Second Peter

 

Author and Authentication

 

Second Peter is held by the majority of scholars as being the most doubtful of all the New Testament books. Authentication of this epistle may not be as obvious as that of others, but it is certain that the argument for its doubtfulness, resting partly in the fact that it was not admitted to the canon until late in the fourth century, would be extremely weak. The fact is that the Church Council at Carthage did not finally fix the sacred canon for any New Testament book until AD 397. It is true that 2 Peter has been largely a neglected book being skipped over by many readers and few scholars have given much detailed study to it.

 

Another ground for suspicion of 2 Peter is that the style of the two epistles is very different, therefore, the assumption is that someone else must have written the second letter. This criticism is made upon the supposition that any author is bound to write always, regardless of theme or purpose, in the same exact style. This is untrue since there is nothing to prevent a writer from presenting various themes in different styles and, in fact, this is often done. Comparing the content of the two letters and those about whom they are addressed, how could any author use the same style? 1 Peter deals largely with encouragement and exhortation to steadfastness under suffering and persecution. 2 Peter, however, is warning against false teachers and disclosing the certainty of Divine judgment and retribution that is to be visited upon them. The former came from false accusation and violent assaults on the part of the world around them while the latter came from a worse danger within the very Christian church itself. It can easily be seen that any author would of necessity have to change the style of writing in presenting such opposing themes. The Apostle Peter certainly possessed versatility sufficient to fit his methods of presentation to his subject.

 

Several things are favorable to the view that Peter wrote this second epistle. First, the writer calls himself “Simon Peter”, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ (1:1). A forger likely would have followed the style of 1 Peter 1:1. Second, he testifies to his association with Christ on the Mt. of Transfiguration (1:16-18). Third, his affection for Paul is referred to in 3:15, 16. Fourth, his use of the word “enticing” (2:14, 18), which means “to set a bait”, may be a reminiscence of Peter’s life as a fisherman. In addition, the idea that a forger would refer to himself and his readers as those who “have obtained a like precious faith” (1:1) and would exhort them to be characterized by “holy living and godliness” (3:11) seems incongruous. Such a hypocrite would hardly escape detection in the early church.

 

The Occasion, Recipients, and Date

 

We are almost completely in the dark about the place of origin of this letter. If it is a genuine letter of Peter (which it seems to be), it was probably written from Rome shortly before his martyrdom (1:15). This remains the most likely place even if Peter was not the author. The abhorrence of heresy, the picture of relations between Peter and Paul (3:15, 16), the reference to Peter’s approaching death, and the hint of Marks’s gospel (1:15) are all indicative of a Roman origin.

 

The destination of the letter is equally puzzling. The crux here is 3:1. If, as most commentators take it, this is a reference back to I Peter, then recipients of this second letter are obviously meant to be the same people to whom I Peter was dispatched, the Christians in the provinces of Asia mentioned in 1 Peter 1:1. And also Asia Minor was one of the main seedbeds of the Gnosticism of which Peter gives us an early example.

 

Peter was martyred late in Nero’s reign, probably AD 67 or 68. If his second epistle was written after the first, it probably should be dated between 65 and 67.

 

Peter wrote this Epistle to re-emphasize certain basic matters. The word “remember” occurs in 3 places (1:12, 13; 3:1) and its companion “forget” in 2 places (1:9; 3:8). Peter’s readers were to remember that the Word of God was normative for them and that false teaching must not destroy the hope of the Second Coming. There is a call to go on in their Christian experience and to live in a holy and godly manner (3:11).

 

The Church was threatened by twin perils within, heresies and apostasies. And so this Epistle was written to combat these evils through warning and exhortation.

 

The key word is “knowledge” (lit. “full knowledge”) and occurs in 1:2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 16, 20; 2:20, 21; 3:3, 17, 18. Proper knowledge of the Lord and His Word is the antidote to false teaching and improper living.

 

The False Teachings of 2 Peter

 

There is wide agreement among commentaries that the heresy envisaged is a primitive form of Gnosticism. The main characteristics that emerge are as follows. The lives and teaching of these men denied the Lordship of Jesus (2 Peter 2:1). They defiled the love-feasts, were immoral themselves, and infected others with their lustful desires and ways, through minimizing the place of law in the Christian life and emphasizing freedom (2 Peter 2:10, 12ff, 18ff). In their teaching, which was very talkative, they were seemingly honest and acceptable at first glance appearance. They were crafty, fond of rhetoric, out for gain, and excessively willing to serve those from whom they hoped to gain some advantage (2:3, 12, 14, 15, 18). They are represented as arrogant and cynical, not only to the Lord, but to church leaders and angelic powers as well (2:1, 10, 11). They appear to have posed as either visionaries or prophets, in support of their claims (2:1). They are self-willed and set up divisions, confident of their own superiority (2:2, 10, 18). The errorists against whom 2 Peter writes scoff at the Lord’s Second Coming (2 Pet. 3). Peter’s opponents twist the Old Testament prophets and Pauline writings to their own ends (1:18-2:1; 3:15, 16). Peter is repudiating the claims of the heretics to a superior knowledge by showing them wherein true Christian knowledge consists.

 

Here, in an undeveloped form, are all the main characteristics which went to make up later Gnosticism – emphasis on knowledge, which emancipated them from the claims of morality; arrogance towards “unenlightened” church leaders; interest in angelology; divisiveness; and lustfulness. The later Gnostics perverted the grace of God into license, confident that the true spirit could not be affected by what the flesh did. They thought they had no duty to civil or ecclesiastical authorities. And because the Gnostic thought he had the fullness of the divine nature already, he was antagonistic to eschatology (doctrines dealing with the last things, such as Christ’s Second Coming). Salvation is present to the Gnostic, and transcends time; to the Hebrew mind, of course, which took time seriously, salvation could never be complete until the last day. That is why the Gnostic had no use for revelation and the future element in salvation.

 

Outline

I. Introduction (1:1, 2)

 

1:1           “Peter” (petros) – means a detached but large fragment of rock. (Petra) means massive rock (Matt. 16:18). Believers are spoken of as living stones (1 Pet. 2:4, 5).

 

“bond-servant” (doulos) – the most degrading and submissive term for a slave of the five words that Greeks used when speaking of one who serves. One whose will is swallowed up in the will of another. One who serves another to the disregard of his own interests, or is bound to another in bonds which only death can break.

 

“apostle” (apostolos) – one sent from someone else with credentials on a mission. Peter was an ambassador of Jesus Christ sent by Him with credential in the form of miracles, and on a mission, that of proclaiming the good news of salvation.

 

“Jesus” (Iesous) – means Savior, Deliverer, or Jehovah saves.

“Christ” (Christos) – means Anointed One or Messiah. It signifies a setting apart for God or consecration to a sacred purpose. Anoint means to rub (figurative-endowed with God’s Spirit).

 

“received” (lagchano) – to obtain by divine allotment.

 

“faith” (piston) – is appropriating faith, exercised by the believing sinner when he places his trust in the Lord Jesus. It is given by sovereign grace by God to the sinner elected to salvation (1 Pet. 1:2; Eph. 2:8).

 

“kind” (isotimon) – alike in value and honor – admitting them to the same Christian privileges (salvation and sonship) – but not the same in measure to all. The Gentiles were given this faith as well as Jews by divine allotment.

 

“righteousness” (dikaiosune) – the virtue that gives each one his due. God didn’t only give faith to the Jew, but also the Gentile.

 

“God and Savior” – Jesus Christ. Because Peter continued to insist upon this teaching, he was martyred, since it was in opposition to the cult of the Caesar in which the Roman emperor was the god of the pagan Roman citizens.

 

1:2           “grace” (charis) – a sense of favor bestowed; a feeling of gratitude.

 

“peace” (eirene) – tranquility of heart and mind (based on a right relation to God and the result of the Holy Spirit’s ministry in the believer).

 

“knowledge” (epignosis) – a full, perfect, precise knowledge that implies a more intimate and personal relationship based on an experience of Who God is and what He does. It is gained through moving forward in our personal knowledge of Christ by means of the Word and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in life experiences. So this grace and peace are in the sphere of this full knowledge of God and are produced by this full and personal knowledge of God.

               

II.                   Knowledge and the Christian Life (1:3-11).

               

1:3, 4

               

A.                  The Divine Provision.

 

“power” (dunamis) – that which overcomes resistance; power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature; inherent power; or power which a person exerts or puts forth.

 

“has granted” (doreo) – carries a certain regal sense, describing an act of large-handed generosity. A perfect participle, speaking of the past completed act of presenting the gift with the present result that it is in the possession of the believer with no strings tied to it. It is his permanent possession, having been given by pure grace.

 

“pertaining” (pros) – with reference to

 

“life” (zoe) – the life God gives to a believing sinner, vital and spiritual, absolute fullness of life which belongs to God; or one who is possessed of vitality, vigor, spirit, and ethical dynamic which transforms his inner being and as a result his behavior.

 

“godliness” (eusbeia) – worship rightly directed, evidenced in conduct and conversation; or reverence and dependence upon God. Conduct and conversation corresponding to a knowledge of the one true God.

 

“knowledge” (epignosis) – same as verse 2 (experiential)

 

“call” (kaleo) – to invite or summon to the blessings of the Gospel or redemption

 

“own” (idios) – one’s own private, unique, peculiar possession

 

“glory” (doxa) – the self-manifestation of His divine attributes, perfections, and nature; who He essentially is.

 

“for by these” – His glory and excellence (probably refers to Who He is and what He did – God Incarnate being crucified and resurrected)

 

“promises” (epangelia) – probably refers to: 1. Inward knowledge of God; 2. Personal knowledge of God; 3. And complete forgiveness (Jer. 31:31-34; Isa. 53).

 

“partakers of the divine nature” – refers to regeneration, as in 1 Pet. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:17, 21; Gal. 2:20.

 

“escaped” (apopheugo) – to run away by flight or turn our backs on (Eph. 2:4-7).

 

“corruption” (phthora) – moral decay. His divine nature in the believing sinner becomes the source of his new life and actions, giving him both the desire and power to do God’s will (Phil. 2:13).

 

“world” (kosmos) – world system of evil, or society alienated from God by rebellion.

 

“lust” (epithumia) – the sphere of intense, passionate cravings.

 

B.                   The Believer’s Responsibility (1:5-11).

               

1:5             “this reason” – Because we have the divine provision and enablement given the believer in salvation (vss. 2-4), an inner dynamic, the divine nature which impels to a holy life, giving both the desire and power to do God’s will (Phil. 2:13), we are to become in practice what we already are in God’s sight (Rom. 6:5-14), and not sit back and rest content with faith. In verses 5-7, we have human responsibility, seeing to it that the various Christian virtues are included in one’s life.

 

The divine nature is not an automatic self-propelling machine that will turn out a Christian life for the believer irrespective of what that believer does or the attitude he takes to the salvation that God has provided. The divine nature will always produce a change in the life of the sinner who receives Christ as Savior and Lord. But it works at its best efficiency when the believer cooperates with it in not only determining to live a life pleasing to God, but definitely stepping out in faith and living that life in dependence upon the new life which God has implanted in him.          

 

“applying” (pareisphero) – having added on your part.

 

“diligence” (spoude) – intense effort or do one’s best; exert one’s self.

 

“faith” (pistis) – the belief in Christ as Savior, which is the beginning of right relations with God, better known as saving faith (Luke 7:48-50). And daily trust which is the very strength of the Christian’s life (2 Cor. 5:7). Faith is that act which brings reason, the will, the emotions, conscience, knowledge, and goodness all into humble submission to the Infinite and relies upon the provisions made by God for man.

 

“supply” (epichoregeo) – provide lavishly with, or generously co-operate. We are to bring into this relationship, alongside what God has done, every ounce of determination we can muster.

 

Note: You don’t add one virtue to another, but rather you develop one virtue in the exercise of another; each new grace springing out of, attempting, and perfecting the other. They stimulate, develop, and perfect each other. The exhortation is that in the faith which the saints exercise in the Lord Jesus, they should provide for virtue in their inner being by the Holy Spirit.

 

“moral excellence” (arete) – energy properly fulfilled in Christ-like goodness. Integrity of character and uprightness of conduct. Christians are to exhibit energy in the exercise of their faith, translating it into vigorous action for good or practical goodness.

 

“knowledge” (gnosis) – a seeking to know or an investigation, especially of spiritual truth (including such things as who God is, who we are, our Christian responsibilities, God’s promises to us, etc.) Our desire to do good needs to be directed or channeled properly by knowing how and what we should do (Col. 1:9, 10).

 

“self-control” (egkrateia) – holding the passions and desires in hand, or mastering them, especially the sensual appetites. (Knowledge can lead to license and insensitivity if not controlled. Don’t rationalize by saying that we should do what comes naturally, because it’s natural to sin, unless you are Christ-controlled (1 Cor. 8; Rom. 15:1-3). Self-control is a proper and limited use of lawful things (1 Cor. 6:12; 10:23, 24). It is a keeping of every sense under control, never allowing the animal nature to subjugate the rational. It can include such things as: eating, drinking, sleeping, working, recreation, our thoughts, our tongues, emotions, and impulses; all of which are legitimate, but must be kept under control (1 Cor. 9:25-27).

 

“perseverance” (hupome) – to remain under trials and testings in a way that honors God; persistent endurance with courage. It not only bears with, but also contends with (is calm). The temper of mind that is unmoved by difficulty and distress and which can withstand the two Satanic agencies of opposition: from the world without and enticement from within.

 

1:7           “godliness” (eusebeia) – same as in verse three. Also respect toward people. It is a condition of the soul, whereby the individual is made obedient to and carefully conforms to God’s moral law. It’s the inward quality of being righteous.

 

“brotherly kindness” (philadelphia) – affection or fondness for one’s Christian brethren (exhibited through deeds of helpfulness and works of edification).

 

“love” (agape) – that divine love which God is, as to His nature. It’s unconditional; not based on the object loved, and is sacrificial in action for the object’s good. It seeks the other person’s best welfare according to God’s values, truths, perspectives, and interests.

 

“Faith” stimulates and develops “actions” which stimulates and develops “a wanting to know more” which stimulates and develops a “handle to control or operate that knowledge” which stimulates and develops a “bearing under trials with calmness” which stimulates and develops “reverence and dependence upon God” which stimulates and develops “affection for other Christians” which stimulates and develops “seeking the other Christians best welfare.”

 

1:8           “are” (huparcho) – are your natural and rightful possessions. The possession of the Christian virtues by the believer is a natural, expected thing by reason of the fact that he has become a partaker of the divine nature.

 

“increasing” (pleomazo) – super-abounding or abundance. The Spirit-filled life is the overflowing life.

 

“render” (kathistemi) – to constitute, make, or cause.

               

“useless” (argos) – barren, inactive, idle, standing, halted, or stagnant in pressing on and developing toward, and finally reaching the knowledge. Lack of spiritual growth is a sign of spiritual death. There is no excuse for resting content with present attainment.

 

“unfruitful in” (akarpos) – unprofitable in respect to, or energy without direction; misguided energy.

 

“true knowledge” (epignosis) – full, precise, and correct knowledge – experiential. Knowledge of Jesus Christ was both the root and goal of Christian experience (Phil. 3:10). It is through doing His will, and so becoming like Him, that we grow in knowing Him (Jn. 7:17). Full knowledge of Christ belongs to the future, when we shall see Him face to face.

 

“lacks” (leipo) -- to whom these things are not present.

 

“blind” (tuphlos) – metaphorically, blinded as when a bright light shines in one’s eyes and they close. A person is blinded because he willfully closes his eyes to the light. Spiritual blindness descends upon the eyes that deliberately look away from the graces of character to which the Christian is called when he comes to know Christ. This is an almost completely materialistic age and we have dimmed our eyes to spiritual values by our greed. Our short sightedness has so restricted our vision to that which appears for the moment that we have lost our ability to take the longer and wider view of that which lies beyond. It is easy in this life to shut our eyes to everything except that which we choose to see. When we push Jesus out of our lives, we walk with our eyes closed and that soon turns to darkness and spiritual blindness. Circumstances and situations engulf him.

               

“short-sightedness” (mupazo) – to blink or shut the eyes; near sighted or dim sighted (can’t see further, engrossed in earthly things).

 

“forgotten” (lanthano) – deliberately put out of his mind.

 

“purification” (kartharismos) – cleansing.

 

1:10           “diligent” (spoudazo) – to do your best, bend every effort, and exert yourselves the more.

               

“to make” (poieisthai) – make for yourselves, satisfy yourselves that you are saved.

 

“certain” (bebaios) – fast, firm, or secure. A guarantee of their calling and election. This may be done by the cultivation of the Christian graces, not for retention of salvation but to know that we possess salvation. In God’s foreknowledge and purpose, there is no insecurity or uncertainty; but in our vision and apprehension of them as they exist in and for us there is uncertainty, until they are pointed out, through seeing these Christian graces super-abounding in the believer’s life. Election comes from God alone and is unconditional as to His basis of choosing, but man’s behavior is the proof or disproof of it.

 

“calling” (klesin) – the divine invitation of God to participate in salvation.

 

“choosing” (ekloge) – election; the act of God picking out of mankind certain ones for salvation.

 

“stumble” (ptaio) – fall into misery or become wretched, or disaster coming to grief.

 

1:11  “entrance” (eisodos) – the road into.

 

“abundantly supplied” (epichoregeo) – richly supplied, indicating the fullness of future blessedness.

 

III.                 Knowledge and Word of God (1:12-21).

               

A.                  The experience of the apostles (1:12-18).

 

1:12         “therefore” – because of the importance of this issue, their eternal destiny.

 

“I shall be ready” (melleso) – the idea that the writer will be prepared in the future, as well as in the past and in the present, to remind them of the truths they know, whenever the necessity arises.

 

“these things” – the relationship between faith and works or grace and effort, particularly in their present situation when the grace of God was being used as a cloak for license (2:19) and the knowledge of God as substitute for obedience (1 Jn. 2:4).

 

“established” (sterizo) – to make stable, place firmly, set fast. From what Peter has already said, and what he is yet to say about them, it is evident that their lives left a lot to be desired – and yet, they were established Christians. Surely this is a solemn warning that it is all too easy for those who have been Christians for some time to lapse into serious sin or doctrinal error. There is no safeguard against this except living in direct touch with the Lord.

 

“truth” (aletheia) – the obligation to holiness which the privileges bestowed on them by the free grace of God involved. The certain ruin which followed in a failure to live up to these obligations. The triumphant entry in the kingdom of Jesus Christ which was a consequent of faithful devotion, making the calling and election sure.

 

1:13         “right” (dikaios) – to render each his due. Peter thought it was his duty to stir up his readers.

 

“dwelling” (skenoma) – tent, and carries the idea of brief duration.

 

“stir up” (diegeiro) – awaken, keep on arousing their minds, render active.

 

“reminder” (hupomnesis) – repetition is important for putting truth into application in our lives.

 

1:14         “laying aside of my earthly dwelling” – death.

 

“as Jesus Christ has made clear” – Jn. 21:18, 19.

 

1:15         “at any time…may be able to call these things to mind” – Peter’s words fit Mark’s Gospel (Jesus’ example of these virtues (vs. 5-7) as seen in Mark’s gospel) admirably. Mark was a disciple and interpreter of Peter.

 

“departure” (exodus) –the road out, or death.

 

1:16         “tales” (muthos) –deception containing some element of truth.

 

“power and coming of Jesus” – the present power of the risen Lord to equip the Christian for holy living, and of the glorious future which awaits the faithful Christian.

 

“majesty” (megaleiotes) – the divine visible splendor as revealed in the transfiguration of Jesus.

 

1:17         “honor” (time) – in the voice (God, the Father) which spoke to Jesus.

 

“glory” (doxa) – in the light that shone from Jesus.

 

1:18         “holy” (hagios) – rendered scared by the divine presence.

 

B.                   The Message of the Prophets (1:19-21).

 

“prophetic word” – OT prophecies about the coming of the Lord.

 

“more sure” – trustworthy; Peter’s meaning seems to be that, “If you don’t believe me, go to the OT Scriptures. Because the Jews believed that everything the prophets taught came from God.

 

“lamp” (luchnos) – a metaphor used of the Scriptures (Psa. 119:105).

 

“pay attention” – to the OT prophecies.

 

“until the day dawns…” (Rom. 13:11, 12) referring to the Second Coming of Christ.

 

“arises” – the glows of anticipation of Christ’s coming approach.

 

1:20         “knowing this first” – recognize the following truth to be of utmost importance.

 

“one’s own interpretation” – means to unravel a problem. Peter is talking about the origin and reliability of the Christian teaching about grace, holiness, and heaven.

 

1:21         “moved” (pheromene) – carried along. The metaphor is that of a ship carried along by the wind in its sail. Here, it’s the Holy Spirit filling and directing these prophets in the writing of these prophecies.

 

IV.                 Knowledge and False Teaching (2:1-22).

 

A.                  Description of the false teachers (2:1-3).

 

“false prophets” (pseudoprophetai) – their characteristics included: 1. Flattering teaching; 2. Financial ambition; 3. Immoral lives; 4. Dulled consciences; 5. Deception is their aim  (Isa. 28:7; Jer. 23:14; Ezek. 13:3; Zech. 13:4).

 

“secretly introduce” (paraeisago) – these false teachers would cleverly include false teaching along side the true doctrine (e.g., Armstrong; Roman Catholic).

 

“destructive” (apoleia) – ruining to true faith.

 

“heresies” (hairesis) – the choice of an opinion contrary to that usually received (teaching contrary to Bible).

 

“denying the Master” – denial of the substitutionary death of our Lord.

 

“bought” (agaraso) – delivered (from harm and/or privation) as in Deut. 32:6; Jonah 4:11; Judges 8:34; Matt. 5:45; Lk. 6:35.

 

“destruction” (apleia) – the loss of all that makes existence worthwhile; eternal misery apart from a holy God. These false teachers are not misguided Christians, but heretics.

 

2:2           “follow” (exakoloutheo) – to pursue to its termination; a line of thought or activity.

 

“sensuality” (asegeia) – reckless and hardened immorality; unbridled lust.

 

“way of truth” (the outworking of the truth in the life of the Christian; his behavior or manner of life. (Christianity). It does not mean “method” or “manner”.

 

“maligned” (blasphemeo) – spoken reproachfully of; reviled at.

 

2:3           “false” (plastos) – molded. The idea is that of words molded at will to suit these heretics’ vain imaginations in order to make money out of their dupes (Titus 1:11; Micah 3:11; 1 Tim. 6:5).

 

“judgment” (krima) – as pronounced against false prophets long ago in the OT, is impending (Deut. 32:35; Prov. 21:28; Jer. 14:14, 15; 23:32-34).

 

“idle” (argeo) – it is represented as a living thing; expectant; not loitering; coming with certainty.

 

“asleep” (nustazo) it is represented as awake; certain; not dropping off or forgotten.

 

  1. Judgment of the false teachers (2:4-19).

 

2:4           “For if God did not” – from the very beginning, God has punished sin without regard to rank, position, strength, or numbers (vss. 4-9). This was not an empty threat against false teachers. Peter concentrates on the pride and rebellion of the angels; the apathy and disobedience of the people of Noah’s day; and the sheer sensuality of the people of Sodom, presumably because these were all characteristic of the false teachers he was opposing.

 

“if” (ei) – since, or in view of the fact (is the particle of a fulfilled condition).

 

“angels” (angelos) –probably the angels referred to in Jude 1:6; and possibly, Gen. 6:1-4. They are looked upon as a class and with reference to their position in the scale of created beings; the argument being that if God did not spare a higher order of beings to man, namely angels, He will surely not spare human beings.

 

“hell” (Tartarus) –the prison of the fallen angels until the Great White Throne Judgment,  from where they will be sent to eternal misery in the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:14).

 

“darkness” (zophos) – the blackness of darkness (the densest).

 

2:5           “preacher” (kerux) – a herald. Noah proclaimed  the message of God for 120 years while building the ark, warning the people of the coming judgment of the flood and showing the way of personal salvation.

 

“flood” (kataklusmos) – inundate, deluge, submerge.

 

“ungodly” (asebes) – destitute of reverential awe towards God.

 

2:6           “an example” – to succeeding generations that unrighteousness will end in ruin.

 

2:7           “oppressed” (kataponeo) – afflicted, exhausted, or worn down.

 

“unprincipled” (athesmos) – wicked, lawless; used of one who breaks through the restraints of law and gratifies his lusts.

 

“sensual” (aselgeia) – filthy (same as vs. 2); reckless and hardened immorality; unbridled lust.

 

2:8           “saw” (blemma) – a look, a vague glance. The person looking is an on looker but not a participant of the thing viewed.

 

“living” (egkatoikeo) – the act of settling down permanently.

 

“soul” (psuche) – the higher aspects of ordinary human life, and especially for the higher nature of a Christian.  Moral, spiritual, and God consciousness that’s sensitive to sin.

 

“tormented” (bosonizo) – vexed. (The active voice is used, probably implying a certain sense of personal responsibility. Lot was conscious that the situation was ultimately due to his own selfish choice).

 

2:9           “from” (ek) – out of, not away from, Christianity is no insurance policy against the trials of life.

 

“temptation” (peirasmos) – a solicitation to do evil because of a person’s surroundings, and not inward inducement to sin arising from one’s desires (as when Jesus was tempted; Lk. 4). A test.

 

“keep under punishment” (kolaphizomenous) – they are being kept now for a judgment that is future.

 

2:10         “flesh” (sarx) – the totally depraved nature.

 

“corrupt desires” (miasma epithumia) – defiling lust, or passionate craving.

 

“despise authority” (kataphronzo kuriotes) – possibly referring to the Lordship of Christ as mentioned in 2:1. But it could refer to church leadership or any other institution of authority.

 

“daring” (tolemetes) – taking liberties, arrogant, presumptuous. It smacks of the reckless daring that defies God and men. Over-confident or too bold.

 

“self-willed” (authades) – self-pleasing, arrogant. An obstinate or stubborn person who is determined to please himself at all costs, and get his way.

 

“angelic majesties” (dorai) – may either mean angels or church leaders. If it means angels (as it does in Jude 8) then the false teachers made light of the unseen powers, in the materialistic attitude of which verse 12 complains, or else they spoke disrespectfully of angelic beings (both good and bad angels). If it means church leaders, then the false teachers would naturally reply to them in insubordinate language because of being rebuked for their false teachings.

 

Note: This then is the character of false teachers so far. They are dominated by lust, their passions are given full sway, with the result that they behave like animals, while the mental and spiritual sides of their humanity suffer atrophy. They are headstrong, rebellious against the will of God, and reckless of the consequences. They are contemptuous of other people, be these human or divine. They are self-willed; the sensual person always is, for in the last analysis, self is all that matters to him.

               

2:11         “greater” – than the false teachers.

 

“might” (dunamis) – the ability or faculty to perform things, but is not necessarily evidenced.

 

“power” (ischus) – indwelling strength which gives them influence or value.

 

“judgment” (krisis) – an opinion or decision given, especially concerning justice and injustice.

 

“them” – refers to either the angelic majesties or church leaders (depending on which interpretation you take). These false teachers could have had a grudge against angels since they were instrumental in the handing over of the Law of Moses (Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2), which included commandments against immorality. Whichever interpretation you take, the point is that these false teachers were freer with their language than the angels themselves.

 

2:12 “These” – refers to the false teachers of verse 10.

 

“unreasoning” (aloga) – no sense of the moral issues of life.

 

“instinct” – here, distinguished from the rational centers of thought and judgment. These false teachers have neglected their rationality and followed their passions.

 

“captured and killed” – a graphic indictment of the effect on a person of living like a beast. Just like animals that follow their instinctive appetites, which often lead them to disaster, so sensuality is self-destructive. The aim of this kind of person, who gives himself to such fleshly things, is pleasure. His tragedy is that in the end he ruins his health, wrecks his constitution, destroys his mind and character, and begins his experience of hell while he is still on earth.

 

“reviling where they have no knowledge” – these false teachers’ mistake is to confuse the thrill of animal instinct with the presence of the Holy Spirit, for it is very likely that these advocates of Christian liberty were loud in their claims to fullness of the Holy Spirit. Both the heretics and Peter make essentially the same claim against the other. The heretics claimed to have “knowledge”, to have the Spirit who gave them liberty (both from ecclesiastical discipline and moral restraint) which they prized; they regarded the orthodox as devoid of the Spirit. On the contrary, Peter seems to say, the Spirit manifests His presence not by ecstatic thrills and insubordinate action, but through moral renewal. It’s the heretics who are devoid of the Spirit, since they behave like dumb beasts living by their instincts. Christianity is inescapably ethical. You cannot have relationship with a good God without becoming a better person.

 

“in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed” – these false teachers will perish just like animals will, who follow their natural, carnal instinct. Destroyed in their own corruption in this life. (see note under “capture and killed”).

 

2:13         “revel” (truphe) – riot or luxuriously live, which means that they do not work for a living but live off the money they get from those whom they lead astray into false doctrine.

 

“stains” (spilos) – metaphorically speaks of a fault or moral blemish. Here, used of these gluttons of false teachers.

 

“blemishes” (momos) – a disgrace.

 

“deceptions” (apatais) – Vincent, Alford, and Robertson argue for the meaning of “agapais”, as a love-feast, a feast expressing and fostering mutual love which was held by Christians before the Lord’s Supper, and at which the poorer Christians mingled with the wealthier and partook in common with the rest, of food provided at the expense of the wealthy, Jude 2 speaks of this. This is most probably the case where these false teachers ate with the Christians, enjoying the food prepared by the rich. They were moral spots and disgraceful blemishes at that occasion.

 

“carouse” (suneuocheo) – feast lavishly (1 Cor. 11:21). Immorality. Lust is subject to the law of diminishing returns. mere drunkenness fails to satisfy; it must be drunkenness in the daytime. Fornication, likewise, is not enough; it must be rape at the meal-table. Doubtless the heretics rationalized it as sacred prostitution, but lust was their driving force, and lust often delights to deck itself out in religious garb.

 

2:14         “eyes full” – they lust after every girl they see, viewing every female as a potential adulteress. Lascivious thoughts, if dwelt upon and acted upon, are dominant; it becomes impossible for them to look at any woman without reflecting on her likely sexual performances, and on the possibilities of persuading her to gratify their lusts.

 

“never ceases from sin” – not only does lust act as an irritant, it always leaves a person restless, longing for more.

 

“enticing” (deleazo) –to catch with bait.

 

“unstable souls” (asterikos) – a person is not anchored securely or who is not solidly on a foundation, here, doctrinally and experientially. Easily toppled over because they had not planted their feet firmly enough in Christ.

 

“ trained in greed” (gumnazo pleonexia) – these false teachers had lived in a heart (reason, will, and emotions) atmosphere of covetousness for so long that their heart condition was one of a permanent state. They schooled themselves in the desire for forbidden things (i.e. illicit intercourse, money, etc).

 

“accursed children” –means children of a curse (Eph. 2:3) or that God’s curse is on them (Gal. 3:10).

 

2:15         “forsaking” (kataleipo) – habitual abandoning of.

               

“way” (hodos) – a course of conduct, a way of thinking, feeling, and deciding. “Right way” here, it is speaking of obedience to God.

 

“having followed” (exekoloutheo) – having followed out to the end.

 

“the way” – to initiate one’s way of acting

 

“Balaam” – was the prophet who commercialized his gift and followed anyone’s orders for pay. Numbers 32:16 attributes to his influence the immorality of the Israelites at Baal-Peor (Num. 25). So he becomes a most useful prototype of the immoral false teacher out for gain (Jude 1:11).

 

“loved” (agapao) – a love called out of one’s heart by the preciousness of the object loved.

 

“the wages of unrighteousness” – covetousness.

 

2:16         “dumb” (aphonon) –without the faculty of speech.

 

“speaking” (phtheggomai) – to give out a sound.

 

2:17         “springs” (pege) – an ever (upleaping) living fountain.

 

“without water” – an oriental expression where the green vegetation excites the traveler’s hope of water, only to be disappointed. Such are the false teachers, describing the unsatisfying nature of their teaching.

 

“mists driven by a storm” – describing the obscuring  of truth by these false teachers who are driven along by the fierce gusts of ignorance and self-will.

 

“black darkness” –(Jude 13) hell (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 1:6).

 

2:18         “arrogant” (huperogka) – great swelling words or oratorical flare that would impress the hearers; extravagant.

 

“vanity” (motaios) – nothing of significance, empty, futile, moral insincerity. The verbose speech these false teachers had was futile in that it did not fulfill that for which speech was intended, to convey accurate and true information. All it did was allure like bait the hearers so that they would become followers of the false teachers.

 

“entice” (deleazo) – to catch by bait; to allure by excessive, untrue, or insincere praise.

 

“by fleshy desires” – by means of the craving of the totally depraved nature.

 

“by sensuality” (aselfeia) – by means of lewd or immoral acts or manners, as filthy words, indecent bodily movements, unchaste handling of males and females. The false teachers use bait to catch their hearers, satisfying the craving of the fallen nature in the realm of these lewd or immoral acts or manners.

 

“escape” – a present participle denoting a process going on. Those who are in the early stage of their escape from error, and are not safe from it and confirmed in the truth. Or, those who have been impressed with Christian truth, and have had strength to separate themselves from their old surroundings and customs, but are led to return through the compromises suggested by the false teachers.

 

“the ones who live in error” –  pagans.

 

“Error” –(plane) – wrong opinion relative to morals or religion.

 

2:19         “promising them freedom” – Antinomianism (against law, thus lawlessness, not responsible to law). Gal. 5:13 arises from the ever-recurring confusion of liberty and license. The liberty spoken of in Gal. 5:1 is liberty from Mosaic Law, not freedom to do as one pleases. The one set free from the Mosaic Law is under a stronger and more effective compulsion, namely, divine love as ministered to the yielded saint by the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:13). These false teachers, not being saved and therefore not knowing grace, misrepresented “grace” as license to sin. In their quest for self-expression, they fell into bondage to self.

 

“slaves” (doulos) – the most degrading, servile form of slavery. Healthy Christian living comes when God’s commands are seen as the curbstones on His highway.

 

“for by what a man is overcome…” – by what a person has been overcome with the result that he is in a state of subjugation, to this he has been enslaved with the result that he is in a state of slavery. These false teachers keep talking about liberty when all the time they themselves have been, and still are, in the prison-house of lust. (Rom. 6:16; Jn. 8:34).

 

  1. Dangers of False Teachers (2:20-22).

 

2:20  “they” – the false teachers.

 

“have escaped” – the moral and ethical influence of Christ and Christianity had acted as a detergent and a deterrent upon these false teachers to the end that their outward lives had been relatively pure.

 

“defilement” (miasmata) – pollution; vices the foulness of which contaminates one in his involvement with the ungodly mass of mankind.

 

“world” (kosmos) – the world system of evil; society alienated from God.

 

“knowledge” (epignosis) – personal acquaintance with, but not a saving acceptance of Jesus Christ; intellectual assent. Full, accurate knowledge.

 

“entangled” (empleko) – interwoven or braided. Their going back to their former immoral lives was not the act of a moment, but a gradual process.

 

“the last state has become worse fro them than the first” – (Matt. 12:43-45) One who willfully disobeys is far more at fault than one who sins ignorantly.

 

“better for them not to have known” – the state of willful disobedience is worse than the state of ignorance (greater knowledge brings greater punishment, Lk. 12:47, 48).

 

2:21  “the way of righteousness” – Christianity; Christian doctrine and the knowledge of the Lord and Savior.

 

“turn away from the holy commandment” – the first stage of apostasy is rejection of God’s commandment (which is to live a holy life because of being born-again through faith in Jesus Christ’s shed blood for the payment of all our sins), which leads to a rejection of God (1 Jn. 5:3; 1 Pet. 1:13-25).

 

“delivered” – (parallel in Jude 3) oral tradition of primitive Christianity.

 

2:22   “the true proverb” – Prov. 26:11. We would be mistaken to assume that this could never happen to us, as 1 Cor. 10:12 warns us. Covetousness, sophistical argument, pride in knowledge, gluttony, drunkenness, lust, arrogance, against authority of all kinds, and most of all, the danger of denying the Lordship of the Redeemer are the temptations of money-mad, sex-mad, materialistic, anti-authoritarian, 20th century man.

 

V.                   Knowledge and the Second Coming (3:1-13).

 

A.                  The Mockers and Their Error (3:1-7).

 

3:1           “sincere” (eilikrine) – pure reason, uncontaminated by the selective influence of the senses; free from falsehoods.

 

3:2           “remember the word spoken beforehand” – Peter appeals here, as he did in chapter one, to the prophets and apostles as his authority. He believed in the unity of Scripture, and that it was Christ-centered. The prophets foreshadowed Christian truth, Christ exemplified it, and the apostles gave an authoritative interpretation of it. The source of their authority was the Spirit Who inspired both. Peter has already in 1:16 stated that, under the influence of this same Spirit of God, both apostles and prophets bear testimony to the “power and coming” of the Lord Jesus. It is clear that the heretics have questioned both of these attributes.

 

“the commandment” – probably a reference to the explicit warning about the dangers of false teachers. This would preserve the natural connections with verse 3. This is certainly the meaning of the parallel passage in Jude 17.

 

“Lord and Savior” – His full title is probably used here because Peter is about to emphasize the future element in salvation which the scoffers ridicule. To deny the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is to deny Jesus as Savior.

 

“your apostles” – the Church’s emissaries, which are the apostles of Jesus Christ. These are the men you ought to trust, not false teachers with whom you have neither part nor lot.

 

3:3           “in the last days” – the time period between the first and second comings of Christ (Heb. 1:2; 2 Tim. 3:1; James 5:3).

 

“mockers” (empaiktes) – one who holds up to ridicule, or shows contempt; scoffers were, of course, already present, but the apostles had given prior warning of their arrival (Acts 20:29-31).

 

“lusts” (epithumia) – evil desires; self-indulgence. It almost appears certain that Peter has the same men in mind here as in chapter 2. For men who nourish a belief in human self-determination and perfectibility, the very idea that we are accountable and dependent is a bitter pill to swallow, which would make them opposed to the notion of judgment inherent in Christ’s Second Coming.

 

3:4           “Where is the promise of His coming?” – They scoff at Christ’s return to earth because years have passed and it has not happened, so they maintain that God’s promise is unreliable. That it is referring to Christ’s Second Coming rather than the Rapture (I Thes. 4:13-17) is seen by the following: first, Peter had spoken of the Advent in 1:16; second, the false teachers are not to be judged at the Rapture, but at the Advent; and third, the context (3:10) speaks of the day of the Lord, which occurs at the time of the Second Advent.

 

“the fathers” – Old Testament fathers, as is its meaning in every other N.T. reference (Acts 3:13; Rom. 9:5; Heb. 1:1).

 

“fall asleep” – died (i.e., Jn 11:11-13).

 

3:5           “when they maintain this” – that this is a stable, unchanging world.

 

“by the Word of God the heavens existed…” – Peter insists that the course of history is governed by God, Who is both Creator and Judge of His World. Peter is arguing against the false teachers who apparently held the self-sufficiency and immutability of the natural order.

 

“it escapes their notice” – these mockers chose to neglect it; they shut their eyes to this fact.

 

“the earth was formed out of water and by water” – because the waters that were under the sky were gathered together into one place and the dry land appeared; and because the waters above the sky by furnishing moisture and rain, and keeping moist the earth, are the means by which the earth holds together or is sustained.

 

3:6           “flooded with water” – they willfully neglected the flood when God did intervene in judgment. The lesson taught by the flood was that this is a moral universe, that sin will not forever go unpunished; and Jesus Himself used the flood to point out this moral (Mt. 24:37-39).

 

3:7           “the day of judgment” – (Isa. 66:15; Rev. 20:11-15) the Great White Throne Judgment which will occur at the close of the Millennium.

 

“destruction” (apoleia) – eternal misery

 

“ungodly” (asebes) – destitute of reverential awe towards God.

 

B.                   The Day and Its Character (3:8-13)

 

3:8           “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years…” (Psa. 90:4) God does not look at the passing of time as we do. God, in His eternal being, does not experience time as such and the passing of 1, 000 years is no different to Him than the passing of a day, so far as His predicted actions are concerned. So the contrast is of God’s eternity to the impatience of human speculations.

 

3:9           “not slow…but is patient” – the seeming delay or tardiness on the part of God displays His love, mercy, and patience and is not a breach of promise, or an impotence to perform.

 

“His promise” – His Second Coming

 

“patient toward you” – believers, those chosen, called, elected, or predestined to be saved.

 

“not wishing for any to perish” – those who are yet to believe, the elect who were predestined, who were chosen before the foundation of the world to be saved. (Eph. 1:4-14: Acts 13:48; Rom. 8:28-30; 11:29; Matt. 24:22)

“wishing” (boulamai) – purposing (the determined will of God which includes the eternal plan that God has decided to put into operation; its being inevitable, unconditional, immutable, irresistible (Rom. 9:19; Heb. 6:17; Rom. 11:29), comprehensive, and purposeful. It includes everything – Eph. 1:11 (e.g., Eph. 1:1, Paul’s apostleship).

 

 

“for all to come to repentance” the word all in the Greek is (pantas) plural, masc., dative case. It’s the subject of “to come”. Because it’s plural and is without the article, its meaning is “all of a kind. In this case, it means “you Christians”– all that are predestined, called, or chosen to be saved (1 Pet. 1:1, 2; 2 Thes. 2:13; Acts 13:48; Rom. 9:11-24 mainly verses 11, 16). 1 Tim. 2:4 “desires” – (thelo) – wishes, expresses less strongly the deliberate exercise of the will. The desired will of God – what He’d like to be, but for other reasons He doesn’t cause to happen. 1 Tim. 2:1 “all men” (Genitive, masc., plural) – without the article it means “every kind of man”.  1 Tim. 2:4 “all men” (Plural, masc. Dative) – without the article it means “every kind of man” (e.g., kings vs. 2).

 

“the day of the Lord” – the word “day, ” as is sometimes used in Scripture, means a period of time. Here, it comprises at least the last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation period (the Tribulation period is the 7 year period between the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ), and the Millenium (the 1000 year reign of Christ on earth after the battle of Armageddon). “The day of the Lord” will include the prophesied events such as: the federation of states into a Roman Empire (Dan. 2, 7); the rise of the political ruler of this empire, who makes a covenant with Israel (Dan. 9:27; Rev. 13:1-10); the formation of a false religious system under the false prophet (Rev. 13:11-18); the pouring out of the judgments under the seals (Rev. 6); the separation of the 144, 000 witnesses (Rev. 7); the trumpet judgments (Rev. 8-11); the rise of God’s witnesses (Rev. 11); the persecution of Israel (Rev. 12); the pouring out of the bowl judgments (Rev. 16); the overthrow of the false professing church (Rev. 17, 18); the events of the campaign of Armageddon (Ezek. 38, 39; Rev. 16:16; 19:17-21); the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 24:14). It will also include the prophesied events connected with the Second Coming such as: the return of the Lord (Matt. 24:29, 30); the resurrection of Old Testament saints (Jn. 6:39, 40; Rev. 20:4); the destruction of the Beast and all his armies and the False Prophet and his followers in the Beast worship (Rev. 19:11-21); the judgment on the nations (Mt. 25:31-46); the regathering of Israel (Ezek. 37:1-14); the judgment on living Israel (Ezek. 20:33-38); the restoration of Israel to the land (Amos 9:15); the binding of Satan (Rev. 20:2, 3). Further, it will include all the events of the Millennial Age, with the final revolt of Satan (Rev. 20:7-10); the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15) and the purging of the earth (2 Pet. 3:10-13).

 

The “day of Christ” (which is different in program, but overlaps part of the same time period as “the day of the Lord” relates wholly to the reward and blessing of saints at Christ’s second coming (1 Cor. 1:8; 5:5; 2 Cor. 1:14; Phil. 1:6, 10; 2:16), while the “day of the Lord” is connected with judgment.

 

3:10         “the heavens” – the sky.

 

“pass away with a roar” (paraluo roisedon) – dissolve in a roar of flames.

 

“the elements” (stoicheia) – refers to the 4 physical elements: earth, air, fire, and water, out of which all things in the universe were thought to be composed.

 

“destroyed” (luo) – dissolved.

 

3:11         “all these things” – heavens, elements, and earth with its works.

 

“ought” (dei) – it is a necessity in the nature of the case.

 

“to be” (huparchein) – saints are obligated to maintain the holy life of separation in which they started in the Christian life (“to be” in the sense that a prior condition is extended into the present). The following two qualities are meant to be permanently present in our lives.

 

“holy conduct” – a manner of life that is separated from the world and to God; a conduct separated for the service of God.

 

“godliness” (eusbeia) – a condition of the soul obedient to God; an inward quality of being righteous; reverence and dependence upon God.

 

3:12         “looking for” (prosdokao) – to mentally expect or watch for, or wait for (it means action).

 

“hastening the coming” (speudo) – causing the day of the Lord to come more quickly by helping to fulfill those conditions without which it cannot come. Evangelism (Matt. 24:14; Mk. 13:10), prayer (Matt. 6:10; Rev. 8:3, 4), Christian behavior (2 Pet. 3:11; 1 Pet. 2:12), and Jewish repentance and obedience (Acts 3:19-21) seem to hasten the coming of the Lord.

 

“the day of God” – is the return of the Lord Jesus (Rev. 16:13-15); His 2nd Coming.

 

“on account of which” – the day of God.

 

3:13         “His promise” – Isa. 65:17; 66:22

 

“new” (kainos) – in quality, free from any curse

 

“in which righteousness swells” – the new heavens and new earth will be the permanent home of righteousness. All evil will have been destroyed.

 

“dwells” (katoikeo) – to be permanently at home.

 

VI.                 Conclusion: Steadfastness and Growth (3:14-18)

 

3:14         “therefore” (dio) – because it is only righteousness that will survive in the new heaven and earth. It was the link between belief and behavior that the false teachers had broken. Their hopes were earth-bound, their lives immoral.

 

“be diligent” (spoudazo) – do your best, make haste, exert intense effort, or strive earnestly

 

“in peace” ( eireneuo) – reconciliation or harmonious relations; refers to the Christians living at peace with people (Rom. 12:18).

 

“spotless” (aspilos) – used metaphorically of being free from all defilement in God’s sight; of keeping the commandment (i.e., 1 Tim. 6:12-14); opposite of what false teachers were (2:13).

 

“blameless” (amometoi) – that which cannot be found fault with, not that others won’t slander or blame you for things though. This was said of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:9). Focusing our attention and hope on Christ’s 2nd coming is a powerful spur to holy living (1 Jn. 3:3: Jude 1:24).

 

“patience of our Lord to be salvation” – the patience of Jesus Christ gives opportunity for repentance and thus salvation for the lost who put their trust in the Lord Jesus.

 

3:15         “just as…Paul, …wrote to you” – Paul constantly taught in his letters about the need for holy, patient, steadfast, peaceable living, especially in the light of Christ’s second coming (1 Thes. 4, 5; 2 Thes. 2; 1 Cor. 15:50-58). These are, of course, the very subjects Peter himself has just been discussing. The exact location of Peter’s recipients is immaterial. They had received one or more letters from Paul, with which Peter is also familiar and to which he here alludes. There is no difficulty in supposing Peter to have accurate knowledge of Paul’s correspondence, particularly if, as Clement V suggest, they worked together in Rome at the end of their lives.

 

“according to the wisdom given him” – this is a gift from God, as Paul himself admits (1 Cor. 3:10; 2:6, 16).

 

3:16         “these things” – the same note as under “jus as…” in vs. 15.

 

“in which” – epistles

 

“some things hard to understand” (dusnetos) – ambiguity; pronouncements capable of more than one interpretation.

 

“untaught and unstable” – those in danger of being led astray by the false teachers (i.e., 2:14).

 

“distort” (strebloo) -- twist (from their proper meaning). Peter is alluding to Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith, which was twisted by the unscrupulous to mean that once justified, a man could do what he liked with no punishment. Indeed, the more he sinned, the better, for it offered a greater opportunity for the grace of God to be displayed (Rom. 3:5-8; 6:1). Paul’s insistence that the Christian is free from legal rules (Rom. 8:1, 2; 7:4; Gal. 3:10; 5:1) was twisted to mean that he condoned license.

 

“the rest of the Scriptures” – Paul’s epistles were ranked as Scripture by this time.

 

“knowing this beforehand” – that false teachers are to be expected.

 

“error” (plane) – a wandering; a straying about, whereby one is led astray from the right way, roams hither and thither.

 

“carried away by” (sunapachthentes) – suggests that if they keep too close company with such people, they will be led away from Christ. Jesus Himself gave similar warnings (Mk. 13:5, 9, 33).

 

“unprincipled men” (athesmon) – men who break through the restraints of law or live without law and gratify their lusts.

 

“fall” (ekpiptein) – is used of apostasy (Gal. 5:4); to fall out of.

 

“grow” – develop. The Christian life is like riding a bicycle; unless you keep moving, you fall off.

 

“grace” (charis) – is a word for which no single definition can be formed in the English language. Here, it’s that spiritual state in which the Christian is practicing a life of holiness and power over sin because of the Holy Spirit’s enablement. The increase of the fruit of the Spirit and good works are the by-products of such a life (Phil. 2:12, 13; Eph. 2:10; Gal: 5:22, 23; 2 Pet.1:3-10).

 

“knowledge” (gnosis) – spiritual understanding of Christ, for this is the bulwark against being beguiled like the unstable of vs. 16.

 

“glory” (doxa) – splendor; the expression of holiness.