8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
11Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
Dig Deeper
He had messed up in a big way this time and he knew it. The young man had made a poor choice and had disobeyed his parents and now he knew that he was going to face the wrath of their judgment. That might have been bad enough but what made it even worse in his mind was waiting for his punishment. His parents told him that they needed to talk things over and would let him know "later" what his punishment would be. Later? Didn’t they know the mental anguish that he was going to go through having to wait and wonder? His little sister was also waiting. Except she had been the offended party in this whole situation and she couldn’t wait for her parent’s punishment to come down on her older brother. For both of them, the waiting seemed like forever. In fact, the parents were intentionally waiting, giving their son some time to think about what he had done and giving him a little more chance to repent for his behavior. The first day went by with no punishment handed down, and by the afternoon of the next day, the boy’s anguish began to turn to comfort, thinking that perhaps his parents had forgotten and there would be no judgment. At the same time, the little sister became more and more anguish. Where was the rightful and just punishment? Had she been forgotten? Would there no justice? They both underestimated their parents. They had said that there was going to be a reckoning and, in fact, there was. It was just on their own time for their own reasons.
False teachers had developed theories that didn’t at all coincide with the apostolic teachings of the gospel. They were claiming that Christians needn’t worry about God intervening into human affairs through judgment and that there would be no such thing as the return of Christ to inaugurate the age to come. After all, history had been rolling on for thousands of years with no discernible judgment from God. The present age, they claimed, was all there is, all there was, and all there ever would be. Yet, Peter is very clear. Do not mistake the Lord’s patience in brining final judgment to mean that He had forgotten, or that there would be no judgment at all. Like wise parents, God has reasons for delaying His justice. They are His reasons and He will not be rushed. As Peter describes the certainty of that judgment, he does so in terms that are very Jewish and apocalyptic (a very specific type of literature that used very symbolic, colorful, and cosmic language.)
The first thing that Peter reminds his dear readers is that God views time very differently from human beings. If we don’t get the justice we think we deserve in a day or two, we grow impatient. God is outside of time, however, and can see the whole scope of history. He sees the big picture. Think of it like a train. Time is like a train whizzing by. We are inside a tunnel and can only the small portion of the train that is directly in front of the tunnel at the moment. God, though, is on top of the tunnel and can look down and see the entire train of time all at once. Thus, what might seem like an incredibly long time of waiting for us, is nothing for God. He understands, we don’t. In fact, with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. Peter is teaching here about the patience of the Lord in judgment and this verse (which is a quotation from Psalm 90:4) should not be taken out of context and be applied to things like the length of the six days of creation or anything else that is outside of Peter’s point. Peter defends God’s righteousness against human impatience by pointing out that the Lord is not slow in keeping His promises. Rather, His delay in judgment is for the benefit of those very people who would stand in rebellion against God and mock His patience. He wants everyone to come to repentance and will allow just the right amount of time for that to happen for the most people possible.
Peter says that just when people are getting comfortable, thinking that the judgment of God is not coming, it will come like a thief (1 Thess. 5:2)). The day of the Lord, he ways will come quickly, with no warning. Some get confused here thinking that because the day of the Lord was a clear Old Testament concept of the righteous judgment of God being brought to bear in the physical universe that there is one Day of the Lord that must be identified. The fact is that there were many days of the Lord that all point to the ultimate, but clearly not the only, day of the Lord. The destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD was clearly a day of the Lord that fulfilled many aspects of Old Testament prophecy but it was only a pointer. It could not and should not be considered as the final and ultimate day of the Lord, a mistake that those of the full preterist school of biblical interpretation make today. It is quite clear in passages like 1 Corinthians 5:5 and 2 Corinthians 1:14, that the day of the Lord does not refer to the destruction of the Temple, but looks forward to the return of Christ, the end of the present age, and the onset of the age to come.
In fact, Christ will return to judge the entire cosmos, which Peter describes in the inclusive categories of the heavens, the elements, and the earth. His point, using very apocalyptic language, is that the present age will come to an end. The heavens, or the spiritual realm, as a distinct and separate category will disappear. But what about the elements being destroyed by fire? Doesn’t that mean that God is going to destroy the entire earth by fire and usher in a new spiritual age where we all go to the location of heaven forever? Not quite actually. Peter has made clear in his first letter, that the salvation for which we hope is being kept in heaven until the day of it’s coming (1 Peter 1:3-5). That is the day when God’s presence will fill the earth, reuniting the realms of heaven and earth. Much of our understanding of this passage hinges on how we understand "elements" and "laid bare" in verse 10. The term that Peter uses for elements is used in five other biblical passages (Col. 2:8, 20; Gal. 4:3, 9; Heb. 5:12). Although the word can mean the basic elements and atoms that make up the universe, in all of the other biblical passages in which it is used, it refers to the basic principles that the world operates by. As we have already seen in previous passages, God was the consuming fire of the Bible (Deut. 4:24; Isa. 33:14; Heb. 12:29). But what about "laid bare"? Other older versions have this word translated as "burned up," but the TNIV gets closer to the meaning with "laid bare." The way that this word is used commonly in Jewish texts and other first century writings seems to indicate that this is a word that implies judgment and purging. NT Wright says of this passage in "The Resurrection of the Son of God," that "the writer wishes to stress continuity within discontinuity, a continuity in which the new world, and the new people who are to inhabit it, emerge tested, tried and purified from the crucible of suffering." He goes on to say that Peter is not describing the physical destruction of the universe, that the consuming fire of God is "not simply to consume, but also to purge."
Verse 11 becomes clear then, if we recall that Peter has used "destroyed" to denote the revealing judgment of God throughout this passage. He’s certainly not that God will return one day to destroy the physical universe, annihilate it, and begin an age of solely spiritual existence. This, in fact, would encourage the false teachers who were arguing just that point, saying that what was done in the physical realm did not matter. No, says Peter. What we do now, should be done in light of God’s reality in the age to come because everything and everyone will be judged in the presence of God and only the pure will stand up to that fiery judgment. The day of the Lord will bring about the revealing judgment of the heavens by fire, and the principles of the world will melt in the heat (cf. Mal. 3:1-5).
We look forward to the time of the coming of this salvation, when God will renew and restore his creation and put things to right (Matt. 19:28). This will be the time of the new heaven and new earth (Rev. 21:1-5; Rom. 8:18-25). It is the restored universe, the new heaven and earth that is the home of righteousness and the hope of all of those who love God. This is the reality in which Christians should live in light of, anticipating with our actions, realizing that when the consuming fire of the presence of God comes, the heavens, the elements and principles of the world, and the earth will be laid bare in judgment, with only those things in Christ will remain in the age to come (cf. Col. 1:15-20).
Devotional Thought
Take at look at your own life; a good, long, hard look. Will the things with which you have filled your life stand up to the consuming fire and judgment of the presence of God? Peter says that we should live holy and godly lives because of this coming day. How are you doing?
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
2 Peter 3:1-7
1Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
3First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 5But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
Dig Deeper
She had been divorced since her son was two years old. He was now ten and it had been just this newly-single mother and her son living alone for eight years. She had not given a second thought to the prospect of raising her son alone. She was sure that she well knew what was best for her son and how to best raise him. Her philosophy was simple. He was going to know nothing but love, which also meant that she did not want to discipline the young man at all. That seemed to work well enough for the first year or two, but things quickly began to turn sour. She found that her parenting techniques weren’t working and now she had a rude, disrespectful, and increasingly violent young man on her hands. His father, was sure that his wife had no clue how to parent, and he was equally sure that he he did know how to do it well. So, he convinced the boy’s mother to let the boy come and live with him. The father’s approach was almost the exact opposite. The boy didn’t need a bunch of love and affirmation, he needed discipline and to be toughened up. So he set about providing a stern environment that would whip this ten year old boy into shape. The problem is that that extreme didn’t work either. Truth be told, neither of the parents were right. The truth of what was needed didn’t lie in the extremes but somewhere in the middle of the two.
As people have approached this passage in Peter, there are two primary interpretations of this passage and the continuation of it that we will examine tomorrow. One group says that Peter is writing a prophecy of the time when Christ will return and destroy the present earth with fire, taking His people into heaven with him to reign with him in a spiritual state of existence forever. The other interpretation says that that interpretation is completely wrong. Rather, they say, Peter was referring symbolically to the destruction of Jerusalem (which came to pass in 70 AD) that Jesus predicted in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. They argue that rather than being the end of the world, it is simply a symbolic description of the judgment of Jesus that came on Jerusalem in 70 AD and the final end of the Old Covenant. So which one is correct. In the full sense of things, I don’t believe either view is correct completely. The truth lies somewhere in between.
Peter has clearly laid out the character, motivations, and effects of the false teachers, but it wouldn’t be the most effective thing to do that for the entirety of the letter. So, he now turns to teaching some truth to balance the false teachings. He hasn’t clearly delineated the false teachings but he wouldn’t have had to because his initial readers were already familiar with them and subsequent readers don’t really need the details, even if we might like them. What we do need is precisely what Peter has given us, the truth.
Peter points out to his dear friends (literally the "beloved ones," showing that they are children of the beloved one) that this is his second letter to stimulate them to wholesome thinking. Somewhat obscured in the TNIV is that Peter is actually telling them that he is writing to stimulate or kick into gear their "pure minds." He is, in other words, giving them a compliment that basically means he wrote his letters to remind them of how great they are in Christ and to live up to that status. Peter refers to this as his second letter to these recipients, but that does not necessarily mean that the first letter to which he refers is what we know as 1 Peter. For instance Paul apparently wrote at least four letters to the Corinthians but only two were preserved as part of the Bible. One circumstantial piece of evidence that 1 Peter is not the letter to which Peter refers is that he appears to know the recipients of 2 Peter quite well, while that is not the case in 1 Peter. Ultimately, the best that can be said is that we don’t know whether he is referring to the letter that we have in our Bibles or another letter.
To what does he want to stimulate their pure minds? To the great motivating hope of the Christian faith. The time when God would once-and-for-all restore His perfect creation and fill His world with His presence (Matt. 19:28; cf. 1 Cor. 15; Rev. 21). He particularly calls their minds to the fact that this is not some brand new teaching. The prophets in the past spoke often of that day (for one example see Mal. 3:1-5; Isa. 65:17-25; 66), as have the apostles of the New Covenant. What is the command given by our Lord that Peter speaks of? He does not use the plural of the word, so doesn’t appear to be referring to any list of rules. Most likely, Peter refers to the totality of conforming to the life of Christ and being transformed into the image of Christ (Col. 3:10) which is at the very heart of the Christian gospel (cf. Matt. 5:48; Heb. 12:14).
After urging his readers to remember the truth in the first two verses, Peter warns them again of the false teachers, particularly in verses 3 and 4 of those who will scoff at the second coming of Christ. The early church used terminology indicating that the last days was the time beginning at Pentecost, so Peter makes it clear that just because Jesus has come to earth as a man doesn’t mean that scoffing against God’s plan of redemption for the world will end; it will just take a different form. Mockers like these men don’t generally lay out thorough and logical arguments against the truth of God’ reality, as much as they do belittle it and try to make those who believe in it feel stupid or superstitious. Peter probably views these men as particularly dangerous because mockers who come from without pose a certain set of problems, but mockers from within, who claim to hold to the same teachings and faith that the Christian community does, pose a far more dangerous set of problems. Just as a clock that is five minutes off will fool many more people than one that is three hours off, false teachers from within the Christian community that hold to parts of the faith while denying and mocking others, can be especially dangerous and deceiving.
These men were mocking the coming and justice of the Lord by claiming that the world was at it always was and always will be. They were apparently denying the belief that the present age would, at some point, come to a close and be transformed by God into the glorious age to come. This is where the two teachings mentioned earlier miss the point. It’s not that Jesus is coming back some day to destroy the physical universe, replacing it with a spiritual existence. Nor is it true that Peter is referring here to simply the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD. Jesus will return and judge the earth but not by annihilation by fire. He did certainly come in judgment on Israel in 70 AD but that served as vindication of Jesus as the Messiah and a guarantee that he would return one day as the king of His whole creation. The mistake comes in one side going to the extreme of thinking that Jesus’ coming will only be spiritual while the other side goes to the other extreme, claiming it to be only physical. Both are wrong because His return will involve the very act of brining the heavens (the spiritual realm) and the earth together again.
The false teachers were going to the extreme of claiming that God would not return in a physical way. To sum up their beliefs, it seems that they believed that Jesus would rule in a spiritual sense from heaven, would never return physically to earth, and that those in Christ were spiritual beings and did not need to constrain themselves physically and morally. They deliberately forget, says Peter, that long ago God did intervene in the physical universe. Hearkening back to Genesis 1, Peter says that God formed the earth out of water. He also deluged and destroyed the earth by flood in the days of Noah. This makes clear that Peter is using the word translated as "destroyed" here in the sense of judgment, because God clearly did not annihilate the earth in the time of Noah’s flood. He laid it bare in judgment, destroying the evil elements that had been judged by Him to be unacceptable.
Just as God intervened physically in the universe then, so He will again as He has promised. By the same word that created the universe and brought the great flood, so will the present age, both spiritual and physical be brought under judgment. The earth will be filled with fire, which is common biblical language for the presence of God (Deut. 4:24; Ps. 97:7; Heb. 12:29). In 1 Peter 1:4-5, it says that Christians have an "inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." The consuming fire of God will be a refining moment for the people of God but a day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men (Mal. 3:1-5). This is a moment that will lay the entire universe bare in judgment before a holy God, as we will see in the next section.
Devotional Thought
Do you go about your day-to-day decisions with the coming presence and judgment of God in mind? How does remembering that one day the earth will be filled with the consuming presence of God effect the way we go about our lives?
3First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 5But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
Dig Deeper
She had been divorced since her son was two years old. He was now ten and it had been just this newly-single mother and her son living alone for eight years. She had not given a second thought to the prospect of raising her son alone. She was sure that she well knew what was best for her son and how to best raise him. Her philosophy was simple. He was going to know nothing but love, which also meant that she did not want to discipline the young man at all. That seemed to work well enough for the first year or two, but things quickly began to turn sour. She found that her parenting techniques weren’t working and now she had a rude, disrespectful, and increasingly violent young man on her hands. His father, was sure that his wife had no clue how to parent, and he was equally sure that he he did know how to do it well. So, he convinced the boy’s mother to let the boy come and live with him. The father’s approach was almost the exact opposite. The boy didn’t need a bunch of love and affirmation, he needed discipline and to be toughened up. So he set about providing a stern environment that would whip this ten year old boy into shape. The problem is that that extreme didn’t work either. Truth be told, neither of the parents were right. The truth of what was needed didn’t lie in the extremes but somewhere in the middle of the two.
As people have approached this passage in Peter, there are two primary interpretations of this passage and the continuation of it that we will examine tomorrow. One group says that Peter is writing a prophecy of the time when Christ will return and destroy the present earth with fire, taking His people into heaven with him to reign with him in a spiritual state of existence forever. The other interpretation says that that interpretation is completely wrong. Rather, they say, Peter was referring symbolically to the destruction of Jerusalem (which came to pass in 70 AD) that Jesus predicted in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. They argue that rather than being the end of the world, it is simply a symbolic description of the judgment of Jesus that came on Jerusalem in 70 AD and the final end of the Old Covenant. So which one is correct. In the full sense of things, I don’t believe either view is correct completely. The truth lies somewhere in between.
Peter has clearly laid out the character, motivations, and effects of the false teachers, but it wouldn’t be the most effective thing to do that for the entirety of the letter. So, he now turns to teaching some truth to balance the false teachings. He hasn’t clearly delineated the false teachings but he wouldn’t have had to because his initial readers were already familiar with them and subsequent readers don’t really need the details, even if we might like them. What we do need is precisely what Peter has given us, the truth.
Peter points out to his dear friends (literally the "beloved ones," showing that they are children of the beloved one) that this is his second letter to stimulate them to wholesome thinking. Somewhat obscured in the TNIV is that Peter is actually telling them that he is writing to stimulate or kick into gear their "pure minds." He is, in other words, giving them a compliment that basically means he wrote his letters to remind them of how great they are in Christ and to live up to that status. Peter refers to this as his second letter to these recipients, but that does not necessarily mean that the first letter to which he refers is what we know as 1 Peter. For instance Paul apparently wrote at least four letters to the Corinthians but only two were preserved as part of the Bible. One circumstantial piece of evidence that 1 Peter is not the letter to which Peter refers is that he appears to know the recipients of 2 Peter quite well, while that is not the case in 1 Peter. Ultimately, the best that can be said is that we don’t know whether he is referring to the letter that we have in our Bibles or another letter.
To what does he want to stimulate their pure minds? To the great motivating hope of the Christian faith. The time when God would once-and-for-all restore His perfect creation and fill His world with His presence (Matt. 19:28; cf. 1 Cor. 15; Rev. 21). He particularly calls their minds to the fact that this is not some brand new teaching. The prophets in the past spoke often of that day (for one example see Mal. 3:1-5; Isa. 65:17-25; 66), as have the apostles of the New Covenant. What is the command given by our Lord that Peter speaks of? He does not use the plural of the word, so doesn’t appear to be referring to any list of rules. Most likely, Peter refers to the totality of conforming to the life of Christ and being transformed into the image of Christ (Col. 3:10) which is at the very heart of the Christian gospel (cf. Matt. 5:48; Heb. 12:14).
After urging his readers to remember the truth in the first two verses, Peter warns them again of the false teachers, particularly in verses 3 and 4 of those who will scoff at the second coming of Christ. The early church used terminology indicating that the last days was the time beginning at Pentecost, so Peter makes it clear that just because Jesus has come to earth as a man doesn’t mean that scoffing against God’s plan of redemption for the world will end; it will just take a different form. Mockers like these men don’t generally lay out thorough and logical arguments against the truth of God’ reality, as much as they do belittle it and try to make those who believe in it feel stupid or superstitious. Peter probably views these men as particularly dangerous because mockers who come from without pose a certain set of problems, but mockers from within, who claim to hold to the same teachings and faith that the Christian community does, pose a far more dangerous set of problems. Just as a clock that is five minutes off will fool many more people than one that is three hours off, false teachers from within the Christian community that hold to parts of the faith while denying and mocking others, can be especially dangerous and deceiving.
These men were mocking the coming and justice of the Lord by claiming that the world was at it always was and always will be. They were apparently denying the belief that the present age would, at some point, come to a close and be transformed by God into the glorious age to come. This is where the two teachings mentioned earlier miss the point. It’s not that Jesus is coming back some day to destroy the physical universe, replacing it with a spiritual existence. Nor is it true that Peter is referring here to simply the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD. Jesus will return and judge the earth but not by annihilation by fire. He did certainly come in judgment on Israel in 70 AD but that served as vindication of Jesus as the Messiah and a guarantee that he would return one day as the king of His whole creation. The mistake comes in one side going to the extreme of thinking that Jesus’ coming will only be spiritual while the other side goes to the other extreme, claiming it to be only physical. Both are wrong because His return will involve the very act of brining the heavens (the spiritual realm) and the earth together again.
The false teachers were going to the extreme of claiming that God would not return in a physical way. To sum up their beliefs, it seems that they believed that Jesus would rule in a spiritual sense from heaven, would never return physically to earth, and that those in Christ were spiritual beings and did not need to constrain themselves physically and morally. They deliberately forget, says Peter, that long ago God did intervene in the physical universe. Hearkening back to Genesis 1, Peter says that God formed the earth out of water. He also deluged and destroyed the earth by flood in the days of Noah. This makes clear that Peter is using the word translated as "destroyed" here in the sense of judgment, because God clearly did not annihilate the earth in the time of Noah’s flood. He laid it bare in judgment, destroying the evil elements that had been judged by Him to be unacceptable.
Just as God intervened physically in the universe then, so He will again as He has promised. By the same word that created the universe and brought the great flood, so will the present age, both spiritual and physical be brought under judgment. The earth will be filled with fire, which is common biblical language for the presence of God (Deut. 4:24; Ps. 97:7; Heb. 12:29). In 1 Peter 1:4-5, it says that Christians have an "inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." The consuming fire of God will be a refining moment for the people of God but a day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men (Mal. 3:1-5). This is a moment that will lay the entire universe bare in judgment before a holy God, as we will see in the next section.
Devotional Thought
Do you go about your day-to-day decisions with the coming presence and judgment of God in mind? How does remembering that one day the earth will be filled with the consuming presence of God effect the way we go about our lives?
Monday, October 13, 2008
2 Peter 2:17-22
17These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 20If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit,"and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."
Dig Deeper
If you’ve ever used the internet, you’ve probably seen those ads that pop up that inform you that you are the millionth customer on a website or that you have been chosen as a special winner for doing one thing or another. They then inform you that you have won an incredible prize for free. The prizes are usually something pretty incredible too, like a new laptop, a flat screen television, or a vacation of a lifetime. What could be better than winning an incredible prize like that for doing virtually nothing? This is why" free" is one of our favorite words in the English language. Yet, if you look carefully, you will always see a tiny asterisk (*) behind the word free. If you click on it to go claim your ‘free" prize you realize that it was little more than an empty promise. It’s not free at all, despite the promises of being free. In fact, you have to choose from several offers which usually involve having to pick three or four choices from a list of 10 or 15 items. These are things like signing up for subscriptions to a magazine or a paid website. If you do that, you will be taken to another page full of more choices, which are more expensive and involved and find that you have to pick several options from that page. Once you have completed that you will be taken to another page and given 5 or 6 offers, of which you must choose 1 or 2, and the things on this page are usually quite expensive. What you find out is that in order to complete the steps necessary to claim your "free" prize, it winds up costing you about as much as you might have paid for the original prize and obligates you to many other memberships and fees. The promise of a free prize turns out to be quite the opposite.
False teachers are dangerous for two primary reasons. The first is that what they are teaching contains portions of the truth, making it difficult to distinguish it from the genuine truth. The second is that the portion of false teachings that are indeed false, sound so good, promising freedoms and privileges that attract many. Peter’s targets here, no doubt, were impressive teachers who maintained enough of the truth to sound plausible, but Peter is more concerned here with the second aspect of the draw of false teaching. They have made all sort of promises about the freedoms and opportunities available to someone who would embrace their teachings. What Peter is so forceful in point out, however, is that those promises are completely empty. The promise of freedom that they offer turns out to be not just an empty promise, but a trap right back into the slavery of sin that Christians are supposed to have escaped.
Beginning in verse 17, Peter turns from dealing with the character of the false teachers directly to dealing with the impact that their teachings have on others. Peter uses two incredibly colorful and descriptive metaphors to describe the hollow and empty reality of the false teachers. They are, he says, springs without water. Springs were a vitally important thing for a people who lived in and were quite familiar with the desert. A spring could be the only thing that stood between a sojourner and death. So, to come across a what looked like a spring, only to find that there was no water would be devastating. These teachers were like the men of Jeremiah 2:13 who rejected the Lord’s spring of living water to dig their own wells that contained no water. Peter gives another picture of empty promises with the imagery of mist clouds driven by a storm. These clouds though, rather than bringing life-giving water, evaporated and would actually, in that part of the world, be a sign that dry weather was in the offing. Combining these two metaphors gives a clear picture of Peter’s point. These teachers have given the promise of great things but they deliver nothing because their promises are empty.
The fact that they mouth empty, boastful words and appeal to the lustful desires of sinful human nature should serve as a warning that this is not true Christianity. The true calling of the Christian life is to lay down one’s own life and enter into the life of Christ, being fully prepared to go through trials, suffering, and persecution for the benefit of others and to more fully realize the life of Christ in our life. Any teaching then, that is not one-hundred percent consistent with the call to a sacrificial life (Rom. 12:1) is not the real thing. Peter offers further evidence that these teachings are not the real thing. True gospel teaching will find a home in those that are "firmly established in the truth" (2 Pet. 1:12), but these teachings entice people are are just escaping from those who live in error. In other words, they prey on the young and spiritually immature Christians who do not seem to know any better. They turn their heads with their fine-sounding arguments and their empty promises that have no substance. If they were truly offering up truth, then why would it not be accepted by the spiritually mature?
The brand of freedom that they promised (which probably involved both freedom from any real judgment and complete freedom from any real moral constraint) is shown to be what it is by doing nothing more than looking at the lives of the teachers themselves. If they were teaching true freedom then they should demonstrate that freedom. Instead, however, their lives display men who are slaves to their own sin, their own pleasure-focused life, their own lusts, and their constant need for more. A man is a slave to whatever has mastered him, but no Christian should be mastered by anything other than Christ because our life is His.
In verses 20-22 Peter turns to the fate and reality of these false teachers. They had made it. They had entered into the life of Christ and escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Yet, they have turned away from the forgiveness that exists in the life of Christ. Not only have they turned away from and rejected the teaching of the true gospel, they have misled and turned others away as well. The charge against those who would mislead others has always been clear and stiff (Matt. 18:6; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:2). Having known the truth and turned from it leaves them worse off than if they had just never know at all. Peter echoes Jesus’ warning about the state that Israel would be in if she were swept clean by his work but never really embraced it, leaving themselves open to a worse fate than in the beginning (Matt. 12:45; Luke 11:26). He says that it would have been better for not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
Their lives have been reduced, in many respects, to demonstrating the truth of two old proverbs. The dog and the sow might have undergone a purging or cleansing, but this never overrides their true nature. They quickly return to familiar habits; the dog returns to its vomit, while the sow returns to wallowing in the mud. The dog had gotten rid of the food that was making it sick and the sow had gotten rid of the mud, but the dog is lured back by its instinct to eat everything and the sow by its desire for the pleasures of mud. Peter has already called the false teachers beasts (2 Peter 2:12), and here his point is clear that they have returned to the lure of sin even though they had been cleansed by the blood of Christ because they valued their own sensual desires over true freedom. There can, perhaps, be no sadder commentary than that.
Devotional Thought
Are you ever enticed with versions of Christianity that offer only good things and prosperity. They are certainly out there. True Christianity demands dying to self. James says that he will show his faith by what he does (Jam. 2:18) while Paul calls us to be living sacrifices (Rom. 12:2). Could you truly make the statement, "I will show you my faith by my sacrificial life"?
Dig Deeper
If you’ve ever used the internet, you’ve probably seen those ads that pop up that inform you that you are the millionth customer on a website or that you have been chosen as a special winner for doing one thing or another. They then inform you that you have won an incredible prize for free. The prizes are usually something pretty incredible too, like a new laptop, a flat screen television, or a vacation of a lifetime. What could be better than winning an incredible prize like that for doing virtually nothing? This is why" free" is one of our favorite words in the English language. Yet, if you look carefully, you will always see a tiny asterisk (*) behind the word free. If you click on it to go claim your ‘free" prize you realize that it was little more than an empty promise. It’s not free at all, despite the promises of being free. In fact, you have to choose from several offers which usually involve having to pick three or four choices from a list of 10 or 15 items. These are things like signing up for subscriptions to a magazine or a paid website. If you do that, you will be taken to another page full of more choices, which are more expensive and involved and find that you have to pick several options from that page. Once you have completed that you will be taken to another page and given 5 or 6 offers, of which you must choose 1 or 2, and the things on this page are usually quite expensive. What you find out is that in order to complete the steps necessary to claim your "free" prize, it winds up costing you about as much as you might have paid for the original prize and obligates you to many other memberships and fees. The promise of a free prize turns out to be quite the opposite.
False teachers are dangerous for two primary reasons. The first is that what they are teaching contains portions of the truth, making it difficult to distinguish it from the genuine truth. The second is that the portion of false teachings that are indeed false, sound so good, promising freedoms and privileges that attract many. Peter’s targets here, no doubt, were impressive teachers who maintained enough of the truth to sound plausible, but Peter is more concerned here with the second aspect of the draw of false teaching. They have made all sort of promises about the freedoms and opportunities available to someone who would embrace their teachings. What Peter is so forceful in point out, however, is that those promises are completely empty. The promise of freedom that they offer turns out to be not just an empty promise, but a trap right back into the slavery of sin that Christians are supposed to have escaped.
Beginning in verse 17, Peter turns from dealing with the character of the false teachers directly to dealing with the impact that their teachings have on others. Peter uses two incredibly colorful and descriptive metaphors to describe the hollow and empty reality of the false teachers. They are, he says, springs without water. Springs were a vitally important thing for a people who lived in and were quite familiar with the desert. A spring could be the only thing that stood between a sojourner and death. So, to come across a what looked like a spring, only to find that there was no water would be devastating. These teachers were like the men of Jeremiah 2:13 who rejected the Lord’s spring of living water to dig their own wells that contained no water. Peter gives another picture of empty promises with the imagery of mist clouds driven by a storm. These clouds though, rather than bringing life-giving water, evaporated and would actually, in that part of the world, be a sign that dry weather was in the offing. Combining these two metaphors gives a clear picture of Peter’s point. These teachers have given the promise of great things but they deliver nothing because their promises are empty.
The fact that they mouth empty, boastful words and appeal to the lustful desires of sinful human nature should serve as a warning that this is not true Christianity. The true calling of the Christian life is to lay down one’s own life and enter into the life of Christ, being fully prepared to go through trials, suffering, and persecution for the benefit of others and to more fully realize the life of Christ in our life. Any teaching then, that is not one-hundred percent consistent with the call to a sacrificial life (Rom. 12:1) is not the real thing. Peter offers further evidence that these teachings are not the real thing. True gospel teaching will find a home in those that are "firmly established in the truth" (2 Pet. 1:12), but these teachings entice people are are just escaping from those who live in error. In other words, they prey on the young and spiritually immature Christians who do not seem to know any better. They turn their heads with their fine-sounding arguments and their empty promises that have no substance. If they were truly offering up truth, then why would it not be accepted by the spiritually mature?
The brand of freedom that they promised (which probably involved both freedom from any real judgment and complete freedom from any real moral constraint) is shown to be what it is by doing nothing more than looking at the lives of the teachers themselves. If they were teaching true freedom then they should demonstrate that freedom. Instead, however, their lives display men who are slaves to their own sin, their own pleasure-focused life, their own lusts, and their constant need for more. A man is a slave to whatever has mastered him, but no Christian should be mastered by anything other than Christ because our life is His.
In verses 20-22 Peter turns to the fate and reality of these false teachers. They had made it. They had entered into the life of Christ and escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Yet, they have turned away from the forgiveness that exists in the life of Christ. Not only have they turned away from and rejected the teaching of the true gospel, they have misled and turned others away as well. The charge against those who would mislead others has always been clear and stiff (Matt. 18:6; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:2). Having known the truth and turned from it leaves them worse off than if they had just never know at all. Peter echoes Jesus’ warning about the state that Israel would be in if she were swept clean by his work but never really embraced it, leaving themselves open to a worse fate than in the beginning (Matt. 12:45; Luke 11:26). He says that it would have been better for not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
Their lives have been reduced, in many respects, to demonstrating the truth of two old proverbs. The dog and the sow might have undergone a purging or cleansing, but this never overrides their true nature. They quickly return to familiar habits; the dog returns to its vomit, while the sow returns to wallowing in the mud. The dog had gotten rid of the food that was making it sick and the sow had gotten rid of the mud, but the dog is lured back by its instinct to eat everything and the sow by its desire for the pleasures of mud. Peter has already called the false teachers beasts (2 Peter 2:12), and here his point is clear that they have returned to the lure of sin even though they had been cleansed by the blood of Christ because they valued their own sensual desires over true freedom. There can, perhaps, be no sadder commentary than that.
Devotional Thought
Are you ever enticed with versions of Christianity that offer only good things and prosperity. They are certainly out there. True Christianity demands dying to self. James says that he will show his faith by what he does (Jam. 2:18) while Paul calls us to be living sacrifices (Rom. 12:2). Could you truly make the statement, "I will show you my faith by my sacrificial life"?
Friday, October 10, 2008
2 Peter 2:11-16
Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings; 11yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord. 12But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. 14With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—a beast without speech—who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
Dig Deeper
Robert E. Lee was a rising star as a Colonel in the Army of the Unites States of America in the late 1850’s. He was well respected, had a great reputation, and everyone believed it was just a matter of time before he moved up to the highest levels and ranks of the US Army. Yet, Lee was a Virginian and when Virginia attempted to secede from the Union at the outset of the Civil War, the army felt that they had to move fast. The one thing they knew was that they did not want a talented man like Lee going with Virginia and leading an army, at any level or rank, against the Union army of the United States. So they offered Lee a unprecedented honor. They offered him a generalship, and to be the commander-in-chief of the entire Union army. Lee eventually turned down the honor and decided to side to with his native Virginia, standing in rebellion against the United States. In the eyes of the Northern supporters (granted this analogy would be quite a different one from the Southern point of view), Lee had been given a tremendous opportunity to serve his country but had instead squandered it so as to put his own personal interests first.
There is nothing worse than someone who has been given great opportunity to serve others in an honorable way only to waste it for their own personal choices or desires. In Lee’s case, the situation was not at all clear cut in his mind as to who was right and who was wrong, and to whom he should be loyal. In Peter’s eyes, however, when it comes to the false teachers that he is confronting, the issue was quite clear. They had, at one level or another, the opportunity to serve God and his people in the kingdom of God, but had thrown that all way. They decided, instead to revel in their own arrogance and serve themselves. Rather than serving the people in the kingdom of God, they set about to use them, deceive them, and do a great deal of damage by leading them astray.
Peter launches a direct attack against the character of the false teachers, using harsh and direct language that leaves no question as to where he stands in relation to these men. This stands in stark contrast to the mind set of our culture today which constantly tries to make irrelevant matters of an individual’s character, especially in the world of leadership and politics. Yet, Peter understands something that should be instructive to us. The character of a person matters. We can never know what an individual might do in any given situation in the future despite what they might say, but we do know that character directs actions. If you know a person’s character, you know what kind of actions he or she will take and whether you can trust them or not. Peter knows exactly what sorts of actions these men will take because they are bold and arrogant. They will act recklessly and will not be slowed by any appeal to truth, logic, decency, responsibility, or loyalty to God or His people.
As evidence of their brazen self-centeredness, these men show no respect for celestial beings. At first glance this might not seem like much of argument. Wouldn’t it be better to demonstrate that they don’t show respect for Christ or His people, someone that everyone would agree should not be slandered? Why would Peter pick this as an argument? Because you can often tell the most about someone by the respect they show towards the lowest beings, those that would be least worthy of respect in anyone’s eyes. No beings were more reviled in Peter’s day than the fallen angels who had rebelled against God. Yet, says Peter relying on Jewish traditional sources such as Enoch 1 and The Assumption of Moses, even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful (he doesn’t specify whether they are more powerful than humans or fallen angels or both), do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord. We don’t know exactly how they slandered spiritual beings, but it likely had to do with denying that they existed or mocking that their sins might put them at the mercy or in the realm of such entities. So, in their slander of these beings, they were really slandering God as well.
Slandering is never a good thing for true people of God, even against the unrighteous, but these men pushed it one step further by speaking falsehoods in matters they did not understand. They are like beasts, a common biblical symbol for one in opposition or rebellion against God. They don’t understand because they are willfully ignorant of God’s truth and, as Paul says in Romans 1:21, "their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles." Whereas in Paul’s example humans exchange the truth of God for beasts, these men have so rejected God and are so self-focused that they have become the beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and taken to slaughter. And like those beasts, their only fate is to perish.
Those who seek after their own interests to the harm of others will reap what they have sowed in the form of their own harm. They are so depraved that their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. This has long been a charge against the evil, as in passages such as Isaiah 5:11 which says, "Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine." They are blots and blemishes, the exact opposite of what Peter calls Christians to be in 3:14, "make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him." They revel in their own pleasures while they went on feasting with the true believers. Christians have always been called to put the interests of others ahead of their own (Phil. 2:4, cf. 1 Pet. 2-3) and they were clearly not doing that. It’s not just that they have reveled in their own pleasures, but they do it while brazenly sitting at the love feast and Lord’s Suppers with other believers, making a mockery of them (cf. 1 Cor. 11:20).
Rather than having eyes that are fixed on Jesus (Heb. 12:2) they have eyes full of adultery, which literally reads, "having eyes full of adulterous women." They are creatures of lust in every area of their lives. Whether it be for women, money, or pleasure, they never stop sinning. They seduce (a word used for bait in hunting) the unstable. Peter has already declared that true believers are people who should be "firmly established in the truth" (2 Pet. 1:12), but they go after those who are unstable precisely because they have failed to ground themselves, or have not yet had sufficient time to ground themselves in the timeless truths of the Christian faith. Knowing biblical truth is not a luxury but a necessary preventative against false teaching. They are not just greedy, charges the venerable apostle, they are experts in greed. Peter’s phrase in the Greek would literally read that they have hearts that have been "trained in greed." His point is that they are devoted and consistent and worked at nurturing their greed for a long time. Peter says that they are an accursed brood, which literally means "sons of curse." It was common biblical language to refer to someone as a son of something that was the primary quality of their character (John 17:12; Eph. 2:3; 1 Thess. 5:5).
As a way of really driving his point home, Peter says that they have left the straight way of the true Christian faith and have wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor. Why the comparison with Balaam? Balaam was a much reviled character in the Old Testament who tried to entice the people of Israel away from God and into immorality (Num. 25:1-9; 31:16; Rev. 2:14). Balaam was a common example as one who put his own personal honor and material gain over the interests of God’s people. He, like the false teachers had an incredible opportunity to serve God and His people, but instead squandered it by putting his own sensual desires first. Balaam was not rooted in the truth to the degree that he had to be rebuked and have his madness in rebelling towards restrained God by a donkey, a beast. These men have demonstrated that they are even worse than Balaam because they, rather than being rebuked by a beast, they have become beasts.
Devotional Thought
Peter wasted no time and minces no words in facing the threat of false teachers to the Christian community. Are you as committed to the truth and to the community of God? Would you be prepared to stand up against false ideas in your community with the same strength and conviction that Peter did?
13They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. 14With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—a beast without speech—who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
Dig Deeper
Robert E. Lee was a rising star as a Colonel in the Army of the Unites States of America in the late 1850’s. He was well respected, had a great reputation, and everyone believed it was just a matter of time before he moved up to the highest levels and ranks of the US Army. Yet, Lee was a Virginian and when Virginia attempted to secede from the Union at the outset of the Civil War, the army felt that they had to move fast. The one thing they knew was that they did not want a talented man like Lee going with Virginia and leading an army, at any level or rank, against the Union army of the United States. So they offered Lee a unprecedented honor. They offered him a generalship, and to be the commander-in-chief of the entire Union army. Lee eventually turned down the honor and decided to side to with his native Virginia, standing in rebellion against the United States. In the eyes of the Northern supporters (granted this analogy would be quite a different one from the Southern point of view), Lee had been given a tremendous opportunity to serve his country but had instead squandered it so as to put his own personal interests first.
There is nothing worse than someone who has been given great opportunity to serve others in an honorable way only to waste it for their own personal choices or desires. In Lee’s case, the situation was not at all clear cut in his mind as to who was right and who was wrong, and to whom he should be loyal. In Peter’s eyes, however, when it comes to the false teachers that he is confronting, the issue was quite clear. They had, at one level or another, the opportunity to serve God and his people in the kingdom of God, but had thrown that all way. They decided, instead to revel in their own arrogance and serve themselves. Rather than serving the people in the kingdom of God, they set about to use them, deceive them, and do a great deal of damage by leading them astray.
Peter launches a direct attack against the character of the false teachers, using harsh and direct language that leaves no question as to where he stands in relation to these men. This stands in stark contrast to the mind set of our culture today which constantly tries to make irrelevant matters of an individual’s character, especially in the world of leadership and politics. Yet, Peter understands something that should be instructive to us. The character of a person matters. We can never know what an individual might do in any given situation in the future despite what they might say, but we do know that character directs actions. If you know a person’s character, you know what kind of actions he or she will take and whether you can trust them or not. Peter knows exactly what sorts of actions these men will take because they are bold and arrogant. They will act recklessly and will not be slowed by any appeal to truth, logic, decency, responsibility, or loyalty to God or His people.
As evidence of their brazen self-centeredness, these men show no respect for celestial beings. At first glance this might not seem like much of argument. Wouldn’t it be better to demonstrate that they don’t show respect for Christ or His people, someone that everyone would agree should not be slandered? Why would Peter pick this as an argument? Because you can often tell the most about someone by the respect they show towards the lowest beings, those that would be least worthy of respect in anyone’s eyes. No beings were more reviled in Peter’s day than the fallen angels who had rebelled against God. Yet, says Peter relying on Jewish traditional sources such as Enoch 1 and The Assumption of Moses, even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful (he doesn’t specify whether they are more powerful than humans or fallen angels or both), do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord. We don’t know exactly how they slandered spiritual beings, but it likely had to do with denying that they existed or mocking that their sins might put them at the mercy or in the realm of such entities. So, in their slander of these beings, they were really slandering God as well.
Slandering is never a good thing for true people of God, even against the unrighteous, but these men pushed it one step further by speaking falsehoods in matters they did not understand. They are like beasts, a common biblical symbol for one in opposition or rebellion against God. They don’t understand because they are willfully ignorant of God’s truth and, as Paul says in Romans 1:21, "their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles." Whereas in Paul’s example humans exchange the truth of God for beasts, these men have so rejected God and are so self-focused that they have become the beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and taken to slaughter. And like those beasts, their only fate is to perish.
Those who seek after their own interests to the harm of others will reap what they have sowed in the form of their own harm. They are so depraved that their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. This has long been a charge against the evil, as in passages such as Isaiah 5:11 which says, "Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine." They are blots and blemishes, the exact opposite of what Peter calls Christians to be in 3:14, "make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him." They revel in their own pleasures while they went on feasting with the true believers. Christians have always been called to put the interests of others ahead of their own (Phil. 2:4, cf. 1 Pet. 2-3) and they were clearly not doing that. It’s not just that they have reveled in their own pleasures, but they do it while brazenly sitting at the love feast and Lord’s Suppers with other believers, making a mockery of them (cf. 1 Cor. 11:20).
Rather than having eyes that are fixed on Jesus (Heb. 12:2) they have eyes full of adultery, which literally reads, "having eyes full of adulterous women." They are creatures of lust in every area of their lives. Whether it be for women, money, or pleasure, they never stop sinning. They seduce (a word used for bait in hunting) the unstable. Peter has already declared that true believers are people who should be "firmly established in the truth" (2 Pet. 1:12), but they go after those who are unstable precisely because they have failed to ground themselves, or have not yet had sufficient time to ground themselves in the timeless truths of the Christian faith. Knowing biblical truth is not a luxury but a necessary preventative against false teaching. They are not just greedy, charges the venerable apostle, they are experts in greed. Peter’s phrase in the Greek would literally read that they have hearts that have been "trained in greed." His point is that they are devoted and consistent and worked at nurturing their greed for a long time. Peter says that they are an accursed brood, which literally means "sons of curse." It was common biblical language to refer to someone as a son of something that was the primary quality of their character (John 17:12; Eph. 2:3; 1 Thess. 5:5).
As a way of really driving his point home, Peter says that they have left the straight way of the true Christian faith and have wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor. Why the comparison with Balaam? Balaam was a much reviled character in the Old Testament who tried to entice the people of Israel away from God and into immorality (Num. 25:1-9; 31:16; Rev. 2:14). Balaam was a common example as one who put his own personal honor and material gain over the interests of God’s people. He, like the false teachers had an incredible opportunity to serve God and His people, but instead squandered it by putting his own sensual desires first. Balaam was not rooted in the truth to the degree that he had to be rebuked and have his madness in rebelling towards restrained God by a donkey, a beast. These men have demonstrated that they are even worse than Balaam because they, rather than being rebuked by a beast, they have become beasts.
Devotional Thought
Peter wasted no time and minces no words in facing the threat of false teachers to the Christian community. Are you as committed to the truth and to the community of God? Would you be prepared to stand up against false ideas in your community with the same strength and conviction that Peter did?
Thursday, October 09, 2008
2 Peter 2:1-10
False Teachers and Their Destruction
1But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. 10This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority.
Dig Deeper
No one thought he would actually go that extreme. We had arrogantly gone through the class, doing what we wanted, not thinking that our professor would actually judge and discipline anyone. We had a huge assignment in, of all classes, an undergraduate class called Introduction to the New Testament. I had actually completed the assignment but hardly anyone else in the class had. Without thinking much of it and certainly not fearing my professor at all, even though he had warned us many times against cheating, I allowed a couple of friends of mine to copy the long workbook assignment. What I didn’t know, however, is that they then went and allowed several other people to copy the work, who then went and allowed many more to do so. In the end, about twenty people in a class of twenty-five or thirty had copied what was originally my work. The first two friends of mine that I had actually allowed to copy the work were the only two that were smart enough to put the answers in their own words, though, everyone else had copied the work word-for-word, and the professor easily spotted it. Suddenly we found out that the teacher was more than willing to bring quick judgment down on those who had cheated. He gave everyone a zero on this major assignment and dropped everyone involved’s grade down a full letter for the class. This included me because he had no way of telling who did the original work. I didn’t fight it because I knew that, even though I had done the work, I had allowed the cheating.
What surprised me, though, was two years later, when I heard some freshmen talking about their Introduction to the New Testament class. One of them mentioned that he hadn’t finished a big assignment and said that they should find someone who had finished to copy the rest of the answers. The other student said there was no way he would do that because he had heard that some students had done that a few years before and had all been punished swiftly. I don’t think at the time I appreciated the fact that our failings and subsequent punishment had served as proof of the professor’s willingness to punish wrongdoers and serve as a deterrent, but I can appreciate it now. When you look and realize that someone is perfectly capable of judging and punishing wrongdoers it really does make you take pause and think twice about doing something like that again. It also provides you a sense of security in knowing that if you continue to do right and others do wrong, they will receive the justice that they deserve.
God has used prophets and teachers throughout the history of His people, but that has always called for discernment, because just as there have always been genuine prophets there have also always been false prophets. Peter paints a broad picture of the false teachers, without getting too specific here, but he is careful to call them false teachers rather than false prophets. There be no significance to that change in language but it might indicate that these false teachers were impugning prophecy altogether and claiming no prophetic ministry for themselves in their denunciation of the second coming of Christ and the reality of the age to come and their call to live a libertine lifestyle.
Peter lists several aspects of these false teachers that can be briefly examined. First, They are secretive and devious, trying infiltrate the Christian communities under the cover of darkness rather than carrying out their business in the light. This should serve as a first warning of the nature of their teaching. Second, they will actually deny the sovereign Lord who bought them at a steep price. Peter is certainly sensitive to this charge having experienced denying Christ himself for a brief time. The form of their denial likely involved both their false teachings and the practices of living however they wanted because they taught that Christ was not going to return in judgment. Third, the result of their teaching is the destruction of judgment that they bring on themselves (Peter will demonstrate in chs. 2 and 3 that he uses the word destruction to denote judgment rather than annihilation of some sort). Fourth, people should not be surprised that many will follow their shameful ways. False teachings are often popular because they appeal to human’s base nature. Fifth, their actions cannot be simply ignored because they will bring the way of truth a bad reputation. We can all probably think of the difficulties that have been caused by false teachings as we try to present the truth of the gospel. False versions of Christianity don’t just lead others away from the truth, they become identified with Christianity by non-Christians and give the truth a bad name. Sixth, their motivation is simply greed, although Peter doesn’t elaborate on whether it is material greed, greed for attention and status, both, or something altogether different. Whatever it is, they stand guilty of going after selfish gain at the expense of others, an act that is quite contrary to the Christian ethic of putting the interests of others ahead of their own. Finally, their method is to exploit Christians with stories the have made up, in contrast to the true apostles who do not teach "cleverly invented stories."
How can Peter be so sure that their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping? Because God has a long history of properly brining justice and judgment to the unrighteous and delivering the unrighteous. Sometimes it happens on a timetable that we might not hope for, but it happens nonetheless. It would be easy to view this section as little more than a threat on the part of Peter, but it is much more than that. The false teachers have denied that God will bring ultimate judgment, and so, believers can rest assured that they can use their freedom and forgiveness in Christ to live however they might like. To this heresy, Peter offers up three example of God bringing justice to evildoers, justice that foreshadowed and points to the ultimate judgment that will come when Christ returns. The very thing they were denying is precisely what they should fear and are very much in danger of.
The first example comes from Genesis 6:1-4, with Peter also apparently taking information from the ancient Jewish book of Enoch 1 as a reliable source (it seems unlikely that Peter would view the information from Enoch as mythological and put it right beside his other two examples with no differentiation between them). The angels who left their God-given domain and had offspring with human women were punished by being held in Tartarus, a specific word that Peter borrows from Greek mythology to distinguish from other "areas" of hell. He did not spare the angels involved in that situation, nor did He withhold judgment on the ancient world of the same time. He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others. Peter denotes the small number of those saved through the flood as he does in 1 Peter 3, perhaps to stress that often times unrighteousness and false teaching become quite popular and the righteous may well find themselves in the minority. In the same way, He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire, making them an example (Peter uses a word that actually means "pattern," showing that there is a pattern of unrepentant sin that will lead to judgment) of what is going to happen to the ungodly. Yet he rescued Lot, a righteous man (righteous here means basically that he never lost his basic loyalty to the Lord). Peter says that Lot was distressed and tormented by what he saw and heard, using grammar that implies in the Greek that Lot brought that torment on himself by his own choices. This might imply that if the community of believers reaches the level of being tormented by the false teaching at hand, it is because they have allowed it to get to that point.
If all of this is so, says Peter in verse 9, then it should be quite clear that the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment. Peter invites his readers into the category of godly men and assures them that God will rescue them from whatever trials they may face, all the while holding the unrepentant for the day of judgment. Peter says, curiously at the same time they are continuing their punishment in the present. What he most likely means is that false teachers like these men are actually being punished in the present, whether they realize it or not, by missing out on the life of Christ, the true destiny and purpose of human beings. These men who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and continue to rebel against and despise the authority of God will certainly face the same judgment that God has shown throughout history He is quite capable of enacting.
Devotional Thought
There are false teachings all around us just waiting for us to let down our guard. One thing that most of them share in common is that they sound good. Do you know the word of God well enough to spot a destructive heresy as soon as you hear it? Do you hold tightly to the truth and realize that part of doing so means knowing the truth well enough to spot false teaching?
1But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. 10This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority.
Dig Deeper
No one thought he would actually go that extreme. We had arrogantly gone through the class, doing what we wanted, not thinking that our professor would actually judge and discipline anyone. We had a huge assignment in, of all classes, an undergraduate class called Introduction to the New Testament. I had actually completed the assignment but hardly anyone else in the class had. Without thinking much of it and certainly not fearing my professor at all, even though he had warned us many times against cheating, I allowed a couple of friends of mine to copy the long workbook assignment. What I didn’t know, however, is that they then went and allowed several other people to copy the work, who then went and allowed many more to do so. In the end, about twenty people in a class of twenty-five or thirty had copied what was originally my work. The first two friends of mine that I had actually allowed to copy the work were the only two that were smart enough to put the answers in their own words, though, everyone else had copied the work word-for-word, and the professor easily spotted it. Suddenly we found out that the teacher was more than willing to bring quick judgment down on those who had cheated. He gave everyone a zero on this major assignment and dropped everyone involved’s grade down a full letter for the class. This included me because he had no way of telling who did the original work. I didn’t fight it because I knew that, even though I had done the work, I had allowed the cheating.
What surprised me, though, was two years later, when I heard some freshmen talking about their Introduction to the New Testament class. One of them mentioned that he hadn’t finished a big assignment and said that they should find someone who had finished to copy the rest of the answers. The other student said there was no way he would do that because he had heard that some students had done that a few years before and had all been punished swiftly. I don’t think at the time I appreciated the fact that our failings and subsequent punishment had served as proof of the professor’s willingness to punish wrongdoers and serve as a deterrent, but I can appreciate it now. When you look and realize that someone is perfectly capable of judging and punishing wrongdoers it really does make you take pause and think twice about doing something like that again. It also provides you a sense of security in knowing that if you continue to do right and others do wrong, they will receive the justice that they deserve.
God has used prophets and teachers throughout the history of His people, but that has always called for discernment, because just as there have always been genuine prophets there have also always been false prophets. Peter paints a broad picture of the false teachers, without getting too specific here, but he is careful to call them false teachers rather than false prophets. There be no significance to that change in language but it might indicate that these false teachers were impugning prophecy altogether and claiming no prophetic ministry for themselves in their denunciation of the second coming of Christ and the reality of the age to come and their call to live a libertine lifestyle.
Peter lists several aspects of these false teachers that can be briefly examined. First, They are secretive and devious, trying infiltrate the Christian communities under the cover of darkness rather than carrying out their business in the light. This should serve as a first warning of the nature of their teaching. Second, they will actually deny the sovereign Lord who bought them at a steep price. Peter is certainly sensitive to this charge having experienced denying Christ himself for a brief time. The form of their denial likely involved both their false teachings and the practices of living however they wanted because they taught that Christ was not going to return in judgment. Third, the result of their teaching is the destruction of judgment that they bring on themselves (Peter will demonstrate in chs. 2 and 3 that he uses the word destruction to denote judgment rather than annihilation of some sort). Fourth, people should not be surprised that many will follow their shameful ways. False teachings are often popular because they appeal to human’s base nature. Fifth, their actions cannot be simply ignored because they will bring the way of truth a bad reputation. We can all probably think of the difficulties that have been caused by false teachings as we try to present the truth of the gospel. False versions of Christianity don’t just lead others away from the truth, they become identified with Christianity by non-Christians and give the truth a bad name. Sixth, their motivation is simply greed, although Peter doesn’t elaborate on whether it is material greed, greed for attention and status, both, or something altogether different. Whatever it is, they stand guilty of going after selfish gain at the expense of others, an act that is quite contrary to the Christian ethic of putting the interests of others ahead of their own. Finally, their method is to exploit Christians with stories the have made up, in contrast to the true apostles who do not teach "cleverly invented stories."
How can Peter be so sure that their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping? Because God has a long history of properly brining justice and judgment to the unrighteous and delivering the unrighteous. Sometimes it happens on a timetable that we might not hope for, but it happens nonetheless. It would be easy to view this section as little more than a threat on the part of Peter, but it is much more than that. The false teachers have denied that God will bring ultimate judgment, and so, believers can rest assured that they can use their freedom and forgiveness in Christ to live however they might like. To this heresy, Peter offers up three example of God bringing justice to evildoers, justice that foreshadowed and points to the ultimate judgment that will come when Christ returns. The very thing they were denying is precisely what they should fear and are very much in danger of.
The first example comes from Genesis 6:1-4, with Peter also apparently taking information from the ancient Jewish book of Enoch 1 as a reliable source (it seems unlikely that Peter would view the information from Enoch as mythological and put it right beside his other two examples with no differentiation between them). The angels who left their God-given domain and had offspring with human women were punished by being held in Tartarus, a specific word that Peter borrows from Greek mythology to distinguish from other "areas" of hell. He did not spare the angels involved in that situation, nor did He withhold judgment on the ancient world of the same time. He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others. Peter denotes the small number of those saved through the flood as he does in 1 Peter 3, perhaps to stress that often times unrighteousness and false teaching become quite popular and the righteous may well find themselves in the minority. In the same way, He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire, making them an example (Peter uses a word that actually means "pattern," showing that there is a pattern of unrepentant sin that will lead to judgment) of what is going to happen to the ungodly. Yet he rescued Lot, a righteous man (righteous here means basically that he never lost his basic loyalty to the Lord). Peter says that Lot was distressed and tormented by what he saw and heard, using grammar that implies in the Greek that Lot brought that torment on himself by his own choices. This might imply that if the community of believers reaches the level of being tormented by the false teaching at hand, it is because they have allowed it to get to that point.
If all of this is so, says Peter in verse 9, then it should be quite clear that the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment. Peter invites his readers into the category of godly men and assures them that God will rescue them from whatever trials they may face, all the while holding the unrepentant for the day of judgment. Peter says, curiously at the same time they are continuing their punishment in the present. What he most likely means is that false teachers like these men are actually being punished in the present, whether they realize it or not, by missing out on the life of Christ, the true destiny and purpose of human beings. These men who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and continue to rebel against and despise the authority of God will certainly face the same judgment that God has shown throughout history He is quite capable of enacting.
Devotional Thought
There are false teachings all around us just waiting for us to let down our guard. One thing that most of them share in common is that they sound good. Do you know the word of God well enough to spot a destructive heresy as soon as you hear it? Do you hold tightly to the truth and realize that part of doing so means knowing the truth well enough to spot false teaching?
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
2 Peter 1:16-21
16We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." 18We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
19And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Dig Deeper
"No, I'm serious. He really is a nice guy." Yet she still didn't seem convinced. A friend of mine was asking me about who she should vote for in the upcoming elections for senator and she mentioned that one of the candidates seemed a little aloof to her. I couldn't tell her how to vote but I could tell her that he wasn't that way at all. In fact, I thought he was a very nice and thoughtful individual. She wasn't convinced, though despite my words and wanted to know why I was so sure about this guy anyway. Then I told her what I probably should have started the conversation with. I knew him. I had coached against the man several times in various summer basketball tournaments years before, although he was quite a bit older than I was. I had witnessed this guy do an incredibly thoughtful and kind act that no one else knew about, so he wasn't doing it for attention. In fact this was several years before he ran for office. His team had just upset mine in a major tournament, mostly due to the fact that he had out-coached me. My young players walked dejectedly to the locker room and were quite distraught once they were in there. This man walked by our locker room and heard their angst. He came all on his own and offered my players some incredibly encouraging words that lifted their spirits a bit and got them ready for the remainder of the tournament. He didn't have to do that, but he did. It was a genuine act of kindness that demonstrated the true character of the man. Suddenly my friend took my opinion far more seriously. Why? For the simple reason that I was an eyewitness. I wasn't just speculating or passing along hearsay. I knew what I was talking about.
Peter is calling the Christian community to follow straight down the path of the example and life of Christ to which we have all been called. Peter, being quite a bit smarter than I was that day, however, lays out an important fact right here near the beginning. He isn't just passing along made-up stories or clever hearsay. No, what he is calling them to is something that he witnessed. If he is calling people to lay down their entire lives and live the life that Christ has called Christians to live, Peter knows that people aren't going to rely on myths or made-up stories. They want to hear from reliable eyewitnesses, people who were there and can verify that what they are relaying is true and accurate, people who know what they are talking about. Nobody fits that bill better than Peter does. He was there and eyewitness testimony always gives more credence to an account.
Peter now sets his sights on the false teachers to whom his attention will turn for the rest of this letter. He begins here by setting up clear distinctions between true apostles that can be trusted and the false teachers who would attempt to lead believers astray. First of all, says Peter, true teachers of the word do not follow cleverly invented stories when they told the saints about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. No, they weren't making up complex theories that attracted followers for the sake of building up their own little groups of followers. They were eyewitnesses of the majesty of Christ, and now served as heralds of His glory and His kingdom.
It appears, although we can't know all the details, that the heart of the false teaching that Peter is taking on in this letter centered around the second coming of Christ. They were apparently teaching that the final form of the Kingdom had already arrived (cf. 1 Cor. 4:8) and even that the hope of resurrection had already taken place (as in 2 Tim. 2:18). This is a situation that is mirrored today in the teachings of those who hold to the full preterist position (although the preterists also have many differences with the teachers Peter is confronting). Full preterists rightly understand that much of the prophecies of Jesus found in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, as well as much of Revelation, have more to do with the destruction of the Temple that took place in 70 AD than in the "end of the world." They go beyond that, sadly, and teach that Christ will not return to judge the earth, enact the resurrection, inaugurate the age to come, and fill the earth with the very presence of God, joining heaven and earth together as they were made to be. In short, they say that there is no second coming. This position in our day, as in Peter's, robs Christianity of the great Christian hope and Peter knew the danger of that. He will destroy the foundations of this false reaching with two primary reasons that believers can be sure that Christ will indeed return to restore all things (Matt. 19:28). The first is the eyewitness testimony of those who saw the transfiguration, and the second is the fact that the prophecies of Scripture are reliable and back up what Peter saw at the transfiguration.
Christ is not just some pretender to the Messianic throne. Peter was there when God honored Christ by calling him His Son, and wrapping him in the glory of the Majestic glory cloud (Mark 9:7) that played such a key role in revealing the presence of God to the people of Israel. Peter says that he was there and heard this voice that came from heaven while they were with him on the sacred mountain. In so doing, Peter uses the words from Psalm 2:6, which says, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." Peter is drawing attention to the fact that Jesus' kingship and right to rule and judge the world was confirmed at the transfiguration. This was not only a fulfillment of that prophecy, it was a foreshadowing of the second coming when Christ will return to judge, restore, and rule over His earth. Thus, the second coming and the transfiguration were closely connected in Peter's mind. The transfiguration was the time when the glorious nature of Christ was revealed showing him to be the majestic king of the earth, and Peter was there. He saw it all and simply cannot and will not forget it.
The false teachers were evidently attacking both the teachings of the apostles and the Old Testament prophets, but Peter is about to show how they compliment and strengthen one another and leave the false prophets with nothing to stand on to verify their claims. The context of Peter's words here would lead us to believe that he is referring specifically to the words of the prophets concerning the kingdom that was to be established by the Messiah. They add validity to what Peter and the other apostles saw. Rather than following the darkness of false teachings that would lead men and women away from God's kingdom and towards a self-reliance that puts the onus on humans, they would do well to pay attention to the light of true teaching. The prophets spoke often of a time when God would judge the world and bring His people into His kingdom to live with Him forever. The transfiguration, which served as a foreshadowing of Christ's ultimate glory, shows that the prophets words can be fully believed at a literal level.
Peter's point in verse 20 has to do with gaining the correct understanding of the words of the Old Testament prophets. Peter wants his readers to understand that when they read the Old Testament prophets they are not reading something that they have just made up on their own. True prophecies and the true word of God have never come from someone's own ideas, for prophecy never had its origin in the will of man. The prophets spoke from God as did the apostles, according to Peter. They never spoke their own opinions It's probable that the false teachers were claiming that the apostles and the prophets had merely spoken their own opinions. They then presented clever and complex teachings to draw people to their doctrines. It is, in fact, the false teachers who are putting forth their own opinions as they have never spoken from God or been carried along by the Spirit. This may leave us wondering why Peter's word would be anymore convincing than the false teachers. This is precisely the point that Peter has so deftly made. The false teachers are teaching a version of the Christ and His Kingdom, but they are not eyewitnesses and have impugned the testimony of the prophets. Peter and the apostles are eyewitnesses and stand vindicated by the words of the prophets which came from God Himself. As clever and deceptive as these tales might be, they really have no legs to stand on.
Devotional Thought
This early Christian community was firmly established in their faith, yet they were still susceptible to false and clever stories. Peter's call is for them to root themselves in the reliability of the Scriptures and the testimony of the apostles. Do you know the Bible well enough to immediately recognize clever, but unscriptural ideas? There are new ones popping up all the time, so be prepared.
19And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Dig Deeper
"No, I'm serious. He really is a nice guy." Yet she still didn't seem convinced. A friend of mine was asking me about who she should vote for in the upcoming elections for senator and she mentioned that one of the candidates seemed a little aloof to her. I couldn't tell her how to vote but I could tell her that he wasn't that way at all. In fact, I thought he was a very nice and thoughtful individual. She wasn't convinced, though despite my words and wanted to know why I was so sure about this guy anyway. Then I told her what I probably should have started the conversation with. I knew him. I had coached against the man several times in various summer basketball tournaments years before, although he was quite a bit older than I was. I had witnessed this guy do an incredibly thoughtful and kind act that no one else knew about, so he wasn't doing it for attention. In fact this was several years before he ran for office. His team had just upset mine in a major tournament, mostly due to the fact that he had out-coached me. My young players walked dejectedly to the locker room and were quite distraught once they were in there. This man walked by our locker room and heard their angst. He came all on his own and offered my players some incredibly encouraging words that lifted their spirits a bit and got them ready for the remainder of the tournament. He didn't have to do that, but he did. It was a genuine act of kindness that demonstrated the true character of the man. Suddenly my friend took my opinion far more seriously. Why? For the simple reason that I was an eyewitness. I wasn't just speculating or passing along hearsay. I knew what I was talking about.
Peter is calling the Christian community to follow straight down the path of the example and life of Christ to which we have all been called. Peter, being quite a bit smarter than I was that day, however, lays out an important fact right here near the beginning. He isn't just passing along made-up stories or clever hearsay. No, what he is calling them to is something that he witnessed. If he is calling people to lay down their entire lives and live the life that Christ has called Christians to live, Peter knows that people aren't going to rely on myths or made-up stories. They want to hear from reliable eyewitnesses, people who were there and can verify that what they are relaying is true and accurate, people who know what they are talking about. Nobody fits that bill better than Peter does. He was there and eyewitness testimony always gives more credence to an account.
Peter now sets his sights on the false teachers to whom his attention will turn for the rest of this letter. He begins here by setting up clear distinctions between true apostles that can be trusted and the false teachers who would attempt to lead believers astray. First of all, says Peter, true teachers of the word do not follow cleverly invented stories when they told the saints about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. No, they weren't making up complex theories that attracted followers for the sake of building up their own little groups of followers. They were eyewitnesses of the majesty of Christ, and now served as heralds of His glory and His kingdom.
It appears, although we can't know all the details, that the heart of the false teaching that Peter is taking on in this letter centered around the second coming of Christ. They were apparently teaching that the final form of the Kingdom had already arrived (cf. 1 Cor. 4:8) and even that the hope of resurrection had already taken place (as in 2 Tim. 2:18). This is a situation that is mirrored today in the teachings of those who hold to the full preterist position (although the preterists also have many differences with the teachers Peter is confronting). Full preterists rightly understand that much of the prophecies of Jesus found in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, as well as much of Revelation, have more to do with the destruction of the Temple that took place in 70 AD than in the "end of the world." They go beyond that, sadly, and teach that Christ will not return to judge the earth, enact the resurrection, inaugurate the age to come, and fill the earth with the very presence of God, joining heaven and earth together as they were made to be. In short, they say that there is no second coming. This position in our day, as in Peter's, robs Christianity of the great Christian hope and Peter knew the danger of that. He will destroy the foundations of this false reaching with two primary reasons that believers can be sure that Christ will indeed return to restore all things (Matt. 19:28). The first is the eyewitness testimony of those who saw the transfiguration, and the second is the fact that the prophecies of Scripture are reliable and back up what Peter saw at the transfiguration.
Christ is not just some pretender to the Messianic throne. Peter was there when God honored Christ by calling him His Son, and wrapping him in the glory of the Majestic glory cloud (Mark 9:7) that played such a key role in revealing the presence of God to the people of Israel. Peter says that he was there and heard this voice that came from heaven while they were with him on the sacred mountain. In so doing, Peter uses the words from Psalm 2:6, which says, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." Peter is drawing attention to the fact that Jesus' kingship and right to rule and judge the world was confirmed at the transfiguration. This was not only a fulfillment of that prophecy, it was a foreshadowing of the second coming when Christ will return to judge, restore, and rule over His earth. Thus, the second coming and the transfiguration were closely connected in Peter's mind. The transfiguration was the time when the glorious nature of Christ was revealed showing him to be the majestic king of the earth, and Peter was there. He saw it all and simply cannot and will not forget it.
The false teachers were evidently attacking both the teachings of the apostles and the Old Testament prophets, but Peter is about to show how they compliment and strengthen one another and leave the false prophets with nothing to stand on to verify their claims. The context of Peter's words here would lead us to believe that he is referring specifically to the words of the prophets concerning the kingdom that was to be established by the Messiah. They add validity to what Peter and the other apostles saw. Rather than following the darkness of false teachings that would lead men and women away from God's kingdom and towards a self-reliance that puts the onus on humans, they would do well to pay attention to the light of true teaching. The prophets spoke often of a time when God would judge the world and bring His people into His kingdom to live with Him forever. The transfiguration, which served as a foreshadowing of Christ's ultimate glory, shows that the prophets words can be fully believed at a literal level.
Peter's point in verse 20 has to do with gaining the correct understanding of the words of the Old Testament prophets. Peter wants his readers to understand that when they read the Old Testament prophets they are not reading something that they have just made up on their own. True prophecies and the true word of God have never come from someone's own ideas, for prophecy never had its origin in the will of man. The prophets spoke from God as did the apostles, according to Peter. They never spoke their own opinions It's probable that the false teachers were claiming that the apostles and the prophets had merely spoken their own opinions. They then presented clever and complex teachings to draw people to their doctrines. It is, in fact, the false teachers who are putting forth their own opinions as they have never spoken from God or been carried along by the Spirit. This may leave us wondering why Peter's word would be anymore convincing than the false teachers. This is precisely the point that Peter has so deftly made. The false teachers are teaching a version of the Christ and His Kingdom, but they are not eyewitnesses and have impugned the testimony of the prophets. Peter and the apostles are eyewitnesses and stand vindicated by the words of the prophets which came from God Himself. As clever and deceptive as these tales might be, they really have no legs to stand on.
Devotional Thought
This early Christian community was firmly established in their faith, yet they were still susceptible to false and clever stories. Peter's call is for them to root themselves in the reliability of the Scriptures and the testimony of the apostles. Do you know the Bible well enough to immediately recognize clever, but unscriptural ideas? There are new ones popping up all the time, so be prepared.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
2 Peter 1:10-15
10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Prophecy of Scripture
12So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.
Dig Deeper
During my first year of teaching and coaching high school basketball I realized that the inner-city charter schools in Milwaukee got the short end of the stick. There really was no equitable outlet for the kids in those kinds of schools to compete on a level with the regular public high schools. To try to solve this inequity I had the opportunity to begin an athletic conference for charter and alternative high schools. It was difficult but very rewarding work. As the years went on, we developed more and more conferences and eventually became a state athletic association that organized sporting events all the way up to state championships for charter and alternative schools. Many people were pleased at the success that we had had in creating this organization and the statewide attention that we had begun to attract. I knew, however, that, although gratifying, the real measure of success would be if it would go on and continue to grow and be strong after I was no longer running the organization. After seven years, I finally stepped down and handed the reigns of the whole operation over to other people. I did everything in my power to make sure that things would go well after I left. Having things go on well after I was no longer around would be the true sign that we had built something worthwhile. Sadly, that particular entity has had increasing problems since then to the point that it barely even exists only five years later, proving that I didn't prepare things as well as I might have hoped.
Peter apparently knew that his time for active ministry in the present age was drawing to a close. He was well aware, however, that it was vitally important that the Christian communities to whom he was writing would continue to go on strong and faithful long after he left. He wanted to make every effort according to the abilities and opportunities that the Lord had given to him to set up the Christian community to stand strong in their life of Christ. Peter had been called by Jesus to feed His sheep and Peter is bound and determined to do that as best he can as his days come to a close, and even more importantly, long after that.
In the last section, Peter urged Christians to make ongoing and intense efforts to grow in their spiritual maturity and virtues. He exhorted them to take up the gifts that God had given them and to increase them through their own obedience and submission to God, reminding them that God has given believers everything they need to stay in Christ. He made clear that there is no room in Christ for spiritual immaturity or stagnation. They would either increase and grow in the image of Christ or they would become ineffective and unproductive. This hearkens us back to Jesus' words to "Consider carefully what you hear. . . With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." 'The word had been given to those following Jesus, but he urged them to take it, obey it, and grow it in their lives, to put it to use. If not, even what they had been given would be taken away from them, presumably by Satan (Mark 4:15).
This provides us an understanding for Peter's words to be all the more eager to make their calling and election sure. If, as some claim, election means that God chooses some to be saved regardless of their will and with no possibility of losing or leaving their salvation, while others are selected for damnation, then this verse causes some problems. Peter's point is the same as Jesus' in Mark 4. Christians have been given the word and now it is up to them to take advantage of it, to plant it in good soil, and allow it to grow into the true life of Christ. The Christian community are the elect (a term that was applied to Israel in Old Testament times denoting them as the corporate people of God). This means that God had always predestined a people in Christ (Eph. 1:3-14) but it does not mean that God has selected who would be in that body without any regard for their own free will. There are, in fact, two reasons Peter gives for making their election sure and continuing to increase in their growth. The first is negative. They should be eager so that they will never fall and open themselves up by becoming so ineffective that they simply leave themselves vulnerable to being taken away by Satan. The second is positive. They will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This verse is a demonstration of the common Christian theme of "already but not yet." Christians are part of the kingdom of God, the rule and reign of the almighty, but look forward to the time when Christ returns and establishes His kingdom fully in the renewed creation (Matt. 19:28; Rev. 21:1-5). This is the time that Peter was pointing to in verse 11.
Peter makes it clear that he will continue to remind them of the demanding call of the life of Christ even though they know it well and are firmly established in the truth. Peter is no doubt comforted that they are firmly established. The word he uses here is sterizein, the same word used by Jesus when he told Peter, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen [sterizein] your brothers." He could take encouragement in the fact that he had done precisely what Christ called him to, but that didn't remove the need to take on the false teachings that might continue to hound the Christian community after Peter has died. So, that is what he will do with much of the remainder of this letter.
Peter plans to continue to refresh their memory and call them to the authentic life of Christ as long as he lives in the tent of this body. It was not uncommon in the early church to refer to life in the present age as a tent, stressing the temporal aspect of life before death and resurrection. This is precisely what Paul calls it in 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 as he discusses the fact that while he is in the tent of his body in the present age, he is looking past the time when he will be in the presence of God after death and without a body (what he called being naked), and looks forward to the time when he will receive his resurrection body and be in the age to come with God forever. Peter alludes to this same truth but does not develop the topic any further because it is not his primary topic at the moment.
Peter knows that he will soon put his present life aside, as the Lord Jesus Christ had made clear to him. How did he know though? The simplest answer is that Peter put together the circumstances that were whirling about his life with the prediction that Jesus had made to him that he would die a martyr's death (John 21:18-19). Through the discernment of the Holy Spirit, Peter evidently knew that his time was drawing to a close. So, in these few verses, Peter has commended his readers for their spiritual maturity (v. 12) which would remove the danger of them becoming offended by his reminders, but he has also given his letter a "dying man's" earnestness, which gives credence and reinforcement to his letter.
Peter is committed to doing everything he can to see to their continued growth and establishment in the gospel as he says he will make every effort to see that after his departure (a common idiom in the first century for death) they will always be able to remember these things. Some think that Peter may be referring to ensuring that the gospel of Mark is written down, although it is far more likely that Mark was already written at this point. His point is probably that his purpose in writing the current letter is to provide the sort of ongoing instruction and strengthening after his death that he has in mind. Peter is not only their shepherd now, he wants to continue to feed the Good Shepherd's sheep long after he has gone to be with the Lord where he will await the resurrection and the age to come.
Devotional Thought
Peter knew that a wise Christian leader needed to shepherd people in the present but also to set things up for continued strength in the future. Do you take the time to do that or do you just live moment by moment? Planning for the continued spiritual strength of your family, ministry, and church takes time, effort, and planning. What are you waiting for?
Prophecy of Scripture
12So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.
Dig Deeper
During my first year of teaching and coaching high school basketball I realized that the inner-city charter schools in Milwaukee got the short end of the stick. There really was no equitable outlet for the kids in those kinds of schools to compete on a level with the regular public high schools. To try to solve this inequity I had the opportunity to begin an athletic conference for charter and alternative high schools. It was difficult but very rewarding work. As the years went on, we developed more and more conferences and eventually became a state athletic association that organized sporting events all the way up to state championships for charter and alternative schools. Many people were pleased at the success that we had had in creating this organization and the statewide attention that we had begun to attract. I knew, however, that, although gratifying, the real measure of success would be if it would go on and continue to grow and be strong after I was no longer running the organization. After seven years, I finally stepped down and handed the reigns of the whole operation over to other people. I did everything in my power to make sure that things would go well after I left. Having things go on well after I was no longer around would be the true sign that we had built something worthwhile. Sadly, that particular entity has had increasing problems since then to the point that it barely even exists only five years later, proving that I didn't prepare things as well as I might have hoped.
Peter apparently knew that his time for active ministry in the present age was drawing to a close. He was well aware, however, that it was vitally important that the Christian communities to whom he was writing would continue to go on strong and faithful long after he left. He wanted to make every effort according to the abilities and opportunities that the Lord had given to him to set up the Christian community to stand strong in their life of Christ. Peter had been called by Jesus to feed His sheep and Peter is bound and determined to do that as best he can as his days come to a close, and even more importantly, long after that.
In the last section, Peter urged Christians to make ongoing and intense efforts to grow in their spiritual maturity and virtues. He exhorted them to take up the gifts that God had given them and to increase them through their own obedience and submission to God, reminding them that God has given believers everything they need to stay in Christ. He made clear that there is no room in Christ for spiritual immaturity or stagnation. They would either increase and grow in the image of Christ or they would become ineffective and unproductive. This hearkens us back to Jesus' words to "Consider carefully what you hear. . . With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." 'The word had been given to those following Jesus, but he urged them to take it, obey it, and grow it in their lives, to put it to use. If not, even what they had been given would be taken away from them, presumably by Satan (Mark 4:15).
This provides us an understanding for Peter's words to be all the more eager to make their calling and election sure. If, as some claim, election means that God chooses some to be saved regardless of their will and with no possibility of losing or leaving their salvation, while others are selected for damnation, then this verse causes some problems. Peter's point is the same as Jesus' in Mark 4. Christians have been given the word and now it is up to them to take advantage of it, to plant it in good soil, and allow it to grow into the true life of Christ. The Christian community are the elect (a term that was applied to Israel in Old Testament times denoting them as the corporate people of God). This means that God had always predestined a people in Christ (Eph. 1:3-14) but it does not mean that God has selected who would be in that body without any regard for their own free will. There are, in fact, two reasons Peter gives for making their election sure and continuing to increase in their growth. The first is negative. They should be eager so that they will never fall and open themselves up by becoming so ineffective that they simply leave themselves vulnerable to being taken away by Satan. The second is positive. They will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This verse is a demonstration of the common Christian theme of "already but not yet." Christians are part of the kingdom of God, the rule and reign of the almighty, but look forward to the time when Christ returns and establishes His kingdom fully in the renewed creation (Matt. 19:28; Rev. 21:1-5). This is the time that Peter was pointing to in verse 11.
Peter makes it clear that he will continue to remind them of the demanding call of the life of Christ even though they know it well and are firmly established in the truth. Peter is no doubt comforted that they are firmly established. The word he uses here is sterizein, the same word used by Jesus when he told Peter, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen [sterizein] your brothers." He could take encouragement in the fact that he had done precisely what Christ called him to, but that didn't remove the need to take on the false teachings that might continue to hound the Christian community after Peter has died. So, that is what he will do with much of the remainder of this letter.
Peter plans to continue to refresh their memory and call them to the authentic life of Christ as long as he lives in the tent of this body. It was not uncommon in the early church to refer to life in the present age as a tent, stressing the temporal aspect of life before death and resurrection. This is precisely what Paul calls it in 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 as he discusses the fact that while he is in the tent of his body in the present age, he is looking past the time when he will be in the presence of God after death and without a body (what he called being naked), and looks forward to the time when he will receive his resurrection body and be in the age to come with God forever. Peter alludes to this same truth but does not develop the topic any further because it is not his primary topic at the moment.
Peter knows that he will soon put his present life aside, as the Lord Jesus Christ had made clear to him. How did he know though? The simplest answer is that Peter put together the circumstances that were whirling about his life with the prediction that Jesus had made to him that he would die a martyr's death (John 21:18-19). Through the discernment of the Holy Spirit, Peter evidently knew that his time was drawing to a close. So, in these few verses, Peter has commended his readers for their spiritual maturity (v. 12) which would remove the danger of them becoming offended by his reminders, but he has also given his letter a "dying man's" earnestness, which gives credence and reinforcement to his letter.
Peter is committed to doing everything he can to see to their continued growth and establishment in the gospel as he says he will make every effort to see that after his departure (a common idiom in the first century for death) they will always be able to remember these things. Some think that Peter may be referring to ensuring that the gospel of Mark is written down, although it is far more likely that Mark was already written at this point. His point is probably that his purpose in writing the current letter is to provide the sort of ongoing instruction and strengthening after his death that he has in mind. Peter is not only their shepherd now, he wants to continue to feed the Good Shepherd's sheep long after he has gone to be with the Lord where he will await the resurrection and the age to come.
Devotional Thought
Peter knew that a wise Christian leader needed to shepherd people in the present but also to set things up for continued strength in the future. Do you take the time to do that or do you just live moment by moment? Planning for the continued spiritual strength of your family, ministry, and church takes time, effort, and planning. What are you waiting for?
Monday, October 06, 2008
2 Peter 1:1-9
1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Confirming One's Calling and Election
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if any of you do not have them, you are nearsighted and blind, and you have forgotten that you have been cleansed from your past sins.
Dig Deeper
Growing up in my hometown, I went to a junior high that I rather enjoyed. As a student, though, there were certain places in that building that I could not go and many things that I could not do. There was always one room in particular that students weren't allowed to go into, and I always wondered what it looked like. I finished my last day at school, however, without ever having seen that room. About ten years later I graduated from college with a degree in education, returned to my hometown, and actually got a job at that same junior high, although it was now a middle school (meaning it was grades 6-8 rather than grades 7-9). Now that I worked at that building I could go into that room, the mysterious teacher's lounge. In fact, there was nowhere in the building that I couldn't go. I could actively go into every part of the building and participate fully.
Although this analogy falls far short of the things that believers have in Christ that Peter is referring to here, it still does help us to understand somewhat the case he is making. Believers are no longer on the outside looking in. Once we have entered into Christ, we have full access to God. There is nothing of His presence that is denied to those in Christ. As Peter begins what we know as his second letter, he reminds the saints of that fact. False teachers had arisen, telling Christians that they could basically live however they wanted and do whatever they wanted. Peter will masterfully remind his readers that they don't need to follow anything as empty and crass as that sort of teaching. What they need is to realize their status in Christ and the fact that because of this, they have full access to every spiritual blessing and full knowledge of the creator God.
There is some controversy among the biblical experts as to whether or not this book of 2 Peter is actually written by Peter. There are significant stylistic and language differences between the two letters ascribed to Peter but it was common in the first century to have someone else record and even add shape and style to the words of one dictating a letter. With that said, this letter which no one argues came out of the first century church somewhere, says that its author is Peter. That's good enough for me, and will be the assumption as we continue on through this letter.
Peter opens this letter in standard first century fashion, mentioning as he did in his first letter that he is an apostle, but also adding that he is a humble servant of Jesus Christ. He is writing to a community of believers who share in the gospel, the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ (some translations give the wrong impression by implying that "God" and "Savior Jesus Christ" are distinct terms, but the TNIV gets it right here when it makes clear that Peter has called Jesus Christ both God and Savior). Their faith and Christian community is every bit as valid as any other and Peter blesses them with a standard Christian blessing of grace and peace in abundance. Peter believes that the abundant aspects of the life of Christ come through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. This knowledge refers, in part to increasing intellectual knowledge, but far more importantly to the knowledge that comes through having an intimate and personal relationship with God. The motivating foundation of the Christian life is to encounter God on a personal basis which then enables us to have a deepening relationship with Him and worship Him in every aspect of our lives.
Peter's opening verses here have confounded some commentators and many Christians over the years and left many spiraling into theological debates over minute points. His overall point, however, is what should be kept in view. God has given believers everything we need for a godly life. We have the tools necessary to succeed in becoming like Christ. How has done this? Through His own glory and goodness, the very life of Christ. This is not something we earn or achieve but something to which we have been called and given by God. The life of Christ is a gracious gift from God and the only thing that can reconcile us to Him. Through the life of Christ, God has fulfilled all of His great promises (2 Cor. 1:20). Everything the Bible ever promised about God fixing the problem of evil and exalting those loyal to Him have been fulfilled and are available to those who would lay down their own lives and take up Christ's.
It is through the fulfillment of these promises that we may participate in the divine nature. This is one of those phrases that have sent theologians scrambling for explanations, but again, if we keep in view the larger point, Peter's words become quite clear. We needn't bog down over what he means by participating in the divine nature beyond knowing that he is thinking of the life of Christ that we all share. What the TNIV doesn't make very clear here, is quite clear in the original language. We participate in the life of Christ only after we have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. This doesn't mean that we take action that earns our status in Christ but Peter refers to the repentance or the willingness to die to self that must be done to receive the life of Christ. A simple analogy might help this make more sense. If I am in a car heading in one direction and am called to get in the only car that is going in the right direction, I must recognize that fact by getting out of the car I'm in and getting into the other one. That doesn't mean I earned my place in the other car, I was simply given the free will to recognize or reject it as the correct car. So it is with the life of Christ. We must first escape the world by repenting and dying to selves so that we can accept God's gracious and free gift.
Once we have entered into that life, however, there are responsibilities that come with that. For the very reason that we have escaped the world through God's gift of salvation, we should make every effort to excel in the life of Christ. The Christian life certainly begins with faith in the life of Christ and the faithfulness of God but it doesn't end there. The word that Peter used which is translated "make every effort," is the root word from which we get our word choreography and it was used when an extravagant effort was put forth to produce a Greek play. His inference is that Christians should be intentional and lavish in the time and effort they spend in developing their Christian virtues rather than just sliding by on the minimum effort.
To faith, Peter charges Christians with growing in seven other aspects of the spirit-directed life. It's not that we create these virtues by our own effort, for as he says in verse 8, that we should increase in these qualities because it is God who has given us everything we need. Our responsibility is to embrace and grow in what God has given us. The virtues that Peter described could rightly be discussed in the ascending order that he lists them, but in giving the list in the way he has, Peter used a device common in the first century world. We should not suppose that he means to imply that each virtue must be mastered before being able to move on to the next. The characteristics he describes are certainly related but in a much more organic and comprehensively connected manner.
After faith, Peter calls for growing goodness, a word which meant for something or someone to fulfill their true purpose; growing knowledge of the divine standard of the life of Christ; growing self-control by submitting to Christ as Lord and avoiding temptation; growing perseverance, a word that is the same word used of Jesus' patient endurance of the cross (Heb. 12:2); growing godliness, a word that carries the meaning of putting loyalty to God above all else; and finally growing in the two great aspects of the Christian life, love of one another (mutual affection) and the agape love of God.
Peter does not question or concern himself with whether or not Christians have these qualities, he assumes that they do. The issue is whether they are growing in these spiritual gifts or rendering themselves ineffective and unproductive due to a lack of growth. If they do not have them, like presumably the false teachers to whom Peter will turn shortly do not have, then they show that they are intentionally nearsighted until it causes them to be spiritually blind. Those who are not growing in the life of Christ also show that they have forgotten that at their baptism, they were cleansed from their past sins and their old life. The entry into the life of Christ at baptism (Rom. 6:1-4) gives one the opportunity to leave their old, sinful life behind and to start afresh and anew in the only life that will ever be in the presence of the Father and experience the resurrection (John 14:6).
Devotional Thought
When you look at Peter's list of eight Christian virtues here and compare it to your life, what do you see? Are you growing increasingly in those areas? In what areas do you need to make a more lavish effort? Have you been a bit stingy lately or are you genuinely making every effort to grow in these important Christian virtues?
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Confirming One's Calling and Election
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if any of you do not have them, you are nearsighted and blind, and you have forgotten that you have been cleansed from your past sins.
Dig Deeper
Growing up in my hometown, I went to a junior high that I rather enjoyed. As a student, though, there were certain places in that building that I could not go and many things that I could not do. There was always one room in particular that students weren't allowed to go into, and I always wondered what it looked like. I finished my last day at school, however, without ever having seen that room. About ten years later I graduated from college with a degree in education, returned to my hometown, and actually got a job at that same junior high, although it was now a middle school (meaning it was grades 6-8 rather than grades 7-9). Now that I worked at that building I could go into that room, the mysterious teacher's lounge. In fact, there was nowhere in the building that I couldn't go. I could actively go into every part of the building and participate fully.
Although this analogy falls far short of the things that believers have in Christ that Peter is referring to here, it still does help us to understand somewhat the case he is making. Believers are no longer on the outside looking in. Once we have entered into Christ, we have full access to God. There is nothing of His presence that is denied to those in Christ. As Peter begins what we know as his second letter, he reminds the saints of that fact. False teachers had arisen, telling Christians that they could basically live however they wanted and do whatever they wanted. Peter will masterfully remind his readers that they don't need to follow anything as empty and crass as that sort of teaching. What they need is to realize their status in Christ and the fact that because of this, they have full access to every spiritual blessing and full knowledge of the creator God.
There is some controversy among the biblical experts as to whether or not this book of 2 Peter is actually written by Peter. There are significant stylistic and language differences between the two letters ascribed to Peter but it was common in the first century to have someone else record and even add shape and style to the words of one dictating a letter. With that said, this letter which no one argues came out of the first century church somewhere, says that its author is Peter. That's good enough for me, and will be the assumption as we continue on through this letter.
Peter opens this letter in standard first century fashion, mentioning as he did in his first letter that he is an apostle, but also adding that he is a humble servant of Jesus Christ. He is writing to a community of believers who share in the gospel, the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ (some translations give the wrong impression by implying that "God" and "Savior Jesus Christ" are distinct terms, but the TNIV gets it right here when it makes clear that Peter has called Jesus Christ both God and Savior). Their faith and Christian community is every bit as valid as any other and Peter blesses them with a standard Christian blessing of grace and peace in abundance. Peter believes that the abundant aspects of the life of Christ come through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. This knowledge refers, in part to increasing intellectual knowledge, but far more importantly to the knowledge that comes through having an intimate and personal relationship with God. The motivating foundation of the Christian life is to encounter God on a personal basis which then enables us to have a deepening relationship with Him and worship Him in every aspect of our lives.
Peter's opening verses here have confounded some commentators and many Christians over the years and left many spiraling into theological debates over minute points. His overall point, however, is what should be kept in view. God has given believers everything we need for a godly life. We have the tools necessary to succeed in becoming like Christ. How has done this? Through His own glory and goodness, the very life of Christ. This is not something we earn or achieve but something to which we have been called and given by God. The life of Christ is a gracious gift from God and the only thing that can reconcile us to Him. Through the life of Christ, God has fulfilled all of His great promises (2 Cor. 1:20). Everything the Bible ever promised about God fixing the problem of evil and exalting those loyal to Him have been fulfilled and are available to those who would lay down their own lives and take up Christ's.
It is through the fulfillment of these promises that we may participate in the divine nature. This is one of those phrases that have sent theologians scrambling for explanations, but again, if we keep in view the larger point, Peter's words become quite clear. We needn't bog down over what he means by participating in the divine nature beyond knowing that he is thinking of the life of Christ that we all share. What the TNIV doesn't make very clear here, is quite clear in the original language. We participate in the life of Christ only after we have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. This doesn't mean that we take action that earns our status in Christ but Peter refers to the repentance or the willingness to die to self that must be done to receive the life of Christ. A simple analogy might help this make more sense. If I am in a car heading in one direction and am called to get in the only car that is going in the right direction, I must recognize that fact by getting out of the car I'm in and getting into the other one. That doesn't mean I earned my place in the other car, I was simply given the free will to recognize or reject it as the correct car. So it is with the life of Christ. We must first escape the world by repenting and dying to selves so that we can accept God's gracious and free gift.
Once we have entered into that life, however, there are responsibilities that come with that. For the very reason that we have escaped the world through God's gift of salvation, we should make every effort to excel in the life of Christ. The Christian life certainly begins with faith in the life of Christ and the faithfulness of God but it doesn't end there. The word that Peter used which is translated "make every effort," is the root word from which we get our word choreography and it was used when an extravagant effort was put forth to produce a Greek play. His inference is that Christians should be intentional and lavish in the time and effort they spend in developing their Christian virtues rather than just sliding by on the minimum effort.
To faith, Peter charges Christians with growing in seven other aspects of the spirit-directed life. It's not that we create these virtues by our own effort, for as he says in verse 8, that we should increase in these qualities because it is God who has given us everything we need. Our responsibility is to embrace and grow in what God has given us. The virtues that Peter described could rightly be discussed in the ascending order that he lists them, but in giving the list in the way he has, Peter used a device common in the first century world. We should not suppose that he means to imply that each virtue must be mastered before being able to move on to the next. The characteristics he describes are certainly related but in a much more organic and comprehensively connected manner.
After faith, Peter calls for growing goodness, a word which meant for something or someone to fulfill their true purpose; growing knowledge of the divine standard of the life of Christ; growing self-control by submitting to Christ as Lord and avoiding temptation; growing perseverance, a word that is the same word used of Jesus' patient endurance of the cross (Heb. 12:2); growing godliness, a word that carries the meaning of putting loyalty to God above all else; and finally growing in the two great aspects of the Christian life, love of one another (mutual affection) and the agape love of God.
Peter does not question or concern himself with whether or not Christians have these qualities, he assumes that they do. The issue is whether they are growing in these spiritual gifts or rendering themselves ineffective and unproductive due to a lack of growth. If they do not have them, like presumably the false teachers to whom Peter will turn shortly do not have, then they show that they are intentionally nearsighted until it causes them to be spiritually blind. Those who are not growing in the life of Christ also show that they have forgotten that at their baptism, they were cleansed from their past sins and their old life. The entry into the life of Christ at baptism (Rom. 6:1-4) gives one the opportunity to leave their old, sinful life behind and to start afresh and anew in the only life that will ever be in the presence of the Father and experience the resurrection (John 14:6).
Devotional Thought
When you look at Peter's list of eight Christian virtues here and compare it to your life, what do you see? Are you growing increasingly in those areas? In what areas do you need to make a more lavish effort? Have you been a bit stingy lately or are you genuinely making every effort to grow in these important Christian virtues?
Friday, October 03, 2008
1 Peter 5:8-14
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your fellow believers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Final Greetings
12 With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.
13 She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love.
Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
Dig Devotional
I think that most guys, deep down somewhere in their psyche, think that if they really were put in a situation where they had to fight a lion with their bare hands in order to protect their family, they could take the lion out. Most guys really do think that way deep down. I know I did. Until a cool, rainy fall day about seven years ago. We were virtually the only people at the zoo on this afternoon and as we walked into the lion’s area, I noticed that the lion had his face pressed directly up against the glass. I was able to lean over the railing and get my face about a foot away from the lion’s and was amazed as I could literally stare into the eyes of this lion. I forgot, however, that in the animal kingdom, staring into an animal’s eyes is interpreted as a challenge to dominance. Well, the lion didn’t like it and suddenly, with a burst of power and speed that I had never seen in my entire life, leapt up on his hind legs, pounding the glass with his front paws and roaring a thunderous disapproval of my actions. My immediate reaction was to nearly go limp, then to quickly run away just in case that glass broke. I realized at that moment that I stood no chance at all of fighting against a lion. If that glass had broken, I was as dead as could be.
Peter gives us a wonderfully descriptive image, as he brings his letter to a close. He compares the ever-dangerous Satan as a lion on the prowl. I don’t know if there are any Christians who think that they could stand up to Satan if they really needed to, just as I thought I could stand up to a lion, but Peter’s point is that Satan is not to be taken lightly. He is every bit as dangerous as an angry lion and Christians must constantly be on guard.
Because of the subversive and counter-cultural life that true Christians have been called to, we must be constantly alert and of sober mind when it comes to evil and temptation. This is in direct opposition to the standard states of those who are opposed to God who are groggy and quite willing to get drunk on the temptations of the world. Constant preparation is absolutely necessary because we have an enemy who is constantly searching to ensnare victims. The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Peter, no doubt, chooses the imagery of Satan being like a lion for its descriptive quality as a predator that searches for the weak, the isolated, and the unaware. Describing the ultimate enemy of God’s people as a beast, however, is a common biblical theme. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and allowed sin into the world by listening to the beast (the Serpent). They became less than human by being separated from God, as they became beasts themselves, complete with the mark of rebellion that would be visible on their foreheads (Gen. 3:19). A later picture of the Fall is seen in the life of Nebuchadnezzar who was, like Adam, given the power, strength, and glory of the kingdom. Yet, due to his pride, he was judged and became a beast (Dan. 4:33). Man’s rebellion against God is also depicted in the Bible as the rebellion of beast against man. The persecutors of Christ at the crucifixion are called "dogs," "bulls of Bashan," and likened to "roaring lions" (Ps. 22:12-16). In the Old Testament, all unclean animals represented rebellion against God. Under the symbolism of the Covenant, beasts represent the Satanic nations, and were strictly forbidden to be eaten. To eat unclean animals was to eat the Satanic lifestyle. The prophets often described pagan nations as terrifying beasts making war against the people of the Covenant (Ps. 87:4; 89:10; Isa. 51:9; Dan. 7:3-8, 16-25). The enemy of God’s people, then, has always been the beast; this was nothing new to first-century Jews. This is continued in the book of Revelation in John’s depiction of the two beasts, who are ultimately connected to the age-long enemy of the Church, the Dragon that is Satan.
What is the best way to avoid this prowling lion? It is simply to resist him and his temptations. Peter is no doubt specifically referring to the temptation to walk away from the faith during persecutions and difficult times, but the strategy of resistance rings true for any temptations that the devil might bring our way. That’s the way Satan works. He attacks us through the temptations of our mental lives, looking for permission, in effect, for his further attacks. He entices, but we give way to that temptation and invite him further into our thought life. This is why resistance is the way to stand firm in the faith. We must, says Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5, "take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ."
The believers in Asia Minor need not be worried that they have done something wrong to bring on the persecution that has come their way. What they were experiencing was part of the Christian life. There were fellow believers throughout the world that were undergoing the same kind of sufferings that they were. So, not only was what they were going through normal for the Christian life at the time, it was also worth it. They would suffer a little while (by which Peter is not referring to the duration of time of their present suffering but rather the suffering that they must endure during the temporal present age as opposed to the eternity of the age to come), but the God of all grace, has called them to something far greater than the sufferings of a fallen world. It is the vocation of Christians to be willing to endure hardships and trials for the sake and benefit of others but that suffering is not pointless. God has called Christians (called is the New Testament terminology for God’s offer of salvation to humans) to share in His eternal glory, available in the life of Christ. It is God who will restore human beings in Christ to their originally intended status (Ps. 8) and make them strong, firm and steadfast.
As Peter brings this letter to a close, he informs his readers that he has procured the help of Silas, a faithful brother. He uses language that could lead us to interpreting that help in one of three ways. It could simply be that Silas helped Peter by delivering the letter to its recipients, but it could also mean that he dictated the letter to Peter or even ghostwrote the letter using Peter’s thoughts and teaching. Given the stylistic variations between the first and second letters ascribed to Peter, is quite possible that he had assistance in writing one or both of his letters.
Peter sends his final greeting from the church, chosen by God together with them, from where he is writing. Peter cryptically calls this place Babylon, which had become a common early church symbol for a city standing in rebellion and opposition to God. It has been standard biblical interpretation to assume that Peter (and John in the book of Revelation) was referring to Rome. I believe a better explanation, however, is that Babylon does not refer to Rome here or in Revelation but to Jerusalem itself. Despite the fact that most have supposed this to be Rome, but it seems far more likely that it was Jerusalem from where he was writing. Jerusalem is where Peter lived and exercised his ministry (Acts 8:1; 12:3; Gal. 1:18; 2:1-9; cf. 1 Pet. 4:17). As Peter sends greetings from Mark and Silas (1 Pet. 5:12-13), it is important to remember that both of them lived in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12; 15:22-40). It is also true that the Revelation focuses on Jerusalem and only mentions Rome to the degree that she is related to Jerusalem. As you read through chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation, the evidence that Babylon is Jerusalem will become overwhelming. Israel continued to stand in opposition to God’s new movement and His people and so Jerusalem could rightly be identified as Babylon. They, conversely, are the true people of God and should greet one another with an affectionate kiss of love and go in peace, for no better reason than because they are in Christ.
Devotional Thought
Do you view Satan appropriately as Peter presents him here? Do you see him as a potentially dangerous predator but also as an evil force that can be resisted through the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit. We make equal but opposite errors when we give Satan too much credit or not enough.
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Final Greetings
12 With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.
13 She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love.
Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
Dig Devotional
I think that most guys, deep down somewhere in their psyche, think that if they really were put in a situation where they had to fight a lion with their bare hands in order to protect their family, they could take the lion out. Most guys really do think that way deep down. I know I did. Until a cool, rainy fall day about seven years ago. We were virtually the only people at the zoo on this afternoon and as we walked into the lion’s area, I noticed that the lion had his face pressed directly up against the glass. I was able to lean over the railing and get my face about a foot away from the lion’s and was amazed as I could literally stare into the eyes of this lion. I forgot, however, that in the animal kingdom, staring into an animal’s eyes is interpreted as a challenge to dominance. Well, the lion didn’t like it and suddenly, with a burst of power and speed that I had never seen in my entire life, leapt up on his hind legs, pounding the glass with his front paws and roaring a thunderous disapproval of my actions. My immediate reaction was to nearly go limp, then to quickly run away just in case that glass broke. I realized at that moment that I stood no chance at all of fighting against a lion. If that glass had broken, I was as dead as could be.
Peter gives us a wonderfully descriptive image, as he brings his letter to a close. He compares the ever-dangerous Satan as a lion on the prowl. I don’t know if there are any Christians who think that they could stand up to Satan if they really needed to, just as I thought I could stand up to a lion, but Peter’s point is that Satan is not to be taken lightly. He is every bit as dangerous as an angry lion and Christians must constantly be on guard.
Because of the subversive and counter-cultural life that true Christians have been called to, we must be constantly alert and of sober mind when it comes to evil and temptation. This is in direct opposition to the standard states of those who are opposed to God who are groggy and quite willing to get drunk on the temptations of the world. Constant preparation is absolutely necessary because we have an enemy who is constantly searching to ensnare victims. The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Peter, no doubt, chooses the imagery of Satan being like a lion for its descriptive quality as a predator that searches for the weak, the isolated, and the unaware. Describing the ultimate enemy of God’s people as a beast, however, is a common biblical theme. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and allowed sin into the world by listening to the beast (the Serpent). They became less than human by being separated from God, as they became beasts themselves, complete with the mark of rebellion that would be visible on their foreheads (Gen. 3:19). A later picture of the Fall is seen in the life of Nebuchadnezzar who was, like Adam, given the power, strength, and glory of the kingdom. Yet, due to his pride, he was judged and became a beast (Dan. 4:33). Man’s rebellion against God is also depicted in the Bible as the rebellion of beast against man. The persecutors of Christ at the crucifixion are called "dogs," "bulls of Bashan," and likened to "roaring lions" (Ps. 22:12-16). In the Old Testament, all unclean animals represented rebellion against God. Under the symbolism of the Covenant, beasts represent the Satanic nations, and were strictly forbidden to be eaten. To eat unclean animals was to eat the Satanic lifestyle. The prophets often described pagan nations as terrifying beasts making war against the people of the Covenant (Ps. 87:4; 89:10; Isa. 51:9; Dan. 7:3-8, 16-25). The enemy of God’s people, then, has always been the beast; this was nothing new to first-century Jews. This is continued in the book of Revelation in John’s depiction of the two beasts, who are ultimately connected to the age-long enemy of the Church, the Dragon that is Satan.
What is the best way to avoid this prowling lion? It is simply to resist him and his temptations. Peter is no doubt specifically referring to the temptation to walk away from the faith during persecutions and difficult times, but the strategy of resistance rings true for any temptations that the devil might bring our way. That’s the way Satan works. He attacks us through the temptations of our mental lives, looking for permission, in effect, for his further attacks. He entices, but we give way to that temptation and invite him further into our thought life. This is why resistance is the way to stand firm in the faith. We must, says Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5, "take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ."
The believers in Asia Minor need not be worried that they have done something wrong to bring on the persecution that has come their way. What they were experiencing was part of the Christian life. There were fellow believers throughout the world that were undergoing the same kind of sufferings that they were. So, not only was what they were going through normal for the Christian life at the time, it was also worth it. They would suffer a little while (by which Peter is not referring to the duration of time of their present suffering but rather the suffering that they must endure during the temporal present age as opposed to the eternity of the age to come), but the God of all grace, has called them to something far greater than the sufferings of a fallen world. It is the vocation of Christians to be willing to endure hardships and trials for the sake and benefit of others but that suffering is not pointless. God has called Christians (called is the New Testament terminology for God’s offer of salvation to humans) to share in His eternal glory, available in the life of Christ. It is God who will restore human beings in Christ to their originally intended status (Ps. 8) and make them strong, firm and steadfast.
As Peter brings this letter to a close, he informs his readers that he has procured the help of Silas, a faithful brother. He uses language that could lead us to interpreting that help in one of three ways. It could simply be that Silas helped Peter by delivering the letter to its recipients, but it could also mean that he dictated the letter to Peter or even ghostwrote the letter using Peter’s thoughts and teaching. Given the stylistic variations between the first and second letters ascribed to Peter, is quite possible that he had assistance in writing one or both of his letters.
Peter sends his final greeting from the church, chosen by God together with them, from where he is writing. Peter cryptically calls this place Babylon, which had become a common early church symbol for a city standing in rebellion and opposition to God. It has been standard biblical interpretation to assume that Peter (and John in the book of Revelation) was referring to Rome. I believe a better explanation, however, is that Babylon does not refer to Rome here or in Revelation but to Jerusalem itself. Despite the fact that most have supposed this to be Rome, but it seems far more likely that it was Jerusalem from where he was writing. Jerusalem is where Peter lived and exercised his ministry (Acts 8:1; 12:3; Gal. 1:18; 2:1-9; cf. 1 Pet. 4:17). As Peter sends greetings from Mark and Silas (1 Pet. 5:12-13), it is important to remember that both of them lived in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12; 15:22-40). It is also true that the Revelation focuses on Jerusalem and only mentions Rome to the degree that she is related to Jerusalem. As you read through chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation, the evidence that Babylon is Jerusalem will become overwhelming. Israel continued to stand in opposition to God’s new movement and His people and so Jerusalem could rightly be identified as Babylon. They, conversely, are the true people of God and should greet one another with an affectionate kiss of love and go in peace, for no better reason than because they are in Christ.
Devotional Thought
Do you view Satan appropriately as Peter presents him here? Do you see him as a potentially dangerous predator but also as an evil force that can be resisted through the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit. We make equal but opposite errors when we give Satan too much credit or not enough.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
1 Peter 5:1-7
To the Elders and the Flock
1 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ's sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
"God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble and oppressed."
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Dig Deeper
Many years ago, while I was still a high school basketball coach, I had the opportunity to attend a coaching clinic that was being run by a coach who was, at the time, a major Division 1 college basketball coach that had achieved a fair amount of success and national recognition. On opening night he walked into a room full of high school basketball coaches, some from big programs, some from small schools. There was probably great truth to the fact that many in the room were a bit overwhelmed with the résumé of this man but it was also true that because he was such a big-time coach of a big-time college, that many were tempted to wonder what actual practical advice he might be able to offer. After all, how could he relate to the problems in coaching that come along with high schools that don’t have enough money, enough talent, or enough kids who are dedicated? As he came out, however, he began his talk by pointing out that although he was now a college coach, he was really nothing more than a long-time high school coach. He had been where we were, done what we were doing. In short, he knew what it was like. This immediately put him on common ground with all of the coaches and allowed everyone in the room to be able to hear what he had to say and know that he wasn’t just "talking down" to a bunch of little high school coaches. He was really just one of us.
Peter turns his attention, as the fifth chapter of this letter opens, to the elders of the church. In doing so, he begins with the same sort of common sense that that college coach had. He doesn’t mention his status as an apostle. Rather, he identifies himself with them. He is an elder and pastor just like they are. Peter knows what it’s like to do the day-to-day business of shepherding people and he knows what it’s like to be tempted with the uglier side of leadership. Not because he’s studied leadership academically or has talked to a lot of elders and learned about it, but because he is one. He was someone who could understand and relate to them, and someone to whom they could truly listen. He was, after all, really just one of them.
Peter does find common ground as he begins to address the elders. He appeals to them as a fellow elder just like them, but he is also a faithful witness of Christ’s sufferings. He is like them and can identify with them as someone who also knows what it’s like to be an elder, but he also has credibility as one who has and will continue to call them to sacrifice their own lives and live the life that Christ had called them to. Why does he have credibility? Because he was there. He’s not just calling them to live a lifestyle of which he knows nothing. He saw Christ’s sufferings firsthand and was called by the Master to live what he saw. He also, no doubt, had a sharp memory of denying Christ at His hour of need and being restored to the service of the King. Jesus exhorted him, in no uncertain terms, that if he truly understood what it meant to follow Christ and live a life for others, then Peter should demonstrate that by leading and feeding God’s sheep.
As one who will share with the elders and their sheep in the glory of the age to come, Peter calls them to be shepherds of God’s flock. Just as Peter has addressed various parts of the Christian community, as well as the whole congregation, and called them to live radically different from the world around them, he will now do the same to the leaders of the Church, the elders. The normative standard of leadership in Peter’s day was that rulers lorded their authority over those they led (Matt. 20:25; Mark 10:42; Luke 22:25). But Christians operate in a different reality than the world does. Christians are willing to suffer and put the interests of others first so as to benefit them because that is what Christ did for us. Thus, rather than leading because they were forced into it or using the position to pursue dishonest gain, they should lead because they are willing and eager to serve. Considering the persecution they were facing, it was quite possible that some would be extremely hesitant to lead not wanting to bring extra attention or hardship, yet that would be the response of someone thinking from a worldly point of view. Similarly, for those who had been persecuted and excluded from much of the economic activity of the community since becoming a Christian, it might have been a special temptation to take advantage of the giving spirit of the Christian community by serving their own interests.
As shepherd of Christ’s flock, the overseeing shepherds need to not engage in worldly attitudes of leadership like leading begrudgingly, or lording over others for our own benefit. That is the type of leadership in which the world engages. Leadership in the kingdom of God is just like everything else that Peter has been describing. It should be done for the benefit of others, and to be examples to the flock. Elders need not look for reward or recompense during the present age for they will, like all Christians, receive their vindication in the age to come, a crown of glory that will never fade away. Peter does not explain what precisely the crown of glory is but that it is not really the point of Peter’s writing. It may, however, have something to due with the increased responsibility in the age to come of judging and presiding over God’s restored creation (cf. Matt. 19:28; 25:21; 1 Pet. 2:9; 1 Cor. 6:2). Whatever the crown of glory is, God’s people can be sure that it is eternal and worth whatever temporal challenges we face in the present age.
Submission and service to others does not just apply to elders but to all members of God’s congregation. In the same way as elders have given up their lives for the benefit of the sheep, all those who are younger should also submit themselves to the elders. Some commentators believe that Peter here refers to younger elders who were recently appointed to the position, but it is probably much better understood as an exhortation to the entire congregation. The elders have put the interests of the people above their own, but the believers should clothe themselves with humility. God’s people have put off the old clothes of their old life and have clothed themselves with Christ (Gal. 3:27). The clothes of the Master are robes of humility towards one another. The life of the Christian is a life of continual and purposeful service one toward another.
Peter, doing what he does so often, backs up his point with a reference from the Old Testament. He quotes from Proverbs 3:34, "God opposes the proud but shows favor tot he humble and oppressed." In chapter James 4, James make a similar point to Christians who are fighting with one another. The similarity between Peter’s words here and James’ words likely reflect an early Christian tradition centered around encouraging Christians to humility based on the example of Christ and the reality of the assaults of Satan (1 Pet. 5:8; James 4:7). The Christian who tries to exalt himself or herself at the expense of others or just for their own benefit will find themselves pushing away God’s hand from their life. Just as Christ humbled himself for the sake of others and was raised up by the power of God, so will those who belong to Christ. Christians should humble themselves under God’s mighty hand that He might lift them up in due time according to His will. In the Old Testament, God’s mighty hand was seen in the plagues that befell Egypt (Ex. 3:19; 6:1; 13:3, 9, 14, 16). In the same way, God’s mighty hand should be seen in the persecutions that they in Asia Minor were suffering through. God had vindicated His people then, and He will do the same in their situation. Because this is the same mighty God of the Exodus, they can cast their anxiety on Him. The Israelites of Moses’ day submitted to God’s power and waited on His deliverance. Believers under the New Covenant can do the same. He cares for His children and will allow what is best for us, even if that means going through trials and persecutions that will make us more like Christ than we could ever be by just being comfortable or thinking of ourselves first.
Devotional Thought
Does this passage in 1 Peter 5 sound like you? Do you really clothe yourself in humility? Why does God call His people to live constantly in humility? What would it take for you to really realize the kind of humility in your life that is appropriate to the life of Christ in you? Who or what in your life poses the biggest challenge for you to be truly humble?
1 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ's sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
"God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble and oppressed."
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Dig Deeper
Many years ago, while I was still a high school basketball coach, I had the opportunity to attend a coaching clinic that was being run by a coach who was, at the time, a major Division 1 college basketball coach that had achieved a fair amount of success and national recognition. On opening night he walked into a room full of high school basketball coaches, some from big programs, some from small schools. There was probably great truth to the fact that many in the room were a bit overwhelmed with the résumé of this man but it was also true that because he was such a big-time coach of a big-time college, that many were tempted to wonder what actual practical advice he might be able to offer. After all, how could he relate to the problems in coaching that come along with high schools that don’t have enough money, enough talent, or enough kids who are dedicated? As he came out, however, he began his talk by pointing out that although he was now a college coach, he was really nothing more than a long-time high school coach. He had been where we were, done what we were doing. In short, he knew what it was like. This immediately put him on common ground with all of the coaches and allowed everyone in the room to be able to hear what he had to say and know that he wasn’t just "talking down" to a bunch of little high school coaches. He was really just one of us.
Peter turns his attention, as the fifth chapter of this letter opens, to the elders of the church. In doing so, he begins with the same sort of common sense that that college coach had. He doesn’t mention his status as an apostle. Rather, he identifies himself with them. He is an elder and pastor just like they are. Peter knows what it’s like to do the day-to-day business of shepherding people and he knows what it’s like to be tempted with the uglier side of leadership. Not because he’s studied leadership academically or has talked to a lot of elders and learned about it, but because he is one. He was someone who could understand and relate to them, and someone to whom they could truly listen. He was, after all, really just one of them.
Peter does find common ground as he begins to address the elders. He appeals to them as a fellow elder just like them, but he is also a faithful witness of Christ’s sufferings. He is like them and can identify with them as someone who also knows what it’s like to be an elder, but he also has credibility as one who has and will continue to call them to sacrifice their own lives and live the life that Christ had called them to. Why does he have credibility? Because he was there. He’s not just calling them to live a lifestyle of which he knows nothing. He saw Christ’s sufferings firsthand and was called by the Master to live what he saw. He also, no doubt, had a sharp memory of denying Christ at His hour of need and being restored to the service of the King. Jesus exhorted him, in no uncertain terms, that if he truly understood what it meant to follow Christ and live a life for others, then Peter should demonstrate that by leading and feeding God’s sheep.
As one who will share with the elders and their sheep in the glory of the age to come, Peter calls them to be shepherds of God’s flock. Just as Peter has addressed various parts of the Christian community, as well as the whole congregation, and called them to live radically different from the world around them, he will now do the same to the leaders of the Church, the elders. The normative standard of leadership in Peter’s day was that rulers lorded their authority over those they led (Matt. 20:25; Mark 10:42; Luke 22:25). But Christians operate in a different reality than the world does. Christians are willing to suffer and put the interests of others first so as to benefit them because that is what Christ did for us. Thus, rather than leading because they were forced into it or using the position to pursue dishonest gain, they should lead because they are willing and eager to serve. Considering the persecution they were facing, it was quite possible that some would be extremely hesitant to lead not wanting to bring extra attention or hardship, yet that would be the response of someone thinking from a worldly point of view. Similarly, for those who had been persecuted and excluded from much of the economic activity of the community since becoming a Christian, it might have been a special temptation to take advantage of the giving spirit of the Christian community by serving their own interests.
As shepherd of Christ’s flock, the overseeing shepherds need to not engage in worldly attitudes of leadership like leading begrudgingly, or lording over others for our own benefit. That is the type of leadership in which the world engages. Leadership in the kingdom of God is just like everything else that Peter has been describing. It should be done for the benefit of others, and to be examples to the flock. Elders need not look for reward or recompense during the present age for they will, like all Christians, receive their vindication in the age to come, a crown of glory that will never fade away. Peter does not explain what precisely the crown of glory is but that it is not really the point of Peter’s writing. It may, however, have something to due with the increased responsibility in the age to come of judging and presiding over God’s restored creation (cf. Matt. 19:28; 25:21; 1 Pet. 2:9; 1 Cor. 6:2). Whatever the crown of glory is, God’s people can be sure that it is eternal and worth whatever temporal challenges we face in the present age.
Submission and service to others does not just apply to elders but to all members of God’s congregation. In the same way as elders have given up their lives for the benefit of the sheep, all those who are younger should also submit themselves to the elders. Some commentators believe that Peter here refers to younger elders who were recently appointed to the position, but it is probably much better understood as an exhortation to the entire congregation. The elders have put the interests of the people above their own, but the believers should clothe themselves with humility. God’s people have put off the old clothes of their old life and have clothed themselves with Christ (Gal. 3:27). The clothes of the Master are robes of humility towards one another. The life of the Christian is a life of continual and purposeful service one toward another.
Peter, doing what he does so often, backs up his point with a reference from the Old Testament. He quotes from Proverbs 3:34, "God opposes the proud but shows favor tot he humble and oppressed." In chapter James 4, James make a similar point to Christians who are fighting with one another. The similarity between Peter’s words here and James’ words likely reflect an early Christian tradition centered around encouraging Christians to humility based on the example of Christ and the reality of the assaults of Satan (1 Pet. 5:8; James 4:7). The Christian who tries to exalt himself or herself at the expense of others or just for their own benefit will find themselves pushing away God’s hand from their life. Just as Christ humbled himself for the sake of others and was raised up by the power of God, so will those who belong to Christ. Christians should humble themselves under God’s mighty hand that He might lift them up in due time according to His will. In the Old Testament, God’s mighty hand was seen in the plagues that befell Egypt (Ex. 3:19; 6:1; 13:3, 9, 14, 16). In the same way, God’s mighty hand should be seen in the persecutions that they in Asia Minor were suffering through. God had vindicated His people then, and He will do the same in their situation. Because this is the same mighty God of the Exodus, they can cast their anxiety on Him. The Israelites of Moses’ day submitted to God’s power and waited on His deliverance. Believers under the New Covenant can do the same. He cares for His children and will allow what is best for us, even if that means going through trials and persecutions that will make us more like Christ than we could ever be by just being comfortable or thinking of ourselves first.
Devotional Thought
Does this passage in 1 Peter 5 sound like you? Do you really clothe yourself in humility? Why does God call His people to live constantly in humility? What would it take for you to really realize the kind of humility in your life that is appropriate to the life of Christ in you? Who or what in your life poses the biggest challenge for you to be truly humble?
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
1 Peter 4:12-19
Suffering for Being a Christian
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with God's household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And,
"If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"
19 So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
Dig Deeper
I was expecting it, of course, but she had no idea that it was coming. The high school at which I taught had hired a new teacher and it was her first day. Most of the classes at this school were team taught and I was asked to team up with this teacher for most of her classes during her first semester so that I could mentor her. I knew her first couple of weeks would likely be rough but she was full of idealism and thought all of the kids would treat her with love, respect, and kindness. Only, that’s just not how things worked around there. Kids were suspicious of new teachers and rather than treating them with respect and hospitality that would welcome them into the family, they seemed to like to test and harass new teachers to see what they were made of. On her very first day, several of the students were rude and disrespectful to her in a fairly confrontational way. She didn’t handle it very well and I was forced to step in and reprimand them, which is not the best thing but she had clearly lost control. At the end of the day, when all of the kids had gone home, she broke down into tears and couldn’t seem to understand why that had happened. One of the things I reminded her of was that she should have known this was coming. It simply came with the territory. If you’re going to take a job teaching at an inner-city high school with one of the worst education systems in the entire country, you absolutely have to be ready for rough students and hard times. Being shocked when difficult times come is just plain naiveté that one cannot afford in that situation.
The believers of Peter’s day had died to their old lives and entered into Christ and would have been told from the very beginning that part of that decision would likely entail sharing in the suffering of Christ. What was true of the king, after all, was true of his people and Christ had certainly suffered and been persecuted. It’s possible that the communities to which Peter was originally writing did not face much persecution at first but now it had come on full force. This may haven taken them by surprise or shocked them that it had happened at all. Peter reminds them, though, that they should have known better. Part of the deal, part of the very nature of being a Christian means taking on persecution, suffering and trials. Those who present Christianity as all health, wealth, and prosperity present a false gospel. They were facing suffering, and says Peter, they should have expected it all along.
The trials that had come their way must have been fairly severe because Peter calls it a fiery ordeal that had come to test them. They shouldn’t consider this some sort of strange aberration or begin to question their faith, however. This was part of the life of Christ. It was as natural and normal as could be. Rather, they should rejoice as they participate in the sufferings of Christ, or as James puts it, "consider it pure joy" (James 1:2). This seems strange to one whose thinking is still controlled by the flesh but should make perfect sense to the Christian. Just as a thin person looks at a bodybuilder and knows that he must put himself through some severe tests and strenuous exercise in order to transform his body to become like the muscleman, the Christian knows that our great hope is to be transformed into Christ-likeness. The only way to achieve that completeness is through suffering, tests, and trials. They should not think of suffering as something to be shunned or spoken against the way Peter had so many years before when Christ was introducing the subjects to His disciples (Matt. 16:21-22; Mark 8:31-32). They should, in fact, rejoice in their present sufferings, because they know that as they are crafted, molded, and refined into the image of Christ, they will be overjoyed when His glory is fully revealed in them (cf. 2 Cor. 3:18) at the great renewal of all things and resurrection of the righteous (Matt. 19:28).
In our modern, Western culture we might tend to miss the full force of being insulted because of the name of Christ in the first century. "Name" in the first century could be used almost synonymously with the life or character of someone, so Peter is referring to the life of Christ in which they all participate. But they lived in an honor-shame culture in which being insulted was far more than a bit of verbal criticism. Being shamed in that culture meant having permanent damage done to one’s reputation, status, and social standing.
They needed to learn to cope with the loss of social status and economic opportunities and embrace that they might very well be treated as social outcasts. That should not shame them in their own eyes, however, or serve as some kind of sign that they had made a mistake when they chose the life of Christ. In fact, they should praise God that they bear that name, because the very persecution that they are facing was not a negative thing but a sign that they were indeed living part of the life of Christ. It was an important caveat, subsequently, that they should not suffer for ungodly behavior. They likely would have understood that Christians were not to be murderers or criminals, but Peter says that this prohibition includes even being meddlers, a word that could also be translated "busybodies." His point is that suffering for the life of Christ is appropriate, but suffering for ungodly behavior simply won’t do. They shouldn’t jeopardize a witness that really hinges on upright behavior in the face of persecution. Those types of behaviors should not be tolerated or even excused because of their difficult situation.
After hashing out the reality of facing trials, Peter returns to the topic of judgment, which served as a powerful motivator and regulator for the early church. The judgment of God was important to them as it would be the time when God vindicated His people as being just that. Peter reminds them, though, God’s judgment begins with God’s people, a concept familiar to those fluent in the Old Testament. In fact, the early church viewed persecution as the first, and necessary, stage of the future judgment (cf. Phil. 2:28-30; 1 Thess. 3:3-4:2; 2 Thess. 1:4; Revelation 1-22). The realization of a future judgment served as powerful basis for calling the Christian community to live faithfully to the life of Christ to which they had been called. What they needed to realize was the big picture. The types of persecutions and trials which they were now facing were part of the judgment and discipline of God as He refined His people, molding them into the image of Christ, so that they would be able to withstand the presence of the consuming fire that is our God (Deut. 4:4; Heb. 12:29; cf. Mal. 3:1-4). This is precisely what Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 11:32 when he says, "Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world." Suffering and trials are the "exercise" we need to become like Christ (cf. James 1:2-4). These trials are not easy and they never will be, but they do have a purpose that makes it worth it. Not everyone will stand up to these trials, unfortunately, and those who do will find it rough going from time to time.
Peter once again quotes from the Old Testament (Prov. 11:31) to bolster his point: "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" If, in other words, God’s judgment is so stringent that it provides a stiff challenge for even the people of God, what possible chance do those not in Christ stand? The obvious answer is none. Only those who have entered into Christ will be formed into His image and only those in image of Christ will be able to withstand the full penetrating and judging presence of the almighty God. Those in Christ who suffer then, should realize that, although God is not responsible for their suffering, He does allow it as part of His will. They should, simply put, commit themselves to their faithful creator, despite whatever suffering and persecution they may suffer, and continue to do good, regardless of the difficult circumstances they might find themselves.
Devotional Thought
We often sing a song that says, "When trouble comes my way. . . Jesus is gonna fix it, after a while." Have you ever thought about that song in light of what Peter says here. If we are going to align that song with the word of God, then it really hinges on having a proper understanding of "after a while." Spend some times considering what that song, correctly understood, might mean for your own trials, troubles, or ordeals.
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with God's household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And,
"If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"
19 So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
Dig Deeper
I was expecting it, of course, but she had no idea that it was coming. The high school at which I taught had hired a new teacher and it was her first day. Most of the classes at this school were team taught and I was asked to team up with this teacher for most of her classes during her first semester so that I could mentor her. I knew her first couple of weeks would likely be rough but she was full of idealism and thought all of the kids would treat her with love, respect, and kindness. Only, that’s just not how things worked around there. Kids were suspicious of new teachers and rather than treating them with respect and hospitality that would welcome them into the family, they seemed to like to test and harass new teachers to see what they were made of. On her very first day, several of the students were rude and disrespectful to her in a fairly confrontational way. She didn’t handle it very well and I was forced to step in and reprimand them, which is not the best thing but she had clearly lost control. At the end of the day, when all of the kids had gone home, she broke down into tears and couldn’t seem to understand why that had happened. One of the things I reminded her of was that she should have known this was coming. It simply came with the territory. If you’re going to take a job teaching at an inner-city high school with one of the worst education systems in the entire country, you absolutely have to be ready for rough students and hard times. Being shocked when difficult times come is just plain naiveté that one cannot afford in that situation.
The believers of Peter’s day had died to their old lives and entered into Christ and would have been told from the very beginning that part of that decision would likely entail sharing in the suffering of Christ. What was true of the king, after all, was true of his people and Christ had certainly suffered and been persecuted. It’s possible that the communities to which Peter was originally writing did not face much persecution at first but now it had come on full force. This may haven taken them by surprise or shocked them that it had happened at all. Peter reminds them, though, that they should have known better. Part of the deal, part of the very nature of being a Christian means taking on persecution, suffering and trials. Those who present Christianity as all health, wealth, and prosperity present a false gospel. They were facing suffering, and says Peter, they should have expected it all along.
The trials that had come their way must have been fairly severe because Peter calls it a fiery ordeal that had come to test them. They shouldn’t consider this some sort of strange aberration or begin to question their faith, however. This was part of the life of Christ. It was as natural and normal as could be. Rather, they should rejoice as they participate in the sufferings of Christ, or as James puts it, "consider it pure joy" (James 1:2). This seems strange to one whose thinking is still controlled by the flesh but should make perfect sense to the Christian. Just as a thin person looks at a bodybuilder and knows that he must put himself through some severe tests and strenuous exercise in order to transform his body to become like the muscleman, the Christian knows that our great hope is to be transformed into Christ-likeness. The only way to achieve that completeness is through suffering, tests, and trials. They should not think of suffering as something to be shunned or spoken against the way Peter had so many years before when Christ was introducing the subjects to His disciples (Matt. 16:21-22; Mark 8:31-32). They should, in fact, rejoice in their present sufferings, because they know that as they are crafted, molded, and refined into the image of Christ, they will be overjoyed when His glory is fully revealed in them (cf. 2 Cor. 3:18) at the great renewal of all things and resurrection of the righteous (Matt. 19:28).
In our modern, Western culture we might tend to miss the full force of being insulted because of the name of Christ in the first century. "Name" in the first century could be used almost synonymously with the life or character of someone, so Peter is referring to the life of Christ in which they all participate. But they lived in an honor-shame culture in which being insulted was far more than a bit of verbal criticism. Being shamed in that culture meant having permanent damage done to one’s reputation, status, and social standing.
They needed to learn to cope with the loss of social status and economic opportunities and embrace that they might very well be treated as social outcasts. That should not shame them in their own eyes, however, or serve as some kind of sign that they had made a mistake when they chose the life of Christ. In fact, they should praise God that they bear that name, because the very persecution that they are facing was not a negative thing but a sign that they were indeed living part of the life of Christ. It was an important caveat, subsequently, that they should not suffer for ungodly behavior. They likely would have understood that Christians were not to be murderers or criminals, but Peter says that this prohibition includes even being meddlers, a word that could also be translated "busybodies." His point is that suffering for the life of Christ is appropriate, but suffering for ungodly behavior simply won’t do. They shouldn’t jeopardize a witness that really hinges on upright behavior in the face of persecution. Those types of behaviors should not be tolerated or even excused because of their difficult situation.
After hashing out the reality of facing trials, Peter returns to the topic of judgment, which served as a powerful motivator and regulator for the early church. The judgment of God was important to them as it would be the time when God vindicated His people as being just that. Peter reminds them, though, God’s judgment begins with God’s people, a concept familiar to those fluent in the Old Testament. In fact, the early church viewed persecution as the first, and necessary, stage of the future judgment (cf. Phil. 2:28-30; 1 Thess. 3:3-4:2; 2 Thess. 1:4; Revelation 1-22). The realization of a future judgment served as powerful basis for calling the Christian community to live faithfully to the life of Christ to which they had been called. What they needed to realize was the big picture. The types of persecutions and trials which they were now facing were part of the judgment and discipline of God as He refined His people, molding them into the image of Christ, so that they would be able to withstand the presence of the consuming fire that is our God (Deut. 4:4; Heb. 12:29; cf. Mal. 3:1-4). This is precisely what Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 11:32 when he says, "Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world." Suffering and trials are the "exercise" we need to become like Christ (cf. James 1:2-4). These trials are not easy and they never will be, but they do have a purpose that makes it worth it. Not everyone will stand up to these trials, unfortunately, and those who do will find it rough going from time to time.
Peter once again quotes from the Old Testament (Prov. 11:31) to bolster his point: "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" If, in other words, God’s judgment is so stringent that it provides a stiff challenge for even the people of God, what possible chance do those not in Christ stand? The obvious answer is none. Only those who have entered into Christ will be formed into His image and only those in image of Christ will be able to withstand the full penetrating and judging presence of the almighty God. Those in Christ who suffer then, should realize that, although God is not responsible for their suffering, He does allow it as part of His will. They should, simply put, commit themselves to their faithful creator, despite whatever suffering and persecution they may suffer, and continue to do good, regardless of the difficult circumstances they might find themselves.
Devotional Thought
We often sing a song that says, "When trouble comes my way. . . Jesus is gonna fix it, after a while." Have you ever thought about that song in light of what Peter says here. If we are going to align that song with the word of God, then it really hinges on having a proper understanding of "after a while." Spend some times considering what that song, correctly understood, might mean for your own trials, troubles, or ordeals.
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