A careful study of this passage is necessary to a clear understanding of the apostle's meaning, and of the place of this urgent exhortation in his argument. For such a study it may be welt to gather up his teaching here round three points.
I. THE "WORD" OR "COMMANDMENT" HERE INTENDED. Concerning such we ask:
1. By whom is it proclaimed?
(1) "Spoken before by the holy prophets;" i.e., perhaps chiefly, though not solely, of the Old Testament. Forth-tellers as well as fore-tellers.
(2) "Your apostles;" i.e., those that brought you the gospel.
(3) "The Lord and Saviour." He is the Source; the prophets and apostles are but the channel.
2. How is it to be received?
(1) "Stir up your mind;" active intelligence.
(2) "Sincere" mind; unprejudiced intelligence.
(3) By way of "remembrance;" intelligence that recalls what has been revealed. Not a novelty, not a discovery.
3. What is it? The theme of both Epistles - Christ's coming.
II. THE OBJECTION OF MEN TO THIS "WORD" AND "COMMANDMENT."
1. What are the men who object? "Mockers with mockery." Not the troubled truth-seeker.
2. What is the spirit in which they object? "Walking after their own lusts." Strong unbridled desire is the explanation of their scornful unbelief.
3. What is the argument of this objection? "Where is the promise of his coming?" Not, where written? but, what has come of it? Since the fathers fell asleep it seems to lie like a dead letter.
III. THE THREEFOLD ANSWER TO THIS OBJECTION.
1. It arises from willful ignorance of history. There is the "Flood" - probably one among many, but the chief - of which tradition, science, the Bible, have much to say. And that Flood, and all coming destruction, is to be traced, not to a fortuitous concourse of atoms, but to "the Word of God."
2. It arises from fixing time as a condition of God's ways, as it is of man's. "One day," etc. Look at "the dial of the ages, not the horologe of time."
3. It arises from misreading the apparent tardiness of God. He is slow, but never late. What seems to us delay is not an interval of Divine neglect, but a period of Divine mercy, granting an opportunity for human "repentance." - U.R.T.
This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you.
I. The nature of it — a letter written. What shall we render to the Lord for His mercy in writing these blessed covenants?
II. THE NUMBER OF IT — a second after the former. "This second"; not so much fearing the miscarriage of the first, as hoping to work better confirmation by the next.
III. THE TENOR OF IT — to stir up their minds. Why are the words of the wise compared to goads (Ecclesiastes 3:11) but to show that the best in God's team need pricking forward?
IV. THE ORDER — by way of remembrance. This is a just order and method; first, to teach the way of the Lord, then to remind men of walking in it. We are not only called teachers, but remembrancers (Isaiah 62:6).
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I stir up your pure minds.
The power of memory is, perhaps, the most amazing part of our mental equipment. It is a golden thread that links infancy and age, on which are hung, like pearls, varied facts and experiences of every hue. Memory has her servant, recollection, an invisible librarian running about the chambers of the mind, to find what she calls for. Now God uses this faculty in the work of building up Christian character.
1. The gospel has a history to be remembered.
2. History repeats itself ordinarily; but this history of the gospel can never be repeated. Christ has suffered once for all. A Christian memory is swift to remember this.
3. In the revelation of His "memorial name "Jehovah has emphasised the significance of memory. He is not an abstraction, a far-distant personality, even, but "the Father of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob" — a historic God.
4. Again, keep in mind that the life of our Lord in glory is linked with that of His redemptive work on earth, as truly as your existence there, some day, will be connected with your residence here on earth.
5. Finally, a Christian memory holds in trust these historic dates of Christ and His redemption, because of the fact that they are to be the theme of adoring praise throughout eternity.
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Mindful of the words which were spoken before. —
I. THE OBJECT OF THEIR MINDFULNESS.
1. "Words," for their plain certainty; not shadows and abstruse paradoxes.
2. "Spoken before," for their antiquity; not things of yesterday; no new devices.
3. "By the prophets," for the authority; men that had their commission immediately from God Himself.
4. "Holy prophets," for the sanctity; they passed not through the lips of a Balaam, or Caiaphas.
5. "The commandment of us," etc. The prophets were legal apostles, the apostles are evangelical prophets. Both these came to the world with commandments.(1) Neither prophets nor apostles did ever command in their own names; but the former came with "Thus saith the Lord," and the other in the name of Christ.(2) St. Peter refers us to the words of the prophets and commandments of the apostles, and precisely chargeth our mindfulness with these lessons.(3) Neither the prophets without the apostles, nor the apostles without the prophets, but both together. The gospel without the law may lift men up to presumption; the law without the gospel may sink them down to desperation.(4) The rule of truth is delivered to us by the prophets and apostles.
II. THEIR MINDFULNESS OF THAT OBJECT. This consists in two things:
1. Observation. God never meant His Word for a vanishing sound; that which is kept upon eternal record in heaven, and is a constant dweller in the elected heart (Colossians 3:16), must not be a sojourner, much less a passenger, with us.
2. Conversation. It is a barren mindfulness that does not declare itself in a holy fruitfulness. Conclusion:
1. Let us desire the faculty and facility of doing; earnestly to desire it is one half, yea, the best half.
2. Let us be thrifty husbands of time and means to be spiritually rich.
3. Let us reduce all to practice.
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Cultivate the habit of reflective meditation upon the truths of the gospel as giving you the pattern of duty in a concentrated and available form. It is of no use to carry about a copy of the "Statutes at Large" in twenty folio volumes, in order to refer to it when difficulties arise and crises come. We must have something a great deal more compendious and easy of reference than that. A man's cabin-trunk must not be as big as a house, and his goods must be in a small compass for his sea voyage. We have in Jesus Christ the "Statutes at Large," codified and put into a form which the poorest and humblest and busiest amongst us can apply directly to the sudden emergencies and surprising contingencies of daily life, which are always sprung upon us when we do not expect them, and demand instantaneous decision.
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People
Paul,
PeterPlaces
Asia,
Cappadocia,
Galatia,
PontusTopics
TRUE, Aroused, Attempting, Awake, Beloved, Dear, Epistle, Friends, Honest, Letter, Letters, Loved, Memory, Mind, Minds, Ones, Pure, Putting, Remembrance, Reminder, Reminders, Reminding, Revive, Seek, Sincere, Stimulate, Stir, Stirring, Thinking, Wholesome, Writing, WrittenOutline
1. He assures them of the certainty of Christ's coming to judgment;8. warning the godly, for the long patience of God, to hasten their repentance.10. He describes also the manner how the world shall be destroyed;11. exhorting them to all holiness of life;16. and again to think the patience of God to tend to their salvation, as Paul wrote to them in his epistles.Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Peter 3:1 5391 letters
5638 writing
7772 prophets
2 Peter 3:1-2
5191 thought
8467 reminders
2 Peter 3:1-10
8670 remembering
Library
Twenty Seventh Sunday after Trinity to the Reader.
Text: 2 Peter 3, 3-7. TO THE READER. When the year has twenty-seven Sundays after Trinity, which seldom occurs, substitute the text of 2 Peter 3, 3-7 for the twenty-sixth Sunday and use the text of the twenty-sixth Sunday for the twenty-seventh Sunday. …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. IIIBe Diligent
'Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.'--2 Peter iii. 14. As we pass the conventional boundary of another year, most of us, I suppose, cast glances into the darkness ahead. To those of us who have the greater part of our lives probably before us, the onward look will disclose glad possibilities. To some of us, who have life mostly behind us, the prospect will take 'a sober colouring from an eye that …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Ephesians, Peter,John
Growth
'But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ....'--2 Peter iii. 18. These are the last words of an old man, written down as his legacy to us. He was himself a striking example of his own precept. It would be an interesting study to examine these two letters of the Apostle Peter, in order to construct from them a picture of what he became, and to contrast it with his own earlier self when full of self-confidence, rashness, and instability. It took a lifetime for Simon, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Ephesians, Peter,John
Thirty-First Day. Holiness and Heaven.
Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of men ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness?'--2 Pet. iii. 11. 'Follow after the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.'--Heb. xii. 14. 'He that is holy, let him be made holy still.... The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the holy ones. Amen.'--Rev. xxii. 11, 21. O my brother, we are on our way to see God. We have been invited to meet the Holy One face to face. The infinite mystery of holiness, the …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ
How to Make Use of Christ as the Truth, for Growth in Knowledge.
It is a commanded duty, that we grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, 2 Pet. iii. 18; and the knowledge of him being life eternal, John xvii. 3, and our measure of knowledge of him here being but imperfect, for we know but in part, it cannot but be an useful duty, and a desirable thing, to be growing in this knowledge. This is to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, to be increasing in the knowledge of God, Col. i. 10. Knowledge must be added to virtue; and it layeth a ground for other Christian …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life
How Christ is to be Made Use Of, in Reference to Growing in Grace.
I come now to speak a little to the other part of sanctification, which concerneth the change of our nature and frame, and is called vivification, or quickening of the new man of grace; which is called the new man, as having all its several members and parts, as well as the old man; and called new, because posterior to the other; and after regeneration is upon the growing hand, this duty of growing in grace, as it is called, 2 Pet. iii. &c. is variously expressed and held forth to us in Scripture; …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life
The Properties of Sanctifying Grace
By a property (proprium, {GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI AND OXIA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON}{GREEK SMALL LETTER NU}) we understand a quality which, though not part of the essence of a thing, necessarily flows from that essence by some sort of causation and is consequently found in all individuals of the same species.(1155) A property, as such, is opposed to an accident (accidens, {GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON}{GREEK …
Joseph Pohle—Grace, Actual and Habitual
Growth in Grace.
Text--But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.--2 Pet. iii. 18. I MUST conclude this Course of Lectures by giving converts instructions on the subject of growth in grace. I shall pursue the following method: I. What is grace, as the term is here used? II. What the injunction "to grow in grace" does not mean. III. What it does mean. IV. Conditions of growth in grace. V. What is not proof of growth in grace. VI. What is proof of growth in grace. VII How to grow in …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion
God's Call
What manner of persons ought ye to be?' (2 Peter iii. 11.) 'As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.' (1 Peter i. 15, 16.) When we set up standards for life and character we must be quite clear that our teaching fits in with God's purpose as revealed towards His people. Therefore, when we enforce the doctrine of personal Holiness, there is no reason more weighty than that which Peter gives us in the verses …
T. H. Howard—Standards of Life and Service
Growth in Grace
'But grow in grace.' 2 Pet 3:38. True grace is progressive, of a spreading and growing nature. It is with grace as with light; first, there is the crepusculum, or daybreak; then it shines brighter to the full meridian. A good Christian is like the crocodile. Quamdiu vivet crescit; he has never done growing. The saints are not only compared to stars for their light, but to trees for their growth. Isa 61:1, and Hos 14:4. A good Christian is not like Hezekiah's sun that went backwards, nor Joshua's …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity
On Predestination
"Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son: -- Whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Romans 8:29, 30. Our beloved brother Paul," says St. Peter, "according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his Epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions
Spiritual Growth
Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring whose waters fail not.' (Isaiah lviii. 11.) 'Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' (2 Peter iii. 18.) The truths of the Bible exist in counterpart, having at least two aspects, each of which must be considered in relation to the other, if their full meaning is to be understood. That is a very necessary statement in regard to the aspect of truth which we emphasize under the general heading of 'Spiritual …
T. H. Howard—Standards of Life and Service
The Work of God in Our Work.
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ."--1 Thess. v. 23. The difference between sanctification and good works should be well understood. Many confound the two, and believe that sanctification means to lead an honorable and virtuous life; and, since this is equal to good works, sanctification, without which no man shall see God, is made to consist in the earnest and diligent …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit
The New Testament Canon in the First Three Centuries.
The first Christians relied on the Old Testament as their chief religious book. To them it was of divine origin and authority. The New Testament writings came into gradual use, by the side of the older Jewish documents, according to the times in which they appeared and the names of their reputed authors. The Epistles of Paul were the earliest written; after which came the Apocalypse, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and other documents, all in the first century. After the first gospel had undergone a …
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible
God Rejoicing in the New Creation
THIS PASSAGE, like the rest of Isaiah's closing chapters, will have completest fulfillment in the latter days when Christ shall come, when the whole company of his elect ones shall have been gathered out from the world, when the whole creation shall have been renewed, when new heavens and a new earth shall be the product of the Savior's power, when, for ever and for ever, perfected saints of God shall behold his face, and joy and rejoice in him. I hope and believe that the following verses will actually …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891
Fourth Sunday after Trinity Consolation in Suffering, and Patience.
Text: Romans 8, 18-22. 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to vanity not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III
The Resurrection of the Dead, and Eternal Judgment:
OR, THE TRUTH OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODIES, BOTH OF GOOD AND BAD AT THE LAST DAY: ASSERTED, AND PROVED BY GOD'S WORD. ALSO, THE MANNER AND ORDER OF THEIR COMING FORTH OF THEIR GRAVES; AS ALSO, WITH WHAT BODIES THEY DO ARISE. TOGETHER, WITH A DISCOURSE OF THE LAST JUDGMENT, AND THE FINAL CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE WORLD. BY JOHN BUNYAN, A SERVANT OF THE LORD'S CHRIST. "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3
Fourth Sunday after Trinity Redemption of the Creatures.
Second Sermon. Text: Romans 8, 18-22. REDEMPTION OF THE CREATURES. 1. We have heard how Paul comforts the Christians in their sufferings, pointing them to the future inconceivable and eternal glory to be revealed in us in the world to come; and how he has, for our greater consolation, reminded us that the whole creation as one being suffers in company with the Christian Church. We have noted how he sees, with the clear, keen eye of an apostle, the holy cross in every creature. He brings out this …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III
Twenty-Fifth Day. Holy and Blameless.
Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.--The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, to the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His holy ones.'--1 Thess. ii. 10, iii. 12, 13. 'He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ
That Gospel Sermon on the Blessed Hope
In 2 Timothy, 3:16, Paul declares: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;" but there are some people who tell us when we take up prophecy that it is all very well to be believed, but that there is no use in one trying to understand it; these future events are things that the church does not agree about, and it is better to let them alone, and deal only with those prophecies which have already been …
Dwight L. Moody—That Gospel Sermon on the Blessed Hope
The Recovery and Revival of the Blessed Hope Itself.
In Daniel 12:4, 9, 10 we read--"But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. ** And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the Time of the End. Many shall be purified, and made white and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." [9] As we shall yet seek to show this prophecy is a composite one …
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return
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