2 Peter 3:17

Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. YE - warned by the case of those "unlearned and unstable" persons (2 Peter 3:16). KNOW ... BEFORE - the event. LED AWAY WITH - the term, as Peter remembers, used by Paul of Barnabas' being 'carried' [ sunapeechthee (G4879)] (Galatians 2:13), led away with, Peter and the other Jews in their hypocrisy. WICKED, [ athesmoon (G113)] - 'lawless,' as...

17._Ye, therefore, beloved. _After having shewn to the faithful the dangers of which they were to beware, he now concludes by admonishing them to be wise. But he shews that there was need of being watchful, lest they should be overwhelmed. And, doubtless, the craft of our enemy, the many and various treacheries which he employs against us, the cavils of ungodly men, leave no place for security. Hence, vigilance must be exercised, lest the devices of Satan and of the wicked should succeed in circumventing us. It, however seems that we stand on slippery ground, and the certainty of our salvation is suspended, as it were, on a thread, since he declares to the faithful, that they ought to take heed lest they should fall from their own steadfastness. What, then, will become of us, if we are exposed to the danger of falling? To this I answer, that this exhortation, and those like it, are by no...

11-18 From the doctrine of Christ's second coming, we are exhorted to purity and godliness. This is the effect of real knowledge. Very exact and universal holiness is enjoined, not resting in any low measure or degree. True Christians look for new heavens and a new earth; freed from the vanity to which things present are subject, and the sin they are polluted with. Those only who are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, shall be admitted to dwell in this holy place. He is faithful, who has promised. Those, whose sins are pardoned, and their peace made with God, are the only safe and happy people; therefore follow after peace, and that with all men; follow after holiness as well as peace. Never expect to be found at that day of God in peace, if you are lazy and idle in this your day, in which we must finish the work given us to do. Only the diligent...

Verse 17. _SEEING YE KNOW - BEFORE_] Seeing that by prophets and apostles you have been thus forewarned, _beware_, φυλασσεσθε, _keep_ _watch_, be on _your guard_; cleave to God and the word of his grace, _lest ye be led away_ from the truth delivered by the prophets and apostles, _by the error of the wicked_, αθεσμων, _of the lawless_- those who wrest the Scriptures to make them countenance their lusts, exorbitant exactions, and lawless practices. _FALL FROM YOUR OWN STEADFASTNESS._] From that faith in Christ which has put you in possession of that _grace_ which _establishes_ _the heart_....

SEEING THAT YE KNOW THESE THINGS BEFORE - Being aware of this danger, and knowing that such results may follow. People should read the Bible with the feeling that it is possible that they may fall into error, and be deceived at last. This apprehension will do much to make them diligent, and candid, and prayerful, in studying the Word of God. WITH THE ERROR OF THE WICKED - Wicked men. Such as he had referred to in 2 Peter 2, who became public teachers of religion. FALL FROM YOUR OWN STEADFASTNESS - Your firm adherence to the truth. The particular danger here referred to is not that of falling from grace, or from true religion, but from the firm and settled principles of religious truth into error....

EXPOSITION 2 PETER 3:1 THIS SECOND EPISTLE, BELOVED, I NOW WRITE UNTO YOU; literally, _this Epistle already a second one I write unto you. _The ἤδη ("already") implies that the interval between the two Epistles was not long. The expression "beloved," four times repeated in this chapter, shows the apostle's affectionate interest in his readers; and the word "second" forces us to make our choice between the Petrine authorship of the Epistle or the hypothesis of a direct forgery. IN BOTH WHICH I STIR UP YOUR PURE MINDS BY WAY OF REMEMBRANCE; literally, _in which, i.e.,_ "Epistles;" the word "second" implied an allusion to a First Epistle. St. Peter repeats the words which he had used in 2 Peter 1:13, "I think it meet … to stir

YE THEREFORE, BELOVED, SEEING YE KNOW [THESE THINGS] BEFORE,.... As that there will be such mockers and scoffers in the last days, and such unlearned and unstable men that will deprave the Scriptures, and wrest them in such a miserable manner: BEWARE LEST YE ALSO, BEING LED AWAY WITH THE ERROR OF THE WICKED; from the simplicity of the Gospel, along with such wicked men, that wax worse and worse, deceivers and being deceived, by giving into any of their errors which respect the grace of God, or the person and offices of Christ, or particularly his second coming; be upon the watch and guard against them, having previous notice of them, for they lie in wait to deceive: lest ye FALL FROM YOUR OWN STEADFASTNESS; which was proper to them, and which, by the grace of God, they had, and retained, both in the faith of Christ and doctrine of the Gospel; for though the saints can never finally and...

2 Peter 3:1. _This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up pour pure minds by way of remembrance: that ye may be mindful of the words which. were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,_ This prophecy is most certainly being fulfilled in these days. 2 Peter 3:4. _And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the father fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation._ «Inviolable laws still govern the material creation. Men are still swift to sin. Oppressors are not overthrown; and, oftentimes, the good are left to languish in poverty an

III. THE FUTURE OF THE EARTH AND THE CONCLUSION CHAPTER 3 _ 1. Mocking at the Lord's coming (2 Peter 3:1)_ 2. The future of the earth (2 Peter 3:8) 3. EXHORTATION AND CONCLUSION (2 PETER 3:11) 2 Peter 3:1 The opening statement shows conclusively that Peter is the author and that this second Epistle was sent to the same believers to whom the first Epistle was addressed. The critics claim that this chapter marks a separate Epistle in itself and that it was combined by mistake with the preceding two Chapter s. Like so much else the critics put forth this is a foolish speculation wholly unwarranted

The epistle closes, as it had opened, with an exhortation to godliness. The Gospel is not a cloke for licentiousness but a call to righteousness. This, the author adds, was the burden of Paul's teaching in all his letters, though his words had been misunderstood by the ignorant and distorted by the wicked into a justification of moral laxity. (That this was the case, even in Paul's lifetime, can be seen, _e.g._ in Romans 3:8; Romans 6:1, also in 1 Cor. _passim; cf._ James 2:8 *.) He bids his readers beware lest they are led astray by these perversions of the apostolic teaching, and exhorts them to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord. 2 Peter 3