2 Peter: Faith In A Skeptical World Exemplo

In many cultures today, traditional values about what is right and wrong, as well as accountability to family, have diminished. It is popular to argue, ‘Who are you to say what is right and wrong for me? It is my life and I will do what I want with it!’ Many simply do what is right in their own eyes. Sadly, it is sometimes those who hold the Bible in their hand who lead the charge into this corrupted way of life. Their teaching seems intelligent, convincing and even biblical, but it contradicts the plain message of God’s word. 

Having put the false teachers’ inevitable judgment beyond dispute (vv. 6–9), in verses 10–12 Peter further identifies them by their behaviour. Notice here the antonyms, the opposites, of the traits set out in 1:5–7. 

Their behaviour is unrestrained (they lack ‘self-control’, 1:6). To make his point, Peter uses a powerful combination of words: they ‘indulge in the lust of defiling passion’ (2:10, ESV, my italics). An important part of their noble humanity is lost when they live without restraint. They have become ‘like brute beasts, creatures of instinct’ (v. 12). 

They ‘despise authority’ (v. 10) because they prefer to be their own master. Dismissive of the Lord’s presence (lacking ‘godliness’, 1:6) they somehow ‘slander celestial beings’ (v. 11). They ‘blaspheme in matters they do not understand’ (v. 12, lacking ‘knowledge’, 1:5). They unwittingly, yet boldly and arrogantly (v. 10), add sin to sin, heaping condemnation upon themselves. 

Peter then returns to the false guides’ end. He uses the sobering description of wild animals, which are ‘caught’, ‘destroyed’ and certainly ‘will perish’ (v. 12). Christ’s people, by contrast, ‘will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’ (1:11). 

It is in chapter 2 that we realise just how practical the traits are in chapter 1. There is a terrible cost that comes with lacking Christian character and traits, for to lack them is to remain in the mire of their alternative. While we lack self-control, we remain slave to our passions. While we lack godliness, we mistreat God. While we are apathetic to knowledge, we remain sorely ignorant even of our own ignorance. If we are not seeking the virtues Peter urges us towards, we are tolerating the vices. 

Peter is confident that the Christians to whom he writes are indeed pursuing Christ’s ways (1:12). A mark of the Spirit in us is our rejection of evil (as showcased in chapter 2) as we pursue good (exhorted in chapter 1). 

Reflection

Do you see the value of fervently pursuing God’s way for your life? In the three battlefields of ‘self-control’, ‘godliness’ and ‘knowledge’, how is the fight going for you?