High Theology Equals High Doxology! The More We Know Of Who God Is, And What His Word Teaches, The More We Will Worship And Be In Awe Of Him!
The Acts Church
The 2nd Letter Of Peter
Peter is again writing to the same group of people as he wrote to in 1 Peter, which are those chosen of God who are exiles. The theme of this epistle is different from the theme of his first epistle. Peter is encouraging his audience to study, know, and stand on the Word of God because false teachers and false prophets will be all around them, trying to destroy the church. This truth is the same with us, as we today, are to stand on the authority of God’s Word and contend for the faith. Peter closes this epistle by exhorting all believers to grow in the grace and knowledge Jesus Christ and this is done through the study of His sacred Scriptures.
Shawn Owens
Pastor Shawn Owens dedicates part of his study time to make notes easy to read, and thorough for anyone who cannot attend in person. Pastor Shawn desires for these notes help you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
These are the words of truth versus words of lies, the words of freedom versus the words of bondage, the words of life versus the words of death!
Chapter 2 is a continuation from the idea that Peter labored at the end of Chapter 1. He made it clear that the Old Testament prophets were carried along by the Holy Spirit to record the words of God. The prophetic word of the Old Testament was made more sure by the incarnation of Christ as Peter was an eyewitness. The same is true to the New Testament authors as they too were carried along by the Holy Spirit to record the God breathed(theopneustos) words. The origin of Scripture is God (not man), but God used men as instruments that He carried along by the Holy Spirit. Peter drives home the point that God was the origin of the words spoken by the true prophets of God in the Old Testament as compared to the false prophets whose words come from their own fallen heart and not from God. The whole matter comes down to the source and the origin of the words: God or man?
This verse is not in reference to being bought in a redemptive way. This verse does not speak of a general atonement for all people with the death of Christ on the cross. We have clear scripture throughout the Bible that speaks to a particular redemption for the elect (John 10:28) (Romans 8:29-30) (Acts 20:28) (Hebrews 7, 9, 10). We must not take one passage of scripture, read it on the surface level, and then dismiss all the other numerous clear texts on the atonement for the sheep in the death of Jesus. We must ask ourselves, is the word “Master” being used here in this context speaking of Jesus of God the Father? What point is Peter trying to convey to these people He is writing to? What is in view here in regards to being bought?
These false teachers are not Christians but are rather following the sinful desires of their unregenerate hearts. They do not love God, but rather serve another “god”….themselves.
These false teachers and heretics are compared to unreasoning animals or brute beasts who are born as creatures of instinct. The wild beasts act in accordance with their natural instincts whereas these false teachers act according to the nature we are all born into which is a fallen sinful nature which is hostile to God. They revile even angelic beings which they have no understanding or knowledge of which is something even the holy angels will not do even to the fallen angels. Just as the wild unreasoning animals are captured and destroyed so is the fate of false teachers and heretics by the hand of God.