2 Peter

Grow in Grace

Second Peter is a farewell letter. Peter knows his death is near: “Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me” (1:14). He wants to leave the church something that will last after he is gone, and he chooses to warn them.

First Peter dealt with danger from outside the church: persecution and suffering. Second Peter deals with danger from inside: false teachers who slip in among God’s people, deny the Lord who bought them, indulge their appetites, and treat believers as a source of income. Peter’s answer is to grow: add to your faith, know Christ more fully, hold on to the sure word of Scripture, and live in light of the day of the Lord. The letter ends with its theme: “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”(3:18).

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Authorship & Setting

The letter names its author as “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ” (1:1). He says he was an eyewitness of the transfiguration (1:16–18), that this is his second letter to these readers (3:1), and that Jesus had shown him his death was near. If Peter wrote it, it dates to just before his martyrdom in Rome, around AD 64–68.

To be honest with readers, 2 Peter is the most debated book in the New Testament on the question of authorship. It was accepted more slowly than most books, and the church historian Eusebius listed it among the writings some disputed. Its Greek style is different from 1 Peter’s, though 1 Peter tells us it was written with the help of Silvanus, and this letter may have had a different helper or none. In the end the church received 2 Peter as Scripture, and its message has proven itself across the centuries.

Chapter 2 is closely parallel to the letter of Jude, sharing many of the same examples and images. Scholars debate who borrowed from whom. Notice also that Peter refers to “our beloved brother Paul” and places Paul’s letters alongside “the other scriptures” (3:15–16). The same Peter whom Paul once publicly rebuked at Antioch (Galatians 2:11) calls him beloved and honors his writings as Scripture.

Key Figures

• Peter — an eyewitness of Christ’s majesty, now ready to “put off this my tabernacle” (1:14).
• Paul — “our beloved brother Paul,” whose letters contain “some things hard to be understood” (3:15–16).
• The false teachers — who “privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them” (2:1).
• The angels that sinned — whom God “spared not… but cast them down to hell” (2:4).
• Noah — “a preacher of righteousness,” saved with seven others when the flood came on the ungodly (2:5).
• Lot — “just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked” (2:7), rescued before Sodom’s destruction.
• Balaam — the prophet “who loved the wages of unrighteousness” and was rebuked by his own donkey (2:15–16).
• The scoffers — who would come in the last days asking, “Where is the promise of his coming?”(3:4).

Greek Word Study

ἐπιχορηγέω · epichorēgeō

“To add,” to supply generously (1:5). In Greek cities, a chorēgos was a wealthy citizen who paid all the expenses for a chorus in a public festival, and did it lavishly. Peter tells us to supply our faith with virtue, knowledge, temperance, and the rest, generously, not stingily. And God promises that, in return, “an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly”(1:11), the same word.

ἐπίγνωσις · epignōsis

“Knowledge,” specifically full, personal, growing knowledge. It appears in the first chapter again and again: grace and peace come “through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord” (1:2). False teachers claim secret knowledge. Peter’s answer is real knowledge of a real Person, which grows over a lifetime.

ἐμπορεύομαι · emporeuomai

“To make merchandise of,” to trade in, to treat as a commodity. It is the root of our word “emporium.” “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you” (2:3). False teachers look at a congregation and see a market. Peter wants believers to recognize that look.

μακροθυμέω · makrothymeō

“To be longsuffering,” literally long-tempered, slow to boil over. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (3:9). What scoffers call delay, God calls mercy.

Eight-Movement Outline

MOVEMENT ONE

All Things That Pertain unto Life and Godliness (1:1–4)

Peter writes to those who have obtained “like precious faith” (1:1). God’s “divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (1:3). Through “exceeding great and precious promises” we become “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (1:4). Believers are not missing some secret ingredient. Everything needed has already been given.

MOVEMENT TWO

Add to Your Faith (1:5–11)

Because God has given so much, “giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” (1:5–7). If these are growing in you, you will not be barren or unfruitful. If they are missing, a person is blind and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure” (1:10).

MOVEMENT THREE

Eyewitnesses of His Majesty (1:12–21)

Peter will keep reminding them as long as he is in this tent of a body. “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables… but were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (1:16). He heard the Father’s voice on the holy mount: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And yet he points to something even surer: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (1:19). “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost”(1:21).

MOVEMENT FOUR

False Teachers Among You (2:1–3)

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them” (2:1). Peter is not talking about enemies outside. He says “among you.” “And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of” (2:2). Their conduct brings shame on the gospel itself. “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not” (2:3).

MOVEMENT FIVE

The Lord Knoweth How to Deliver (2:4–10)

Peter gives three examples of judgment. God did not spare the angels who sinned. He did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah. He turned Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, but delivered just Lot, who was tormented day after day by what he saw and heard. The conclusion: “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2:9). God will judge false teachers. He will also rescue the faithful who are caught among them.

MOVEMENT SIX

The Way of Balaam (2:10–22)

Peter describes the false teachers bluntly: arrogant, self-willed, despising authority, feasting with the church while carousing. “Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices” (2:14). They follow Balaam, “who loved the wages of unrighteousness” (2:15). “These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest”(2:17). They promise much and deliver nothing. They speak “great swelling words of vanity” (2:18). “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption” (2:19). It would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than to turn back from it.

MOVEMENT SEVEN

Where Is the Promise of His Coming? (3:1–10)

Scoffers will come in the last days, “saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (3:4). But they willingly forget that God once judged the world by water, and that the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire. “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (3:8). God’s patience is not slowness. He is giving time for repentance. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat” (3:10).

MOVEMENT EIGHT

What Manner of Persons Ought Ye to Be (3:11–18)

“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness” (3:11). “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (3:13). “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation” (3:15), as Paul also wrote, though some twist his hard sayings as they twist the other Scriptures. “Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen” (3:17–18).

Christ Typology

The Holy Mount. On Sinai, Moses saw God’s glory and came down with his face shining. On the mount of transfiguration, Peter saw Jesus’ face shine like the sun and heard the Father’s voice from “the excellent glory” (1:17). Moses was there, speaking with Jesus. At the time, Peter wanted to build three tabernacles (Matthew 17:4). Now, at the end of his life, he calls his own body a tabernacle that he is about to put off. He had learned that the glory he saw on the mountain was not something to house in a tent, but Someone to wait for.

The Day Star. Peter tells believers to heed the prophetic word “until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (1:19). Centuries earlier, the hired prophet Balaam, against his will, had prophesied, “there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel” (Numbers 24:17). Malachi promised the Sun of righteousness would rise. The same chapter of 2 Peter that warns against Balaam’s greed points to the Star that Balaam himself foretold.

Lot Led Out Before the Fire. Before Sodom burned, the angels took Lot by the hand and led him out, “the LORD being merciful unto him” (Genesis 19:16). Peter uses Lot as proof that the Lord knows how to deliver the godly. It is a picture of the rescue God gives His people in Christ: brought out from under judgment before the fire falls, not because they earned it, but because the Lord is merciful.

The True Prophet Who Took No Wages.Balaam sold his gift for money. Moses promised a different Prophet: “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken” (Deuteronomy 18:15). That Prophet, Jesus, owned everything and became poor. He never charged for healing, never sold His teaching, and gave His own life freely. Every false teacher who makes merchandise of the flock stands in contrast to Him.

The Lord That Bought Them. False teachers deny “the Lord that bought them” (2:1). After the Red Sea, Israel sang of the people “which thou hast purchased” (Exodus 15:16). The church was bought too, with the precious blood of Christ. People who belong to Him are not merchandise for anyone else to trade.

Personal Application

Keep growing. The Christian life is not a one-time decision followed by standing still. Peter calls for diligence: adding virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, kindness, and love to your faith. A believer who is not growing becomes forgetful and nearsighted. Grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus.

Trust the sure word. Peter saw the transfiguration, and still called Scripture a more sure word. Experiences fade and can be misread. God’s written word is a lamp in a dark place. Measure every teaching, vision, and claim by it.

Know the marks of false teachers. Peter lists them plainly: secretly bringing in destructive ideas, denying the Lord, following their appetites, covetousness, smooth and deceptive words, treating people as merchandise, despising accountability, big promises with nothing behind them, and offering liberty while enslaved themselves. Some are subtle. But they are recognizable to those who know what to look for.

God’s patience is mercy. When it seems like God is slow to act, against evil in the world or against wickedness in His own house, remember that He is not slack. He is giving people time to repent. Do not mistake His patience for indifference, and do not waste it.

Live like the end is coming. Because the heavens and earth as we know them will pass away, Peter asks what kind of people we ought to be. The answer is holy, godly, at peace, spotless, and steadfast. Look for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness lives, and start living that way now.

TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY · MARANATHA

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