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In chapter 1, Peter informs us that God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. He has given us great and precious promises that enable us to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. He urges us to grow in knowledge and godly character. He reminds us that the message about Messiah was not a cleverly invented story but was confirmed by the eyewitness testimony of the apostles – the men the Lord Yeshua sent to us to represent Him. The message about the Messiah is reinforced by the prophets of Israel, whose words were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

In chapter 2, Peter warns about the danger of false teachers. These men distort the truth, live immoral lives, exploit others for personal gain, and lead people to destruction. Although they may appear successful for a time, God will certainly judge them. Therefore, we must learn to recognize false teachers and not be deceived by them.

In chapter 3, Peter addresses a specific false teaching. Some of the false teachers were mocking the promise of Messiah’s return, claiming that everything has continued the same since the beginning of the world. Peter explains that these scoffers deliberately ignore what the Word of God teaches – that God has intervened in human history suddenly and dramatically and will do so once again in connection with Messiah Yeshua’s return. God does not measure time the way we do. What may seem like a delay in Yeshua’s promised return is actually an expression of God’s patience. He is giving people time to repent, to turn to Him because He does not anyone to be destroyed. But the Day of the Lord will certainly come. When it does, the universe will be destroyed and replaced with a new universe filled with God’s righteousness. Because this future judgment and new universe are certain, Peter wants us to live holy and godly lives, peaceful and pure and blameless lives as we look forward to the coming of the Day of God and hurry it along.

That brings us to verse 14: And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him – speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.

Peter repeats the reason why it may seem that the Lord’s return is delayed: And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. The Lord did not forget His promise that Yeshua will return. The Lord is not behind schedule about fulfilling His promise. No. Each additional day before Yeshua returns gives opportunities for more people to hear the Good News about salvation and eternal life, become loyal to the Messiah, and be saved.

Some statistics: Approximately 15,000 to 17,000 people become part of the Evangelical Church each day through adult conversion, and children who are born to Evangelical Christian parents and who continue in the faith, and those who become Evangelical Christians who come from other Christian traditions. That’s a lot of people who are becoming the glorious sons and daughters of God. Praise the Lord for His patience.

Peter reinforces his point by referring to the writings of another apostle: This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him – speaking of these things in all of his letters. This is wonderful. Even though Peter and Paul had different backgrounds and personalities, and had a serious disagreement in the past – Peter, one of the leading apostles, acknowledges that Paul, another leading apostle, is a beloved brother, with wisdom that comes from God, and that Paul was teaching the same things Peter is teaching. In all of his letter, Paul had been teaching the same truths that Peter is giving us about the return of the Lord, the coming judgment, and the need to live holy lives as we wait for the Lord’s return.

This also lets us know that the Lord’s representatives were not presenting competing interpretations of the faith. They shared the same faith, they proclaimed the same gospel message, they taught the same truths.

Peter also acknowledges something quite realistic: Some of Paul’s comments are hard to understand. Not impossible to understand – but hard to understand. Here are some reasons why:

Paul’s writings are based on an in-depth knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. Paul regularly quoted or alluded to the Tenach. Readers unfamiliar with the Old Testament can miss the connections he is making.

Paul’s arguments are complex and tightly reasoned. He uses detailed, logical arguments. It takes patience and careful study to understand his arguments – especially in letters like Romans and Galatians.

Paul addressed deep theological mysteries like the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s covenant people. He wrote about profound doctrines like God’s foreknowledge and election, salvation by grace through faith alone, the purposes of the Law, freedom and the problem of legalism, how to deal with the issue of eating things sacrificed to idols. These are weighty subjects that require clear thinking and familiarity with the whole of Scripture.

Peter informs us that, not only are some of Paul’s comments hard to understand, but those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction. There were people in this earliest period of Messiah’s community who were ignorant and unstable and distorted the meanings of Paul’s teachings. They would take complex passages, remove them from their context, and twist them in ways that supported their own false ideas and sinful lifestyles. Instead of humbly seeking the truth of God’s Word, they manipulated the text to justify what they already wanted to believe and how they already wanted to live.

God’s Word is not something we can treat casually or reshape according to our preferences. It is the Word of the living God. It has divine authority. We should tremble as we approach the Word of God. To distort it is to reject the truth that God has given. To distort it is to reject God Himself. Twisting, distorting, perverting, corrupting the Word of God is not a minor mistake. Those who do this will experience God’s judgment which will result in their destruction.

The lessons for us: The careful handling of the Word of God is essential. We must approach the Word of God with humility and with fear. When we encounter passages that are difficult, we should study carefully, seek wisdom, and remain teachable rather than force the text to fit our assumptions.

Peter makes a remarkable statement about Paul and the authority of his writings. He refers to Paul as a beloved brother who has been given wisdom from God. Yet some people twist Paul’s letters to mean something different than what Paul meant – just as they do with the other parts of Scripture. That phrase, “other parts of Scripture,” is significant. It refers to the rest of the already recognized writings of the Bible. Peter is affirming that Paul’s writings are in the same category as Scripture. And over the years, the rest of Messiah’s community came to the same conclusion – which is why Paul’s letters were included along with the rest of the New Testament writings and became part of the Bible.

In some theological circles today, there are those who reject the truthfulness and the authority of Paul. They claim that Paul introduced ideas that were foreign to the original message of Messiah and the other apostles. Peter disagrees. Peter wouldn’t like these so-called theologians. He would consider them to be in error.

After describing Messiah’s return and the coming judgment, God’s patience and the danger of twisting Scripture, Peter concludes his second letter with this: You already know these things, dear friends. So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Messiah Yeshua. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.

You already know these things, dear friends. So be on guard. The people Peter is writing to are not learning these truths for the first time. They had already been taught the truths of Word of God. Nevertheless they still needed to be on guard. Spiritual deception is real. False teaching often comes disguised as something attractive, reasonable, biblical, spiritual. Faithfully following God throughout a life requires being on guard, remaining alert, remembering truths already known.

Then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. The image is of someone standing on a firm foundation, yet losing his footing, slipping and being swept away by a current of water. Imagine a man crossing a bridge over a river. Upstream rains cause the water to rise, and halfway across, it begins to flow over the bridge. The surge comes quickly, but it will also recede quickly. If the man keeps his secure footing, the water will pass and he will be safe. But if he loses his footing, the current will carry him away, and he will drown.

To lose our secure footing doesn’t mean that the truth becomes uncertain. God’s truth remains firm, secure, sure, unshakeable. It means that, if we are not on guard, if we are not vigilant, we can be influenced by false teaching – and if that happens, we will be hurt – and possibly very hurt.

Instead, we are to be proactive. We are to do something. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Messiah Yeshua. Instead of being influenced by false teachers and false teaching we are to grow. Our life with God is not meant to remain in neutral. It’s meant to be a journey of continual growth. If we are not moving forward, we are falling behind. If we are not gaining ground, we are losing ground.

Peter specifies two areas in which we must grow: grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Messiah Yeshua.

We are saved by grace – but we must not stop growing when we are first saved by grace. We are to grow in grace. As we walk with the Lord, His grace changes us. Our character is bettered. We become more like Yeshua. We grow in humility, wisdom, patience, love, and faithfulness.

We are also to grow in our knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Messiah Yeshua. We do this in various ways.

We grow in our knowledge of our Lord and Savior by daily interaction with the Word of God. Messiah Yeshua is the main theme of the Word of God. God designed His Word to point us to Messiah – so we could grow in our knowledge of Him.

We grow in our knowledge of our Lord and Savior by speaking to Him in prayer, and by listening to Him. The more we talk to Messiah Yeshua throughout the day and the more attentive we are to His voice, the more we grow in our knowledge of Him.

We grow in our knowledge of our Lord and Savior by building up His community. Messiah Yeshua is living in His people, in His community. As we spend time with other followers of Yeshua, we are corrected, we are taught. We learn more about Messiah.

We grow in our knowledge of our Lord and Savior by proclaiming the message of salvation to those outside the community of faith. As we tell others about Him we experience His presence and power in a unique way and we learn more about Him.

We grow in our knowledge of our Lord and Savior by obeying Him. God gives greater understanding to those who are obedient, but withholds it from those who are disobedient.

The more we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord, the better able we are to recognize false teachers and false teachings and remain faithful to the truth.

Peter ends his second letter with a beautiful declaration: All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen. After all his teachings, reminders, challenges, encouragements, and warnings, Peter directs our attention to the glory of Messiah Yeshua our Lord and Savior.

Yeshua is our Lord – ruling over our lives, over every power, every force, every circumstance, and every situation – ruling for our protection, our good, our success, our blessing, our benefit.

Yeshua is our Savior – saving us from the things we could never save ourselves from – the control of Satan and the fallen angels, saving us from sin and our sinful nature, saving us from certain condemnation on the Day of Judgment followed by destruction in Hell.

Yeshua is our Messiah – God’s Anointed One – the ultimate Prophet who heard from God and spoke the truths we needed to know to be saved. He is our Priest, who brings us very close to God and who brings God very close to us. He is our King, who frees from self‑rule and rules us by His loving authority, bringing order, protection and purpose to our lives.

He is the one who enables us to be born again, receive a new godly nature, be filled with His Spirit – His Spirit who teaches us and empowers.

He is the one who sends great leaders to us, like Peter and Paul, enabling them to write letters that are so beneficial to us. He is the one who helps us understand and apply these truths.

When we are in the new heavens and the new earth, in the presence of the High King of Heaven, and Messiah Yeshua, the Son of the High King, and have been transformed into the glorious and perfect and eternal sons and daughters of God – it will be because of Him.

If our lives are successful in this world and in the world to come, it’s because of our Lord and Savior Messiah Yeshua.

That’s why He deserves all the glory now and forever. Amen? Amen.

Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your unchanging truth and for the truth faithfully communicated to us by the prophets and the apostles. Guard us from false teaching and from twisting Your Word. Give us fearful and humble hearts to study, understand, and obey. Help us remain vigilant, standing firm so we don’t lose our footing and are carried away. Thank You for Your patience, giving many time to repent and be saved. Strengthen us to live holy, godly, and blameless lives as we wait for Messiah Yeshua’s return. Help us grow us in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. May our words and our lives bring glory to Messiah Yeshua, now and forever. Amen.