The Early Church · c. AD 64–67
Chapter 38
Grow in Grace
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
For parents
This letter speaks of God’s judgment: angels who sinned cast down to Tartarus, the flood on the ancient world, and Sodom and Gomorrah turned to ashes (2 Peter 2:4–9). It also says the heavens and the earth are stored up for fire, and that on the day of the Lord the earth and its works will be burned up (3:7–12). It warns of false teachers bringing swift destruction on themselves (2:1–3, 12), and names adultery and shameless desires among their wrongs, in soft, plain words (2:10–18). It ends that warning with a proverb about a dog that goes back to its vomit and a washed pig that goes back to the mud (2:22).
, a servant and of Jesus , wrote this letter “to those who have been given a precious faith like ours, in the of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” In it he says that he will soon put off the tent of his body, as the Lord Jesus Christ made clear to him. He was one of those who were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ majesty and heard a voice come out of heaven when they were with him on the holy mountain. And he tells his readers that this is the second letter he has written to them.
“ to you, and peace, multiplied many times over,” he writes, “in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, because his divine power has given us all things that have to do with life and godliness. We have them through knowing him who called us by his own glory and virtue. By these he has given us his precious and very great promises, so you may come to share in the divine nature through them, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world through wrong desire.
“For this very reason, do your part with all eagerness. With your faith, bring goodness; with goodness, knowledge; with knowledge, self-control; with self-control, perseverance; with perseverance, godliness; with godliness, brotherly affection; and with brotherly affection, love.
“If these things are yours in plenty, they won’t let you be idle or fruitless in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone who lacks them is blind, seeing only what is near, and has forgotten that he was made clean from his old sins.
“So, brothers and sisters, try all the harder to make sure of your calling and your being chosen. If you do these things, you will never stumble. That is how you will be richly given your entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
“So I will not fail to remind you of these things,” Peter goes on, “even though you already know them and are settled in the truth you have now. As long as I am in this tent, I think it right to stir you up by reminding you, because I know that I will soon put off my tent, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. Yes, I will make every effort so that you will always be able to remember these things even after I am gone.
“We didn’t follow clever made-up stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. God the Father gave him honor and glory when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
“We have the more certain word of prophecy. You do well to pay attention to it, as you would to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.”
“But false also rose up among the people,” Peter writes, “and in the same way false teachers will be among you. They will secretly bring in teachings that destroy, and even deny the Master who bought them. They will bring swift destruction on themselves. Many people will follow their immoral ways, and as a result the way of the truth will be spoken against. In their greed they will use deceitful words to take advantage of you. The judgment on them was made long ago, and it is not slow in coming. Their destruction will not sleep.
“God didn’t spare when they sinned. He threw them down to and handed them over to pits of darkness, to be kept for judgment. He didn’t spare the ancient world either, but he kept , a preacher of righteousness, safe with seven others when he sent a flood on the world of the ungodly. He turned the cities of and into ashes and condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who would live ungodly lives. And he rescued righteous , who was deeply distressed by the indecent lives of the wicked. That righteous man lived among them, and day after day it tormented his righteous soul to see and hear their lawless deeds. If God did all this, then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and how to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.
“Most of all, it is true of those who follow the filthy desires of the flesh and despise authority. They are daring and headstrong, and they aren’t afraid to speak evil of dignitaries. Yet angels, though they are greater in might and power, don’t bring an insulting judgment against them before the Lord.”
“But these people,” Peter goes on, “are like creatures that cannot reason, born as mere animals, to be trapped and destroyed. They speak evil of things they know nothing about, and in their destroying they will surely be destroyed. They will receive the wages of their wrong. They take pleasure in wild feasting in the daytime. They are spots and flaws, enjoying their deceit while they feast with you. Their eyes are full of , and they can’t stop sinning. They lure in people who are unsteady. Their hearts are trained in greed. They are cursed children!
“They have turned from the right way and gone astray, following the way of the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing. But he was rebuked for his own disobedience: a donkey that couldn’t speak spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the prophet’s madness.
“They are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm. Pitch-black darkness has been kept for them forever. They speak big, swollen, empty words. With the cravings of the flesh and shameless, indecent ways, they lure people who really are escaping from those who live in error. They promise these people liberty, while they themselves are slaves of corruption, because a person is made a slave by whoever overcomes him.
“If they have escaped the filth of the world through knowing the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then are tangled up in it again and overcome, they end up worse off than they were at first. It would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness at all than to know it and then turn back from the holy commandment that was handed down to them. What has happened to them is just what the true proverb says: ‘The dog turns to his own vomit again,’ and, ‘The pig that has washed goes back to rolling in the mud.’”
“Dear friends, this is now the second letter that I have written to you,” Peter writes. “In both of them I stir up your sincere minds by reminding you of the words spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment from us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior.
“First of all, know this: in the last days mockers will come, living by their own desires and saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? From the day the ancestors died, everything has stayed just as it was from the beginning of creation.’
“They choose to forget that long ago there were heavens, and an earth formed out of water and in the midst of water, by the word of God. By that means the world that existed then was flooded with water and perished. But the heavens and the earth that exist now have been stored up for fire by the same word, kept waiting for the day of judgment, and for the destruction of ungodly people.”
“But don’t forget this one thing, dear friends: one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord isn’t slow about his promise, as some people think. He is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to .
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. When it comes, the heavens will pass away with a great noise, the elements will be dissolved in fierce heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
“Since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness, as you look for the coming of the day of God and long for it? That day will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt in the fierce heat. But, as he promised, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness lives.”
“So, dear friends, since you are looking for these things,” Peter writes, “do your best to be found in peace, without flaw and blameless in his sight. Think of our Lord’s patience as salvation. Our beloved brother wrote to you in the same way, with the wisdom given to him, as he does in all of his letters when he speaks in them of these things. In them there are some things that are hard to understand. The ignorant and the unsteady twist them, as they also do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
“So, dear friends, since you know these things ahead of time, watch out. Otherwise the error of the wicked may carry you away, and you may fall from where you stand firm. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”