BibleProject New Testament Series - Lesson 28

BP150-28 - 2 Peter

The second letter of Peter. It's addressed to the same network of churches as Peter's first letter, and it's likely written from the same location in Rome. Peter's become aware of the fact that he's going to die soon, and the evidence that we have from early tradition was that Peter was executed by the Roman authorities during the reign of Emperor Nero. And so this letter acts as Peter's farewell speech. He begins by offering a final challenge that Jesus, his followers must be people who never stop growing. And then this is followed by two final warnings about a growing number of corrupt teachers who are leading Christians in these church communities astray first by their corrupt way of life. And second, by their distorted theology. Throughout the letter, Peter is countering accusations made by these teachers against himself and the other apostles. And Peter's goal is to restore confidence and order to these church communities. So Peter opens by reminding these churches that through Jesus, God has invited people to become a participant in his own divine nature. That is, to share in God's own eternal life and love, which is mind blowing. And it requires a lifelong response. To receive this gift means a commitment to developing the same character traits that mark God's own divine nature. Peter Let's hear seven traits to strive for. And the final one encompasses and crowns all of the others. It's love, which, according to Jesus, means devoting oneself to the well-being of others, no matter their response or the cost to love, according to Peter, is to share in God's own life. Peter then states the letter's purpose. It's going to act as a memorial of his teaching that can be passed on to later generations because he's not going to be around to give it much longer in person. So before he dies, he wants to address these objections and accusations being made by the teachers who distort Jesus's teaching and that of the apostles. So Peter first addresses an accusation repeated by the skeptics present and future, namely that he and the Apostles just made up all of this stuff about Jesus being risen from the dead and king of the world. Jesus isn't really going to come back one day. So Peter offers this eyewitness testimony of the powerful moment of Jesus transformation on the mountain. Remember the story in Mark Chapter nine. The Apostles saw Jesus exalted as King, and His resurrection means that he's alive as king and will return to rescue our world one day. And so the future return of Jesus to bring God's kingdom. This will fulfill what all the ancient Scriptures have been pointing to all along, the words of the Old Testament prophets. They're not fabricated fantasies. Rather, through these human words of Scripture and through the human Jesus, God Himself has spoken to us. Peter then moves on to address the threats raised by corrupt leaders in the church. And he focuses on more objections that they raise. So first, these teachers deny the idea of a final reckoning when God's going to hold all people accountable for their choices. And this denial is what conveniently allows the teachers to ignore Jesus's teaching about money and sex because they're making tons of profit by teaching in the churches. Not to mention the fact that they're sleeping around. But Peter reminds the readers that God can and will meet rebellion with his justice. He recalls three ancient examples when God did this. He first mentions the story about the Sons of God in Genesis six, as it was interpreted in a popular Jewish work of the time called First Enoch. First, Enoch says the Sons of God are rebellious angels who crossed the line and slept with women, earning God's judgment. Peter then brings up the story of the ancient flood and then the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. In each case, there was a rebellion that led to divine judgment. But Peter says God was always faithful to deliver his people. And he uses the story of law to provide an example. Peter then connects these ancient stories to the teacher's corrupt way of life. They, too, are after money and sex. They despise God's authority, and they lead other people to think that God doesn't care about moral decisions. He says they teach a message of Christian freedom and use it as a license to do whatever they want. And this is why Peter's going to bring up Paul's letters later on in chapter three. It appears that these teachers have distorted Paul's message of liberation in Christ, but that's not the kind of freedom Paul meant. And Peter makes clear that these teachers are not really free in reality. They're slaves to their bodily impulses. And the fact that they're Christians makes it even more tragic because knowing Jesus as teaching makes them doubly accountable. They have become pitiful examples of the ancient proverb about a dog returning to its vomit and a washed pig going back to the mud. Peter then addresses the reasoning behind the teacher's denial of the final reckoning. They say generations of God's people keep coming and passing away without seeing the fulfillment of their hopes. Where is this promised return of? Jesus. Peter responds by showing how short sighted this objection is. Look around, he says. At this remarkable universe that we inhabit, the fact that we exist at all means that at some moment in the past, God's Word intervened in a dramatic way to bring something out of nothing and to bring order out of chaos. And he can do so again. And so the real question is, why is God taking so long? But Peter reminds us that our human conception of time is extremely limited. The long expanses of time through which God works don't fit neatly into the framework of our very short lives. These long amounts of time are actually a sign of God's patience, because each generation has offered the chance to recognize its own selfishness, to humble itself and repent before God's generous grace and God's grace will bring the story to a close. On the day of the Lord here, Peter draws upon the prophetic poetry of Isaiah and Zephaniah, who describe the day of God's justice as a consuming fire. Peter says the heavens will pass away and the stoic care will melt by fire. This is a Greek word that could refer to the elements, in which case it means the dissolution of the material universe. Or more likely, it refers to heavenly bodies, in other words, the stars. That's what this word means in Isaiah chapter 34, where Peter is quoting from. And in that case, this line is a metaphor about the sky being peeled back, so to speak, before the God who sees all. And so this is why Peter says the day of the Lord will result in the earth and all its works being exposed. The ultimate purpose of God's consuming justice is not to scrap the material universe. Rather, it's to expose evil and injustice and remove it so that a new kind of heavens and earth can emerge, one that is permeated with righteousness, full of God's love and people who know and love God and love their neighbor as their selves. Peter concludes by saying, This is the true Christian hope that Jesus and all the apostles have been announcing, including Paul, whose writings can be misunderstood if you rip them out of context. But all the apostles are on the same page. And so Peter ends his final address to the church. Now, the tone of second Peter is feels really intense, but his passion comes from a firm conviction that God loves this world and he's determined to rescue it through Jesus. And so this means that God's love must confront and deal with the sin and injustice that ruined his beloved world. And in God's own time, he will do so, opening up a new future for humanity and for the universe itself. And so second, Peter has a wide expansive vision of hope for the whole world, and it challenges us to examine our everyday lives. That's what the second letter of Peter is all about.