A STUDY OF THE BOOK OF II PETER

II PETER 1:12-21

LESSON TWO

The Basis of True knowledge: II Peter 1:12-18

V 12 - In the first part of chapter one of II Peter, Peter teaches about the growth of true knowledge, now beginning with verse twelve and continuing through verse eighteen, Peter gives us the basis for the true knowledge. It is obvious that he was writing this second letter to people who had been believers for a while. It is important for everyone to hear the cardinal doctrines of the faith more than once. In other words, human nature is such that we need to have things repeated to us many times before we can finally grasp the concept of what something means. In the first place, most people will not remember everything of what they hear the first time, and so it is almost impossible to keep something in mind if it cannot be remembered. We’re told that a person has to hear something at least seven times before he can begin to remember it.

In 1885, British businessman Thomas Smith attempted to answer that question in a guide called Successful Advertising. In his book was a 20 step plan for getting people to buy his product:

“The first time people look at any given ad, they don’t even see it.

The second time, they don’t notice it.

The third time, they are aware that it is there.

The fourth time, they have a fleeting sense that they’ve seen it somewhere before.

The fifth time, they actually read the ad.

The sixth time, they thumb their nose at it.

The seventh time, they start to get a little irritated with it.

The eighth time, they start to think, "Here’s that confounded ad again."

The ninth time, they start to wonder if they’re missing out on something.

The tenth time, they ask their friends and neighbors if they’ve tried it.

The eleventh time, they wonder how the company is paying for all these ads.

The twelfth time, they start to think that it must be a good product.

The thirteenth time, they start to feel the product has value.

The fourteenth time, they start to remember wanting a product exactly like this for a long time.

The fifteenth time, they start to yearn for it because they can’t afford to buy it.

The sixteenth time, they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future.

The seventeenth time, they make a note to buy the product.

The eighteenth time, they curse their poverty for not allowing them to buy this terrific product.

The nineteenth time, they count their money very carefully.

The twentieth time prospects see the ad, they buy what is offered.”

So it is with the human brain, that we need to be reminded of even important things, more than once, and the Gospel message is no different. You can testify to the fact that each time you read the Bible, you learn something different. Part of that reason is that you notice things you never noticed before, but of course, the Holy Spirit does lead you into seeing new things each time.

So Peter is telling the believers that he did not want to be neglectful in repeating the story of the Cross to them, but he also knew that unless a person really understands the meaning of what Jesus did on the Cross, he will not remember it. In other words, Peter was saying that since their eternity depended on them understanding the message of the Cross, he would repeat it again. Preachers and teachers today still need to repeat the message of the Cross, because unless a believer has a good understanding of what Jesus did on the Cross, he will not be able to live a victorious life. We cannot vary from the truth or dilute the truth, but must preach and teach the whole Gospel without excuses.

The early church in the days of Peter did know the truth, but there were some of the churches who had trouble with the Judaizers. The Judaizers were so-called Christian Jews who said they had accepted Christ as Savior, but they still claimed that the only way a Gentile could be saved, was by circumcision (Acts 15:1). The Council in Jerusalem which was led by James, a brother of Jesus, actually settled the debate about circumcision for Gentiles - in which Peter was present (Acts 15:7-12). If the Cross is misunderstood, then most everything else will be misunderstood, since the Word of God is the story of the Cross.

As I have mentioned before, unless a believer continues to look to the Cross after conversion, he will not be able to live a life in victory. We must have faith which will help us to understand more about the Cross. Everything that is recorded in the Bible points to the Cross. The “present truth” that Peter mentions could be translated as “the faith” (Rom 10:7) or “Jesus Christ” ( I Cor 2:2). The Lord Jesus Christ is actually the Truth, the Way, and the Life - (Jn 14:6) and the only way we can approach God is by going through Jesus Christ. The Jews thought that anyone who was hung on a tree was cursed by God- so they couldn’t understand that someone who died on a tree could redeem humanity from sin. Then the Greeks (who professed themselves to be very intelligent), thought that it was foolishness for a man to hang on a tree and they could not understand how that would bring about redemption.

V 13-14- In these next two verses, Peter speaks of the tabernacle, which in this case is his body, and he knows his time left on earth is short. By the time of this writing, he knew and felt that he would not live much longer, and so he was encouraging the believers in his first letter and warning them in his second letter.

God created us with a spirit and soul which are eternal and cannot die (in the physical sense) as the body which is temporal. The spirit of the unsaved person is spiritually dead which means it is dead toward God, and the soul is also dead in trespasses and sins but both can be made spiritually alive as Jesus said in Jn 3:3 - “...Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The physical body we have was originally created to live forever but when Adam and Eve committed the first sin at the Fall of Man, they experienced “spiritual death” which also brought on physical death. When an unsaved person dies, the soul and the spirit go into Hell (Lk 16:19-31), but when a believer dies, he immediately goes into the presence of the Lord (Phil 1:23).

The phrase “to stir you up” means to arouse the mind - bring to remembrance what they have already been taught. So it is important to keep reminding believers of the true Word of God. The human mind must be reminded of things because the things of God are spiritually discerned (I Cor 2:14) but the spirits of darkness are constantly trying to take the truth from us. For this reason, Peter used the word “diligence” in verse 10. It takes an effort to keep the mind stirred up and on the things of God. We must understand the Cross and that comes to us by having the faith that the Holy Spirit empowers us with. We should be concerned with the rewards which will be given to the believers at the Judgment Seat of Christ, which will be based on our faithfulness and are eternal.

In Jn 21:18-19 Jesus prepared Peter for the fact that he would live to be an older man, and then would die by someone else’s hand - in other words - as being killed by someone. Actually, legend has it that he died probably around 67 or 68 AD as a martyr by the ruling of Nero. It seems then that Peter knew for many years some things about his death, without knowing all the details. In spite of all that Peter had gone through, he never turned away from God or abandoned the work that Jesus had for him to do.

V 15 - Peter was determined to be diligent in leaving behind a permanent record of the Gospel as he had learned it. He wanted to be sure that he was able to relate to the believers everything the Holy Spirit had conveyed to him, and for this reason, he was making a written record of it. As I already stated, he was sure that his time was short on this earth and so he referred to putting off the tabernacle (which referred to his body) and being ready to proceed to be in the presence of the Lord. In this verse 15, the word “decease” means “exodus” but this word used for “exodus” is not the usual word to denote death but instead it was the word referring to one going on a journey out of this world. This is the same word that was used in Lk 9:31 in referring to the scene on the Mount of Transfiguration. In other words, this would refute the doctrine of soul sleep, because Peter was confident that when his physical body died, he would be going to Heaven. He did not expect that he would cease to be. He understood and expected to be in the presence of the Lord as soon as he died physically. It also seems that he knew he would suffer a martyr’s death. This verse is the third time in which Peter uses the word “remembrance” but he will use it one more time - in chapter 3 verse 1.

It seems from these verses that Peter knew there would be no more apostolic succession as is taught in the Catholic church, because he was admonishing them to use the Scripture as their rule of guidance and he let them know that there would be false teachers in the future who would try to discredit the Gospel. Jesus had predicted the death of Peter in Jn 21:18, so when the time came, Peter accepted it with dignity and in fact was crucified on a Cross - which was the cruelest form of Roman killing- and tradition says that he requested that he be hung upside down on the Cross - because he felt himself unworthy to die in the exact same manner of his Lord. Jesus Christ died on the Cross to redeem mankind from sin; but Peter died on the Cross out of love for his Master.

V 16 - The word “fables” in verse 16 refers to myths about the gods but in a broader sense it refers to “heresies”. In the first verse of the next chapter, Peter refers to the false teachers. So the fables would include Greek mythology, Jewish myths, Rabbinical interpretations of the Old Testament, or anything else that was not in line with the Word of God. Satan today still distracts the believers by “another gospel” which is anything that is not of God. He will use any method available to deceive. Peter used the words “cunningly devised” meaning “to teach in a bad way”, “to invent”, or “to devise cleverly”. It is the responsibility of each believer to know the Word of God so they will not be deceived, but there is also the responsibility of the teacher to teach the complete Gospel in order for people to hear the Word.

Peter, James, and John were in the inner circle of friends that Jesus had, but at this time, James had already been martyred, so only John and Peter were left of the ones who had been with Jesus so much of the time during His ministry. The point is that at this time, Peter was one of only two people left who were eyewitnesses of the healings and miracles of Jesus and of His transfiguration, which was an actual demonstration of Christ when He returns in His glory to set up His kingdom. (It is believed by some scholars, that Peter helped the Apostle Mark write the Gospel of Mark.) Because Peter had been with Jesus so much and had known Him so well, he was confident and sure when speaking of the power and majesty of Christ. He wasn’t just talking about the Second Coming of Jesus but also of His life on earth.

V 17-18 - When Peter says that Jesus received “honour” and “glory” from the Father, he was speaking of the majesty of Jesus which Peter mentioned in the previous verse. The word “honour” is the public acknowledgement of the Sonship of Jesus - Ps 2:6-7; Mt 3:17; Lk:3:22. The word “glory” refers to His transfiguration as recorded in Mt 17:1-9; Mk 9:2-10; Lk 9:28-36. His “countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistening”; “his face did shine as the sun”, and “behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” Kenneth Wuest, a noted Christian Greek scholar says the cloud from Heaven that appeared around Jesus, Moses, and Elias was the Shekinah - the glory of God that was at the Mercy Seat. The voice was the voice of God which was similar to the voice of God at Mt Sinai. Deut 5:23-27 says that when the people heard God speak, it was so powerful, they were afraid they would die, and so they wanted God to speak to Moses only.

No one knows for sure upon what mountain the Transfiguration took place, because it is the tendency of man to worship the place and not the person, but the Mount is considered holy only because Jesus was there. Some scholars tend to think that it was near Nazareth. Human nature is that we tend to worship the place of an event rather than the person sometimes- maybe that’s why we aren’t told the location.

Prophecy of Scripture: II Peter 1:19-21

V 19-21 - Infallibility and inerrancy cannot be separated, for the inerrancy of Scripture is the result of the infallibility of God’s own Word. Scripture in its entirety is true and reliable in all its parts. Although Peter was with Jesus during HIs earthly ministry, he is confirming the fact that the Old Testament (which was his entire Bible at the time) was the sure and specific Word of Prophecy. He is saying that the scriptures of old were an even surer confirmation of God’s truth than what he saw himself. Although he had seen signs and wonders during the ministry of Jesus, and although he was present at the Transfiguration, and even though he heard the voice of God from Heaven, Peter says the revelation, inspiration, and illumination was a more surer affirmation of the Word. So the signs and wonders take second place to the Word of God. Even today, there are still many people who seek the signs and wonders rather than studying the Word of God, and they are the ones who can be easily deceived because they don’t know the Word. Satan is an “angel of light” and so will make things look, seem, act like, and feel like God in order to deceive the child of God.

Peter is telling us to take heed- or be diligent - in looking to Scripture as the final and ultimate Word of God. The phrase “the day will dawn” refers to the rule and reign of Jesus on earth, and Jesus is the Day Star. Peter assures us that the Scripture is valid and it is not from the will or interpretation of man but that it originated as the Will of God. Everything in the Old Testament pointed to the Cross and the redemption of mankind.

The Catholic Church has taken the words “private interpretation” and changed the meaning of the phrase by saying that it’s referring to the person reading the text. They claim that the laity can not understand the scripture and therefore should not read it but let the priests read scriptures to them since the priests are the only ones who can understand and explain the texts. This is what led up to the 1000 year period of time called the Dark Ages, until the time of the Reformation. The same philosophy is still being used today, but it is because the Catholic church is not as interested in the spiritual condition of its followers as it is in trying to control their lives. The sad fact is that there are many Protestant churches who are following the same way of thinking. But God’s Word is meant to be read by every believer,, and it is inexhaustible, though it never changes.

When Peter speaks of prophecy, he is concerned with the entire Word of God. The word “prophecy” has two meanings - number one it pertains to predictions concerning the future, and number two, it pertains to edification, exhortation, and comfort as found in I Cor 14:3. The Word of God did not originate in the mind of man but in the mind of God, and the Holy Spirit inspired each of the writers to write using his own vocabulary. But each writer was inspired and moved upon by the Holy Spirit. Even Plato, one of the great Greek philosophers, did admit that the Revelation from God was the only sure answer to life and religious truth.

In I Cor 2:9-16 Paul spoke of the inspiration of the Word, and even though he was well learned in philosophy, he was giving credit to the Holy Spirit for the Word of God. Paul had been trained at the University of Tarsus, which was well known worldwide and was rated ahead of Athens and Alexandria, and so he looked at scripture not only from the angle of a mystic, but also one who knew and had fellowship with God. Paul said the scriptures were revealed - which means the truth was given by the Holy Spirit and was beyond the capacity and ability of man to discover it. Inspiration means that the Bible writers were given God-chosen, infallible words by the Holy Spirit, and then the illumination was given by the Holy Spirit which enabled the believers to understand the Word of God. When studying scripture today, the believer needs to have the illumination from the Holy Spirit in order to be able to absorb and comprehend the mind of God. The writers of scripture were given verbal inspiration which means they were able to relate the scripture so that believers could understand the Word. We must have the Holy Spirit reveal to us the meaning of Scriptures as we study them.