Habakkuk 2:4 - Life faith and theological faith

"but the righteous will live by faith" comes from Habakkuk 2:4, one of my favourite minor prophets. It is also a verse quoted on several occasions in the New Testament: Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 11:38. Yet superficially the New Testament seems to use it in a different way to the way it is used in the Old Testament. So is this the case or not?In Romans 1:17 Paul writes

“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, as it is written “The righteous will live by faith”.


Now in Romans Paul gives his most eloquent and complete exposition of salvation by faith, but superficially that does not seem to be what Habakkuk is talking about. Habakkuk is concerned about the immediate political situation (the unrighteousness of Judah, and the impending Babylonian conquest). So is Paul taking things out of context and just using a useful phrase because it fits his argument (a common trick used by some preachers!) Not at all. First, Habakkuk most definitely is concerned about sin, his first complaint is concerned about the sin in Judah. Secondly, we make a mistake when we divorce “life situation trust” and “theological salvation”. Ie trusting God in a particular situation, and having a theological understanding of how a holy God can possibly bless a hopelessly sinful people. The Bible never does this. If we look at the gospels in particular we see many people who came to Jesus in faith. They all received help, Jesus often commended their faith, and on several occasions He specifically said their sins were forgiven. Yet not one of them made a “prayer of salvation” or recited the “four spiritual laws”. “Life faith” and “theological faith” are not two alternative routes, and are definitely not contradictory, they go together. The fundamental change in a person is their willingness to trust in God. The reality of this faith, this trust, will show itself in our trusting God in real life circumstances, just as it did for the people in the gospels. The theology explains how God can possible bless us. But the theological understanding of salvation is also of great practical importance. For the theological understanding is based on the infinite love of God for us, and on how that love has shown itself in action in sending His Son, and has achieved concrete results through the cross and resurrection. So the better we understand the “theology” of salvation the better we will know God, His heart and love for us, and this will make us better able to trust Him in life-circumstances. The two go together, and the New Testament use of Habakkuk 2:4 is entirely consistent with its use in the Old Testament.

Jude 1,2 - A servant

1:1

Jude describes himself as a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. As mentioned in the introduction, the most likely identity of Jude (and James as well) is as the human brother of Jesus. If we accept this, it is noteworthy that neither James nor Jude make anything of being in the same family as Jesus. Given the events recorded in the gospels (eg Mark 3:31-35), they knew what was truly valuable. A worldly view might have said there was value in making something of their natural brotherhood with Jesus, but they knew that they were just sinners like the rest of us, in need of forgiveness. There was far greater value in being a servant of Jesus Christ. In our own lives the most important thing we can be is to be a servant of the Lord. In all situations we should ask how can we serve Jesus.

There is no geographical identity of the recipients of the letter, and the description given here applies to all who believe. However, v17-19 imply that Jude did actually know the recipients. Anyway, what is our status? We have been called. The Lord of all has called us. We are loved by God the Father, and are kept for Jesus Christ. We belong to Jesus. We do not belong to ourselves, the world has no hold upon us. We belong to God. We should meditate on who we really are.

1:2

This is a common blessing in the New Testament letters, though most of the others have grace rather than mercy. There were some difficult goings on occurring, so perhaps Jude wanted to emphasise the mercy of God. When facing temptations or trials we often become aware of our weaknesses, this can lead us to thinking there is no point in going on, no point in resisting. If we have failed we can think there is no point in trying to get back on our feet. But there is always a point, it is always worth it, because we receive mercy in abundance from the Lord. If we treat the Lord’s mercy as an excuse for wilfully carrying on sinning thinking we can get away with it, then we are badly mistaken and are heading for trouble, in fact already in deep trouble. But if we see the Lord’s mercy as a vital help in our battle to overcome then we are on the right road to victory.

Jude - Introduction

Jude is a very short book, just one chapter. You will often find commentaries on Jude tied together with 2 Peter, this is because a part of 2 Peter contains material that is similar to a large section of Jude. There is debate on who borrowed from whom, or whether they were both using a separate source. There are also key differences, mainly that Jude refers to non-Biblical sources quite freely. The commentary on 2 Peter by Michael Green also covers Jude, and that is part of the inspiration for what I will write here, along with the other usual sources (study Bible, Bible dictionary etc).

The name Jude is a variant of Judah or Judas. There are various possibilities for who Jude is, it is possible that he is the disciple Judas (not the traitor, the other one, Lk 6:16), but the generally favoured option is that he is Judas the brother of Jesus (Mark 6:3). The reasons for favouring the latter suggestion are that he does not refer to himself as an apostle, whereas he does refer to being the brother of James.

References to the letter of Jude are found in very early Christian writings such as Clement of Rome (AD 96), Clement of Alexandria (155-215), Tertullian (150-222) etc. It is found in many early collections of New Testament writings. However, it was in the “questioned books”, the primary reason for this is that Jude freely quoted from non-Biblical sources. The church eventually came to accept the canonicity of the book.

The date of the letter depends upon whether one assumes it came before or after 2 Peter. So the date is sometime between AD 65 and 80. The recipients are identified in only the most general manner. Like 2 Peter, Jude is dealing with false teaching, but that does not necessarily mean it is directed at the same recipients as 2 Peter. Indeed, one might say the letter was rather pointless if it did go to the same people.

The false teaching was essentially saying that because we are saved by grace we can do what we like. This sort of approach has been around for an awful long time! The present hyper-grace movement contains much erroneous teaching. It is vital that we understand grace properly, both from the negative point of view that it most certainly does not mean that we can do what we like, and from the positive point of view that it most certainly does not mean that should not put every effort into living lives pleasing to God.

2 Peter 3:17,18 - You have been warned

3:17

There have been and always will be false teachers, so we need to be on our guard. Jesus, Paul, Peter and John all warn about false teachers, so we should not be surprised. Instead we are to be alert and wise. Notice the description of the false teachers and of our position. The false teachers are lawless. Remember also that in 2 Thessalonians Paul speaks about the man of lawlessness. False teachers are acting as agents of the devil, albeit probably unwittingly. Conversely we are in a secure position. What fools we would be to abandon our secure position and go to the world’s position. Yet this is precisely what much of the church is doing over the debates on sexual morality. The fools seem to think it is a wise and right thing to go over to the world’s immorality. The world also makes threats against those who stick to God’s ways, but we are far more secure, far wiser, to trust in God and stick with Him than to give in to the world.

3:18

Instead of falling away we should grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Just consider the ways the world wants to take you. If you go that way will you know Jesus any better? Will you receive any more grace from Him? Or will you be throwing away the grace He has already given you? The glory belongs to Christ, both now and forever. You can just imagine Peter exulting in this. We worship and follow the king of king and Lord of Lords. What a privileged position to be in! Amen indeed!

Prov 19:11 - I am offended by people being offended

Apparently Richard Hammond has made a rather inane and stupid remark about sexual orientation and eating ice cream, and the predictable storm of offence has arisen. Well I am offended by people being offended. We are all far too ready to take offence, and to call for the sacking, imprisonment, vilification of anyone who says something that we construe as being offensive. We would all do well to take to heart the words of Proverbs 19:11:

A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offence.

In fact we would do well to make this a guide for the coming year. I once heard a preacher say a very wise thing, "more offence is taken than is ever given". Even when someone is deliberately trying to offend us, if we are truly firm and secure in our beliefs and ourselves then we will be far more likely to be able to act with patience and to overlook the offence. For myself, I know that if I lose my temper it is often a sign that I am wrong. If I react quietly it is usually a sign that I am right.

So let's make Proverbs 19:11 our motto for the coming year. Now, of course, I will have to be extra careful I don't take offence at anything!

2 Peter 3:14-16 - Make every effort

3:14

Belief in the return of Christ is never an excuse for inaction or careless living, quite the opposite. The Bible always presents it as a motivation for making a greater effort to live to please God. Why is this? Well the reasons are manifold. One is that we are on the winning side! Jesus is Lord of All, He is the one with all power and authority, and He is coming back. So it makes perfect sense to live to please Him rather than living to please the world. Second, God is at work in us to transform us, to make us more and more Christlike, so we should co-operate with Him. Thirdly, imagine what it is going to be like on the day He returns, or the day we die. Do we want to be found doing nothing? Or would we rather be found seeking to live a life pleasing to Him? Pleasing to the one who loves us, and to the one whom we love? Notice also that Peter says “make every effort”. We are saved by grace through faith, purely by the work of Christ, not our works. However, the Bible has no problem whatsoever with us making every effort. If you have a problem with making every effort then it is your stupid theology that is the problem!

3:15,16

The “delay” in the return of Christ does not mean He is not coming back, or that the teaching that He will return is wrong. Rather it means that He is exceedingly patient with mankind, giving people every opportunity to repent.

It seems that Paul’s letters were known to the readers, or at least several of them. There were also attempts by various false teachers to either discredit Paul or twist what he wrote. There is nothing new about people distorting Paul’s teaching. It happened then, it happens now. Note how Peter describes the people who distort Paul’s teaching, he calls the, “ignorant and unstable”. Perhaps we need to be a little more direct about false teachers in our day. They are not offering “an alternative view”, they are ignorant and unstable, and heading to destruction.

2 Peter 3:10-13 - Everything destroyed

3:10

This world is temporary. Even purely scientific outlook sees the earth as temporary, though on a somewhat longer timescale than most eschatological types foresee. There are two key features of the day of the Lord. The first is that it will come like a thief in the night (Matt 24:43; 1 Thess 5:2; Rev 3:3).The world will not be expecting it, just as they did not expect the flood in Noah’s day. It is unwise to try and over-interpret every descriptive term used to describe the day of the Lord, but it will be dramatic and climactic. The second key feature is judgement, from which there will be no escape. Having a theistic worldview is vital to how we live. Knowing that one day one will have to give an account can be a great restraint on behaviour. 

3:11,12

Peter now poses the question explicitly. Knowing you will have to give an account for something changes the way we do things. It means we will be less likely to to be blatantly bad, less likely to be careless, and more likely to seek to do things well. When a society abandons all theistic notions, as our Western societies are doing, it invites disintegration upon itself. Instead, we ought to live holy and godly lives, lives that follow Biblical principles and seek to do good to others. And we look forward to the return of the Lord. 

3:13

It is not the destruction of the world for its own sake that we are looking forward to, but the new heaven and the new earth. Now we can have silly and pointless debates about the nature of the new heaven and the new earth, but this will achieve little and is based largely on ignorance. We are given the key ingredient here, “where righteousness dwells”. It is a world where things are as they should be, perfectly in line with God’s will. Most importantly we will be like Christ.

2 Peter 3:8,9 - A thousand years is like a day

3:8

This verse is crucial to understanding God’s workings, or at least to being fully aware of the limitations of our own understanding. The quote itself comes from Psalm 90:4. God is beyond time, He is eternal. He created time, which, as an aside, puts the kibosh on silly debates about the age of the universe, He created the universe and everything in it in no time at all because He also created time. Yet He works within time. There are times when God seems to be take an inordinate length of time to do things, such as the return of Christ. There are times when He seems to act with unbelievable rapidity. So how are we to respond to this? We trust God’s word and make His word the foundation of our lives, not our limited understanding of how things should be done. 

3:9

The Lord has a purpose in mind, and it is a purpose of bringing salvation to people. Judgement will come when judgement must come, but God will give everyone the full opportunity to repent. So it is vital in our understanding of life that we see that leading people to repentance is God’s top priority, for then they can receive forgiveness and new life. People often raise questions about hell and whether it is fair that people are condemned to hell for eternity. We need have no fear. God is completely just and completely merciful. People are given full opportunity to repent.

2 Peter 3:5-7 - Water

3:5

There are various flaws in the argumentation of the sceptics. They assumed that the world has always been the same as it is today, Peter reminds them that the earth has not always been the same, rather it was created by God. The steady-state view of the universe has a very long history, and the big-bang view, which is now prevalent, actually had a hard time taking hold. However, the scientific evidence now points predominantly to the universe having a beginning. A common (but not universal) atheistic view is the materialistic view, ie that what we see is all there is, that material is the only reality. This view too is wrong because the truth is that God has created all things. The emphasis on water is a reference to Gen 1:2. The world was created by God’s word. God’s word is more reliable than the idle musings of men.

3:6

Peter seems to be somewhat obsessed with water, maybe it is because of his time as a fisherman, and the experiences with Jesus involving water. The story of Noah also seems to be particularly important to him, as he referred to Noah in his first letter as well. Judgement came upon the world because of its sin.

3:7

Peter is emphasising the priority of the Word of God. The universe was created by the word of God, and judgement has been executed in the past by the word of God. Jesus has declared that He will return and will return to judge the whole world. So we can be absolutely sure that this will happen. It is the sceptics who are basing their lives on a foundation of sand. Judgement will come, so the wise man ensures that he gets right with God. It is worth noting that all the New Testament writers, and Jesus Himself, placed considerable emphasis on judgement. In the church today we place too little emphasis on this.

A virgin birth - no surprise there then

It is common amongst sceptics to consider the virgin birth as ridiculous and totally impossible. Such thinking misses the point, but we as Christians often miss the point as well. The real miracle of Christmas, the most amazing thing, is that God came to dwell amongst us as a man. God, the creator of the universe came to live with us as a man. Just think about what an amazing and wonderful thing that is. If that is what happened then there is no surprise at the birth being unusual. For this was no normal conception. It seems perfectly natural that no seed of man was involved, in fact it doesn’t even seem necessary for there to have been any human egg cell involved either. It seems to me more likely that the Holy Spirit implanted an embryo whole. However, these last few bits are somewhat speculative. Whatever the means, I find nothing the least bit surprising nor unbelievable about the virgin birth at all. Indeed, anything else would be a surprise. 
But what about God becoming man? Is that surprising? Well again, I would say not really. We were created in His image. We fearfully and wonderfully made, sadly we chose to rebel against God, a rebellion that has been in full swing ever since. Sin utterly corrupted our nature and made us subject to all sorts of things. When we see ourselves or other people we see a person corrupted by sin. Jesus came to save us. Above all else this involved paying the price for our sins upon the cross and being raised from the dead. But it involves many other things as well. When we see Jesus we see what we were meant to be like, we see what a man is like when he lives his life in complete trust, love and obedience to the Father. We see the nature of such a man, and we see the power and authority of such a man. We also see what our destiny is, to be like Jesus (1 John 3:2; Rom 8:17,30). 
If you look at the world’s view of humanity it is a very impoverished view indeed. Some say we are nothing more than the result of random events. Some say we are not really different from animals and of no greater value than animals. Others say we are completely at the mercy of our instincts and desires, unable to exercise self-control. This is the impoverished view of humanity that the world offers, and see the consequences of such views all around us. 
God has a much higher view of humanity. He sees just how wonderful you and I can be. He sees someone who can live a life of perfect love, someone able to exercise authority properly (ie to bring honour to God and to bring good to man). In order for that vision to be realised He had to send His Son to live amongst us, to suffer on our behalf, but then to be raised to new life with all power and authority. In order for us to share in that vision we need to repent, to admit our guilt and our need of a saviour. 
Two thousand years ago that Saviour came to earth, and there is no surprise there either, for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that none should perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). Let the only surprise be in ourselves when we discover what life can really be like, what we can really be like when we humble ourselves and accept the true gift of Christmas. 

 Merry Christmas to you all.

2 Peter 3:3,4 - Scoffers in the last days

3:3

Peter expresses a very important worldview here. “In the last days scoffers will come scoffing ...” There can be an attitude that everyone is nice really and as long as we are nice enough then the world will eventually see the truth of the gospel. This is a profoundly unrealistic and unbiblical view. Related to it is the belief in an end time revival. Now there may be an end time revival, but if there is it will be in the midst of the world’s rejection of the gospel and persecution of the church (the two things can be happening simultaneously). The New Testament consistently teaches that there will be mass rebellion against God in the last days.

3:4

The New Testament talks about the last days as a present reality, that was two thousand years ago. We have been in the last days and are still in the last days. The return of Christ may come within our lifetimes, it may not, but we are already in the last days. The objection that Peter talks about here is one that is around today. If Christ is coming back why hasn’t He done so? He hasn’t come yet, he must not be coming back at all. We should remember that in the gospels Jesus taught that He would come back when no one was expecting Him, and that it would seem to take longer than anyone expected.

2 Peter 3:1,2 - Remembering

3:1

This very strongly implies that this letter was written by Peter and that he is referring to 1 Peter. Those who deny Petrine authorship have to start making things up for which we have no evidence. In fact it is a fairly common feature that sceptics who claim to be rational often make the most irrational claims.

In both letters Peter sought to remind his readers. We need to be reminded of the basic truths of the gospel. The world is lost and constantly bombards us with erroneous or even demonic teachings. It is easy to be taken in by these things, so we need to be reminded of the truth. Notice the importance of the mind. All of the New Testament places a great emphasis on the mind, and Peter did so in his first letter (1 Pet 1:13). What and how we think matters.

3:2

Peter is going to be speaking about the return of Christ, the Day of the Lord. Throughout church history there have been wrong teachings about the return of Christ. It was true then, and it is certainly true today. Peter points them back to the prophets, meaning the Old Testament prophets, Jesus’ own teaching, and this was given to them through the apostles. Any sensible teaching on the return of Christ will be based on the Bible, and not on the idle speculations of men. If some supposed teaching on Revelation is based on “new” findings then the safest course of action is to simply ignore it.

2 Peter 2:20-22 - Once saved always saved?

2:20-22

Peter does not mince his words here, and this verse should be a suitable rejoinder to the “once-saved-always-saved” brigade. We get involved in debates about whether we can be assured of our salvation (answer is yes!) and then silly “once-saved-always-saved” stuff. We approach this as an academic question and so tie ourselves in knots, and resort to saying Peter is talking about those who appear to be saved, but actually they never were. Instead we should take God at His word, and remember that we are not sitting in judgement on the word, but are to let the word govern our lives. We should also note that the Bible does not see things as a problem at all. We can be absolutely assured of our salvation because it is all the work of Christ, and He is completely effective and trustworthy. At the same time the Bible is equally clear that how we live our lives matters, and that going against God’s word is an extremely dangerous and foolish route to take, and is liable to result in judgement.

Peter here says that the people who he is talking about knew at least something of the salvation of Christ. Having done so and then gone directly against it they are now in a worse position than when they started. Indeed their judgement will be more severe because they tasted something of the truth and chose to reject it. We should note that this teaching is entirely consistent with that of Hebrews, and the words of Jesus (Matt 12:43-45). 

Now was the person here saved at all? This is a most irrelevant question. Whatever his state once was or was not, there is one and only one thing he now needs to do, and that is to repent.

What about us, who hopefully are not currently in a state of absolute rebellion, how should we live? We live in the certain knowledge of God’s salvation in Christ. We live knowing that we must persevere and continue to follow Him.

2 Peter 2:18,19 - Empty words

2:18

The false teachers sound confident and seek to project the impression that they know what they are speaking about. The same is true today, false teachers will claim to have superior knowledge and insight. They appeal to the flesh. In some cases this can mean appealing to base sexual desires, ie claiming that something that the Bible explicitly forbids is actually OK. People may just be starting to recognise that their ways are wrong and are starting to turn to God, but some heretical teaching can pull them back into a destructive lifestyle. False teaching is not just wrong, it is dangerous and is harmful to people.

2:19

False teachers often promise freedom, a freedom from what they claim are our misunderstandings, or simplistic understanding, of the past. What they teach will just bring slavery, and the false teachers themselves are enslaved. “For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved”, or as Jesus said, whoever sins is a slave to sin. We are not talking about mere arguments here, the truth matters. Truth will set us free, but falsehood leads to enslavement.

2 Peter 2:15-17 - Springs without water

2:15,16

Peter likens the false teachers to Balaam. We can read about Balaam in Numbers 22-24, and the story is rather off in some ways. He was a man who heard from God, but his motives were at best questionable. His heart seemed to be a mixture. It was motivated by money, getting a reward for what he did, but then he did hear from God and acted upon it. But as the story progresses he becomes increasingly proud. Remember that Jesus said not everyone who prophesies will enter the kingdom of God (Matt 7:21-23). Peter has a very low view of Balaam, referring to his madness. Balaam had to be restrained by a donkey speaking to him. The condition of hearts matters, and is far more important than any cleverness that we might have.

2:17

These people claim to have knowledge, to have something worthwhile, but they are in fact springs without water, they yield nothing good. They are mists driven by a storm. All they do is obscure the truth. They bring darkness and darkness will be their destiny. Yet again we should note the no-nonsense approach taken by the New Testament to false teachers, to day we are far too ready to be gentle with such people.

2 Peter 2:13,14 - Blots and blemishes

2:13

The false teachers here were openly engaging in debauched behaviour. Pagans indulged in similar things, but they did so under the cover of darkness. When people who claim to be God’s people go wrong they tend to be even worse than the world. “While they feast with you”. Some well attested manuscripts have “love feasts”. These people were corrupting what should have been a celebration of what the Lord has done. These people did harm, and they would receive due recompense from the Lord for the harm they have done. The consistent message of the Bible is that evil behaviour will receive its just deserts.

2:14

The phrase translated “eyes full of adultery” is actually “eyes full of an adulteress woman”. Sin defines their life. Lust can take over a person, dominating all their thoughts and imaginations, and then they devote all their physical and mental effort to satisfying that lust. “They seduce the unstable”. Such people are very dangerous, for they will prey on the weak, causing great harm. That is why the church must take firm action. Ultimately they are an “accursed brood”. Literally it is “children of a curse”, they are under God’s curse, which means they will receive God’s judgement for their sin.

2 Peter 2:11,12 Unreasoning animals

2:11

It is very easy to become arrogant and proud. When someone comes to Christ he is filled with the Holy Spirit, things start to change in our lives, our eyes are opened to new things. At this point pride becomes a serious danger, we might start considering ourselves better than we should. Peter reminds his readers that angels, who are more powerful and holier than us, do not heap abuse on demons when bringing judgement upon them. Now what is Peter on about when he talks about angels rebuking other angels? One possibility is that he is referring to the incident in Jude which speaks of Michael rebuking a demon. Or it may be referring to tales from the book of Enoch, or something completely different. Whatever the case, the point is that we are not to be arrogant, and arrogance is a sure sign that someone is not walking in step with the Spirit.

2:12

The arrogant people no doubt considered themselves to rather clever, the reality was that they were fools. Heretics often claim to have special knowledge, or to be more sophisticated than the simple souls who take God at His word. Far from being clever, they are actually ignorant of the truth, behaving like unreasoning animals. Destruction and judgement are their destiny.

2 Peter 2:9,10 - The Lord knows how to rescue

2:9

Notice how the two aspects of God’s actions go together here. He knows how to rescue the godly, and He knows how to judge the unrighteous. All too often we will focus on just one of these aspects, usually the rescuing of the godly. The Bible does not do that. As I have said before, the Bible is the most balanced book in the world, and if you want a balanced view on a matter read the Bible, all of it, not just the bits which back up your view! 

Now when Peter speaks of God rescuing the godly it might seem as if he is implying that we somehow add to our salvation, ie we get saved if we are godly, if we are good enough. However, I think Peter is talking not about eternal salvation and damnation here, but about how we cope in the midst of difficult circumstances. Remember that the Christians then, as at times and places throughout history and still very much today, were liable to face real persecution. They needed to know that God is quite capable of operating in such circumstances. And in such circumstances it is important that we act in a godly manner. If we do so God will either rescue us, or we will suffer for Christ’s sake, and in either case He will bring glory to His name. Today in the West it is increasingly becoming almost a crime, and often a sackable offence, to hold to basic Christian teaching on morality. Too many are reacting by giving in to the world’s dogma. We need to know that it is vital to hold to God’s truth, and that that is by far the best thing to do, and if we do we will find that we are walking in step with the Spirit, and there is nothing more wonderful than that.

2:10

Peter seems to be going back to the false teachers, who were following the corrupt desires of the flesh. We need to recognise that the desires of the flesh, our human nature, are inherently corrupt. Instead, as Paul says in Romans 8, we must live by the Spirit. We let the Spirit guide our thoughts and actions, and then our flesh starts to get transformed. “Despise authority” could refer to despising church authority, human authority, or angels. Where NIV has “celestial beings”, ESV has “glorious ones”, and KJV has “dignities”. So it is difficult to decide exactly what Peter was on about. What is clear is that the people he is speaking about have a “bold and arrogant” attitude and that they live by the flesh. The same applies today to false teachers. They show contempt for the word of God and for God Himself. This will also show itself in having contempt for all authority.

2 Peter 2:7,8 - Lot distressed

2:7,8

In the midst of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah one man was rescued, Lot. There are some problems in this. If we read the account of Lot in Genesis 19 and earlier mentions of him, he does not come over particularly favourably. He chose to live in Sodom, which was not the best thing to do. When the evil men of Sodom wanted to rape the men who came to visit him he offered his daughters instead. Now on this latter point we need to consider the situation a little more deeply. There are two factors to take account of. One is the deeply rooted cultural imperative to protect one's guests. The other is the intensiveness of the situation. There was a baying mob, full of threat and violence, making their demands. This is not a situation where it is easy to make a calm and collected decision, but a situation in which one is more likely to make a rash, desperate decision. However, Lot is certainly no saint! And later on he gets drunk and commits incest.So God saved this reprobate man. It should be noted that extra-Biblical material does refer to Lot as being just (in the book of Wisdom). Peter indicates that there was torment in Lot’s soul at what was going on. Before we are too quick to judge Lot (in the sense of counting ourselves better than him) we should view our own lives. We may be concerned about much that goes on in our society, or even the world, but how much do we do about it? How often are we prepared just to look the other way? One would hope we would not go to the lengths of offering our daughters, but if we are honest we may share many of the faults. Yet God saved such a man. None who are saved are worthy of salvation, we are completely dependent upon the mercy of God.

2 Peter 2:5,6 - Sodom and Gomorrah

2:5

We are on much more solid ground here with Peter speaking about Noah (and in simpler terms than he did in 1 Peter!). Judgement came upon the ancient world because of their sin, and Noah, along with seven others, was protected. There is a very clear lesson to be learnt from Noah. Most of the world was going in the opposite direction to that which God wanted, one man stood out against this. The world suffered judgement, Noah was saved. When the church seems to be at odds with the world we should not worry, and we must definitely not go along with the world. Sadly, so much of the church is acting very foolishly these days, especially in regard to matters of sexual morality.

2:6

Next in line is Sodom and Gomorrah. The phrase used for “burning them to ashes” was used by another writer describing what happened with Vesuvius. Sodom was condemned for her sexual immorality, demonstrating itself in homosexual behaviour, and also for her uncaring affluence. The two often go together and characterise what is happening in the West. People often object to the Old Testament because of its stark examples of judgement. How much better to take the seriousness of the warnings. If a society turns against God, choosing instead unrighteousness, then the end result will be judgement. Judgement is real and only fools try and pretend that it isn’t.

2 Peter 2:3,4 - False teachers condemned

2:3

“In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories”. How true of some prosperity teachers. People using the gospel as a means to enrich themselves is nothing new. It happened two thousand years ago, and it happens now. The worst thing is that it is often the poor whom they exploit. As Peter says here, “their condemnation has long been hanging over them”. They will one day have to give an account to God for their behaviour, and there will be no fooling of Him.

We should note how seriously the New Testament treats false teachers and false teachings. This is an area where most branches of the church have seriously lost their way. There are of course two extremes. There are some operating so-called discernment ministries who seem to delight in finding fault. This is not the way to go, but the church must treat sound doctrine and teaching as a serious matter, and servants of the gospel should be expected to teach accurately.

2:4

We now enter a section which is similar to Jude, and contains one or two that, to us, seem rather odd references. However, the primary emphasis is on judgement on those who defy the Lord and seek to mislead His people. There are so many who seem to think that judgement went out of the window with Jesus. Such people just haven’t got a clue, and have not read the New Testament. The New Testament, including, even especially, the words of Jesus are full of judgement.

The fallen angels may be a reference to Gen 6:1-4. Jude quotes from the Book of Enoch, which rather adds to the Genesis account. It is also possible that Peter is referring to the fallen angels we read of in Revelation. The word used for “hell” is tartarus, and this is its only occurrence in the New Testament. The word was used by the Greeks for a place where evil spirits were sent to be punished. As an aside, this is a warning about being careful in how we interpret the word hell in the Bible. The English word is used in different translations to translate different Greek words. If a preacher starts giving fancy stories on some Biblical reference to hell then check it out very carefully, he may be doing nothing more than putting together some superficially clever ideas which actually have little basis in Scripture.

2 Peter 2:1,2 - False teachers

2:1

Peter has just been speaking about the inspiration of the Old Testament, or the Scriptures as it was to them. But in OT times there were false prophets, so it should be no surprise that there are false teachers now. Examples in the Old Testament include Hananiah (Jer 28) who opposed Jeremiah, and the false prophets around at the time of Micaiah (1 Kings 20). These people introduce “destructive heresies”. Today most churches treat false teachers far too leniently, many even welcoming them. We need to be aware that their teachings are destructive. They are not just “interesting ideas”. They even deny the Lord who bought them. So-called Christians who deny the sovereignty of Christ are perhaps the worst. If Jesus is not Lord what are their grounds for thinking they are saved? Of course, many of them don’t actually see a need to be saved!

2:2

Depraved behaviour follows false teaching. The two may go together right from the outset, or the depraved behaviour may follow on some time after the false teaching. In the present sexual revolution debates, there are some who right from the start just wanted to justify their behaviour, but others who are now supporters of this revolution started by forgetting or denying the authority of Scripture. It is impossible to respect the authority of the Bible and to condone homosexual behaviour as acceptable.

Their behaviour also brings the gospel into disrepute. This is particularly true of proponents of the so-called prosperity gospel.

2 Peter 1:19-21 -Speaking from God

1:19

Having dealt with the personal testimony of the apostles, Peter now turns to the witness of Scripture. ESV describes the prophetic word (referring to the Old Testament) as “more sure”, or in the NIV as “completely reliable”. The Old Testament describes the word of God as a light to our feet. Peter describes the word as a light in a dark place. The world is full of evil, we need to rely upon the word of God if we want our feet to be sure. This is most prominent today in the question of sexual morality and who we are. Those churches that say we should go along with the societies sexual (im)morality are blind guides and only fools follow them.  The word of God is a reliable guide of how we should live. The world tells us that we the product of random chance with no inherent meaning or value. The word tells us that we were created out of love by God, created on purpose and for a purpose. The day dawning and the morning star refer to the return of Christ.

1:20,21

We have here a very strong declaration of the divine inspiration of Scripture. Note that the origin was not the prophet’s own interpretation of things, rather they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. We see here that the divine will and the humanity of the prophets were together, but the Holy Spirit is the origin, He is dominant. We need to pay attention to historical context, social context, the emotional context of a particular section of Scripture, but we must never make these the primary aspect. The dominant aspect of all Scripture is what Is God saying? Scholarship is important and immensely useful, but it must not become an end in its own right. So often scholarship takes its focus off God, if we do this we are blind. “Scripture never had its origin in the human will”. We need to remember this.

2 Peter 1:17,18 - This is my Son

1:17

This and the succeeding verse clearly refer to the transfiguration (Mark 9:1-12). The words quoted here, however, come directly from Jesus baptism (Mark 1:11), though the words in Mark 9:7 are very similar. The important point is that the focus is on Jesus, and Jesus is attested by God the Father. All other ideas and religions are ultimately man’s ideas. In John’s gospel there is great emphasis on the fact that Jesus is the one sent by the Father.

1:18

Peter, James and John were up on the mountain. They saw the transfiguration, and they heard the voice of God. Peter had absolute confidence in the gospel not because of arguments, but because he knew Jesus. If you try and convince me that God does not exist it is like you trying to convince me that my wife does not exist. Maybe you can come up with clever arguments, but they mean absolutely nothing at all because of the reality of my experience.

2 Peter 1:15,16 - Not cleverly devised stories

1:15

Now Peter says he will make every effort to see that after his death (his departure) they will be able to remember the truth. What does he mean by this? It almost certainly refers to Mark’s gospel. It is widely believed that Mark’s gospel was written by Mark acting as Peter’s writer. Ie Peter was the primary source for Mark. This belief is attested to by many of the early church fathers, and there are many features in Mark that are consistent with it being based on Peter’s recollections, such as the reticence to record anything that might glorify Peter. Peter lived for Jesus, we should do likewise. Notice also that Peter’s mind was firmly focused on the future and on the return of Christ, the result of this was for him to work all the harder to serve Christ today.

1:16

There is probably an allusion to the false teachers here. Peter and his co-workers told them the gospel and it was based on what they had actually witnessed. In contrast, the false teachers taught things based on “cleverley devised stories”. There are several things to note here. The gospel is based on truth and fact. A stark difference between the Bible and other “holy” books is that so much of the Bible can be historically attested. There are numerous references to historical, geographical and social features that can be cross-checked. When atheists like Dawkins claim that Christianity is just make-believe they are just demonstrating their own ignorance. Note also that attacks on the Bible try to claim that in effect it is a “cleverly devised story”. 2 Peter is a case in point, with some claiming Peter did not write it.

So what about us? We are not witnesses of the original events, so where do we stand in this? Well there are two things. First, there is the historical support for the reliability of the Bible as a whole, and of the gospels in particular. This matters. Then there is our own direct experience of knowing Christ. We are not pedalling made up stories or ideas, but the truth. We need both the personal experience and the historical evidence. They go together.

2 Peter 1:12-14 - A reminder

1:12

There is a great prize in view, and this is why Peter reminds them of this, and of the way to complete the race. He is not telling them anything new, but reminding them of the foundations that were laid when they first came to know Christ. When they first believed they took possession of a truth, it belongs to them, but it is possible for us to be deceived, or to be tempted away.

1:13,14

Peter knew that his time was short. When he met Jesus on the shore at the end of John’s gospel Jesus told him something of how he would die (John 21:18). As an aside, note this internal corroboration between 2 Peter and John’s gospel. It also probably indicates that John’s gospel was written after the time of Peter’s death. Now imagine how Peter felt and see how he responded. He knew that Jesus had foretold his death and something of the nature of that death. How did Peter respond? He made all the more effort to fulfil the task that Jesus had given to him, to feed the sheep. So there is a determination in Peter to ensure that the sheep know the truth and are kept safe.

The tent analogy (tent of this body) is harking back to the journey through the desert of the Israelites. The journey was not the end, but the process of reaching the Promised Land. This life matters, but it is not the destination.

2 Peter 1:10,11 - A rich welcome

1:10

So we are to make every effort to confirm our calling. We are saved by faith, we are saved by grace. It is all of God and not at all on our own merits. But the New Testament is absolutely clear that that in no way means that we do not make an effort. Here we are commanded to make every effort. There are pointless arguments between some Calvinists and Arminians. It is worth noting that the Bible itself has no problem whatsoever with God having chosen us and our making every effort, so neither should we. Note also the “therefore”. It is because “His divine power has given us everything ..”(v3) that we are to make every effort. God did not create us as automatons, and He did not save us a passive bystanders. He created us and He saved us to be something and to do something. He created and saved us with a purpose. Our lives are real, our decisions, attitudes and actions are real and they matter. So we should get on with it, knowing that we have been chosen by Him and supplied with every need. If we do that then we will never stumble. You can have a pointless argument about life if you wish, or you can live life in the power of the Spirit.

1:11

We will then receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom. False teachers like the Gnostics, and most other groups, play on people’s insecurities. We can be completely secure in Christ. The Bible is clear that we receive much now, but we will receive infinitely more in the future. We have the firstfruits of salvation, but there is much more to come. We should also be looking forward. Notice that it is the “eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”. There are some who argue that claiming that Jesus is God was a much later development. Such people only demonstrate their own blindness. None of the New Testament makes an ounce of sense if Jesus is not God. Also the writings of the early church fathers shows that they clearly thought that Jesus was God and was to be worshipped. So people who say otherwise are simply wrong and foolish.

2 Peter 1:8,9 - Being effective and productive

1:8

The false teachers would claim to be adding something to the faith of their targets. Peter now says that the things he has been talking about are what will truly make us effective and productive. Note that we are to possess them in increasing measure. We hopefully have these virtues to some measure, but we need to have them to an even greater measure. “In your knowledge of Jesus Christ” it almost certainly a counter to the gnostic type teaching. They emphasised knowledge, Peter emphasises Christ. In churches we have a habit of following programmes or systems in an attempt to be more effective and productive. The goal and motivation are laudable, but if they become the basis then we will actually get nowhere. If we want true effectiveness and fruitfulness then we need faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, brotherly kindness and love.

1:9

Jesus said that by their fruit shall you know them (Matt 7:16), and Peter has firm words here for those who do not bear the fruit he has been talking about. The Greek word translated “nearsighted” can also mean to blink or to shut ones eyes. If this meaning is used then it fits better with Peter calling them blind. They have chosen to close their eyes to the truth and so do not see. Such people have forgotten that they have been cleansed or purged of their past sins. Coming to Christ involves repenting and believing. It is coming to Christ to be saved from our sins, or else we are not saved at all. It most definitely is not about getting away with sin!

2 Peter 1:7 - Additives

1:7

“Mutual affection” is actually “brotherly kindness” (KJV) or “brotherly affection” (ESV). True faith and doctrine always result in deep affection and care for fellow Christians. If they don’t then the faith is not genuine and the doctrine is worth nothing. As Paul says in 1 Cor 13:3 if we do not have love then we have nothing. The “love” mentioned here is agape. Brotherly kindness is a mutual affection, a caring for one another. Agape finds its source purely in the originator. So God is love, He chose to love us even though there is absolutely nothing lovable about us, when we were by nature objects of wrath (Eph 2:3). But God is love, so He loved us and sent His only Son to die for us. So when we partake in the divine nature we become more and more Christlike, and we will love others, not out of what is in them, but because the Spirit of God dwells within us. Just as an aside, this talk of one-sided love does not mean that we never recognise anything good or admirable in others. We were all created in the image of God and are all corrupted by sin. So there is good and bad in all, in varying degrees. And in the gospels we read that Jesus recognised good qualities in various people, it is also clear that He enjoyed being with people.

In all the virtues mentioned here there is a progression. We start with faith in Christ. We seek to do good. We seek to understand God and His word. Note that doing good comes first. As actively seek to do God’s word we will more readily understand God’s word. As we do good and know God better we will experience contrary drivers in our life, but we will exercise self-control. Many things will seek to knock us off course, to stop us following Christ and obeying Him. We learn to overcome these things. As we persevere we become more Christlike. So if today we are experiencing pressures or emotions or thoughts that are fighting against our aim to do things God’s way we should take courage, keep going, knowing that exercising self-control will lead to us becoming more Christlike. Then this leads to us having brotherly kindness and love. Note that love is far more than a feeling or a sentiment. It is hard work, it takes discipline and knowledge.