To start our second Peter class off, it will be good for us to understand the book as a whole, this will allow us to better understand the details as we go through the book. This second letter written by Peter was once again a reminder to the people. The first letter Peter wrote was a reminder of the salvation Christians enjoy in order to encourage them through the suffering they were going to face. This second letter is reminding the people of the salvation they enjoy and warning them of the false teachings that will be coming to them soon. This book grouped along with Jude and 1 John tell us the progression of the false teachers. 2 Peter 2:1 tells us the false teachers are coming. Jude 4 tells us the false teachers have come. 1 John 2:19 tells us they have left and are coming again. Peter thankfully doesn’t leave us in the dark. There are different ways to break the book down, we will break it down into chapters. Chapter one Peter reminds the Christians of the things they already know about Jesus Christ, “For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth” (2 Peter 1:12). Chapter two Peter explains the approach the false teachers are going to use, “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through he lusts of the thresh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error” (2 Peter 2:18). Chapter three Peter explains what the false teachers are going to be saying, “Knowing this first; that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the Beijing of creation”” (2 Peter 3:3-4). Again Peter is using the salvation they have already received “…To those who have obtained like precious faith…” (2 Peter 1:1), to remind them to stay faithful and to remember God keeps His promises, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promises, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
By Jesse Moser