http://www.esvbible.org/2+Peter+3/
Peter says that both of His letters serve to remind us what the prophets said and what Jesus said through the apostles. Near the end, a day will come, when men will ridicule the Lord and His promises. They will say that things are the same as they've ever been and question Jesus' returning. What they forget is that it is through the Word of God and Christ the the world came to exist in the first place. We also cannot forget that time is meaningless to God. He does things in His own time and a day to Him is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. We must stay true because a day is coming when theEarth will be destroyed, and everything that was done by humans will be gone. Heaven and Earth will be destroyed. Yet God promises a new Heaven and earth on which all that God approves of will live. Because of all this, we must be sure to stand firm in our beliefs. People will come to discredit all of the Scriptures, but we must remember that they all come from God. We cannot let these types of people carry us away.
Monday, July 23, 2012
2 Peter 2
http://www.esvbible.org/2+Peter+2/
Peter warns us about false teachers. They are nothing new, not even in the time of Jesus. They have always been around, and Peter assures us that God knows how to punish them on Judgement Day while saving His people. After all, He saved Noah and Noah's family while He wiped out the sinful people with the flood, and He saved Lot and Lot's family while He destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, where the people lived their lives in sin. The false teachers are usually people who used to be in the faith but left because they decided they would rather pursue their own selfish interests. They may have even started out teaching the truth, but they changed in the hunger for fame or greed when they saw what their teachings could get them. Now, they work to exploit innocent believers and bring them into the false teachings, which they create themselves. Most of these people are new Christians and don't know any better. Peter says that it is worse to be in Christ and leave than it is to have never known the Way at all. It is true when the prophets said that a sow is cleaned and then returns to the mud. These false teachers were cleansed of their sins, but they chose to go back to how they lived in their sinful lives.
Peter warns us about false teachers. They are nothing new, not even in the time of Jesus. They have always been around, and Peter assures us that God knows how to punish them on Judgement Day while saving His people. After all, He saved Noah and Noah's family while He wiped out the sinful people with the flood, and He saved Lot and Lot's family while He destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, where the people lived their lives in sin. The false teachers are usually people who used to be in the faith but left because they decided they would rather pursue their own selfish interests. They may have even started out teaching the truth, but they changed in the hunger for fame or greed when they saw what their teachings could get them. Now, they work to exploit innocent believers and bring them into the false teachings, which they create themselves. Most of these people are new Christians and don't know any better. Peter says that it is worse to be in Christ and leave than it is to have never known the Way at all. It is true when the prophets said that a sow is cleaned and then returns to the mud. These false teachers were cleansed of their sins, but they chose to go back to how they lived in their sinful lives.
2 Peter 1
http://www.esvbible.org/2+Peter+1/
Peter begins with a greeting, affirming he wrote this letter, and it is written to all Christians.
It should be reassuring that God has already given us all the gifts we need for our entire lives and godliness. We received this through knowledge from God, who called us to faith. Through His glory, He gave us great promises, and in these promises, we share in divinity because we have escaped sinful nature. But we must always be adding and improving because there is always room to better ourselves. We must add integrity to faith, knowledge to integrity, self-control to knowledge, endurance to self-control, godliness to endurance, Christian affection to godliness, and love to Christian affection. We can always build and improve. Once we have added all of these things to our lives, and they are improving, we are productive in Christ, but if they are missing, we forget we have been forgiven. Make every effort to secure that what you are doing is God's calling for your life. By continuing to add these things and make improvements, we will never fall away and will be allowed to enter God's Kingdom. Peter says he will keep reminding these of these things until he dies, and we must too remind people of how they need to stay right with God. Finally, Peter says that God revealed to Him that His time is short, yet Peter uses this time to make sure that others are right with God. This is how we should spend our days, making sure others can join us in our salvation.
Peter assures the other Christians that the apostles aren't making up the stuff that they teach about, but they were there with Jesus and witnessed it all as it happened. They saw Jesus get baptized and heard God say that "This is my Son in whom I delight." They know as a fact that the things the prophets said are true, so he encourages Christians to heed their warnings. Indeed, nothing in Scripture is of men's interpretations or from their imaginations, but they actually come from the Holy Spirit spoken through men's mouths.
Peter begins with a greeting, affirming he wrote this letter, and it is written to all Christians.
It should be reassuring that God has already given us all the gifts we need for our entire lives and godliness. We received this through knowledge from God, who called us to faith. Through His glory, He gave us great promises, and in these promises, we share in divinity because we have escaped sinful nature. But we must always be adding and improving because there is always room to better ourselves. We must add integrity to faith, knowledge to integrity, self-control to knowledge, endurance to self-control, godliness to endurance, Christian affection to godliness, and love to Christian affection. We can always build and improve. Once we have added all of these things to our lives, and they are improving, we are productive in Christ, but if they are missing, we forget we have been forgiven. Make every effort to secure that what you are doing is God's calling for your life. By continuing to add these things and make improvements, we will never fall away and will be allowed to enter God's Kingdom. Peter says he will keep reminding these of these things until he dies, and we must too remind people of how they need to stay right with God. Finally, Peter says that God revealed to Him that His time is short, yet Peter uses this time to make sure that others are right with God. This is how we should spend our days, making sure others can join us in our salvation.
Peter assures the other Christians that the apostles aren't making up the stuff that they teach about, but they were there with Jesus and witnessed it all as it happened. They saw Jesus get baptized and heard God say that "This is my Son in whom I delight." They know as a fact that the things the prophets said are true, so he encourages Christians to heed their warnings. Indeed, nothing in Scripture is of men's interpretations or from their imaginations, but they actually come from the Holy Spirit spoken through men's mouths.
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