Lord Jesus Christ in 2Peter

Verses within this Study.

1:1, 1-Saviour, 2, 8, 11, 14, 16, 17; 2:1, 9, 11, 11-Saviour, 15, 20, 20-Saviour; 3:2, 2-Saviour, 8, 9, 10, 15, 18, 18-Saviour.

Click on the following links to jump to a section within the study of this Bible Book: Lord only, Jesus only, Christ only, Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, Lord Jesus, Lord Christ, Lord Jesus Christ, Son, Saviour

Study Overview.

Jesus Christ is used twice in 2Peter 1:1. Once Peter says that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ and the other time Peter tells us that Jesus Christ is our Saviour. Jesus Christ is also used in 1:11; 2:20 and 3:18 to say that He is our Lord and Saviour. Lord Jesus Christ is used another 3 times. Lord is used by itself 8 times, which makes it the main role of Son of God that Peter is emphasizing.

Lord Only

2Peter 2:1, 9, 11; 3:2, 8, 9, 10, 15.

The main theme of this book is judgment and almost every reference to Son of God in this book includes the role of Lord. As seen everywhere else in the New Testament, Son of God handles all judgment through His role as Lord or His role as Jesus. However, since His resurrection, He has been Lord Jesus (Luke 24:3). He is no longer judging as just a man but as God in the flesh. Because of His humanity, He understands the strengths and weaknesses of the flesh (Hebrews 4). Because He is also God, He has the personal power and authority to enforce His decisions. As Lord, He also understands all of the long-term consequences of sin and judges according to the full effect of our sin. Just look at all of the results from one little sin by Adam before you deny the long-term results of your own sin. In addition, to Peter using Lord for the role that does judgment, Peter also tells us that the day will come when all will have to recognize the authority, power and other things about the Lord. Peter warns us to avoid that personal lesson by learning before judgment day. Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord.

2Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

This verse starts out with But. But connects the thought that follows it to the thought that preceded it while changing direction of that thought. Before this But, Peter was telling us about the word of God that we are expected to obey. In 1:16 Peter mentioned the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and followed that with the message that the word of God is our guide about prophecy and living today. Peter mentioned the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ only to say that God uses the same authority to tell us about future events as He uses to tell us about everyday living.

Peter's true subject in this chapter isn't prophecy but true godly authority as opposed to sources of religious error that claim to be the authority of God. The first (and primary) authority that Peter tells us about is the word of God (1:19-21). There, Peter told us that the word of God was more reliable than the personal testimony of someone (himself) who heard directly from God in Heaven and personally witnessed (and did) miracles. Now, Peter comes to this verse with its But because he is still talking about authorities that speak for God. However, Peter is now switching to false prophets and false teachers. Peter is warning us against them because, as Peter says, they privily shall bring in damnable heresies. Peter uses privily because one of the signs of heresy is claiming to have a private interpretation or secret knowledge about the Bible and spiritual things.

Back in 1:20 Peter told us Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Here, Peter is connecting these false prophets and false teachers to what he said in 1:20 and warning that one way to identify sources of religious error is their claim to have 'secret knowledge'. Revelation 2:15 mentions the Nicolaitans as an example of these people. There Jesus Christ says that He hates the doctrine which comes from these people because that are claiming to be a greater authority than our Lord when they teach God's people to live in disobedience as they teach them to follow heresies.

Peter warns us that the heresies taught by these false prophets and false teachers include denying the Lord that bought them. Peter also warns that they bring upon themselves swift destruction, which proves that they do not have the power which they claim to have. The Bible also teaches that the followers of false teachers also suffer swift destruction in Matthew 15:14 and Luke 6:39 and other places within the Bible.

Peter ends this verse with the statement that these false teachers will upon themselves swift destruction. He then continues through the rest of the chapter warning us about them. Peter first gives examples of others who suffered judgment and since our Lord does not change (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8), we can be sure that He will being the same type of judgment upon other who act this same way. Peter also tells us (in 2:7-9, Please see the note for 2:9) that God separates the just from the unjust. Peter then describes the unjust and warns of their judgment by the Lord. (Please see the notes for 2:11 and for 2:20 and for 2:20.) And so we can see that Peter describes more than one type of false teachers but makes it clear that our Lord will judge each of us for our own deeds and will not judge any of us for the deeds of those around us.

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2Peter 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

One thing that all humans have trouble with is judging other humans, especially those that claim to represent the true God. This is because part of our basic sin nature is from believing the Devil's lie that you will be like God. The Biblical truth is that it's one thing to judge a person's doctrine and another to judge the person themselves. Further, when someone lives like Lot did, many godly saved people error in claiming that such a person can't be saved. The Bible actually teaches us to break fellowship with them and to tell them that as long as they act like lost people we are to treat them as lost. However, at the same time, we are to allow them to claim to be saved. Their true salvation is determined by the Lord, not us.

Another thing which causes lot of people problems is the difference between the godly, the ungodly, the just and the unjust. Most people don't know how the Bible separates these types of people, or they have been taught doctrinal error about these groups. Peter mentions the godly in 1:3, 6, 7; 2:9 and 3:11 and tells us about the ungodly in 2:5, 6, and 3:7. Peter tells us that Lot was just in 2:7 and tells us about the unjust in 2:9-22. The basic problem that most people have with the definition of these words is that they are looking at people's current religion and lifestyle instead of looking at their relationship with God.

The godly have a personal relationship with God and a testimony that shows that relationship. They are clearly saved.
The ungodly do not have a personal relationship with God and their testimony clearly shows that lack of a relationship.
The just have been justified by God (they are saved) and they (at one point in their life) had a testimony that shows their salvation.
The unjust may or may not be saved but have a testimony of opposing the Lord and His justice. These are the people who follow false doctrines and heresies.

We can read about the unjust in Psalms 43:1; Proverbs 11:7; 28:8; 29:27; Zephaniah 3:5; Matthew 5:45; Luke 16:8, 10; 18:6, 11; Acts 24:15; 1Corinthians 6:1; 1Peter 3:18; Revelation 22:11 and in this epistle in 2:9-22. Peter summarizes his statements about them in 2:21 where he says For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. While many will argue that the unjust must be lost and others will argue that they may be saved but backslid or saved people who never spiritually matured, I say it doesn't matter. We can't really tell the difference and God tells us to leave that judgment to Him. No matter which side of the argument is true, they are going to suffer very badly when they are judged by the Lord and the best that we can do is to warn them to change their ways and not face the judgment of the Lord in their current condition.

The Bible teaches us that God gave the Jews a bill of divorcement (Jeremiah 3:8) and cut them off from earthly blessings, but did not deny that they were His disobedient children. They not only brought destruction upon themselves but also brought it upon their descendants for many generations. Likewise, the prophet Hosea let his wife Gomer go into whoredom and divorced her under men's laws. Yet the prophet never denied that she was still his (spiritual) disobedient wife. He cut her off from earthly provision, but did not deny his relationship with her (before God) and was ready to forgive and take her back when she truly repented. The point is that it is God who saves (makes a person just) and we are not the people to judge if someone is saved or not (Matthew 7:1; Luke 6:37; John 7:24; 1Corinthians 4:3). Stop judging anyone that claims to be saved. If they don't act like a saved person, tell people that they are acting like a disobedient child of God and are not truly representing the God of the Bible and warn them of the judgment of our Lord, but do not deny their salvation. Separate yourself from them for many reasons including avoiding getting caught in the blast when our Lord judges them. Leave their salvation for our Lord to judge.

One thing that causes a major stumbling block for people trying to understand the Biblical use of unjust is sin by saved people. Many people believe that once saved we can't do certain sins and they justify this by taking part of 1John out of context. 1John 3:9 says Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. They use Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin and he cannot sin while ignoring the reason that John gives for making these claims (for his seed remaineth in him and because he is born of God). This does NOT say that the saved person can't do the deed and that is especially true in consideration that in the same epistle John tells us If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us (1John 1:8-10). The apparent contradiction is cleared up by 1John 3:4 which says Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

There are two parts to a transgression of the law. The first is doing the deed and the second is being charged in the legal system. A person who has diplomatic immunity can not be found guilty of a transgression of the law even if they do intentional murder. In 1John 1:8-10, John is talking about doing the deed and says that we deceive ourselves and we make him a liar if we say that we have not sinned (we say we have not done the deeds of sin). A righteous God can not remain righteous and take away the free will of His children. The only thing that stops them from sinning is their own free will. The saved can, and do, do every sin that the lost do. However, God gives His children diplomatic immunity. When 1John 3:9 says he cannot sin and also provides the reason of because he is born of God it is saying that the child of God has diplomatic immunity. He cannot sin (do a transgression of the law) because he is born of God (has diplomatic immunity which stops his being charged in God's legal system). While the child of God is not charged in God's legal system, John and many others warn of God's punishment that includes a sin not unto death (1John 5:16-17; Acts 5; etc).

Getting back to 2Peter, we see Peter telling us about the unjust in 2:9-22. There is nothing in his description that makes it impossible for these people to be saved and in 2:14 Peter even calls them cursed children. Again, in 2:19 Peter says While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption and many people that have been in Reformers Unanimous can testify that this description fits saved people. In this section Peter tells us a Lot about these people and warns us that saved or lost, they will be judged by the Lord. While I could go into more detail, I will not. The important thing for this study is how the Bible uses the names of the Son of God and there should be no question about Peter using Lord (in this verse) as the role that Son of God judges in. Our verse starts with The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations. Just because The Lord knoweth how, that doesn't mean that all of His children listen. The Lord will deliver His godly children out of temptations, but Peter also says that the Lord will reserve the unjust (including His unjust children) unto the day of judgment to be punished. And those who will claim that Lot was unjust need to show where the Bible says that Lot did any of the things which Peter tells us that the unjust do. See, we hear some religious person say something that our flesh agrees with and he has some Biblical verse that seems to support his claim and many accept his error as Biblical truth because they are not diligent to seek God and the full truth that God's Spirit will show them if they diligently seek the truth. In this verse, Peter is telling us that the Lord knows the difference between the godly and the unjust and provides different judgment for each.

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2Peter 2:11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.

This verse is continuing the subject of 2:9 and that note should be read since it has most of the detail that relates to this verse. Here, Peter is telling us that angels have a whole lot more power than humans do. Yet, angels have enough sense to not offend our Lord by taking our Lord's place and judging other beings. You may be God's child, but don't be stupid enough to think God will ignore your taking a role and rights that He reserves to His role as Lord and does not allow to anyone else, not even to His roles as Christ or as Jesus.

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2Peter 3:2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

Please see the note for this sentence in the Book Study on 2Peter which divides this sentence by punctuation and provides an explanation of the context.

This verse is the Second Equivalent Section of this sentence. That limits the interpretation to what is equivalent to the other parts. In it we are told to be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets (Old Testament), and be mindful of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour (New Testament). The main emphasis is for us to mind the Bible. In the First Equivalent Section of this sentence Peter reminded us of his first epistle where he told us that our salvation and our sanctification were dependent upon the incorruptible...word of God. The Third Equivalent Section tells us that scoffers will challenge the promises of the Bible and claim them false in order to justify their going after their own lusts. In all three Equivalent Sections, Peter challenges us to base our life upon the more sure word of prophecy (Bible [1:19]). So, in three different ways, Peter is telling us to mind the Bible.

Within this context, Peter is telling us that the commandments which we received from the apostles, which we call the New Testament, were originated by the Lord and Saviour. We have everything related to salvation based upon the word of God and that Word is reliable because of the power and authority of the Lord. However, to claim the salvation promised by the word of God while refusing the same power and authority for the rest of our lives places us among the scoffers according to Peter. And by the way, just in case anyone thinks I'm stretching this interpretation to emphasize the word of God, look at the next sentence where Peter himself says that judgment is based upon the word of God.

Notice that Peter says that he wants his readers to stir up your pure minds. The pure minds belong to the godly and, based upon what Peter said about the ungodly and unjust, we can say that those groups of people are not included within the group that Peter says have pure minds. Peter uses Lord and Saviour in this verse like he does every other place we see these roles in this epistle. As Lord, God the Son is giving us commandments and warning of coming judgment based upon our obedience or disobedience. In this sentence, Peter tells us that our Lord sends these messages through the apostles of the Lord and Saviour. As Saviour, God the Son is giving us reminding us of our ongoing personal relationship to Him and that the quality of our salvation is also based upon our obedience or disobedience. In this sentence, Peter tells us that our Lord sends these messages through the apostles of the Lord and Saviour.

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2Peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The next two sentences, along with this sentence, all use Lord. Please also consider the next two notes, which are below, along with the associated notes in the Book Study on 2Peter, in order to include all contextual considerations.

This verse is used by many people to show that God's sense of time is different from ours. If you follow the link provided below, you will find a note with several other links to places where the Bible uses the phrase day of. When we look at these days we see different lengths of time. Therefore, what Peter is telling us, and what we can verify within the Bible, is that the Bible uses day to designate a significant event and not for a length of time. With that in mind, we see that it is our Lord Who uses this word this way. That means that our thoughts about a length of time are wrong because the Lord is always right.

Please see the note for 1Thessalonians 5:2 about for links to every place in the New Testament where the phrase day of deals with a significant event such as prophecy. We see this phrase used in 2Peter in: 2:9 (day of judgment); 3:7(day of judgment); 3:10(day of the Lord) and 3:12 (day of God).

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2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

The prior sentence, this sentence and the next sentence all use Lord. Please also consider the note above and the note below, along with the associated notes in the Book Study on 2Peter, in order to include all contextual considerations.

Peter uses Lord here to talk about the day of the Lord, which includes the Great Tribulation. (The exact phrase of: day of the Lord, is found 31 times in the Bible. The phrase of: Great Tribulation is found 3 times.)

Peter is telling us to not believe any of the lies from the ungodly including that God can't be bothered to bring judgment, or that His brain is so non-functional that He can't see the need or He doesn't know when He will get around to it or any other lie that is covered by the word slack. The Lord is in complete control, always has been and always will be. He knows exactly when he will bring judgment, but His 'When' is not measured the exact same way as we measure time because Peter already told us that the Lord measures time differently than we do. The Lord's time for judgment, according to Peter's sentence here, is when no more men will come to repentance. However, the religious definition of repentance and the Biblical definition are not the same. The Bible means 'a true change of the innermost being that shows on the outward life' while the religious definition usually means some outward / religious 'turning' that may (probably) have no permanent inward change.

Much could be said, and has been said, about the Lord's longsuffering and about His not willing that any should perish and about His call to repentance. I will not include those things in this note. The important point in this study is that Peter uses Lord in this sentence because he is talking about judgment and the Bible always says that God provides judgment within His role as Lord. Please see the Overview for a detailed explanation of how the Bible uses this name / role of God.

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2Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

The prior two sentences, along with this sentence, all use Lord. Please also consider the prior two notes, which are above, along with the associated notes in the Book Study on 2Peter, in order to include all contextual considerations.

Peter has been talking about the day of the Lord as just one part of judgment by the Lord, which he has been talking about all of this chapter. Please see all of the notes above for this chapter along with the notes for Chapter 3in the Book Study on 2Peter. People like to snatch this verse, along with other verses in this chapter, completely out of context in order to justify how they 'slice and dice' God's Word in order to claim that it supports their timeline of 'prophecy'. Peter already told us (in 3:8) that God doesn't measure time as man measures time. We also see several places where God starts to fulfill a prophecy, throws in a delay of a thousand or more years as man measures time, and then completes the prophecy and sees NO problem with calling it a single prophecy. For example, Peter told us that Pentecost was a fulfillment of a prophecy in Joel, but not all of that prophecy has been completed. Also, in Luke 4 Jesus said that a prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled, even though it was not completely fulfilled at that time. That's why Peter told us, in this chapter, that we have to completely forget how man measures time when it comes to prophecy and just know that the Lord will keep ALL of His promises in His time.

As shown earlier in this chapter, the day is coming when the Lord will display His true power and every mouth shall be stopped and every knee will bow and honor the Lord for everything that He truly is but that they denied. When that day comes there will be so much evidence that people won't be able to claim that they made a mistake, or it was a slip of the tongue or anything else. Even those judged will have to admit that He is true, righteous, holy merciful and many other things and that they rejected the truth in spite of the many witnesses that He brought before them.

Please see the note for 3:8 which tells us about the different days which are mentioned within 2Peter. Please see the note for 1Thessalonians 5:2 for links to different places in the Bible where we find the phrase day of and for identification of different days which are found within the Bible.

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2Peter 3:15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

2Peter 3:15and 3:16 form a single sentence that is divided by punctuation in the Book Study on 2Peter. The entire sentence has four Steps which tell us 'Steps to take in order to grow spiritually'. Our current verse is the first two Steps. In the First Step Peter tells us about salvation, because we must have spiritual life before we can cause it to grow. In the Second Step (part of our verse) Peter tells us about written scripture, which is the basis of how we mature spiritually. In the Third Step Peter tells us that Paul was speaking in them of these things. In general, Paul's epistles give us doctrinal principals to understand followed by commandments to apply those doctrinal principals. These things are based upon written scripture, which is our prior Step, and they cause us to mature spiritually. Finally, in our Fourth Step, we find the consequence of people who do not mature enough to understand what they are told.

In this sentence Peter tells us many things including that Paul's writing is scripture from the Lord. Peter also warns that saved but spiritually immature people (they that are unlearned and unstable) wrest ('twist into an unnatural shape or condition') with the scriptures unto their own destruction. Simply put, Peter is warning the immature that they will face judgment by the Lord for their failure to mature spiritually. However, that warning follows Peter's instructions, which are in the prior sentence and in the start of this sentence. This warning of judgment is to the people who reject his instructions to mature spiritually. Our sentence / verse starts with the word And, which ties it to the prior sentence. It starts with Wherefore and gives us a conclusion on how to avoid the punishment from the Lord which this entire epistle has warned us about. Remember that all of chapter 2 warned us about false prophets and false teachers and the consequences which come upon saved people who follow them. Now Peter is telling us to mature spiritually so that we are not deceived by these false prophets and false teachers.

Remember that the summary, at the start of this Study, pointed out that Lord is the main role of God that is used in this epistle. Lord is used every time that the Bible tells us about judgment. Our sentence is reminding us that the Lord gave us salvation and the Lord expects us to do our part to grow that salvation by becoming spiritually mature.

Peter tells us that we are to be diligent in our spiritual maturing. However, when we truly try to be diligent, we find that we fail, which is why Peter tells us account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. Full salvation isn't just a one time saving from Hell but an ongoing saving from punishment every time we come short of the glory of God. As we diligently try to be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless, and come short of that goal, we realize our own failings and His ongoing longsuffering. As we recognize His longsuffering in our own lives, we come to understand His delaying the judgment of others as His being longsuffering towards others. That's why Peter concludes with 3:17 and 3:18. Peter warns us to not fall from your own stedfastness when we don't see the Lord bringing judgment upon us for failing to do what He taught us to do. Just because He delays judgment doesn't mean He removed it and Peter earlier warned that falling after we learned better brings greater judgment. He finishes with 3:18 which says But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Peter's conclusion is to take your eyes off others and what God is doing in their lives and keep your eyes on our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is one of the last things that our Lord told Peter and he's telling us that he really understood the lesson before the end of his life.

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Jesus Only

Jesus is not used by itself in this book. Click here for all of the Verses that use Jesus and here for the Summary on the name / role of Jesus.

Christ Only

Christ is not used by itself in this book. Click here for all of the Verses that use Christ and here for the Summary on the name / role of Christ.

Jesus Christ

2Peter 1:1.

Jesus Christ is used by itself only once in 2Peter. However, Peter also calls the Son of God Saviour Jesus Christ and Jesus our Lord in the same sentence and links His roles the God. In addition, in 1:11; 2:20 and 3:18 Peter uses the phrase our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, thereby declaring that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour. Please see the notes for these verses under Lord Jesus Christ and under Saviour. Peter uses Jesus Christ as the most commonly used identifier of the Son of God and tells us to not think of Him as just Jesus Christ but realize that He has other roles also and we need to show Him greater respect and obedience than most people do. However, Peter is also wanting us to not go to the opposite extreme. Since this epistle is mainly speaking about proper authority and speaking against false teachers and concentrating on God's role as Lord, many false teachers will try and make Him some impersonal God Who doesn't care for us individually. Peter tells us that He is Jesus Christ Who cares for each and every one of the saved even while He is also God and Lord. Click here for all of the Verses that use Jesus Christ and here for the Summary on the name / role of Jesus Christ.

2Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

2Peter 1:1 through 1:4 is a single sentence divided into four Equivalent Sections, which give us the same message from four different perspectives. The note for this sentence in the Study on 2Peter divides this sentence by punctuation and provides the context and general interpretation of this sentence. This note, in this Study, assumes that the reader has that understanding and provides only details on how Peter uses Jesus Christ within that context. In addition, to this note, please also see the note for this sentence under Savior and the note for this sentence under Lord Jesus Christ as they deal with the same sentence. This note assumes that the reader has the understanding of those related notes and only provides only details on how Peter uses Jesus Christ within the context of this sentence.

This verse is the first of the four Equivalent Sections. Here, Peter is emphasizing that Jesus Christ deals with us personally and shows us how to have like precious faith and that Jesus Christ is our Saviour. That is: within our verse we see Jesus Christ used twice. The first time tells us that Peter is an apostle of Jesus Christ. The second time tells us that Jesus Christ is our Saviour. Peter gives us several doctrinal points about our relationship with Jesus Christ as our Saviour. Those points are found in the note for 1:1 under Saviour. In addition, Peter's use of the word Saviour, within this epistle, is important and found in the general note for Saviour. Please see those notes about this role of the Son of God. Since the second usage of Jesus Christ, within our verse, is dealt with in those other notes, the rest of this note will deal with our first usage

Our first usage tells us that Peter is an apostle of Jesus Christ. As the Word Study on Apostle shows, an apostle is: 'The highest human authority within the church below Christ'. That Study also explains why there are not more apostles today. Therefore, this epistle from Peter has higher authority than anything said by people today, aside from it being party of the Bible. This distinction is important because Peter is going to warn us against false prophets and false teachers. When it comes to fights between people each claiming to be an authority, we need to know who to believe.

In addition, to that consideration, we need to consider the meaning of Jesus Christ. The word of means: 'belongs to'. That means that Peter, as an apostle who 'belongs to' Jesus Christ is supposed to represent Jesus Christ and not his own desires and beliefs nor those of some religion. In his first epistle, Peter told us about the suffering of Christ and how it was the will of God that true Biblical Christians were to act like Christ while suffering with the same attitude as Christ had. Peter also told us how to deal with people while we are in our flesh and his example was Jesus. Thus Peter showed that he was a true representative of Jesus Christ while the false prophets and false teachers teach a doctrine which justifies refusing to obey Jesus Christ. Please notice that, in our sentence, Peter says that true believers have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God. The false prophets and false teachers deny the requirement to have like precious faith and deny the requirement to obtain the righteousness of God. A true representative of Jesus Christ, such as Peter, tells us that Jesus Christ is the one Who says that these things are mandatory and a requirement of His becoming our Saviour.

The false prophets and false teachers will deny this requirement Even while they claim the authority of an apostle. However, we need to notice that Peter does not just say that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ, but he also says that he is a servant, and names servant first to show that it is primary. That is, obedience is required before God gives anyone authority. The false prophets and false teachers refuse to obey and, thereby, prove that they are not servant and, therefore, could not have obtained their authority from God.

Finally, the Bible always uses Jesus Christ for our personal relationship with God. In both of his epistles Peter mentions things from his personal relationship with Jesus Christ that others did not have and could not get. In 1:16-18 Peter deals with this specific issue and tells us of his specific credentials. After doing that, Peter then tells us We have also a more sure word of prophecy and continues with the message that what comes from the Bible is a greater authority than any personal position or authority. When Jesus argued with the false religious leaders, in the Gospels, He said it is written and have you not read. Thus, Jesus Christ used the Bible as His authority and a true servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ will also do the same because that is part of the personal training which comes from Jesus Christ. The false prophets and false teachers do as we see them do in the Gospels and quote other teachers and their heritage. Therefore, the basis of authority claimed by a religious teacher shows us weather they are a true servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, and have been personally trained by Him, or if they are, in fact, false prophets and false teachers who base their authority on religion.

Peter uses Jesus Christ as the most commonly used identifier of the Son of God and tells us to not think of Him as just Jesus Christ but realize that He has other roles also and we need to show Him greater respect and obedience than most people do. However, Peter is also wanting us to not go to the opposite extreme. Since this epistle is mainly speaking about proper authority and speaking against false teachers and concentrating on God's role as Lord, many false teachers will try and make Him some impersonal God Who doesn't care for us individually. Peter tells us that He is Jesus Christ Who cares for each and every one of the saved even while He is also God and Lord.

Christ Jesus

Christ Jesus is not used in this book. Click here for all of the Verses that use Christ Jesus and here for the Summary on the name / role of Christ Jesus.

Lord Jesus

2Peter 1:2.

2Peter 1:2 is the only verse that uses Lord Jesus. It is in the same sentence as 1:1, which is the only verse to use Jesus Christ by itself. Most other references to the Son of God in this epistle use Lord or Lord Jesus Christ. Please see the notes on these verses for the details. Peter opens his epistle by identifying the Son of God as Lord Jesus and from then on emphasizes His role Lord in several different ways. Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord Jesus and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord Jesus.

2Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

2Peter 1:1 through 1:4 is a single sentence divided into four Equivalent Sections, which give us the same message from four different perspectives. The note for this sentence in the Study on 2Peter divides this sentence by punctuation and provides the context and general interpretation of this sentence. This note, in this Study, assumes that the reader has that understanding and provides only details on how Peter uses Jesus Christ within that context. In addition, to this note, please also see the note for this sentence under Jesus Christ and the note for this sentence under Savior as they deal with the same sentence. This note assumes that the reader has the understanding of those related notes and only provides only details on how Peter uses Lord Jesus within the context of this sentence.

In this sentence we see Peter use Jesus our Lord and Jesus Christ and Saviour. This is deliberate on Peter's part because he is talking about different blessings that come from the different roles of the Son of God. As seen throughout all of the Studies on this web site, the Bible makes it clear that certain things are available only through certain roles of the Son of God and Peter is dealing with those differences here.

Peter uses Jesus our Lord to emphasize that Son of God is 'God in the flesh'. As Jesus He knows and understands our infirmities As our Lord He has all of the power and judgment of that Role. Peter says Jesus our Lord to let us know that the literal physical man is God and exercises all of the power and authority as our Lord. That is, He is our ultimate human leader who can order us around and will judge us for our obedience and disobedience and knows when we are giving excuses because He has personal experience to base His judgment upon.

In this epistle, Peter is going to deal with suffering as a result of obeying and submitting to our Lord. So, he starts out by reminding us that Jesus understands the things of the flesh, and that our Lord can provide the things we need but can't provide for ourselves, like Grace and peace. However, Peter is also careful to tell us that Grace and peace are obtained through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord and lets us know that we won't receive these any other way. (In the Bible, knowledge is the application of God's life in us that results in a birth [visible evidence that can be seen by the world]. Not allowing God to work in your life results in no Biblical knowledge.) Those not willing to learn of our Lord (through obedience) can forget receiving the grace and peace which is offered by this epistle.

In addition, Peter ties these things to the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Peter makes it clear that those not willing to obey their Lord and meet His standard of virtue can forget receiving all of the rest. This part very much supports the rest of the sentence, as explained in the notes on 1:1 under Jesus Christ and under Saviour.

We also see this throughout this epistle as Peter describes the godly, the ungodly and the unjust. Peter tells us that only the godly understand that Jesus is our Lord. Peter also describes the ungodly and the unjust who refuse to accept that Jesus is our Lord Who will judge us for our disobedience. Peter also tells the godly that their rewards in this life are not shared by the ungodly and the unjust and that the godly can be sure that the ungodly and the unjust will not share their rewards in eternity. The difference between the three groups is seen in their testimony and this difference is due to the level of acceptance that Jesus is our Lord. According to Peter, those that are godly have this knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. (John 14:7-10 tells us that the same knowledge, which lets us know one (God or Lord Jesus) also lets us know the other). This knowledge has specific results according to Peter which include:

like precious faith is faith like the apostles and others who suffered and died for God, and of Jesus our Lord. The truly godly have like precious faith.
the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ this is not the righteousness of religion.
all things that pertain unto life and godliness in a way that shows that these things are According as his divine power and not according to religion. The truly godly have evidence that God's life and godliness exists in them.
Our knowing that we are called to glory and virtue and that we have this knowledge through the knowledge of him. As has been showed many places in this study, we are called to give God glory in this life and He will give us glory in Heaven for eternity in proportion to how much glory we give Him now. In addition, the amount of His virtue that we obtain now is how much we will have for eternity. The truly godly show God's glory and virtue in their life.
Whereby (according as his divine power) are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. We can truly know the promises through the knowledge of him. Religion takes promises in the Bible and claims that God has to keep them in a way that God never intended and will never honor. In order to really receive these exceeding great and precious promises, we have to receive them God's way and knowing God's way is only possible through the knowledge of him. The truly godly have received the exceeding great and precious promises and can show it.
that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature. The truly godly know that they have received the exceeding great and precious promises so that they personally (ye) might be partakers of the divine nature. This is not that ye may consume it upon your lusts (James 4:2-4). The truly godly display the divine nature in their personal lives.
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust is past tense. We can escape this corruption only through the spiritually maturing ministry of Christ. The knowledge that comes from experience can not be imitated by knowledge obtained other ways and can not be made to waver (James 1:6) by other types of knowledge. The truly godly have a testimony that they truly have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
giving all diligence. The truly godly know that he (God) is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (God) (Hebrews 11:6) and display diligence in all that the Bible tells them to display it in (Acts 18:25; Romans 12:8; 2Corinthians 8:7, 22; 1Timothy 5:10; 2Timothy 1:17; 4:9, 21; Titus 3:12-13; Hebrews 6:11; 11:6; 12:15; 1Peter 1:10; 2Peter 1:5, 10; 3:14; Jude 1:3).
add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. There has been much preached on these traits and their meanings that I will not detail here. The truly godly show these traits in a way that it can be seen that they come from God and not from religion.
Verses 2 through 9 also tells us that The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations. The truly godly show by their life that they have been delivered out of temptations and they seek to avoid temptations.
Peter ends this epistle with Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. God gives us knowledge to help us be stedfast while we avoid the error of the wicked.
Peter also ends his epistle with But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Knowledge is something that we must grow in and that is possible only through our personal relationship with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Peter adds grow in knowledge.. to grow in grace because grace is the result of this knowledge and we can not get God's grace any other way.

All of these things cause changes that even the lost people of the world can see in our lives. If they weren't visible to the people of the world, we could not use them to give God glory in this world. Peter uses Jesus our Lord to emphasize both roles of Son of God in the opening of his letter and to tell us that we aren't dealing with 'the man upstairs' or anything else that religion tells us is OK when considering our God. Peter opens his epistle by telling us that Jesus is our Lord and our God. Based upon that truth, Peter goes on to warn how Jesus our Lord will judge all people and give different results to different people based upon how their life showed that they treated Jesus our Lord.

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Lord Christ

Lord Christ is not used in this book. Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord Jesus Christ and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus Christ

2Peter 1:8, 11, 14, 16; 2:20; 3:18.

Every verse in 2Peter that uses Lord Jesus Christ deliberately refers to each and every role of Son of God. Peter also links all three roles to the Bible and to Son of God's role as Saviour. Please see Verses - Saviour for more verses and notes related to this name / role of the Son of God. In 1:11; 2:20 and 3:18 Peter uses the phrase our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Notice the and. If I say '1 and 1 equals 2', I do not have my conclusion of '2' if I take away either side of the and likewise, Peter is telling us that we do not have the Jesus Christ of the Bible unless we recognize both of His roles as Lord and Saviour and that we also have to recognize these roles as dealing with us personally (our). In the general note for this book it was noted that Peter is talking about three groups of people in this epistle, the godly, the ungodly and the unjust. If the reader really considers what Peter is saying, it becomes clear that only one of these groups understands the true Biblical Jesus Christ and really accepts Him in each and every role, especially His roles as Lord and Saviour. Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord Jesus Christ and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord Jesus Christ.

2Peter 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter starts out this verse with For which tells us that this is 'why we should do what Peter said in earlier verses'. 2Peter 1:1-4 form a single sentence where Peter opens his letter and tells us that the purpose of his letter, which includes that ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (Please see the notes for 1:1 and for 1:1-Saviour and the note for 1:2 for details on that opening sentence.) Then in the next sentence (1:5-7), Peter starts out with And beside this and continues with terse practical commands for living the Christian life. These commands are not easy, so Peter follows them with why we should do them. The why is this verse: that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

However, notice Peter's qualification that these things must be in you, and abound in order for us to be neither be barren nor unfruitful. We can expect there to be a direct relationship between how much these things from God (listed in the note for 1:1 under Saviour) be in you, and abound and how fruitful we will be for God. Further, Peter tells us that the fruit we can expect is knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are certain types of knowledge that are only achieved by experience and this type of knowledge definitely requires each and every role of the Lord Jesus Christ being in our life and working through our life. These things are what Peter says need to be in you, and abound ('To have or possess in great quantity; to be copiously supplied; followed by with or in; as to abound with provisions; to abound in good things; To be in great plenty; to be very prevalent'). Without detailing (again) each item that Peter lists and showing how each role of the son of God relates to each item, I can make general statements that apply to all items.

Each of the named items are to be seen in our life, so that God will get glory and we will get God's virtue here in this physical life. Jesus is our example of how to live in the flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the ministry of Jesus in these items should be clear. Christ is the role that the Son of God uses to bring spiritual maturity to the saved and each of these items require spiritual maturity. Thus, the ministry of Christ in these items should be clear. Lord is the role that the Son of God uses to judge us and give rewards and punishment when we stand before Him and give an account for the deeds done in the flesh. Without promise of rewards, no one would really get these things in their life because Peter goes on and shows how these things lead to persecutions in the flesh. Only God's promises of eternal rewards make the godly willing to have these things in their life while they realize that the same items will lead to persecutions in the flesh.

Peter uses our Lord Jesus Christ in this verse because it is only through personally (our) gaining the knowledge that comes through experiencing each and every role of the Son of God that we will be able to do as commanded. Peter goes on in the next sentences and explains about those that lacketh these things. Please see the note for 1:11 below for those details.

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2Peter 1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

We see the link between Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ in this verse and other verses in this epistle. Please see all of the notes under Saviour and the associated verses and notes as specified in those notes to understand this linkage as Peter gives it in this epistle.

2Peter 1:10-11 is a single sentence divided into three Equivalent Sections by two colons. This division is in the note for this sentence in the Study on 2Peter along with notes on the context and general interpretation of this sentence. Our current note assumes that the reader has that understanding and our current note provides only details on how Peter uses Jesus Christ within this context.

Peter uses each name for the Son of God (in this sentence) for a specific purpose. He use Lord to remind us that judgment is coming and within this sentence mentioned the rewards of that judgment in the prior sentences of this epistle. Peter also uses Jesus Christ, in this sentence, because those are the main roles involved in the ongoing personal relationship of a saved person. Peter tells us that we need to be diligent about these things just like a married person needs to be diligent about their marriage if they want it to be a good relationship. The relationship between a man and his wife is used to picture the relationship between Christ and the church. In this epistle Peter tells the difference between the just, the unjust and the ungodly. The just will do as Peter says in this chapter including being diligent in these personal things while the unjust and the ungodly will not be diligent. This is one of the tests given by God to separate these three groups of people and to justify giving different rewards to each. The just will live a life that gives a testimony of the change caused by an ongoing personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

We also see that God expects to see a difference in our lives as a result of all the Jesus went through to provide our salvation and give us the Holy Ghost. However, God never takes away our free will and He does not force the new nature upon saved people even though Jesus died for that right. The new nature comes through our ongoing relationship with Christ. Through this relationship, we do the things required to allow Christ to add to our character all of the character traits already mentioned by Peter. The just will do this and justify God saving them. The unjust will make excuses for refusing to do this and will not justify God saving them. The ungodly never received the relationship which allows Christ to make that change in their life.

We see the role of Lord linked to the reward and punishment that we get for our obedience or disobedience which proves if we are the just, the unjust or the ungodly. All saved will go to the judgment seat of Christ (Romans 14:10; 2Corinthians 5:10-11). However, at that judgment seat of Christ we will face the judgment of our Lord on our being obedient or disobedient servants as Jesus warned us in the Gospels. In addition, as 2Corinthians 5:10-11 warns us, some of the saved, who are already in Heaven, will receive bad and the terror of the Lord.

In addition, we see Peter mention an entrance...into the everlasting kingdom. The Bible clearly teaches variable rewards based upon our service here. What I will not develop here, but have shown elsewhere, is that the Bible teaches that there will be saved people with no other righteousness of their own to be rewarded. The Bible also gives strong indication that they might not be allowed into the everlasting kingdom. The simple message to all saved is to do as Peter tells us to do and prove that we are the just and then we won't have to worry about lost rewards.

Peter uses Jesus Christ in this sentence to emphasize our personal relationship with our Lord and Saviour.

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2Peter 1:14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.

Verses 1:13and 1:14 form a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study on 2Peter. In this sentence peter tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ has told him that his death will be soon and he is finishing up the most important things to do before his death.

Peter starts the this sentence with the word Yea, which means 'in agreement with the last sentence'. So, this sentence is a continuation of the prior. There, Peter started with Wherefore ('a conclusion of what was said before that'). This links our current verse back to the prior verses, including 1:11. (Please see that note.) In fact, all of the prior sentences are all built one upon another from the beginning of the epistle. In addition, by saying that he is going to stir us up by putting us in remembrance, Peter is saying that this sentence is the basis of the rest of this chapter because the rest of the chapter contains what Peter wants us to remember. Thus, all of 2Peter Chapter 1 must be considered together because Peter links it all together.

In our current sentence, Peter says he knows that he is about to die (shortly I must put off this my tabernacle) and face his Lord Jesus Christ. This is not something unique because we must all face our Lord Jesus Christ. With this knowledge Peter is telling us that he knows that he will soon face judgment. Peter is doing what he can to prepare for the best results of that judgment and is our example for how we should also personally prepare.

Peter knows that he will personally answer for how he allowed the Son of God to minister through Peter's life. Peter also knows that the Son of God used each and every one of His roles to do so and that Peter will answer for how well he responded to each of those roles of the Son of God. Peter doesn't expect to meet just Jesus but knows also that he will answer to Christ and his Lord. Peter didn't stick his head in the sand but thought about what that meant and then wrote this letter as his last testament to others who will face Christ and their Lord, but might be thinking only about Jesus.

In this letter, Peter tells us to consider, as he did, what we will really reap and why we will reap it. When Peter knew that he was about to die, he didn't stop serving or go enjoy some pleasure of this world or the flesh before he left it for all time. Peter put greater effort into trying to serve our Lord and did what he could to extend his personal ministry past his own death. Look at the next sentence (1:15) where Peter says Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. Peter said that he wrote this epistle specifically so that we may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

Peter uses Lord Jesus Christ in this verse the exact same way as he did in 1:11. Peter deliberately considering each and every role of the Son of God and how he would answer the Son of God in each of His roles when he personally had to answer for the deeds done in the flesh.

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2Peter 1:16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

This verse starts out with For (Here's why), which means it is giving us the reason for what was said in the prior sentence. In 1:15, Peter starts out with Moreover, which tells us that he is adding to what was said earlier. In all, here Peter is saying why we should believe and obey everything he said up to this point. The reason that Peter gives is we have not followed cunningly devised fables. Obviously, Peter is answering a lie that the Christian belief was based upon cunningly devised fables. In the prior verse, Peter tells us that he was putting his last testimony in writing to have these things always in remembrance. Peter wanted future generations to have something more reliable than fables. That is, Peter is giving us a written last testimony that will last so that future generations will have these things always in remembrance.

Peter continues to explain his reasons in 1:17-18 then in 1:19 he tells us We have also a more sure word of prophecy. Peter meant the written word of God when he said a more sure word of prophecy because he is emphasizing that the written word is more reliable than fables. Peter is also claiming that the written word of God is more reliable than his relating his personal experience on the Mount of Transfiguration (Please see the note for 1:17 for more about this). He also claimed that the word of God was more reliable than the personal testimony of someone (himself) who had personally witnessed (and did) miracles.

So the reason that Peter gives us to believe and obey all that Peter told us is because it matches our written word of God. This is important because Peter introduces the subject of prophecy when He mentions the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter then talks about the word of God, which is our true authority for prophecy. He then talks about false prophets starting in 2:1 and the judgment that God brings on all sources of religious error. Peter returns to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in 3:8 where he starts talking about the day of the Lord. While Peter seems to introduce this subject then wander off course for quite a while, he is really saying that our authority for how to live in this world and our authority for prophecy and future events are the same. At this point Peter really isn't talking about prophecy, even though he seems to introduce it, but is really talking about our authority for the things of God and religion.

In this context, Peter doesn't just say to trust the word of God but expresses it in the way that will give us greater assurance and knowledge than just accepting his authority. Remember, back in 1:8 Peter told us that we were to be fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our source of this knowledge is the Bible (word of God) which Peter again links to our Lord Jesus Christ in this verse (1:16). In the rest of 1:16-18, Peter makes reference to seeing Jesus in His majesty on the Mount of Transfiguration. However, While Jesus could have displayed His glory to men; Jesus told them (Peter, James and John) to keep what they saw to themselves. When Jesus confronted the religious, Jesus said Have you not read or It is written or similar things. Jesus did not rely upon His position as the Son of God but relied upon the written word of God.

In these verses, Peter is telling us that Jesus could have proved that He was the Son of God and relied upon His position for His authority. However, instead Jesus relied upon the word of God. That way, Jesus proved that the word of God was more reliable evidence than any position. That's why Peter calls the Bible more sure (1:19) than personally hearing from God in Heaven. While I could go into more detail, I hope this is enough for the reader to see that Peter is telling us to rely on a written word of God more than signs or positions and that Peter is linking this reliance to the example that he had from Jesus.

Going on, Peter also links the Bible to the ministry of Christ and the ministry of the Lord in these verses. As noted, Peter starts this verse with For, which means it is the reason for instructions given in prior verses. In those verses, Peter told us of some changes that should have come into our lives since salvation, which is the ministry of Christ. Peter opened his letter by telling us that grace and peace come through knowledge. That knowledge is from the word of God. Peter next tells us that He has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him (1:3) by His power. Peter then tells us that we might be partakers of the divine nature and that our being partakers is dependent upon our having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (1:4). That is the ministry of Christ. Peter then lists several things that we should add into our life, all of which require the ministry of Christ. Peter goes on telling us how we should have the ministry of Christ in our lives and telling us about those that don't have the ministry of Christ because he hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins (1:9) and then Peter tells us that he's getting ready to face the judgment of God and answer for how he responded to the ministry of Christ in his own life.

Starting out Peter tells us that everything he is talking about is based upon knowledge that comes from the word of God. In 1:19-21 Peter returns to talking about the reliability of the word of God. In between, Peter is talking about the ministry of Christ, and the consequences for allowing or refusing the ministry of Christ. I hope the reader can see how Peter is tying the word of God to the ministry of Christ.

As for the ministry of our Lord, Peter says when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in the verse under discussion (1:16). The coming of our Lord is a direct reference to our Lord's return and the Day of the Lord that is explained elsewhere in this study. Hopefully, the reader has already been convinced that this verse is connected to the word of God. In short, Peter directly connects the word of God to the ministry of Jesus, the ministry of Christ and the ministry of the Lord and in each case Peter is separating that ministry from cunningly devised fables.

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2Peter 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

Please see the notes for all of chapter 2, all under Lord, as all of Chapter 2 is talking about the doctrinal error which is taught by false prophets and false teachers. In this verse Peter is giving us the reason that the Lord will judge them and their followers He will. The reason, given in this sentence, won't make a lot of sense unless the reader understands that it is giving a reason for judgment coming upon Biblical fools. Basically, our Lord made the truth available to everyone. That truth is in God's Word. His Word also describes Biblical fools and the consequences which people receive who decide to be Biblical fools. This verse is part of a section of this chapter which goes through the end of the chapter and, in the last sentence, Peter quotes Proverbs 26:11 to let us know that the people whom Peter is talking about are Biblical fools. So before starting to defend some doctrine, realize that all doctrines which oppose the truth found in these sentences are trying to defend Biblical fools. Those doctrines claim that people should be allowed to be Biblical fools, and convince others to also be the same, without any consequence. Such a 'stand' is in direct opposition to the authority of our Lord and taking such a 'stand' is proving that you also are a Biblical fool.

We see this verse again tying knowledge to our Lord Jesus Christ and we see both tied to Saviour. Peter uses know in one form or another 16 times in this little book. Please see the note for this verse under Saviour for more details about those usages and how knowledge relates to each and every role of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Starting in 2:1, Peter starts talking about the judgment of the Lord on false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them (2:1). Peter goes on the list many evidences of judgment by the Lord that are in the Bible and will be used against these false teachers and their followers. In 2:10 Peter says But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government to identify the people that the Lord will judge in the day of judgment (2:9). Please notice that this description fits people that claim to be saved, while being unjust, as well as fitting the lost. Peter then goes back to warning us about these people ending with they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage (2:19). Again, Reformers Unanimous deals with many saved people who have returned to their sin and have been brought into bondage. Then 2:20 starts out with For (As a result) the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

So, here we have Peter telling us that it would have been better for these people to die and spend an eternity in Hell and the Lake of Fire than to face the judgment that the Lord will give them. Quite honestly, what Peter is saying goes against established doctrine among Christians preaching 'The worst position in Heaven is better than the best position in Hell'. Read our sentence again.

The Bible definitely teaches varying degrees of reward in Heaven. The Bible also definitely teaches varying degrees of punishment in the Lake of Fire and the worst punishment is for those who preach an other gospel (Galatians 1:6-11). If the people described by Peter are truly are lost, then I would have to equate these people with Judas Iscariot. They know the Lord Jesus Christ, but have not accepted His personal ministry in their lives and, therefore, they do not have all that God plans for them to have as part of their salvation. If these people truly are saved, then you need to read the note for this sentence in the Book Study on 2Peter for that explanation. However, it doesn't really matter what you or I can explain because what God says is true even when it is beyond our understanding and explaining. The simple truth that we need to tell everyone that they don't want to be part of this group.

Lots of people waste lots of time arguing if these people are really saved or not and God wants us to concentrate on telling people how to get saved and then build upon that relationship so that this question becomes mute to them.

Notice that Peter uses several roles of Son of God. This means that these people have rejected each and every one of these roles and ministries of Son of God. They called on the name of Jesus, so that they could be accepted by believers, but refused to accept Son of God as Lord. In 1Corinthians 5:1-8 Paul tells us To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Many other places in the Bible tell us to do similar things. They may be lost or saved but if they claim to be saved while living like the lost we are to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. As shown elsewhere in this study, calling on Jesus does not save us. Calling upon the name of the Lord, and accepting that role of Son of God, is required for true salvation. God judges the heart and we can't know someone else's heart so we can't truly know if they are saved or not. We only know what they claim and what they live.

Look at all of the times that Peter mentions of Saviour and notice how he ties Saviour to every role of Son of God. Many places in the Bible tell us that people are not saved who reject one of these roles of the Son of God, no matter what they profess from their mouth. The truly lost people who claim salvation reject the sacrifice that Jesus made to save them and believe (in their heart of hearts), that their religion will make them acceptable to God. They reject the role of the Lord and claim a higher knowledge than the simple literal interpretation of (and obedient submission to) their Bible, as Peter tells us in this epistle. However, mostly these people reject the change in saved peoples lives due to the ministry of Christ and teach people religious ways to prove their salvation. Peter uses Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ because they have rejected and corrupted the knowledge of each and every role mentioned. God will have plenty of evidence against them at their trial.

If there really are people who are truly saved and still fit into this category, then James calls them adulterers and adulteresses (James 4:4) because they have turned traitor to the cause of God in this spiritual warfare. Ask any veteran of war what is a just punishment for someone who turns traitor in war. In 1Corinthians 6:9-11 Paul tells us that some of us used to be this way and shouldn't be any more and tells us that such shall not inherit the kingdom of God. However, part of the controversy is due to misunderstanding about the true Biblical definition of the kingdom of God. Again, Hebrews 13:4 tells us adulterers God will judge. Plain and simple, Peter tells us that these people have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Many argue that these people must be saved and many argue that they can't be saved. I say that the Bible clearly teaches that we can't know and that this argument is of the devil to split God's people over a question that they can't answer. It doesn't matter if they are saved or lost. Whatever their salvation status, Peter warns that the latter end is worse with them than the beginning and that For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. Regardless of their salvation status, our Lord is going to hurt them really bad for a really long time and they need to get truly saved and live a saved life and do everything they can to avoid being judged while in their current condition.

Hebrews 10 explains this same concept in more detail and from another perspective than used by Peter or me here. It tells us how that the Son of God left all of His glory and power in Heaven to become a man and then become the sacrifice for our sin so that he could (not just pay for our sins but) change our lives so that we stop our sinning. Then Hebrews 10:26-27 tells us: For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. There is nothing anywhere that can possible equal the sacrifice already given. It is not that we can not stop our sinning but we deliberately choose to continue to sin. As the next sentence in Hebrews says: He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

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2Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Peter ends the same way he began, tying grace and knowledge to each and every role of Son of God. He tells us to grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus. He tells us to grow in grace and knowledge of Christ. He tells us to grow in grace and knowledge of our Saviour. He tells us to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord. However, the main emphasis of Peter's letter is that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour. Many claim Him as Saviour, but Peter emphasizes that He must be Lord to be Saviour. Over and over Peter warns about judgment by the Lord of those that reject His commands where He tells us how our lives are to be different than they were before our initial profession. In his very first two sentences (1:1-7), Peter tells the believer what to get into their lives. These things can only be added through the grace, ministry and knowledge of every role of Son of God. That's why Peter opens and closes with the same commandment. Peter said quite a bit about knowledge in this epistle and closes this way to emphasize the importance of knowledge to our future in the flesh and for eternity. We will not get the grace that Peter talks about without our first seeking and gaining the knowledge. Please see the note for 1:2 for details on every place that Peter uses knowledge in this epistle.

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Son

2Peter 1:17; 2:15

2Peter only uses son twice. The first identified the true Son of God who is godly (in a quote from the gospels). The second identified a false son who claimed to be a prophet of God but was unjust. Click here for all of the Verses that use Son and here for the Summary on the name / role of Son.

2Peter 1:17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

This is a quote of what is reported in Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35. This occurs at the 'Mount of Transfiguration' and we know that this is the incident that Peter is referring to because in 1:16 Peter says For we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Peter refers to these incidents to remind us that he was a personal witness of miracles and having God the Father speak His approval of Jesus. Peter then goes on to say We have also a more sure word of prophecy and more to let us know that our written Bible is more sure than even hearing directly from God in Heaven.

Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11 and Luke 3:22 report a similar incidence at the baptizing of Jesus by John the Baptist but Jesus did not show his majesty at His baptism. (More about both of these incidents is contained in the notes related to these Gospel verses.)

We have two different incidents, each reported by three witnesses which very definitely makes this a doctrinal matter.

God the Father declared Jesus to be His beloved Son.
God the Father gave Jesus honour and glory when God the Father stated I am well Please d.
We will not receive honour and glory unless and until God states (about us) I am well Please d. This will not happen until we get to the Judgment Seat of Christ (Romans 14:10; 2Corinthians 5:10-11). Therefore, any claim of honour and glory from God (for ourselves as opposed to glorifying God by our lives) while we are still in this life is doctrinally wrong. Men of God may give us honour and glory while we are alive, but God will not.

God the Father declared Jesus to be His beloved Son because Jesus revealed God the Father to men (John 10:30; John 14:1-11). God will make us His sons (John 1:12-13; Romans 8:14) if we also reveal God the Father to men (John 17:1-26).

As we see everywhere else in the Bible, son is used to show that the son has the same character as the father. in John 14:8-9 we read Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? This section has more which shows us the same truth that when we show the character of God the Father within our own character, we give evidence that we are the sons of God. It takes time for a son to learn the character of his father. However, Jesus showed that character even when he was 12 (Luke 2:49). We have a capitalized Son in our current verse because this declares Jesus to be God. It also declares Jesus to be the perfect Son of God, who is our example because saved people are less than perfects sons of God. John 8:29 says And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. There are times when we each fail to do those things that please him (God the Father), which is why we are less than perfect sons of God.

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2Peter 2:15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

Peter says that Balaam was the son of Bosor to say that Balaam was a foolish false prophet because Bosor was supposedly one of the earliest kings of Edom and known to be foolish or crazy. As we see everywhere else in the Bible, son is used to show that the son has the same character as the father.

The sentence that this verse is part of, and the prior sentence, have been tangled together by verse structure, which is OK since they are strongly connected by context also. Please see the note for the prior sentence and the note for this sentence in the Study on 2Peter for the sentence structure and significant notes on context.

These sentences are the basis of many sermons which most preachers won't preach. I could spend many pages on the doctrine here, but will not. These sentences are a continuation of what Peter started in 2:1 and the entire chapter needs to be prayerfully studied for God to reveal the true meaning to the reader. Simply put, there are people who claim to be saved but whom live like they are lost They are called cursed children in this sentence. These people, if they are truly saved, are going to really suffer at the Judgment Seat of Christ (Romans 14:10; 2Corinthians 5:10) when they learn the true meaning of the terror of the Lord (2Corinthians 5:11). This is because they are beguiling unstable souls with the lie that 'God understands' and other lies which justify lives of sin.

Balaam the son of Bosor could not curse God's people but he taught them to join with sinners and adopt the sinful lifestyle of those people that God was destroying for their sin (Numbers 22). Please see Book Study on Jude for a listing of how Balaam is mentioned in the Bible and for Jude's similar analogies. The doctrine of 'No Tears in Heaven' is a lie from the devil used to make God's people feel OK with a little sin. Both Jude and 2Peter mention Lot who went to Heaven but had to watch the majority often generations of his descendants go to Hell because he wanted to go to Zoar (Genesis 19:19-26) so that he could hold onto 'just a little sin' after God delivered him. Even God's children will be judged, and punished, for the sinful lifestyle s that they encourage others to live.

The way of Balaam the son of Bosor is the way of a life following sin while claiming to be saved. This matches what we find in Proverbs 7:27; Proverbs 14:12 and Proverbs 16:25 (There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.) Any who live a life displaying the character of Balaam is also a son of Bosor.

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Saviour

2Peter 1:1, 11; 2:20; 3:2, 18.

Peter uses Saviour five times in this book. Click here for all of the Verses that use Saviour and here for the Summary on the name / role of Saviour.

In 1:1-4, Peter tells us that Jesus Christ is our Saviour and introduces the message of this book. Those who do not have the evidences that Peter describes have not accepted Jesus Christ in every way that he is supposed to be our Saviour.
In 1:10-11, he tells us to give diligence to make your calling and election sure and relates that calling and election to the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This tells us that a changed life is expected of us related to our being saved.
In 2:20 Peter tells us after they have escaped the pollutions of the world they are again entangled the latter end is worse. This lets us know the terrible consequence of not doing our part (allowing Christ to change us) related to being saved.
Verse 3:2 is part of a sentence that goes from 3:1 through 3:4. This sentence warns against scoffers, walking after their own lusts, who are people claiming to be saved and not doing their part of living as a saved person. That part ends with a warning of God's judgment on these scoffers (3:7). Peter then goes on to tell us more about God's judgment and how we should act because of this judgment.
The book ends with 3:18 which tells us But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is the only way to avoid being led into error by the false prophets and false teachers which Peter warns us against in this epistle.

2Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

2Peter 1:1 through 1:4 is a single sentence divided into four Equivalent Sections, which give us the same message from four different perspectives. The note for this sentence in the Study on 2Peter divides this sentence by punctuation and provides the context and general interpretation of this sentence. This note, in this Study, assumes that the reader has that understanding and provides only details on how Peter uses Saviour within that context. In addition, to this note, please also see the note for this sentence under Jesus Christ and the note for this sentence under Lord Jesus Christ as they deal with the same sentence. Further, as the general note for Saviour points out, Peter uses Saviour five times in this book and each time her tells us something very important about this role. Therefore, all of these sentences and related notes needs to be considered together. This note assumes that the reader has the understanding of those related notes and only provides only details on how Peter uses Saviour within the context of this sentence.

The Bible tells us that God the Father is our Saviour, that the Holy Ghost is our Saviour and that God the Son is our Saviour in each of His roles as Lord, as Jesus and as Christ. (Please follow the links in the general note for Saviour to get the full explanation and links to those other verses which tells us this truth.) Further, each of these five roles provide a different function just like our father and our mother provide different functions as 'parent'. Peter is using Jesus Christ as Saviour because he is correcting the doctrinal error believed by the ungodly and the unjust. (This is the opening sentence of this epistle and he deals with those false doctrines further on within this epistle.). These people deny the role of Jesus as Saviour and / or deny the role of Christ as Saviour.

Jesus died as a physical man to pay the payment of our sins and to get us out of the Lake of Fire for eternity. Christ died to pay for the sins that we do after being initially saved and so that he can change us through our ongoing personal relationship. This is explained in more detail in the Overview of the Lord Jesus Christ Study. Every verse in 2Peter that uses Saviour tells us that we have a responsibility to act a certain way because of our salvation. However, we can not meet that responsibility without the ministry of Jesus Christ as our Saviour and those who truly have this personal ministry in their life will be changed to fulfill the responsibilities. Those people who don't have a change Peter calls scoffers or ungodly or unjust. Peter warns that they will be judged.

In this sentence, Peter tells us that Jesus Christ is our Saviour and introduces the message of this book. Those who do not have the evidences that Peter describes have not accepted Jesus Christ in every way that He is supposed to be our Saviour. As Saviour, He doesn't just promise us a home in Heaven and then ignore us until we die. Such is the doctrine of the ungodly and the unjust as Peter describes them in this epistle. Those who truly know the Son of God as Saviour have a changed lifestyle as Peter describes that the godly have.

Notice that Peter opens his epistle with the message to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. He tells us that true Biblical (saving) faith is through the righteousness of God and our Saviour. The righteousness of our Saviour is the same righteousness that comes through God. The word of means 'belonging to'. Therefore, the righteousness that saves us belongs to God and our Saviour. Also, this isn't just something that we claim but it is something that we go through. That means that we personally experience it. A tunnel through a mountain lets us enter the mountain on one side and come out of the mountain on the other side. With out the tunnel, the mountain is a barrier. Try telling a mother that has been through birth that there is no personal experience involved or that she did not have to enter that experience in order to obtain her baby.

What Peter is telling us in this opening of his epistle Is that people who have obtained like precious faith did it by personally experiencing the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ by living through the experience. This means that to have Jesus Christ as our Saviour we have an ongoing personal experience with the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ which results in like precious faith with us (the apostles that died as martyrs [1:14]) and meet Peter's definition of the godly and can be seen to be different from the ungodly and the unjust which Peter describes in this epistle. Basically, unless your testimony matches what peter calls the just (in this epistle), you have some serious problem with your claim that Jesus Christ is your Saviour. Peter warns of extremely bad results to all who are not godly.

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2Peter 1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

This verse is part of a sentence that is in 1Peter 1:10-11. That sentence is divided by punctuation in the Book Study on 1Peter. The note for this sentence, in that Book Study, also explains the context and provides much more which is required to fully understand this sentence. With that understanding we can concentrate on how this sentence uses the roles of Lord and Saviour.

In this sentence, Peter tells us to give diligence to make your calling and election sure and relates (For so an entrance shall be ministered) that calling and election to the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. With the phrase of Lord and Saviour, we can see a truth which is accepted by the godly but rejected by the unjust. The Son of God must be our Lord before He adds (and) Saviour to His relationship with us. As Lord He gives us commands which produce different results from people who are living according to the wisdom of this world. The sentences prior to this one, in 2Peter, make this difference clear. Thus, we must agree to accept this changed life in order for Him to become our Lord and only after that does He become our Saviour.

Therefore, a changed life is the expected result of our being saved. With that understanding we can concentrate on Peter's use of Saviour, within this sentence. While our Saviour is Lord, the way that Peter phrases these roles we can know that he is emphasizing the roles of Jesus and of Christ in relationship to the role of Saviour and is not dealing with the relationship between the roles of Saviour and Lord. Since Peter is saying For so an entrance...into the everlasting kingdom, he must recognize the Lord Who rules that kingdom. In addition, Peter recognizes the Saviour Who paid the price for us to enter that kingdom. However, in this sentence Peter recognizes these roles but puts his emphasis on the person who fulfills these roles. His emphasis is on Jesus Christ because those are the roles of the Son of God which deal with each of us personally. Not only does the wording of our current verse show us this, but earlier in this sentence Peter said if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. The word ye is 'each and every one of you personally'. Thus we see the personal relationship of our sentence and how that personal relationship is what also gets us the relationship with our Lord and Saviour.

That is because Peter is emphasizing the personal nature of our relationship to our Saviour. There is nothing personal about the role of Lord but our relationship to Jesus and to Christ is very personal. The aspects of the roles of Jesus and of Christ in this sentence were discussed in the note for 1:11 and those aspects also apply to the role of Saviour. However, the unique thing that Peter is telling us in this verse is that we will only get into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ if Jesus Christ is our Saviour and that the kind of entrance that we have is directly dependent (For so an entrance shall be ministered) upon our personal relationship to the Son of God in His roles as Saviour and as Jesus and as Christ. Part of His role as Saviour involves purging us from our old sins. So, there is a direct relationship between our response to the Son of God as Saviour and how much He purged us from our old sins, which are personal in nature. In addition, there is a direct inverse relationship between the amount of our old sins we retain and our entrance that shall be ministered unto us into the everlasting kingdom of our Saviour.

Peter uses Saviour in this verse to emphasize the ongoing personal nature of our salvation and to emphasize that it is not just a one-time event.

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2Peter 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

In 2:20 Peter tells us that for some saved people, their latter end is worse than if they had never been saved. Some people find this incredible statement so hard to believe that they deny it and start correcting their Bible! However, no matter how hard something in the Bible is to accept, God expects us to take it at the literal meaning (that's faith) and ask Him to explain it to us and wait for His explanation. The other note for this verse discusses that consideration. This note concentrates on what Peter tells us to do to avoid this fate in our personal life.

The terrible consequence mentioned by Peter is a direct result of someone not doing their own part in the personal relationship that is called salvation. Christ does all of the work but we have to do the little things which prove that He has permission to work in our life. We also need to do these things repeatedly just like walking is taking repeated steps. That's what it means to walk by faith. When we walk by faith and allow Christ to change our life, we increase our knowledge of Him. As said several other places in this study, Biblical salvation results in a spiritual 'birth' which is God's life coming out of our life in a way that even the lost world can see. Just as giving birth changes a woman's life forever, so also does true Biblical salvation change the saved person's life forever. However, part of that salvation is spiritual knowledge. Just as our physical life give us knowledge about the physical world, so also does our spiritual birth and spiritual life give us spiritual knowledge. Peter tells us several ways to get this spiritual knowledge into our ongoing physical life.

Basically, when we get saved God gives us what we need to be righteous, but leaves us with our free will. In our verse, Peter says that these people received the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and then deliberately chose to reject the part of salvation that comes after our initial profession by neglecting the knowledge that their Saviour gave them. They chose to follow religion and the flesh instead. The proper response is to increase our knowledge and Peter uses know in one form or another 16 times in this epistle in order to help us do that. Those usages are:

the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord in 1:2
the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue in 1:3
add to virtue knowledge in 1:5
Add to knowledge temperance in 1:5
For if ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ in 1:8
ye know them (these things), and be established in the present truth in 1:12
Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle in 1:14
we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in 1:16
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation in 1:20
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations in 2:9
they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in 2:20
it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness in 2:21
than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them in 2:21\
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts in 3:3
seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked in 3:17
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in 3:18.

It would make this note too large to go through each of these verses and show how knowledge is related to the roles of the Son of God that Peter uses. It would also make this note too large to explain how that knowledge changes our life personally. However, the reader would be blessed to do that for themselves. While I won't go through each verse in detail, I will give a general outline to help the individual's personal study.

Every use of knowledge by Peter in this epistle is talking about knowledge which belongs to, and comes from, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. That should make it obvious that knowing is an important part of Peter's message. As explained in the note for 1:16, Peter tells us that this knowledge comes from the Bible. The Son of God gives us different knowledge through each of His roles. As Jesus he tells us how to live in this flesh by the power of the Holy Ghost. As Christ he tells us how to live as God filled people and how to let Him work through our lives so that we spiritually mature. As Lord he tells us how to live knowing that judgment is coming and that we will receive rewards or punishment dependent upon our deeds in the flesh. As Saviour he tells us that the quality of our personal salvation depends upon our ongoing relationship with Him in each of His other roles. Two people can be in the same accident and live with one walking away and the other end up a quadriplegic. Both are saved, but the quality of their salvation is different. So also is our personal salvation by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our Saviour gives us knowledge through each and every role of His as Lord Jesus Christ so that we can have the highest quality salvation. However, he also leaves us with our free will and lets us determine how much of this knowledge we accept and use. Our personal quality of salvation is dependent upon our own free will and how much of this knowledge we accept and use.

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2Peter 3:2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

Please see the note for this sentence in the Book Study on 2Peter which divides this sentence by punctuation and provides an explanation of the context. This sentence warns against scoffers, walking after their own lusts, who are people claiming to be saved and not doing their part of living as a saved person. All through the Bible we find that salvation is an ongoing personal relationship with our Saviour and that if we refuse to have the ongoing personal relationship, then he refuses to be our Saviour. In this chapter, Peter is going to warn us about the ungodly, who don't have an ongoing relationship with God and, therefore, do not have a Saviour. This chapter warns of God's judgment on scoffers (3:7), which include the ungodly. We need to refuse to listen to them so that they can't mess up our ongoing personal relationship with our Saviour. Please see the note under Lord for the details of this verse and Peter's use of Saviour in it.

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2Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

The book ends with 3:18 which tells us But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Peter said quite a bit about knowledge in this epistle and closes this way to emphasize the importance of knowledge to our future in the flesh and for eternity. Please see the note under Lord for the details of this verse and Peter's use of Saviour in it. Please see the note for 1:2 for details on every place that Peter uses knowledge in this epistle.

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