Explore the Bible By Jay T. Robertson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Christian Studies, University of Mobile
WITH TRUST
2 Peter 1:12–21
Needed Reminders (12–15)
Reminding the readers is urgent because Peter would die soon. Adrian Rogers used to say: “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them.” Repetition is important in teaching. Even though the believers were already firmly established in the truth, they needed to be “stirred up” or “aroused” by reminders. Peter hoped his words would stab the believers awake so they would reject what the false teachers were teaching. Jesus’ followers know the gospel, and yet they must, in a sense, relearn it every day.
Peter’s urgency to remind the believers is based on the shortness of his life. In John 21:18–19, Jesus had informed Peter that his hands would be stretched out in a way he did not choose. As an older man, Peter could have seen that events were now shaping up that would lead to his death.
Peter stressed that he would “make every effort” to make sure the believers would not forget these essential truths. The basic point was to remind Jesus’ followers to keep pursuing a virtuous life. No one ever meets Jesus and stays the same. A transformed life is evidence of a regenerated heart.
Eyewitness Accounts (16–18)
We not only have the teaching of God’s servant, Peter, we also have the testimony concerning God’s Son. Peter recounted his personal experience with Jesus at the transfiguration. He contrasted this truth with man-made myths. The content of Peter’s teaching is not of human origin but is based on direct revelation from God.
The word “myth” means “a story without basis in fact, a legend.” The gospel of Christ was no myth because the apostles were “eyewitnesses of His majesty.” Peter, James and John had observed the majesty of Christ firsthand at the transfiguration. They knew that Christ had come in power. He was no mere literary character invented for a mythological narrative. Jesus’ transfiguration also functioned as a prelude to the Second Coming. The false teachers believed the Second Coming also was a myth (3:3–4), but Peter refuted that false teaching.
Peter wrote encouraging these believers to trust him and the other apostles. They also should trust the testimony of God the Father, who declared at the transfiguration, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” When it comes to matters of life and eternity, whom will you trust?
Written by God (19–21)
“The prophetic word” referred to the Old Testament prophecies related to the day of judgment and salvation, that is, the day of the Lord, not to an event in Jesus’ life nor to any other text that is now codified in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit inspired the prophets to write the very words of God. They are accurate and true. The prophetic word of Scripture is made more sure by the transfiguration, for the transfiguration confirms the proper interpretation of Old Testament Scripture, that is, that there is a future coming of Christ for judgment and salvation.
Since Jesus’ followers have in the Old Testament Scriptures a prophetic word that is more reliable because of the interpretive confirmation of the transfiguration, they should pay close attention to the word and heed what it says. Peter’s call to pay heed to the Word is the main point of the text, for the entire letter up to this point has been pointing to this command. The prophetic Word reveals the truth about the end of history. The false teachers have deviated from the truth.
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