2 Peter 3:11 - Meaning and Application

The apostle has already taught them about Christ’s second coming, and now he uses that truth to urge them toward purity and godliness in every part of life. All the truths revealed in Scripture should be used to help us grow in practical godliness, because that is the result knowledge should produce. If we know these things, we are truly happy only if we do them.

Since all these things must be dissolved, how holy should we be, knowing this in advance. We should turn away from sin and die to it, because sin has so corrupted and defiled the visible creation that its destruction is absolutely necessary. Everything made for human use has been made subject to decay through human sin. If human sin has brought even the visible heavens, the elements, and the earth under a curse, and they cannot be freed except by being dissolved, then sin is a hateful evil and should be hated by us.

This coming dissolution is not the end of the story, because it is for the purpose of restoring creation to its first beauty and excellence. That means we should be pure and holy so we will be fit for the new heaven and new earth, where righteousness lives. The apostle calls for a very full and careful holiness, not content with a low level of obedience, but pressing on toward excellence beyond what is commonly reached. We are to be holy in God’s house and in our own, holy in worship and holy in our dealings with people.

All our conduct, whether with the high or low, rich or poor, good or bad, friends or enemies, must be holy. We must keep ourselves unstained by the world in every form of contact with it. We are to keep growing in holiness, in the fear of God and in the love of God as well. We must train ourselves in every kind of godliness, trusting in God, delighting in God alone, and serving him with the purpose of honoring and enjoying him forever, while the things worldly people love will all pass away.

What we now see will soon pass away and no longer be as it is. So we should set our minds on what will remain, even though it is not yet visible, because it is certain and not far off. Looking for the day of God is one of the ways the apostle directs us toward an especially holy and godly life. We are to look for that day as something we truly believe will come and earnestly long for.

Every Christian must hope for and eagerly expect the day of God, because then Christ will appear in the glory of the Father and fully show his divinity, even to those who thought he was only a mere man. God’s people waited eagerly for Christ’s first coming in the form of a servant, which was for the consolation of Israel (Luke 2:25). How much more should they wait for his second coming, which will bring their full redemption and his most glorious appearing. Then he will be admired among his saints and glorified in all who believe.

It is true that the ungodly will be terrified when they see the visible heavens on fire and the elements melting. But the believer, whose faith gives evidence of things not seen, can rejoice in hope of more glorious heavens after this fearful fire has melted and refined creation and burned away all the waste of this present world. Here we should notice what true Christians look for: new heavens and a new earth, where far more of the wisdom, power, and goodness of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ will be seen clearly than we can now discover.

In those new heavens and that new earth, which will be free from the emptiness and corruption of the old, only righteousness will live. That holy place will be the home of righteous people, those who do what is right and are free from the power and stain of sin. The wicked will be sent away to hell; only those clothed in Christ’s righteousness and made holy by the Holy Spirit will be allowed to live there.

The foundation of this hope is the promise of God. To expect anything God has not promised is presumption, but if our hopes match his promise, both in what we expect and in how and when it will happen, we will not be disappointed, because he is faithful who promised. So we should shape and measure all our expectations of future great things by God’s Word. As for the new heaven and new earth, we should look for them as God has allowed and directed in the passages before us and in (Isaiah 65:17) and (Isaiah 66:22), which the apostle may be referring to.

Just as the apostle urges holiness in light of the heavens and earth being dissolved, he also returns to that exhortation in light of their being renewed. Since we are waiting for the day of God, when our Lord Jesus Christ will appear in his glorious majesty and these heavens and earth will be melted down, purified, and rebuilt, we should prepare to meet him. It is very important that we consider what condition we will be in when the Judge of all the earth comes to sentence every person and settle their eternal state, because this court allows no appeal, and every sentence from this great Judge is final.

So we must get ready to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. We should see to it, first, that we are found by him in peace, meaning at peace and reconciled to God through Christ, in whom God is bringing the world back to himself. All who are outside Christ are at war with God, resist the Lord and his Anointed, and will therefore be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power. Those whose sins are forgiven and whose peace with God is made are the only safe and happy people, so we should pursue peace with all.

This includes peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, peace in our own consciences through the Spirit of grace witnessing with our spirits that we are God’s children, and peace with other people through a calm and peaceable spirit like our blessed Lord’s. Second, we should be found by Christ without spot and blameless. So we must pursue holiness as well as peace, and press on toward spotless purity and perfect holiness. We should not be content only to avoid stains that would keep us from being seen as blameless by people. We should keep moving toward complete purity and absolute perfection.

Christians must keep growing in holiness. They should aim to be blameless before people and also in God’s sight. This calls for great diligence, and careless work will never succeed. Never expect to stand in peace on the day of God if you are lazy in this present day, when you must finish the work given to you. Only the diligent Christian will be a happy Christian on the day of the Lord. Our Lord may come suddenly, or he may soon call us to himself. Would you want him to find you idle?

Remember the warning against anyone who does the Lord’s work carelessly (Jeremiah 48:10). Heaven will be a full reward for all our faithful effort. So let us work hard in the Lord’s service, because he will surely reward those who are diligent in the work he has given them. To help you be diligent, think of the Lord’s patience as salvation. If your Lord delays his coming, do not treat that as extra time to feed your sinful desires. It is time given to repent and to work out your salvation. His delay does not come from lack of concern for his suffering servants, and it is not meant to encourage the godless world. It is meant to give people time to prepare for eternity. So use the Lord’s patience well. Follow after peace and holiness, or his coming will be terrible for you.

Because it is hard to keep people from misusing God’s patience, and to lead them to use it rightly, the apostle quotes Paul as teaching the same good lesson. In this way, the truth is confirmed by the mouth, or writing, of two apostles. Notice too how warmly and respectfully Peter speaks of Paul, the very man who had once publicly opposed and corrected him. If a righteous person strikes one who is truly godly, it is received as kindness, and a wise rebuke is like excellent oil, softening and sweetening the one corrected when he has done wrong.

What an honorable mention this apostle of the circumcision makes of the very man who had openly corrected him for not walking straightly according to the truth of the gospel! He calls him brother. That means more than just a fellow Christian, or even a fellow preacher. He means a fellow apostle, one who had received the same special commission directly from Christ to preach the gospel everywhere and make disciples of all nations. Even though many false teachers denied Paul’s apostleship, Peter plainly owns him as an apostle.

He also calls him beloved. Since both men had the same commission and served the same Lord, it would have been very wrong if they had not loved one another. They should strengthen each other’s hands, and gladly rejoice in one another’s success. Peter also says that Paul had been given unusual wisdom. He was a man of great knowledge in the mysteries of the gospel, and in that or any other gift he was not behind any of the other apostles. It is a worthy example for those who preach the same gospel to treat one another as Peter does here. They should try by proper means to remove prejudices that harm ministers’ usefulness, and to build respect for ministers in people’s minds so their work may succeed.

We should also notice that the excellent wisdom in Paul is said to have been given to him. The understanding and knowledge that fit men to preach the gospel are gifts from God. We must seek knowledge and work for understanding, trusting that it will be given from above as we use the right means. Paul also gave people what he had first received from God. He led others as far as he himself had been led into the knowledge of the gospel’s mysteries. He was not pretending to know things he had never seen or fully believed, and yet he did not fail to declare the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).

The letters written by the apostle to the Gentiles, meaning Paul, and sent to Gentile believers in Christ, were also meant to instruct and build up those Jews who came to believe in Christ. Many think Peter is especially referring to Romans 2:4, though all of Paul’s letters contain some things related to the subjects in this chapter and the one before it. That should not seem strange, since both apostles were aiming at the same general purpose and so naturally pressed the same truths.

Peter then says that in Paul’s letters there are some things hard to understand. In Scripture, some things are difficult because they are obscure, such as prophecies. Others are hard because they are so high and wonderful, such as deep doctrinal truths. Still others are difficult because of human weakness, like the things of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:14). Here the unlearned and unstable do terrible harm, because they twist the Scriptures and force them to say what the Holy Spirit never meant. People who are not well taught and well established in the truth are in great danger of mishandling God’s word.

Those who have heard and learned from the Father are safest from misunderstanding and misusing any part of God’s word. And where God’s power both teaches and strengthens people in divine truth, they are kept from falling into error. We learn how great that blessing is by seeing the dreadful result of the errors into which ignorant and unstable people fall, namely their own destruction. Errors about God’s holiness and justice have brought utter ruin to multitudes. So let us pray earnestly for the Spirit of God to teach us the truth, so that we may know it as it is in Jesus, and have our hearts made firm by grace. Then we will stand steady and unshaken, even in stormy times, when others are tossed around by every wind of doctrine.

The apostle also gives a warning in verses 17 and 18. Since we know these things, we should be very careful and watchful, because there is a twofold danger. We are in great danger of being led astray and turned away from the truth.

Unlearned and unstable people, and they are very many, often twist Scripture. Many who have the Scriptures and read them do not understand what they read. Even too many who do understand the true meaning of the word are not firmly settled in the truth, and all of them are open to error. Very few reach a clear knowledge and honest acceptance of Christian doctrine, and fewer still find the narrow path of practical godliness, the only path that leads to life.

There must be a great deal of self-denial, and we must be careful not to trust ourselves too much. We must also submit to the authority of Christ Jesus, our great Prophet, before we can truly receive all the truths of the gospel. Because of that, we are in great danger of rejecting the truth.

We are also in great danger of being led astray. The farther men are turned from the truth, the farther they are turned from the path to true blessedness and into the road that leads to destruction. If people distort the word of God, it tends toward their own complete ruin.

When men twist the word of God, they fall into the error of the wicked, lawless people who live without restraint and set no limits on themselves. They are a kind of free-thinkers, the sort the psalmist hates. “I hate vain thoughts, but your law do I love” (Psalm 119:113). Any opinions and thoughts that do not agree with God’s law, and are not supported by it, the godly person rejects and hates. They are the ideas and plans of ungodly people who have turned away from God’s law, and if we take in their ideas, we will soon copy their behavior.

Those who are led away by error lose their own firm standing. They become completely unsettled and unbalanced. They do not know where to rest, but are full of uncertainty, like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. So we must be on guard, since the danger is so great.

To help us avoid being led astray, the apostle tells us what to do (2 Peter 3:18). We must grow in grace, that is, in God’s help and holy strength. He had already told us at the start of the letter to add one grace to another, and here he tells us to grow in every grace, in faith, virtue, and knowledge. The stronger grace is in us, the more firmly we will stand in the truth.

We must also grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Keep on learning the Lord. Work to know him more clearly and fully, to know more of Christ, and to know him in a better way, so that we become more like him and love him more.” This is the kind of knowledge Paul sought and wanted to reach (Philippians 3:10). Such knowledge of Christ shapes us more like him and makes him dearer to us. It is a great help in keeping us from falling away in times when many turn from the faith. Those who experience this grace from the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will give him thanks and praise, and join the apostle in saying, “To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.”