CHAPTER ONE

 

 

1:5:  “add to your faith” = If you are told to “add to your faith,” then faith cannot be alone.  The Greek word for “add” used here is, “epichoregeo,” meaning, “to supply,” or, “to furnish.”  Therefore, it would be better expressed as, “Supply also with your faith,” or, “furnish in connection with your faith.”

 

1:5-7:  “add” = “These words are full of instruction, and strike the keynote of victory.  The Apostle presents before the believers the ladder of Christian progress, every step of which represents advancement in the knowledge of God, and in the climbing of which there is to be no standstill.  Faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity are the rounds of the ladder.  We are saved by climbing round after round, mounting step after step, to the height of Christ’s ideal for us.  Thus He is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”  AA:530.

 

“Point the youth to Peter’s ladder of eight rounds, and place their feet, not on the highest round, but on the lowest, and with earnest solicitation urge them to climb to the very top.”  Mar:84.

 

1:6:  “temperance” = Balance.

 

“It is next to an impossibility for an intemperate person to be patient.”  RH, February 21, 1888; ML:97; PCP:19.

 

1:7:  “brotherly kindness” = Many definitions of “brotherly kindness” are found in First Peter 3:8-9: “[8] love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. [9] Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing:  but contrariwise blessing.”

 

“charity” = Many definitions of “charity,” i.e., “love,” are found in First Corinthians 13:4-8.

 

1:10:  “ye shall never fall” = Here we are given the admonition that if we do the things in verses 5-7 “ye shall never fall.”

 

1:13:  “tabernacle” = Meaning his body.

 

1:14:  “even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me” = See John 21:18-19.  Our Lord had said that this would occur when Peter would be “old,” John 21:18, and as he was now becoming old, he felt that the predicted event was drawing near.

 

1:16:  “fables” = “In presenting the Word of God to others, they are not to make it a suppose-so or a may-be.  They should declare with the Apostle Peter, [verse quoted].”  COL:43.1.

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“Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty” = Meaning, Peter is speaking of when he saw three persons at the mount of transfiguration (verse 18).

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1:18:  “this Voice which came from Heaven we heard” = According to “John Gill’s Exposition Of The Entire Bible,” “Grotius understands it of Mount Moriah, on which the temple was built, called the holy hill, and the holy hill of Zion; and supposes that this voice was heard in the temple, and that it refers to John 12:28.”

 

There is also the Voice of God heard at the transfiguration (Mat. 17:5-6; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:34-36), commonly taught these days to have been on Mount Tabor.  This is more likely the case as Peter quotes (in verse 17) the same Words that were Spoken then.

 

“As eye -- and heart -- witnesses we can bear testimony to His majesty, for by faith we have been with Him in the holy mount.”  “In Heavenly Places,” page 298.

 

1:19:  “day star” = According to Luke 1:78-79; Second Corinthians 4:6; and Revelation (2:28) 22:16, the “Day Star” would be Christ.

 

 

CHAPTER TWO

 

 

2:1:  “privily” = This is old English for “secretly.”  Or another way to look at it is that they will bring in a little “false doctrine” here and there (here a little; there a little), until the church starts believing lies.

 

“denying the Lord that bought them” = What we might want to understand is what these false prophets / teachers are bringing into the Church.  Peter gives the answer as being, “denying the Lord that bought them.”  A better translation of “bought,” Greek, “agoradzo,” would be, “bought with a price,” or even more clearly put, “redeemed” them.

 

Why the early Church would not perceive this incoming doctrine is interesting, in that we, in our day, would think we could also recognize this heresy.  The main point of how they do it is to start by “beguiling unstable souls,” verse 14, who then, most likely, being friends and or respected in the Church, “beguile” even more Church “souls.”

 

Then comes verse 18:  “For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh.”  Then “they promise them liberty,” verse 19, from the Law of God, which is most likely the main drawing point and the ultimate purpose, in other words, to make the Law of God of none effect.  Which leads to, ultimately, they again become “entangled,” with “the pollutions of the world,” verse 20.  See what happens when you mess with the Ten Commandments?

 

2:2:  “pernicious ways” = Meaning, “malicious,” or better, “destructive ways.”

 

2:4:  “hell” = In the Bible, “hell” is the realm of the dead, and the common Greek word used to express this Biblical concept is “hades” in the New Testament.  However, in this instance Peter uses a different word to distinguish the difference between the state of the dead and those in a holding pattern, because he uses the Greek word “tartaroo,” meaning, “to cast into,” or better, “to hold captive in.”  Peter uses this image to express the idea that fallen angels are now in a prison that ultimately ends in death; separated from the Divine source of life.  We can know this, for demons are not in a literal prison, because they are still active in our world, e.g., First Peter 5:8; Jude 9.  However, this is because of Revelation 12:9.

 

“judgment” = This “judgment” is obviously a future event because of the word “reserved.”  We can know this because of the discourse that the fallen angels had with our Lord when He went “into the country of the Gergesenes,” Matthew 8:28.  Here is part of that discourse: “there met Him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. [Verse 29] And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?”  Matthew 8:28-29.  Did you notice the line “before the time?” Ignoring a Biblical discourse upon “hell,” what the ultimate and true meaning of “hell” is, is “separation from God.”

 

Therefore, when the angels that were cast out of Heaven they were definitely separated from God, and, as it were, in “hell” and “chains of darkness,” living here and restricted to this earth, “reserved” until the time of their “judgment.”  This “judgment,” or better, “sentencing” that they will receive will be better understood why they were given it by all that will be there as observers.  Because of their actions that these angels did here while on this earth (carrying out and expressing their true characters in their actions towards mankind and amongst themselves).

 

2:5:  “saved Noah the eighth person” = Noah is actually the “tenth person” in the genealogical list.  Therefore, Peter is not counting Enoch (who was taken to Heaven beforehand) and Methuselah, who was Noah’s father and living at the time; or simply that Noah was the last person to enter into the ark (which would be more insightful).

 

2:7:  “Lot” = Verse 8 tells us why Lot was saved.

 

2:9:  “to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” = To be “reserve[d]” means future; not happening now.  Therefore, this text shows us that the false doctrine of going to hell at death is wrong.  See my Bible Study:  “DEATH, THE BIBLICAL TRUTH ABOUT.”

 

2:10:  “not afraid to speak evil of dignities” = See my Bible Study:  “EGW ON VOTING [Under SDA],” which covers “voting” and speaking.

 

2:13:  “sporting themselves” = That is with “sextual pleasures.”  Thus, it may better read, “Sextually pleasing themselves with their own deceiving’s.”

 

2:14:  “covetous practices” = Or better, “money-making practices.”

 

“cursed children” = According to “Albert Barnes’ Notes On The Bible,” “This is a Hebraism, meaning literally, ‘children of the curse,’ that is, persons devoted to the curse, or who will certainly be destroyed.”

 

2:19:  “they promise them liberty” = See my Second Peter 2:1 Note.

 

2:20-22:  “they are again entangled therein” = Meaning they were “saved” but now they are not, because “the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.”  This is ONE of the greatest passages for teaching the NON-existence of “Once Saved Always Saved.”  If you do not agree, see my Bible Study:  “ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED.”

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

 

 

3:1:  “This Second Epistle” = This expression not only proves that Peter had written a former Epistle, but also that this Epistle was addressed to the same persons as the First.

 

3:3:  “Knowing this first” = This is VERY important.  Paul wants us to know “this” thing “first.”  What thing?  The thing that is going to happen “in the last days.”  When is that?  You better believe that is NOW.

 

Let’s first set up the context.  Who is Peter writing to?  The same people he wrote to in his First Epistle.  Therefore, we must go to First Peter 1:1 to discover he is writing “to the strangers [“strangers” is used in the regard that they are not from Jerusalem, but live outside of it] scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia [verse 2], Elect. . .”  There you have it.  He is writing to brethren, fellow believers, the “Elect.”

 

Now we can continue on and see that “in the last days scoffers” are coming into the fellowship of the believers, i.e., the Church body.  These are people who will become members, or are members, of the body of believers.  And Peter tells us how you can identify these “scoffers.”  They will be “walking after their own lusts,” and saying testing things like, “Where is the promise of His Coming?”  But the better identification is found in verse 2, in that we must “be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the Commandment” which God gave to the Apostles to give to the Church.  In other words, if you do not know your doctrine, really the doctrines established in God’s Word, you will be beguiled by these false teachers.

 

Now we need to jump down to verse 5 and notice that “they are willingly ignorant.”  Who is the “they?”  The “they” is everyone who follows these “scoffers,” and the “scoffers” themselves.  It is the entire party of so called (at this point) believers.  They all have been overtaken by these “scoffers” “in the last days.”  The Greek word “ignorant” used here is not “agnodho,” as used in most of the New Testament, meaning, “lack of information,” or better, “lack of intelligence;” but the Greek word used here is “lanthano,” which works perfectly with “willingly are ignorant,” in that they did not want to know the information they could have; for “lanthano” literally means, “to keep hid.”

 

The bottom line, and the best way to recognize these “scoffers,” is to understand that they are “in it for themselves.”  They talk and give discourses in order to receive the praise of men, “walking after their own lusts.

 

3:4:  “Where is the promise of His Coming?” = The apparent failure of the Old Testament promises concerning the Davidic kingdom (Isa. 11:10-12; Jer. 23:5-8; Eze. 37:21-28) was explained by the promise that the kingdom would be set up at the return of Christ (Acts 2:25-31; 15:14-16); which return is personal and corporeal, and for that purpose, is presented as only awaiting their national repentance (Acts 3:19-26), which they never did.  It is my belief that every promise, and every blessing in Scripture is conditional.  Fulfill the conditions and the promise or blessing will be fulfilled by our Lord.  If you do not agree, then consider that if that is not true, then the curses promised for not adhering to the conditions will take place also, whether adhered to or not.

 

“In the late vision given me at Battle Creek during our general camp meeting, I was shown our danger, as a people, of becoming assimilated to the world rather than to the image of Christ.  We are now upon the very borders of the eternal world, but it is the purpose of the adversary of souls to lead us to put far off the close of time.  Satan will in every conceivable manner assail those who profess to be the Commandment-keeping people of God and to be waiting for the Second Appearing of our Saviour in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  He {Satan} will lead as many as possible to put off the evil day and become in spirit like the world, imitating its customs.  I felt alarmed as I saw that the spirit of the world was controlling the hearts and minds of many who make a high profession of the truth.”  4T:306.1; Mar:92.2; CCh:83.1; LHU:351.2.

 

“all things continue as the were from the beginning of creation” = This is not talking about the structure of the earth -- for we know the world-wide flood changed everything.  What this is emphasizing is that the thoughts of mankind (see Gen. 6:5; Psa. 33:11; Pro. 12:5; 15:26; 21:5; Heb. 4:12) remain structured, when against there even being a god, and that mankind has not changed this argument in the eons of time.

 

Evolutionists (the uniformitarianism form of Evolutionists) insist that all things earthly have NEVER changed since the beginning of time.  In other words, if a mountain is moving upward or downward at a certain rate now, so it was billions of years ago.

 

3:5:  “willingly are ignorant” = In other words, they do not want to study or investigate these truths for themselves, for that might make them accountable to God.  Evolutionists will not admit that theirs is a belief system.  Nor will they consider that the historical portions of the Bible might be (again, “might be;” check to see if that account “might” explain what they are observing) true.  Can you imagine thinking of it this way?  Wanting to be “Willfully Stupid;” or “Stupid On Purpose.”

 

“the earth standing out of the water and in the water” = This statement is pre-flood language (else verse 6 would precede this verse).  Therefore, we have a tiny picture as to that state of the earth.  That “water” entered materially into the formation of the earth, and that in its very origin there existed the means by which it was destroyed afterward, can be established here.  That there was plenty of water inside the pre-flood earth is plausible; and certainly, there was a water vapor above the earth.  Any other speculations of pre-flood earth would be just that -- speculations.

 

Simply stated, there was water inside the earth and water above the earth, and that is where all the water came from in order to create a global flood.  Where did all that water go?  Only 29% of the earth is above sea level; whereas, most likely the land mass before the flood was 71% (who knows).  Only 3 to 4% is habitable today (North and South Poles cannot be inhabited, and other places upon the earth, without assistance).  If the earth were laid flat, all the water on earth today would easily cover all the land.  The fact that the oceans sank lower than the lands highest mountains, shows that most of the water drained into them when the tectonic plates moved the earth downward or upward (downward winning out).

 

3:7:  “fire” = Which is how the earth will be destroyed this coming next time (see verse 12) and we will have “a new heaven and a new earth,” Revelation 21:1 (& 2Pe. 3:13).

 

3:8:  “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years” = Have you ever heard an elderly person exclaim, “Where did the time go?”  That is all this is implying.  The TRUTH is, that this saying of Peter’s is NOT Peter’s at all.  It comes from Psalm 90:4:  “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.”  I hope this makes it abundantly clear now.

 

Most people who argue that this verse is teaching something that it isn’t, only state the first part of it.  Let’s read the entire passage:  “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

 

Two things stand out.  First, our Lord is talking about His perception, not ours.  Second, the last part of the verse states, “and a thousand years as one day.”  That would cancel out one quoting only the first part of the verse.

 

Notice that this verse does not say that one day “is” a thousand years.  It simply says that, with the Lord, one day “is. . . as” a thousand years, and a thousand years “as” one day.  Our Lord can and does live in (in the Person of Jesus Christ) and operates on the premises of our time period (keeping in mind that I am not limiting our Lord to our time limitations, as He is or can be outside of them, but that this verse is not discussing time travel, but the remembrances of our Lord to His promises).

 

The context makes it clear that Peter is not here setting up a prophetic timetable for computing time periods.  Verse 7deals with the fact that God is patiently awaiting the Day of Judgment and verse 9 states that He is, “long-suffering to us-ward.”  It is important to observe that Peter makes this statement in relation to the promises of our Lord’s Second Coming.  Then in verse 8 he emphasizes that even though a thousand years may pass by, the Lord does not forget what He has promised.  It is only like a day to Him since He made that promise to mankind.  In fact, in the next few verses Peter affirms, “[9] The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness. . . [10] but the Day of the Lord will come.”  Second Peter 3:9-10.

 

Wherefore, let our testimony be the same as David’s: “For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.  I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”  Psalm 84:10.  This verse should not be taken out of context any more than the verse that states that God owns “the cattle upon a thousand hills.”  Psalm 50:10. This statement would not make us than presuppose that our Lord does not then own the cattle that are on other hills than these 1,000!  By contrast, the verse is obviously insinuating that God owns everything.  And in this verses case, that would include all of the aspects of time.

 

What the text is really implying is that God’s time table is not limited like ours is.  His perspective is far superior to ours; just like His owning all of the cattle is far more superior than a human being who may own 1,000 cows.  That we will be keeping the Lord’s Seventh-Day Sabbath in Heaven (Isa. 66:23), is a clear indication to me that God will not mess with our time table.

 

3:10:  “thief in the night” = Here is my First Thessalonians 5:1 Note:  Please note what Paul makes marvelously clear:  It is not the Lord Who Comes as a thief -- it is the “Day of the Lord,” the time of His return, that sneaks up and surprises those who fail to watch.  Paul explicitly states in verse one that this passage deals with “the times and the seasons.”  He is discussing here not so much the manner of Christ’s Coming, but as to the time of Christ’s return.  By contrast, he is giving insight into when Christ will return; not how.

 

There is no reason, in logic or Scripture, for Jesus to Come for His people in the manner of a sneaky thief (an earthquake being hardly very sneaky; see 2Pe. 3:10).  If you told me that the father of the bride was state boxing champion, should I understand that the bride was good with HER FISTS?  Or is the bride simply the object of the preposition of, to identify which father you mean?  Elementary grammar rules dictate that the subject of the sentence is the “day,” not “the Lord.”

 

3:12:  “hasting unto the coming of the day of God” = “By giving the gospel to the world it is in our power to hasten our Lord’s return.  We are not only to look for but to hasten the coming of the day of God.”  DA:633.

 

3:13:  “new Heavens and a new earth” = See Revelation 21:1.

 

3:15:  “Paul. . . hath written” = That Peter acknowledges Paul’s writings as authoritative and on equal footing as himself and those prophets in the Old Testament (see 1Pe. 1:10-12; 2Pe. 1:19-21; 3:2) is a very powerful statement.

 

3:16:  “unto their own destruction” = Here is the conclusion to any definition of the wicked being destroyed, i.e., they are destroyed because of their own wickedness.

 

3:17:  “fall from” = You cannot “fall from” a place you have not been; thus, canceling the doctrine of “Once Saved Always Saved.”  See my Bible Study upon that subject.