2 Peter: Introduction and outline

The style in the original language of 2 Peter is elliptical. This was written just before Peter died. He was under dying grace when he wrote it. And just like a person who is dying he has very strong feelings. These were his last words. He also left out a great many of the verbs and it is the most difficult possibly of all Greek in the New Testament.

First of all we have in chapter one the introduction to the human writer, an identification of himself. It could be called Christian self-consciousness — a few things about himself that are grace oriented — the servant, the apostle, always a reference to Jesus Christ, the persons to whom addressed, and the usual manner of presentation, grace and peace.

The first subject, as is always true with the apostles, is to present some doctrines that are related to the divine decrees. Peter is no exception to that and the divine decrees are presented immediately by such words as “glory” in verse 2, partakers of the divine nature in verse 4. The chorus of seven follows which refers to the virtues of the Christian life. These virtues are related to various aspects of our walk on this earth.

The whole purpose of this section of 2 Peter is to head off discouragement. Many times we see from the Word of God the consequences of our failures in life and we assume, because of a context of the Word of God, that it is impossible for us to ever recover from our failures. And Peter, at this point since he is dying, can tell us with great dogmatism that there is no such thing as a failure for which grace has not provided. And one of the great things that we face in the first chapter of 2 Peter is the fact that grace has been provided for every failure of life, and that no matter what it is and no matter what the consequences may have been in divine punishment, there is no such thing as a failure for which grace has not made provision. So there is no such thing as a believer who cannot recover. The fact that some believers do not recover is the fact that they fail to add the intake of Bible doctrine, they fail to GAP it every day. Taking in Bible doctrine daily is going to take up the slack for anything in life. There is no problem in life for which knowledge of doctrine will not bring you to the solution.

Having emphasised this the apostle Peter goes on to emphasise the principle of knowledge. For example in verse 8: “For if these things exist [not “be in you"] in you, and abound, they make you that you shall be neither barren nor unfruitful [these two words means hopeless situations. There is no hopeless situation for which e)pignwsij is not the answer] …”

Having emphasised the fact that in life you are going to be discouraged as a believer, and that there is no such thing as something for which there is not a perfect solution, he goes back immediately to the doctrine of the divine decrees. The reason that Peter does that in verse 10 is because in eternity past God knew every problem you would ever face. There never was, there never has been a problem that God did not know in eternity past. That means that God in His omniscience was cognisant of billions and billions of problems belonging to believers since the beginning of time. Just as Jesus Christ bore billions and billions of sins on the cross, so God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in their omniscience at the time of the decrees were actually aware of the billions of problems that believers have. And, as a matter of fact, you have never had a problem in your life and you will never have a problem in your life for which God did not have a perfect solution in eternity past. So it is inevitable that we should realise as believers that God knew our problems billions of years ago. And that isn’t all. He also heard the cry for help and even if we hadn’t said “Help” He would help us anyway.

That comes up in verse 10. Peter inevitably must come to the fact that we must always go back to eternity past to some phase of the doctrine of divine decrees. Therefore he says: “Be eager to make your calling and election a proven thing [a reality in your life]: for if ye do these things ye shall never make a future false step” .In other words, So you have blown it. So what makes you different from the rest of us? So what person ever went through the Christian life and never failed even once?

So having related the doctrine of divine decrees to our failures and disasters and His grace provision, he goes on to show where this grace provision began, verse 11, with Jesus Christ. Then he gets to the major subject of this chapter which is the fact that he is about to die. And even though he is about to die there is something that is more important in life than anything else — Bible doctrine. He personally wants to make this his dying declaration to born-again believers of all ages. And one of the most dramatic and one of the most important passages in the Word of God from the standpoint of experiential Christianity begins in verse 12 where the apostle Peter begins to remind of what is really important in his dying moments. He builds this on the doctrine of the second advent. The second advent was very real to Peter, not because he has been at the second advent — Peter is not alive today, will not be alive in the Tribulation — but he saw the second advent when Christ was on earth in the Mount of Transfiguration. And while he has actually seen with his eyes the second advent there is something more real than seeing it with your eyes and hearing it with your ears. On the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus Christ is transformed. As He was transformed he actually saw Jesus Christ in His glory. He heard the voice of God the Father. But the rest of this chapter is devoted to the fact that Bible doctrine regarding the second advent is more real than hearing with your ears and seeing it with your eyes.

In verse 12 he says: “I am not going to neglect you, I am going to help to stabilise you.” The he says in verse 14: “I am about to die.” In verse 15: “But before I die I am going to remind you of something of what I consider to be the most important thing.” In verse 16 he says: “Let’s take the doctrine of the second advent. I have not fabricated things; this did not come from my imagination; and these aren’t fables or traditions that we pass on from one generation to another.”

Peter says in verse 17: “I was there. I saw the second advent.” And then he says in verse 19: “We have a more reliable word of prophecy.” What is more reliable than observing it? The answer is found in the Word of God. He said: “We have a more reliable word by which you do well to take heed” — parenthesis. The parenthesis is closed just in front of the last three words in verse 19 — “in your hearts.” “We have a more reliable word of prophecy which you do well to take heed in your right lobes.”

Then in the parenthesis we have some descriptions of Jesus Christ at the second advent. And then he concludes the chapter by saying: What is the more reliable word of prophecy? Well it is doctrine in writing — doctrine in the canon of scripture. Bible doctrine is more real than seeing it with your eyes and hearing it with your ears. This is the attitude of a believer who is mature; this is the believer with an edification complex of the soul.

In chapter two he goes from the edification complex of the soul (ECS) to reversion, losing the ECS. He begins by pointing out that there is a phenomena in the world which fights the reality of Bible doctrine in your life. So 2 Peter 2 is most unusual for this reason: it is reversion in unbelievers. It is the unbeliever in apostasy; it is the unbeliever challenging the reality of Bible doctrine in your life. So he begins in chapter two with false prophets — “who shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them [Christ died for the unbelievers].” Christ even died for the sins of those who deny Him. Peter describes how many [even many believers in reversionism] shall follow the pernicious ways of these false teachers. And then he describes some of the judgements which will come to these false teachers and relates them to the great judgements of the past.

Then we move to the fact in verse 9 that God the Father knows how to deliver believers from testing. Verse 11 begins a study of the reversionistic unbeliever. It is a parenthesis as far as the whole study is concerned, and yet a parenthesis that is related. The reversionistic unbeliever is described because he is very similar to a reversionistic believer, Balaam. Lot and Balaam are both believers in focus in this chapter. Lot was a reversionistic believer who was delivered; Balaam was a reversionistic believer who was not delivered. What is the difference between the two? Lot heeded the warning of grace [his wife didn’t], Balaam rejected the warning of grace which came through doctrine.

Then we get down to the end of the chapter in which we have the steps by which an unbeliever with common sense, living under the laws of establishment, goes to reversionism.

Now in summary [chapter 3], Peter is dying and therefore he wants to bring our in summary the things that are important. He first of all states that this is his second epistle. He has to do that because of a change of style. His written style in dying is different from his written style in life. Living grace has one set of perspectives and dying grace has another. That is the great lesson of the phrase: “This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you” .In other words, he is saying, “When I am under living grace I have a scale of values to go with life. But now I am under dying grace, I have a new scale of values” .So chapter three is a summary of the scale of values of dying grace. We have the scale of values of living grace in chapter one. Chapter two is a parenthesis — the importance of staying out of reversionism. That is the panoramic view of 2 Peter.

Verse 3 — There must be a warning against those who are Satan’s special false teachers before he end of the Church Age [chapter 2]. He now goes down to the end of the Church Age. Just before the Rapture there will be a special period of apostasy. And the apostasy which he described in chapter two he picks up again now. The characteristics of the human race just before the Rapture will be maximum reversionism in the human race, and the Word of God is set aside — verses 4 and 5. And just as in the past there have been great judgements because of rejection of the Word there will be in the future. He relates the judgements that end and begin civilisations.

He points out that every civilisation in human history ends with a great judgement and he compares the flood to the end of civilisation in the future. In the great flood unbelievers are cast out and there are six people in the second generation plus two in the first generation — Noah and his family. So eight people survived to start the new civilisation. At the second advent of Christ all unbelievers are going to be cast off the earth and the Millennium will begin with believers only. This particular civilisation in which we find ourselves today began with believers only. Now we have believers and unbelievers and the same thing will be true in the Millennium. And he brings this out to show that even though civilisations have been destroyed by great catastrophes and judgements in which unbelievers are dramatically removed from the earth this does not change in any way God’s promises. There is no catastrophe in life in which God is slack concerning His promises.

The human author of this second epistle is Peter. Under the principle of the doctrine of inspiration God the Holy Spirit so directed Peter that without waiving his human intelligence, his individuality, his literary style, his personal feelings, or any other human factor, God’s complete and coherent message to man was recorded through the pen of this apostle under the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This, of course applies to the original language and it should be noted that the style of first Peter and the style of second Peter in the Greek are as different as two styles can be. There is a reason for this which has to do with the fact that 2nd Peter was written just before his death at around 68 AD. He is speaking his dying grace message. He has great emotion, a strong sense of responsibility, he can seize the problems that are about to burst upon the Church Age — pressure from without, false doctrine from the inside. He is writing to the same believers who were addressed in the first epistle — believers who live in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the Roman province of Asia. Peter has a very special burden for these people specifically and, of course, in writing the scripture for all believers in particular.

As we face a change of style we also have to face another principle. The apostle Peter changes his style because of the change in his own life. It is quite obvious that when he wrote 1st Peter he was in living grace and now he is in dying grace. The great argument of the liberals is that Peter did not write 2nd Peter because the style in so different but over a period of time people have a change of style. A change of written style does not mean a different author, it means a different set of circumstances. When God the Holy Spirit has a part in it the variations in the style are still related to the circumstances. When Peter wrote 1st Peter he was not dying, when he wrote 2nd Peter he was. So God the Holy Spirit had one message and one style as Peter wrote 1st Peter, but as he wrote 2nd Peter God the Holy Spirit used a man who is dying. And the Holy Spirit doesn’t change anything, the frame of reference is Peter’s — He’s living and he knows he is alive, he is going to live for awhile; he is dying and he knows he is going to die in just a very short time. So variations of style by one author in the scripture merely indicates that God the Holy Spirit uses the personality, uses the circumstances, uses the written style in any particular time.

The principle of criterion

1. There are some pseudo principles:

a. Experience [the worst of all]. This is what the holy rollers do (the tongues crowd), the social gospel types do, the love everybody crowd do. What does it means to have a criterion of experience for the Christian life? Anything that is a pleasant experience or stimulating or ecstatic has to be spiritual. That you are really not spiritual unless you feel a certain way. And of you feel depressed or if you feel bad it means that you are not spiritual and there must be something wrong with your Christian life. This is a false system. In other words experience is substituted for doctrine. Of course, if no one is teaching doctrine then you have to fall back on how you feel. But how you feel has nothing to do with your relationship with the Lord.

There are five dangers in trying to make experience a criterion. First of all it encourages ignorance of doctrine — only Bible doctrine can clarify the validity of an experience. Secondly, it leads to faulty deduction. Often a genuine spiritual experience is given a wrong label and misunderstood, e.g. calling the filling of the Spirit the Baptism of the Spirit. Thirdly, there is physiological variation in all of us. Depression can be caused by physiological activity in the human body — like a change of hormone balance. Such depression is often mistaken for failure in the spiritual realm and it is possible, of course, to be depressed and be filled with the Spirit.

b. Rationalism — the mind or the thought pattern becomes your norm and standard. Under this system psychological adjustment to life is misconstrued as spirituality. Here is the believer who goes to a psychologist, a counsellor or a psychiatrist. Psychiatry has a human viewpoint about your problems. Rationalism is a false criterion, a psychological approach to life.

It is sublimation in which there is some activity substituted for some other activity. Rationalisation is not the Christian life. The mind or the thought pattern becomes the norm or the standard. Under this system, of course, psychological adjustment to life is misconstrued as spirituality.

c. Traditionalism — this is ritualism, attempting to associate spirituality with some ritual, like the Lord’s table or baptism. Spirituality under tradition is associated with whatever the program of the church is: the points system, giving money, calling, attendance, friendliness — all of these things are often associated with it.

2. The true criterion is Bible doctrine

The purpose of 2 Peter chapter one, the dying words of Peter, is to establish the principle that the criterion for the Christian life is what the Word of God says, and that you have really not advanced in your Christian life until Bible is more real to you than anything else in life — what you see, what you touch, what you hear, what you taste. When Bible doctrine is more real to you than these things then you have arrived at a normal Christian life. That is the issue here.

Verse 1 — “Simon Peter.” Simon was his original name, Peter is the name given to him by Jesus Christ. Peter really isn’t a name, it is a nickname. His name is Simon son of Jonas. Peter means a little chip, and Jesus on one occasion gave him a name, He said, “Your name is Petroj and on this petra I will build my Church” — Matthew 16. Petroj is a chip of a stone, and on this petra — Christ is the petra — I will build my Church. “On this gigantic rock I will build my Church, you are just in union with me.”

“a servant” — douloj, Peter’s occupation is bondslave, “and apostle” — a)postoloj, his gift was apostleship. In other words, his life has meaning and purpose, he is the slave of Jesus Christ, as are all believers. If you are in full-time Christian service, and you are, you are a douloj. But all slaves do not have the same rank or authority, so now he has to give his rank or authority which is a)postoloj, the highest spiritual gift. A)postoloj is one who was sent in the ancient world to command the fleet and apostle really means an admiral of the fleet, the highest ranking admiral. So it happens to be one of the words for a high ranking officer. An apostle had to be elected by God in eternity past — Romans 1:1; he had to be appointed by the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation — 1 Corinthians 12:11. There were no apostles to the Church until after the ascension of Christ — Ephesians 4:11; 1 Corinthians 12:28; an apostle had to be an eyewitness to the resurrection of Christ, which eliminates certain people like Timothy and Titus who have often been considered apostles. There were only twelve really and Paul was the twelfth one; Paul saw the resurrected Christ on the Damascus road — 1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:8,9. And apostles also had other miraculous gifts — the gift of healing, and Paul had the gift of tongues, for example. These gifts were simply used to back up authority. Apostleship only existed until the canon of scripture was completed, which was also the end of all temporary spiritual gifts. Peter, in dying, recognises that he still has his rank.

“to them that have obtained” — an aorist active participle in the dative case, and the verb is lagxanw. Lagxanw means to have assigned to one something important; to receive something of highest value. It is correctly translated “obtained” but that doesn’t bring out the full meaning of the word. There has been an assignment to every believer, therefore we have obtained it, and it really means to obtain by grace, not by merit. Lagxanw could be translated to obtain in the sense of receiving it. We don’t earn it or deserve it. And this is a constative aorist; it is something we will always have. Utilisation is one thing but here is one thing we will always have.

“like precious” — one word in the Greek, i)sotimoj. Iso means equal; timoj means honour. So it isn’t “like precious” it is “equal honour.”

“faith” — the word which is used is pistij. Pistij is used in several ways. It is used for the inhale of doctrine under GAP and the exhale of doctrine under the faith-rest technique. So it is “equal honour faith.” And the point is that grace provides for all believers maximum benefit — equal honour faith.”

“to us” — not “with us,” dative of advantage; “through” should be “in the sphere of.”

This last phraseology indicates we are not talking about post-salvation faith. Pistij is used for doctrine when you have a definite article in front of it. It is sued for the inhale of doctrine under GAP. Pistij is used for the exhale of doctrine under the faith-rest technique. Pistij is used also for the principle of salvation. Other words in the context have to determine which. The thing that helps us here is the fact that we have “in the sphere of” — e)n plus the locative of “the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Two words, righteousness and Saviour put together indicate that we are dealing here with pistij at the point of salvation. And “equal honour faith” then refers back to Leviticus 2:13, the salt of the covenant. Eating of salt was the way a treaty was signed in the ancient world. This was the signing of the covenant. Party of the first part is God, party of the second part is the believer at the point of salvation. Party of the first part eats salt — doctrine of propitiation, man eats salt — doctrine of reconciliation. God is propitiated; man is reconciled. There’s your equal honour faith. God eats salt- God the Father is satisfied with the work of God the Son; man eats salt when he believes that reconciliation has been accomplished by the cross, the barrier is removed between man and God, the barrier is removed by the cross, and pistij, man steps across. God keeps His character; He eats salt but He doesn’t compromise. He is in a covenant with man but He doesn’t compromise. God eats salt but His character is intact. So the sphere of equal honour faith is the righteousness of God. “and” — should be “even,” “even Jesus Christ” — Jesus Christ is the only Saviour. His name is Jesus; Christ is His appointment. He was appointed by God the Father to be the only Saviour.

Verse 2 — In the address of this epistle, as always, there is the word “grace” to indicate the plan of the Father to remind the believers in the greeting that the reason that they are still alive and are the recipient of this epistle, as all epistles, is because of grace. We understand that grace not only is the one-word designation for the plan of God but it is God’s policy with regard to the human race and, therefore, must begin at the cross — Ephesians 2:8,9. Grace is God doing all the work. Grace is not only God working but grace is the way in which God can work on our behalf, love us, provide for us, and still retain his perfect character. So grace is God freely giving all things to us as believers; grace depends on who and what God is, and grace is the manner in which we are to operate in this life. The function of grace belongs to the believer only; morality belongs to the entire human race. Only the believer is equipped; only God had provided for the believer to operate in grace.

As a result of grace we always have in the declaration, “grace and peace.” Peace is always the result of grace. You will notice that in the Petrine epistles multiplication is a favourite word of the great apostle.

“be multiplied” — the aorist passive optative of plhqunw. Plhqunw means to multiply when it is used in maths, it means to cause to increase, it also means to accumulate. Actually the mathematical concept is involved and is a bona fide translation, although the word “accumulation” might be more in keeping with the aorist tense here. The aorist tense in constative. That means that from the time of salvation — the entrance into the plan — and during the whole course of phase two until we depart into phase three, grace and peace are to be multiplied in the life of the believer. There is also a multiplication of grace in eternity but that is usually taught by phrases such as “exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever ask or think.” So God has expressed His intention of multiplying grace and peace in our lives. Man’s days are few in number and are not characterised by peace or grace. God’s plan is superimposed by the volition of the believer and the intake of doctrine, and grace and peace are multiplied. In this constative aorist we have prosperity, suffering, prosperity and suffering, something of everything in life, and the concept of grace and peace being multiplied throughout phase two is still bona fide. The passive voice means that the subject receives the action of the verb. The subject is the believer in Jesus Christ. Grace and peace are received, they are never earned or deserved. There is no way that you can gain the approbation of God. God operates on the basis of His character, not on the basis of our character. The optative mood is very rare in the Koinh Greek of the New testament. It always expresses a wish or a desire on the part of the writer. Actually here it expresses a wish or desire of God. And, again, it is a reminder that while it is God’s wish and God’s desire for grace and peace to be multiplied there is still the matter of the individual believer’s volition — primarily his attitude toward doctrine which, in turn, gives him an attitude with regard to God’s policy and God’s plan in this life.

So in this greeting which began in verse one with Simon Peter identifying himself he actually gives the very characteristic of the epistles, both this one and the first one, “grace and peace be multiplied.” In the first epistle we have the multiplication of grace and peace in the living part of phase two, but now that Peter is dying this is grace and peace multiplied under the dying part of phase two.

Notice that grace and peace is not identified with anything that we can do, any work, any function on our part, but inevitably it is related to Bible doctrine:

“through the knowledge” — we have the preposition e)n plus the instrumental of e)pignwsij. It should be translated, “by means of knowledge” — e)pignwsij in the second stage of GAP. In the first stage of GAP Bible doctrine is gnwsij in the left lobe. This is where volition comes in. Positive volition must convert gnwsij into e)pignwsij and must do so on the basis of grace, which mean faith transferred as gnwsij to the human spirit where it becomes e)pignwsij. The e)pignwsij goes in two directions. First it goes up in the construction of the edification complex of the soul, and it also cycles into the right lobe where it becomes ammunition for the launching pad — it goes into the frame of reference, into the vocabulary, the categories, the norms and standards, and becomes the viewpoint. E)pignwsij in the right lobe is called many things: sofoj, e)pistamai, even o)ida is used in that sense. Remember that you have two frontal lobes and a human spirit. And it is only after the second stage of GAP that grace and peace can be multiplied. Notice the emphasis of the word in contrast to the emphasis of 20th century Christianity. 20th century Christianity has you running around doing something — a system of spirituality by doing something — and wherever you go now in apostate fundamentalist circles they always want to know how much witnessing you are doing, how much of this or that you are doing, how involved you are in the church program. The Word of God does not say anything about doing. Most programs of apostasy are designed to make you feel guilty or to make you feel uninvolved. If you are involved with God you are not involved in running around doing things which impress people or impress systems or impress yourself. Relationship with God is based on what God thinks, and that is grace. What God thinks is doctrine. The emphasis of the Word of God is doctrine in your soul. God gets into your soul after He saves it, through doctrine. And always you can tell apostasy wherever you see it because apostasy always has you hustling, working, doing, impressing yourself, impressing others, meeting human standards, and you are often challenged as to how involved you are and how much you are doing for this or that or the other thing. This is all totally and completely erroneous. Because God’s plan is grace. And the result is peace. And grace and peace are only multiplied by means of e)pignwsij — no other way. In other words, it is much more important for you to be taking in Bible doctrine and getting to know Jesus Christ. The Word of God emphasises knowing doctrine.

Now you face a generation where this phrase in the Word of God is going to be challenged. There will be many attacks upon you by many people under many circumstances — get involved, do this, do that, work, work, work. And yet the only function that really counts in life is the follow through of Bible doctrine in your soul — the only motivation that is worthwhile, the only thing that is really meaningful. And it is through the communication of doctrine on a wider scale that the operation of grace in the angelic conflict goes forward, and only in that manner. And Peter, who is about to die, clarifies the issue.

“Grace and peace be received multiplication toward you by means of the e)pignwsij from God, and of Jesus our Lord.” Literal translation. Jesus [His humanity], Lord [His deity].

Verse 3 — “According” is an adverb, o(j, and should be translated “Even as” or “Like as.”

“his divine power.” The word “divine” is an adjective — qeioj. [The noun is qeoj]. And qeioj as an adjective means pertaining to God power, deity power. “Power” is dunamij, for inherent power. God’s power comes from e)pignosij — the Word of God is alive and powerful. The omnipotence of God is revealed through Bible doctrine.

“given” — doreomai, in the perfect middle participle. Doreomai means to give without any strings of any kind. It is the strongest verb in the Greek language for gratuity, for giving. It is in the perfect tense. He has given freely with the result that there will never be strings. The middle voice: the subject is benefited by the action of the verb. We are benefited by the gratuity of God in providing His power, making it available. The participle indicates that this is the divine policy with regard to believers always. He gives without strings.

“all things” — incorrect. ta panta, “the all things.” It has a definite article. This verse is a signed blank cheque. Fill in the amount. And God has signed it Himself. You have to fill in the amount. How do you fill in the amount? By your knowledge of Bible doctrine. “The all things” gives you an unlimited account, but most people could not even know how to begin filling in this cheque. They are not equipped to do so.

“that pertain to” — wrong! Proj plus the accusative — “face to face with life.” These things are for now, not for the future. You are going to have “exceedingly abundantly above all that you could ask or think” in the future. This is a blank cheque for every believer, without exception. There are limits placed on this — by you; not by God!

“and godliness.” Godliness is spirituality — e)usebeia. This noun brings in the Holy Spirit, just as e)pignwsij brings in doctrine. Remember you can never divorce doctrine from the Holy Spirit or the Holy Spirit from doctrine. Any doctrine that you understand is through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So “face to face with life [phase two] and godliness” is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. God-likeness is what the Holy Spirit can produce. E)usebeia is technical and it is a technical concept of spirituality, the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. This in itself is a clue as to how fantastic is grace because the third person of the Trinity has been made available to every believer priest in this dispensation only.

“through the knowledge” — dia plus the genitive of e)pignwsij. We had e)n plus the instrumental, now we have dia plus the genitive, and we have e)pignwsij again. And dia plus the genitive means through knowledge [e)pignwsij]. We wouldn’t even know about the Holy Spirit were it not for doctrine. In verse 2 — “Grace and peace be multiplied by means of e)pignwsij”; verse 3 — “through e)pignwsij.”

“of him” — God the Father. But this is an objective genitive. The object of e)pignwsij — we must understand God the Father “who has called us” — the aorist active participle of kalew, takes us back into eternity past, the doctrine of election. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb — He called us and then He gave in time.

“to glory” — literally, to his own glory, the dative of advantage of i)dioj, which means one’s own glory, one’s private glory. And it should be translated here “His very own glory.” We were called for God’s glory.

“and virtue” — this word is also in the dative case here, a)reth is the noun. It means the quality of goodness. And this is quality of goodness that belongs to God and is related to the glory of God. And since it is a qualitative goodness that belongs to God and is related to the glory of God, and since it is also going to be related in the next verse to the fact that He has freely given to us for our advantage a fantastic number of valuable blessings, and since we are the partakers of the divine nature, then virtue is not morality, is not even human character, it is the function of grace that glorifies God in phase two. Virtue is grace function from grace orientation, from grace means. Virtue is not a system of morality.

Verse 4 — “Whereby” is not there. It is dia plus the genitive of the relative pronoun o(j. It should be translated, “Through whom.” But o(j is in the plural, the genitive plural. Literally it is “through whom” — bad English but good Greek. The plural indicates all members of the Godhead — through the Father who designed the plan and called us; through the Son who executes the plan, phase one; through the Holy Spirit who executes phase two.

You will notice in the greeting that the greeting came from the source of God the Father and from the source of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the silent partner in the Trinity as far as this age is concerned. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age is to glorify Christ and, therefore, since that is His ministry He is obviously very rarely is He mentioned. He is doing the glorifying, He is the basis for the function of grace. Without Him we could not operate at all. Therefore, it is not His objective to in any way come to the forefront and the Holy Spirit is rarely mentioned, it is always the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is always mentioned by motion, the function grace, or the illustration of grace, or how we are given the power to respond to the Word or to absorb the Word or to use the Word, or to live a grace live and still possess and old sin nature.

“are given” — wrong! Perfect middle indicative of doreomai [the other was a participle] — have been “freely given” ."Unto us” — dative of advantage.

“exceeding great” — in “exceeding” we have a superlative, megaj. Megaj as a superlative indicates large in size or in number. Then it is followed by a neuter superlative, megista. Megaj is a superlative; megista is a super superlative in the neuter. When it is put together it means a “great number and extremely valuable favours.” The King James version has “promises” but it means favours or blessings.

“Through whom have been freely given to us for our advantage a great number and extremely valuable blessings or favours” — Literal translation.

“that” — purpose clause; “by these” — dia plus the genitive, should be “through these [favours].”

“you might become” — aorist middle subjunctive of ginomai. Ginomai means to become something you were not. The subjunctive mood here indicates a purpose clause. “That” plus the subjunctive indicates a purpose. So the subjunctive is not simply a potential here but it indicates a specific purpose from God. The middle voice: you are benefited. The aorist tense is again a constative aorist to take in the scope of phase two.

“partakers” — the nominative plural of koinwnoj, which means partners here.

“of the divine” — qeioj, the adjective again — divine or pertaining to God.

“nature” — fusij, essence or nature, native condition. Now, our native condition by birth is the old sin nature. Our fusij by the new birth, by regeneration, is that very character of God, not His essence as such, but what His essence produces might be produced in us — grace, grace function. This is accomplished by doctrine and by the Holy Spirit. They cannot be separated. And you will notice that immediately having been brought in partners of the divine nature — “having escaped the corruption.”

“having escaped” is an aorist active participle, a)pofeugw. A)po is ultimate source, feugw is to escape — to escape from the ultimate source of corruption — fqora refers to the old sin nature. Corruption here is the OSN.

“that is in the world” — e)n plus the locative of kosmoj — in the sphere of the world, literally. Since we are in phase two we are in the kosmoj, the devil rules the kosmoj, the kosmoj is the satanic order in the world. Not only do we have an old sin nature by physical birth as we live in the sphere of the kosmoj but how do we identify the sin nature?

“through lust” — e)n plus e)piqumia. This refers to the lust pattern of the OSN. It was Paul who made this identification and Peter learned this from Paul. Paul taught it in Romans chapter seven. Peter says we still have the old sin nature but we can escape it — the corruption in the sphere of the kosmoj through lust. In other words he learned through Paul how to identify the old sin nature in the sphere of its lust pattern.

The secret to the next few verses is the word “add.” In verse 5 “add” is an aorist active imperative from the Greek verb e)pixoregew. It is not a Koinh Greek word, it is a Greek word which is as old as Greek tragedy. It goes back to the Attic Greek, the classical Greek, to the 5th century BC, the age of Pericles. E)pixoregew means to pay the expense for a chorus in a Greek tragedy. And the word does not mean to add, but it means simply to pay the expense for a chorus in a Greek tragedy. It meant to pay the salaries of dancers and singers for one entire year and it took a very wealthy person to do this.

Greek tragedy

First of all Aristotle, in his book called “The Poetics,” defines tragedy. The word “tragedy” in the English language and Greek tragedy are two entirely different things. Tragedy is just another synonym for maximum catastrophe to us but tragedy is the way of life for the Greeks and is actually a part of the religion of the Greeks.

Aristotle’s definition: “the imitation of an action [He means actually acting out on the stage some facet of life — an imitation that is serious, which immediately eliminates comedy], that is complete [that is, in the three or five acts of any play you follow and end a certain increment of life], and of a certain magnitude.”

The magnitude of Greek drama comes from the fact that Greek drama was directly related to, not only the life of the Greeks, but the pantheon of gods which they worshipped.

“ … in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament” — Greek drama developed its own vocabulary. But more than that it represents one of the greatest linguistic expressions of all time. In other words the Koinh Greek of the New Testament uses many of the words of Greek drama because Greek drama became the first and one of the greatest systems of universal culture in human history. Greek drama was picked up by the Romans and there wasn’t a Roman city or a town within thousands and thousands of miles of the Roman empire where the dramas were not portrayed time and time again, not as a religious action as with the Greeks but rather as a cultural interest. So that actually Greek drama became one of the most universal of all cultural systems, not only of the ancient world, but this is still true in the modern world. All modern tragedy and all operas of any magnitude are based upon exactly the same system.

Aristotle: “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude, in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play.” So the Greek tragedy was not only great in its concepts but it actually took every type of poetical verse and put them into perfect concepts. There were three men who did this who were the three greatest men of genius in all of human history: Esculus, Sophicles, and Euripodes.

Secondly, the Greeks also defined the function of tragedy. The function of tragedy was very similar to what we call “rebound.” Only you didn’t do it in a second, you did it over a period of days in a period which was called a holy week to them. Usually it was in the spring when people could sit in outdoor amphitheatres. And the function of tragedy in the Greek is called kaqarsij, the Greek noun for cleansing. And the whole function of tragedy was the cleansing of the emotions and the mentality of the soul of anything that was related to fear or pity, and so on. And the original Greek tragedy was a religious function, it was religious in its observation. In this connection, instead of having a temple where they would often worship the god, they had an outdoor temple where the original dramas were held. The actors were all male and they could be heard. The women were there but the tenors took the parts of women. They also wore masks and they wore women’s clothes in order to portray the women. The centre of the drama was the hero. He is great in Greek drama but not completely virtuous. The Greek concept of morality was not the same as the Jewish concept. And the hero passes from fortune to misfortune. He starts out in prosperity and he ends up in disaster. This was always the pattern of tragedy in Greek drama.

Aristotle claimed that tragedy never portrayed a bad man passing from misery to happiness. That would outrage the audience. And he also said that no intelligent people would ever accept such drama. Nor did Greek tragedy portray a bad man going from happiness to misery because that would satisfy one’s moral sense and would simply satisfy one’s sense of self-righteousness, and therefore the soul would not be purged, the Greeks said. The key to drama is kaqarsij (cleansing). Whatever tragedy must do, the Greeks said, it must arouse the emotions of the soul so that emotions could pull out of the mentality all of the evils that resided there. That was the idea of tragedy.

Now, to do this Greek tragedy has some rules. The hero must be well-known and prosperous. But he must not be pre-eminently just or virtuous. His misfortune is not brought on him by vice and depravity but through some error of judgement or frailty. It had to be brought on him by weakness of the soul, not a weakness of vice or depravity. And in that way this is the closest the Greeks ever came to the residence of the old sin nature in the soul of mankind.

In Greek tragedy we have three major actors: a hero, the woman, and then the villain (usually). Then they had some minor actors who included whoever played the part of the gods — he was lowered onto the stage. Sometimes they got these people in such jambs that only the gods could get them out and so the gods would come down and get them out of it. This tragedy recognised happiness and misery, fortune and misfortune, in and out of which people pass. The hero always had a tragic flaw. Greek tragedy always rejected what we call poetic justice. It also rejected the concept that the good prosper and the evil suffer. These actors would simply give the lines of the tragedy but all the drama, the violence, was never brought out on the stage. It was always brought out by the chorus, so that the key to tragedy was really in the chorus and it took a year to train a chorus for one week of dramas.

Some of the words: In 1 Corinthians 1:10 we have the verb katartizw which is used in several ways in the Greek, but in 1 Cor. 1:10 it is used for making sure that a machine functions properly and that it is in not in any way out of kilter. The machine involved here the Greeks called mexani. The mexani had to be tuned up and for this reason you could lose a lot of money if the machine failed during the process of a drama. Sometimes the machine suspending the god got stuck and the god could hang there all day and the people would often throw stuff at it. Katartizw is used for the Corinthians — tune up the Church, make sure that everyone is in fellowship and not fighting each other. Paul actually uses this part of Greek drama to show that when a church is bickering and the people fighting back and forth, it makes a bad impression on the general public.

The actors themselves in Greek dramas were called u(pokrithj, a word which is used frequently in the scriptures, as well as in English. U(po means under, krithj means a mask. It means to speak from or behind a mask. The actors wore masks. A u(pokrithj is an actor, and the best illustration of this is found in Galatians 2:12,13 where Paul is bracing Peter and he calls him a u(pokrithj. He says, “You are wearing different masks. When you are around me and the grace crowd you’ve got a grace mask, but when you are around the legalists then you put on a Mosaic law mask, a legalism mask.”

In Romans 5:20 there is a third word of Greek drama which is a very interesting one — pareiserxomai. This word means a minor actor coming on the stage with a minor part — part of the drama but a minor part. And in Romans 5:20 the Mosaic law is pareiserxomai, a minor actor playing a minor part. The Mosaic law does not save, it has a function under God’s economy related to the laws of divine establishment, freedom, but it is not the way of salvation.

There is a noun and a verb, both of which are used in the New testament. The verb is e)pixoregew — the man who provided the fantastic sum of money to train a chorus for the Greek drama. It is used in 2 Corinthians 9:10; Galatians 3:5; 2 Peter 1:5. There is a noun that is cognate to it — e)pixoregia, which is found in Philemon 19.

All this is to show that when you see the word “add” it really doesn’t mean to add anything. In 2 Peter 1:5, “add” is a chorus. The chorus was the most important thing in the Greek drama. These are important things, this is the chorus, this is the action of phase two. Carrying out the concept of tragedy in Greek drama we actually have here the principle of the chorus, and the chorus of seven is actually the important thing in your life as a believer. Even Peter knew enough about Greek drama to use words like e)pixoregew.

Verse 5 — “And beside this,” kai a)uto touto de. This is a classical idiom; it isn’t even Koine Greek. It is a positive classical idiom and a positive classical idiom has to be translated: “Yes, and for this cause.” There are certain characteristics which belong in the Christian life. These characteristics portray the drama, the action of the Christian life. That is why we start out verse 5 with a pure classical idiom. The cause has been given in verses two through four.

“giving” — the aorist active participle from pareisferw. Para means alongside of or immediate source; e)ij means with reference to, into, sometimes for the sake of; the verb ferw means to bear, to bring, and the entire word comes to means to bring in beside, to bring in addition to. In addition to divine power there is a chorus that portrays the action. Grace produces certain characteristics in all believers. The ECS produces these things.

The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. The main verb is the command coming up — the word “add.” So divine power “having exhibited in addition to” is a good way to translate it.

“diligence” — spoudh. Now we have another idiom. Pareisferw means in itself to exhibit in addition to. But when you put spoudh with it it comes to mean to make every effort. So pareisferw plus spoudh means “having made every effort, add.” And having made every effort is the intensity of GAPing (Grace Apparatus for Perception) it, the intensity of Bible teaching, the concentration on the teaching of the Word of God.

“add” — aorist active imperative of e)pixoregew, to pay the expenses for a chorus. But it has to be translated in one word, so we are going to use the word “supply.” The aorist tense is constative. In other words, as you take in doctrine you supply to your life. The active voice: you, on the basis of doctrine, produce. The imperative mood is an order. “Supply to your faith.”

“to your faith” — e)n plus pistij. This is the instrumental case — “by means of your faith.” Supply a chorus by means of your faith. What kind of faith? “Faith” is pistij used for doctrine. By means of doctrine, the inhale of doctrine, GAP; the exhale of doctrine, faith-rest.

Verse 5 — “And beside this, giving all diligence, supply by means of the faith [doctrine].” That brings us to the chorus of seven which begins in the middle of verse 5. The first member of the chorus is “virtue” — a)rethj. It is in the accusative singular and it actually denotes a gracious act, a quality of goodness which belongs to God, and such quality of goodness belonging to God is divine good, of course. But it is more than that, it is divine good based upon the exhale of Bible doctrine. So it is knowledge of doctrine from the filling of the Spirit. In other words, the daily function of GAP producing divine good. It is production based upon doctrine in the soul that is virtue in the Christian life. Virtue is doctrine in the soul. Therefore, virtue really refers to the amount of doctrine or GAPing it. The greatest thing you can do is to take in doctrine. This is not virtue in its narrow sense of a system of righteousness or a manifestation of character, but is a technical concept for the place of doctrine in your life.

So doctrine obviously leads to an ECS and we now have gnwsij used for the ECS — “knowledge.” Gnwsij has a technical and a non-technical use. E)pignwsij is the foundation for the ECS and the actual structure is the gnwsij that was taken down from the right lobe. So e)pignwsij is converted back into gnwsij for the construction of the ECS. And the second member of the chorus refers to the ECS where maturity begins and really the point where the Christian life begins to pay off.

So you have gnwsij in the left lobe as objective knowledge. You have faith transferring it down into the human spirit as e)pignwsij. E)pignwsij is also used for certain types of doctrine in the right lobe but when e)pignwsij builds your ECS, gnwsij is again used in that sense. So gnwsij here in its technical sense means knowledge of a special kind and of a high character, therefore the doctrinal structure of the ECS. Virtue is doctrine in the soul; knowledge is doctrine in the ECS of the soul. No believer can orient or function, or even enter into the full meaning of the Christian life apart from the ECS.

Verse 6 — The third member of the chorus: “temperance” in the accusative singular. The Greek noun is e)gkrathj. E)g comes from the preposition e)n — in the sphere of. Kratoj means inner power. In the sphere of inner power comes to mean self-discipline. Bible doctrine produces an orderly inner life. Self-discipline is the means by which you get most out of life. It means mental concentration, for example. It means a sense of responsibility, removal of any type of laziness that may exist in the life. In the spiritual realm self-discipline is the basis for concentration in the field of GAP. In the mental realm, awareness of life. Physical self-discipline is getting the most out of the physical body. So in every area there is a place for self-discipline — which is the result of the other two.

“patience” — u(pomonh, the fourth member of the chorus. It means patient endurance in the field of mentality, in the soul. It refers to the perpetuation of the faith-rest technique into the most trying circumstances of life, or into the most prosperous circumstances of life. Both are a challenge to the Christian life. Any unbeliever can have great pressure or great prosperity but he cannot cope. In prosperity he falls apart; in pressure he falls apart. But the Christian way of life is designed not to depend upon the varying circumstances of life. Therefore, patience means the proper utilisation of doctrine for pressure, the proper utilisation of doctrine for prosperity, so that neither pressure nor prosperity becomes the basis of determining your happiness or your status quo in life. Doctrine is the basis of determining. That is what patience means.

“godliness” — the fifth member of the chorus, e)usebeia. This word means piety in the fulfilment of a human relationship or a duty which man owes to God. If you take this word back to its origin in Attic Greek it means respect and piety for the gods of the pantheon. Therefore it has the connotation of recognition of authority for deity, respect for deity, and willingness to follow the concepts laid down by deity. E)usebeia has been drafted into service as a synonym for the filling of the Spirit by which it is possible for us to have a daily relationship with God. Two factors are involved — doctrine and the filling of the Spirit. Doctrine has already been brought out by the principle of GAPing it — the first member of the chorus. So here we have the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in phase two. And e)usebeia, of course, brings in also self-discipline because of the importance of the rebound technique and being filled with the Spirit.

Verse 7 — The next two are even more difficult because they are so badly abused. We have the phrase “brotherly kindness” as number six in the chorus. This is filadelfoj, often translated “brotherly love.” Filoj, which is on the beginning of the word, is the strongest word for love. A)delfoj is the word for brother. The two words have simply been put together in the Koinh Greek. Actually, this refers to capacity for love. It does not mean just rapport, it means strong capacity for love and obviously that is based on doctrine. So this is not “brotherly love,” it is actually “capacity for love” — as a member of the family of God. This is a reference to the fourth floor of the ECS.

Finally, the relaxed mental attitude — “charity,” a)gaph, the final member of the chorus. The relaxed mental attitude which means freedom from mental attitude sins. It refers to a relaxed mental attitude in the human race and it is used sometimes in connection with God because God has a relaxed mental attitude due to propitiation. But actually it means freedom from envy or jealously or bitterness or pride or vindictiveness or implacability or guilt complex or fear or worry or any kind of anxiety. So it refers to mental attitude relaxation. This is the kind of love that is commanded toward all believers, it is not a personal love at all, it is impersonal. It means that you do not have any mental attitude sins toward any believer.

Summary: Virtue is GAPing it. The greatest virtue in the Christian life is Bible doctrine in the soul. This results in another use of gnwsij in a technical way for the ECS. The inevitable result of the intake of doctrine is the construction of the ECS.

Temperance is really self-discipline; patience is the perpetuation of Bible doctrine into every circumstance of life, changing the circumstance to depend upon doctrine rather than circumstances for your happiness. And patience is doctrine utilised for both prosperity and adversity. Godliness is the filling of the Holy Spirit. Brotherly kindness is personal capacity for love — filoj being the strongest word for love — in categories one, two and three. And then the final one is impersonal love — a)gaph.

Verse 8 — the importance of this chorus. “If” is not a conditional clause at all, it is a circumstantial conditional participle. In other words, the word “if” does not occur.

“these things” refers to the chorus of seven; “be” is the participle — the present active participle of u(parxw. U(parxw is not the same as e)imi. E)imi is the verb to be and it is not found. U(parxw means to come into existence. These things do not exist, they come into existence. The chorus of seven must come into existence through GAPing it.

Then we have a second circumstantial conditional participle in the word “abound” — pleonazw, which means to have more than enough, to have abundance, to come into a wider action. Translation: “For these things coming into existence to you, and abounding to wider action, cause you to stand according to an absolute norm [doctrine] … “

“they make you” is literally, “cause you to stand” — the present active indicative of katqistemi. Kata — norm or standard, i(stemi — to stand. It means to stand according to a norm or standard — of doctrine here.

“ … not barren nor unproductive in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“not barren” — a)rgoj, the “a” is a negative and goj goes with e)rgon, and it means not productive or not barren.

“nor unfruitful” — a)karpoj, which means to harvest fruit. The “a” is negative. So your life will be productive and meaningful without trying. This is the natural result of doctrine.

“knowledge of Jesus Christ” — e)pignwsij. We have e)pignwsij in the human spirit as the foundation for the ECS which was called gnwsij. And when we start to reach maximum production in the right lobe through occupation with the person of Christ we go back to e)pignwsij. This is interesting. Here we have the e)pignwsij of the Lord Jesus Christ but take a look at 2 Peter 3:18: “Grow in grace and in the gnwsij of our Lord Jesus Christ. Gnwsij there has another meaning, a technical meaning for the highest type of information which is the ECS. Translation: “For these things coming into existence to you, and abounding to a wider action, cause you to stand according to an absolute norm [doctrine], not barren nor unproductive in the e)pignwsij of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Verses 9 and 10 bring us to knowledge and orientation to grace. Remember Peter is bringing us to the point of where doctrine is more valuable than anything in life.

Verse 9 — “Afar off” does not occur in the original, neither does the phrase “that he was purged from his old sins.” What is found is, first of all, “he that lacketh” — the present active indicative of pareimi plus the negative mh. Pareimi means to be present, with the negative it means not to be present and therefore to lack. So the present active indicative: He who keeps on lacking these things [the chorus of seven]. This is the negative believer, the believer in reversionism.

“is” — present active indicative of e)imi. This is absolute status quo for the reversionistic believer.

“blind” — tufloj. He never discovers what the Christian life is all about. That is reversionism; that is ignorance of doctrine. Negative volition toward doctrine produces scar tissue, emotional revolt, reversionism, and obviously then, spiritual blindness. You cannot be blind and live the Christian life. And blindness comes from lack of doctrine.

“and cannot see” — the present active participle of muopazw. Muo means to close or to shut, the rest of the word refers to the eyes. So it means to be nearsighted or blind and connotes disorientation to the Christian way of life.

When you do not have the chorus of seven it means you are not GAPing it, you do not have an ECS, you are missing the point all the way around with regard to the function of the Christian life.

“hath forgotten” — here is reversionism. The aorist active participle of lambanw plus a noun, lhqh, which means forgetfulness — “having received forgetfulness.” There is the reversionistic process.

Translation: “He that keeps on lacking these things [the chorus of seven] is blind, cannot see, having received forgetfulness.”

Verse 10 — “Wherefore the rather” is “because of the more” — dia plus the accusative of mallon. That is more grace.

“give diligence” — aorist active imperative of spoudazw, to make an all-out effort.

“to make” — present middle infinitive of poiew, keep on making. Present tense, linear aktionsart. You have to GAP it every day. The middle voice: you are benefited by GAPing it every day; the infinitive: it is God’s purpose. “Be eager to make you calling [election] a real thing.”

“sure” — the accusative of bebaioj, which means a real thing, a reality. The only way that you make your election or your calling a reality is by means of GAPing it daily. Election is used here for the plan of God. It only becomes a real thing through Bible doctrine.

“if” — this introduces a circumstantial clause; “if ye do” — a present active participle of poiew again, a circumstantial participle. “If you keep doing these things.” What things? Learning doctrine.

“you shall never fall” — double negative, o)u mh, which is a stronger negative.

Then we have the aorist active subjunctive of ptaiw, which means to miss a step. You will never miss a step, much less fall, in any of the areas of disaster. What are the areas of disaster? Negative volition toward doctrine, neglect of doctrine, scare tissue, blackout of the soul, the opening of mataiothj and the infiltration of cosmic doctrine, the emotional revolt, reversionism. These things will never be a problem.

So, “Because of the more grace [God’s provision of doctrine] brethren, be eager to make your calling [the plan of God for your life], even your election, a real thing: for if you keep on doing these things [GAPing it daily] you shall never miss a step.”

Verse 11 — “For so” means on the basis of more grace; “an entrance” — e)ijodoj. O)doj means way, e)ij means into. It comes to mean entrance or admission.

“shall be ministered unto you.” The word “ministered” is e)pixoregew, which means to provide the money for a chorus, supply abundantly. “For so an admission shall be supplied for you abundantly.” In other words, the moment you die you are going to be with the Lord. E)pixoregew means that just as these things are provided in time so they are also provided in eternity. The passive voice means you will receive this. The indicative mood is the reality of phase three.

Verse 12 — The reality of the Word of God, the importance of the Word of God. This, in effect, is Peter’s dying message. Many people have been able to die well; most people do not die well. Every uncertainty that you have in life is magnified in dying. If your life is filled with a lot of uncertainties, when it comes time for you to die, when you suddenly realise you have some terminal disease or that you are dying, then the first thing that you are going to do is hit the panic button. And this will intensify those moments. But dying grace is available. But like everything that is available it depends upon volition. Grace always goes where volition permits it to go. And one of the great tragedies of life is that believers can miss the boat on dying grace. Death is a marvellous, wonderful thing with the Word and with dying grace. And any believer ought to be able to die well. There is no excuse for a believer dying poorly. One thing that all members of the human race have had in common, right up to this moment, is that they have died. We are all going to die and there is no excuse for going out poorly. Peter is about to die, and Peter was not the world’s best believer. But in dying he died well. Dying is an art based on doctrine, based on the soul. The body is often in great pain, it is through. But the soul isn’t through. Therefore, we have from the pen of a dying man, the apostle Peter, one of the greatest dissertations on death and its significance, and how to live well and die well.

“Wherefore” — a compound, dio. It is made up of dia plus o(j. Dia plus o(j means “Because of this.” Because of the principle of orientation to grace through a knowledge of doctrine.

“I will not be negligent” — not quite what the Greek says. It is the future active indicative of mellw. Mellw means to be ready, or to be about to be. So a literal translation: “I will be ready always.” The future tense anticipates Peter’s readiness in the future to teach a very important point of doctrine even though he himself will be dead. After Peter dies his message continues. The active voice: Peter will always be ready to communicate this point of doctrine because once he puts it down here it will be a part of the Word of God which lives and abides forever. In effect, he leaves behind a phenomenal heritage in the second epistle — how to die well, how to avoid apostasy, what is really important in life.

“to put you in remembrance” — present active infinitive of u(pomimnhskw. Mimnhskw means to remember; u(po means under authority. It means to remind someone of something but it means to use authority to do it. In this case it means to remind the believer of the importance of Bible doctrine in his life while he is alive, and to do so with authority. The present tense is linear aktionsart. This passage stands forever in the Word of God as a reminder with authority. The active voice: this passage keeps on accomplishing its objective whenever studied. The infinitive: it is God’s purpose for the believer to be constantly reminded that doctrine must be more real than anything in his life.

“of these things” — peri (of) means concerning. Concerning these things.

“Because of this I will be ready always to keep on reminding you with authority concerning these things” — literally.

“though” is literally, “even if you know them” — perfect active indicative of o)ida, which means they are in the right lobe and on the launching pad. They are there but you still need to be reminded. Memory centre must be constantly jogged with regard to these things. The believer must be constantly reminded of doctrines that he has already learned. In this manner the believer in phase two orients to the plan of God. And, furthermore, he must be reminded of doctrines which he may or may not like.

“you know” — active voice: you have learned them before; Perfect tense: they are part of the permanent residency of your soul.

“and be established” — perfect passive participle of sthrizw. Sthrizw means to be mentally stabilised. The perfect tense: mental stability has results in living but, more important, also in dying. If Bible doctrine is more real to you while you are living, Bible doctrine will be more real to you when you are dying. And while you are living you may have ups and downs but if Bible doctrine is more real you are stabilised. If, when you are dying, and the reality of dying comes true and you are not going to live, Bible doctrine being more real causes you to survive all of the dangers attendant to death, so that you can enjoy and can anticipate how marvellous it will be once the soul leaves the body and goes into the third heaven. The passive voice of this participle: the believer through doctrine receives stability, and the participle means that this is a continual principle. “Having been stabilised.”

“in the present truth” — should be “by means of the always-being-with-you truth.” We have e)n plus the instrumental of a participle. The participle means to be present. The present active participle of pareimi. Pareimi actually means to be present but it is in the instrumental case and e)n plus the instrumental of this participle means “by means of the always-with-you.” Then we have the word a)leqeia for truth or doctrine — “by means of the always-with-you-doctrine.” The only doctrine you use while you are living and the only doctrine you use when you are dying is the always-with-you doctrine.

Literal translation: “Because of this I will be ready always to remind you with authority concerning these things, even if you know them, having been stabilised by means of the always- with-you truth [doctrine].”

Remember that it is by means of the always-with-you doctrine that really counts.

Verse 13 — “I think” is the present active indicative of e(geomai. E(geomai means to lead the way, to preside, to govern, to rule, it means for certain types of thinking to control your life. So when he says, “I think,” he is talking about thinking that controls his life, the always-with-you doctrine. “I think” or “I consider” — this is dominant doctrine. “I consider it my duty” is what it really means here. We have e(geomai plus dikaioj — “I think it just” — in the accusative singular here. Dikaioj, meaning just, not “meet.” We have an idiom here — e(geomai plus dikaioj means “I consider it my duty.” The idiom declares the solemn responsibility that Peter has before the Lord. Peter is going to talk about dying while he is dying. He is oriented to God’s plan through grace.

“as long as” — phase two; “I am” present active indicative of e)imi, the status quo at the time of writing — I keep on being.

“in this tabernacle” — a reference to his temporary body. No matter how long we live in this tabernacle it is temporary, and apart from the Rapture you are going to die, you are going to leave your tent.

“to stir you up” — present active infinitive of the compound diegeirw. Dia means because of, e)geirw means to arouse or to waken. It comes to mean to excite, to arouse, to animate.

“by” — by means of; e)n plus the instrumental of a verb, the future active indicative of u(pomimnhskw. To remind them with authority. “To keep on arousing you by means of reminding you with authority.” Even when Peter is dying he is going to teach with authority. This is accomplished by the constant repetition of teaching, the communication of Bible doctrine. Doctrine must not only be taught but it must be repeated again and again until it is a part of the believer.

Verse 14 — the approaching death of Peter. “Knowing” — the perfect active participle of i)oda, used in the present tense for certain knowledge. Peter knows definitely, dogmatically, with certainty.

“shortly” — taxinoj, which means impending. So, “Knowing that it is near at hand.” And then he tells us what …

“I must put off” — literally, “the putting off of my tabernacle.” We have a noun here instead of a verb — a)poqesij.

“even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me” — and the word isn’t to show in the sense of to manifest. It is the aorist active indicative of delow. Delow doesn’t mean to manifest, like several other Greek verbs, it means to simply point out or relate something, and it refers to John 21:18,19.

The doctrine of death is pertinent at this point as Peter understood it. Peter had Job 5:17-21; Psalm 23:4; 116:15 — all of which declare shorter or at some length the principle of dying grace.

There are four basic reasons why believers die: 1. The work is finished — 2 Timothy 4:7; 2. Some believers die in a rather unusual way to glorify God as in Philippians 1:20, 21; 3. The worst way to die is from reversionism [sin unto death] — 1 John 5:16; 1 Chronicles 10:13; 4. The superimposition of human over divine volition — suicide.

Verse 15 — one of the greatest principles in all of the Word of God. We begin with the little particle de, used here for an explanatory conjunction. In spite of Peter’s approaching death he will leave behind the legacy of doctrine that can not be destroyed by his death. Principle: Death does not destroy Bible doctrine. And that isn’t all. Bible doctrine in your soul goes with you. You do not take a Bible with you but you do take whatever doctrine you have in your soul. One thing that is totally indestructible is Bible doctrine. What is really important in life is what can’t be destroyed by death.

“I will endeavour” — the future active indicative of spoudazw. Spoudazw means to make a special effort and it also means to be eager. In other words this is verb which is a very strong drive, a very strong motivation. Probably the word in the English is the word to be diligent. Translation: “Moreover I will be diligent.” The future tense here indicates that he realises that what he is writing will continue after his death.

“that” introduces a purpose clause. “that ye may be able” is not found in the Greek. Instead, we have the present active infinitive of e)xw, which means to have and to hold. The infinitive is actually where we get the “that.” E)xw means to have and to hold, and the concept here is: “Moreover I will be diligent that you may have it.” This is his motivation — to finish out this epistle. He is aware that the doctrine that he teaches in this epistle is something they will have after he has gone.

“at all times after my decease” — literally. Not “that you may be able.” Then we have an adverb with e)xw — e)kastoth, which means “always” or “at all times” .

Principle

1. Doctrine goes on in spite of the death or removal of any great Christian leader or any great Christian.

2. Peter will die but doctrine goes on forever.

3. Obviously then it isn’t the man but the message.

4. Men will come and go but the Word of God will abide forever.

5. The greatest thing a pastor can do for a congregation is teach doctrine. Feed them that which is permanent.

6. If the pastor fulfils this function his departure will not upset the stability of the congregation. Why? Their stability is doctrine, not a personality.

7. Believers must depend on doctrine rather than outstanding personalities.

Translation so far: “But I will be diligent that you may have it [doctrine] always after my decease.”

The next phrase, “to have these things always in remembrance” is not correct. We have an idiom here which was not correctly translated. The idiom is made up, first of all, of the present middle infinitive of the verb poiew. The present tense is linear aktionsart, the middle voice: the subject is benefited; the infinitive states a secondary purpose after the first infinitive, e)xw. And this infinitive has a noun with it, mnhmh. Mnhmh means remembrance. So literally, you would have to translate this, “to keep on doing remembrance” .However, you never literally translate an idiom or you lose the idiom. The idiom means to recall a point of doctrine which can be applied. In other words, it refers to frame of reference.

So: “But I will be diligent that you may have it [doctrine] always after my decease, to call these things to remembrance so they can be applied.” That is what the idiom means. In other words, the idiom applies to the frame of reference in the right lobe with memory centre. And memory centre will feed out into the launching pad, doctrine so that it can be applied.

Now, how is Peter going to dramatise the importance of doctrine? Under the ministry of the Holy Spirit he is going to take an experience, a dramatic experience, and he is going to take this experience and show how important doctrine really is.

Verse 16 — “we have not followed” is the aorist active participle of e)cakoluqew. The word means to imitate, to observe as a guide or a criterion, or to follow as an authority. The meaning here is to follow as an authority. It has a negative here so it should be translated, “Not having followed as an authority.”

“cunningly devised” — a perfect passive participle of sofizw. It is really used as an adjective. “Skilfully invented.” “Fables” — muqoj. Peter will use the doctrine of the second advent of Christ as the basis for establishing a true criterion for the Christian life. He is not going to use experience. Peter actually saw the second advent but that is not his authority. In the mount of transfiguration Peter was there and Christ was transformed on the mountain. And he saw Christ as He would be at the second advent. He heard the voice of God the Father but he is not using that as the basis of his doctrine. He is using what the Old Testament said about the second advent. But his authority is not what he saw with his eyes and heard with his ears, his authority is what he learned from the Bible.

“when we made known” — aorist active indicative of gnwrizw. Gnwrizw means to reveal or to communicate, to learn something and then communicate. It includes the idea of studying.

“unto you” — dative of advantage; “the power” dunamij, the inherent power; “and the coming of our Lord.” The word for coming is parousia, used in three ways in the New testament [All three ways are used in 2 Thessalonians 2]. It is used for the Rapture — 2 Thess. 2:1; for the second advent — 2 Thess. 2:8; for the rise of a dictator, the man of sin — 2 Thess. 2:9. Here it is used for the second advent.

“but were” — aorist passive participle of ginomai, “having become,” literally.

“eyewitnesses” — this noun is the nominative plural from e)popthj. E)pi means upon, o)pthj means to look. It means eyewitnesses or observers, and the plural here refers to Peter, James and John. Cf. Matthew 16:28 where Jesus said that some standing there [Peter, James and John] who were actually going to see the second advent. Then Matthew 17:1-5.

“majesty” — megaleiothj, His magnificence, His glory. They were eyewitnesses of His megaleiothj.

Verse 17 — “For he received” — aorist active participle of lambanw means “having received to himself.”

“from” — para, used here as a preposition of immediate source; “God” — from the immediate source of God [the Father].

“honour” — timh refers to highest value, the highest honour; “and glory” the essence of His deity.

“when there came a voice” — literally, a voice having being carried, aorist passive participle of ferw. Ferw means to carry something.

“from the excellent glory” — literally, from the majestic glory.

Translation: “a voice having been carried to him from the majestic glory, This keeps on being my beloved Son — o( a)gaphtoj — in whom I am well pleased.”

Verse 18 — “And this voice” — the voice of God the Father. The experience on the mount of transfiguration was actually seeing the Son transformed and hearing the voice of the Father. And the total experience therefore, including both seeing and hearing, is a reality.

Anyone who had had an experience like this would never forget it. Peter never forgot it. And anyone who had had an experience like this would never have any doubts regarding the second advent. Peter actually saw the second advent as it would be — the dress rehearsal.

“which came” should be “having been carried” — aorist passive participle again, ferw. Here is the voice carried to Peter. This is why at the end of the chapter ferw is going to be used again in verse 21 — “holy men of God spake as they were moved [ferw]” — as they were carried along [by the Holy Spirit].

Principle

1. Experience is not the basis for establishing doctrine.

2. Experience is not a substitute for doctrine.

3. Experience can confirm or illustrate doctrine but experience can never take the place of doctrine.

4. If there is a conflict between experience and the Word, the Word is always right.

5. Bible doctrine is the criterion then, not experience.

There is something more real than what you see with your eyes, hear with your ears, what you can touch. All this is empiricism but there is something that is greater in life, more important in life, more real in life than anything you can see, taste, feel or hear.

Verse 19 — the passage is incorrect as it is translated in the KJV. “We have (and hold)” — present active indicative of e)xw. We have and hold something that is more real, more important than anything else in life. The present tense of e)xw is linear aktionsart, indicating the eternal existence of the canon of scripture. The active voice: the written Word is the possession of every believer. The indicative mood is the reality of the possession of the Word of God, and the possession of the Bible as the absolute criterion of life.

“more sure” is a comparative of bebaioj. Bebaioj means more certain or more reliable. The comparative actually indicates reality. There is something that is more real than anything else in life.

The phrase “word of prophecy” goes with the background doctrine for this passage, the second advent of Christ. It is more reliable than what Peter saw on the mount of transfiguration, more reliable than what he heard. What he saw and what he heard regarding the second advent are not nearly as important as what the Bible has to say.

“whereunto” is a relative pronoun and it should be translated “regarding which [doctrine].” In other words, “We keep on having and holding a more reliable, a more certain doctrine of prophecy, regarding which ye do well.”

“do well” is the present active indicative of poiew. This is doing as it should be in the Christian life. The word “well” is the adverb kaloj, and it means “honourably.”

“ye take heed” — present active participle of proj e)xw. E)xw — you have the Word of God; proj e)xw — it must be taught face to face. Here is the importance of face to face teaching. Bible doctrine is more reliable than anything in life, but Bible doctrine is in the canon of scripture and it must be taught.

The rest of this sentence, except for the last three words, is actually a parenthesis. And when it says “ye take heed” — present active participle. At that point you start a parenthesis. The word “as” begins the parenthesis; the word “arise” closes the parenthesis. And the sentence is continued on the other side of the parenthesis with three words, “in your hearts.” This, of course, refers to the right lobe.

Now, let’s get the main sentence and ignore for the moment the parenthesis. “We keep on having [and holding] a more reliable [more certain] word of prophecy; regarding which you keep on doing honourably by taking heed [having and holding in a face to face situation] in your hearts.” I other words, the whole doctrine of GAP is here. If you are going to have and hold this, this doctrine must come in as gnwsij into the left lobe, be transferred into the human spirit as e)pignwsij, and cycled into the right lobe [in your hearts]. It is in the Bible as e)xw and it is reliable. But it is also more reliable by becoming a part of your soul — proj e)xw. This is more real than what you see, what you hear, what you taste and what you touch.

Now let’s go back and take a look at the parenthesis. “As unto” introduces some analogies to the second advent of Christ. And there are several analogies in which you have the concept of darkness on the earth, followed by great light — the darkness is dispelled by light. The Rapture of the Church puts the earth in darkness. The Tribulation is the most awful period in human history — a period of darkness on the earth. The second advent: Christ as the Light of the world returns. And when H e returns He is the Light and therefore the light will cover the earth, and there will keep on being light during the Millennial reign. So it is fitting that Jesus Christ, in His second advent, should be called “the light that shineth in a dark place.”

“shineth” — present active participle of fainw, to cause to shine.

“until the day dawn” is a second analogy in the parenthesis. The day refers to the day of the second advent, and the dawning of that day — the aorist active subjunctive of diaugazw, which means to shine through, to dawn. The second advent, then, is compared to the dawning of a new day, the new day is the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

A third analogy takes us to night being made very light by a day star, a light bearer. The word “daystar” is fosforoj from which we get the English, phosphorous. Foj is light; foroj means bearer, light bearer. This is a reference to Jesus Christ who is the light-bearer at the second advent. There is darkness covering the earth, Zechariah 14:6-9, and Christ will actually light up the world when He returns at the second advent. The daystar simply is a light-bearing body. And that light-bearing body is the resurrection body of Jesus Christ.

“shall arise” — the aorist active subjunctive of a)natellw. Remember that this is the subjunctive which is used for an indefinite temporal clause to indicate a future action, the time of which is not specifically known.

Translation: “We keep on having and holding a more reliable, a more certain doctrine of prophecy; regarding which you keep on doing honourably when you have and hold it in your hearts.” That skips over the parenthesis. The parenthesis has three analogies to the second advent: a light shining in a dark place, the dawning of the day, and the historical reality of what will happen — the earth will be shrouded in darkness and Christ the fosforoj will bring light to the world.

The next two verses do not deal with interpretation of scripture, as has been so often thought, but it actually deals with the source of our absolute criterion. By the end of verse 19 it is well established that Bible doctrine must be more real to you than anything else in life. And since it is more real and since it is the absolute criterion there must be, first of all, a negative source and then there must be a positive source. Verse 20, the negative, and verse 21, the positive.

Verse 20 — “Knowing this first” is the present active participle of ginwskw. This means to know from the experience of studying, from concentrating, from listening, from assembling.

“that no prophecy” — the background is still eschatology; “of scripture” — referring here to the Old Testament canon.

“is” — incorrect. We have a present active indicative of ginomai. Ginomai means to become something that you were not before. It also means to originate. Here it means to originate. We are dealing with source here. “No prophecy of scripture originates” — present active indicative. This passage is not dealing with interpretation of scripture, it is dealing with origin. If the Bible is the absolute criterion, if the Bible is more real than what we see, hear, taste or feel, then it must have an absolute source.

“of any private” — wrong. It should be “from one’s own.” The genitive singular of i)dioj. Throughout 2 Peter i)dioj is generally mistranslated.

“interpretation” — wrong again. We have the Greek word e)pilusij which means explanation. So: “No prophecy of scripture originates from one’s own explanation” is the correct translation. The Bible is not what you want to make out of it.

Verse 21 — “For the prophecy” — eschatology which is under consideration [second advent].

“came not” — aorist passive indicative of ferw, “was not carried,” literally. “For the prophecy was not carried.”

“in old time” — the Old Testament time; “by the will of man” — qelhma here means purpose, design or will — “by the design of mankind [a)nqrwpoj].”

“but” — conjunction of contrast; “holy men of God” — -three categories of prophets are involved here. The unique prophet Moses who had both the gift and the office of prophet; those who had the office of prophet, like Joshua, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc.; and those who had the gift of prophecy, like David, Solomon and Daniel. All of these are involved by the phrase “holy men of God.”

“of” — a)po, the preposition of ultimate source; “God.”

“communicated” — aorist active indicative of lalew; “as” — now we have the present passive participle of ferw — “they were carried along.”

“by” — preposition u(po, which means under the authority of — “the Holy Spirit.”

Translation: “Prophecy was not carried along in old time by the purpose and design of mankind: but holy men of God communicated as they were carried along under the authority of the Holy Spirit.”

Now there are two prepositions that are important here: “holy men” — a)po, from the ultimate source of God; U(po — under the authority of the Holy Spirit. There has to be authority. So here is the Father and the Holy Spirit involved in inspiration. The Lord Jesus Christ is involved to the extent that the Bible is the thinking of Christ. But here we have the mechanics of presentation rather than the emphasis on the content. Therefore the source is God the Father: a)po, ultimate source, and the authority is God the Holy Spirit. So there is no place for man to tamper or to fool around with the scripture, or try to make it mean something that it doesn’t mean.

The principle that comes out of this: The Bible must be more real than what you taste, what you touch, what you hear. It must be more real than anything in the world to you. But this is impossible apart from proj e)xw, it can only become a reality as it is taught. Proj means face to face — teaching.

The doctrine of the inspiration of scripture

1. The principle — 2 Timothy 3:16. “All scripture is qeopneustoj.” This noun indicates mechanically how inspiration occurs.” Given by inspiration of God” is not true and it is not what qeopneustoj says. Inspiration is only inhaled but the Bible is qeopneustoj. Neustoj means both inhale and exhale, and God, of course, is the source. That is why we say that all scripture is God-breathed rather than “all scripture is given by inspiration.” Inspire means to inhale but this is inspire and expire, inhale and exhale. Therefore the translation in the KJV is grossly incorrect.

The inhale of qeopneustoj: The Holy Spirit communicates to human authors, like the Old Testament prophets. And He also communicates to other human authors, mentioned in 2 Peter 3:15 — “according to the wisdom given to him hath written to you hath written.” The Holy Spirit gave him [Paul] the wisdom. The Holy Spirit communicates a complete and coherent message. This is taught in 2 Samuel 23:2,3; Isaiah 59:21; Jeremiah 1:9; Matthew 22:42,43; Mark 12:36; Acts 4:24,25; 28:25; 2 Peter 3:15.

The exhale: Under the principle of the exhale the human writers of scripture, like Paul, so wrote that without waiving their human intelligence, their vocabulary, their personality, their individuality, their personal feelings, their environment, God’s complete message to man was permanently recorded with perfect accuracy in the original scriptures.

2. The original of scripture is not human viewpoint but the Holy Spirit using human agency and human language — 2 Peter 1:20,21.

3. How does the Lord Jesus Christ relate to scripture? The Bible is the mind of Christ, therefore the absolute criterion for believers — 1 Corinthians 2:16; Psalm 138:2.

4. Consequently, the Bible as the mind of Christ existed in eternity past prior to being reduced to writing — Proverbs chapter 8.

5. Pre-canon revelation from God occurred through the Holy Spirit. Before scripture was even written doctrine existed and the source was the Holy Spirit — 2 Samuel 23:2; Ezekiel 2:2; 8:3; 11:1,24; Micah 3:8; Hebrews 3:7.

6. There are four categories of Old Testament revelation: a. the spoken Word of God [Thus saith the Lord]; b. Dreams — Genesis 15:12; 31:10-13; Numbers 12:6; Daniel 10:9; c. Visions (Dreams are divine revelation when you are asleep; visions are divine revelation when you are ecstatic) — Isaiah 1:1; 6:1; 1 Kings 22:19; d. Angelic teaching — Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalm 68:17; Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19.

7. The extent of inspiration — 7 areas: a. The Bible goes into the unknown past — past historical information, statements and details unknown to man unconfirmed by human records — Genesis chapters 1-11; b. Ancient history: The Bible is not an historical text book but it contains many historical citations that are related to doctrine. All of these are accurate and they form the basis and the background for the communication of doctrine; c. Objective type law: The Bible contains not only the laws of divine establishment but it contains many laws for national and individual life. These laws perfectly express the essence of God, they contain His will for the people to whom they are given. They provide protection for the human race from one generation to another. The repetition of these laws , the subsequent recording of them demonstrate the application to all generations. They also teach certain principles that we must have law and order to survive. They teach principles of objectivity in law as over against subjectivity; d. Dictation: There are certain portions of the scripture which are dictated from God and the doctrine of inspiration guarantees that such commands and quotations are properly recorded in the exact way in which God wills them to be recorded; e. The area of devotional literature: This would be illustrated by the Psalms. God used the problems, pressures, the prosperity, the failures, the success of certain believers to reveal principles of grace and provision for life. This is illustrated by Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon; f. The Bible contains a certain number of lies, falsehoods. The Bible records both human and satanic lies in certain texts. This does not imply that these falsehoods are true. Inspiration merely guarantees the accuracy of the lie. But inspiration does not sanctify a lie; g. The area of prophecy: Inspiration involves both the selection of prophetic materials and their complete accuracy.