Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
2 Peter 1:12-21 God's Word

2 Peter 1:12-21 God's Word

Last updated on: November 17, 2014 at 4:58 pm by Jim Erwin

2 Peter 1:12-21 God's Word 2014-11-17T16:58:38-05:00 Jim Erwin

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

2 Peter 1:12-21 God’s Word

Men die, but the Word lives (1:12-15)

Motives behind Peter’s ministry:

Obedience to Christ’s command (1:12)

The right thing to do (1:13)

Being diligent (1:15)

Experience fades, but the Word remains (1:16-18)

Fabled stories versus personal experience (1:16)

Peter came – to the mountain

Peter saw – the glory of God in Christ

Peter heard – the voice of God

Peter is responding to two objections:

Objection #1 – The Return of Jesus Christ is a myth

Reply #1 – Apostolic Witness – Peter was an eyewitness to Jesus Christ and how He will return

“For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16, HCSB)

“For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, a voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him!” (2 Peter 1:17, HCSB)

Reply #2 – Old Testament prophecy can be trusted.

“So we have the prophetic word strongly confirmed. You will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dismal place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” (2 Peter 1:19, HCSB)

The Old Testament prophecies can be just as trustworthy as a lamp shining in the dark until daylight comes. In the same way, Old Testament prophecy is that lamp shining the truth until Jesus returns (the day dawns.)

Objection #2 – The Inspiration of Old Testament prophecy

They are truthful, but are they inspired by God?

Reply #1 – No prophecy was the prophet’s interpretation

“First of all, you should know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation,” (2 Peter 1:20, HCSB)

Reply #2 – Reason – The prophets were Spirit-enabled

“because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21, HCSB)

Today’s Objection: How do we know that Old Testament was Spirit-enabled?

1. Fulfilled prophecy. God spoke to men telling them of things He would bring about in the future. Some of them have already occurred. Others have not. For example, there were more than 300 prophecies concerning Jesus Christ’s first coming 2,000 years ago. There is no doubt that these are prophecies from God because of manuscripts and scrolls dated before the birth of Christ. These were not written after the fact. They were written beforehand. Scientific dating proves this.

2. The unity of Scripture. The Bible was written by approximately 40 human authors over a period of approximately 1,600 years. These men were quite diverse. Moses, a political leader; Joshua, a military leader; David, a shepherd; Solomon, a king; Amos, a herdsman and fruit picker; Daniel, a prime minister; Matthew, a tax collector; Luke, a medical doctor; Paul, a rabbi; and Peter, a fisherman; among others. The Bible was also written under a variety of circumstances. It was written on 3 different continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Yet, the great themes of Scripture are maintained in all the writings. The Bible does not contradict itself. There is no way, apart from God the Holy Spirit supervising the writing of the Bible, that this could have been accomplished.

3. The Bible presents its heroes truthfully with all of their faults and weaknesses. It does not glorify men as other religions do about their heroes. When you read the Bible, you realize that the people it describes have problems and do wrong just as we do. What made them great was that they trusted in God. One example is David. David is described as “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). Yet, David committed adultery (2 Samuel 11:1-5) and murder (2 Samuel 11:14-26). This could have been left out of Scripture to hide these details of David’s life. But God included these things.

4. Archaeological findings support the history recorded in Scripture. Though many unbelieving people throughout history have tried to find archaeological evidence to disprove what is recorded in the Bible, they have failed. It is easy to say that Scripture is untrue. Proving it to be untrue is a different story. It has not been done. In fact, in the past the Bible contradicted the current “scientific” theories, only to be proven later to be in fact true. A good example is Isaiah 40:22, which declared that God “sits on the circle of the earth” long before scientists claimed the earth was flat.1.

In the Hindu Scriptures it is taught that the earth is set atop the backs of four elephants, who in turn stood on a giant sea-turtle that was swimming through a milky sea. However, Job states, “He stretches out the North over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing.(26:7)” Also, Isaiah mentions that God sits “above the circle of the earth.(40:22)” The New Testament also records a snatching away of believers. In Luke 17 Jesus talks of a singular event stating that “two men in one bed; and one will be taken, and the other will be left. There will be two women grinding in the same place; one will be taken, and the other will be left.” These are events that happen at different times of the day, yet Jesus speaks of them as a single instance. Only someone who understands the revolution of a round earth could understand how day and night are relative and one act may affect people in both time frames.

When Genesis was written, The Greeks were beginning to tell of Apollos’ flight across the sky in a flaming chariot. The Egyptians were worshipping the sun as Ra, deifying it. The Mesopotamians referred to the sun as “Shamosh” and called it the god of justice. Genesis, however, calls the sun “a light in the expanse of the heavens” and views it as a thing, one created by God. That the Bible does not follow the naiveté of those ancient religions is often overlooked, since modern man is much more knowledgeable in the mechanics of nature. We take for granted that someone touching an infectious person or a corpse should practice good hygiene and wash thoroughly in running water before proceeding to anything else, but this “discovery” has only been a medical reality for 150 years. The book of Leviticus, though, requires this same procedure. One cannot find ideas as arcane as blood-letting or consuming ram’s horn for fertility, or all the other mythical cures for ills that were thought to be science in those days. The Bible is not a science book. It does not focus on scientific facts about the creation, but where it mentions those things, it is accurate in its representation. This is exactly what we’d expect if the Bible had its origin in the One who created the universe and its scientific laws2.

1 http://www.gotquestions.org/proof-inspiration-Bible.html#ixzz3JGzhxKQU Accessed on 16 November 2014.

2 http://www.comereason.org/is-the-bible-true.asp Accessed on 16 November 2014.

3 Roger F. Campbell, Preach for a Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1997), 19–20.

Previous Post

November 17, 2014

Obadiah 1-14 Overcoming Pride

Next Post

November 25, 2014 Sharing Hope in a Hopeless World

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 Chronicles 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Kings 1 Peter 1 Samuel 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Chronicles 2 Corinthians 2 John 2 Kings 2 Peter 2 Samuel 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy 3 John Acts Advent Amos Book Review Colossians Comics Culture Watch Daniel Deuteronomy Ecclesiastes Ephesians Esther Exodus Ezekiel Ezra Galatians Genesis Guest Post Habakkuk Haggai Hebrews Hosea Humor Inspiritational Isaiah James Jeremiah Job Joel John Jonah Joshua Jude Judges Lamentations Lectionary Lent Leviticus Link Love Luke Malachi Mark Matthew Micah Movie Review Nahum Nehemiah Numbers Philippians Political Watch Prophecy Watch Proverbs Psalm Revelation Reviews Romans Ruth Science Watch Sermon Series Sermons Simple Thoughts Song of Solomon Titus Top Ten Uncategorized Video Review Zechariah Zephaniah

Select a Month May 2026 October 2025 September 2025 June 2025 February 2025 January 2025 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 April 2024 March 2024 January 2024 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 January 2022 June 2021 January 2021 October 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2009 June 2008 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 October 2006 September 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 September 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian group commonly practices foot washing as a religious act?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Methodists Mennonites Presbyterians Episcopalians