Chapter 3

The context of chapter three is an extension of what we have just had. We have had false teachers; now we have the day in which the false teachers have their golden age. When false teachers have their way everything goes wrong and living conditions are miserable for everyone. So while the false teachers of 2 Peter 2 will always exist during the Church Age Satan is going to have a special corps of false teachers who at the end of the Church Age will launch one of the greatest religious revivals of all time — a Satanic revival. The last days of the Church Age are in view here. The subject of this chapter is the scoffers. The scoffer is a leader in Satan’s pre-Rapture offensive against the Church.

The recipients of this chapter are believers, they are described as “beloved,” loved-ones of God, verses 1, 8, 14, 17. God has a plan for the believer and His plan goes on in spite of the devil’s greatest offensive.

Verses 1-12, the defeat of scoffers.

Verse 1 — “This” is tauthn hdh, should be translated “this already.”

“second epistle” — a second epistle. Literally, “This already a second epistle.” He has already written 1 Peter. “beloved” — a)gaphtoj, members of the family of God with emphasis on the facts of positional truth, eternal security and grace. A)gaphtoj always emphasises three things.

“I now write” — present active indicative of grafw. This is a dramatic present because he is dealing with the devil’s last offensive before the Tribulation.

“in both” — incorrect. It should be “in which [epistle]” — a relative pronoun which refers to 2 Peter, the epistle.

“I stir up your minds” — present active indicative of diegeirw, which means to turn them on, to awaken, to excite, to arouse. It means to thoroughly arouse, to animate, to completely stimulate them. “I write to stimulate.”

“your pure minds.” The word “pure” is e)ilikrinhj. E)ili means sunshine; krinw means to judge. So it means to judge something by putting it up to the sun to see if it has any impurities in it. A transparency test. In this case the sunlight refers to doctrine. Here is the believer who judges everything on the basis of Bible doctrine, so rather than pure minds it means a doctrinal mind. You will never have a pure mind but you can have something better: an indoctrinated mind, Bible doctrine in the right lobe.

“minds” — dianoia, which means thinking through [dia means through; noia means thinking]. So to have an indoctrinated thought pattern means to have Bible doctrine functioning in the frame of reference, in the norms and standards, in vocabulary categories and on the launching pad. And for a person who has this much doctrine he will be stimulated by the third chapter.

Literally so far: “This already a second epistle beloved, I now write to you [for your advantage] in which I excite your indoctrinated minds [thinking] by way of remembrance.”

“by way of remembrance” — e)n plus the instrumental of u(pomnhsij — by means of remembrance. In other words, what Peter now is going give is something for which they have every basic doctrine. What makes this chapter meaningful? Having certain doctrines already.

Verse 2 — begins with a purpose clause, “That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before.” The purpose clause can be defined in several ways: i(na plus the subjunctive or simply the used as an infinitive. Here we have the aorist passive infinitive of mimnhskw, a special verb designed for a special task, to recall doctrine already in the frame of reference, in the memory centre, doctrine by way of vocabulary and categories already residing there, doctrine in our norms and standards, on the launching pad, e)pignwsij doctrine in the soul or in the human spirit, and whatever has been structurised in the ECS. This becomes a doctrinal passage, a package which we must have in our souls. We cannot go to the Bible in a time of stress any more than you can bring your textbook to the class and copy the answers to an examination. You are required to answer from the soul; it is what your soul has to say. This word means to recall what you have. In other words, from the day you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and started to take in doctrine, all that doctrine sooner or later adds up to an examination. You don’t realise it but you are in the process of taking examinations all the time. Our daily intake of Bible doctrine is going to be tested and we are not going to be able to go to the textbook. And if we did it wouldn’t mean anything, it wouldn’t be helpful. At best it would be some superficial comfort from some verse that comes through. So you must have in your soul a doctrinal package and the memory centre is especially important because it brings to your mind at various points information that you need for something in your life. This word doesn’t mean to be mindful, it means to remember. It means to call upon information you have in your soul. Here is Peter in his dying moments telling you that the greatest asset you have in life is the amount of Bible doctrine you have accumulated in your soul and spirit.

The aorist tense of mimnhskw is a constative aorist. It gathers into one whole every time you GAP it, because the objective of GAP is the build-up in the right lobe and/or the heart. The constative aorist recognises every time you as a believer in Jesus Christ will GAP it. The passive voice means that memory centre receives information. The thing that is most important in your life is your soul, and you cannot get enough Bible doctrine in your soul. And the more doctrine you have in your soul the better your memory centre functions. So this is very important, especially in view of what we have already had in verse 1 — “I am trying to arouse your indoctrinated minds by way of remembrance.” The soul can be aroused by doctrine.

“of the words” — the genitive plural of r(hma, not logoj. While logoj is doctrine presented or stored or residing in the Bible, r(hma refers to doctrine in the frame of reference, ready to go into the memory centre for whatever purpose.

“which were spoken before” — perfect passive participle of prolegw, the communication of Bible doctrine in the past. Prolegw refers to the fact that you have taken in doctrine before. The perfect tense is the permanence of doctrine in the soul. The passive voice: you received it under the function of GAP. The participle: it is a way of life. “by holy the prophets” — not correct. We have u(po plus profhthj — under the authority of the prophets. The prophets received doctrine in many forms, through dreams, visions, conversations, etc. And that information was put on to the launching pad and written in Hebrew. They are called “holy prophets” because they were those set apart by God to write in the Old Testament canon. They were under the authority of the Holy Spirit so u(po is used instead of en plus the instrumental.

“the apostles of the Lord” — the writers of the New Testament canon. Every New Testament book was written either by an apostle or by one closely associated with an apostle. Mark was not an apostle. Peter apparently dictated the gospel to Mark. The same thing is true of Luke who was not an apostle but associated with Paul and therefore became his historian. Outside of Mark and Luke every writer of the New Testament is an apostle. They are called “the apostles of the Lord” to distinguish them from the Old Testament writers.

You will notice by these two phrases “under the authority of the holy prophets” and “under the authority of the apostles of the Lord,” we actually have the entire canon of scripture mentioned. And this is what we are to remember; this is what we are to learn so we can recall; this is what we are to saturate our souls with. With this information we are to daily feed. The feeding of your soul is ultimately more important than the feeding of your body. Verses 3-4, the attack upon Bible doctrine: the attack of the scoffers.

Verse 3 — “Knowing this first” is the present active participle of ginwskw, which means to know from the experience of GAPing it. Ginwskw always has an experiential connotation. Here ginwskw means discipleship: 1. you come whether you like it or not; 2. you concentrate whether it is your favourite passage or not; 3. you recognise authority; 4. you fulfil the GAP principle, with the result that; 5. you store in the soul the doctrinal passages, you cannot use what you do not have in your soul. Bible doctrine is divine capital.

At the time in which Peter was dying there were challenges to Bible doctrine and at this particular point he faces one of these challenges. We do not always face the same things that Peter faced when it comes to a challenge against the Word of God but the principle by which he faces it is the same principle by which we examine or face the attacks of the scoffer. In verses 3 and 4 of this passage we have the attack of the scoffer. The attack in this case deals with the second advent of Jesus Christ. It is obvious that Peter has encountered Jewish scoffers who are familiar with certain aspects of Jewish eschatology. Throughout the Old Testament both the first and the second advents of Christ were taught. In this case we have the second advent of Christ under question, not the Rapture, but the second advent. And the scoffer is saying that God does not keep His word because, Where is the second advent? He has promised since the days of Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, Joel, all of whom dealt with the second advent. These men are all dead and there is no sign of the second advent of Jesus Christ. Therefore, God is a liar, says the scoffer. A scoffer is a person who challenges the veracity of God. He is a person who says in effect, God does not keep His word.

From the tenor of the second chapter of this epistle it is apparent that the scoffers in this case are unbelievers. However, born again believers also fulfil the role of being a scoffer. You become a scoffer at any time that you say that God is not faithful to you.

Verse 3 — “Knowing this first” is the present active participle of ginwskw means to know from experience. In this case Peter had observed the scoffers. Therefore he is prepared now to give an eschatological dissertation on the fact that these scoffers are going to continue to exist. This emphasises the importance of learning doctrine so that one is prepared for this type of thing.

“this first” refers to 2 Peter chapters one and two.

“there shall come” is a future active indicative of the verb e)rxomai. Generally this word means to come to pass or to come on the scene. This is a true future tense, it has a temporal connotation. Peter is speaking prophetically for the entire Church Age, specifically the end of the Church Age where the intensified angelic conflict intensifies more and more. In effect what Peter is saying in the future active indicative of e)rxomai is this: as the Church Age continues and progresses toward the Rapture — which is an unknown factor as to when it occurs — the intensification of the angelic conflict increases with the progression of the Church Age. In other words, the longer the Church Age goes the more intense becomes the conflict. The future tense of e)rxomai plus the next phrase “in the last days” indicates this principle.

“in the last days” — e)sxatoj, used for “last” plus the future tense means two things are occurring simultaneously. The Church Age which began in 30 AD and has continued up to now is more intense now than it was in 30 AD. And in effect this passage is saying that the closer we get to the Rapture, whenever it is, the intensification of the angelic conflict becomes more intense. Which means since we live 2000 years since the Church Age began it has intensified to that extent. The intensification of the angelic conflict increases every day. Therefore God has provided in grace for the believer on a day by day basis. (As you get to the close of the Church Age it is just as bad as the Tribulation. The difference between the last days and the Tribulation is a difference of dispensation, not of intensity of suffering. The last days of the Church Age are just as bad on the earth as the Tribulation, the only exception is there shall be great tribulation to the Jews because of Revelation 12. When Satan is cast down to the earth they are going to have an intensity of suffering they have never known before) As the intensity of this storm increases so does the intensity of human suffering. This is what we have here. We have the future active indicative of e)rxomai plus e)sxatoj, which indicates that as the Church Age continues the action continues and it is tougher today than back in the first century AD.

“scoffers” — there is no word “scoffers” here. There are three Greek words here. We have the preposition e)n plus the instrumental. E)n plus the instrumental can be translated “by means of” or “with.” The object of the preposition in the instrumental case is e)mpaigmonh. This word is taken from a verb which means to scoff or to mock or to deride. The best word would be “mockery.” Then comes a noun in the nominative plural — e)mpaikthj, which means mockers (in the plural), scoffers, deriders. So it should be translated literally, “mockers with mockery.”

What are scoffers who scoff and mockers who mock? They are people who challenge the veracity of God as stated through written revelation. They increase as the Church Age continues. They pick some particular point of the Word of God which is being declared faithfully by pastor-teachers and they say: Where is this thing? Or if they are unbelievers and familiar with some system of theology, as Jewish unbelievers were when Peter was dying, they pick up the eschatological implications of the second advent of Jesus Christ, at which time Christ will fulfil all of the unconditional promises to Israel. Therefore they say: Where is the promise of His coming?

“walking after their own lusts” — We have a special problem here in the lives of the scoffers which causes them to say what they say. Approbation and power lusts are the order of the day. So “walking” here is a present active participle of poreuomai, which indicates their instability and their restlessness. It means not to walk but to go from one place to another. Why do they do this? Because they go where they are complimented, where they are well thought of. They follow the course that leads them to the satisfaction of approbation and power lust. There are two lusts involved here, we have the plural — kata plus e)piqumia. It is in the plural to indicate that there is more than one lust involved — approbation lust and power lust. They go and they gain attraction from believers who are reversionistic.

Verse 4 — “saying” is the present active participle of legw, which means to communicate, keep on communicating.

“Where” — an interrogative particle. The interrogative pronoun is usually tij, but here we have pou, and pou is onomatopoeic and it is used for derision. In what place has this occurred? or Where? And pou begins an attack upon the veracity of God. They do not say “his coming,” they say “Where the promise?” E)paggelia is a promise of grace and blessing. It is a reference here to the promise to Israel of the second advent which terminates the 5th cycle of discipline to the Jews. Satan’s evangelists, Satan’s corps of scoffers, deliberately ignore doctrine which clarifies this situation. The second advent cannot occur until the body of Christ is completed. The second advent cannot occur until the Age of Israel is over. After the second advent there will be the destruction of the universe. There will be a new heavens and an new earth. Peter not only declares the second advent but he declares other future events. So he gives the mockers something about which to mock, except that he carries the second advent to the point where they will be punished forever and ever. So therefore he starts out by showing how the mockers and the deriders have scoffed at the character of God but the very stability of the character of God, the fact that the essence of God is inviolable, this will result in the very destruction of these scoffers in a very dramatic way.

parousia — the noun here means simply an arrival or an advent. It is used for both the Rapture and the second advent, and the context always determines which. The Rapture is not in view in this passage at all. The fact that we have the second advent has not occurred does not hinder or negate either the plan of God or the promise of God. In other words, there is a principle at this point. The elapse of time does not hinder the fulfilment of the promise of God.

“since” — a)po, from the very source. From the very source of the day the fathers fell asleep. The fathers are the Old Testament writers.

“fell asleep” — the aorist passive indicative of koimaw, used for believers dying. The aorist tense is constative because Moses fell asleep, for example, before Isaiah, before Jeremiah, before Zechariah and Malachi. But over a period of time the constative aorist gathers into one ball of wax the fact that there isn’t a writer of the Old Testament who is alive today. That is the point. And just because they are not alive we shouldn’t claim their promises is what the asinine scoffer is trying to say. But the Word of God liveth and abideth forever. Passive voice: they died — in God’s time, not their own.

“all things continue” — present active indicative of diamenw, which means to continue unchanged, remain in status quo. The implications of this innuendo are, of course, blasphemous. The scoffer suggests that since the promise of the second advent has not been fulfilled that God does not interfere or care about the affairs of men. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact this blasphemous assertion ignores not only the cross but divine provision of grace for believers in time and in eternity.

“from the beginning of creation” — the preposition a)po, the preposition of ultimate source. The beginning of creation indicates the Satanic attempt to divorce human history from the angelic conflict and from divine interest in human history. Of course this is of great encouragement to demons but has no benefit to the born again believer. However, the believer in reversionism buys this package sooner or later. Verse 5 — The ignorance of the scoffers. “For this” — gar; “this they are willingly ignorant of” should be “For this they habitually desire.” “For this” is the gar which explains the view of the scoffers.

“to keep on ignoring” — literally. Specifically the scoffers reject two categories of judgement: the baptism of fire which is the judgement of the second advent, and the last judgement which is at the end of the Millennium and, accompanying that is the destruction of the world.

The baptism of fire

1. There are three basic statements of the baptism of fire in eschatology. The first is in Matthew 3:11,12; the second is Luke 3:16,17; the third is 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10.

2. The analogy is found in Matthew 24:36-41. Unfortunately this analogy has often been related to the Rapture; it has nothing to do with the Rapture.

3. Many of the parables deal with the baptism of fire. In Matthew 13 we have the parable of the wheat and the tares — 13:24-30, 36-43. In this parable the wheat are believers of the Tribulation and at the second advent they continue on earth for the Millennium. The tares are cast out and put into fire. The tares are the living unbelievers at the time of the second advent. The wheat is gathered into the barn. The barn refers to the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

We also have in Matthew 13:47-50 the good and the bad fish.

4. In Ezekiel 20:34-38 we have the Jewish baptism of fire. There is also a Gentile baptism of fire in Matthew 25:31-46. In this passage ta eqnh is translated “the nations” and it should be “the Gentiles.”

“willingly” — the present active participle of qelw. Qelw means here to desire. And it is a present participle, they habitually desire. Furthermore this is a desire based on emotion. There are two words for desire in the Greek: Qelw which is a desire based on emotions, and boulomai which is a desire based on thought, on mentality. Qelw is used here in the sense of emotional revolt of the soul. They habitually desire related to their emotions.

“are ignorant” — a present active indicative of lanqanw. Lanqanw means to neglect, to ignore, to reject. They have habitually desired to keep on ignoring, rejecting or neglecting.

“by the word of God” — there is a problem at this point because the instrumental of logoj indicates the Word, the thinking of God. It also indicates doctrine.

“For this they habitually are willing to keep on being ignorant of that by the word of God the heavens were of old … “ “Are ignorant” must be related to something they have all understood, and what they have understood takes us back to creation. The word logoj — Word of God — here refers to the same word, the same thinking of God which is the source of Bible doctrine. This word logos does not directly refer to doctrine although it does in some passages. There is logoj and a)lhqeia, both referring to doctrine. A)lhqeia is translated truth and logoj is translated word, and both of these are used for Bible doctrine. But this same word logoj is also used for the person of Christ and is also used for the thinking of Christ as God.

We are now back in eternity past at the point of creation, and at the point of creation Jesus Christ did some thinking, He is the creator. And they have ignored this principle of doctrine that the one who started it all is also going to end it all. Jesus Christ is the creator of the universe — Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:10; John 1:3. They have deliberately, from their emotional revolt, ignored or rejected this concept.

“the heavens” — this is the universe which is not only created by Jesus Christ but according to Colossians 1:17 is held together by Him.

“were” — imperfect active indicative of e)imi. Here it should be translated “the heavens began to be of old.” “Of old” is the adverb e)kpalai and refers to the course of the antediluvian civilisation. Now what happened in the antediluvian civilisation? First of all there was no rain…

“standing out of water” — perfect active participle of sunistemi, which indicates it was cohesive and held together out of water. “Out of water” is e)c plus the ablative case — out from the source of water. This tells us several things: that the earth was not water primarily from above, but from below. There was a vast storage of water below the earth. This was the way the soil was watered — Genesis 7:11. This storage of water beneath the earth was the major contribution to the flood.

“and in the water” — the preposition dia plus the genitive means “through the water.” This water was never used except to sustain growth of plant life until the judgement.

Verse 6 — “Whereby” is the preposition dia plus the relative pronoun, dia plus the genitive of o(j, and should be translated “through which.”

“the world that then was.” “That then” — an adverb, tote, which means “at that time.” So, “through which the world existing at that time.”

“was” is a present active participle of e)imi.

“being overflowed” — the aorist passive participle of katakluzw, referring to the flood. Kluzw means to wash, kata means down — the earth was washed down. It means to inundate, to flood or to overflow.

“perished” — aorist middle indicative of a)pollumi, the destruction of all unbelievers ends every civilisation.

The aorist tense of the participle “being overflowed” is a culminative aorist, and it action means that first of all these people were destroyed by the earth being completely flooded with water. “Perished” means that it’s constative. At some time during the flood all of these people who were unbelievers drowned. So we know from the difference between the culminative aorist and a constative aorist. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. The main verb is also an aorist indicative but the type of aorist here is culminative, indicating that the earth was completely flooded but the type of aorist here is constative. Ordinarily they would be reversed except for the phenomenon which indicates that the earth was entirely flooded and during the process, while the earth was being flooded, everyone who was an unbeliever drowned but they didn’t all drown at the same time. That is how accurate you can get with the Koine Greek of the New Testament.

Summary

1. A)pollumi, the main verb, means to destroy from an ultimate source.

2. The ultimate source of this judgement at the end of the civilisation was God Himself. And just as certainly as He destroyed the antediluvian civilisation’s unbelievers so He will preserve the post-diluvian civilisation’s believers at the second advent.

3. All unbelievers were removed from the earth, including the nephalim of Genesis 6.

4. This begins a new civilisation with believers only.

5. This explains the parallel between the judgement of the flood and the baptism of fire judgement at the second advent portrayed in Matthew 24:37-41.

6. When Christ returns unbelievers will be removed from the earth through the baptism of fire just as they were removed from the earth in the days of Noah by the flood.

7. This passage emphasises another parallel. Just as God was faithful in judging the world in Noah’s day so God will be faithful in judging the world of unbelievers at the second advent. This second parallelism emphasises verse 7 coming up. As God judged the world in Noah’s day so he will also judge the world at the end of the Millennium. Only at the end of the Millennium the earth will be destroyed by fire and all unbelievers will be assigned to the lake of fire with the devil and his fallen angels.

Verse 7 — begins by telling us that God is preserving the heavens and the earth for this judgement.

“But the heavens” — there are three different heavens in this passage; it is imperative to know the difference. In 2 Peter 3:5 we have the heavens of the antediluvian civilisation and they were characterised by the adverb e)kpalai. Secondly we have the restored heavens, the post-diluvian heavens, and they are characterised in 2 Peter 3:7 by another adverb nun (which means “now”) .E)kpalai means “of old.” So, the “now” heaven in contrast to “the heavens of old.” Then in 2 Peter 3:13 we have the new heavens which will exist after the Millennium and forever. “and the earth” — the post-diluvian earth in contrast with the antediluvian earth. In the antediluvian earth we had great bodies of water stored underground. Now all of that is gone.

“are” is the present active indicative of e)imi.

“now” — nun, post-diluvian civilisation.

“by the same word” — the instrumental of logoj again. Remember that Jesus Christ is holding the universe together — Colossians 1:17.

“are kept in store” — perfect passive participle of qesaurizw, which means to treasure up, store up, accumulate. The perfect tense means to accumulate in the past with the result that they remain in storage for the destruction of the earth.

“reserved” — present passive participle of terew which means God guards something which belongs to Him. The means of executing this judgement belongs to God.

“unto fire” — the locative case of pur. In the sphere of fire. It should be “in fire.”

“against the day of judgement” — referring here to the destruction of the earth at the end of the Millennium.

There is a principle of interpretation at this point. The judgement at the end of the Millennium is divided into two parts — the judgement of persons, Revelation 20:12-15; the judgement of the earth is found in Revelation 21:1. What is described in 2 Peter 3:10,11 occurs between Revelation 20 and 21. At the end of chapter 20 we have the judgement of persons, they are cast into the lake of fire. In Revelation 21:1 we have a new heavens and a new earth and a new Jerusalem.

The “day of judgement” in 2 Peter 3:7 refers to the last judgement, the earth and the universe. But there is another phrase: “and perdition.” “Perdition” — a)poleia, applies specifically to

the people; “ungodly men,” unbelievers.

The doctrine of the last judgement

1. The human race is divided in time — John 3:36.

2. The unbeliever is under condemnation — John 3:18.

3. The unbeliever has two appointments — Hebrews 9:27, physical death and the judgement.

4. The unbeliever also has a resurrection — Revelation 20:11,12.

5. The unbeliever has an indictment at the last judgement — Revelation 20:12,13.

6. The unbeliever also has an eternal future — Revelation 20:14.

7. The unbeliever also has a condemnation forever — Revelation 20:15.

This brings us to the principle, then: It is Bible doctrine that defeats reversionism.

Principle: The elapse of time does not hinder either the plan of God or the promises of God.

Verse 8 — “beloved,” a)gaphtoi is the vocative plural here, referring to members of the family of God. “Beloved” is used in two forms, one the noun and one the verb. The verb is used for the Lord Jesus Christ, the one having been loved, and then used in Colossians for the believer, perfect passive participle of a)gapao — the one having been loved. Once this is established — the perfect participle of the verb — then the noun is used as a substitute for that participle thereafter. As a)gaphtoi refers to the fact that every believer is under maximum love from God — a love that cannot change — and just as God loves every believer with a maximum love without compromising His character in any way, so God keeps His promises and keeps His word. His action is as strong as His love and when God loves a believer then you can count on it that he will keep His promises, He will keep His word, and the elapse of time is not a barrier any more than the carnality or the reversionism of any individual believer. The believer’s reversionism does not keep God from fulfilling His promise to the believer, nor does it destroy his security.

“be not ignorant” — it is ignorance that leads to blasphemy. This is a present active imperative of the verb lanqanw. Lanqanw means to go unnoticed, to forget, to escape the knowledge of something. The present active imperative plus the negative means to stop doing it. So this is addressed to members of the royal family of God who are in some stage of reversionism which leads to their ignorance. They have either forgotten or they have allowed to go unnoticed, or something has escaped their knowledge. Forgetting and going unnoticed are the principles of ignorance here.

“this one thing” — deals with the problem that the scoffers have raised, that the elapse of time means that God will not keep His word, that the elapse of time means that God will not fulfil His promises to Israel and God will not fulfil His promises to the Church. Remember the principle behind this: Impatience is a sign of reversionism or impatience is a sign of being a spiritual child. And impatience always judges.

“one day is with the Lord as a thousand years.” “One day” refers to the delay or the elapse of time. It does not hinder the plan of God or the Word of God. Omniscience like the rest of divine essence has much better timing than we have. The believer should not become impatient or judge God. This type of ignorance or unbelief is blasphemous.

“with” is the preposition para plus the ablative — from the source of, from the immediate source. Every day is from the immediate source of the Lord and God gives one day at a time. And the fact that He gives one day at a time is indicative of His faithfulness. The elapse of time never becomes a barrier in the fulfilment of anything that God has planned for you as an individual or any group such as the Church or for Israel. If the Lord promised the second advent several thousand years ago it is just as if He had made the promise today and He will keep the promise.

The doctrine of the delay of the second advent

1. The second advent is delayed because the Lord is slow to judge and swift to save under grace. In other words the delay is based upon the fact that the Lord has what we do not — patience.

2. The second advent is delayed because the body of Christ is not yet formed. And the Church Age is an interruption of the Jewish Age, and the second advent is the end of the Jewish Age. The Church Age must be terminated by the Rapture before the Jewish Age can be completed.

3. Without the Rapture of the Church the Jewish Age cannot resume.

4. Principle: People who are ignorant of God and His plan inevitably will judge, slander or malign God.

5. The Tribulation is the termination of the Jewish Age and the Tribulation will be terminated by the second advent.

6. Therefore the elapse of time is fulfilling the plan of God, not frustrating it.

7. The elapse of time is necessary for the fulfilment of the plan of God.

Verse 9 — “the Lord” — kurioj. While kurioj can be used for any member of the Trinity it is used here for God the Father, the author of the plan. Therefore, since it is His plan it is blasphemous to assume that the elapse of time has somehow hindered or destroyed it or caught the Lord by surprise.

“the Lord is not slack” — present active indicative of bradunw, which means to be slow, to be tardy, to be late. Bradunw also means to delay. The Lord never delays a promise.

“concerning his promise” — the genitive singular from e)paggelia. This is a promise or the act of promising. The singular refers to the principle which is in view in the context. The singular has to do with the second advent. The principle is that God is not tardy with regard to you.

“as some” — we have here in the Greek an indefinite pronoun, tinej. Tinej describes believers who have failed in the Christian life. That is why we have the indefinite pronoun. “Some” describes indefinite believers, and this is the tragedy of the Christian life.

“count” — the present active indicative of e(geomai means to conclude, it means overthinking leading to false conclusions. Operation overthink is the result of not having enough doctrine and having too much subjectivity and frustration of soul. “As some overthink to the conclusion [that God is slack].”

“slackness” is the accusative singular from braduthj, tardiness, lateness.

“but” — conjunction of contrast [God is not braduthj]. The feminine gender is used to indicate emotional revolt of the soul, one of the stages of reversionism.

“long-suffering” — makroqumew, patient, long enduring, a characteristic of God which is commanded of the believer. As a characteristic of God it means God always knows what He is doing.

“not willing” — present middle participle of boulomai, which means to decree or to appoint. God does not decree; God does not appoint. The plan of God has decreed that no one perish. Well, what can change that? Not the plan of God but the negative volition of man. God’s plan demands entrance on the basis of free will. The fact that people reject Christ is indicative of the fact that man possesses free will and that if man says No to the plan of God he is out. God does not decree — present middle participle. The direct middle means that God Himself on the basis of His character does not decree or appoint. And again we have tinaj — “anyone,” used here as the indefinite pronoun.

“should perish” — the aorist middle infinitive of a)pollumi refers to the last judgement. A)po is ultimate source; ollumi means to utterly destroy, to utterly destroy from the ultimate source of God refers to the last judgement. And this is an absolute fact so it is put in the gnomic aorist tense. The middle voice is intensive, this is the intense desire of God. The infinitive plus the negative indicates a divine purpose negative: He does not decree, He does not appoint anyone to perish. And it should be translated “to have perished” — aorist tense.

“but” — again an adversative conjunction to set up contrast.

“that all” — an accusative plural of paj, we get away from the indefinite pronoun. Paj means the entire human race and paj is in the accusative because it is an accusative of general reference, it is the subject of the infinitive coming up.

“should come” — incorrectly translated. It is an aorist active infinitive of xorew. Xorew means to make room for by either capacity or motion. Hence it means to admit, to receive, to make room for, to give mental attendance to. And it is used as a technical word for positive volition at the point of salvation. The reason the word is used is because the principle carries over into the Christian way of life. Once you make that positive decision — non-meritorious faith in Christ — then you must continue to make positive decisions, not with regard to salvation but with regard to the objective of phase two, spiritual maturity. Therefore that means there will be constant need for repentance, which is simply changing your mind, and moving again in the correct direction. So it should be: “but all should make room for [have capacity for, move toward] repentance.”

“all” is in the accusative. The accusative of general reference gives great emphasis to the passage. This indicates a true positive principle on the part of God. The aorist tense is constative, referring to any point in human history, and it is gathered into one entirety, one whole, to indicate this is an historical fact. The active voice: the subject produces the action of the verb and tinaj, which was the subject plus paj which becomes the actual subject after the adversative conjunction indicates the action of the verb. So we are dealing with the human race. The indefinite is used to show the exceptions, those who reject by their own volition, and paj in the accusative is used to indicate the principle, the plan. The infinitive expresses the will and purpose and plan of God.

Immediately you can see the picture. There are those in every generation who reject Christ as saviour. They are outside the plan of God; they perish. And this is addressed to members of the family of God, we are already saved, so obviously this principle does not apply to us. This principle of enucleation from God’s plan is something even the reversionist could understand and start to change his course. He can understand that it is God’s will that all members of the human race be saved. Christ died for all — “whosoever believeth.” So understanding that he can also see that the unbeliever is outside of the plan of God and often people have accepted Christ because they have looked at the alternative, the lake of fire forever. So to be outside of the plan of God isn’t what God wants. But to be outside of the plan means nothing but misery and, for the unbeliever, eternal misery.

So the application is the principle here, and the application is this: you reversionistic believers who maligned God listen to this. In the plan of God there is nothing but blessing; outside of the plan of God as a believer in time you cannot lose your salvation, all you can do is be miserable. God doesn’t want you to be miserable but you can count on it, you will be outside of the plan of God.

“repentance” — metanoia. It is in the accusative and this is the object of the infinitive. Repentance in the principle means that all members of the human race, the moment they believe in Christ, change their minds to believe in Christ. That is one side of the coin and the side of which you are aware. The side of which you are not aware is the fact that in believing in Christ you change your mind about Christ, either immediately before or coterminous with faith in Christ.

This brings us down to the judgement of the earth — verse 10. We are going to have two things coming up in the next paragraph: the nuclear destruction of the universe from the verb kausomai. Then we are also going to have “shall be burned” in the English, but it is actually e(uriskw — “shall be discovered.” These words are going to describe some phase of the destruction of the world.

It is necessary to get a little information before we begin our next verse and we have to start with the atom. The earth is going to be destroyed by some form of nuclear reaction. The earth was destroyed in the previous dispensation through water, it is going to be destroyed in the future by nuclear reaction.

The structure of the atom has been pretty well broken down. First of all it has a core which is made up of a positive and a negative charge. The core has a proton and a series of neutrons. Proton is the positive charge and neutron is the neutral. In addition to this every atom has an outer ring, a series of rings, and these are composed of electrons which carry the negative charge. The difference in most elements is the number of electrons in the outer ring. An atom of oxygen has a core of eight protons and eight neutrons. The rings also must contain a balanced out number of electrons with the protons. We are talking about the core and the structure of one atom of oxygen. One atom of oxygen is one trillionth of an inch in diameter. The electrons revolve around this core just like a solar system and every atom of oxygen is a solar system of its own. One teaspoon of radium contains one million billion atoms and the force which holds one atom together is called energy or power. So what holds this solar system together and keeps it from breaking up? Energy or power. The force which holds one atom together is one million times more powerful than the force that holds a bar of steel together, and the force that holds one atom together is equivalent to the power output of the Boulder dam for one month.

There are two ways in which our passage coming up can be fulfilled. One is fission and the other is fusion. Fission is built around uranium 238. Uranium 238 is unstable and is said to be fissionable and when it is bombarded with a neutron it results in a chain reaction. The chain reaction is called fission. You have to find a neutron with which to bombard uranium 238 and the neutron that does it results in krypton and barium and two neutrons. The neutron splits the core of uranium 238 — just one atom — and when this happens we have a release of krypton plus barium plus two neutrons. And when you multiply that by many many many you have what happened in 1945 at Hiroshima.

Now fission is one possibility. A nuclear reaction of the universe would destroy the universe. There is another way in which it could be destroyed and this is a greater possibility as far as the Greek text is concerned. This is called a system of fusion. Under fusion we are dealing with another unstable quality called hydrogen. One atom of hydrogen plus another atom of hydrogen combined equals helium plus heat. And the heat which is released by combining two hydrogen atoms is six thousand degrees centigrade. This is called a thermonuclear explosion or detonation. This is how we got our H-bomb which is hotter than the surface of the sun.

The things that we now see in nature will undergo a total destruction but you and I as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are indestructible. You have in your body a soul. That soul was designed to be permanent and it will last forever; it will survive the greatest cataclysm of all time. There are two passages, the one we are studying and one at the end of Hebrews 12 in which it is clearly declared that the most durable thing in all of God’s universe is the soul of the believer. And the believer will survive all of the future destruction of the universe and live to glorify God forever and ever. So God doesn’t ask a whole lot of you, He just says, During the short time that you are in this temporary residence, during the short time of phase two, live it up to full capacity — the grace way, the only way you can do it. God found a way to give us maximum capacity for life, and it is this maximum capacity for life which is the challenge as we come to the end of this book.

We started out in chapter one with the importance of Bible doctrine, our very life; more important than what we see, what we touch, what we hear and what we taste. Now we come to the challenge of Bible doctrine moving toward the ECS and spiritual maturity.

In the last part of this chapter there are two things that we think will be around for a long time, and they won’t .There is one thing that we have not considered as being durable, but it is — our souls, the saved souls of all believers. There are two things that will be destroyed: the universe and the things by which people want to be remembered, their good deeds, man-made activities designed to perpetuate a memory. So this passage in closing is fantastic, it takes us right back where we started: the most important thing in life is doctrine. If we are going to fulfil God’s plan for the short time we are on this earth it must come to Bible doctrine. It must come from capacity for life, and our capacity for life is measured in terms of the amount of intake and transfer of Bible doctrine through the daily function of GAP. There is no capacity beyond that, there is nothing more durable, the Word of God lives and abides forever whether in the canon of scripture or inside of our souls. What is in the canon of scripture is durable but what is in our souls is usable for phase two. And it is the usableness of the Word of God which is the challenge of the closing part of this passage.

Verse 10 — the destruction of planet earth. This occurs between the end of Revelation 20 and the beginning of Revelation 21.

“The day of the Lord” — this is that portion of the day of the Lord which occurs at the end of the Millennium. Whenever the word day is followed by the genitive case, like the day of Christ, the Rapture, the day of God, the eternal state, it does not refer to a twenty-four-hour day , unless the genitive which follows describes something of a 24-hour day. So the day of the Lord here refers to the end of the Millennium when the universe will be destroyed.

“will come” — a future active indicative, but not of the usual words you would expect. Many times we have had the word “come” but it has always been e)rxomai. Now we have e(hkw, and this word means to arrive. The day of the Lord will arrive. Hundreds and thousands of generations of the human race have lived in more or less the same area, or have travelled on this planet, and they have observed the signs of nature which they consider to be very permanent. The same mountains that their grandfather’s described, the same sky, the same daylight alternating with darkness, and everything seems to continue and to go on and on indefinitely. But this is the observation of man which is erroneous because the day of the Lord will arrive as in the analogy,” a thief.”

“a thief” — o(j plus klepthj. Klepthj is a thief of the ancient world. The thief that is mentioned here was simply someone who was trying to steal possessions, he was not trying to murder. We have a type of thief today called a house breaker. His objective is not usually to do violence to those who might be residing in the house but to separate them from their possessions with minimal or no violence. The Greeks recognised that so they had a word, lusthj, for a person who wanted to do violence. Klepthj always referred to a person who came suddenly. He had to take the people of the house by surprise without violence. Therefore when this in our passage occurs, the destruction of the universe, it takes everyone by surprise except those believers who are familiar with the doctrine and who believe it. It is going to be a great surprise that the earth is going to be destroyed.

“in the which” — or “in which day,” literally.

“the heavens” — referring to the entire universe, including the solar system and planet earth.

“shall pass away” — e)rxomai in a compound form, the future middle indicative of pare)rxomai. Parerxomai means to pass away, to be removed, to vanish or to disappear or to perish. Here it means to completely disappear through destruction.

“with a great noise” — an adverb, r(oizhdon, derived from a Greek noun roizoj which means a whizzing or rushing noise. It is onomatopoeic and the adverb describes the detonation of the universe.

“and the elements shall melt” — the word for elements here is stoixeion. Stoixeion is used by Plato to set up a line-like thing, and therefore the alphabet. It is used for elements, for fundamental principles of learning, and for basic elements of the universe. Stoixeion was used by the Greeks to summarise the four basic elements as they observed them — earth, air, fire, and water. Here it is used for the structure of the universe.

“shall melt” is the future passive indicative of luw which means to dissolve. The future tense is gnomic and this is an absolute. The passive voice: the universe is self-destructing because of its very atomic structure. The very structure of the universe is also the very basis of destroying it.

“with fervent heat” — perfect passive participle from kausomai which means burning intensely. This can be either fusion or fission actually.

“the earth also” — this is the earth of the Millennial civilisation.

“the works that are therein” — the nominative plural from e)rgon referring to the production of human good here. “therein” should be “in it” — e)n a)uth. The production “in it.” All human good is eliminated at the destruction of the universe and this refers to the human good of believers in all dispensations but the Church Age, which is handled at the judgement seat of Christ, and it also refers to human good of unbelievers.

The doctrine of human good

1. All human good is destructible, it is just a question as to when. The first great destruction of human good occurs after the Rapture because it has to be accomplished before the bride can be prepared. All human good is unfaithfulness to God and it is inevitably destroyed by the time of the destruction of the universe and coterminous with it.

2. Since human good is unfaithfulness to God it is dead to God’s plan. Therefore, it is called dead works in Hebrews 6:1.

3. Human good is not acceptable to God at any time. It is blasphemy, it is unfaithfulness, and the believer who saturates himself with human good or performs an occasional act of human good is faithful to the extent that he is involved in the production of human good. He is totally unfaithful. This is a part of spiritual adultery. Isaiah 64:6 emphasises that human good is never acceptable to God.

4. Therefore human good has no place in the plan of God — 2 Timothy 1:9.

5. However, distinction should be made between human good and morality — Romans 13:4,5. Morality is a part of the laws of divine establishment and is not a part of human good.

6. Human good will not save mankind — Titus 3:5. The instincts of spiritual death demand that human good save mankind, that man is good and that God has to save him because God is impressed. Why? Because man says, I am impressed with my good deeds, therefore I expect God to be impressed to the point of saving me!

7. The Church Age believer’s human good is revealed and destroyed at the judgement seat of Christ — 1 Corinthians 3:11-16. There is no place for human good in heaven.

8. The unbeliever’s human good becomes the basis for his indictment at the last judgement — Revelation 20:12-15.

9. The believer’s human good of the following dispensations: Age of the Gentiles, Age of the Jews, and Millennium. In other words, believers in the three dispensations minus the Church Age. Their human good is destroyed when the universe is destroyed — 2 Peter 3:10.

10. In principle, human good can only produce human boasting and lead to human pride — Ephesians 2:9.

“shall be burned” — future passive indicative of e(uriskw, which does not means to be burned. E(uriskw means to discover or to expose and condemn. Here it means to expose and condemn. It shall be exposed and condemned. The future tense is a nomic future and this refers to those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who, in the Age of the Gentiles, the Age of the Jews and the Age of the Millennium. If you discover certain things you condemn them. God discovers certain things and condemns them.

In conclusion there are certain things which are destroyed in this verse: the nuclear destruction of the universe — kausomai — and the divine destruction of human good — e(uriskw. These are the two verbs that give us the key to the situation.

Verse 11 — the challenge to the believer in view of the fact that the universe you see around you is not going to last, in view of the fact that you as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ are going to produce a lot of human good which from time to time will impress you.

“Seeing then that all” — Touton panton, “All these,” and it refers to the universe. It should be translated: Of all these, or concerning all of these, or even from all these.

“in this manner shall be dissolved” — in this manner is an adverb, o(utoj. It means “in this way.” Literally, “All these in this way” .

“shall be dissolved” — present passive participle of luw. It means to be destroyed. This is a dramatic present. The dramatic present modifies the nomic future of the previous verse. However the dramatic present indicates that this is a process. There is a sense in which the process is going on now. The earth today is not what it was a thousand years ago. Just as the human body gets old the universe gets old, and in God’s perfect timing it comes to a dramatic end at the end of the Millennium. The passive voice: the universe receives the action of the verb — destruction. However, the believer is not destroyed with the universe because he is a part of an unshakeable kingdom described in Hebrews 12:26-29.

“what manner” — the accusative plural of the qualitative and interrogative pronoun potapoj. This refers to the believers in phase two. We are protected from the future destruction of the universe as well as the last judgement, and therefore we ought to be effective in doing whatever God wants us to do that has some permanent concept.

“ought” — the impersonal verb dei, which means, It is proper.

“ye to be” — this is not correct. It is a present active infinitive, not of e)imi, but of u(parxw. U(parxw means to begin to become. “What manner of person is it proper for you to begin to become.”

“holy” — a(gioj refers to the ultimate in experiential sanctification.

“conversation” — a)nastrofh, which means manner of life. In the sphere of a holy manner of life.

What is the challenge? The universe is going to be destroyed, human good is going to be destroyed. The challenge is to move to spiritual maturity. “Holy manner of life” means the construction of the ECS.

“godliness” — e)usebeia, construction of the ECS leading to spiritual maturity.

Verse 12 — “Looking for” is the present active participle of prosdokaw, which means to anticipate something eagerly. It means to think about something that is coming up that you anticipate enjoying. The construction of a house in your soul leads to eager anticipation of the future, the coming day of God.

“the coming day of God” — parousia means the arrival of a great event. This is the eternal state.

“wherein” is dia plus the accusative of o(j, and it means because of which.

“the heavens being on fire” — present passive participle of purow. It does not mean to be on fire, it means nuclear fission or fusion.

“shall be dissolved” — future passive indicative of luw again.

“the elements” — stoixeia, referring to the atomic structure of the universe.

“melt” — present passive indicative of tekw. Tekw means to make liquid or to melt. It also describes perfectly the concept of fusion. Intensified heat is the concept of tekw.

“with fervent heat” — a present passive participle of kausomai, which means burning intensely.

Verse 13 — “Nevertheless we.” “We” refers to the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The destruction of the universe at the end of the Millennium will not harm the believer in Jesus Christ. The resurrection body of the believer will stand up under temperatures in excess of 6-million degrees centigrade without injury. The unbeliever, of course, will be alive in the lake of fire forever, enduring maximum temperatures.

“according to” — preposition kata denotes norm or standard.

“his promise” — e)paggelma, which means not just a promise; that is e)paggelia which we have had before, but this means a promise of blessing, a promise of perfect blessing, and it refers specifically to two passages of scripture: Isaiah 65:17. (Notice in verse 16: “That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of doctrine” — phase two) In verse 17, the activities of the present earth is not something that would be pleasant for eternity — “I create a new heavens and a new earth.” Now in Isaiah 66:22: “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.” These are two promises guarding the fact that one more time God is going to have to restore planet earth and create a new universe. That will be the third time around: once for angels, once for man, once for man superior to angels in a resurrection body.

So the word “promise” here means a promise of blessing. The reason this word is used is because the blessing cannot be enucleated because it is beyond human comprehension and none of us have any frame of reference for the blessing of eternity.

“look” — some believers look and some do not. It all depends on the doctrine taken in. This is a present active indicative of prosdokaw. This is a compound. Dokaw comes from dokew which means to think objectively, and proj means to project objective thinking into the future. Therefore it means to think in anticipation, to be expectant or anticipating something wonderful. So we anticipate the new heavens and the new earth mentioned in Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; Revelation 21:1.

“wherein dwelleth” — literally, “in which dwelleth” — present active indicative of katoikew, for permanent indwelling, permanent residence.

“righteousness” — this word is a little difficult because we do not necessarily, in our frame of reference and our old sin nature, assume that righteousness and happiness are synonymous. In fact we often associate righteousness with someone who is self-righteous and therefore someone who is obnoxious to us. But that is not the case because the righteousness here is something that accompanies the resurrection body, and this righteousness refers to a perfect capacity for perfect happiness. With an old sin nature we do have the capacity for perfect happiness as yet, and every facet of our old sin nature screams out against perfect happiness. That is why the Bible says that man’s days are few and full of trouble. As long as we are in these bodies of corruption we do not have the capacity for happiness of eternity. We will some day and to do it we will have the permanent dwelling of righteousness.

Verse 14 — “Wherefore.” Dio, which is a combination of dia plus o(j. It should be translated “Because of which” [verse we have just studied and the principle in it].

“beloved” — again, members of the family of God.

“seeing that ye look for” — and again we have prosdokaw, this time in the present active participle, which means once we learn this doctrine we begin to anticipate these things — category three perfect happiness.

“be diligent” — aorist active imperative of spoudazw. Spoudazw means to be zealous, to be eager, to be diligent of application. Here it actually refers to the diligence of application. Whatever trace of that future happiness exists in time it is worth having. Therefore be diligent and have it. GAP is the way in which we are going to do it. By GAP we are going to come to appreciate the source of this happiness and just as God provided for us in eternity past, long before we existed, so now we in time can appreciate the source of phase three +H, by doctrine leading to occupation with the person of Christ.

“that” — purpose clause; “ye may be found” — aorist passive infinitive of e(uriskw is “be discovered.” This is a culminative aorist which indicates the primary objective of phase two: not works, not Christian action, but being discovered a certain way. Production is a detail of life, good works a detail of life. The real life is occupation with the person of Christ which comes through the daily intake of Bible doctrine, and the thing that should be really emphasised is the intake of the Word of God, not doing something.

“of him” is literally, “by him” — instrumental case.

“without spot” — a)spiloj. Spiloj in the ancient world meant everything from a grease spot acquired from dining, to the accumulation of the filth of the streets. The spots here refer to the various manifestations of the old sin nature — sin in three categories: mental attitude sins, sins of the tongue, overt sins. The trends of the old sin nature, the lust pattern of the old sin nature, and even human good spots the garments. And to be without spots requires, not only rebound, but the functioning of GAP daily.

“and blameless” — a)momhtoj, actually refers to the erection of the ECS and progression into spiritual maturity. Blameless refers to the fact that with an ECS and spiritual maturity puts us into a sphere of relationship which we did not previously have. And He intends to discover us that way. It is a wonderful thing to be found with your ECS of the soul and to be, as it were, discovered by God in these circumstances. This is the goal for phase two.

In verses 15 and 16: How are you going to do it?

It is very interesting to note that Peter says you are going to do it through the Pauline epistles. All of the Pauline epistles are way ahead of any other portion of the Word of God when it comes to living the Christian life.

“And account that” — not correct. The word “account” is what leads us astray here. This is the present active imperative of e(geomai. E(geomai means to think to the point of conclusion without over thinking. This means to think logically to a correct conclusion. And it is an imperative mood, so he says literally, “keep on concluding.” The present tense plus the imperative. In other words, this stands forever. You conclude now and you keep on concluding it.

“the longsuffering of our Lord” — the accusative singular from makroqumia. He set a pattern. The longsuffering of the Lord is the fact that Jesus Christ in His humanity erected an ECS.

“salvation” — deliverance. The word salvation here is swthria which also means deliverance. Salvation is not in view here but deliverance is deliverance from all the adversities and problems and difficulties of life. This is a reference also of physical deliverance from the destruction of the universe which begins the day of God.

Trans.: “And keep concluding the patience [makroqumia] of our Lord as deliverance.

“even as” — now we have an introduction to Paul, kaqoj, according as. And then he uses the adjective a)gaphtoj for the apostle Paul. This is used here in a very special sense for the fact that Paul at this stage is loved by all the believers. He is loved by God but “our beloved” refers to the fact that all believers had a phenomenal respect for Paul.

“brother” — Why does he add “brother”? To show that Paul who was once a great killer is a member of the family of God.

“according to the wisdom” — kata plus sofia. Sofia doesn’t refer to knowledge so much as capacity for knowledge building something very great. Paul had capacity for knowledge because he went further with GAP than anyone in all of human history. The more he GAPed it the more he knew; the more he knew the more capable he was of knowing. And sofia means to have great knowledge so that you are capable of knowing even greater things than that. Knowledge is always built upon knowledge. “According to the standard of the wisdom given,” and this indicates the principle of GAP.

“given” — we have an aorist passive participle of didomi. The aorist tense is constative. Paul’s response to doctrine was a consistent thing. The passive voice: he received it. And the participle: the action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. “Hath written” is the main verb. “The wisdom having been given unto him” is dative of advantage. In other words, doctrine went into the soul of Paul, it was cycled, came up to the launching pad and was put out in writing.

“hath written” refers to the exhale. The inhale — “given”; the exhale — “hath written.” When you put it together you have the doctrine of inspiration.

Verse 16 — “all his epistles.” The word “his” is not found here; it is referring to the Pauline epistles but not to exclude the others, so the personal pronoun doesn’t occur here. “All epistles” means John’s epistles, the epistles of Peter and James, all contribute.

“speaking” is a present active participle for communication — lalew; “in them” — specifically the Pauline epistles — “these things in which [epistles].”

“are” — present active indicative of e)imi — keep on being, literally.

“some things” — some doctrines.

“hard to be understood” — a noun in the nominative plural neuter, dusnohtoj. Duj means hard or difficult, nohtoj means thinking. Difficult thinking.

“which they that are unlearned” — dusnohtoj is that which really belongs to the mature believer. It is hard because they are built upon other doctrines and you have to learn so many other doctrines first; “they that are unlearned” refers to the reversionist — amaqhj. It is taken from monqanw, a disciple, a is negative — “not a disciple.” Here is a person who is not under strict academic discipline, he will not concentrate, he rejects the authority of the teacher, he is inconsistent, so he is a)maqhj which refers to the fact of reversionism.

“unstable” — a)sthriktoj. a is negative again, sthriktoj comes from the verb sthrizw which means to be mentally stable. So a)sthriktoj means to be mentally unstable. And when people are unstable, up and down about doctrine, then they do something here …

“wrest” — taken from the present active indicative of the verb streblow, which is derived from an old Attic word streblh which is a windmill. It was also used for a windlass or a rack, or instrument of torture. And it eventually came to mean some kind of a machine for torturing people, stretching them or twisting their limbs. So the word comes to mean to be twisted and distorted. Reversionism always twists and distorts. And notice what is distorted and twisted, the Pauline epistles. But not only are they distorted but the reversionist does this to other scriptures.

“other” — loipoj, the rest [literally] of the scriptures. And they do this …

“unto their own destruction” — idioj plus a)poleia. A)poleia refers to the sin unto death and they do it all by themselves to themselves. I)dioj means their very own destruction brought on by themselves.

Verses 17 and 18 — it doesn’t have to be this way.

Verse 17 — “ye therefore, beloved,” again referring to believers.

“ye know these things before.” “Ye know before” is a present active participle of proginwskw. This is interesting because Peter is addressing himself to those in whom he recognises the potentiality of going into reversionism. So he says, Before you ever take that step you know where you are going. You are not going into this blindly. “You therefore, beloved, knowing ahead of time” .The word “seeing” does not occur in the Greek.

“beware” does not occur as such. Actually it is the present middle imperative of qulassw which is a military word for guarding something, or having custody of something. “Since you know the dangers of reversionism, qulassw.” Take doctrine into custody. You have get doctrine for yourself, you can’t lean on someone else, you have to have your own doctrine in the custody of your own soul.

“lest being led away” — a negative purpose clause plus the aorist passive participle of sunapagw. This means reversionists are subject to bad leadership. Sunapagw means to be led astray by the wrong people. In this case it means to be led away …

“by the error of the wicked” — those who are already in reversionism are saying to you, Come in, the water is fine. But the word for wicked here is a)qesmoj, meaning lawless in the soul. That refers to everything from scar tissue to black out to emotional revolt, to the practice of reverse process reversionism in the soul. And this same word, lawlessness, is used for the man of sin in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-10. So, “For the purpose of not being seduced by the error of the lawless ones.” The lawless ones are reversionists.

“fall” — we have e)kpiptw used for falling into reversionism, or falling away from grace. The aorist tense is an ingressive aorist — “begin to fall.” The active voice: you begin yourself when you are negative toward doctrine. The subjunctive mood is potential, you don’t have to.

“from your own steadfastness” — sthrigmoj means the stabilised base you have already developed through taking in doctrine. You have already started growing and now you are moving away from it. That is the principle here. You are hurting yourself by not going on and being led astray, falling from your own steadfastness whatever doctrine you have accumulated what ever part of the ECS which has been constructed.

Verse 18 — “grow” is the present active imperative of a)ucanw, grow up.

“in grace” — in the sphere of grace.

“knowledge” — you would expect e)pignwsij. But gnwsij indicates two things: doctrine in the left lobe, but in the frame of reference it is again gnwsij or e)pignwsij. So it is technical for being on the other side of the fence as well. In this case it is knowledge of a special kind rather than simple objective knowledge in the left lobe. Gnwsij has two meanings: specialised knowledge and knowledge of an objective nature. Knowledge of an objective nature is the first stage of GAP gnwsij but this knowledge is knowledge of a specialised kind. And why did Peter use this instead of e)pignwsij? Because he is talking about specialised epistles of Paul, and he is still talking about the Pauline epistles when he says gnwsij. He is still talking about the fact that the study of the Pauline epistles inevitably leads to the occupation with the person of Christ. And then he calls it …

“the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour” — first you recognise His authority, secondly you recognise His grace. “Jesus,” His humanity; “Saviour,” His appointment by God the Father.

“To Him glory” — finally you recognise His glory and that is occupation with Christ in the mature spiritual life.

“both now and forever” — what you have now, phase two, this you can take with you into phase three. When you come to the point of occupation with Christ it is something you will have now; it is something you will have forever. And it doesn’t reveal but it anticipates the glory of phase three.