Proclaimer Blog
Thoughts for Preachers on 2 Peter, #2
Let’s come to the end of 2 Peter. The final two verses are a terrific summary of Peter’s whole message to the believers:
3.17: Don’t be carried into error and fall from your security.
Peter’s writing to believers who are faced with people who claim to be Christian but who are teaching that there will be no return of Christ and so no final ultimate act of judgment from God. Such people then enjoy throwing themselves into depravity and encouraging others to follow them.
Peter warns: if you follow that error about Christ and so indulge in lawless living, you will ‘fall from your secure position’. That phrase clearly refers back to the same truth put the positive way round in 1.10-11. The warning is stark. A clear departure from truth, expressed in godless living, leads to eternal destruction.
3.18: But grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.
Verse 17 was “don’t do this!”. This verse is: “do this instead!”. And growing in godliness, as a true expression of true knowledge of Christ, is still what Peter’s talking about. See how he linked godliness with knowledge of Christ that way in 1.8; see how the command to keep fighting for growth in godliness tops and tails the letter, and is linked with the return of Christ and being found ‘at peace with him’ (1.5; 3.11, 14).
There are a number of different good ways to plan out a preaching series on 2 Peter. It’s no bad thing, though, to end by majoring on the summarising commands of these last two verses. It can help drive the heart of Peter’s aim home with some simplicity and power.