The True Standard – 2 Peter 3:14-18

Jesus chose twelve of his disciples to be apostles, that is, ones especially trained and equipped to be his authoritative representatives. They would be the touchstones of the truth. Jesus knew his message would be challenged and twisted and that we needed authoritative teachers of it. These apostles “handed down” the truth. They were the holders of the traditions.

Now we have their authority and faithful representation of Jesus’ gospel in the Scriptures they wrote about Jesus (the Gospels) and to answer challenges in the church (the epistles). Was Paul one of those apostles? Peter affirms that he was.

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:14-18, ESV)

Peter concludes his letter the way he started it, with a rejoinder to grow in godliness as an evidence of belonging to Christ and a reminder that what the false teachers count as proof that no judgment is coming is really a demonstration of God’s patience as He waits for all to come to Christ.

Apparently the apostle Paul had also written this group something in this regard concerning the coming of Christ, something the false teachers had chosen to twist to fit to their own perspective. But Peter is affirming that what Paul wrote agrees with what he is writing. He affirms Paul’s writings as Scripture that the false teachers twist to their own destruction, and he admits that some of Paul’s writings are hard to understand, leading some to be carried away with the belief that they can be lawless. We know that Paul spoke of not being under the Law of Moses but he also taught that we are under the law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). The false teachers misused other Scriptures as well to give their view some weight or authority.

Perhaps the false teachers Peter was referring to were claiming that we no longer needed to obey the Law regarding sexual purity. Perhaps they were using some of Paul’s writings to justify sexual “freedom,” though in fact Paul did not teach any such thing. False prophets will look for some authority we submit to and reinterpret it to lead us astray.

But we are not to lose our stability by following them but rather grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Are we growing in both these factors, grace and knowledge? Are we becoming more like Jesus as we get to know him better? Here is all our hope.