Steady as a Rock – Steadfastness in writing again
WHY is the Apostle so steadfast in his calling to insist that the Church obey commands already given to them?
Could it have to do with how the Lord Jesus restored Peter’s faith and recall of what Christ had taught the Apostles all along?
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Gospel of Matthew 16:15-18 NKJV
Why does the Apostle Peter write a second epistle to the church?
Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder)..
2 Peter 3:1 NKJV
Here in the conclusion of his letter Simon Peter is about to tell us, as the Apostle refers to BOTH epistles included in this reminder.
But his motivation certainly recalls his own solid steadfastness in the risen Christ Jesus in several encounters.
Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?”
Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.”
Simon Peter needed encouraged.
And so must believers be reminded of our faith in the midst of teachings from many false teachers.
στηρίζω – stērizō –
- to make stable, place firmly, set fast, fix
- to strengthen, make firm
- to render constant, confirm, one’s mind
Are you a stable Christ-follower?
Is your faith steadfast?
Peter’s second epistle to the church mirrors what the Lord had prayed prior to His crucifixion:
“But I have prayed earnestly for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, once you have returned, strengthen G4741 your brothers.”
Gospel of Luke 22:32
The Apostle had recently written to these same believers:
For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God;
1 Peter 4: 17 NKJV [in context: vs. 12-19]
and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Resist him [the devil], steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
1 Peter 5:9 NKJV [in context: vs 8-10 ]
2 Peter 3:
God’s Promise Is Not Slack
Reads the Heading from the New King James Version:
.. I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder,
The Apostle of Jesus Christ makes TWO points to the Church. This is the first:
3:2 μνησθῆναι τῶν προειρημένων ῥημάτων ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν
- that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets
A single greek word for ‘that you may be mindful’ is the same word of remembering used frequently in the gospels.
And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly.
Matthew 16:75 NKJV
Peter emphasizes the subject matter spoken before by the ‘holy prophets,’ referring to the major and minor prophets of Old Testament Scripture from Isaiah to Malachi—pointing to them as Holy [ἅγιος – hagios – (an awful thing)] and certainly in contrast to the misleading false prophets and teachers against whom the Apostle has already warned.
Secondly, Peter equates Apostolic authority in this reminder mentioning the Holy Prophets speaking God’s word even before Jesus instructed them in Person.
- and of the commandment of us,the apostles of the Lord and Savior..
- commandment of the apostles of your Lord and Savior
- or commandment of your apostles of the Lord and Savior.
ἐντολή – entolē
– an order, command, charge, precept, injunction;
– a commandment
The commandment of the LORD in Old Testament Scripture IS the same as the commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostles!
“I and the Father are one.”
Gospel of John 10:30
The Last Days – ἔσχατος – eschatos
knowing this first:
that scoffers will come in the last days,
walking according to their own lusts,
You’ve heard of it (even if you hesitate to think about THE END) — eschatology – study of the last things or the end times.
Are we in them?
And [the scoffers] saying, Where is the promise of his coming?
“What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again?
“Where is his promised return?
The end was neither
— the incarnation of JESUS the Son of God nor
— resurrection of JESUS the Son of David hoped for by some of the Jews.
And don't Common Era scoffers also want a conquering King
— bringing victory without cost and proclaimation without persecution,
also saying:
… all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
2 Peter 3:4c NKJV
And so they do, Peter suggests, but these [scoffers and doubters of Christ] are without excuse.
For this they willfully forget: that
by the word of God the heavens were of old,
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
and the earth standing out of water and in the water,
by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
A clear reference to Noah, who Peter has just mentioned.
2 Peter 3:5-6 NKJV
But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word,
are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition [apōleia – the destruction which consists of eternal misery in hell]
of ungodly [ἀσεβής – asebēs – destitute of reverential awe towards God]
men [anthrōpos – men or women].
2 Peter 3:7 NKJV
Has your Common Era Pastor preached this Apostolic caution?
And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: …
And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
Genesis 7:21, 9;11 KJV
The Apostle’s Timeless Response
agapētos HEAR THIS:
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing,
that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us [or you]
not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:8-9 NKJV
“Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance..
Gospel of Matthew 3:8 – a caution of JESUS to the religious
The DAY of the LORD
In the year of the Lord 2025 — dismissed by scoffers as: 2025 of the Common Era [2025 CE] — Do you fear the wrath to come when Christ returns?
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,
in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise,
and the elements will melt with fervent heat;
both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
[literally, utterly burned up and consumed by fire!]
2 Peter 3: 10 NJKV
Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.
On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
2 Peter 3:11-13 New Living Translation
The Apostle’s command to look ahead may not appeal to you anymore than considering your inevitable death of the flesh.
Ah, but what of your spirit, the resurrection of our familiar flesh and the judgment to come?
Peter assures Christ’s true followers — the saints of the Chruch which may include you:
And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen,
make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.
And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved.
2 Peter 3:14-15a NLT
Might the Apostle actually be calling YOU, beloved member of Christ — in need of repentance for your impure fruit, to reject those easy false teachings which oppose the Lord Jesus Christ?
The APOSTLES, including Paul
NEXT, we will briefly study just one Epistle or Letter of the Apostle to the Gentiles [or Hellenists or Greeks], Paul.
Here Peter now mentions the Apostle Paul, due to an already developing false teaching in the early church broadly known as gnosticism [a Greek word meaning “knowledge.”]
Gnosticism
Such ‘knowledge‘ often accelerates into a down-hill slope into the pit of error. Therefore a brief summary here from BibleHub.com
- Dualism: Gnosticism is marked by a strong dualistic worldview,
- The material world is often seen as the creation of a lesser deity,
- sometimes identified with the God of the Old Testament,
- who is distinct from the true, transcendent God.
- The material world is often seen as the creation of a lesser deity,
This, of course, is NOT SCRIPTURAL from either Jewish Scripture
OR the Gospel of the New Testament.
- Gnostics believe that.. salvation involves awakening this divine spark through gnosis.
- Some Gnostic texts depict Christ as a purely spiritual being .who did not truly suffer or die.
- Gnosticism generally views the physical world as corrupt or illusory.
- This belief often leads to ascetic practices or,
- conversely, to libertine behavior, as the material is deemed irrelevant to spiritual salvation.
Peter confirming Paul
So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters.
There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.
You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, beware lest you be carried away with the error of lawless men and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Second Epistle of the Apostle Peter 3:16b-18a RSV
Doxology
αὐξάνετε δὲ ἐν χάριτι καὶ γνώσει τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ νῦν καὶ εἰς ἡμέραν αἰῶνος ἀμήν
Grow, urges the Apostle — connecting our growth in faith to ‘our kyrios [lord] and sōtēr [savior]
iēsous christos
— and referring to Him, a traditional doxology as the Apostle’s final words in his final letter and will for the church:
autos ho doxa
To him be the glory
kay nyn
both now
kai eis hēmera aiōn
and to the day of eternity.
ἀμήν amēn
- so it is, so be it, may it be fulfilled.
- firm: a metaphor for faithful
2 Peter 3:18
Thus ends the epistles of the Apostle Simon Peter, the Rock upon whom Jesus began the building of His Church.
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