2 Peter 01
Peter wrote this, perhaps AD 66 or shortly before his death AD 68, probably from Babylon. It was to warn of heresies and apostasy and to strengthen the brethren in Asia Minor to live holy, godly lives in face of great persecution and falsehood.
v 1. To believers not as prominent as Peter, but had the equal privilege of like precious faith in Christ.
v 2. See the Amplified Bible for depth and beauty in this verse.
v 3. God has not only provided eternal life, but has provided every thing we need to live for Him. This introduces the thought to live righteously.
v 4. By use of those provisions, we can share, or become partakers of, His divine nature, and escape the moral decay and the lust and greed about us.
v 5-7. As the Lord sends sunshine and rain but the farmer must plant and tend the crop, so even with those gifts and faith God has given, we need to cooperate in service. Here is a possible sequence of things we are to attend to. They might be arranged as a stair on chalkboard. a. Faith; b.Virtue, moral goodness; c. knowledge, moral wisdom; d. Self control; e. Patience; f. Godliness; g Kindness; h. Love.
8. Allow the Word and the Holy Spirit to develop the potential that is in us, and the above things will be increasing in us and we will grow in knowledge and fruitfulness.
v 9. When believers fail to follow the Lord into a richer experience as suggested, they slip back into spiritual deadness.
v 10. This is not a question concerning losing salvation. Peter, who had denied the Lord that terrible night, knew what was necessary to be developing in the Lord or lose assurance of salvation.
v 11. Entering heaven will be a joy to every believer, but it will be even more abundant to those who walked obediently with the Lord in the face of trials. The works of some others will be burned up, but they will be saved, yet as by fire, 1 Cor. 3:15.
v 12. Some of the truths we hold can become common place and we need to be reminded and stirred up.
v 13,14. Jesus warned Peter of the way in which he would die, Jn. 21:18,19, so with advancing age or threat of martyrdom nearer, he would continue to stir people up.
v 15. By writing these things, people would remember them after his death.
v 16. The gospel was not a fable or hearsay as the Jews and modern critics claim, but Peter was an eyewitness of the King before He entered His kingdom.
v 17,18. Peter personally heard the voice of God honor Jesus on the mount of transfiguration, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, Matt.17:1-5.
v 19. Old prophecies are even more sure as we have seen their fulfillment. We look for the return of Christ, the Day Star, the Morning Star of Rev. 2:28 and 22:16, but until then, we have His illumination in our hearts.
v 20. Not as one person interprets scripture from another person, but scripture must be compared with scripture to get the whole and true picture. Jews did not compare Isa. 11:1 that Jesus would be a Branch (Heb. Netzer or Nazarene) with Mic. 5;2 that He would be from Bethlehem, or that He was born there. Today people use individual verses to dispute the well proven eternal security of the believer, etc.
v 21. No Scripture was written from human impulse, but only as they were moved or the Holy Spirit to write, using their own vocabulary.
God’s Revelation (2 Peter 1:16-21)
To Peter To Us
Eye witnesses v 16 Reading the Word v 19
Transfiguration v 17 The writings- prophecies v 19-21
Voice from heaven v 18 Holy Spirit v 21
2 Peter 02
v 1. Throughout history their have been false teachers, and some were slipping in among this group. Many of these come alongside the truth, gradually changing it and eventually denying the deity of Christ, or some other aspect about Him.
v 2. False teachers always have a following because error pleases the flesh. Those who follow them then bring a reproach on the rest of the Church.
v 3. False teachers frequently have hope of financial gain and are not interested in souls, but exploiting a following. Destruction awaits them.
v 4. We suppose these are the angels of Jude 6 and Rev. 12:3,4. My feeling is that some of these are described in Gen. 6:1-4, and are angels that intermarried with women, but others dispute that. Those who feel the godly line of Seth married the ungodly line of Cain overlook the fact that both lines were ungodly except for a remnant up to Noah, who with his family finally survived the flood.
v 5,6. Judgment of the flood and upon Sodom were equally destructive.
v 7,8. Perhaps Lot thought he could do some good, but he actually lost his testimony in that corrupt place. God still delivered him through Abraham’s intercession.
v 9. The God who delivered Noah and Lot delivers believers today, and though the wicked are not punished now, they are being kept for future judgment.
v 10,11. Many have lost respect for the offices of government and are flippant concerning higher authorities or even God. Angels don’t even usurp that attitude. “Joy, Joy, Joy” chorus, some people add “If the devil doesn’t like it he can sit on a tack.”
v 12. Animals have an instinctive fear of man, but many men have lost fear of God
v 13. They will be judged along with those who have become so depraved that they live wantonly even in daylight, or openly. Some of them even live double lives to the point of joining believers at the Lord’s table and love feasts.
v 14. Both spiritual and physical adultery are in mind. They have lured away unstable believers and are under the curse of the Lord.
v 15,16. For complete account see Num. 22-24. The way of Balaam was to seek profit for his spiritual gifts and powers. The error of Balaam was failure to take God’s grace into account, thinking he would curse Israel for their sins. The doctrine of Balaam was his advice to the Moabites to corrupt the morals of Israel.
v 17,18. Having lived through the Dust Bowl drouth of depression days I know what it is to go to the well for water and find it dry, or of black storm clouds carried along with strong wind, but not leaving a drop of rain. False teachers are just as useless, nearly dragging immature professing Christians to destruction with them.
v 19. False teachers may teach deliverance from sin, yet they too are in it’s grasp.
v 20,21. Some come to the point of salvation, even laying aside some of the things of the world, but turning away from it, they are more accountable than if they had not known. This does not mean we should limit taking the gospel to the unsaved.
v 22. If a dog or hogs nature was changed, their habits would change. (Pet pig two days old found water spilled on kitchen floor and flopped down to wallow in it.) So the new nature of a believer changes them. If they return to their former corrupt life, it is a strong indication that they lack salvation, 1 Jn. 2:19.
2 Peter 03
v 1. In both letters Peter wants to stir up these dear believers to remember certain things. We need revival meetings and such to stir us up from time to time.
v 2. We need to search all the scriptures, but the following verses place emphasis on watching for the coming of Christ.
v 3. It is not that because of the Lord’s delay scoffers can’t believe. It is that they refuse to believe, wanting life to always continue as it is.
v 4. The fact that Christ has not returned after nearly 2000 years only means to the believer that each day is one day closer.
v 5,6. God had available at creation all the water that was needed for the flood in Noah’s day, but scoffers refuse to admit all the fossil evidence points to that instead of evolution. (Those in Gap Theory attribute v 6 to Gen. 1:2 instead of Noah’s flood, but Gen. 6:13 considers man and the earth destroyed in the flood.)
v 7. As the Lord stored conditions for a flood, He has stored conditions for a literal fire of judgment on the earth in future days.
v 8. This does not mean a literal one day on earth is 1000 years in heaven. God is not bound by time. Over 1000 years of prophecy were fulfilled the day Christ died.
v 9. The Lord’s delaying judgment is not because of indecision,. but His patient concern to give mankind opportunity to repent and turn to Him.
v 10. Many events are spelled out prophetically and to a degree predictably, but this great destructive force of something akin to nuclear fission will come suddenly.
v 11. God’s prophecy is as sound as if the destruction were already beginning, so we should live Godly lives and endeavor to reach others before the time really comes.
v 12,13. This destruction was prophesied in Isa. 34:4 and it will come, but so will His promise of a new heaven and new earth, and we are confident in that.
v 14. Believers are not preparing for that judgment but for the judgment seat of Christ, and we that have that hope must purify ourselves, 1 Jn. 3:3.
v 15. The days of God’s long suffering are days of opportunities for believers. He is probably referring to Paul’s words in Rom. 2:3,4; 1 Cor. 1:7,8; 1 Thess. 3:12,13.
v 16. Peter does not dispute Paul, but admits some of his writings were deep and difficult to understand. Paul admitted the same, Rom. 11:33, “Unsearchable”. Those who don’t know the Lord twist Paul’s writings, as they do other Scripture, in ways that only bring harm to themselves.
v 17. Even believers need to be on guard that they do not succumb to the false teachings that can so easily creep in. Peter could speak from experience regarding steadfastness, Gal. 2:7-13, when he withdrew from eating with Gentiles as well as his earlier experience in denying the Lord.
v 18. We need to keep moving ahead or we slip back spiritually. That kind of growth can only be in the Lord.
In the early 90's I started studing the bible by taking college courses, because I believe the Lord wanted me to become a pastor in a Nazarne Church. My goal has changed with all my studies. My wife and I have both joined the Catholic Church. I have read and compared numerous translations and commentaries in my many years of studying the bible. Some of these authorities disagree with each other. I come across information on studies and classes that I have taken 15 to 20 years before and I have no documentation of where it came from. Plus I have given away or returned many books for college classes that I have taken. So if I have failed to give someone the credit that is due them I ask for their forgiveness. The following is a list of translations and commentaries that I still have and use.
ANSWERS to 200 of Life's Most Probing Questions by Pat RobertsonOUR ETERNAL HOME by Richard W. Dehaan,
PROPHECY STUDY BIBLE by Tim Lahaye
READER'S DIGEST JESUS AND HIS TIMES by the Readers Digest Association Inc,
REFLECTING GOD STUDY BIBLE By Zondervan Corporation;
SAINT JOSEPH EDITION OF THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE by Catholic Book Publishing Co.
SEVEN KEYS TO FAMILY POWER by Billy Joe Daugherty,
SIX HOURS ONE FRIDAY by Max Lacado,
THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE by the Zondervan Corporation;
THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD by Jocyce Meyer,
THE BIBLE PROMISE BOOK by Babbour Publishing Inc,
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER by Charles Mortimer Guilbert
THE BOOK OF HOPE by Tyndale House Publishiers, Inc,
THE BORN AGAIN CATHOLIC by Albert H. Boudreau,
THE CASE FOR CHRIST by Lee Strobel,
THE CATHOLIC ANSWER BOOK by Peter MJ Stravinsiasi
THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BIBLE KNOWLEDGE by Mark D. Taylor;
THE DAY CHRIST DIED by Jim Bishop,
THE GREAT BIBLE QUESTION AND ANWERS BOOK by Playmore Inc
THE HOME BIBLE STUDY COURSE by Dr. Harold L. Wilmington;
THE KING JAMES BIBLE ARCHAIE WORDS DEFIND by David W. Daniel
THE KING JAMES BIBLE COMPANION by David W. Daniels;
THE KING JAMES STUDY BIBLE by Thomas Nelson Publishers,
THE LAYMAN’S BIBLE DICTIONARY by George W. Knight and Rayburn W. Ray;
THE LAYMAN’S PARALLEL NEW TESTAMENT by Zondervan Bible Publisher
THE LAYMAN'S LIST by Calance Stucup
THE MESSAGE BIBLE by Eugone H. Peterson,
THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE by World Catholic Press;
THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE Saint Joseph Edition;
THE NEW STRONG’S EXHAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE by James Strong LL. D S.T.D.;
THE RISKS AND REWARDS OF INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE by Cardinal Francis Arinze
THE TRINITY by Rose Publish
THE VERY FIRST ESTER by Paul L. Maier,
THE WAY CATHOLIC LIVING BIBLE by Tyndale House Publishers;
UNCHRISTIAN by David Kennan and Gabe Lyon
UNDERSTANDING GOD’S LOVE by Ronald Greib
VINE’S EXPOSITORY DICTIONARY OF OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT WORDS By W. E. Vine;
WHAT’S SO SECRET ABOUT THE RAPTURRE? By Christian Record Services, INC
WHEN GOD WINKS AT YOU by Tomas Nelson
WILLMINGTON’S GUIDE TO THE BIBLE by Dr. H.L. Willmington,
WOMAN OF FAITH STUDY BIBLE by Zschech/Heillsong
YESTERDAY TODAY AND FOREVER by New Leaf Press
YOU WERE BORN FOR THIS by Anthony Wilhen
08/19/2011