2 Peter 3 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 2 Peter 3:1-7

1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Saviour through your apostles.

3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

A. Find Out:

1. Why has Peter written his two letters? v.1
2. What two things does he want them to do? v.2
3. Who will come when, doing what? v.3
4. What will they be skeptical about? v.4
5. But what had happened? v.5,6

B. Think:

1. How has God’s word come to us?
2. What is the cry of the scoffers that Peter speaks about?
3. What is Peter’s answer to that?

C. Comment:

      In the previous chapter Peter had been speaking about false teachers coming, deceiving others into following their self-centred ways. Now he speaks about those who scoff at the teaching that has come. The teaching came first through the prophets in the Old Testament, and now the apostles in what is now becoming the New Testament. The command he refers to in verse 2 must be to live holy lives and, in the light of what follows, the warning that Christ will return to judge the world.

      Now, says Peter, be aware that in the last times before Christ does return there will be those saying that his return is a false promise. These scoffers will use his delay in returning as an excuse to live wild, unrestrained lives.

      Not so, says Peter, look at history and learn from it. God made the world and the world went on. Sin grew and grew in the world (see “In the Beginning” in this series in the early chapters of Genesis) and men seemed to be getting away with it. Eventually God used the very world He had made to destroy them. Judgement will come upon the earth and God will use the earth to bring judgement on sinful man who refuse to heed His warnings. Merely because He delays it doesn’t mean He won’t come. He will! Be prepared!

D. Application:  

1. God has clearly spoken through his prophets and apostles.
2. God’s delay in coming does not mean He’s not coming.

Passage: 2 Peter 3:8-13

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.  That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

A. Find Out:

1. How is time with the Lord? v.8
2. Why isn’t the Lord slow? v.9
3. How will he come and what will happen? v.10
4. What question should that leave us with? v.11a
5. What answer does Peter give? v.11b,12a
6. What does he say will happen but what can we hope for? v.12b,13

B. Think:

1. How does Peter portray the end of the earth?
2. What effect should that have on us?
3. Yet what hope does he give?

C. Comment:

      Remember Peter has just been speaking about scoffers who say God won’t come back, because He has delayed so long. Ah, says Peter, but God’s timing isn’t like ours. We expect everything to be instant but God works in the long term and is in no rush; in fact His delay is simply because He wants to give everyone opportunity to repent and not be condemned.

      It’s the same in the Old Testament. Read the story of God warning Israel to repent through Jeremiah. He delays judgement again and again giving them opportunity to repent and then eventually after many years of warning He brings the judgement and Israel are carried off into exile.

      Peter is quite clear, the judgement of God WILL come, but it will come quickly and unexpectedly when it does come. It will involve immense destruction. In this Peter is completely in line with the prophecies of Isaiah and of John in Revelation. The end is going to be cataclysmic destruction. Yet, says Peter, there will be a new heaven and a new earth for the Lord’s people (see also Rev 21).

      Why tell us all these things? To warn us and prepare us. We can do two things: first we can live holy lives as desired by God so that we won’t perish, and second, by doing this we’ll hasten that time (see Rev 19:7,8).

D. Application:  

1. God’s timing is perfect. He wants as many as possible saved.
2. Yet God’s judgement will come on increasing sinfulness of man.

Passage: 2 Peter 3:14-18

14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

17 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. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever! Amen.

A. Find Out:

1. So what does Peter exhort them to do? v.14
2. Why is the Lord patient? v.15a
3. How did Paul write? v.15b,16a
4. Yet what did Peter say happened with Paul’s letters? v.16b
5. So what does Peter challenge them to do negatively? v.17
6. What does he exhort them to do positively? v.18

B. Think:

1. How do these verses flow on from the previous ones?
2. With what does Peter equate Paul’s letters?
3. How do these verses reflect much of the previous chapter?

C. Comment:

      Peter has just said that judgement will come on the earth and there will be a new heaven and earth for the righteous. So, he says, in the light of that, make sure that your lives are blameless and (inferred) that there is nothing to disqualify you from the inheritance of the righteous. Remember, merely because the Lord delays His coming that does not mean He won’t come, it just means He is patient and wants salvation for as many as possible.

          Look, he goes on, check it out with Paul as well if you want, his many letters say the same thing. Paul’s letters may sometimes we somewhat meaty and not always easy to understand but (inferred) don’t be put off by that.   Some people had distorted Paul’s teaching but, again, don’t be put off by this. (NB. Peter equates Paul’s writing with the “other Scriptures”, i.e. he gave full authority to Paul’s writings).

     Once more Peter warns against false teaching (error) of lawless men (who don’t submit to God’s authority). Don’t get caught up with them, he says, but instead just focus on knowing the Lord and growing in your relationship with Him.   Are we careful about our company?

      Peter finishes on that note which is almost the same as his blessing at the beginning in 1:2. It’s all about knowing God through Jesus. Knowing, not just knowing about.

D. Application:

1. Jesus will return. Be ready when he comes. Live holy lives.
2. Beware deceivers. Reject them. Look to your relationship with Jesus.