Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have received a faith of the
same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and
Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the
knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine
power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through
the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory
and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and
magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also,
applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence,
and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and
in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance,
and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly
kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if
these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you
neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted,
having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore,
brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling
and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will
never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the
eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will
be abundantly supplied to you.
Therefore, I will always be ready to remind
you of these things, even though you already know them,
and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I
consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling,
to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the
laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also
our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will also be
diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call
these things to mind.
Because we did not follow cleverly
devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His
majesty. Because when He received honor and glory from God the
Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by
the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am
well-pleased”—and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when
we were with Him on the holy mountain.
So we have the prophetic word made more sure,
to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark
place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your
hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of
Scripture is a matter of one’s own
interpretation, Because no prophecy was ever made by an act of human
will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
But false prophets also arose among the
people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will
secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master
who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many
will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the
truth will be maligned; and in their greed
they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long
ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
...the Lord knows how to rescue the godly
from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for
the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the
flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.
Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble
when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who
are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them
before the Lord. But these, like unreasoning
animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling
where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures
also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing
wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are
stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as
they carouse with you, having eyes full of adultery that never
cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained
in greed, accursed children; forsaking the right
way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of
Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness...
These are springs without water and mists
driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For
speaking out arrogant words of vanity
they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape
from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they
themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by
this he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements
of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has
become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for
them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn
away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has
happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after
washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”
This is now, beloved, the second letter I
am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of
reminder, that you should remember the words spoken beforehand
by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by
your apostles.
Know this first of all, that in the last
days mockers will come with their mocking, following
after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of
His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep,
all continues just as it was from the beginning of
creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice
that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago
and the earth was formed out of water and by
water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being
flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are
being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction
of ungodly men.
...Since all these things are to be destroyed in
this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and
godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because
of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements
will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are
looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness
dwells.
Therefore, beloved, since you look for these
things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and
blameless, 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, 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. You
therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that
you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men
and fall from your own steadfastness, 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.
(Selected
portions of 2 Peter)
Brethren, I hope that
you take the time to read through, not only the above portions, but the whole
of 2 Peter. It is quite a magnificent book of which I am just now being shown
the vast significance. If I could mine through this book in proper detail, as
is demanded by it, it would take far more posts than I can currently dedicate
to it. Moreover, my knowledge of the Greek is not currently up to par, which it
must be if I am to properly take away the full teaching of this text.
Therefore, I will be focusing upon a very small portion of teaching found
therein which has been brought to the fore of my mind recently by the Lord's
working in my life.
This post will be
focusing upon the understandability of all Scripture, its objectivity and its
sufficiency to instruct us on what it is truly saying. In doing so, this will
shed light upon the destructive blasphemy which proceeds from many persons
claiming to properly understand the Word and Christ. I pray that the Lord will
use this to steady the knees of the weak in faith and crush the legs of the
proud.
Have you ever been in a
debate about some theological issue, and had the person with whom you are
speaking say, "Well that's just your interpretation!", or, "You
can't say that is what the Bible truly means, since the Bible is subject to the
interpretation of the individual!" Maybe the other person did not say
that, but you yourself did. Either way, you understand the two theologies which
are conflicting here. These I will call Self-perceived Interpretation and
Spirit-led Interpretation.
If we study these two
theologies, we find the former theology declares that it is the individual on
his own that determines what the Scripture means. This presupposes that men
come to the Bible with presuppositions, gained from life-experiences,
environment, culture, and teachings gained from parents or parental figures.
These presuppositions, etc., are inseparable from the individual and thus,
unknowingly, color his thinking about the text of Scripture. Thus, even if one
still argues that the Scripture has only one "true" interpretation,
such interpretation cannot be made by the people of today. Therefore, Scripture
is not understandable and thus one cannot now say, "Thus saith the
Lord". Either this, or one just believes that the Bible was never
understandable to begin with and thus every interpretation of it is just as
valid as the next.
The latter theology also
rests upon the idea that the Bible is not understandable. That is, it is not
understandable to man's mind (please pay careful attention to what I am
writing so that you understand what I am saying), because man cannot
understand the truth. This is because they are totally depraved, unwilling to
submit to God and His teaching (Rom. 3:10-18). As a result, the Lord blinds
their eyes, stops their ears, and closes their minds (Isaiah 6:9). Thus, we
find that although the Word of God is sown upon many men, most of them do not
understand it (Matthew 13:18-22). Thus, according to the Parable of the Sower,
misunderstanding is not the fault of the Word of God, but of the unrepentant
heart of the hearer.
In spite of this, the
Word of God is understood by some (Mat. 13:23). This is an impossibility if we
rely upon men to do this, because understanding of the Word always brings forth
fruit unto righteousness, which is in keeping with repentance, without which no
man will see God (Luke 3:8-9, 6:43-45), and we know that it is impossible for
man to save himself from the wrath of God (Mat. 19:25-26). Therefore, there
must be an outside agent which grants him understanding of the Word. What (or
who) is this agent? The Holy Spirit is according to 1 John 2:27 (cf. vs. 20-21,
Acts 10:38, 44-48, 2 Cor. 1:21-22, John 14:25-26, 16:12-15). Thus, it is the
Spirit of God that illuminates the mind, bringing men to the true knowledge of
God and sanctifying the repentant with the truth of the Bible (John 17:17, cf.
Rom. 8:28-30).
Knowing the above, we
can declare, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Spirit is more than capable
of granting knowledge to the repentant and does so according to the Will of the
Father and of Christ. Therefore, the Bible can ultimately be understood, but
only to those whom the Lord has subjugated and granted sonship.
Now that we have
sufficiently spoken to this issue of Spirit-led Interpretation, let us turn to
2 Peter (as I said I would).
To those who have received a faith of the
same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and
Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the
knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine
power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through
the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory
and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises,
so that by them you may become partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by
lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in
your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral
excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control,
and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and
in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly
kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are
increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the
true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks
these qualities is blind or short-sighted,
having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore,
brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling
and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will
never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the
eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will
be abundantly supplied to you.
According to this first
portion, the Lord has granted to us everything we
need for life and godliness. What is the vessel utilized for
this granting? It is the true knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ. This
knowledge comes through understanding the Scriptures, for nothing else is
sufficient for equipping the Man of God for every good work (cf. 2 Timothy
3:14-17, 2:15, 24-26, 3:1-9). Only through faith in this Word will we be
granted moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness,
brotherly kindness, and love. If these things are not found in a man, then he
is not saved since no good tree bears bad fruit, and every bad-fruit-bearing
tree is cut down and thrown into Hell (Luke 6:43, Mat. 7:15-23).
Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these
things, even though you already know them, and
have been established in the truth which is present with you. I
consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling,
to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the
laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also
our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will also be
diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call
these things to mind. Because we did not follow cleverly devised tales
when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. Because when He
received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as
this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son
with whom I am well-pleased”—and we ourselves heard this utterance made
from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
So we have the prophetic word made more sure,
to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark
place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your
hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of
Scripture is a matter of one’s own
interpretation, Because no prophecy was ever made by an act of human
will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
Peter understood that
the Holy Spirit grants the repentant knowledge of the truth and will lead them
into further understanding of the Word. This is why he knows that these
believers already have been established in the truth, and that he can stir them
to the aforementioned love and good deeds (cf. Hebrews 10:24). This is not only
because the Spirit is capable of producing this, but also because the
declarations and doctrines which they have pronounced are not misleading falsehoods
about Christ. Rather, the Message (Logos) from God (which is, and is summed up
in, Christ, cf. John 1, esp. vs. 17) which they preached was sure and powerful
(Hebrews 4:12), powerful enough to produce light within the hearts of the
repentant and create good works within them.
How is this possible if
men cannot understand it? The message preached by the Apostles (which is only
"Christ and Him crucified", 1 Cor. 1:23) was crafted solely by the
Holy Spirit and not by their own imaginations (2 Tim. 3:16, cf. John 14:25-26).
Because of this, we can say that, just as the other prophecies of Scripture,
the doctrines of God found within the whole of Scripture is not a matter of the
interpretations of the individual. Rather, they were created by the Holy Spirit
who spoke directly through the Prophets, Writers, Apostles, and the Son.
Therefore, as we established above, the Spirit interprets the Scripture and
reveals it to the repentant (I may speak about how this happens later, but for
now let us move on), and thus the Word has a fixed meaning understandable to
those whose hearts have been born of the Will of God (John 1:12-13).
"Are you saying
then that all those denominations out there are then wrong!"
If anyone agrees with
the Word, then he is right. However, if anyone disagrees with the Word, he is
wrong. This has nothing to do with "us vs. them". Rather, it is truth
vs. error. If one refuses to believe the Word, he is by definition wrong, no
matter who he is. However, this is not merely his fault, since no man
understands or seeks after God on his own (Rom. 3:11). Rather, the Spirit has
not worked in them yet to produce that fruit of knowledge. Therefore, they do
not understand because their hearts are still holding on to some sin or
another. This is not to say that misunderstanding a passage means that you are
not saved. Rather, it means that you are immature in your faith in some area,
and thus must be propelled onward by other believers to understand the Word,
all through the working of the Spirit.
But false prophets also arose among the
people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will
secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master
who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many
will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the
truth will be maligned; and in their greed
they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long
ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
...the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation,
and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and
especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt
desires and despise authority.
Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble
when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who
are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them
before the Lord. But these, like unreasoning
animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling
where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures
also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing
wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are
stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as
they carouse with you, having eyes full of adultery that never
cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained
in greed, accursed children; forsaking the right
way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of
Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness...
These are springs without water and mists
driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For
speaking out arrogant words of vanity
they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who
barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom
while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is
overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the
defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the
last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would
be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having
known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to
them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A
sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”
But do not be deceived,
there are wolves among us. These are men who declare destructive heresies,
teachings which are not in accordance with the Words of Christ (1 Tim. 6:3-10).
In doing so, they act as Balaam, a sorcerer who lead Israel astray towards other
gods (Numbers 31, esp. vs. 16). This is especially true of those who preach
that the Bible cannot be understood. Why? Because if the Bible cannot be
understood, then God is a liar for saying all that He has, and may every man be
found a liar and God be found blameless (Rom. 3:4). Therefore, if someone
proclaims that God is a liar, he does not know the Scriptures nor the power of
God, and thus must repent and believe the Gospel. For those who preach these
heresies, they are stains and blemishes on the Church, loving to deceive
others, enticing them by their lusts to follow after the Devil, speaking words
out of arrogance, sensual, enslaving men in their sins, dogs returning to vomit
and pigs returning to the mudpits from whence they came (cf. Jude).
Therefore, beloved, since you look for
these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and
blameless, 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, 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. You
therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that
you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men
and fall from your own steadfastness, 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.
Again we find that some
Scripture is hard to understand. The Holy Spirit here declares that some of
what Paul wrote, as well as other portions of Scripture, are hard to
understand. However, it is only impossible to understand for those who are
untaught and unstable. Truly, you can know what every verse means if you are
taught of God. However, if you are unstable, not only will you twist the
"harder" parts of Scripture, but you will also twist the rest of
Scripture.
Because of this, we must
be on our guard so that we are not brought into the error of the untaught and
unstable. If we are not on guard, we will no longer be steadfast in the truth,
stunting our growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. That is why the truth is so vital, and why we must believe
that every verse can be understood. If we do not, then it is impossible to grow
in Christ, and God's Promises are null and void.
Am I saying then that
everyone who disagrees with me is wrong? No, nor am I saying that disagreeing
with me on an issue is wrong in any form. Rather, anyone (including myself) who
disagrees with the understandable standard of the Word of God is wrong. This
doctrine must be held high, for without it we Christians of all people are to
be the most pitied (1 Cor. 15:9).
May Christ grant you all
the Knowledge of Himself.
