

9) Since all these things will be dissolved, what should we do? (2Pe 3:11-12)

– Concern ourselves with holy conduct and godliness

– Look for and hasten the coming of the day of God

10) Again, what will happen to the heavens and the elements? (2Pe 3:12)

– The heavens will be dissolved being on fire

– The elements will melt with fervent heat

11) Despite such an end, what do we look for according to His promise?

(2Pe 3:13)

– New heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells

12) Looking forward to such things, about what should we be diligent?

(2Pe 3:14)

– To be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless

13) How should we view the longsuffering of the Lord? (2Pe 3:15)

– Salvation

14) Who else wrote about such things? How? (2Pe 3:15-16)

– Our beloved brother Paul

– According to the wisdom given him

15) How does Peter describe the epistles of Paul? (2Pe 3:16)

– As speaking of these things

– In which are some things hard to understand

16) What do the untaught and unstable do with such writings of Paul?

(2Pe 3:16)

– They twist them to their own destruction

17) In what category does Peter place the writings of Paul? (2Pe 3:16)

– As part of “the Scriptures”

18) Knowing such things beforehand, what warning does Peter give his

readers? (17)

– Beware lest you fall from your own steadfast, being led away with

the error of the wicked

19) What final admonition does Peter give to his readers? (2Pe 3:18)

– Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Questions by E.M. Zerr On 2nd Peter 3

1. State the purpose of the second epistle.

2. Do men need being reminded today?

3. Consider this with Heb. 2: 1.

4. Of whose words is he specially speaking now 1

5. What days are referred to 1

6. Give a meaning of scoff.

7. After what principles do these walk 1

8. What promise do they mock at?

9. Who are the fathers in 4th verse?

10. Did they state the truth in this verse?

11. Did they know whereof they spoke?

12. What kind of ignorance did they have?

13. To what is reference made by ”hea~ens,” verse 5?

14. Where is this “word of God” recorded?

15. Cite the record for last pert of 5th verse.

16. What world is meant in 6th verse?

17. State the circumstance meant in this passage?

18. Was the earth destroyed at this time?

19. Is it to be destroyed in the future?

20. Will it be destroyed by a flood 1

21. Can you answer above question from Genesis?

22. On what day will the earth be destroyed?

23. State the meaning of perdition.

24. Will it be same day the earth is destroyed?

25. Does this give promise of another chance for unsaved?

26. Why the comparison in 8th verse?

27. State the duration of the next life.

28. Subtract one day from it and what is left?

29. Subtract 1000 years and what is left?

30. Would this explain verse 8?

31. Instead of slackness what is God showing?

32. What is he not willing for?

33. Will some perish anyway?

34. Explain how God’s will is not always done.

35. What is to come as a thief?

36. Why the comparison?

37. What shall pass away at that day?

38. Tell what is to melt.

39. What will happen to the earth?

40. Is this same earth as verse 5 and 7?

41. What is to happen to all these things?

42. State the exhortation of the apostle here.

43. To what should we anxiously look?

44. Find the promise mentioned in 13th verse.

45. Distinguish the new earth from present one.

46. What kind of persons shall inherit new earth?

47. Why speak of heavens and earth a. our new home?

48. Will the new home be spiritual only?

49. From what is the imagery drawn?

50. Give a reason for making such drawing.

51. For what reason should we be diligent?

52. How should we consider longsuffering of God?

53. To what does he ascribe Paul’s writings?

54. On what subject had he written?

55. What class will wrest his writings?

56. May they all be understood?

57. Of what should we beware?

58. This might cause what kind of fan?

59. Instead, what should we do?

60. What must grow along with grace?

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

seeing: Phi 3:20, Heb 9:28

be diligent: 2Pe 1:5-10, 1Jo 3:3

in peace: Mat 24:26, Luk 2:29, Luk 12:43, 1Co 1:8, 1Co 15:58, Phi 1:10, 1Th 3:13, 1Th 5:23

Reciprocal: Num 19:20 – shall not Deu 6:17 – General 1Ch 16:33 – because Son 4:7 – General Mat 25:7 – General Luk 1:6 – blameless Luk 12:37 – Blessed Luk 21:34 – that day Luk 22:32 – strengthen Act 13:43 – persuaded 2Co 5:9 – we labour Eph 1:4 – without Eph 5:27 – not Phi 1:27 – let Phi 2:15 – blameless Col 1:22 – to 1Th 1:10 – wait 1Ti 6:14 – without 2Ti 2:15 – Study 2Ti 2:19 – depart Heb 6:11 – we desire Heb 10:25 – as ye Heb 11:6 – diligently Heb 12:15 – Looking Heb 13:14 – General

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

2Pe 3:14. With such a prospect as this it should be an incentive for us to live in view of it. To do so we should be diligent (thoughtfully active) and maintain ourselves in the peace that is according to the wisdom from above (Jas 3:17). Since that wisdom is pure (unmixed) it will make those without spot who follow it.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

2Pe 3:14. Wherefore, beloved, looking for these things, give diligence to be found in peace, spotless and unblameable in his sight. The looking for (again the same term as in 2Pe 3:12-13) may give the reason for the duty which is enjoined, as it is understood by both the A. V. and the R. V.seeing that ye look, etc.,; or (less probably), it may form a part of the duty, look for these things and give diligence (Huther, etc.). As to the give diligence see on chap. 2Pe 1:10. The spotless is expressed by the adjective which is applied to Christ as the Lamb in 1Pe 1:19, and the unblameable by another form (which occurs also in Php 2:15, where it is rendered without rebuke) of the adjective translated without blemish in the same passage. Here the epithets represent the qualities which should distinguish the faithful as directly opposed to those which mark the false teachers, who have been described as spots and blemishes (chap. 2Pe 2:13). It is supposed by some (e.g. Alford) that the parable of the wedding garment was floating before the Apostles mind, especially as the statement in chap. 2Pe 2:13 refers to the feasts of the early Christians. Some good expositors (e.g. Huther) suppose that the writer deals here with what the readers were to be during their lifetime of expectation. But the use of the phrase found (cf. 1Pe 1:7) points clearly to the time of Christs judicial return. They were to labour so to live that, when He appeared, they might be discovered or adjudged (such is the sense of the found) spotless and unblameable in His sight, or according to His judgment (so we should render what is incorrectly given as found of Him in the A. V.); and this discovery or adjudgment should be in peace. Where spotlessness and unblameableness form the verdict, the Lords controversy with His people will cease and the voice of judgment will be the voice of peace.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

2Pe 3:14-15. Wherefore, beloved Bearing these great truths in your minds, give up your whole souls to their influence; and, seeing that ye look for such things Since you expect the coming of Christ to destroy the present mundane system, and to create a new heaven and earth, and since death, which will confirm your title to this inheritance, or your exclusion from it, for ever, is fast approaching, and may come both very soon and very unexpectedly; be diligent , the same word that is used chap. 2Pe 1:10, which implies not only the diligent use of all the means of grace, and the practice of universal holiness and righteousness, in consequence of repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, with the active exertion of every gift of nature and of grace, but the doing all this earnestly and without delay; relying not on any power of your own, but on the influence of the Divine Spirit, for all the help you stand in need of; that ye may be found of him Christ, when he cometh; in peace With God, being justified by grace through faith, Rom 5:1; without spot Cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and renewed after the divine image; and, as an evidence thereof, blameless In behaviour toward God, your fellow-creatures, and yourselves; having, in consequence of your regeneration, lived soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, and adorned the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things. And Instead of considering his delaying to come as a proof that he will never come, account that delay, and his long-suffering Thereby manifested; salvation Designed to promote your salvation, and the salvation of many others; giving sinners space for repentance, and an opportunity to prepare for these solemn and awful scenes, and so becoming a precious means of saving many more souls. As our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him That admirable insight into, and understanding of, the mysteries of the gospel, which appears in all his epistles, and was given to him by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; hath written to you This refers not only to the single sentence preceding, but to all that went before. This epistle of Peter being written to those to whom the first epistle was sent, the persons to whom St. Paul wrote concerning the long-suffering of God, and the other subjects here referred to, were the Jewish and Gentile Christians in the Lesser Asia. Accordingly, we know he wrote to the Galatians, the Ephesians, the Colossians, and to Timothy, things which imply that Gods mercy in sparing and bearing with sinners, is intended for their salvation; and that an awful judgment, and an eternal state of happiness or misery, await all mankind.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

2Pe 3:4-18. The epistle closes, as it had opened, with an exhortation to godliness. The Gospel is not a cloke for licentiousness but a call to righteousness. This, the author adds, was the burden of Pauls teaching in all his letters, though his words had been misunderstood by the ignorant and distorted by the wicked into a justification of moral laxity. (That this was the case, even in Pauls lifetime, can be seen, e.g. in Rom 3:8; Rom 6:1, also in 1 Cor. passim; cf. Jas 2:8-13*.) He bids his readers beware lest they are led astray by these perversions of the apostolic teaching, and exhorts them to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord.

2Pe 3:15. unto you: unless we suppose that 2 P. was addressed to some particular church, it is not necessary to see here a reference to any one particular epistle of Pauls addressed to that church; the appeal is to the general teaching of Paul. Nor is it necessary to limit these things (2Pe 3:16) to the words which immediately precedethe doctrine that the delay of the Parousia is due to the long-suffering of God, or even that disbelief in the Parousia is connected with moral laxity. The author is only concerned to say that Pauls condemnation of libertinism is not less emphatic than his own.

2Pe 3:16. the other scriptures: lit. writings, but almost certainly the word is used in the technical sense, Scriptures. It is difficult to resist the conclusion that in speaking of the Pauline Epistles and the other Scriptures, the author implies the existence of a NT Canon (at any rate none of the attempts to explain the passage differently is satisfactory) and if this conclusion is accepted, the Petrine authorship of the epistle must be abandoned.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

3:14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in {g} peace, without spot, and blameless.

(g) that you may try to your benefit, how gently and profitable he is.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

"These things" probably refers to all of what Peter just finished saying in 2Pe 3:10-13 rather than to the new world in which righteousness dwells (2Pe 3:13; cf. the "these things" in 2Pe 3:11). Peter again urged his readers to "diligent" action (cf. 2Pe 1:5; 2Pe 1:10). He wanted us to be at peace with God, and the implication is that he expected his readers to be alive when the Lord comes. [Note: Bauckham, p. 327.] "Spotless" means without defect or defilement (as in a spotless sacrifice, cf. 2Pe 2:13; 1Pe 1:19), and "blameless" means without justifiable cause for reproach. The false teachers were stains and blemishes (2Pe 2:13), but believers need to be spotless and blameless.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 30

“BE YE STEADFAST, UNMOVABLE”

2Pe 3:14-18

IN these solemn closing words the Apostle sums up his exhortations and warnings. His admonition is of a twofold character. First, he urges the brethren to strive after steadfastness, but to beware of sinking into a careless security which may make them an easy prey to false guides. “Stand fast,” he would say, “and be ever watchful against falling.” Then, let your Christian life be one of steady, constant, temperate progress; let it imitate Gods works in nature, which wax, man sees not how or when, by drawing constantly from the hidden, sources which minister life and increase. Let believers seek thus that in their lives there may grow from Gods seed of faith, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear, to yield some thirty, some sixty, some a hundredfold, to the praise and glory of the Lord of the harvest.

“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in His sight.” The whole passage runs over with Christian affection; a very working out it is in a believers life of Christs teaching, “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye love one another.” Love to the brethren, love to his fellow-Apostle, breathes in every line of these final sentences. Beloved are the Churches, beloved his fellow-laborer. And he is never weary of repeating that word “looking for,” which marks the true attitude of the Christian pilgrim: Seeing that ye look for the coming of the day of God. Before he had said, We look for it; now he brings the lesson nearer home to every one of them: Ye are looking for these things. Be ye therefore ready. Give diligence that ye may be found in peace by Christ when He appears.

Peace is the bond which clasps together the brotherhood of Christ. But things which need a bond are prone to break asunder, and St. Paul marks the care which is needed in this matter by using the same word () which St. Peter employs here. And his list of the virtues which make for peace shows how much anxiety is needed: “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering forbearing one another in love, giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” {Eph 4:2-3} Such are the graces to be fostered by those who look for the Lords coming. The Hebrew knew no nobler word to use for blessing than “Peace be with you.” Christ at His parting says to His disciples, “My peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you.” It embraces reconciliation with God and union with the brethren; it is a treasure worthy of all striving for, and when attained it passeth all understanding.

They who are looking for Christ will strive to become like Him. Christ came down from heaven and assumed humanity that His brethren might take courage for this lofty aim. The Apostle {1Pe 1:19} has spoken of Him as a lamb without spot and blemish, and this ideal purity he now sets before the brethren. For he knows that to strive after it will sunder them from the corruptions of those false teachers whom he has called “spots and blemishes” {2Pe 2:13} in the Christian society. Instead of denying the Master that bought them, they will be hearkening constantly for His voice. Thus will they become clean through the word which He speaks unto them. {Joh 15:3} For His voice is ever helpful; and abiding in Him they will bring forth much fruit.

“And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation.” The mockers had made the delay of Gods day the subject of their scoffing. “It tarries,” said they, “because it is never coming.” Their speech was, in fact, a challenge: “If it is to come, let it come now.” The Christian is of another mind. His heart is full of thankfulness for the mercy which allows time for that diligence which his preparation demands. St. Paul expresses this feeling concerning Gods dealings with himself: “For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all His long-suffering, for an example of them which should hereafter believe on Him unto eternal life”. {1Ti 1:16} And the opportunity thus granted him that Apostle used to the full; yet ever mindful was he not only from whom was the mercy, but also from whom came the power which was with him in his diligence: “I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” And in another place, {Php 1:21-22} though he longs to be released from life and to be with Christ, he recognizes that there may be a Divine purpose in delaying that day of God also, that to live in the flesh may be the fruit of his labor; and if this be so, he is content. For the believer thinks not only of his own salvation and his own opportunities. The Christians faith is not selfish. He beholds how large a part of the world is not yet subject unto Christ, and owns in the delay of the day of the Lord a wealth of abundant grace, offering salvation still to all who will accept it.

“Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you.” Some, who have restricted the allusion of St. Peter here to the “long-suffering” of God, have thought that the Epistle to the Romans is intended. That letter is the only one in which St. Paul speaks generally on this subject. In Rom 2:4 he asks, “Despisest thou the riches of Gods goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” and, again, asks another question: “What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy?”. {Rom 9:22-23} Others, considering the great subject of the day of God to be specially present to St. Peters mind, have found parallels in the two Epistles to the Thessalonians. It has also been pointed out that Silvanus was with St. Paul when these letters were written, and that through him {1Pe 5:12} their import might have been brought to the knowledge of the Asiatic congregations. But we know too little of the intercommunication of the Churches of Europe and Asia to arrive at a conclusion, while the definite statement “wrote unto you” seems certainly to refer to some letter addressed to the Churches of Asia. Among these, beside the Galatians, were the Ephesians and the Colossians. Reference has already been made to the way in which St. Paul speaks in his First Epistle to Timothy of the long-suffering of God towards himself. Would the letter to the bishop of Ephesus be held too personal for its contents in some form to be imparted to the whole Church? Then in the Ephesian epistle such a passage as Eph 2:4-7 may well have been in St. Peters thoughts: “God, being rich in mercyquickened us together with Christ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Jesus Christ,” or Col 1:19-20 : “It was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all the fullness dwell, and through Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” But there is no reason from St. Peters words to assume that he is referring to an extant epistle. He may have known of a letter to the brethren in Asia of which we have no trace. Of one thing we may be sure: that his words had a definite sense for those to whom they were written.

But his reference to St. Paul has much interest for other reasons. Among these brethren there would be current many memories of the great Apostle to whose labor the formation of these Churches was chiefly due. His name would for them add weight to St. Peters admonitions. The mention of the wisdom divinely given to him would remind the Galatians at least how foolish had been their doubts and waverings in bygone days. While, as they knew how one apostle had withstood the other when he saw that he was to be blamed, such words as these from St. Peter would come with double force. Most of all, while the teachers of error were perverting St. Pauls language for an occasion to the flesh, it was good that the Churches should be reminded that he ever taught men to strive after lives without spot and blemish and had given no license to the excesses for which his words were offered as a warrant.

“As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things.” From this it appears that it is the whole drift of St. Peters letter, its warnings as well as its counsels, which is in harmony with the words of St. Paul. But we need not assume that St. Peters readers were acquainted with all the fellow-Apostles writings. He is telling them what his own experience has proved.

“Wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unsteadfast wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction.” This passage is noteworthy as the only place in the New Testament in which the writings of the Apostles are regarded as ranking with the Scriptures of the old Covenant. Everywhere else “Scripture” means the Old Testament. Yet, as the Apostles were passing away, it must have begun to be felt that a time was coming when great authority would attach to their words, as of persons who had seen the Lord. St. Peter has just spoken of the wisdom which was given to St. Paul. That wisdom came from the same source as the illumination of the prophets; and it is not unnatural, after such an allusion, that his writings should be classed with those of old time. Both were subjected to the same treatment. So perversely had the Old Testament been read that when He came of whom it spake-came to those who held the volume in their hands, and who regarded it with much show of reverence-He was not recognized. His people had blinded their eyes. Just so was it faring with that freedom of which St. Paul had said so much to the Galatian Church. Wrested from its true meaning, it was put forward as if it gave warranty and encouragement for the life of the libertine.

That many things in the writings of St. Paul are difficult to comprehend is beyond question. He more than any of the New Testament writers works out the principles of Christs teaching in their consequences. He deals most fully with the great questions which circle round the doctrine of redemption; with election and justification; with the casting off of Gods ancient people and the certainty of their restoration; with the objects of faith, the things hoped for, but as yet unseen; with the resurrection of the body and the changes which shall pass upon it; and with the nature of the life to come. He of all men realized to the full the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of the love of God, and spake in his letters of much which passeth knowledge.

But in St. Peters word () “hard to be understood” there appears to be the thought that mens difficulties arise in part because they look on these subjects as studies for the intellect () alone, and fail for this reason to attain to the best knowledge that is given to man. It is of Gods order that for the lessons which come from Him, He also imparts the power of true discernment. Those who approach the study of Christian truth as a cold intellectual exercise in the comprehension of which heart and soul bear no part, will go away empty, and as dark almost as they come.

The “wresting” of which St. Peter here speaks may come either of the misuse of single terms, just as the apostles of license put a wrong sense, for their own ends, on St. Pauls “liberty,” or it may be the effect of severing a lesson from its occasion and its context. Such perversion also happened to St. Pauls doctrine. To those who, like the Galatians, had been drawn back to an undue estimate of the legal ordinances of Judaism, the Apostle, as a corrective, had exalted faith far above outward observances; and there soon arose those who under his language sheltered themselves in a dissolute Antinomianism. The same befell in later days when Agricola and the Solifidians perverted Luthers teaching of justification by faith. And when such misleading guides find hearers who are “ignorant and unsteadfast,” the false lessons, which always have the frailties of humanity to back them, gain many adherents. To the thoughtless such teaching is seductive, and is unsuspected because it puts on a semblance of affinity with truth. Hence grow those ruptures of the Christian body, those heresies which lead to destruction. {2Pe 2:1}

“Ye therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own steadfastness.” In the first chapter the Apostle has already (2Pe 1:12) addressed the converts as those who knew the things of which he wrote and needed only to be put in mind, who were established in the truth, and not to be classed with the ignorant and unsteadfast. Yet for all there is need of watchfulness. The lies which are abroad clothe themselves in the garb of truth, wresting the Scriptures. “Therefore,” says he, “guard yourselves” (). The word is not only a notice against dangers from without, but an admonition to watchfulness within. The wandering of the lawless may beguile; to many it has attractions. But if they join that company and follow with them, the end will be a shipwreck of the whole Christian life. The verb () is that which we find {Act 27:26; Act 27:29} in the description of the wreck at Melita, when the sailors feared lest they should be cast ashore on rocky ground. It is against a moral peril of even more terrible character that St. Peter warns the Churches; and the contrast is most instructive which is pictured in the two words by which he defines error and steadfastness. The former () betokens a ceaseless wandering, a life without a plan, a voyage without rudder or compass, every stage made in doubt, uncertainty, and peril; the other word () tells of a firmness, fixity, and strength, and comes fitly into the exhortation of that Apostle whose charge was, “When thou art converted, strengthen” () “thy brethren”. {Luk 22:32} “This steadfastness,” he says, “is now your own” (); “barter it not away for any illusions of wayward error.”

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” As if to attest his own steadfastness, he ends as he had begun.” Grace unto you and peace be multiplied,” was the opening greeting of his first letter, to which in his second he adds, “through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” But there is great significance in the way in which St. Peters words hang together in this verse. The structure of the sentence shows that he intends to say not only that grace is the gift of Jesus Christ, but that from Him comes also all knowledge that is worthy of the name, a lesson most fitting and most necessary in those days, when teachers, who claimed to be possessors of a special higher knowledge, were denying Jesus altogether both as Master and as Judge. “Root yourselves in Christ,” is the Apostolic charge; “seek His help; walk by His light. Thus only can your power increase; thus only can your way be safe.”

“To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.” This is the end of the Apostles labor: that Christ may be glorified in His servants; that they may know Him here as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, hereafter as the Highpriest of His people, but deigning to become the Firstborn among many brethren. For those who find Him here and there also eternity will be too short to show forth all His praise.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary