Waiting, Writings, and Watching (2 Peter 3:14-17)

Having mentioned the coming of the new heavens and new earth, Peter now mentions three responses that his readers should make. They are diligence, reckoning and carefulness. The first two are stated in verses 14 and 15, with the third mentioned in verse 17.

Waiting for the glory to come

They are to be diligent, which means to make every effort. This call is a reminder of the responsibility that believers have about sanctification. They cannot take their focus of it for a moment. Sanctification is stated here as being without spot or blemish, which reminds us of the description of a suitable animal in the Jewish sacrificial system. Peter may be thinking here of the necessity of consecration, similar to how Paul speaks of believers offering themselves as living sacrifices.

The other requirement about which they are to be diligent is peace. Peter does not say whether he has in mind peace with God or peace with other humans. A similar verse in Hebrews says that believers have to follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. It could even be the case that the peace he has in mind is peace between Christians.

The return of Jesus has positive and negative possibilities for Peter’s readers. His activities are said by Peter to involve finding what kind of people they were, and the idea of finding implies a search by Jesus. The New Testament in several places indicates that there will be a judgment of believers, not in the sense of deciding whether they go to heaven or hell, but whether or not they will receive a reward. Another way of describing this future experience is connected to the idea of degrees of glory, with the degrees being connected to the levels of diligent service that was given. In any case, Peter wants his readers to be marked by holiness and peace when Jesus returns.

I suppose the seriousness of this possibility should lead us to ask what is included in the idea of diligence. The most likely explanation and the most general explanation would be diligence in the means of grace, whether in public or in private. While one does not want to be legalistic, and everyone has to find their own way to pursue this diligence, it might be more suitable, especially with regard to the private means of grace, to do them in smaller slots each day rather than in one longer one each day.

The second response of Peter’s readers was to ‘count the patience of our Lord as salvation’ (v. 15). Peter had said the same thing a few sentences previously when he wrote that God was longsuffering towards them. Here in verse 15 he says that this reckoning is connected to our salvation. Salvation, as we know, has different meanings and it has been summarised as salvation from the penalty of sin (conversion), salvation from the power of sin (consecration), and salvation from the presence of sin (perfection). Which one or ones does Peter have in mind here? I suspect it includes all of them because they cannot be separated. His readers have to assume that each day is an opportunity given by God for them to be diligent about their spiritual state.

The writings of Paul (vv. 15b-16)

Peter briefly alludes to the letters of Paul. He mentions five details about Paul’s writings. First, they belong to the category of books included in the Bible. A church council in the second century is said to have produced the list of books that should belong to the New Testament, but it is obvious that already, by the AD 60s, Paul’s letters were regarded as divinely inspired as the Old Testament scriptures.

Second, Peter says that his readers had also received letters from Paul. Since it is likely that Peter wrote this letter to the same people as received his first letter, then we know where they lived because he mentions their locations in 1 Peter 1. They lived in parts of modern western Turkey. Did Paul write letters to churches in those areas? Ephesus and Colosse were in that part of the world, and letters to them are found in the New Testament, and they would have been passed on to other churches in the area. It is interesting that Peter knew that they had received Paul’s letters.

Third, Peter says that Paul, in his letters, spoke of the matters of being diligent and careful about meeting the Lord at his second coming. Where does he do so? Here are two examples. ‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil’ (2 Cor. 5:10) – the ‘we’ in that verse refers to Christians. In Romans 14:10-12, Paul says this about Christians: ‘Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.’ That warning is given to believers.

I don’t think that believers and unbelievers will be judged at the same time because we are told also by Paul that the saints will judge the world and also judge angels. But we cannot ignore the warnings given by Paul regarding this future reality of appearing at the judgement seat.

Fourth, Peter says that Paul wrote his letters under the control of divinely-given wisdom. This is another way of describing how the Holy Spirit worked in those chosen to author the books of the Bible. He guided them infallibly to write God’s Word, which means it does not contain error.

Fifth, the false teachers also had access to Paul’s letters, but their response was to twist Paul’s words and make them justify their sinful behaviour. Peter admits that some of Paul’s teachings are hard to understand (Peter does not say that he cannot understand them). The false teachers had turned away from what the apostles had written, so instead of salvation they were going to receive destruction. Those false teachers thought they were clever, but in reality they had remained ignorant and had become unstable.

Watchfulness required (v. 16)

Peter is aware that his readers already know about the matters he has mentioned. It was their responsibility to stay away from false teachers. Wrong teaching is dangerous for our souls, and it can appear in unexpected places. What is the effect of wrong teaching on a person? They become unstable. The way to ensure this does not happen is to continue to guard themselves from having anything to do with the false teachers, whom he has also described in chapter 2 of this letter.

We might think that we are a million miles from such ideas. But are we? I suspect the biggest danger today is the notion that it is ok not to be totally dedicated to Jesus’ requirements. All kinds of excuses are given, but the issue is whether they will be acceptable at the Judgement Seat.

We should note Peter’s earnestness in this regard. It comes out in his use of the word ‘beloved’, which he mentions in verses 14, 15 and 17. Peter really believed in brotherly love, and brotherly love caused him to commend the teachings of Paul about sanctification and to inform the Christians to whom he was writing that they would appear at the judgment seat, and that it was possible for them to become unstable through the influence of false teachers. And who could say where that instability would take them?