Week 19 - 1 and 2 Peter - Conclusion

We have watched Peter grow and change.  When we explored the Book of Matthew (From the Mountain to the World) we saw Peter:

• Called – Matthew 4:18-22
• Renamed/Given the Keys – Matthew 16:13-28
• Taught to forgive – Matthew 18

But he continued to argue, like the rest of the disciples, as to who would be first in the kingdom. 

That last argument was immediately following the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:24–27), which escalated to the point that he declared to Jesus his preeminent devotion (Luke 22:31–34).  

This would be the last time we see him stand in his own strength, for he would be soon sifted and found wanting through his denial (Matthew 26).

Graciously, Jesus restored him by reversing that three-fold denial with a three-fold command to care for His sheep (John 21).

Now changed, we saw him in Acts (Unfinished),  take a place of leadership, but act though consensus and then partner with John to lead the young church to fulfill the Great Commission.

• Led the Disciples to replaced Judas – Acts 1:15-26
• Spoke to the crowd – Acts 2:14-41
• Together with John led the Church to bring evangelism back into the temple and out into the streets – Acts 3-5
• Together with John was sent to preached in Samaria – Acts 8:14-25

However, one more flaw in Peter needed to be fixed before work on the remainder of the Great Commission could continue (Matthew 28:19; Acts 1:8).  When God was preparing him to participate in the first conversion of a Gentile, Peter rebuffs the command of God in a trance to break the Kosher laws:

Acts 10:12-14
In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 

Once again, God graciously uses the teaching technique that seems to be tailored to Peter’s learning style:

Acts 10:15-16
And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

With this ringing in his ears, he agrees to go with those sent by Cornelious and explains:  

Acts 10:28-29
And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”

He then:

• Leads Cornelious to Christ – Acts 10-12
• Brings the question to the Jerusalem Council of Gentiles and their degree of obligation to the Law, where James is given a lead role (Acts 15-16) and a way forward was found with consensus.
• Steps back and lets Paul take over ministry to Gentiles (Galatians 2:1-14).

So, we have seen from the day Jesus called him to be one of His first disciples, how God has steadily and graciously moved Peter from first to last. This moved him to exactly where the foundation begins, the bottom.  This was necessary for him to truly take his position as the rock (Matthew 16:13-28) on which the church would be built.

So in 1 Peter, we see Peter step back and in the valediction help push forward Mark and Silas, to be the next generation of leaders.  They had been the companions of Paul (Silas) and Barnabas (Mark) on their missionary journeys  (Acts 15:36-41).

And now in 2 Peter, in this his final letter, he steps even further out of the lime-light and enables every believer to be a spotless lamb ready for the daily sacrifice of themselves, while awaiting Christ’s return.  He showed us that we can have a calling and election that is sure (bebaios - 2 Peter 1:10), that we too could be stable (stērigmos - 2 Pet 3:17), that we too could be a rock.

Week 18 - 2 Peter 3:11-18 - What Sort of People?

We have all heard the word “multitudinous” (even the spellchecker knows it).  Shakespeare made up this word, but when he said it in his play “Macbeth”, everyone knew what he was talking about.  Macbeth’s guilt was so vast that it would turn the entire ocean red:

“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.”

So too, with Peter’s use of “stability” (stērigmos) in this, his last words.  

2 Peter 3:17-18

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Not only is it only used here in the Bible, the only other recorded instance in all of historic literature, is where speaking of the local pagan priests, Diodorus Siculus wrote about 100 years before Peter:

ἀσκήσει δὲ καὶ γυμνασίοις ἐνισχύουσι τὰ σώματα, ἵνα ἐν ὑγίειᾳ καὶ στηριγμῷ διατελῶσιν.

They also strengthen their bodies through exercise and training, so that they may remain in health and firmness.

Peter introduced an exercise program earlier in the letter.

2 Peter 1:5-9
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

That program starts with faith and that faith is in grace.

As we take our eyes off grace we lose our “stability” (stērigmos).  

It is built off the word:

στηρίζω stērízō, stay-rid'-zo; from a presumed derivative of G2476 (like G4731); to set fast, i.e. (literally) to turn resolutely in a certain direction, or (figuratively) to confirm:—fix, (e-)stablish, stedfastly set, strengthen.

We should not for a second forget our former sins.  No, don’t dwell on the guilt.  Focus on God’s grace.

Week 17 - 2 Peter 3:1-10 - Patiently Obey

 In 2 Peter 3:1-2, Peter was referring to the command that Jesus gave the disciples in the Upper Room: 

John 13:34
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

But wait, how was that commandment new?  Is this command not old?  

When asked “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”, Jesus responded with the old commandment:

Matthew 22:37-39
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus quoted it from the ceremonial and law-filled book of Leviticus:

Leviticus 19:13-18
“You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. 

This is not about forgiveness; this is about impartial and “frank” justice that when executed leaves no room for vengeance or a grudge.

The ESV translates it “reason frankly” (yāḵaḥ).  But the NIV does a better job in making it mandatory and the reason behind it.

Leviticus 19:17 (NIV)
“‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.

If your neighbor sins against you, and instead of “getting it out in the open”, you harbor hatred in your heart and impair the relationship, then you become a fellow sinner.

The command is actually yāḵaḥ yāḵaḥ.  It is repeated twice (The ancient highlighter), first conjugated as infinitive absolute and then as imperfect (future).  This is not optional.  That is, if you don’t rebuke your neighbor, you sin.

So, the old command is not a command to forgive, but rather to rebuke and execute justice but in a way that you, being a fellow follower of the law, would want it done to you.  We are to “love your neighbor as yourself” – without impartiality or hatred and with a goal of restoring the relationship.

The new commandment is different, because it asks us instead to love as Jesus did (“just as I have loved you”) rather than with that reciprocal justice:

• Jesus in the Upper Room lowered Himself from a king to a servant to wash their feet.  
• Before the Sanhedrin, He lowered Himself from a prophet speaking forth the word of God, to a subject hearing their sentence as they misapplied the Law.
• And on the cross He lowered Himself from being the priest to being the sacrifice.

This makes the two commands very different:

In the old command, the root word for the Hebrew “neighbor” (rēaʿ) is “flock” and is well translated as “fellow-citizen”.  Two arguing neighbors are on equal footing before the same law (very similar to two Christians in the same congregation executing Matthew 18:15-20).  This is justice.  
But not so in this new command.  In this new commandment, the Greek for “one another” (allēlōn) does not carry any boundary of neighborhood or law.  In the new command, love extends to those not bound to reciprocate with justice.  We are asked not to stay on equal footing, but rather to forgive, as Jesus did, even injustice.

Luke 23:34a
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Periodically one should stand on the foundation of the first half of Romans, and just read Romans 12-16 to get a clear picture of what it means to be a living sacrifice, and so fulfill this “new command”.  For it is this command that we are to patiently obey as we listen to the scoffers until His return (2 Peter 3:4).

Week 16 - 2 Peter 2:17-22 - Waterless Springs

As a youth, my group of friends would often go hiking.  During that age before the Internet, we had to read the Appalachian Trail Guides and plan out the distances between springs and lean-tos.

Imagine hiking all morning, finishing all your water along the way, and planning on refilling at the designated location on the map -- only to find it dry during the heat of the day!

These teachers were said to be “waterless springs” 2 Peter 2:17.  Their map to “freedom” leads them into a lifestyle of sexual immorality that is presumptive upon the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.  Early church fathers identify this heresy with the Nicolaitans of Revelation 2:6, 2:15) and it can be summarized as grace-permits-sin or antinomianism.

Hebrews 6:4-6

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

Their map leads people to a place where the Holy Spirit will no longer give His regenerative power and this makes repentance “impossible” (adynatos).

The Crossroad

This brings us to a difficult set of thoughts.

1 John 3:6

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

1 John 3:9

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

1 John 5:18

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

We are at the place of mystery, the boundary between the sovereignty of God and the will of man.

Seen from within man’s will there is falling away.  Seen from God’s decree, the sinner was never a child of God.  

This is the crossroad where the eternity of God’s will and chronology of man’s choices intersect.

Fortunately, as we pause and study Hebrews 6:4-6, the passage does not say to the stumbling sinner:

“It is impossible, . . . to restore them again to redemption . . .”

It says to the truly apostate:

it is impossible, . . . to restore them again to repentance . . .

So, continued apostasy (including the heresy of antinomianism) is one’s own choice.  But if you become repentant, and throw yourself on the finished work of Christ, you remain one of God’s elect.  

Using a phrase from commentaries, this does not “do violence” to Chapter 17 of the Westminster Confession of Faith “Of the Perseverance of the Saints”, which has the follow key phrases:

·       “They whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.”

·       “This perseverance of the saints depends, not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election”

·       “Nevertheless they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins; and for a time continue therein:”

Combined they say that the elect, who even if they fall away, will only do so only “for a time”, and they will “persevere” and will “neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace”.  Which, itself, is not in conflict with Chapter 3 “Of God's Eternal Decree”:

·       “The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy as he pleaseth, for the glory of his sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by, and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of his glorious justice.”

So, we can confidently follow Peter’s instruction and step through this intersection:

2 Peter 1:10-11
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Week 15 - 2 Peter 2:9-16 - The Three Sins

Please recall that Peter wrote this second letter after it had been revealed to him that his life was almost over.  There was urgency to get the important ideas on paper so they would be preserved for the next generation (2 Peter 1:12-15).

This week's passage speaks of three sins that can entice and derail.  It appears that Peter shared the same concern that Jude included in his letter written possibly ten years prior, for it parallels the following verses:

Jude 8-13

Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 

Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. 

These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

Jude calls out (v. 11) the sins of:

·       Cain – Who in envy, killed his brother (Genesis 4:1-16).

·       Balaam – Who in greed, led people into sin (Numbers 22-24, Numbers 31:15-17).

·       Korah – Who in pride, rejected authority and led people against Moses (Numbers 16:1-35).

This is also seen in the threefold testing of Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11):

“If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

Jesus resisted not only hunger but also the temptation to end His humiliation.  He could have ended His earthly ministry of sacrifice and once again taken His rightful position in envy of the Holy Spirit who was not similarly humiliated.

But in envy, Cain killed his brother when his sacrifice was not chosen.

“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ . . . "

Jesus resisted the temptation to reject the Father’s authority (John 6:38) and force God the Father to obey Him instead.

But in pride, Korah was tempted by power when Moses was chosen.

“All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

Jesus resisted the temptation to grasp the immediacy of the temporal rather than wait for the permanence of His inheritance (Psalm 2:7-8; Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5).

But in greed, Balaam was tempted with riches and taught others to do likewise (Numbers 31:15-17; Revelation 2:14).

For indeed these are the three sins the world tempts us with:

1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Week 14 - 2 Peter 2:3-11 - Evil Motive

Reading ahead in v. 15, Peter gives the example of Balaam as a greedy false teacher.  While he appears to have spoken the prophetic word properly in Numbers 22-24, his motives were briefly shown in Numbers 22:18-21:

But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more. So you, too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.” 

And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men [have] come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.

ESV unfortunately adds the word “have” making God’s response a tacit approval as “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them” (See ESV).  Rather than it being a direct conditional “If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them” (See KJV).  The verb “come” (bô') is in the perfect tense (complete without relation to time).

Balaam did not obey God’s instruction, did not wait to be approached a third time, but with the fear of missing out moved forward enticed by the “fees for divination” (Numbers 22:7) and “great honor” (Numbers 22:17).  This angered the Lord, who famously sent an angel to block the donkey’s path.

The process by which he inquired of God also used pagan methods of divination (multiple altars with quid pro quo sacrifices).  

There also appears to be another incident where he lead Israel into idolatry and sexual immorality (Numbers 31:15-17) as explained in Revelation 2:14, which always involved gifts to the gods, for example the marketplace at the entrance to the Greek pagan temple at Delphi.

God’s grace is always free.  Those that sell it and profit by it are, as Peter describes them, incredibly evil.

Week 13 - 2 Peter 2:1-3 - False Teachers

Our previous chapter explained that prophecy needed interpretation, but Peter now explains that false teachers will come with “destructive” (apōleia) teaching.  

2 Peter 2:1
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

When those teachings deny the depravity of man, the sufficiency or necessity of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus on the cross, their damnation is quick.

“Master” is despotēs (from which we get despot), which denotes the relationship of master and slave (doulos) and “bought” is agorazō, which happens in the marketplace (agora).  

That to say, this is not denote the relationship between a lord (kyrios) and a bondservant (See for example Romans 1:1).  This is the relationship of a purchased slave, who has run away from their master.

This passage indicates that the sacrifice of Christ is sufficient though not applied to the damned.  So, atonement is not limited in its sufficiency only in its application.

Calvin wrote a commentary on 1 Peter, but not on 2 Peter.  Though he cited other verses in 2 Peter, in all his writings he did not cite these verses as they do not appear to fit within the standard model of Calvinist thinking (TULIP).

This verse stands in opposition to the Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 8 section 8, which reads “To all those for whom Christ hath purchased redemption he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same”.

Yes, damnation must be understood within the doctrine of election.  Yes, it is God’s sovereign choice.  But it is too strong to say, Christ’s work was in some way limited only to the elect.  

Damnation is always brought upon oneself.  The Gospel is always rejected.