2 Peter 3:14-16 discusses how God will one day judge the earth, and destroy creation, and create a new earth—therefore, believers should work hard so that when Christ comes we may be found living holy lives that honor Him. We should understand that Jesus has not returned yet so that more people might believe in Him. We should study the writings of Paul to understand and apply them to our lives. Other people misrepresent Paul’s writings, which results in their own loss and punishment.
In 1 Peter 3:14-16, Peter urges the believers to heed his exhortation and live for Christ’s return by living in a manner that is blameless. He begins Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless (v. 14).
By beginning verse 14 with Therefore Peter alerts his readers that he is about to make an application to his previous assertion that the judgment of the Lord and destruction of the current earth is certain. He calls his readers beloved, to remind his readers that he deeply cares about them. All this exhortation is seeking their best interest.
Peter presumes their obedience, saying since you look for these things. The phrase these things refers to the judgment of Christ, the destruction of the current earth and the creation of a new earth in which righteousness dwells that he set forth in 2 Peter 3:10-13. We can see this from Peter’s two—fold instruction about what the readers are to be looking for. First, they are to be “looking for… the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:12). Second, they are to be looking for a new heaven and a new earth (2 Peter 3:13).
Having laid the foundation of his application on the anticipation of the fulfillment of prophetic truth about the destruction of the present universe and the creation of a new universe, Peter puts forth how he wants his readers to respond. He wants them to be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless. To be diligent means to be eager and make every effort. The diligence is to be applied to being prepared to meet Jesus in the judgement, to be found by Him upon His return to be living in obedience in a manner that pleases Him.
Peter will soon refer to the teachings of Paul in verse 16 and call his writings “scripture.” Paul spoke frequently of the judgment seat of Christ, urging believers to live “this day” for “that day.” Some examples of Paul’s writing on this topic include:
Romans 14:12, which says all believers will give an account to God.
1 Corinthians 3:11-15, which says the deeds of believers will be judged in the fire of Christ’s judgement to determine rewards.
1 Corinthians 9:24-25, which says Paul orients all his actions so that he might win the crown of life for being faithful.
2 Corinthians 5:9-11, which says the actions of believers should be motivated by the judgement of Christ, calling His looming judgment “the terror of the Lord.”
Peter mentions three objectives believers should have for how they should live their lives. They should be found at the judgment to be: in peace, spotless and blameless. The terms spotless and blameless create a direct contrast to the false teachers among them who were called “stains” and “blemishes” (2 Peter 2:13).
Every believer in Jesus has a spotless and unblemished positional standing in their relationship with God through Christ. All believers are fully justified in God’s sight through Christ because they, by their faith in Christ, have been cleansed “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:19). Every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, endowed with spiritual gifts and granted an inheritance.
However, it is left to the choice of each believer whether to walk in the Spirit or the flesh (Galatians 5:16-17). To walk in the Spirit is to follow Him up the “stairsteps” of Christian maturity, and will include confessing and repenting of sin (2 Peter 1:5-7,1 John 1:9). God leaves it up to each believer whether to possess the reward of their inheritance by the choice of how they live; those who do all they do as unto the Lord will receive the reward of their inheritance (Colossians 3:23-24). Those who walk in the Spirit will live in peace.
The Greek word translated peace is often used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to translate the Hebrew word “salom” or “shalom.” Both carry the idea of being constructively engaged (Luke 2:14), being in a state of wholeness or wellness (Luke 7:50, 8:48) and/or existing in a state of relational harmony (Luke 12:51). When believers walk in the Spirit and live in a manner that pleases God, they:
live in the wholeness of their design as being new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)
live in spiritual wellness, walking in fellowship with God (1 John 1:7-9)
seek to be at peace with all men, so far as it is in their power (Romans 12:18).
Even though believers are made holy in God’s sight through faith in Christ, they are still with sin as a part of their human condition (1 John 1:8). Believers who walk in the light walk in the cleansing of righteousness (1 John 1:7). Even when believers sin, we can confess our sins and be cleansed.
Thus, by walking in faithful obedience, with the knowledge of the reality of our fallenness, but confessing our sins when we fail, we can stand before Christ at the judgment not only holy and blameless in God’s sight because of Jesus’s death on the cross, but also spotless and blameless in our walk on earth. If we live in obedience, overcoming sin and temptation, Jesus promises that He will give us immense rewards (Revelation 3:21).
Peter adds on a clause to those diligent to live in peace, spotless, and blameless, that they would also regard the patience of our Lord as salvation (v. 15a). The word patience here in verse 15 is the same as in 2 Peter 3:9, which speaks of God’s patience in delaying judgement to give people the opportunity to come to repentance. The Greek word translated salvation is “soteria.” It means “something is delivered from something” with context determining what is being delivered from what. An example is its use in Acts 7:25 which speaks of Israel not understanding that God was “granting them deliverance” (“soteria”) through Moses.
In the case of Israel’s initial rejection of Moses, Israel was being offered deliverance through the agency of Moses as the one appointed by God to lead them out. The question in verse 15’s use of “soteria” (salvation) then would be to determine what is being delivered from what. Since the verse speaks of the patience of our Lord, which is also spoken of in verse 9 as God’s patience in desiring all people to come to repentance, what is likely meant is that believers should likewise consider God’s tarrying to return and judge the earth as salvation. This would be because through God’s delay in bringing judgment, many are being given the opportunity to come to repentance who would not otherwise be able to do so.
Peter now adds just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction (v. 15b, 16).
Peter adds that the Apostle Paul also admonishes believers to be diligent to be found by Jesus in peace, and to be spotless and blameless at His appearing, just as Peter exhorted in the previous verse. In Romans 8:6, Paul uses the same word translated peace in 2 Peter 3:14, where he says “the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” Thus, Paul also teaches that diligence in following the Spirit leads to living in peace. Paul also cites peace as a fruit or outcome of walking in the Spirit in Galatians 5:22.
Peter says that Paul’s letters speak of these things that include some things that are hard to understand. Paul’s letters are filled with spiritual arguments against his opponents. In 2 Corinthians 11:13, he calls his opponents “false apostles.” In Romans 2:24, Paul says of his opponents that the word of God is blasphemed because of their corrupt behavior. These opponents are those who distort Paul’s teachings.
One of Paul’s recurring themes that is difficult to understand is that God will turn evil to good. He asserts this directly in Romans 8:28. Paul later notes that God will use Israel’s rejection for good, to bring salvation to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11). Notwithstanding, all Israel will still be saved, having been blessed by the Gentiles (Romans 11:25-26). Paul admits this is beyond our comprehension, but ought to lead us to worship God (Romans 11:33-34).
But some did not worship God when they read Paul’s writings. Rather, they sought to distort his teachings. We see evidence of this throughout Paul’s writings. An example is Romans 3:8, where Paul says his teaching is being slandered. People are distorting his gospel of grace and claiming that Paul teaches that believers ought to sin in order to bring more glory to God. Paul’s opponents held the view that believers must add religious observance to Christ’s death on the cross in order to be saved (Romans 2:25, 27-28).
Paul teaches that justification in God’s sight comes by faith alone (Romans 8:3). Paul’s opponents distorted this teaching to claim that this meant Paul taught that, since God was so graceful, it was fine to sin. Paul wrote Romans to vigorously assert that while we can never out—sin God’s grace (Romans 5:20) we should be diligent to avoid sin because of its severe adverse consequences. In the opening chapter of Romans, Paul asserts that following our lusts leads us into God’s wrath, because if we insist on following our sinful lusts, God will give us over to the lusts of our flesh, leading to addiction and loss of mental health (Romans 1:24, 26, 28).
Paul argues a similar point in Romans 6:16 that following sin leads us to be its slave. Paul reasons that since Jesus delivered us and set us free from sin, it is self—destructive to go back into it. Therefore, Paul argues that though believers are born again by the Spirit when they believe, they are like a human baby in that they still have choices to make, and those choices have consequences. Paul argues that the consequence of sin is death (Romans 6:23, 8:6). Death is separation from God’s design for us. When we walk in sin, we lose connection with the good God intends for us, and therefore lose blessing.
Although this example of Paul’s writing comes from Romans, Peter says Paul speaks of this in all his letters, speaking in them of these things. It is observable that Paul’s letters have consistent themes. Paul is consistent in his letters that being born again and therefore accepted by God into His family is purely by God’s grace received through faith, but His rewards and approval of believers’ deeds stems from their diligence in seeking to live righteously in obedience to Him.
Peter asserts that even though some of these things are hard to understand, rather than seeking to understand and gain knowledge, those who are untaught and unstable seek to distort. In 2 Peter 2:15, Peter invoked the Old Testament prophet Balaam as an example which the false teachers resemble. Rather than seeking to follow God fully, the prophet Balaam found a means to collect a payday by advising the king of Moab to tempt Israel into sexual immorality (Revelation 2:14).
It is not just Paul’s writings the false teachers distort. They do the same also to the rest of the Scriptures. Following the messages in the writings of Paul, Peter asserts that they distort the scriptures to their own destruction. The consequence of sin is death and destruction: self—destruction. Peter is presenting the same basic proposition as Paul. Believers can either walk in the Spirit, which leads to the life—giving consequences that flow from the fruit of the Spirit, or believers can follow the desires of the flesh that lead to the destructive consequences of sin (Romans 8:6,Galatians 6:8).
That Peter speaks of Paul as our beloved brother Paul, and speaks of the wisdom given him, speaks incredibly well of Peter. We know that Paul openly rebuked Peter for hypocrisy in the matter of interacting with Gentiles (Galatians 2:11). We know Peter repented when corrected by Jesus (John 21:17). This infers that Peter also received Paul’s corrective words. It also infers that Peter read, studied, and benefitted from Paul’s letters. This shows tremendous humility on Peter’s part, which is amazing given his nature, as revealed in the gospel accounts.
Peter recognizes three things about the Apostle Paul. First, he calls him brother. Peter did not need to refer to Paul’s apostolic position because both Peter and his readers were very familiar with him and already recognized him as an apostle.
Second, Peter calls Paul beloved. This infers that he and his readers had a close relationship with Paul. Peter met Paul after his conversion, then again at the Jerusalem council to settle the issue about the role of the Jewish law in bringing a person into an eternal relationship with Christ (Acts 15:11, 14, 22). He met him again when Peter visited the churches in Galatia while Paul was there (Galatians 2:11-14).
Third, Peter acknowledges that the contents of what Paul wrote were according to the wisdom given to him. It was God who gave Paul wisdom in writing his letters (2 Peter 1:20). This would include letters Paul wrote to you, the readers of Peter’s letters. This acknowledges that the ultimate source of wisdom that was given to Paul came from God (2 Timothy 3:16).
Paul wrote expecting his letters to be read and circulated by other churches (Colossians 4:16). Since Peter uses the phrase all his letters, it is possible that Peter’s readers had read many or all of the same letters we can read. And since this is God’s word, it is as applicable to us as it was to them.
Peter was certainly familiar with a broad collection of Paul’s writings because he writes, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things (v. 16).
The expression these things refers to the “coming of the day of God” in 2 Peter 3:14 and the salvation mentioned in verse fifteen that refers to God’s patience toward us in withholding judgment, waiting for us to repent. Paul often spoke of salvation, in all three tenses.
In the past, believers were saved from the penalty of sin when we first believed. That is a gift of God received by faith (Romans 3:21-22, 4:3, 5).
In the future, we will be saved from the presence of sin, when we are resurrected and receive a new body (Romans 13:11).
In the present, we are always being saved from the adverse consequences of the power of sin when we walk by faith in the power of the Spirit (Romans 8:3-4,Galatians 6:8).
This chapter mainly focuses on the future, where God will come and judge the earth and all that is in it. In the future, faithful believers will receive their reward inheritance of an abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom (2 Peter 1:11). Paul often spoke in his letters of our future salvation from the presence of sin (1 Corinthians 15:51-52,1 Thessalonians 4:13-15,2 Thessalonians 2:1-2,Philippians 3:14, 20-21, Colossians 3:1-4). He also spoke often of living our lives on this earth in a manner that prepares us to have a good judgment before Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11-15,2 Corinthians 5:10,Romans 14:12,2 Timothy 2:11-13).
Concerning Paul’s writings, including the believer’s future salvation, Peter admits in which are some things hard to understand. We can take comfort in knowing that even the Apostle Peter had difficulty understanding Paul’s writings. Notwithstanding, Peter considered Paul’s writings to be wisdom that was for Peter’s benefit. This infers that rather than despair, Peter engaged to understand and gain benefit from Paul’s wisdom.
If Peter in all his own apostolic wisdom had a hard time understanding the prophetic truth as revealed by Paul, it is not surprising that such truth the untaught and unstable distort. The untaught refers to those who were ignorant and incompetent to interpret the Scriptures. The unstable refers to those who were spiritually weak (2 Peter 2:14). Both terms untaught and unstable are accurate descriptions of the false teachers who were influencing Peter’s readers (2 Peter 2:1, 22, 3:3, 16).
The idea behind the action to distort is to twist a statement so that a false meaning would result. This was what the false teachers were doing. When Paul taught about grace, the false teachers would distort the meaning to say believers could live immoral lifestyles without negative consequences (2 Peter 2:14. 18-19). When Paul taught about the coming of Christ, the false teachers would mock this teaching and would distort the meaning to be either that Christ already came (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2) or was not coming at all (2 Peter 3:3-4).
The twisting of the meaning of Scriptures is not limited to the letters of Paul and Peter; the false teachers also distort the rest of the Scriptures. The Scriptures here most likely refers to the recognized authority of the Old Testament Scriptures. It is worth noting that in this statement Peter recognizes Paul’s letters as part of the inspired Word of God on the same level as the Old Testament Scriptures. We saw in 2 Peter 1:20 that Peter held the scriptures to be the word of God; this would of course include the Old Testament. This perspective was shared by Paul as we can see in 2 Timothy 3:16.
The twisted misinterpretation of the Scriptures by the false teachers does not go unnoticed or unpunished by the Lord. Peter says they do this to their own destruction. The idea behind the word destruction carries the thoughts of earthly ruin (1 Timothy 6:9) and eternal fiery judgment (2 Peter 2:1, 3:7, 1 Corinthians 3:11-15,2 Corinthians 5:9-11). The church elder James warns, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment (James 3:1). That puts these false teachers in a particularly bad place when it comes to standing before Jesus to receive rewards for deeds done in their lives (2 Corinthians 5:10).
2 Peter 3:14-16
14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,
15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,
16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
Set to dark mode
2 Peter 3:14-16 meaning
In 1 Peter 3:14-16, Peter urges the believers to heed his exhortation and live for Christ’s return by living in a manner that is blameless. He begins Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless (v. 14).
By beginning verse 14 with Therefore Peter alerts his readers that he is about to make an application to his previous assertion that the judgment of the Lord and destruction of the current earth is certain. He calls his readers beloved, to remind his readers that he deeply cares about them. All this exhortation is seeking their best interest.
Peter presumes their obedience, saying since you look for these things. The phrase these things refers to the judgment of Christ, the destruction of the current earth and the creation of a new earth in which righteousness dwells that he set forth in 2 Peter 3:10-13. We can see this from Peter’s two—fold instruction about what the readers are to be looking for. First, they are to be “looking for… the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:12). Second, they are to be looking for a new heaven and a new earth (2 Peter 3:13).
Having laid the foundation of his application on the anticipation of the fulfillment of prophetic truth about the destruction of the present universe and the creation of a new universe, Peter puts forth how he wants his readers to respond. He wants them to be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless. To be diligent means to be eager and make every effort. The diligence is to be applied to being prepared to meet Jesus in the judgement, to be found by Him upon His return to be living in obedience in a manner that pleases Him.
Peter will soon refer to the teachings of Paul in verse 16 and call his writings “scripture.” Paul spoke frequently of the judgment seat of Christ, urging believers to live “this day” for “that day.” Some examples of Paul’s writing on this topic include:
Peter mentions three objectives believers should have for how they should live their lives. They should be found at the judgment to be: in peace, spotless and blameless. The terms spotless and blameless create a direct contrast to the false teachers among them who were called “stains” and “blemishes” (2 Peter 2:13).
Every believer in Jesus has a spotless and unblemished positional standing in their relationship with God through Christ. All believers are fully justified in God’s sight through Christ because they, by their faith in Christ, have been cleansed “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:19). Every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, endowed with spiritual gifts and granted an inheritance.
However, it is left to the choice of each believer whether to walk in the Spirit or the flesh (Galatians 5:16-17). To walk in the Spirit is to follow Him up the “stairsteps” of Christian maturity, and will include confessing and repenting of sin (2 Peter 1:5-7, 1 John 1:9). God leaves it up to each believer whether to possess the reward of their inheritance by the choice of how they live; those who do all they do as unto the Lord will receive the reward of their inheritance (Colossians 3:23-24). Those who walk in the Spirit will live in peace.
The Greek word translated peace is often used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to translate the Hebrew word “salom” or “shalom.” Both carry the idea of being constructively engaged (Luke 2:14), being in a state of wholeness or wellness (Luke 7:50, 8:48) and/or existing in a state of relational harmony (Luke 12:51). When believers walk in the Spirit and live in a manner that pleases God, they:
Even though believers are made holy in God’s sight through faith in Christ, they are still with sin as a part of their human condition (1 John 1:8). Believers who walk in the light walk in the cleansing of righteousness (1 John 1:7). Even when believers sin, we can confess our sins and be cleansed.
Thus, by walking in faithful obedience, with the knowledge of the reality of our fallenness, but confessing our sins when we fail, we can stand before Christ at the judgment not only holy and blameless in God’s sight because of Jesus’s death on the cross, but also spotless and blameless in our walk on earth. If we live in obedience, overcoming sin and temptation, Jesus promises that He will give us immense rewards (Revelation 3:21).
Peter adds on a clause to those diligent to live in peace, spotless, and blameless, that they would also regard the patience of our Lord as salvation (v. 15a). The word patience here in verse 15 is the same as in 2 Peter 3:9, which speaks of God’s patience in delaying judgement to give people the opportunity to come to repentance. The Greek word translated salvation is “soteria.” It means “something is delivered from something” with context determining what is being delivered from what. An example is its use in Acts 7:25 which speaks of Israel not understanding that God was “granting them deliverance” (“soteria”) through Moses.
In the case of Israel’s initial rejection of Moses, Israel was being offered deliverance through the agency of Moses as the one appointed by God to lead them out. The question in verse 15’s use of “soteria” (salvation) then would be to determine what is being delivered from what. Since the verse speaks of the patience of our Lord, which is also spoken of in verse 9 as God’s patience in desiring all people to come to repentance, what is likely meant is that believers should likewise consider God’s tarrying to return and judge the earth as salvation. This would be because through God’s delay in bringing judgment, many are being given the opportunity to come to repentance who would not otherwise be able to do so.
Peter now adds just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction (v. 15b, 16).
Peter adds that the Apostle Paul also admonishes believers to be diligent to be found by Jesus in peace, and to be spotless and blameless at His appearing, just as Peter exhorted in the previous verse. In Romans 8:6, Paul uses the same word translated peace in 2 Peter 3:14, where he says “the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” Thus, Paul also teaches that diligence in following the Spirit leads to living in peace. Paul also cites peace as a fruit or outcome of walking in the Spirit in Galatians 5:22.
Peter says that Paul’s letters speak of these things that include some things that are hard to understand. Paul’s letters are filled with spiritual arguments against his opponents. In 2 Corinthians 11:13, he calls his opponents “false apostles.” In Romans 2:24, Paul says of his opponents that the word of God is blasphemed because of their corrupt behavior. These opponents are those who distort Paul’s teachings.
One of Paul’s recurring themes that is difficult to understand is that God will turn evil to good. He asserts this directly in Romans 8:28. Paul later notes that God will use Israel’s rejection for good, to bring salvation to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11). Notwithstanding, all Israel will still be saved, having been blessed by the Gentiles (Romans 11:25-26). Paul admits this is beyond our comprehension, but ought to lead us to worship God (Romans 11:33-34).
But some did not worship God when they read Paul’s writings. Rather, they sought to distort his teachings. We see evidence of this throughout Paul’s writings. An example is Romans 3:8, where Paul says his teaching is being slandered. People are distorting his gospel of grace and claiming that Paul teaches that believers ought to sin in order to bring more glory to God. Paul’s opponents held the view that believers must add religious observance to Christ’s death on the cross in order to be saved (Romans 2:25, 27-28).
Paul teaches that justification in God’s sight comes by faith alone (Romans 8:3). Paul’s opponents distorted this teaching to claim that this meant Paul taught that, since God was so graceful, it was fine to sin. Paul wrote Romans to vigorously assert that while we can never out—sin God’s grace (Romans 5:20) we should be diligent to avoid sin because of its severe adverse consequences. In the opening chapter of Romans, Paul asserts that following our lusts leads us into God’s wrath, because if we insist on following our sinful lusts, God will give us over to the lusts of our flesh, leading to addiction and loss of mental health (Romans 1:24, 26, 28).
Paul argues a similar point in Romans 6:16 that following sin leads us to be its slave. Paul reasons that since Jesus delivered us and set us free from sin, it is self—destructive to go back into it. Therefore, Paul argues that though believers are born again by the Spirit when they believe, they are like a human baby in that they still have choices to make, and those choices have consequences. Paul argues that the consequence of sin is death (Romans 6:23, 8:6). Death is separation from God’s design for us. When we walk in sin, we lose connection with the good God intends for us, and therefore lose blessing.
Although this example of Paul’s writing comes from Romans, Peter says Paul speaks of this in all his letters, speaking in them of these things. It is observable that Paul’s letters have consistent themes. Paul is consistent in his letters that being born again and therefore accepted by God into His family is purely by God’s grace received through faith, but His rewards and approval of believers’ deeds stems from their diligence in seeking to live righteously in obedience to Him.
Peter asserts that even though some of these things are hard to understand, rather than seeking to understand and gain knowledge, those who are untaught and unstable seek to distort. In 2 Peter 2:15, Peter invoked the Old Testament prophet Balaam as an example which the false teachers resemble. Rather than seeking to follow God fully, the prophet Balaam found a means to collect a payday by advising the king of Moab to tempt Israel into sexual immorality (Revelation 2:14).
It is not just Paul’s writings the false teachers distort. They do the same also to the rest of the Scriptures. Following the messages in the writings of Paul, Peter asserts that they distort the scriptures to their own destruction. The consequence of sin is death and destruction: self—destruction. Peter is presenting the same basic proposition as Paul. Believers can either walk in the Spirit, which leads to the life—giving consequences that flow from the fruit of the Spirit, or believers can follow the desires of the flesh that lead to the destructive consequences of sin (Romans 8:6, Galatians 6:8).
That Peter speaks of Paul as our beloved brother Paul, and speaks of the wisdom given him, speaks incredibly well of Peter. We know that Paul openly rebuked Peter for hypocrisy in the matter of interacting with Gentiles (Galatians 2:11). We know Peter repented when corrected by Jesus (John 21:17). This infers that Peter also received Paul’s corrective words. It also infers that Peter read, studied, and benefitted from Paul’s letters. This shows tremendous humility on Peter’s part, which is amazing given his nature, as revealed in the gospel accounts.
Peter recognizes three things about the Apostle Paul. First, he calls him brother. Peter did not need to refer to Paul’s apostolic position because both Peter and his readers were very familiar with him and already recognized him as an apostle.
Second, Peter calls Paul beloved. This infers that he and his readers had a close relationship with Paul. Peter met Paul after his conversion, then again at the Jerusalem council to settle the issue about the role of the Jewish law in bringing a person into an eternal relationship with Christ (Acts 15:11, 14, 22). He met him again when Peter visited the churches in Galatia while Paul was there (Galatians 2:11-14).
Third, Peter acknowledges that the contents of what Paul wrote were according to the wisdom given to him. It was God who gave Paul wisdom in writing his letters (2 Peter 1:20). This would include letters Paul wrote to you, the readers of Peter’s letters. This acknowledges that the ultimate source of wisdom that was given to Paul came from God (2 Timothy 3:16).
Paul wrote expecting his letters to be read and circulated by other churches (Colossians 4:16). Since Peter uses the phrase all his letters, it is possible that Peter’s readers had read many or all of the same letters we can read. And since this is God’s word, it is as applicable to us as it was to them.
Peter was certainly familiar with a broad collection of Paul’s writings because he writes, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things (v. 16).
The expression these things refers to the “coming of the day of God” in 2 Peter 3:14 and the salvation mentioned in verse fifteen that refers to God’s patience toward us in withholding judgment, waiting for us to repent. Paul often spoke of salvation, in all three tenses.
This chapter mainly focuses on the future, where God will come and judge the earth and all that is in it. In the future, faithful believers will receive their reward inheritance of an abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom (2 Peter 1:11). Paul often spoke in his letters of our future salvation from the presence of sin (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2, Philippians 3:14, 20-21, Colossians 3:1-4). He also spoke often of living our lives on this earth in a manner that prepares us to have a good judgment before Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11-15, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Romans 14:12, 2 Timothy 2:11-13).
Concerning Paul’s writings, including the believer’s future salvation, Peter admits in which are some things hard to understand. We can take comfort in knowing that even the Apostle Peter had difficulty understanding Paul’s writings. Notwithstanding, Peter considered Paul’s writings to be wisdom that was for Peter’s benefit. This infers that rather than despair, Peter engaged to understand and gain benefit from Paul’s wisdom.
If Peter in all his own apostolic wisdom had a hard time understanding the prophetic truth as revealed by Paul, it is not surprising that such truth the untaught and unstable distort. The untaught refers to those who were ignorant and incompetent to interpret the Scriptures. The unstable refers to those who were spiritually weak (2 Peter 2:14). Both terms untaught and unstable are accurate descriptions of the false teachers who were influencing Peter’s readers (2 Peter 2:1, 22, 3:3, 16).
The idea behind the action to distort is to twist a statement so that a false meaning would result. This was what the false teachers were doing. When Paul taught about grace, the false teachers would distort the meaning to say believers could live immoral lifestyles without negative consequences (2 Peter 2:14. 18-19). When Paul taught about the coming of Christ, the false teachers would mock this teaching and would distort the meaning to be either that Christ already came (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2) or was not coming at all (2 Peter 3:3-4).
The twisting of the meaning of Scriptures is not limited to the letters of Paul and Peter; the false teachers also distort the rest of the Scriptures. The Scriptures here most likely refers to the recognized authority of the Old Testament Scriptures. It is worth noting that in this statement Peter recognizes Paul’s letters as part of the inspired Word of God on the same level as the Old Testament Scriptures. We saw in 2 Peter 1:20 that Peter held the scriptures to be the word of God; this would of course include the Old Testament. This perspective was shared by Paul as we can see in 2 Timothy 3:16.
The twisted misinterpretation of the Scriptures by the false teachers does not go unnoticed or unpunished by the Lord. Peter says they do this to their own destruction. The idea behind the word destruction carries the thoughts of earthly ruin (1 Timothy 6:9) and eternal fiery judgment (2 Peter 2:1, 3:7, 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, 2 Corinthians 5:9-11). The church elder James warns, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment (James 3:1). That puts these false teachers in a particularly bad place when it comes to standing before Jesus to receive rewards for deeds done in their lives (2 Corinthians 5:10).