God’s Word for You

2 Peter 3:1-2 The word of the prophets and apostles

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Sunday, August 7, 2022

Having warned Christians everywhere to beware of false teachers and the serious danger of any false message (which he repeats in 3:17), Peter now focuses our attention on living a godly life with an eye on the end of all things. Peter has not laid out for us the foundation of our faith; he did that in his first letter, the way Paul did in Romans and Ephesians. This letter is more like that of James, who takes on the role of a coach to urge us to better Christian living, except that Peter has more urgency, “to be prepared” (Luther) “and to expect the Last Day at every moment.”

This chapter falls into three parts:

3:1-7. Those who ask, “Where is this ‘Coming’ that Jesus talked about?” ignore the fact that the one who destroyed the world by water can and will destroy the world by fire.

3:8-10. The Lord delays his return so the church may do mission work; his delay is taking place because his will is also that people would come to repentance and be saved.

3:11-18. The delay of the Lord’s return also means that Christians should and must expect his return at any moment. Therefore we plan our mission work boldly, taking time to do a large amount of work despite distance, delays, and hostile resistance to the gospel; but we live privately as if Christ could come this very day with no warning at all.

3 My dear friends, this is now the second letter that I am writing to you. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind with a reminder 2 for you to remember what the holy prophets said in advance and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,

By “second letter,” some have speculated that Peter could be referring to a lost document, and that he may not yet have written what we call 1 Peter. However, since the Apostle has also spoken about his death, that he will “soon put aside the tent of this body” (1:13-14),  it seems more in keeping with the ordinary rules of grammar and language to understand that this is indeed Peter’s second epistle of two, the same two that we call First and Second Peter, along with the rest of the church back to ancient times when the book was first received.

What Peter is saying is just what the prophets said in their time, and what the apostles have been saying all along. His message is no different, but he is not defending his message here. He calls the apostles “your apostles,” meaning the apostles that the readers (the Galatians and the Christians of the surrounding provinces, 1 Peter 1:1) have been in contact with. This is mostly a reference to Paul and his companions, who labored all throughout Asia Minor and Greece for twenty years (46-66 AD).

Also, we must see that Peter sets the Apostles and their writings on the same level as the holy Prophets in this passage. As Moses wrote, so also Matthew, for both come from the Holy Spirit, and “All your words are true” (Psalm 119:160). And as David, so also Mark. As Isaiah, so also Luke. As Jeremiah, so also James. As the author of Job, so also the author of Hebrews. And if there was a question in Peter’s time about Paul’s letters, this verse answers that as well, since Paul was the primary Apostle to the Christians of Asia Minor. But Peter will revisit this specific question later in 3:15-16.

The church that accepts Moses and the prophets must also accept the Apostles and evangelists, that their writings are also inspired by God and the source of all doctrine, because their message is from the same God to his people. His word is eternal. In the Old Testament, many things are written that are unclear to many people today because they don’t have faith. They stare at the accounts of the Creation (Genesis 1-2), the Great Flood (Genesis 6-8), the fire raining down upon Sodom (Genesis 19), and they wonder what it all means. If they would only read the text and accepted that this is the Word of the Lord with a simple faith, and see that it is true in its literal sense, they would also have no choice but to accept everything written about Christ as true and correct as well, because the unfolding of the Word of God gives light; it gives understanding to the simple (Psalm 119:130). But many reject Christ, and they find that having turned on Jesus, they must also turn on Moses and Isaiah and David and the rest, for all of the writers of the Scriptures agree with one another, and to disagree with any one of them means to disagree with them all. So anyone who brushes aside Peter does the same to Jeremiah, and they have no Bible left at all. “Because you have rejected this message,” Isaiah says, “then sin will come like a high wall crashing down, collapsing on you, and crushing you” (Isaiah 30:12-13). And Jesus lets David speak for him: “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone” (Matthew 21:42; Psalm 118:22), adding: “He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed” (Matthew 21:44). So the one who departs from God’s Word is the one who will be terrified by everything, whether “trifles light as air” or the rustle of a windblown leaf (Leviticus 26:36).

We accept the whole Bible, 66 books in all, as the holy Word of God. Study these Scriptures. They testify about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. By listening to God’s Word and by trusting it, you put your faith in Jesus for everlasting life. Here in the Bible there is forgiveness, the resurrection of the dead, eternity in heaven, and reunion with everyone we have left behind. For all who grieve have this comfort held dearest to their hearts: “Your dead will live; their bodies will rise” (Isaiah 26:19). But this message is found nowhere else, just as this forgiveness and promise is found nowhere else but in the Word of God presenting us with Christ our Savior. It is just as Jesus says: “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). And David says: “My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life” (Psalm 119:50). So cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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