Steadfast Growth in a Warped World Text: 2 Peter 3:14-18
Introduction: The End Determines the Means
Peter brings his second letter to a close, not with a gentle fade-out, but with a series of sharp, bracing commands. He has just finished describing the dissolution of the entire cosmos. The heavens will pass away with a roar, the elements will melt with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be exposed. Given that this is our promised future, a future of new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, how then ought we to live? This is the great question. Eschatology is not a parlor game for theologians with too much time on their hands. What you believe about the end of the world determines everything about how you live in the middle of it. If you believe the story is heading toward a Christ-centered consummation, you will live one way. If you believe it is all a meaningless cosmic accident fizzling out into heat death, you will live another. Peter's conclusion here is intensely practical. He is telling us how to stand firm and how to grow up as we await the final curtain.
We are living in an age of instability. Everything solid is melting into air. Our cultural leaders are "untaught and unstable," and their primary business is distortion. They take what is plain, what is true, what is righteous, and they twist it. They twist biology, they twist history, they twist morality, and as Peter points out here, they have been twisting the Scriptures for a very long time. This is not a new problem. The modern rebellion against God is simply a high-tech iteration of a very ancient error. And the danger for the church is that we might be carried away by it. The cultural current is strong, and it is pulling hard in the direction of destruction. Peter's final charge, therefore, is a call to anchor ourselves to the truth, to guard our position in Christ, and to make sure that we are not static, but are actively growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord.
This passage serves as a vital diagnostic tool. Are you diligent? Are you at peace? Are you growing? Or are you being subtly influenced by the errors of the unprincipled, losing your footing, your steadfastness? Peter wants us to finish the race well, and to do that, we must understand both the nature of the prize and the nature of the obstacles.
The Text
Therefore, beloved, since you are looking for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest you, having been carried away by the error of unprincipled men, fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
(2 Peter 3:14-18 LSB)
Diligent Waiting (v. 14-15a)
Peter begins with a direct application of his eschatology.
"Therefore, beloved, since you are looking for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and consider the patience of our Lord as salvation..." (2 Peter 3:14-15a)
Because we are looking for a new heavens and a new earth, we are to be "diligent." This is not a passive, lazy waiting. It is an active, industrious preparation. The word implies haste, earnestness, and effort. We are to strive to be found by Christ in a certain condition. What is that condition? First, "in peace." This is not primarily a reference to a tranquil emotional state, but to a state of reconciliation with God. We are to be found at peace with Him, the enmity caused by our sin having been dealt with at the cross. Second, we are to be "spotless and blameless." This is the language of sacrifice. We are to be living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. This is not a call to sinless perfection, which is impossible, but to a life of consistent repentance and faith, where we are being progressively cleansed from the filth of the world.
Then he tells us how to think about the delay. The scoffers in the previous section were mocking the apparent slowness of God's promise. "Where is the promise of His coming?" Peter's answer is that we must reframe the entire question. We are to "consider the patience of our Lord as salvation." God's delay is not slackness; it is mercy. Every day that the final judgment does not fall is another day of grace, another day for the elect to be gathered in, another day for the saints to mature. God is patient, not because He is impotent, but because He is not willing that any of His own should perish, but that all should reach repentance. This is a profound pastoral comfort. The time we have is not a sign of God's absence, but a gift of His saving purpose. He is holding the door open just a little longer.
Difficult Scripture and Deliberate Distortion (v. 15b-16)
Peter then grounds his teaching by appealing to the authority of another apostle, Paul.
"...just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction." (2 Peter 3:15b-16)
This is a remarkable passage for a number of reasons. First, notice the warm affirmation. Peter calls him "our beloved brother Paul." Whatever sharp disagreements they may have had in the past, and Galatians 2 tells us they had a significant one, the unity of the gospel transcended it. Second, Peter affirms that Paul's wisdom was "given him" by God. He is writing with divine authority. Third, and most importantly, Peter classifies Paul's letters with "the rest of the Scriptures." Here we have one apostle, writing under inspiration, explicitly recognizing the writings of another apostle as Scripture, on par with the Old Testament. This is a cannon shot into the hull of any liberal scholarship that wants to pretend the New Testament canon was a late-stage invention of the institutional church.
But Peter is also a realist. He acknowledges that in Paul's writings there are "some things hard to understand." This should be a comfort to us. If you have ever wrestled with Romans 9, you are in good company. The Bible is not a simple book because it reveals a God who is not a simple God. It is both shallow enough for a child to wade in and deep enough for an elephant to swim. The difficulty is not a flaw in the Scripture; it is a feature. It humbles us, it forces us to be diligent, and it drives us to depend on the Spirit.
The problem is not the difficulty of the text, but the character of the reader. Peter identifies the culprits as the "untaught and unstable." The word for untaught means unlearned, but not in the sense of lacking a formal education. It means they have not submitted to apostolic doctrine. They are theological cowboys. The word for unstable means they are not anchored; they are tossed to and fro. Because they are unmoored from the truth and unsubmitted to authority, they don't interpret the hard passages; they "distort" them. They twist them, like a wrestler twisting a limb to the breaking point. And they do this not just with Paul's letters, but with "the rest of the Scriptures" as well. And the end result of this exegetical malpractice is not academic tenure, but their "own destruction." Bad theology is not a harmless hobby. It is spiritual poison. It damns souls.
A Final Warning and a Final Command (v. 17-18)
Peter now delivers his concluding charge, a two-fold command of guarding and growing.
"You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest you, having been carried away by the error of unprincipled men, fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen." (2 Peter 3:17-18)
Because we have been forewarned, we have a responsibility to be "on your guard." We are soldiers on watch. The danger is specific: being "carried away by the error of unprincipled men." The image is of being swept away by a flood. The error of these lawless men is the same error we see today, the promise of freedom that leads to bondage, the rejection of God's created order, and the twisting of His Word to suit their own lusts. The result of being swept away is to "fall from your own steadfastness." Steadfastness, or stability, is the opposite of the instability of the false teachers. It means being firmly fixed, secure. The Christian life is not a life of floating; it is a life of being anchored to the rock, who is Christ.
But defense is not enough. The Christian life is not a static holding pattern. The second command is the positive counterpart to the first: "but grow." A faith that is not growing is a faith that is dying. We are to grow in two things: grace and knowledge. Notice the order. We grow in grace first. We grow in our appropriation and application of God's unmerited favor. And as we grow in grace, we grow in the "knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." This is not mere intellectual data-gathering. It is a deep, personal, relational knowledge. It is knowing Him. The more you know Him, the more you will be anchored in His grace. The more you are anchored in His grace, the more you will want to know Him. It is a glorious, upward spiral.
Peter cannot conclude without a burst of praise. This entire enterprise of guarding and growing is not ultimately about us. It is for Him. "To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen." Our steadfastness brings Him glory. Our growth brings Him glory. Our salvation from beginning to end is for His glory. This is the ultimate purpose of all things. The universe was created for His glory, it is being redeemed for His glory, and it will be consummated for His glory. And our great joy is to be caught up in that grand purpose. Amen.