Lesson 32
Second Peter
Warning against dangers
facing the Church
Chapter 3
The Certainty of the
Believers Hope – The Return of Christ
3:1 The
Rise of Scoffers in the last days
This is now, beloved, the second letter I am
writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,
- the word for stirring up
is interesting, present active indicative of diegei,rw
which means to arouse from sleep or drowsiness, here his idea is to jog their
doctrinal f/o/r; to wake them up to reality through repetition of doctrinal
teaching 1:13-15
The focus of his stirring up
is your sincere mind
- sincere = eilikrinhj - pure, genuine, w/o hypocrisy; idea is
moral purity in one's relationships
Phil
- mind dia,noia (1) the seat of perception and thinking, mind,
understanding, intellect
(2) as an inner disposition of
mind and heart attitude,
thought, way of thinking
(3) as
a function of the intellect resulting in insight comprehension, understanding, an idea
- here it describes the content of the analysis center of the
soul, the place where your thinking and insight takes place
3:1 This is now,
beloved, the second epistle I am writing to you (for your benefit) in which I
am stirring up your pure (unsullied) mind by way of reminder.
Summary Thoughts:
1. Once
again Peter points out the need for repetition of teaching doctrine.
2. This
is designed to keep one spiritually awake and alert!
3. A
pure or unsullied mind speaks of having an analysis center of our soul
consistently functioning on DVPT. 2 Cor
10:5
4. Only
those who are spiritually
awake/alert will appreciated the importance of this epistle and
the living hope we have as believers. 1
Pet 1:3
5. A living hope is one that is never extinguished
by the circumstances of life, the common human problems (chp's) we face in
time.
- reality in time of realizing this hope, the
confidence that is ours in Christ is based on building a k/BD, a F/O/R of truth
and keeping our focus on Christ
6. Part of this living hope is anticipation of the
blessed hope, the return of Christ at the Rapture, the acquiring of our
resurrection body and being rewarded at the JSC.
7. Our confidence in this "living hope"
is based on and made a reality by Christ's own victory over the grave, His resurrection is the proof of this hope.
3:2 that you
should remember the words spoken beforehand
by
the holy prophets refers to the true prophets of
and
the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.
This last part of the verse reminds us again of the
doctrine of revelation of the Lord and Savior through (spoken beforehand) by
your apostles.
3:2 That you should remember the words having been
spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord even
Savior (spoken before) by your apostles.
Summary
Thoughts:
1. Peter is pointing out
here the importance of the message of the prophets and that of the apostles who
communicated prophetic truth this generation.
- the
perfect tense of spoken before tells us the prophetic truth still has impact
today
2. It takes the content of
both OT and NT is needed to clearly get the prophetic picture of things to
come.
3. Both
the prophets and apostles have communicated doctrine and prophetic truth that
is important for our orientation in time which is the reason that Peter is
jogging our memory center in these areas.
4. The
commandment (sg.) of the Lord is found in Matt. 28:20 “teaching them to
observe all that I commanded you.”
- this is a command to the 11 disciples who plus Paul would
become the Apostles to the church with an emphasis on teaching!
- Eph
5.
Christ had previously made clear to them in the Olivet discourse that His words as well as
Scripture (written word) are more enduring than even the heaven and the
earth. Matt. 24:35
-
Jesus does not foresee a time in the future when His message can be judged as
needless, outmoded, superseded, or become untrue. Which is
the case for the liberal theologians today!
6.
Believe that Peter’s statement here also includes those Church age doctrines
like the mystery doctrines that define our unique position that Paul taught as
well as those prophesies for the Church age like the rapture and the return of
Christ.
7. Any
unfolding of the future, what will happen is only found in the Word of God.
- won’t be found in
horoscopes, fortune telling which are all demon activity
- for
the believer they are both a means of spiritual fornication, and infidelity
8. By
obedience to His commands the advancing believer will be able to capitalize on
their position in Christ with its provision for time and inheritance in
eternity.
3:3 One of the attacks of the Liberal False Teachers as we
approach the end of the age;
What they are doing is to
question the integrity and veracity of God and His Word.
Know this first of all, that in the last days
mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts,
- this effectively gives us an addendum to what
we are to be on guard for as distortion of truth and an attack on doctrine by
the F/T’s we met in chapter 2
Note: in every generation
of the church age F/T’s are present but in the last generation of the Church
age the condition is intensified so also the following conditions, the mocking
of truth will be intensified in the last generation.
mockers
will come with their mocking, evmpai,kthj
to
play with; to trifle with therefore to mock;
another reference to the F/T’s
following
after their own lusts,
circumstantial participle of poreu,omai
to
go after, to proceed after evpiqumi,a lust
pattern of their sin nature
3:3 Keep
knowing this first of all that during the last days (C/A) mockers will come
with scoffing; ones pursuing eagerly after their own lusts.
Summary observations:
1. This rise of scoffers, the F/T’s who would
come on the scene in ever increasing numbers
in the last days with their scoffing, mocking and ridicule of God and
His Word was also prophesied by:
a.
Christ – Matt. 24:3-5,11
b. Paul – 2 Tim. 3:1-9
(characteristics of the last days)
c. Jude – Jude 17-18
2. As we noted earlier in chapter 2 the
continuous pattern of these mockers, scoffers lives is
one of eager pursuit of their sin natures lusts.
3. Their mocking of the Word of God will be
consistent, open and oppressive.
4. This viewpoint is being forced on the culture from every possible
angle and is becoming pervasive in our society today. (TV, radio, newspapers, schools)
5. The logical climax of the destructive heresies
which began with the denying of the master who bought them is the denial of His
return, the parousia.
6. Peter is forewarning the believer of this
denial and the observance of its actual occurrence during the last days should
be a source of encouragement and comfort for the spiritually awake advancing
believer.