Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary

Exalting Jesus in 2 Peter, Jude

B&H Publishing Group

Contents

2 Peter

Remember Christ's Provision

2 PETER 1:1-4

Main Idea: Jesus has provided everything we need to grow in his likeness as we wait for his return.

I. The Background (1:1)
A. The writer of the letter
B. The origin of the letter
C. The recipients of the letter
D. The reason for the letter

II. The Blessing (1:2)
A. The blessing of knowing Jesus
B. The blessing of being reminded

III. The Big Idea (1:3-4)
A. The power to be like Christ (1:3)
B. The process of becoming like Christ (1:3)
C. The promise of being like Christ (1:4)

Every self-respecting sports fan knows the story of how Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, started every season. He gathered his players together and gave them what became one of his most famous speeches. With a football in hand, the feared and revered coach would walk to the front of the meeting room, take a moment to gaze over the group of assembled players, hold out the pigskin in front of him, and say, "Gentlemen, this is a football." After describing the importance of the football as if no one on his team had ever seen one, he then would lead the team outside and show them the field. He would explain the out-of-bounds lines and the end zones and then remind the players that the football was intended to go across the end-zone line. Lombardi knew the importance of reminding his players about fundamentals ... even the seasoned athletes. No doubt that emphasis played a huge role in his winning five NFL Championships — including Super Bowls I and II — during his tenure with the Packers.

Peter apparently also knew something about the importance of reminding people about fundamental truths. He wrote his second letter to equip the members of his flock to face and overcome the subtle spiritual deception of false teachers who were assaulting the church. But instead of giving them new information to mount their defense, the apostle simply wanted to remind his readers about the truth of the gospel they had already been taught (see 1:12-15; 3:1-2). He wanted to bring some things to their remembrance that were sufficient to protect and preserve them after his life was over.

The importance of remembering makes 2 Peter a timely and critical word for today's Christian. The explosion of television, radio, publications, the Internet, social media, websites, blogs, podcasts, and other forms of mass media makes heretical teaching easily accessible and widely received. Our rock star Christian culture provides false teachers with coliseum-size audiences who are eager to hear some new thing or have some new spiritual experience. And lack of discernment, fear of rejection, and misunderstanding of love leads the church to be reluctant to expose contemporary heretics. Instead of countering them, we welcome them into our fold, or at the very least just ignore them in the name of politically correct tolerance (MacArthur, 2 Peter, 2). Numerous Christians today are doing nothing short of exchanging the truth for lies (cf. 1 Tim 1:19; 2 Tim 2:16-18). Consequently, we are in desperate need of being reminded about gospel truth to help us wage this war.

That's why it's so surprising that the book of 2 Peter had to fight its way into the canon of Scripture. Some books of the Bible have had to work harder than others to gain entrance into the canonical kingdom. They've had a little harder road to travel to make it into the catalog of Holy Scripture. Second Peter is one of those books; it's taken some hits along the way. Not a few Christian leaders have questioned its inclusion in the canon. "At the Reformation it was regarded as second-class Scripture by Luther, rejected by Erasmus, and regarded with hesitancy by Calvin" (M. Green, 2 Peter, 19). But in the end the letter made the cut, and the church recognized its apostolic authorship, authoritative content, crucial role in the canon of inspired Scripture, and relevance for the church in every age.

Second Peter opens with the commonly used letter form of New Testament times. It included a reference to the writer and the recipients and then a greeting in the form of a blessing. Like other New Testament authors, Peter extended a theological description of the writer and the recipients as well as a specifically Christian wish for those receiving the correspondence (Vaughan and Lea, 1, 2 Peter, 142).

The Background

2 PETER 1:1

The Writer of the Letter

This letter begins in a similar fashion to most first-century epistles: "Simeon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ." The apostle Peter is the stated author of the book in verse 1, and there's no good reason for us to think otherwise. In light of the numerous internal references (1:1,14,16-18; 3:1,15), it would be difficult to see how another author could have avoided ethical compromise with any Christian conviction at all. Additionally, there are some striking similarities in both vocabulary and doctrine between 1 and 2 Peter, as well as with Peter's speeches and sermons in Acts (M. Green, 2 Peter, 47–48).

However, many have argued against Petrine authorship through the centuries. Opposing views have included: (1) the claim that the letter is pseudepigraphical, a writing published after Peter's death to honor him and to say what he might have said in a difficult situation; (2) its unpopular status among the church fathers; (3) the author's perceived dependence on Jude; and (4) the suggestion that Peter's reference to Paul in 3:15 indicates a time when a collection of Paul's writings had been made, which certainly would have been after Peter's lifetime. But none of these arguments have been able to overshadow the more natural and literal understanding that the apostle Peter is the one who penned the letter.

Peter introduces himself as "Simeon," a designation rarely used in the New Testament for the apostle (see Acts 15:14). The term is the Hebrew spelling for the name Simon and a possible indication of the authenticity of the letter (Vaughn and Lea, 1, 2 Peter, 142). Peter also calls himself "a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ." The word servant is doulos in Greek, which means "slave" or "bondservant." Peter, no doubt, is tempering the authority of his apostolic office with the personal humility that he learned through his own denial of Christ Jesus. Now he confidently can present himself as both the servant and the ambassador (apostolos) of his Lord.

A related issue to the authorship of 2 Peter is its source, specifically the close relationship between Peter's letter and the letter of Jude. Vaughan and Lea say, "There is such extensive agreement between Jude and 2 Peter that some common linkage is almost certain" (1, 2 Peter, 138). There are three primary views regarding the specific nature of this relationship. First is the proposal that Peter copied Jude. Proponents of this view cite Jude's fresh writing style and the probability that the longer letter would have taken its cue from the shorter one. Second, perhaps Jude copied Peter. This perspective leans on Peter's use of the future tense in forecasting the work of false teachers (cf. 2 Pet 2) in contrast to Jude's use of the present tense. Advocates of this view also say that someone with the status of an apostle wouldn't likely draw from a less prominent source like Jude. Third, some propose that both writers drew from a common source. This case is rooted in the differences in language, ideas, and order between the two letters. Such a common source could have been a document that condemned heretical doctrines that promoted antinomian ideas and prophesied the fate of their false heralds (M. Green, 2 Peter, 72).

Regardless of who drew from what source, the similarities between the two letters are notable. Both letters provide similar descriptions of false teachers (see 2 Pet 2; Jude 4-19), although they develop their treatments differently. Peter gradually ramps up to addressing the issue of false teaching, while Jude comes out of the gate hammering on the heretics. But they basically address many of the same things that characterized the false teachers. First, false teachers denied the lordship of Christ (2 Pet 2:1; Jude 4). Second, they defiled the Christian love feast, practiced immorality, and influenced others to do the same (2 Pet 2:10,12-14; Jude 16). Third, they manipulated people with their speech to the end of financial gain (2 Pet 2:3,14; Jude 16). Fourth, they masqueraded as either visionaries or prophets to support their contentions (2 Pet 2:1; Jude 8). Fifth, they were headstrong and caused divisions that reflected their feelings of superiority (2 Pet 2:2,10,18; Jude 19). While I lean toward believing that Jude copied Peter, I think these similarities are the details that are most notable for us, simply because they help us better understand the issues being addressed in both letters.

The Origin of the Letter

Just like the uncertainty of the original source of 2 Peter, we really don't have any indication of its specific time and place of writing. While Peter chose not to mention these details, it likely was written from Rome shortly after his first letter and shortly before his death (see 1:14-15). That would put the date sometime prior to AD 68. More than for the specifics of this bibliographic information, Peter's greater concern obviously was for the believers to whom he was writing and the grave danger they were facing.

The Recipients of the Letter

Like the place and time of writing, there's no solid evidence to identify clearly Peter's recipients. They're just referred to as "those who have received a faith equal to ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ." His seemingly intimate address, however, indicates that he wrote the letter to a specific group of people as opposed to a general audience (e.g., 1:10,12-15; 3:1,14). While it's possible that he was writing to Christians in the same provinces as he did in 1 Peter (see 1 Pet 1:1), this second letter seems to have a more Gentile flavor. It doesn't have any specific quotations from the Old Testament like the first letter, although it does have several references to Old Testament events (2:5,6,7,15).

What we do know about the people receiving this letter is how Peter felt about them. They were a people who had "received a faith equal to" the apostles, a faith that was just as precious as the salvation Jesus had given to his earliest and closest followers. The word "received" comes from langchan o, which means "to obtain by lot." Peter reminded his readers that their faith that was equal to that of the apostles was a gift of God's grace (Vaughn and Lea, 1, 2 Peter, 142).

This glorious, exalted, and unmerited standing is theirs — and ours — "through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ." It could not have come in any other way. Helm rightly says,

Our ability to stand before God someday as rescued and reclaimed persons depends entirely on the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He alone has flown through this world without falling. He alone can and did make atonement for sin. Thus he alone can bring us home. (1 & 2 Peter, 187)

The equal privilege between apostles and all of us who have followed them is only due to the work of Christ on the cross.

Peter calls Jesus both "God" and "Savior." Scholars have debated whether he's distinguishing God and Christ or if he's calling Jesus God. Some have suggested the former, citing the supposed distinction in 1:2 as support, as well as the close conjunction between "God" and "Savior." But the absence of the Greek article before "Savior" suggests that both terms refer to Jesus (see also John 1:1; 20:28; Heb 1:8). "Peter is taking the term 'Savior,' an Old Testament name for Jehovah, and is boldly applying it to Jesus" (Vaughn and Lea, 1, 2 Peter, 143). It is the God of the universe who has made believers righteous, and his name is Jesus!

The Reason for the Letter

The absence of the specific identity of the readers doesn't in any way cloud the clarity of Peter's reason for writing. A key idea introduced in this salutation shows us where Peter is headed in his letter. First, the idea in 1:1 of his readers receiving an equally strong faith provides a foretaste of the themes of falling and strengthening that unfold in the words that follow. Peter will exhort his readers to "make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble" (1:10). Peter was familiar with what it meant to fall. On that dark night before Jesus's crucifixion, he told his disciples, "Tonight all of you will fall away because of me, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered" (Matt 26:31). To that pronouncement Peter immediately retorted, "Even if everyone falls away because of you, I will never fall away" (Matt 26:33). Do you remember Jesus's response to Peter's confident claim? "Truly I tell you, tonight, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times" (Matt 26:34). And so Peter did. He knew what it meant to fall.

However, Peter also knew what it meant to get up again after you fall. In Luke's account of that same conversation, we find Jesus telling Peter, "Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31-32). The word "strengthen" is sterizo, which means "to stand," "to set fast," or "to fix firmly." And so Peter did. In 1:12 of this current letter, he will say, "Therefore I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have." The word "established" here is sterizo, the same word as "strengthen" in Luke 22:32. And a negative form of this same word (asteriktos) will show up again in2:14 where he warns that false teachers will "seduce unstable people." Then to top it all off, Peter will close his letter by using another form of the same word (sterigmos) to exhort his readers to "be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stable position" (3:17). So three times we'll find variations on the same word — translated "established," "unstable," and "stable"— that Jesus used in Luke 22:32 to set the course of the remainder of Peter's ministry. "In this little letter, the term is leveraged afresh, along with the word fall, to capture Peter's intention in writing" (Helm, 1 & 2 Peter, 186).

What is that intention? Peter obviously wanted to make sure his readers — and all of us who have followed them — would stand fast and be fixed firmly in the faith. So the one who fell, who — by the grace of Christ — was then strengthened to get back up, who was charged to then do the same for others, we now find obediently carrying out his assignment.

The Blessing

2 PETER 1:2

Similar to his first letter, Peter blesses his current readers in verse 2 by wishing "grace and peace" to them. Grace is the resource God gives to undeserving sinners for both conversion and sanctification. Peace is that blissful joy and contentment we have as a result of being made right with him. Together they describe the blessed condition of being right with God and growing into Christ's image (see also Rom 5:1-5). This blessed condition, however, doesn't exist in a vacuum. Peter will close his letter with the same ideas, emphasizing the proactive and dynamic nature of these conditions as they are lived out in the Christian life. So his desire here is for grace and peace to be multiplied in the lives of his readers "through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord" (1:2). Grace and peace are increased by knowing God through Jesus Christ, a knowledge about which believers constantly need to be reminded.

The Blessing of Knowing Jesus

Peter implies that this blessed condition of grace and peace is brought about and fleshed out in its fullness only in the gospel. Specifically, he says it's found "through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord," a construction that indicates that the object of this "knowledge" is both God and Jesus. And this knowledge is no mere intellectual exercise but instead is a genuine personal experience with the Lord Jesus, who is the only way for anyone to truly know God. "In a true sense it is Jesus alone who is the object of the knowledge of the Christian" (Vaughn and Lea, 1, 2 Peter, 144). In short, grace and peace can only be found and experienced when one knows God, and one can only know God in relationship with Jesus Christ. This, beloved, is at the heart of the gospel!