As we start 2023 we want to think about our spiritual growth.
The whole world is making noise about new years resolutions and personal change, relating to diet, fitness, career, education, new challenges or experiences. All that is helpful. As Christians we too want to think about personal change, but one that happens inside – growth in Christlikeness. The Apostle Peter wants us never stop growing in Christ.
Peter’s Farewell Letter
2 Peter is addressed to the same network of churches as Peter’s first letter (1 Peter 1:1 & 2 Peter 3:1) and was likely sent from the same location of Rome (1 Peter 5:13). Peter is aware he is going to die soon and therefore wants to write his last will and testament to help these young Christians to keep growing, and to keep going, after he has gone (1 Peter 1:12-15).
2 Peter (along with 2 Timothy and Jude) is a transition letter, helping the church move from a 1st Century ‘apostolic world’ to a 2nd Century ‘sub-apostolic world’. The deaths of Peter, Paul and the other eye-witness apostles there was gaping hole in the church. With these divinely inspired teachers and authors of scripture gone how were the next generation of leaders to navigate the challenges ahead? To make matters worse, false teachers were at large.
False Teachers Promising Freedom
Peter’s first letter was written in the context of severe persecution, and therefore Peter wrote lots about the suffering of Christ and the glory that follows, to encourage and comfort the persecuted church. In his second letter Peter is addressing a different issue, that of false teaching. Not only were the false teachers creating doubt by saying the Apostles of Jesus had followed ‘cleverly invented stories’ (1 Peter 1:16) but they were introducing false teaching (2 Peter 2:1, 2 Peter 3:3) which suited their own sexually active and greedy lifestyles.
In the second part of chapter 1 Peter reminds them of his authority as an eye-witness, that they are not following cleverly invented stories and that the Old Testament prophets were also divinely inspired and guided by God’s Spirit (2 Peter 1:16-21). In chapter 2 Peter warns them about God’s judgement, which has been proved before to be able to condemn unrighteousness and rescue godly people. He also reveals the hypocrisy and lack of power in the false teachers by saying
These people are springs without water … They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity
2 Peter 2:17-18
Not only were they casting doubts in the people’s minds over The Apostles teaching and authority, they were also questioning whether Christ would ever return. And if he is coming back why is he taking so long? In chapter 3 Peter reminds them that God’s timing is different from ours, that he is patient and longs for people to repent, but that one day the return of Christ will come suddenly and make all things new. Peter warns his readers that there will be a final reckoning of humanity.
2 Peter for 21st Century Dublin?
So what has 2 Peter got to say to us today? Well firstly it is worth noting that the criticisms and doubts people raise against the Christian faith are not new, they are the same ones Peter faced 2000 years ago.
- Is the bible reliable? (Chapter 1)
- God won’t hold me to account, so why can’t I live how I want? (Chapter 2)
- God seems absent, I don’t believe he’ll ever come back as judge of the living and the dead? (Chapter 3)
Our culture is obsessed with freedom and promises freedom, and yet it feels like we have never been more enslaved to our sins, our phones, our internal desires, our careers and the expectations of others. Our culture’s alternative answers to the meaning of life and happiness without Jesus seems like ‘springs without water’. The ‘self-help gurus’ and a ‘alternative spiritual counsellors’, not to mention the consumer culture which we live in, are false teachers all trying to lead us astray – away from Jesus, away from the scriptures, and away from living lives in light of Jesus’ return. We too can swallow a easy-believism that wrongly interprets Christian freedom to suit our own desires. So Peter’s message to us is the same then as now, he finishes his letter by saying
Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
2 Peter 3:17-18
January 2023 Preaching Series
- 8th January – Growing in Christ (2 Peter 1:1-11)
- 15th January – Cleverly invented stories (2 Peter 1:12-21)
- 22nd January – False Teachers promising freedom (2 Peter 2:1-22)
- 29th January – Where is his coming? (2 Peter 3:1-18)
Do join us to consider these great parables at either of our Sunday Gatherings – 10.30 at Oatlands Primary School (Stillorgan) or 4.30pm at Synge Street School (Portobello)
As ever I highly recommend the bible project video on 2 Peter