"How to Be a Great Thinker"

2 Peter 3:1-3

What would it take to become a truly great thinker—not by the world’s standards, but by God’s? In 2 Peter 3, the apostle writes with deep affection to stir something in you—a way of thinking that will protect you from being deceived and draw you into deeper and deeper closeness with God.

What Does 2 Peter 3:1-2 Mean?

2 Peter 3:1 This is already, beloved, the second letter I’ve written to you to stir you up by way of reminder to pure thinking 2 to recall the words foretold by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. 3 First of all, know that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

Peter shows how important this is by mentioning that it’s the purpose of both his letters. His objective is to use reminders to stir up pure thinking in the readers. Pure thinking is the kind of thinking that pleases God—thinking as it ought to be. Impure thinking is thinking driven by the desires of the flesh, as the mockers have in v.3 and the false teachers had in 2:10. Pure thinking is thinking driven by the holy prophets (the Old Testament) and the command of Christ through the Apostles (the New Testament). Peter emphasizes the imperative aspect of the gospel to counter the false teachers’ teaching about freedom from God’s law.

Jude 1:17 But, beloved, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

Introduction:
Are You a Better Thinker Than You Think?

Are you a good driver? You might have one answer to that question, but if you’re married, your spouse’s assessment might be a little different. And the people surrounding you on the highway might have a very different take in certain moments.

But if not driving, what are you good at? Are you good at cooking, writing, golfing, making conversation? How about this—how good are you at … thinking? Are you a skilled thinker or not so great at thinking?

It actually takes quite a bit of brain power just to consider that question—How good am I at thinking? You have to think hard about your own thinking—which is itself a mind-boggling concept.

If you really want to assess how well your mind works, you have to know what the standard is for how the mind ought to work. How is good thinking measured? What’s the definition of excellent thinking? If you ask a philosopher, he’d probably say it has to do with how well you can handle highly complex, abstract concepts. If you ask an athlete, he might say it’s more about how quickly you can analyze the situation and make a decision. Someone else might say it’s about IQ or knowledge or creativity or clarity or logic or intuition or your ability to read people.

But what if you ask God? He’s the only one who really knows what human thinking is supposed to be like since he created humans and he’s the ultimate thinker. So what is his standard for good thinking?

What Is Great Thinking?

Why Peter Wrote Two Letters About This

We come today to the opening verses of 2 Peter 3, where Peter answers that question for us. He’s going to reveal the definition of good thinking. But before he does that, he wants us to understand how important this is.

2 Peter 3:1 This is already^[1], beloved, the second letter[2] I’ve written to you to stir up your pure thinking

This is important enough to Peter that he wrote about it twice. Peter says, “Everything I’ve written to you was all for this one purpose.” And he interrupts his own sentence to call his readers “beloved.” That’s a very affectionate term. People would normally use it for their own children or for very close family members. He’s going to call them that four times in this closing section. You can really feel Peter’s emotions rising here. He so desperately wants us to get this.

God’s Definition

And what is it, exactly, that he wants us to get?

2 Peter 3:1 This is already, beloved, the second letter I’ve written to you to stir up your pure thinking

Peter wants you to aspire to become a great thinker. And if you follow what he teaches in this passage, you will. You’ll be better at thinking than Albert Einstein or Elon Musk or name your philosopher.

And the great news is this kind of thinking is within the reach of every Christian. No matter what your education, no matter what your IQ is—none of that matters. You can have this kind of mind if you follow Peter’s guidance in this passage.

Being a great thinker isn’t about your IQ. It’s about stirring up what Peter calls “pure thinking.” Your Bible might say wholesome thinking or sincere. The Greek word is εἰλικρινῆ (eilikrine). It means the way a thing ought to be—uncontaminated by that which would reduce its purity. That word is used one other time in the Bible. In Philippians 1:10, where Paul is praying that we “may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.” So “pure” refers to the condition Jesus wants to find us in when he returns—pure and pristine and uncontaminated by the world.

So when Peter says he’s written his books for the purpose of stirring up our pure thinking, he’s saying, “I want you to be a good thinker by God’s definition of good thinking.”

What Steers Your Thinking?

So let’s look at this. What is pure, ideal human thinking according to God?

I think most Christians see this phrase “pure thinking” and assume it has to do with what you think about. Think about pure things, not impure things. But that can’t be right because Scripture frequently talks about impure things. You can read in the Bible all about David and Bathsheba. You can read about lying, stealing, blasphemy, murder, rape—even the mocking and torture and murder of the Son of God, which is the most impure thing that mankind has ever done. You can think about anything, and as long as you think about it the way God thinks about it, that’s a pure thought.

The word Peter uses here for thinking, or mind, is dianoian, and it refers not so much to what you think but how you think—your thought process. All day long, you have a nonstop progression of thoughts running in your head. And I use the word “progression” because when you think, your mind doesn’t just run through a list of ideas like bullet points. There’s a progression. Each thought rose out of the previous thought and progressed into the next thought.

Two people might be listening right now and having the exact same thought. They’re both thinking, “Oh boy. Darrell is going off on the topic of thinking—this is going to be a long night.” Okay, so you and one other person both start there, with that exact same thought. But 30 seconds later, your thoughts and that other person’s thoughts are miles apart. Your train of thought went one way, his went another, and now you’re recalling some embarrassing moment you had in the third grade and he’s thinking about the lunar eclipse he saw a couple weeks ago.

Thinking is always a progression. And if you want to know how good your thinking is, you need to understand what drives the progression of your thoughts. How do you get from one thought to the next? Which thoughts do you stop and savor (“ooh, I like that thought. I’ll linger on that for a minute)? Which thoughts do you reject and move on from? Which ideas matter a lot to you, and which ones do you skip right past? Here’s the big question: What values are steering the progression of your thoughts?

The question of what steers your thoughts is critically important because your thoughts never stop. Your mind is like a car with no brake—you can steer it, but you can never stop it. The world thinks what matters most is the accelerator—how fast can your brain crunch the data. But what determines how your life goes and what kind of person you end up being isn’t the accelerator—it’s the steering wheel.

You can see that from a couple other places where we find this word for thinking or mind (dianoian—the thought process or way of thinking). One is Romans 12.

Romans 12:2 … be transformed by the renewing of your (dianoian—the steering wheel for your thinking).

Get a new steering wheel on your mind, and that will transform your whole being.

This way of thinking—this way of getting from one thought to the next, will change you for the better in all kinds of wonderful ways. If you can imagine some amazing super food that, if you eat it, it cures diseases, makes you super healthy and strong and you have boundless energy and you feel great. That’s what this kind of thinking does for your spirit. It transforms you because it carries you into God’s presence. The more you think this way, the closer you get to God, and the more the Holy Spirit envelops your life and empowers you.

But it works in the other direction too. Here’s another passage where we find this word.

Ephesians 4:18 They are darkened in their (dianoian) and separated from the life of God

If your dianoian—your way of thinking, becomes darkened, it steers you away from the life of God. It distances you from his favor and blessing, and drains life from you.

Flesh-Driven Thinking

So what is it, exactly? What’s the bad way of thinking that will steer you away from the life of God?

How Your Desires Mess with Your Thinking

Let’s look at one more text where this word is used.

Ephesians 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and dianoian.

The bad way of thinking is driven by the flesh. It’s when your thought process—the thing that takes you from one thought to the next, is driven and steered by what your flesh wants. And that’s exactly what Peter goes on to describe here in our passage. Look down at v.3.

2 Peter 3:3 First of all, you know that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own desires.

Instead of being steered by God’s will—what God desires, their thinking is steered by their own will—what their flesh desires. When an idea comes into their head, the way they evaluate that idea is driven by the desires of their flesh. When they consider a thought and say, “Is this true?” the answer is tainted by whether their flesh wants it to be true. “Was my wife right or wrong in that argument?” Well, if she was right, that means I’ll have to humble myself and apologize. My flesh really doesn’t want to do that. So my flesh sends an order to my brain—“Process this however you want—just make sure the answer ends up being no, she wasn’t in the right.” The fleshly desire steers the thinking.

You’re doing something that bends the rules. The question comes up, “Is this ethical?” Your flesh says to your brain, “Yeah, I’m going to need a ‘yes’ answer on that one. A no answer will cost me money or take something away I don’t want to lose, so let’s find a way to call this ethical.” So your thinking is steered by your desires.

It could be something as simple as “Should I get out of bed right now?” And your flesh says, “I’m tired. Brain, your job right now is to figure out a way to make staying in bed logical.” And the brain says, “Yes sir,” and figures out a way. Desire-driven thinking. The progression of your thoughts from one to another to another until you arrive at a conclusion—that whole progression is steered by your flesh chasing after what it wants.

This is What Wrecked the False Teachers

That’s how the false teachers ended up the way they did in ch.2. Remember, those guys started out as good men. They had escaped the defilement of the world by knowing Christ and they were on the straight path. What happened? What dragged them down from that to becoming the depraved monsters we read about all through ch.2? What happened was they gave way to this desire-driven, flesh-driven way of thinking.

2 Peter 2:10 … [they] follow the corrupt desire of the flesh

Scripture-Driven Thinking

So that’s the wrong way to think—what’s the right way? What’s the method of thinking that will renew your mind, transform your heart, and bring you close to God and invite his blessing on your life? What, exactly is this “pure thinking” that Peter so desperately wants to stir up in us? We get the answer in v.2.

2 Peter 3:1 This is already, beloved, the second letter I’ve written to you to stir you up by way of reminder to pure thinking …

What is this pure thinking?

… 2 to recall the words foretold by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

What is the steering wheel that will pull your life closer and closer to God and transform you and renew you and fill you with life and blessing from God? Thinking that is steered by the words of the Apostles and Prophets.

The Apostles and Prophets

When he says “the words foretold by the holy prophets,” that’s a reference to the Old Testament Scriptures. And when he says, “the command given by our Lord and Savior through your Apostles,” that’s referring to the New Testament.

The Structure of 2 Peter

Why doesn’t he just say “God’s Word”? He says it this way because he’s reminding us of that long section at the end of chapter 1 about the Apostles and prophets. If you recall in ch.1, starting in v.16 he talked about how the Apostles were reliable sources of revelation from Jesus because they were eyewitnesses. The Apostles were chosen by God to be the messengers to accurately convey the message about Christ, which is now codified in what we call the New Testament Scriptures. And then he went on to talk about the Old Testament prophets, and how they are also trustworthy sources of God’s Word. They didn’t make things up but were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

So that was Peter’s way of talking about God’s Word in ch.1—the Apostles and prophets. And by using that language here, he’s reminding us of ch.1.

In fact, that whole section in ch.1 began with Peter saying, “I want to stir you up by way of reminder.” And that’s the same thing he says here in ch.3 v.1—I want to stir you up by way of reminder.

So these are clearly bookends. Ch.1—I want you remind you of God’s Word (given through the Apostles and prophets), and here in ch.3 he says, “I want to remind you of God’s Word given through the Apostles and prophets.” The whole middle part of the book is all about God’s Word—even ch.2.

What is ch.2? Right after he mentions the OT prophets in ch.1, he starts ch.2 by saying, “But there were also false prophets” (the opposite of the prophets) and there are false teachers now (the opposite of the Apostles). So ch.2, one of the ugliest chapters in the Bible, is that ugly and unpleasant because it’s showing us the opposite of God’s Word. So the whole middle part of 2 Peter is about God’s Word.

Ch.1—it’s absolutely reliable, Old and New Testaments.

Ch.2—the opposite of the Apostles and Prophets is a nightmare.

Ch.3—my whole purpose in writing is to stir up a way of thinking in you that is driven and steered by the truth of God’s Word, the Apostles and prophets, rather than being driven and steered by the desires of the flesh.

The Mind of God

So, there’s our answer to the question of what is God’s standard for great human thinking. So the thing that will make you a better thinker than Albert Einstein or Elon Musk or Aristotle or name your secular genius, is thinking that is steered not by the desires of your flesh, but thinking that is steered by the truth of God’s Word.

And that makes sense, right? Because the Word of God comes from the mind of God—who is the ultimate thinker. The way to out-think the world is to use God’s thoughts. You may never be as intelligent as those people, but by God’s definition of good thinking, which is the only one that matters, you can be a better thinker than them. And Peter’s life passion that he devoted his final years on this earth to accomplishing was to get as many of us as possible fired up about making the Word of God the steering wheel for our thinking rather than the desires of the flesh being the steering wheel.

And it’s the perfect transition into the rest of ch.3 about the end of the world because the people who crash and burn heading into the Second Coming (the mockers) are the people who have desire-driven thinking. But Scripture-driven thinking will protect your faith from being damaged by the scoffers, it will equip you to answer the scoffers, you will grow in grace and in your knowledge of Christ, and instead of being destroyed with the unrighteous in the final cataclysm, you’ll be ushered into the new heaven and new earth, the home of righteousness.

The Prophecies

So let’s take a close look at verse 2.

2 Peter 3:2 [I want you] to recall the words foretold by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

The parallel passage in Jude says:

Jude 1:17 But, beloved, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.[3]

So Jude wants us to recall what the Apostles foretold—Peter says to recall what the prophets foretold. So between the two of them, we need to recall what the whole Bible says foretells about the end times. That’s a little much to tackle in one message, so let’s just look at the specific points Peter goes on to discuss in this chapter.

The rest of the chapter is about the end of the world. Eschatology—how it’s all going to end. Now, if you had to summarize everything the Bible says about the end times in 12 verses, what would you say?

People who are really into theology would probably make it all about the order of events—the rapture, the antichrist, the great tribulation, the millennium—all the things people like to argue about. Peter doesn’t mention any of that. Here’s Peter’s summary of what the Old and New Testaments say about the end times:

There will be a really long delay—so long that it will be unsettling to God’s people.

Jesus devoted a third of the Olivet Discourse (his sermon on the end times), to warning us to be ready for a long delay. That’s the whole point of the parable of the ten virgins. Half of them were shut out because they were prepared for a long delay. So that’s point 1—long delay.

Scoffers will capitalize on that and say there is no Second Coming or Judgment Day.
But Noah’s flood proved that God does bring universal judgment, and the next time, it will come by fire instead of flood and destroy the ungodly.
When it happens, it will come like a thief—you can’t see it coming.
It will be cataclysmic.
And that should motivate us to live godly lives.
Godly people look forward to that day because for us, it will bring a new heaven and new earth, the home of righteousness.

As for the long delay—the purpose of that is God’s patience, so more people can be saved.

That’s Peter’s summary of the most important points about the end times. And as a side note, isn’t it interesting that all Christians agree on those points? All the people who want to fight over details of the end times—pre-trib vs. post-trib, pre-mill vs. a-mill, the rapture, the Antichrist—all sides of all those debates have full agreement on all those points in Peter’s summary. There is far more unity in doctrine among all denominations of Christians than most people realize.

But back to the point Peter’s making—the longer this delay goes on, the more important it is that we have Scripture-driven thoughts instead of flesh-driven thoughts. If our thoughts are Scripture-driven, the delay will be no threat to our faith at all. It’s exactly what we will expect because Jesus foretold it. And the ridicule of the mockers won’t damage our faith, because they’re going to say exactly what the Bible foretold they would say.

And if our thoughts are driven by Scripture instead of the flesh, Judgment Day will be just as real to us as the air we breathe. The Second Coming will be just as certain as tomorrow’s sunrise. And that will be a tractor beam that will pull us into a godly life.

But if we have flesh-driven thinking, the arguments of the mockers will sound persuasive. We’ll think, “Man, it really has been a long time. Maybe this really is a fairy tale.” And judgment day will play less and less of a role in our thinking. And we’ll focus more and more on what we want here and now and eternity won’t be a factor in how we live.

So Peter says, “I won’t stop giving you reminders to stir up your Scripture-driven thinking so you recall what God’s Word foretold.”

Christ’s Command

That’s the first part of what Peter says. What about the other part of v.2—the command of Christ?

2 Peter 3:2 recall the words foretold by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your[4] apostles.

That’s the second time Peter has characterized Jesus’ message as a command. In ch.2, it was “the sacred command.”

2 Peter 2:21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

Sometimes preachers will make the point that the word “Gospel” literally means “good news,” and so they say, “That’s all it is—just news. It’s simply information about what Christ has done—not about anything you need to do. It’s not a command, not a law, it doesn’t require anything of you. It’s simply a declaration of good news about Jesus.” But Peter calls it a command twice in 2 Peter. And you really don’t have to read much of Jesus’ teaching to see that his message was something to be obeyed.

John 14:15 If you love me, you will obey what I command.

John 8:51 … if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.

What’s the Great Commission? To make disciples of all nations teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:19-20). People always want to leave that last part off, but the Apostles didn’t. And Peter’s not the only one who sees the gospel as a command.

2 Thessalonians 1:8 He will punish those who … do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

1 Peter 4:17 … if [judgment] begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

The gospel is good news, but that good news comes with an imperative.

Acts 17:30 … God commands all people everywhere to repent.

Of course, the gospel is also good news. It’s a lot of things. There are a lot of aspects of the gospel—why is the imperative, command aspect so important in this context?

It’s because the freedom the false teachers were offering was freedom from God’s law. Freedom from restrictions on the flesh. They were preaching a “gospel” that said you don’t have to obey the Lord. And so when Peter shows us the gospel, he shows us the imperative side of it.

Job Description vs. Doctor’s Prescription

Some people will hear that and say, “Isn’t that legalism?” If it sounds like legalism to you to say we must obey the Lord’s commands, you might be missing the point of his commands. It may be that you’re thinking of his commands in terms of a job description. You do the tasks on the job description to earn money. Once you finish it, someone owes you a paycheck.

God’s commands aren’t like that. They’re more like a doctor’s prescription. When a doctor writes out a prescription, he’s also telling you things you need to do. Take one of these every 6 hours for this many days, don’t take it on an empty stomach, do this and this and this…” And you obey all those rules, but not to earn anything. When you follow those instructions, you’re not earning your healing. You’re not even causing your healing—the medicine is doing that. All you’re doing is trusting the doctor enough to take his cure.

When you do everything he says, you don’t expect the doctor to pay you. In fact, you pay him. You won’t do the tasks on a job description unless someone pays you. But you’ll pay through the nose to have a doctor write his list of laws on that little piece of paper. Why? Because what you’re seeking from the doctor is life. You want health and strength.

That’s what God’s laws are like. They show you the way to the fountain of life. They’re the way to a clear conscience and spiritual strength and health and life.

They’re priceless. But you don’t even have to pay for them. That’s why the psalmists are amazed. They’re always saying, “Your laws are like honey.” “How precious to me are your precepts, O God!” “The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.” This doctor’s prescription is amazing—I can’t believe I’m getting it for free!

The cure is free, but Doctor Jesus does require some things of you to receive his healing touch. That’s what his commands are about.

And it’s not just the way to life and health. It’s a little bit like a doctor’s prescription, but it’s also much more than that. It’s the way to God’s heart. God’s law shows us what pleases God and reveals the path to nearness to God.

If you’re married, how would you like to have a list of things you could do that would make your spouse happy and bring you close, guaranteed, every time. That’s what the law of God is. There is no such list for your spouse because your wife or husband changes over time. What used to make them happy ten years ago doesn’t work as well anymore. What worked great today might not work at all tomorrow depending on their mood.

But God has given us a list of things that, any time you ever do any of them—any place, any time, any context, any person in any era—it’s always guaranteed to make the Lord happy and draw you near to him. That’s what the commands of Christ are. God’s law is the portal to God’s presence. It’s the key to God’s heart. The reason they give you life and health is because they draw you nearer to his heart.

Thinking that is steered by the desires of the flesh can’t see any of that because when it looks at God’s laws, all it sees is a bunch of joy-killing rules that forbid what it really wants. So flesh-driven thinking works hard at either ignoring Christ’s commands or interpreting them in ways that allow it to do what it wants to do.

Scripture-driven thinking looks ahead to Judgment Day and looks at the true purpose of God’s laws in a way that make you value the “Well done, good and faithful servant” on Judgment Day more than you value the pleasures of sin.

Recalling What You Already Know

That’s the kind of thinking Peter wrote two full letters to stir up in us, and he does it, he says, “by way of reminder.”

2 Peter 3:1 … I’ve written to you to stir up your pure thinking by way of reminder

This is the same thing he said in chapter 1.

2 Peter 1:13 I think it is right to stir you up by way of reminder as long as I live in the tent of this body.

We studied that in depth in ch.1—the importance of reviewing things you’ve learned in the past. No biblical truth ever gets old because God’s Word is living and active, and also because a passage you studied five years ago instructed you then about what was going on in your life then. Now you’ve got other things going on in your life, and that same passage has a whole new layer of instruction about those things. Always keep in mind—the most important thing you need to learn right now might be something you’ve forgotten. Something you used to know like the back of your hand, but it’s faded from your memory or it just never occurred to you to apply it to this other situation because you never had this other situation before.

I’m not saying that the meaning of the passage changes over time. The meaning of a passage in Scripture never changes. Whatever it meant when it was written is the only thing it will ever mean. There’s only one meaning, but there are endless applications of that truth.

So in that sense, each truth of Scripture can function like a live feed from heaven. You looked at it last month, but God has a whole new thing he wants to say to you through that passage today that you couldn’t see last month because you had a different situation back then.

Stirring Truth

So Peter was all about reminders—but not boring reminders. He wasn’t one of those preachers who always keeps repeating the same ideas in the same words so you can finish half his sentences for him. Both in ch.1 and here in ch.3 Peter says his objective is to use reminders to stir us up. He wants to use reminders of old truths to awaken new excitement and get us fired up emotionally. And in this case, he wants to get us fired up about thinking well.

Conclusion: We Need More Peters

The obvious application of this passage is to understand desire-driven thinking so you can detect pockets of it in your thinking and resist it. We all have areas in our thinking that tend to be flesh-driven. And hopefully this study will help you detect that wherever it happens in your thought life and replace it with Scripture-driven thinking.

But that’s quite the task, isn’t it, given the fact that your thoughts never stop. All day every day your mind goes on a never-ending train from one thought to the next. How is it possible to have that be always driven by Scripture? You can’t walk around with a Bible open in front of your face all day.

Well, if it’s going to happen, you know what you’re going to need? Reminders. You and I are going to need a Peter to come along, right in those times when we’re starting to slip from Scripture-driven thinking to flesh-driven thinking and just give us a quick reminder of a Biblical truth that we know like the back of our hand, but it’s just not top of mind. Somehow it’s just shuffled back just outside the range of our current perspective so it doesn’t come to mind. I don’t know how many times that’s happened to me. My thinking was off track, I didn’t have the right attitude about my situation, my thoughts were coming from my flesh, and I just hear a praise song or some brother makes a simple comment about a simple biblical truth, and that’s all it takes to shift everything and get the whole train back on the right track.

This is especially important in times of discouragement. When you’re discouraged or depressed or afraid—generally speaking, the more emotional you are, the harder it is to recall the truths you need in that moment. Your mind just goes blank when it comes to remembering what you need to remember.

So that tells me two things. First, I need to fill up my life with as many reminders as possible. Morning devotions, listening to sermons, podcasts, reading a good book, Christian music, and being around godly people as much as possible. Surround yourself with lots of Peters. Set your life up to make it as likely as possible that the reminder you need will come in the moment you need it.

The other thing it tells me is that I need to be a Peter. Why not devote yourself to doing what Peter did—stirring people up with reminders of God’s Word?

I wonder if sometimes we miss opportunities for that because we don’t want to tell someone something they already know. “He knows all about Jesus dying on the cross for his sins—I don’t want to insult his intelligence by reminding him of that.”

When we think that way, we’re forgetting that God’s Word is more than just information. It’s food and drink. You wouldn’t hesitate to offer a hamburger to someone just because he’s had a burger before.

Scripture is the portal to God’s presence. You wouldn’t hesitate to open the door to God’s presence to someone just because he’s been through that door before.

It’s the key to God’s heart. It’s living and active, which means you could remind that brilliant theologian that Jesus died on the cross for his sins, and that theologian’s experience of that truth this time might be far greater than his last experience with that truth. It’s never an insult to anyone’s intelligence to give them the words of the living God—any words from the living God.

Bible Study Discussion Questions

To begin ch.3, Peter again returns to the concept of reminders for stirring people up. If you can think of an example of when a reminder from another Christian of something you had learned in the past but had momentarily lost sight of helped stir godly affections, right thinking, or some other godly response in you, share it with the group.
What parallels do you see between the end of ch.1 and the beginning of ch.3?

Chapter 1

2 Peter 1:12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to stir you up by way of reminder as long as I live in the tent of this body 16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. … 19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 3

2 Peter 3:1 This is already, beloved, the second letter I’ve written to you to stir you up by way of reminder to pure thinking 2 to recall the words spoken in advance by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. 3 First of all, know that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

When you consider the topic of the end of ch.1 and the topic of the beginning of ch.3, how does ch.2 fit in? Consider especially the transition between ch.1 and ch.2 (the opening words of ch.2).
What relationship do you see between verse 1 and verse 2 in ch.3?
Peter says his objective is to stir up pure thinking. How would you define pure, godly thinking? How do you think the world would define ideal human thinking? And how do the world’s ideas on that affect your perspective?
According to v.3, what led the mockers to arrive at their anti-Christian conclusions? And what is the significance of that for our own thinking?
Peter wants us to recall the words foretold by the holy prophets. In the parallel passage, Jude called for recalling the words foretold by the Apostles. What are some examples of what the Apostles or Old Testament prophets foretold about the topics Peter goes on to address in ch.3?

Verse 3 – in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

Verse 4 – They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”

Verse 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

Verse 10 – the day of the Lord will come like a thief.

Verse 10 – The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

Verse 11 – Since everything will be destroyed in this way … You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.

Verse 13 – in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

Verse 15 – Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you

Peter wants us to recall Christ’s command that came through the Apostles. Why do you think Peter sums up Jesus’ body of teaching as a command? And how is this significant in light of the errors of the false teachers in ch.2?

[1] This word can mean “now” or “already.” I think “already” fits better here. I’m not sure what the point of saying “now” would be.

[2] Commentators debate about what the first letter was. Was it 1 Peter? Some say 1 Peter seems to be addressed to a broader audience than 2 Peter, so it could be that Peter had written a previous letter to this specific group that we do not have. No one can say for sure, but it doesn’t matter because the point isn’t which letter he has in mind. The emphasis is on the number—“my second letter.” Gene Green points out how the phrase “This is now/already” heads numbered lists in which the number highlights the importance of what’s being repeated. See p.310.

[3] We normally think of the book of Jude matching up with 2 Peter 2, but parallel actually continues all the way through 2 Peter 3:3.

2 Peter 3:1 … beloved … 2 recall the words foretold by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. 3 First of all, know that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

Jude 1:17 But, beloved, recall what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”

This is further support of my theory that 2 Peter 1:15-3:3 is one unified section.

[4] Most commentators take “your” to mean the Apostles who founded their churches. It seems more likely to me that it means the Apostles are ours (the Church’s), having given us their message directly, as opposed to the OT prophets, who gave their message to ethnic Israel and to the Church in a secondary way.

2 Peter

[1] The reason Israel turned away from God was because of a memory problem. God warned them over and over—Don’t forget what it was like to be slaves, and don’t forget what I did to deliver you.” And what happened?Psalm 78:11 They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them. They forgot everything God told them to remember. But they did remember one thing. Numbers 11:5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost– also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. They forgot the misery of their bondage. But they remembered the food.

[2] From ch.7.