Daily Devotions
2 Peter
"Things hard to understand"
Text: 2 Peter 3:16
A GENUINE REGARD
It takes much spiritual maturity to acknowledge another person’s stature and success. The Apostle Paul had developed an outstanding ministry that saw him found many churches beyond the boundaries of Israel. The Apostle Peter served as fruitfully and as significantly, but his sphere of ministry was with reference to the Jews. Hence, it was decidedly much smaller in terms of scale. Peter had a genuine regard for Paul as a fellow-servant of the Lord.
“As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things,
in which are some things hard to understand,
which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction,
as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”
2 Peter 3:16
1. “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand”
a) Peter acknowledged Paul:
i) As a writer.
ii) As a writer of things which were not easy to comprehend.
iii) He was aware of God’s gift to Paul, one of which was revealed knowledge.
b) Paul’s writings take up the bulk of the New Testament Epistles.
i) He wrote on subjects that Peter did not deal with.
ii) Paul’s ministry as a writer reflected his own spiritual maturity and understanding.
2. “Which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures”
a) This is a reference to the false teachers.
b) Peter’s insight about these people:
i) They were untaught.
ii) They were also unstable.
c) They read things wrongly.
i) They twist things.
ii) This leads them to destruction.
d) They read other portions of Scripture in the same way.
This merely confirms the fact of their condemnation as wicked false teachers.