2 Peter 3: In the Last Days, Return to the Scriptures

Introduction

"The way forward is the way back: back to the Scriptures." William Philip, senior minister of The Tron Church in Glasgow, begins a short Sunday evening series on Peter's second letter, anchored in chapter 3. For him, this letter is a prescription for believers living in the last days of the world.

That prescription fits into two verses: so that you remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior given through your apostles (2 Peter 3:2). Throughout his letter, Peter brings his readers back to the words of the prophets and of Christ's apostles.

From this the pastor draws two truths for the Church today: Scripture is the authoritative key to every question, and it is the sufficient guide for all Christian growth.

Outline of the Message

1. A Letter for Difficult Days

• William Philip describes a world in turmoil: decades of spending money borrowed against our grandchildren's future, a crushing debt, energy reserves at their lowest because of wars, a fractured and polarized society.
• Serious academics, "not fringe lunatics," are writing about the possibility of civil war. There is more and more talk of conflict in Europe. "These things happen, don't they? They have happened and they will happen again."
• Christians will not be spared. They have one more concern: how will the Church of Jesus Christ fare in the face of the growing hostility of a society that rejects God?
• Peter wrote to first-century Christians who were already living in the last days. We live in those same last days, the final era of world history, inaugurated by the resurrection of Jesus. That they last a long time is no surprise (2 Peter 3:8-9).
• The pastor also recalls what his church believes: it belongs to the Scottish Reformation and receives the Word of God written in the Old and New Testaments as the supreme rule of faith and life, with the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647 as a subordinate standard.

2. A Great Privilege for Ordinary Christians

• Peter does not write first to leaders or teachers. He writes to the "beloved" (2 Peter 3:1), to the members of the church, perhaps precisely because he feared problems among the leaders.
• The privilege is immense: "to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us" (2 Peter 1:1). You can know the Lord Jesus as intimately as any apostle, and so know God, because Jesus Christ is "our God and Savior Jesus Christ."
• "There is no need for special priests or special leaders to give you something extra." The highest possible relationship with the almighty God belongs to every believer.
• This privilege comes with a great responsibility: to grow and bear fruit. "Adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence" so as to be "neither idle nor unfruitful" (2 Peter 1:5-8). The letter ends the same way: "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord" (2 Peter 3:18).
• Whatever the last days bring, they must bring growth, in Christians as in churches.

3. Mockers Even in the Church

• "In the last days mockers will come" (2 Peter 3:3). What is alarming is that Peter announces them inside the church that professes Christ as well: "among you there will also be false teachers" who will deny the Master who bought them (2 Peter 2:1).
• The pastor sees a tragedy of our time here: church leaders who put stumbling blocks in front of Christians struggling for sexual purity, telling them: "You don't need to struggle. We can affirm you as you are, affirm your sinful desires." What makes this wickedness so serious is that it is spoken in the name of God's authority.
• Peter is very severe: they promise freedom while being slaves of corruption themselves, and it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness (2 Peter 2:18-21).
• They entice "unstable souls" (2 Peter 2:14). The most vulnerable are young Christians who have been taught little. "Fellowship is wonderful. Lots of singing is encouraging." But above all they need to be led by the Word of God.
• Satan prowls like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8). He wants to cut the communication between God and his people, because God speaks to us through his living and abiding Word. This is how every relationship is destroyed: one party stops listening to the other.
• The problem is not always outright heresy. "Very often it is just confusion. It is just forgetting the Word of God." Hence Peter's appeal to a "sincere mind" (2 Peter 3:1), a word that means unalloyed: a clear mind with nothing false mixed in, and therefore a biblical mind.

4. Scripture, the Authoritative Key

• The questions are many: sexual morality, the uniqueness of Christ (is Jesus the only way to God, must we and dare we evangelize those who are Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, secular or atheist?), the created order of male and female, the goodness of having children, the sanctity of human life. The pastor notes that a law on assisted suicide has just been rejected once again.
• Many say the Church must become more progressive to survive: the Bible would remain important, but no longer as the only authority, because "the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to new truths." That sounds very spiritual.
• Peter's answer is the opposite: if you want to move forward, remember that the way forward is the way back to the Scriptures. Peter knows he will soon die, and he writes so that after his departure these things will always be remembered (2 Peter 1:13-15).
• The New Testament: "We did not follow cunningly devised myths." The apostles were eyewitnesses of Jesus' majesty, and heard with their own ears the voice that came from heaven on the holy mountain (2 Peter 1:16-18; Matthew 17:5). Faith in their word is not a leap in the dark; it is trust in the testimony of honest men.
• The false teachers, for their part, shape their message according to their desires: greed (2 Peter 2:3) and sensuality (2 Peter 2:2).
• Some say: "Our master is not Paul or Peter, it is Jesus." But the commandment of the Lord is passed on through your apostles (2 Peter 3:2). The pastor cites Chris Patten, sent out as the last governor of Hong Kong, to whom John Major reportedly said at his departure: "When you speak, the Chinese government hears me." When Christ's apostles speak, we hear the commandment of the Lord.
• The Old Testament: the prophetic word is "more sure," like a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns. No prophecy ever came from the will of man: the prophets spoke "moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:19-21). The word evokes Paul's ship swept away by the storm, which no one could steer (Acts 27).
• To be progressive in the biblical sense is to stay alive, to grow, to stand firm against skepticism by always returning to the faith "once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). Peter warns that Paul's letters are twisted by unstable minds, and he adds: "beware, lest [...] you fall from your own steadfastness" (2 Peter 3:16-17).

5. Scripture, the Sufficient Guide for Growth

• The Bible's authority is under attack, but so is its sufficiency, often within the Church. Some accept its authority but think you have to look elsewhere for a fuller relationship with God: special experiences, prophecies or words of knowledge "for me and for my life," certain forms of so-called worship music, particular blessings.
• Peter says the opposite. His whole letter is devoted to growth in grace and in the personal knowledge of the Lord, and this growth comes from the Scriptures.
• "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness," through "his precious and exceedingly great promises," so that we may become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:3-4). These promises are written in the Word.
• This is how verse 8 comes true: not being idle or unfruitful, but effective and fruitful for Jesus.
• No fruit without good food. A woman in the church told him that her potatoes were tiny, "like marbles," because she had not fed them. His own raspberries were fantastic thanks to the bags of chicken manure put down in the fall, even though his grandson ate nearly all of them. And you do not become a top athlete by lounging in an armchair eating fish and chips and drinking cola.

6. Cherishing the Bible Before the Dark Days

• Dark days await our world and our nation, perhaps our churches too, with mockers and skeptics even inside the Church who will want to take away your true food. Peter writes so that you will not lose your steadfastness and will remain faithful and fruitful until the Lord's return.
• "I wonder whether we truly cherish our Bibles today." After so many easy years, we risk taking everything for granted.
• In China, two generations ago, Mao's Cultural Revolution shut down a country that had known religious freedom: Bibles banned, missionaries expelled, believers and leaders thrown into prison. "We are naive to think it could never happen here."
• An imprisoned Chinese pastor had to clean the officers' toilets. He discovered that they were using pages of Bibles confiscated from Christians as toilet paper. He would collect those sheets, clean them and read them day after day, so hungry was he for the Word of life. It gave him a knowledge of his Lord that no guard could take from him.
• We will keep standing firm and moving forward as long as we never stop returning to the Word of God: cherishing it, remembering it, loving it and submitting to it.
• The pastor ends by praying with 1 Peter 1:23-25: "All flesh is like grass [...] but the Lord's word endures forever," and by asking God to keep his people in that light until "the morning star arises in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:19).

Key Takeaways

• We live in the last days, inaugurated by the resurrection of Jesus. Peter wrote to teach us how to live in them, whatever the crises.
• Every believer has received a faith as precious as that of the apostles. This privilege brings the responsibility to grow and bear fruit.
• Mockers and false teachers are found in the Church too. The danger often comes from confusion and from forgetting the Word.
• The way forward is the way back: Scripture, prophets and apostles, is the authoritative key to every question.
• Scripture is sufficient for Christian growth. There is no fruit without good food.

Personal Application

1. When the news worries you, what do you turn to first to know how to live?
2. On which current question (moral, faith, society) do you let the prevailing opinion weigh more than the Word of God?
3. Are you looking outside the Bible for what would make you grow: an experience, a special word, an atmosphere?
4. In your spiritual life right now, are you more the well-fed plant or the tiny potatoes? What would regular reading of the Scriptures change?
5. If your Bible were taken from you tomorrow, how much would you miss it? How can you cherish it more this week?

Verses Cited

• 2 Peter 1:1-8
• 2 Peter 1:10
• 2 Peter 1:13-21
• 2 Peter 2:1-3
• 2 Peter 2:14
• 2 Peter 2:18-21
• 2 Peter 3:1-3
• 2 Peter 3:8-9
• 2 Peter 3:15-18
• 1 Peter 1:23-25
• 1 Peter 5:8
• Matthew 17:5
• Acts 27
• Jude 3

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "the last days" mean in 2 Peter?

For William Philip, the last days are the final era of world history, inaugurated by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Peter's first readers were already living in them, and we still live in them. That this period lasts a long time is no surprise: Peter himself speaks of it in 2 Peter 3:8-9.

Why is Scripture the authoritative key according to 2 Peter?

Because the apostles did not follow cunningly devised myths: they were eyewitnesses of Jesus' majesty and heard the voice of the Father. When they speak, it is the Lord's commandment that is passed on. And the prophetic word does not come from the will of man: the prophets spoke moved by the Holy Spirit.

Is the Bible enough for growing in faith?

Yes. According to 2 Peter 1:3-4, the divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the precious and exceedingly great promises of his Word. William Philip answers those who look elsewhere for special experiences or revelations: growth comes from good food, that of the Scriptures.