2 Peter

How do you recognise a false teacher or spiritual deviant who infiltrates the church?  Peter has already pointed to their heresies and lies (2 Peter 2:1), greedy exploitation of the vulnerable (2 Peter 2:3), filthy living and lawlessness (2 Peter 2:7), despising authority (2 Peter 2:10), arrogance and slander (2 Peter 2:10-11), blasphemy and ignorance (2 Peter 2:12).  They will not exhibit all of these characteristics, but all will show some.  

While a few people are intentionally evil, most do not set out to be wicked.  This probably applies to the well-meaning politician, the ambitious professional, the hard-working trader, and the compassionate spiritual leader.  Yet many dabble in sin, are entertained by evil and consider alternatives to truth.  This is because our sinful nature is perverse and instinctively resistant to God and His Truth.  So, along with everybody else, we are all tempted to play with fire, but Peter is specifically talking about false teachers whose influence was so dangerous.  But '

This chapter of the Bible does not seem full of encouragement, but it is intended to encourage Christians to stay 'on track'.  By explaining how God will judge the false teachers who corrupt the church, Peter was saying the same as Jesus - who said that preventing people from receiving the truth was a very serious matter (Mark 9:42).  Towards the end of his ministry, Peter was passionate about protecting the church in the future from false teachers.  He used this chapter to describe the anatomy of evil imposters in great detail (2 Peter 2:1-22).

It seems that some of the false teachers described by Peter had been accepted as members of the church, and in fellowship with other believers.  Having analysed their behaviour and motives in this chapter, he now makes one of the 350+ apostolic conditional statements starting with "if".  These are an especially important part of Biblical theology because they stimulate us to think clearly about holy things (2 Peter 3:1).  The "if" statements give us the consequences of possible actions, and therefore stir our hearts to flee from all that will bring God's curse but embrace wha

In the 1940s Harry Blamires wrote, ‘There is no longer a Christian mind.

Although the modern world is supposed to be a tolerant place, Peter is quite direct: scoffers will come (John 15:18-19).  It is all related to the nature of the Christian faith.  Unlike the religionists of his day (and ours) Christians are unique in having a personal relationship with God through King Jesus, who has authority over everything and everybody.  But human nature wants to ignore God's right to rule and those who do so are liable to mock anybody who accepts the authority of Jesus in their life.

God is infinitely bigger than the watch or diary.  He does not have the little human horizon which cannot see clearly beyond the present, because He sees all the future and the whole of eternity in a single glance.  But although God is outside of time, He knows every tiny detail of what will happen from now until eternity, and that includes the return of Christ (Matthew 24:36).  The fact that Jesus has not yet returned as judge does not mean that He will never come; it just means that there is a little more time for the world to prepare for His arrival.

Peter has just said that the Lord is patient with sinners, not rushing to judge the wicked – giving them time to repent (2 Peter 3:8-9).  Then comes, ‘But…’.  The ‘Day of the Lord’, that is the return of Christ as judge, is a fixed event in Father God’s diary (Matthew 24:36).  It will definitely happen, but there will be no more warning than if a thief visits your house.  Peter repeats what Jesus Himself said in Matthew 24:43 "But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not ha

Fire is so destructive.  It will consume whatever burns and melt whatever will not.  Nothing is untouched or unaffected.  When God's day of destruction comes, every possession we cherish will be lost for ever.  All our earthly props will have no value at all.  Even our planet, solar system and galaxies beyond cannot be saved.  All the time and effort spent on 'improving' our lifestyle will count for nothing.  Only our souls will remain, with the character we have formed from our deep desires.

Everybody who travels away from home and loved ones experiences a recurrent thought, ‘I am so looking forward to going home!’  And that should be every Christian's longing too.  This world is not our real home (1 Peter 1:1).  Here, we are travellers on the move, but one day we will go ‘home’ (heaven) to be with our Father.  Those who are true believers cannot have their eyes glued to this world with its shabby values and widespread corruption, when the glories of a brand-new heaven and earth make everything else pale into insignificance.