2 Peter 1 (ERV) · OmniBible

1Chapter

¹Greetings from Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. To all of you who share in the same valuable faith that we have. This faith was given to us because our God and Savior Jesus Christ always does what is good and right.
²Grace and peace be given to you more and more, because now you know God and Jesus our Lord.

God Has Given Us Everything We Need

³Jesus has the power of God. And his power has given us everything we need to live a life devoted to God. We have these things because we know him. Jesus chose us by his glory and goodness, ⁴through which he also gave us the very great and rich gifts that he promised us. With these gifts you can share in being like God. And so you will escape the ruin that comes to people in the world because of the evil things they want.
⁵Because you have these blessings, do all you can to add to your life these things: to your faith add goodness; to your goodness add knowledge; ⁶to your knowledge add self-control; to your self-control add patience; to your patience add devotion to God; ⁷to your devotion add kindness toward your brothers and sisters in Christ, and to this kindness add love. ⁸If all these things are in you and growing, you will never fail to be useful to God. You will produce the kind of fruit that should come from your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹But those who don’t grow in these blessings are blind. They cannot see clearly what they have. They have forgotten that they were cleansed from their past sins.
¹⁰My brothers and sisters, God called you and chose you to be his. Do your best to live in a way that shows you really are God’s called and chosen people. If you do all this, you will never fall. ¹¹And you will be given a very great welcome into the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, a kingdom that never ends.
¹²You already know these things. You are very strong in the truth you have. But I am always going to help you remember them. ¹³While I am still living here on earth, I think it is right for me to remind you of them. ¹⁴I know that I must soon leave this body. Our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that. ¹⁵I will try my best to make sure you remember these things even after I am gone.

We Saw Christ’s Glory

¹⁶We told you about the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. We told you about his coming. The things we told you were not just clever stories that people invented. No, we saw the greatness of Jesus with our own eyes. ¹⁷Jesus heard the voice of the great and glorious God. That was when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice said, “This is my Son, the one I love. I am very pleased with him.” ¹⁸And we heard that voice. It came from heaven while we were with Jesus on the holy mountain.
¹⁹This makes us more sure about what the prophets said. And it is good for you to follow closely what they said, which is like a light shining in a dark place. You have that light until the day begins and the morning star brings new light to your minds. ²⁰Most important of all, you must understand this: No prophecy in the Scriptures comes from the prophet’s own understanding. ²¹No prophecy ever came from what some person wanted to say. But people were led by the Holy Spirit and spoke words from God.

2Chapter

False Teachers

¹In the past there were false prophets among God’s people. It is the same now. You will have some false teachers in your group. They will teach things that are wrong—ideas that will cause people to be lost. And they will teach in a way that will be hard for you to see that they are wrong. They will even refuse to follow the Master who bought their freedom. And so they will quickly destroy themselves. ²Many people will follow them in the morally wrong things they do. And because of them, others will say bad things about the way of truth we follow. ³These false teachers only want your money. So they will use you by telling you things that are not true. But the judgment against these false teachers has been ready for a long time. And they will not escape God who will destroy them.
⁴When angels sinned, God did not let them go free without punishment. He sent them to hell. He put those angels in caves of darkness, where they are being held until the time when God will judge them.
⁵And God punished the evil people who lived long ago. He brought a flood to the world that was full of people who were against God. But he saved Noah and seven other people with him. Noah was a man who told people about living right.
⁶God also punished the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He burned them until there was nothing left but ashes. He used those cities as an example of what will happen to people who are against God. ⁷But he saved Lot, a good man who lived there. Lot was greatly troubled by the morally bad lives of those evil people. ⁸This good man lived with those evil people every day, and his good heart was hurt by the evil things he saw and heard.
⁹So you see that the Lord God knows how to save those who are devoted to him. He will save them when troubles come. And the Lord will hold evil people to punish them on the day of judgment. ¹⁰That punishment is for those who are always doing the evil that their sinful selves want to do. It is for those who hate the Lord’s authority. These false teachers do whatever they want, and they are so proud of themselves. They are not afraid even to say bad things against the glorious ones. ¹¹The angels are much stronger and more powerful than these beings. But even the angels don’t accuse them and say bad things about them to the Lord.
¹²But these false teachers speak evil against what they don’t understand. They are like animals that do things without really thinking—like wild animals that are born to be caught and killed. And, like wild animals, they will be destroyed. ¹³They have made many people suffer. So they themselves will suffer. That is their pay for what they have done. They think it is fun to do evil where everyone can see them. They enjoy the evil things that please them. So they are like dirty spots and stains among you—they bring shame to you in the meals you eat together. ¹⁴Every time they look at a woman, they want her. They are always sinning this way. And they lead weaker people into the trap of sin. They have taught themselves well to be greedy. They are under a curse.
¹⁵These false teachers left the right way and went the wrong way. They followed the same way that the prophet Balaam went. He was the son of Beor, who loved being paid for doing wrong. ¹⁶But a donkey told him that he was doing wrong. A donkey cannot talk, of course, but that donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the prophet from acting so crazy.
¹⁷These false teachers are like springs that have no water. They are like clouds that are blown by a storm. A place in the deepest darkness has been kept for them. ¹⁸They boast with words that mean nothing. They lead people into the trap of sin. They find people who have just escaped from a wrong way of life and lead them back into sin. They do this by using the evil things people want to do in their human weakness. ¹⁹These false teachers promise those people freedom, but they themselves are not free. They are slaves to a mind that has been ruined by sin. Yes, people are slaves to anything that controls them.
²⁰People can be made free from the evil in the world. They can be made free by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But if they go back into those evil things and are controlled by them, then it is worse for them than it was before. ²¹Yes, it would be better for them to have never known the right way. That would be better than to know the right way and then to turn away from the holy teaching that was given to them. ²²What they did is like these true sayings: “A dog vomits and goes back to what it threw up.” And, “After a pig is washed, it goes back and rolls in the mud again.”

3Chapter

Jesus Will Come Again

¹My friends, this is the second letter I have written to you. I wrote both letters to you to help your honest minds remember something. ²I want you to remember the words that the holy prophets spoke in the past. And remember the command that our Lord and Savior gave us. He gave us that command through your apostles.
³It is important for you to understand what will happen in the last days. People will laugh at you. They will live following the evil they want to do. ⁴They will say, “Jesus promised to come again. Where is he? Our fathers have died, but the world continues the way it has been since it was made.”
⁵But these people don’t want to remember what happened long ago. The skies were there, and God made the earth from water and with water. All this happened by God’s word. ⁶Then the world was flooded and destroyed with water. ⁷And that same word of God is keeping the skies and the earth that we have now. They are being kept to be destroyed by fire. They are kept for the day of judgment and the destruction of all people who are against God.
⁸But don’t forget this one thing, dear friends: To the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. ⁹The Lord is not being slow in doing what he promised—the way some people understand slowness. But God is being patient with you. He doesn’t want anyone to be lost. He wants everyone to change their ways and stop sinning.
¹⁰But the day when the Lord comes again will surprise everyone like the coming of a thief. The sky will disappear with a loud noise. Everything in the sky will be destroyed with fire. And the earth and everything in it will be burned up. ¹¹Everything will be destroyed in this way. So what kind of people should you be? Your lives should be holy and devoted to God. ¹²You should be looking forward to the day of God, wanting more than anything else for it to come soon. When it comes, the sky will be destroyed with fire, and everything in the sky will melt with heat. ¹³But God made a promise to us. And we are waiting for what he promised—a new sky and a new earth. That will be the place where goodness lives.
¹⁴Dear friends, we are waiting for this to happen. So try as hard as you can to be without sin and without fault. Try to be at peace with God. ¹⁵Remember that we are saved because our Lord is patient. Our dear brother Paul told you that same thing when he wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶That’s what he says in all his letters when he writes about these things. There are parts of his letters that are hard to understand, and some people give a wrong meaning to them. These people are ignorant and weak in faith. They also give wrong meanings to the other Scriptures. But they are destroying themselves by doing that.
¹⁷Dear friends, you already know about this. So be careful. Don’t let these evil people lead you away by the wrong they do. Be careful that you do not fall from your strong faith. ¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Glory be to him, now and forever! Amen.

Study

Chapter 1

CSB

Is the New Testament Reliable?

When I was a young man, I thought the Bible was nothing more than fiction. Yet in college I met some students who actually believed it true. To prove them wrong, I set out to show how the Bible was unreliable. I’m pleased to report my failure. I discovered that the Bible is fully accurate and that we can know God personally through its pages. Here’s what I found.

First, the biblical accounts were all written by eyewitnesses to the events or by people who knew the eyewitnesses personally (Lk 1:2; Ac 4:20; 1Jn 1:3). Acts 1:3 says, “After [Jesus]had suffered, he also presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”

Second, the vast number of early handwritten copies of the New Testament ensures we can reconstruct the original with tremendous confidence. Modern editions of ancient books are often based on just a few existing copies (sometimes fewer than ten). Still, scholars are confident that the present versions of those nonbiblical books accurately reflect the originals. In terms of the number of manuscripts, the New Testament dwarfs all other ancient writings. There are over 5,800 partial or whole Greek New Testament manuscripts. If copies of other languages are included, the number jumps to roughly 24,000!

Third, existing copies of the New Testament are remarkably close to the date of original composition. Most ancient works have a gap of more than 700 years, with some works, such as Plato and Aristotle, being twice that. In contrast, fragments of John date within forty years of its writing (John Rylands Papyri) and a near complete copy of the New Testament within 100–150 years of composition (Chester Beatty Papyri). From the standpoint of ancient history, the New Testament documents are reliable, accurate, and incomparable. Amazingly, even if all the manuscripts were destroyed, we could reconstruct the content of the apostolic teaching from Bible quotes in the writings of the early church fathers—leaders living within two generations of the Twelve, who were often trained by them.

Fourth, if the disciples had made up the stories about Jesus, why suffer and die for those claims? In his book The Fate of the Apostles , my son Sean demonstrates how all the apostles were willing to suffer and die for their conviction that Jesus rose from the grave. There is no evidence any of them recanted, and we have convincing evidence that at least four—Peter, Paul, James the son of Zebedee, and James the half brother of Jesus—actually died as martyrs. While it’s true that thousands of people have died for a lie, they did so only if they thought it was the truth. If the resurrection was a lie and the disciples knew it, certainly many of them would have cracked under pressure to save their lives.

Fifth, early non-Christian writers such as Josephus, Tacitus, and Pliny the Younger verify important details of the biblical narrative. These include that Jesus was a Jewish teacher, that he was rejected by Jewish leaders, that he performed healings and miracles, and that he was indeed crucified under Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius Caesar. You have every reason to trust the New Testament, and more importantly, to trust in the God of whom it speaks.

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Initial Greeting. Peter’s greeting is concise and to the point, identifying the author and the audience, and expressing a blessing.

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Simeon. A Hebrew spelling of Simon (cf. Acts 15:14). Peter, as an apostle of Jesus Christ, is writing to those who have a faith of equal standing, showing that all believers share equal privileges before God. This standing was accomplished by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. “Righteousness” refers here to God’s saving righteousness, showing that faith is a gift from Jesus. Jesus is called “God and Savior,” making this one of the clearest NT declarations of the divinity of Christ.

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In his initial blessing of those to whom he writes, Peter mentions a recurring idea in the letter: true knowledge of God and of Jesus. Verse 2, like v. 1, points to the deity of Christ (cf. note on v. 1), for both God and Christ are the object of this knowledge.

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God’s Grace in Christ Is the Source of Godly Living. In this first main section of his letter, Peter emphasizes that God’s grace results in godliness.

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God’s Power Exercised on Our Behalf. God has provided blessing for the Christian in all things pertaining to life.

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divine power. God himself has acted in his infinite power to accomplish salvation, something only he could accomplish and what human ability could not accomplish. He has called us to his own glory and excellence. Believers are called to live in harmony with God’s own moral character. On God’s “glory,” see notes on John 1:14; Acts 6:15; cf. Rev. 21:23. The word “excellence” (Gk. aretē, “virtue, excellence”) was used by Greek writers to describe the sum of all desirable character qualities.

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God has granted believers his precious and great promises. It is through these promises that they become partakers (Gk. koinōnos, “sharer, partaker”) of the divine nature. They never become part of God, but amazingly they share in his nature as they become increasingly like him. The “great promises” include the promises Peter identifies in his Pentecost sermon in Acts 2:14–41, especially the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in new power. But they also include other promises such as likeness to God (2 Pet. 1:4; cf. 1 John 3:2), Christ’s return (2 Pet. 3:4), eternal life in heaven (1 Pet. 1:4), and more broadly, all the promises of Scripture that relate to the gift of new life. “Divine nature” uses terms familiar to Peter’s Hellenistic readership to help them understand the idea of transformation into the image of Christ. Peter emphasizes the moral focus of the believer’s transformed life. At conversion, Christians are delivered from the corruption of this world, which is rooted in sinful desire.

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Making Every Effort to Live a Godly Life. Peter lists “qualities” (v. 8) that characterize a life partaking of the divine nature. These verses contain a straightforward catalog of biblical virtues (cf. Gal. 5:22–23; Heb. 12:10–11). This list does not reflect a legalistic code but rather the desires and features of a transformed heart (cf. “for this very reason,” 2 Pet. 1:5). The exhortations to live a new life are grounded in the divine power and promises that were granted to believers when they came to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

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supplement your faith. Peter exhorts Christians not merely to confess faith in Christ but actually to live as he taught. He is not saying that works are a prerequisite for salvation but rather is arguing that faith must take concrete form in life. All the virtues listed in vv. 5–7 are results of faith, so faith is listed first, while love (the ultimate result of faith) is listed last (v. 7; cf. 1 Tim. 1:5). Virtue translates Greek aretē; see note on 2 Pet. 1:3.

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Godliness translates Greek eusebeia, “devoutness, piety, devotion to God” (also in vv. 3, 7; 3:11; see 2 Tim. 3:5).

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Living an Effective Life for Christ. Peter explains the necessary relationship between regeneration and a life that reflects the virtues inherent in the knowledge of Christ.

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if these qualities are yours and are increasing. A lifelong pattern of growth in Christlike character is expected of Christians and is the key to fruitful ministry. By contrast, knowledge (Gk. epignōsis) of … Christ is ineffective and unfruitful unless accompanied by a life that increasingly exhibits the qualities of vv. 5–7.

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The one who lacks these qualities (cf. vv. 5–7) is spiritually blind and has forgotten that he was cleansed (cf. Titus 3:5–7) from his sins. This lack of fruit could exist because a person’s “cleansing” was merely an external reformation that did not come from a truly changed heart. But it could also describe a genuine Christian who has fallen into serious error regarding the Christian life. Only God knows the person’s true status (cf. 2 Tim. 2:19).

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Christians should be diligent to confirm their calling and election (Gk. eklogē). God calls believers to faith through the gospel (2 Thess. 2:14), but he has also chosen (elected) them “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). But God’s grace in salvation should not be taken for granted. Growing in the Christlike virtues mentioned in 2 Pet. 1:5–7 will give believers increasing confidence that God really did call them and really did elect them to salvation before the foundation of the world. Thus their election becomes “sure,” as a sure foundation. Those who practice these qualities … will never fall, probably meaning apostasy (falling away from the faith). Good works are evidence of and give assurance of salvation, though they are never the basis for it. Peter’s wording does not imply that true followers of Christ can ever apostatize; those who do so were never really “called,” “elected,” or born again (cf. notes on John 6:39; 6:40; 10:26–29; 1 Thess. 1:4; Heb. 6:4–8).

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in this way. That is, by doing the things Peter mentions in vv. 5–10. This way of life is the path into the eternal kingdom of Christ. Those who practice these qualities will be richly provided with the reward of eternal life. Some interpreters think “richly” indicates degrees of blessing and reward both in this life and in heaven. Others think that eternal life is itself the reward in view, in contrast to the prospect facing the false teachers.

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Peter’s Reminder to the Churches. Peter contrasts the truth about Christ as revealed by God with the falsehood of man-made myths. In light of this certain truth, the church should be focused on living faithfully.

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Stirring Up Christians to Holiness. Thinking of his impending death, Peter urgently reminds the churches to continue living in a godly way.

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The readers of this letter already know these godly qualities (cf. vv. 5–10) and are already established in the truth concerning life in Christ. Peter’s intent is simply to keep biblical morality in the forefront of the Christian’s daily pursuits.

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Peter expects that his execution by Rome is imminent, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. The nearness of his death seems to have been recently revealed to Peter, but he may also be reflecting on his conversation with Jesus in John 21:18–19.

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Peter’s Preaching Results from His Own Eyewitness Experience. Peter recounts his personal experience with Jesus during the transfiguration (Matt. 17:1–8; Mark 9:2–8; Luke 9:28–36a). He contrasts this truth with man-made myths. The content of Peter’s preaching is not of human origin but is based on direct revelation from God.

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cleverly devised myths. “Myth” translates Greek mythos, “a story without basis in fact, a legend.” The gospel of Christ was no myth, because the apostles were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Peter had observed the “majesty” of Christ firsthand at the transfiguration. He knew that Christ had come in power; he was no mere literary character invented for a mythological narrative. But Jesus’ transfiguration also functions as a prelude and anticipation of his coming in glory. Readers learn from 3:3–4 that the false teachers believed that the second coming was also a myth, but Peter refutes this, underscoring the certainty of Christ’s return.

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Majestic Glory. A name for God the Father emphasizing the transcendence of his glorious presence (see Ex. 33:12–23; 34:29–35; 2 Cor. 3:12–18). At the transfiguration, God displayed the honor and glory of his beloved Son, a declaration by the Father of Jesus’ divine sonship (cf. Ps. 2:7; Isa. 42:1; Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22).

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we ourselves heard. Peter emphasizes his own eyewitness status, and that of the other apostles, with regard to the transfiguration (Matt. 17:1–8); he personally heard the voice of the Father declare Jesus to be his Son. If someone else had written this letter in Peter’s name (see Introduction: Author and Title), that person’s claim of eyewitness status would have been a lie.

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Truth about Jesus Christ Anchored in the Prophetic Word of Scripture. The truth about Christ is based on the prophecies of Scripture, something even more certain than (or just as sure as; see note on v. 19) eyewitness testimony.

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more fully confirmed. Some have understood that Peter’s experience of the Transfiguration provides confirmation of OT prophecy, making the already-sure prophecy of the OT even more sure as confirmed by the experience of the Transfiguration. Others have understood “more fully confirmed” as an affirmation that the prophetic writings of the OT are even more sure than Peter’s spectacular personal experience at the Transfiguration, thereby underscoring the complete reliability of written Scripture. In either case, believers are admonished to pay attention to the certainty of the prophetic word. In the contrast between “we have” and “you will do well,” Peter is apparently emphasizing that the interpretation of the apostles (“we”) is to be regarded as authoritative for the church (“you”). Day dawns and morning star both refer to the second coming. The day of the Lord is the day of final judgment and salvation, as the OT often teaches (Isa. 13:6, 9; Ezek. 13:5; Joel 1:15; Amos 5:18, 20). Jesus’ second coming will not only be an objective event in history, it will also rise in your hearts as the full light of Christ’s presence transforms the hearts of his church to perfect purity.

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Two main views of this verse have been proposed: (1) The first view, the one most in harmony with the esv rendering, understands the verse to explain the origin of the prophecies of OT Scripture, namely, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from (i.e., originates out of) someone’s own interpretation (i.e., from someone’s individual understanding of events, visions, or other things), but rather, that “all prophecy of Scripture” came about from the Holy Spirit’s leading (see v. 21). (This takes the Gk. word ginomai in its most common sense, as meaning “come into existence”.) According to this first view, then, Peter is assuring his readers that all the OT Scriptures that pointed to Christ were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that the readers should pay close attention to them (v. 19), perhaps in contrast to false teachers who were denigrating Scripture. (2) The second view understands the verse to be speaking of how OT prophecies are to be interpreted, therefore some translations render this verse, “no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of [or “for”] one’s own interpretation.” According to this second view, Peter is saying that one must interpret the OT Scriptures as they are interpreted by the apostles, and hence the interpretations of the OT by the false teachers should be rejected. Although this second view is possible, the first seems more likely, in light of the immediate context and Peter’s overall emphasis on the authority of Scripture.

CSB

Peter claimed that prophets were carried by the Spirit when speaking God’s oracles. Some might think this suggests a dictation theory of inspiration. Such a claim can be easily rejected, however, for the verse in 2 Peter does not constitute a complete explanation of inspiration. Further, the verse also emphasizes that “men” spoke from God. Their own personalities were not suppressed in the process. They spoke with all their distinctiveness as human beings and yet also uttered God’s words. B. B. Warfield rightly identified what occurred as concursus. Both God and human beings were fully involved in the communication of God’s Word, and the product is perfect because of God’s inspiring work.

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No biblical prophecy was ever produced merely because a man wanted to prophesy (by the will of man). The prophecy in Scripture was given only by God through men, who “spoke” as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the active, revelatory agent working within the OT prophets and through their lives and circumstances as they prophesied. This is a key verse for the doctrine of Scripture, indicating that Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but at the same time men spoke God’s words, using their own personalities, knowledge, background, vocabulary, and style. “They were carried along” implies that the inspiration of Scripture was invisibly directed by the Holy Spirit, though without overriding the personalities of the human authors. Thus Scripture is fully the Word of God, even though it is recorded in the words of human beings. The exact way in which this was accomplished remains a divine mystery. What is true of OT prophecy is true of “all Scripture” (see 2 Tim. 3:16 and note).