2 Peter 3:14-16 says...
Today's verses are 2 Peter 3:14-16 which read,
v.14 - Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,...
Peter now is assuming that what he has told his readers to focus in on, the second coming of Christ and not the false teachings of the false teachers, is what they are doing. He calls them again "beloved," that term reserved for those who you dearly love and so much so that you will say even what is hard to say because you love them so much.
When the day of the Lord comes we are to "...be diligent to be found by Him in peace,..." "Make haste" to be "come upon" by Jesus and He finds you in "harmony or accord" with Him. May He also find us without spot and blame in our relationship with Him and with others for we are commanded to love God and love others. The point here is that Jesus "finds us" this way as He "comes upon" us so we are living that way right now.
v.15 - ...and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,...
The way to view that Jesus has not coming back yet is to look at it as the opportunity for others to come to Christ in salvation. Even though being with Christ would be greater than living here, living here we get to see more come to Christ through the salvation spoken of through the word of God.
Peter then makes mention of Paul. Paul would be dead at this time and therefore all of the letters to the churches written by Paul would have been distributed. Peter is giving validation to what Paul has said and what Paul has written as wisdom "given" him. This is something that was not "coming from" him but "given to" him from the Spirit. Note also that Peter addresses Paul as a "beloved brother" and therefore he is at peace with Paul.
v.16 - ...as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
Don't you love it that the great Peter, apostle, disciple of Jesus says that some of this stuff in the Bible is hard to understand? Peter also gives validation that what Paul wrote in his letters were Scripture as he compares them to the rest of the Scriptures that the false teachers are trying to twist or distort. This only leads them by their own hand to destruction.
Peter is instructing us that if we have a focus on what is to be (the second coming of Jesus) which keeps our lives living holy and glorifying Jesus then we are being "in accordance with" Scripture rather than "going against" it. We will live in peace with God and our brothers and sisters; we will see the purpose for our lives, even now, to glorify Him; and seeing His salvation not only in us but also in others through the grace given by Him. Peter, by his own admission, is not only saying this but it is also said by Paul.
"Lord, I pray for more understanding of the Scriptures to feel more of the weight of what is being said. I pray for more obedience to what I have been given so to graciously experience daily the grace and love that You have given. I pray that others might come upon me and see the effects of You in my life. Amen."
Pastor Adam
v.14 - Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,...
Peter now is assuming that what he has told his readers to focus in on, the second coming of Christ and not the false teachings of the false teachers, is what they are doing. He calls them again "beloved," that term reserved for those who you dearly love and so much so that you will say even what is hard to say because you love them so much.
When the day of the Lord comes we are to "...be diligent to be found by Him in peace,..." "Make haste" to be "come upon" by Jesus and He finds you in "harmony or accord" with Him. May He also find us without spot and blame in our relationship with Him and with others for we are commanded to love God and love others. The point here is that Jesus "finds us" this way as He "comes upon" us so we are living that way right now.
v.15 - ...and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,...
The way to view that Jesus has not coming back yet is to look at it as the opportunity for others to come to Christ in salvation. Even though being with Christ would be greater than living here, living here we get to see more come to Christ through the salvation spoken of through the word of God.
Peter then makes mention of Paul. Paul would be dead at this time and therefore all of the letters to the churches written by Paul would have been distributed. Peter is giving validation to what Paul has said and what Paul has written as wisdom "given" him. This is something that was not "coming from" him but "given to" him from the Spirit. Note also that Peter addresses Paul as a "beloved brother" and therefore he is at peace with Paul.
v.16 - ...as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
Don't you love it that the great Peter, apostle, disciple of Jesus says that some of this stuff in the Bible is hard to understand? Peter also gives validation that what Paul wrote in his letters were Scripture as he compares them to the rest of the Scriptures that the false teachers are trying to twist or distort. This only leads them by their own hand to destruction.
Peter is instructing us that if we have a focus on what is to be (the second coming of Jesus) which keeps our lives living holy and glorifying Jesus then we are being "in accordance with" Scripture rather than "going against" it. We will live in peace with God and our brothers and sisters; we will see the purpose for our lives, even now, to glorify Him; and seeing His salvation not only in us but also in others through the grace given by Him. Peter, by his own admission, is not only saying this but it is also said by Paul.
"Lord, I pray for more understanding of the Scriptures to feel more of the weight of what is being said. I pray for more obedience to what I have been given so to graciously experience daily the grace and love that You have given. I pray that others might come upon me and see the effects of You in my life. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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