Kraig Josiah Rice
Devotional Bible Commentary On
Kraig J. Rice
www.7-star-admiral.com
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1) An Introduction to this Bible book of Second Peter2) Chapter One 3) Chapter Two 4) Chapter Three |
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1) An Introduction to this Bible book of Second Peter2) Chapter One 3) Chapter Two 4) Chapter Three |
Who wrote this book?
What are some things that we know about the Apostle Peter?
"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have all of you, to sift you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to Me again, strengthen and build up your brothers"
When and where was this book written?
Why was this book written?
What was the historical setting in those days when this book was written?
Peter's second letter was to warn fellow Christians of false doctrine coming from inside
the church. This was just as hard to defend against as outward persecution.
There is an old tactic of the devil that he uses from time to time. The devil will
stand in front of a believer with his hands out pushing against the believer trying
to stop his forward momentum. That is persecution. If that doesn't work he will get behind the believer
and start pushing him in the hope that he can push the believer over a cliff to sure
destruction. How can that be? The tactic is to kill him with success. Satan will back off
of the persecution and allow the individual to become successful and powerful. This person will be consumed with working
so much that there is little time for his or her family. Some folks cannot handle power
and success in a positive way. Pride and self importance can become so great that the
individual can see the faults of others but not his or her own. Then the individual
can get trapped in snares that the devil places in his or her way when he or she gets their
eyes off of Jesus. Satan will use money, sex, power, or fame to tempt this
person who becomes luke warm spiritually. Then the person will sin against God.
A scandal may result and the person is discredited. He or she may be publicly disgraced.
Satan is sometimes successful because he uses this tactic.
I can see this tactic of the devil at work in these churches that Peter
is writing to. The devil used persecution in hopes of stopping their work.
This is why the first letter from Peter was written. When Satan's first tactic failed, then he switched to his second tactic. Satan brought
in false teachers and false doctrine. I am sure his lie went something like this: "if
you want to be a superior church over some of the other churches in your area, then
you must accept these teachings." And some of those church folks, with spiritual pride filling
their sails, accepted the false doctrine, and were pushed right over the edge of the cliff to their spiritual destruction.
This is why the second letter from Peter was written.
The Bible book of Second Peter only has three chapters:
1) Chapter 1
2) Chapter 2
Chapter 3
The theme of this book:
"This letter is from Simon Peter, a (love) slave and apostle of Jesus Christ"
Some scholars have questioned the authorship of this bible book. Why? Because there
was a Gospel of Peter and an Apocalypse of Peter that were not written by him.
But there is a genuineness to this letter that leaves little doubt that Peter wrote it.
"...know Jesus, our God and Lord, better and better..."
Christianity is a Person. The word "know" is used 16 times in this letter. Why? Because Peter is emphasizing
a strong point. Peter does not want you and I just to know about Christ but to
know Christ. What does that mean? It means that you and I must invite Jesus Christ
to come to live inside of our heart. We must place Him on the throne of our life.
Each of us must become converted or born again. The real knowledge of any believer
is to know, love, and obey Jesus Christ personally. The Apostle John said this:
There is also knowledge about the Lord. It is only through the knowledge of Christ that
you and I can really learn to live in this world and grow in Christ to be a
more godly person. The Apostle Paul said this:
"So make every effort to apply the benefits of these promises to your life.
Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence
leads to knowing God better. Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads
to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness. Godliness leads
to love for other Christians, and finally you will grow to have genuine love
for everyone"
Each of us has to grow in Christian character.
We need virtue to properly live in these dark last days. This kind of virtue means
that each of us should manifest courage and excellence in our lifestyle. And we only
get those virtues through knowing Christ. When Christ lives in our heart we have the
new born again nature from God. There is a special love bond between God and each of
us that the unconverted people in the world cannot understand. The Apostle Paul said:
"I plan to keep on reminding you of these things- even though you already know them
and are standing firm in the truth. Yes, I believe I should keep on reminding
you of these things as long as I live. But the Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that
my days here on earth are numbered and I am soon to die. So I will work hard to
make these things clear to you. I want you to remember them long after I am gone"
"For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the power of our
Lord Jesus Christ and His coming again. We have seen His majestic splendor with
our own eyes. And He received honor and glory from God the Father when God's
glorious, majestic voice called down from heaven,
"This is my beloved Son; I AM fully pleased with Him."
We ourselves heard the voice when we were there with Him on the holy mountain"
"...knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit"
What does that mean? Simply, it means that the holy scriptures in the holy bible alone are
of divine origin. They are "God breathed."
One time when I was in bible college I had to write a research paper on the bible. I was
in my study writing when God gave me the gift of inspiration. I started writing words and
thoughts given to me and I did not understand, at that moment, what I was writing, but I
trusted God and penned it exactly as He gave it to me. After I finished writing, the gift
of inspiration left me. I had to look up the meaning of all that I had written. What God
had given to me was simply remarkable and I thanked Him for blessing me. I turned in that
research paper to my college professor and he gave me a very high grade on it. From that
moment on I never had any questions about the inspiration of the holy bible written by 40 authors.
Chapter Two
Second Peter, Chapter Two:
A Christian author had this to say:
Peter, in his first epistle (letter), wrote to encourage the church to bear up under
persecution from without. Here, in this second epistle, it is to caution the church to
guard against corruption from within.
He warns of coming apostasy, when leaders in the church, for money considerations, would
permit licentiousness and general wrong-doing. He speaks of it as being in the future
He speaks of their destructive heresies, their pernicious ways, their covetousness, their
walking in lust, brute beasts, eyes full of adultery, and servants of corruption. Note:
these expressions are used as referring, not to the world, but to leaders within the church.
It is a sorry picture. Even within the apostolic generation the world and the devil had
succeeded in making heavy onslaughts on the purity of the church. And, even now, in our own
enlightened age, the gospel of Christ, in its original beauty and simplicity and purity,
in many sections of the church, still is buried and hid from view by the rubbish of forms
and doctrines heaped upon the church by the world and the Devil.
It is a terrible sin to corrupt the church. All the ungodly shall be destroyed. This is an
unceasing note of Scripture. But one of the worst sins is, in the name of Christ, to foist
lies upon the church in substitution for Christian truth."
In 2 Peter 2:4-10 we can observe that:
What kind of character did the false teachers have? Let's take a look and see what
God the Holy Spirit is teaching us through the Apostle Peter:
In 2 Peter 2:5 we observe:
How did Noah get to be the eighth person? There were seven others with Noah. There was Noah's
wife, his three sons, and their wives. Note that the men only had one wife each. They did
not go along with the world's condition of having more than one wife. They did not
believe in idol worship or polygamy. And they believed God and were obedient to Him
in other areas of their lives, as well. Noah was the eighth person to get on the ark.
He was probably the last to get on before God closed the door.
He placed others before himself. He was "other centered" rather than "self centered".
He influenced his entire family for God. He was a preacher of righteousness. And
because of his godly lifestyle and his rejection of evil, God mentions him in the bible
amongst His heroes of faith:
In 2 Peter 2:22 we read that:
Some of my thoughts on Second Peter chapter two. A couple of dangerous heresies:
"But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers
among you. They will cleverly teach their destructive heresies about God and
even turn against their Master who bought them. Theirs will be a swift and
terrible end. Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality.
And because of them, Christ and his true way will be slandered. In their
greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God
condemned them long ago, and their destruction is on the way"
Why is false doctrine so dangerous? One must understand what false doctrine does.
It presents lies for you and I to believe. What kind of lies?
Christ is not God, or Christ is not the only way to Heaven, or Christ is not
coming back again. These lies are extremely dangerous to one's faith.
If you change the foundation of any building you will wreck the building on top
of it. This is the reason earthquakes are so dangerous.
It is the same for our foundation of faith. If these lies remove our
foundation of faith then our lives may be spiritually wrecked.
Backsliding may occur
The heresy of gnosticism:
Briefly, some of the early gnostics believed that all matter is evil. Christ's earthly body
was matter, therefore, He was evil. Therefore, they denied the deity of Jesus Christ.
Undoubtably, this kind of doctrinal error- trying to get into the church- would have
upset the Apostle Peter, and we can partly understand why he wrote this letter.
The heresy of antinomianism:
Did they have any scripture for their belief system? Yes.
When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He fulfilled the Old Testament Law
The problem with their lifestyle:
There is a vertical part of the cross of Christ and a horizontal part of His cross.
The vertical part shows mankind's relationship to God, while the horizontal part
shows mankind's relationship to others. These two parts of the cross must stay
in balance to one another. So, what was wrong with their belief system? This false
teaching is off balance because we are not free to sin as much as we want to
due to Christ's moral law of love. Each true Christian must take up the cross of
Christ daily in self denial to follow Him. The Apostle Paul dealt with the issue of
antinomianism:
"Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more
kindness and forgiveness? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we
continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and
were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him? For we died
and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was.
Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power
in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were
set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will
also share his new life. We are sure of this because Christ rose from the dead,
and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. He died
once to defeat sin, and now he lives for the glory of God. So you should consider
yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus.
Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires.
Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for
sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new
life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.
Sin is no longer your master, for you are no longer subject to the law, which
enslaves you to sin. Instead, you are free by God's grace.
So since God's grace has set us free from the law, does this mean we can go on
sinning? Of course not! Don't you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes
your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey
God and receive his approval. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you
have obeyed with all your heart the new teaching God has given you. Now you are
free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master,
righteousness. I speak this way, using the illustration of slaves and masters, because it is
easy to understand. Before, you let yourselves be slaves of impurity and
lawlessness. Now you must choose to be slaves of righteousness so that you will
become holy. In those days, when you were slaves of sin, you weren't concerned with doing
what was right. And what was the result? It was not good, since now you are
ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But
now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you
do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages
of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord"
One biblical scholar stated:
This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome
What is this law God expects us to obey? It is the law of Christ–
No, we are not under the Old Testament Law. Yes, we are under the law of Christ.
The law of Christ is not an extensive list of legal codes. It is a law of love.
If we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we will do nothing
to displease Him. If we love our neighbors as ourselves, we will do nothing to
harm them. Obeying the law of Christ is not a requirement to earn or maintain
salvation. The law of Christ is what God expects of a Christian.
Our response is to consecrate our lives to Him out of love, worship, and gratitude for what He has done for us
"We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who says, "I
know Him," but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in
him. But if anyone obeys His word, God's love is truly made complete in him.
This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did"
Antinomianism may be viewed as the polar opposite of legalism, the notion
that obedience to a code of religious law is necessary for salvation. In this
sense, both antinomianism and legalism are considered errant extremes.
Of course, the New Testament anticipated this error, and dealt with it in
several places. The New Testament teaching is that a Christian is freed from
the law as a way of salvation, and in this sense a Christian is not under the
law. Certainly that is true. No man can keep the whole law in order to be
saved, because man is a sinner and so is incapable of keeping the law. However,
the moral law of God continues to be our guide to holy conduct. A Christian is
justified by grace through faith alone. He is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who
enables him now to obey the law of God. This keeping of the law of God by a
Christian is the evidence that he is justified and saved by grace through
faith alone in Jesus Christ.
"For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you.
They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for
immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord"
Antinomianism is a heresy that must be rejected. We are saved by grace through
faith alone and we are saved and given power by God the Holy Spirit in order that
we may keep God’s moral law. And keeping the moral law is the sure evidence that a
Christian is justified by grace through faith alone. May God help us not to
believe in antinomianism, but to believe in the true doctrine of the Holy
Scriptures. Amen."
What were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah like?
The city of Sodom had a bad reputation. It was the den of Satan.
It was known for it's affluence and immorality.
The citizens of that city had outgrown their belief in God and had thrown away their
moral compass. They had lost their fear of God and Satan was supreme in their hearts.
Much like our contemporary society, those folks were entertained by sin.
In the end, it turned out to be their fatal mistake. I believe that Peter is stating that
the false prophets or teachers of his day were just like those folks. And they may be
just the same in our day also. Those folks in Sodom and Gomorrah (and all false teachers)
are used as an example for us NOT to follow. Let us put God first in our lives and live in righteousness.
Peter mentioned Lot:
I think that Peter mentions Lot because Lot was persecuted by scoffers. Sometimes,
righteous individuals have to suffer persecution today.
God's way is to deliver a person who trusts Him and hates evil. Lot was just in that
respect, so God delivered him. In so doing, God also answered Abraham's prayers on
behalf of Lot. God shows unmerited favor (grace) because of Who He is, not necessarily because
of what we are. Noah and Lot stood alone for God in the midst of apostates,
unbelievers, Satanists, idol worshippers, persecutors, and scoffers. Today, God will
judge all such individuals if they fail to repent and turn from evil to God.
Why does Peter mention the end times?
It appears that Peter sees the Second Coming of Christ as the ultimate consumation
of the age. The faithful to Christ alive at that time will be delivered
out of the hour of trial that will come upon all the earth
Peter uses 3 examples of apostates in the past. These are examples of the world, the
flesh, and the devil. We have to fight against all three of these forces in our daily,
on going spiritual struggle.
1) In 2 Peter 2:4 Peter mentions the disobedient angels who sinned. They are an example of how
the devil works. The devil tempted these beings to rebel against God in the
very beginning. Peter places the devil first, rather than the world, because Satan
is the worst and is a powerful foe who each of us has to contend with. We need to
put on the whole armor of God to do battle with this foe
2) In 2 Peter 2:5 Peter mentions the world of mankind in Noah's day. These folks were violent,
ungodly, and immoral. They are an example of the world. Each of us has to fight against
the evil world system that is antichrist to keep it's bad influences out of our lives,
out of our relationships, and out of our churches.
3) In 2 Peter 2:6 Peter mentions the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The folks who lived there
were reprobates who had little regard for God or His holiness. God burned those folks
and their cities to ashes. They are an example of the flesh. Each of us has to
crucify our flesh on a daily basis, stomp down the old man (put our spiritual depravity under
our feet), and pick up our cross of self denial and carry it daily.
The Apostle Peter mentions the lack of character of the false teachers. I worked for
a man one time who was like that. He was a general foreman over a construction crew
that I worked on. He took over the job from another man who had just retired. He
introduced himself to the workers and as I looked at him the Lord revealed to me that
he was hollow on the inside. What did that mean? It meant that he had no substance,
no courage, no integrity, no moral fortitude, could not be trusted, and was worthless.
Wow, that was a lot to reveal to me at once. I worked hard for the man but kept
wondering about him. It wasn't too long before I started to understand.
He distributed the pay checks to the crew every Friday. Every Friday I would get one,
but one Friday he gave a pay check to everyone except me. I asked him where it was
but he said that he would get it for me the next week but he never did. Week after week
went by without him giving me that pay check so I contacted a government official who
got that pay check from him for me. Then he decided to reduce the wages of everyone
on the crew. I think he did that so he could put the difference in his pocket.
He played favorites to those who would make excuses for him while he went to town to drink
alcoholic beverages. Some on the crew were angry about their reduction in wages and
decided not to cover for him anymore, so when the big boss visited the job site he
was told (not by me) where to find him. Our big boss found our foreman down at the local bar rather than
on the job working. He was fired on the spot. He was, indeed, a man who was hollow on
the inside. This incident helps me to understand the lack of character of the
false teachers that the Apostle Peter is describing.
7 steps toward Christian Maturity:
In 2 Peter 3:1 he states:
Peter states that he has written both letters. Each of his letters to us is a book
of the bible titled First Peter and Second Peter.
In 2 Peter 3:3 we question:
In 2 Peter 3:4 we read that:
The Old Testament prophets wrote about the coming of their Messiah to the earth to
establish His Kingdom. Most of the Jewish Levites and priests understood this
Second Advent but somehow failed to understand that their Messiah was to come in the
First Advent as a blood sacrifice for their sins. The Old Testament sacrifices
and many prophesies pointed to this event but they rejected it.
Many apostles in the New Testament wrote about Christ's coming to take the church out of
the world before the Great Tribulation Period. We will meet Him in the air
"With God a day is as a 1,000 years,
"...a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day..."
"My thoughts are completely different from yours," says the LORD.
"And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts"
God's time table is not our time table. He has a plan He is working out. It does not
matter in what generation Christ returns as long as we stay spiritually ready for His
return at any moment. He will keep His promise to return (as He has kept all of His
promises) but in His own time.
The world is on a collision course with destiny. As true Christians, let us not put
all of our hopes, dreams, money, and effort on this world. Let's build for the next life
and store our hopes, dreams, and money there. Why? Because this world and everything
on it is going to go up in flames- all of it as we know it will be renovated with
fire some day.
"The Lord isn't really being slow about His promise to return, as some people
think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish,
so He is giving more time for everyone to repent"
God is very patient. He is not in a hurry. He has eternity behind Him and also ahead
of Him. To Him, so to speak, a thousand years may not seem like much. But the point
that Peter is making is that the final judgment- the dissolution of the heavens and
earth- is coming. In the meantime, God is giving all of mankind an opportunity to repent
and turn to Him through the cross of Christ. At the present time, we are living
in the period of great world wide evangelism and we should be sharing the gospel of
Christ with others in fulfillment of His Great Commission
"But the Day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens
will pass away with a terrible noise, and everything in them will disappear in
fire, and the earth and everything on it will be exposed to judgment"
At the end of the Day of the Lord the earth will be renovated by fire. Let's live for
the Lord because everything on this earth is going to end. Time will end
Peter encourages them and us to keep on living holy lives for Christ.
In reference to 2 Peter 3:13:
2 Peter 3:17:
The apostles Paul and Peter knew that the church, like a ship, had to be properly
anchored in order to survive the storm of apostasy that threatened to destroy it.
And the only way that you and I can survive the present apostasy is to be anchored
in Jesus Christ. Also we have to be anchored to God's holy scriptures, God's
infallible word (the holy bible).
Here are a few scriptures for further study:
This bible book was written as a letter by the Apostle Peter to the churches in the northern part of Asia Minor.
Peter is known today as the Apostle of Hope. He is also known as the Apostle of the Circumcision because he generally favored the Israelites. Jesus renamed him Peter, meaning stone or rock
(Matthew 16:18). Jesus Christ predicted that Peter's death as a martyr would bring Him glory
(John 21:18-19). Church tradition tells us that Peter was crucified upside down. Why? Because Peter felt like he was too unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord. And we know many other things about him as mentioned in the gospels.
(Luke 22:31-32).
This letter was probably written from Rome in 66-68 A.D., just before Peter's martyrdom. It was probably written to Jewish Christians, primarily, but also gentile (non Jewish) Christians. The Apostle Paul also wrote to Jewish and gentile believers.
This letter was written to warn the early Christians in Asia Minor and us concerning the error of false teachings being taught by false teachers and evildoers.
Rome ruled the world in the days of the first century A.D.
Anyone who would not worship the Emperor Nero as their god was marked for execution
by the agents of Rome. In Peter's first letter he encouraged his Christian readers.
Why? Because they were suffering persecution from outside the church. What was
Satan's plan? Satan's plan was to try to destroy the church in its infancy. Satan does
not know everything. Just as he tried to destroy the male Israeli children in Egypt
thinking that the Messiah was to be born
(Exodus 1:22), and just as he tried to destroy the male
Israeli children in Bethlehem knowing that the Messiah was born
(Matthew 2:16), so he was trying to destroy the church in it's infancy in the
first century A.D. before it could do him major harm. But Satan failed in each of
his attempts.
Greetings from the Apostle Peter 1:1-2
We should grow in the knowledge of Christ 1:3-11
God's scriptures have to be foremost in our lives 1:12-21
We should beware of false teachers 2:1-3
3 examples of God's judgment on the disobedient 2:4-9
The bad character of the false teachers 2:10-22
The Day of the Lord is coming 3:1-13
Let's live right before the Lord 3:14-16
Peter warns and encourages us 3:17-18
Jesus Christ is our strength.
Why? Because we have to use His strength in order to properly live the Christian life and to overcome adversity and false doctrine.
(2 Peter 1:1 New Living Translation (NLT).
(2 Peter 1:2).
"And this is the way to have eternal life- to know You, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, the One you sent to earth"
(John 17:3).
"That I may have knowledge of Him, and of the power of His coming back from the
dead, and a part with Him in His pains, becoming like Him in His death;
If in any way I may have the reward of life from the dead"
(Philippians 3:10-11 Basic English Translation (BET).
(2 Peter 1:5-7 NLT).
"You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given
you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus"
(2 Timothy 3:15).
(2 Peter 1:12-15).
Jesus had predicted Peter's martyrdom (John 21:18-19).
(2 Peter 1:16-18).
Peter mentions the Transfiguration of Christ when him and James and John were together on that glorious occasion
(Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-10; Luke 9:27-36).
(2 Peter 1:20-21).
In this chapter Peter deals with the apostasy that was coming into the church through
false teachers who were sneaking in as wolves in sheeps clothing. They were teaching
false doctrines and that which is contrary to the Word of God. Peter exposes them
stating that they pervert the truth of God, and they do it for their own advantage.
These false teachers exalt themselves instead of exalting Christ. They were living
secretly in lust and sin. But God is going expose them and judge them.
"The coming of false teachers is spoken of again and again in the New Testament. Jesus warned
of ravening wolves who would come to the church in sheep's clothing
(Matthew 7:15), and lead many astray
(Matthew 24:11). Paul warned of grievous wolves who would arise in the church speaking perverse things
(Acts 20:29-30). Again Paul predicted that, before the Second Coming of the Lord, there
would be, in the church, a falling away of appalling magnitude and Satanic nature
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-12). Again Paul foretold the rise to church leadership of ungodly men,
traitors and hypocrites, who, with a form of godliness, would fill the church with doctrines of devils
(1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 3:1-9). Jude seems to have been written mainly to warn of an
ominous and deadly trend toward apostasy which, in his own day, he saw rising in the church
(Jude verses 4-19). And, in Revelation chapter 17, John gives a detailed description of the
full-grown harlot church.
(2 Peter 2:1). Yet some of the language implies that false teachers were already at work
within the church.
God will judge in the future as He has in the past.
If God did not spare the disobedient angels, the ancient world, and
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, He will not spare the false teachers in their time.
1) The disobedient angels had pride and rebellion in their hearts.
2) Disobedient mankind before the flood had violence and apathy in their hearts.
3) The populace of Sodom had total sensuality in their hearts.
The false teachers of Peter's day had all of the same characteristics. Do the false
teachers of our day also have the same characteristics? Yes. Especially if the false
teachers are modern Satanists, witches, warlocks, ones who are demon possessed, etc.
God is teaching us that unrighteousness will end in ruin. False teaching and disobedient
behavior will always and ultimately produce suffering and disaster. It happened in
those three instances in the past and they serve as bad examples for us not to follow.
"But saved Noah, the eighth person..."
"It was by faith that Noah built an ark to save his family from the flood. He
obeyed God, who warned him about something that had never happened before. By
his faith he condemned the rest of the world and was made right in God's sight"
(Hebrews 11:7).
Peter likened each false teacher to a dog or pig. It is a good possibility that Peter
was influenced from the Old Testament scriptures- especially from
Proverbs 26:11.
(2 Peter 2:1-3 NLT).
(Hebrews 6:6). This is the devil's will and not God's will.
Early gnosticism found root amongst some of the citizens of Asia Minor in the first
century A.D. I would not be a bit surprised to learn that some of the teachings of
this heresy tried to find it's way into some of the Lord's early churches. Just what did
some of the gnostics believe?
The false teachers were active, so what was the problem with their belief system?
Many false teachers embraced the heresy of antinomianism in those days.
What was that? It was a false teaching that stated: because of our freedom in Christ,
we are free to sin as much as we want to.
In other words it doesn’t matter what you do with your body- you can go to heaven
while sinning as much as you want to. Why? Because, legally, we are not under
the Old Testament Law of God as a means of salvation. So, since we don't have to
obey God's ten commandments (God's moral law) to be saved, then
we have freedom in Christ, through grace, to live any way that we want to.
We have freedom to throw away God's ten commandments.
In other words, the moral law of God was in no way binding upon those who are
justified by faith alone, so Christians are entirely free from the moral law of God.
(Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:23-25; Ephesians 2:15) but the false teachers lied and
taught that Christ had abolished the Old Testament law.
They were missing the mark in several areas. The false teachers were far from proper
in their behavior to God and their fellow men.
Total freedom in Christ allowed them to have all of the sex that they
wanted to with whoever they wanted to. Their error was to teach that they had an
excuse for every kind of license to sin and that they had permission from God to
grab as much money as they could because they were predestined to go to Heaven.
If it feels good, do it! They taught that the law of the love of Christ and the daily cross of Christ
for each believer does not apply to every Christian believer.
(Romans 6:1-23 NLT).
"The reason that antinomianism is unbiblical is that there is a moral law
God expects us to obey.
Replacing God's truth (of His word) with false doctrine or heresy in our hearts can
lead to immoral living. Why? Because folks get depressed or discouraged and have no
hope. Satan is not a comforter and there is no love in him. He does not love you but
wants to destroy you. He wants you to believe a lie that undermines your faith in God.
If the foundation of one's faith has crumbled, one cannot properly trust in Christ
any more- so he or she starts trusting in themself. And what is in each and every one
of us? It is sin and depravity. It is not good to build the foundation of our life
upon sin and depravity. If we build such a foundation it is like using
using wood, hay, or straw as building materials
(1 John 5:3).
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest
commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All
the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments"
(Matthew 22:37-40).
(Romans 12:1-2). Antinomianism is unbiblical in that it misapplies the meaning of God’s grace.
This false teaching is contrary to everything the Bible teaches. God expects us to
live a life of morality, integrity, and love. Jesus Christ freed us from the
burdensome commands of the Old Testament Law, but that is not a license to sin,
but rather a covenant of grace. We are to strive to overcome sin and cultivate
righteousness, depending on the Holy Spirit to help us. The fact that we are
graciously freed from the demands of the Old Testament Law should result in our
living our lives in obedience to the law of Christ.
(1 John 2:3-6).
(Jude verse 4).
(1 Corinthians 3:12-13). Or like building the foundation of our life on the sand
(Matthew 7:26-27). So we need to stay spiritually strong and stand for Christ in
truth and righteousness in these evil last days.
"And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an
overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly"
(2 Peter 2:6).
"...and delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished"
(2 Peter 2:7-9).
(Revelation 3:10). Our returning Lord will examine each true Christian's walk of
faith and works of service
(1 Corinthians 3:13-15). Meanwhile, in this present hour, Christ will help each of us
to be overcomers over the world, the flesh, and the devil
(1 Corinthians 10:13). God meets us in our trials and delivers us out of them.
And how does God help us in our trials? The same way He helped Noah and Lot- by
divine intervention. However, neither individual had an immediate deliverance.
Each spent many years being persecuted and God may allow us to face long years of
persecution or trial before He intervenes on our behalf. God is working out His plan
in our lives. Delay does not mean denial. He knows how to deliver the godly. We can trust Him.
(Ephesians 6:10-18).
virtue, knowledge, self control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.
"This is my second letter to you"
What is the reasoning of the scoffers? Christ had not come, therefore, He is not
coming. Is this accurate? No. Why? Because all of the signs for His soon coming have
been fulfilled and nothing will stop Him when He decides that the timing is right.
"The promise of His coming" refers to the Coming of the Lord (His second advent).
(1 Thessalonians 4:17). The Day of the Lord will then come upon the earth in the
seven year Great Tribulation period of time. After that time, Christ will come a
second time to establish His kingdom on this earth. Christ revealed He would come again
(John 14:2-4).
and 1,000 years as a day"
(2 Peter 3:8).
The bible also states the same thing in Psalm 90:4.
God is eternal. God invented time. God is not limited to time as is mankind.
(Isaiah 55: 8 & 9 NLT).
(2 Peter 3:9).
(Mark 16:15-18).
(2 Peter 3:10).
(1 Corinthians 15:24-28; Revelation 20:7-22:21). There is an old poem that goes something like this in reference to our eternal rewards:
"Tis one life, soon will be past
Only what's done for Jesus will last"
Don't let the devil stop you
Don't let the scoffers stop you
Don't let the false teachers stop you
Don't let the wicked and immoral stop you
Don't let the turbulence of the end times stop you
After we die what is the destiny of this earth? How will we be secure in that time
and in that place? Peter assures us that as water purged the earth of Satan's servants
in the days of Noah, so also will fire purge the earth again in the future.
It will be a wonderful universe free of Satan and sin. This truth is taught elsewhere in scriptures:
(Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; Romans 8:21; Revelation 21:1 & 27). Only the righteous and
righteousness will remain. When the destiny of this world is finished, we win!
"I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends, so that you can watch out and
not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people. I don't want you to
lose your own secure footing."
1 Thessalonians 2:12
1 Thessalonians 3:13
Acts 13:10
Acts 13:10
Acts 14:22
Jude verse 5
Jude verse 10
2 Timothy 4:6
2 Timothy 4:18
1 Corinthians 1:17
2 Samuel 23:2
Genesis chapter 19
Psalm 119:140
Psalm 50:3
Matthew 12:45
Ezekiel 18:24
Micah 1:4
Romans 2:4
Ephesians 4:13-15
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As of September 30, 2011