Lesson III
Introduction to 2 Peter
Introduction:
1. In lesson I of the Introduction to this series, we
a. Identified the Author as the Apostle Peter
b. Identified the audience to whom the letter was sent as “those who have obtained like
precious faith with us (the Apostles) through the righteousness of God and our Savior
Jesus Christ which includes us.
c. Identified the purpose of the letter is the concern that Peter has for the “threat or danger
that is facing the church,” and that same danger threatens us today.
2. In Lesson II of the Introduction to this series, we identified Five things that Peter deals with in
this letter.
a. He teaches that “The standard for Christian living is the witness of the Prophets
and Apostles,” since the Prophets and Apostles only witnessed what God told them.
b. Peter warns that False teachers will arise even within the fellowship.” 2 Peter 2:1
c. Peter identifies “what was involved in Heresy,” which is a denial of the authenticity of
Jesus as the Son of God, born of a Virgin, that he died and rose again.
d. Peter also warns that “False teaching and Doctrine results in false conduct and a loss of
ethics which results in a bold self-assertiveness.”
e. “Peter was attempting to stir up a fresh devotion to the faith” according to 2 Peter 1:12
and 3:1, 2;
1. 2 Peter 1:12
12) Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though
ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
2. 2 Peter 3:1-2
1) This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: 2) That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:
3. In today’s lesson, we are going to a brief walk through 2 Peter
V. The theme of 2 Peter is “knowledge.”
1. Chapter 1
a. Grace & truth comes through a “knowledge of God.” (v2)
2) Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
b. God’s divine power has given all things that pertain unto life and godliness through
the knowledge of Jesus. (v3)
3) According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
c. If we add to our faith the virtues in verses 5-7 then we will be fruitful in the
knowledge of Jesus (v8)
8) For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
d. True knowledge makes us to know that Scripture is not by private interpretation, but
as the Spirit moved upon men of old they “spake and wrote.” (v21)
21) For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
2. Chapter 2
a. We escape the pollution’s of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. (v20a)
20) For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,...
b. When people are again “entangled and overcame,” it is because they lose their
knowledge of Jesus (v20b) and go back to the mire for Spiritual Blindness occurs
where there is no knowledge of Jesus.
Note: It stands to reason that if people escape the pollutions of the world through the knowledge
of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, then if “they are again entangled therein, and
overcome,..” it has to be because the left or forgot the knowledge they had of Jesus.
1. 2 Peter 1:9
But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Note: “These things” refer to the virtues mentioned inverses 5-7.
2. 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
3) But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4) In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5) For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6) For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
a. The gospel is hid to the lost because the are blinded by the god of this world.
b. The light of the gospel of Jesus is to give us “knowledge” of the glory of God.
3. Chapter 3
a. We know that in the last days men will mock the Christian Faith. (v3)
3) Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
b. We know what is going to happen to the world and to the church (v17-18)
17) Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. 18) But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
1. So let us be careful that we do not err
2. And instead of erring, let us grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
4. The “knowledge of Jesus” is mentioned five times. 1:2, 3, 8; 2:20; 3:18
Can we have a knowledge of Jesus without having a knowledge of God, or does a knowledge of Jesus and His work give us a knowledge of the Father?
5. Define Knowledge
a. In 1:2, 3, 8; 2:20
2) Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3) According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
8) For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2:20) For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
1. The word for knowledge is the Greek word “epignosis”
a. To recognize and it implies to “become fully acquainted with
b. To acknowledge
b. In 1:5, 6; 3:18
5) And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6) And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
3:18) But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
1. The word for knowledge/know/knowing is the Greek word “gnosis”
a. This is from ‘ginosko” which is a verb.
b. Thus knowledge in these verses is an “an act” or “knowing” or “to
Know”--understand or perceive
Note: This is a continuous act.
VI. Exhortation
1 Chronicles 28:9
9 And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.
A. 1 Chronicles 28:9 David tells Solomon to
1. Know God
2. Observe God
3. Acknowledge God
4. Be acquainted with God
5. Be aware of God
6. Comprehend God
7. Understand God
8. Discern God
9. Be a familiar friend with God
10. Have respect toward God
11. Have an understanding of God
B. The Word will
1. Give us this above “knowledge” of God
a. And this Knowledge of God will cause us to serve Him. Note the direction to the
king in Deuteronomy 17:14, 18, 19, 20
1. Directions from Deuteronomy to a king
a. You will have a king
14) When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me
b. Your king is not to
16) But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. 17) Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
c. Your king is to
18) And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: 19) And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: 20) That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
2. The purpose of having a book of the law
a. To Learn to fear the Lord
b. To Learn to keep the Words in the Law
c. To keep the king’s heart from being lifted up
d. To keep the king from turning aside from the law (backslide)
e. To assure the king that a prolong of his days
Note: This same principle applies to us. If we will abide in Christ and let His words abide in us,
we will have a deeper knowledge of Jesus thus assuring us of enjoying the greater
promises that God has for us even asking what we will, and seeing it done.
C. Through knowledge of Jesus
1. We have “grace and Peace” (1:2) through
a. Recognizing God
b. Becoming fully acquainted with Him
c. Acknowledging Jesus as “Lord”
2. We have “life and godliness” (1:3) through
a. Recognizing God
b. Becoming fully acquainted with Jesus
c. Acknowledging Jesus as “Lord.”
3. When the virtues in v5-7 are in us and abound in us, then we will be fruitful in the
knowledge of God. (1:8)
a. Fruitful in recognizing God
b. Fruitful in being fully acquainted with Jesus
c. Fruitful in Acknowledging Jesus as “Lord.”
4. We will escape the pollution’s of the world by (2:20)
a. Recognizing God
b. Becoming fully acquainted with Jesus
c. Acknowledging Jesus as “Lord.”
5. In 1:5, we are to add to virtue knowledge
a. or to add Understanding of God
b. or to add Perception of God
6. In 1:6, we are to add to knowledge temperance
a. or we are to add to an understanding of God temperance
b. or we are to add to a perception of God temperance
7. in 3:18, we are to “grow in knowledge”
a. We are to grow in our Understanding of God (Jesus)
b. We are to grow in our Perception of our Lord and Savior Jesus (God)
8. In 3:3, we are to Know (understand and perceive) what is going to happen in the last
days so we can avoid the error or sins in which others will fall. (3:17)
9. Finally, we are to not argue or discuss with false teachers
a. We are to give them the Word
b. We are to tell them the True Gospel
c. We are to let the Holy Spirit bring true knowledge (understanding and perception)
to their hearts.
1. True knowledge (understanding and perception) will cause them to
a. Recognize Him as Lord
b. Become acquainted with Him
c. To acknowledge him as Lord.
VII. The Outline of Peter is in three sections
A. First,
1. He discusses true knowledge bestowed as a gift of God
a. through His power (1:3)
b. and through His promises. (1:4)
c. The Result is
1. We as a believer are a partaker of His Divine Nature
2. That our growth that follows prepares us for the fuller experience of the
heavenly that is yet to come.
2. That the basis of this knowledge is found
a. In the personal testimony of those who know Jesus (1:14)
b. In the revelation of the Scriptures which come through the direct
impartation and control of the Holy Spirit (1:20)
B. Second is a Prophetic Denunciation of those who are in error
1. They error by
a. Denying the Lordship of Jesus
b. Denying the redemptive work of Jesus
c. Living in Moral Looseness
2. He gives a history lesson of God’s actions in the past against those who erred.
a. The angels that sinned (2:4)
b. The antediluvian world (2:5)
c. Sodom and Gomorrah (2:6)
3. He states that the ungodly will be reserved for judgment (2:9)
4. He describes those in error (2:10-19)
a. v10---They walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and
b. v10---They despise government.
c. v10---They are Presumptuous
d. v10---They are selfwilled,
e. v10---They are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
f. v12---They speak evil of the things that they understand not;
g. v14--They have eyes full of adultery,
h. v14---They cannot cease from sin;
i. v14---They beguile unstable souls:
j. v14---They have a heart that they have exercised with covetous practices;
k. v15---They have forsaken the right way,
l. v15---They are gone astray,
m. v15---They follow the way of Balaam the son of Bosor,
n. v17---They are wells without water,
o. v17---They are clouds carried with a tempest;
p. v18---They speak great swelling words of vanity,
q. v18---they allure (attract) through the lusts of the flesh, through much
wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
r. v19---They promise them liberty, but themselves are the servants of corruption:
5. Note his statement in 2:21 and compare Jesus statement of Judas in Matt. 26:24
2 Peter 2:21 “For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than,
after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.”
Matt 26:24 “The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom
the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.”
C. The Third division points out the only hope for the future.
1. Peter references to death in Chapter 1:11, 13, 14, 15, 16 shows that he had an
eternal perspective.
11) For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
13) Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
14) Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me.
15) Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
16) For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
2. In chapter 2, Peter talks about errors that will arise
3. Then in chapter 3, he points out that the only true hope
a. lies in the knowledge of God’s program
b. and it Lies in Patience while we wait for it to be carried out
c. Yes
1. Mockers will deny the truth of Jesus’ return
2. and as Judgment has occurred in the Past
3. Jesus
a. will come as a thief in the night (3:10)
b. and A new heaven and earth will be created (3:13)
VIII. One of the chief contributions of 2 Peter is a statement concerning Scriptures (1:20-21)
A. No prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation
1. Private (idius) which means “self”
2. Interpretation (epilusis) which means “explanation or illumination”
Note: Individuals may try to understand or interpret what the Scriptures are saying, but be
careful
1. To not pull a text out by itself and try to build a doctrine
2. To not take a text out of its Spiritual Content
c. To remember that the Holy Ghost is the author, and He is the one that is capable of
being the final interpreter of the Scriptures.
3. Moved (phero) means “borne along” or “carried” as a ship is carried on a tide
Note: The men of old were propelled along by the Holy Ghost, and it was not by their own
power.
Note: Some want to interpret Scripture by themselves, but it is by the Spirit of God. Some do
not want taught, but wants us to have teachers.
Note: We need a Knowledge
1. Of Jesus
a. To recognize Him as Savior
b. To rightly discern who he is
2. Of what will happen to those who lose this knowledge of Jesus
a. they will perish
3. Of the truthfulness of the Lord’s promises
a. So we can discern the time we are living in
b. So we can understand that God is patient
c. So we can understand that Jesus is coming
