Key Words:
Know/knowledge (2 Pet 1:2, 1:3, 1:5, 1:6, 1:8, 1:12, 1:14, 1:16,
1:20, 2:9, 2:12, 2:20, 2:21, 3:3, 3:17, 3:18), remember/remind (2Pe
1:12, 13, 3:1, 3:2), diligent/diligence (2Pe 1:5, 10, 15, 3:14),
Lord (1Pe 1:2, 8, 11, 14, 16, 2:9, 11, 20, 3:2, 8, 9, 10, 15, 18)
See discussion on
marking key words.
To help your study print out the
Observation Worksheet on
2Peter (Go
to page 13) with double spaced text for marking Key Words,
making lists, taking notes that you can later transfer to your Bible
Dr. Kenneth Gangel
offers a summary of the reasons Peter wrote his second letter.
This final impassioned
plea to grow in Christian maturity (2Pe 1:5, 6, 7, 3:18) and guard
against false teachers was precipitated by the fact that [Peter’s]
time was short (2Peter 1:13, 14, 15) and that these congregations
faced immediate danger (2Peter 2:1, 2, 3). He also desired to
refresh their memories (2Peter 1:13) and stimulate their thinking
(2Peter 3:1, 2) so they would remember his teaching (2Peter
1:15).... And he encouraged his readers with the certainty of
Christ’s return (2Peter 3:1-16). (Today in the Word)
A Dr. Congdon once
approached Bible teacher R. A. Torrey, complaining he could get
nothing out of his Bible study.
“Please tell me how to study
it so that it will mean something to me.”
“Read it,” replied Dr. Torrey.
“I do read it.”
“Read it some more.”
“How?”
“Take some book and read it twelve times a day for a month.”
Torrey recommended Second
Peter. Dr. Congdon later said,
“My wife and I read 2 Peter
three or four times in the morning, two or three times at noon, and
two or three times at dinner. Soon I was talking 2 Peter to everyone
I met. It seemed as though the stars in the heavens were singing the
story of 2 Peter. I read 2 Peter on my knees, marking passages.
Teardrops mingled with the crayon colors, and I said to my wife,
“See how I have ruined this
part of my Bible.”
“Yes,” she said, “but as the pages have been getting black, your
life has been getting white.”
John Calvin -
"The majesty of the Spirit of Christ exhibits itself in every part
of the epistle" (of Second Peter).
J Sidlow Baxter -
"Peter is distinctively the apostle of hope, as is Paul of faith,
James of works and John of love....There are always two tests of
Christian genuineness. The doctrinal test is 'What is the
attitude tot he person and work of Christ?' The practical test
is 'What is the resultant character and conduct?' Both tests
appear in Second Peter. Note the two dangers indicated in the first
chapter. There is the danger of life without growth (2Peter 1:3-8);
and there is the danger of knowledge without practice (2Peter
1:9-14). Life never remains static: it either goes forward or
backward. Life without growth becomes atrophy. Similarly knowledge
without practice becomes blindness instead of vision (2Peter 1:9).
It is vital to be members of the 'progressive party.'...To be
forewarned is to be forearmed says the old proverb. Study carefully
Peter's forewarning in 2Peter 2:1-3ff. It is a point of incidental
interest that in 2Pe 2:14 and 2Pe 2:18 the word translated as "be
beguiling" (enticing) and "allure" (entice) in the Greek is
literally to take with a bait - a relic from Peter's fishing
days. "Beware," says Peter in effect, 'Your most dangerous deceivers
are those who come with a tasty bait and a concealed hook!' Let this
second chapter convince us that wherever there is a Divine truth
which saves, there will be a Satanic counterfeit which damns: so
will it be until the arch-deceiver is flung into the abyss. What a
scathing exposure is this second chapter! There is no "mincing of
words" or "beating about the bush." There can be no tolerance of
that which, inside the very Church itself, dishonors Christ and
ruins soul. There can be no "dainty handling" of false teachers! A
viper can be a gorgeous creature to look at, but once let its poison
fang get you, or its strangle-coils enwrap you...! Peter sees the
issue with Spirit-anointed clearness. There can be no compromise.
Remember, this second chapter is not merely Peter speaking; it is
the Spirit of God. It may well make some of us think deeply. When
easy-going kindness lounges in the place of righteous indignation,
and allows Christ-dishonoring false doctrine to play havoc inside
the Church, kindness has ceased to be Christian, it has become
disguised disloyalty, camouflaged cowardice, or a moral
wasting-disease." (Baxter's
Explore the Book-J. Sidlow Baxter-recommended)
2
Peter
Chapter and Verse - Hold pointer
over link
New American Standard Bible
2 Peter 1:1
2 Peter 1:2
2 Peter 1:3
2 Peter 1:4
2 Peter 1:5
2 Peter 1:6
2 Peter 1:7
2 Peter 1:8
2 Peter 1:9
2 Peter 1:10
2 Peter 1:11
2 Peter 1:12
2 Peter 1:13
2 Peter 1:14
2 Peter 1:15
2 Peter 1:16
2 Peter 1:17
2 Peter 1:18
2 Peter 1:19
2 Peter 1:20
2 Peter 1:21
2 Peter 2:1
2 Peter 2:2
2 Peter 2:3
2 Peter 2:4
2 Peter 2:5
2 Peter 2:6
2 Peter 2:7
2 Peter 2:8
2 Peter 2:9
2 Peter 2:10
2 Peter 2:11
2 Peter 2:12
2 Peter 2:13
2 Peter 2:14
2 Peter 2:15
2 Peter 2:16
2 Peter 2:17
2 Peter 2:18
2 Peter 2:19
2 Peter 2:20
2 Peter 2:21
2 Peter 2:22
2 Peter 3:1
2 Peter 3:2
2 Peter 3:3
2 Peter 3:4
2 Peter 3:5
2 Peter 3:6
2 Peter 3:7
2 Peter 3:8
2 Peter 3:9
2 Peter 3:10
2 Peter 3:11
2 Peter 3:12
2 Peter 3:13
2 Peter 3:14
2 Peter 3:15
2 Peter 3:16
2 Peter 3:17
2 Peter 3:18
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (see his comments in following entry on
Alford).
Editorial Note: If you are not proficient
in Greek, you will find this work considerably more useful than the
following work by Alford, because in this volume he translates the
Greek and Latin into English. While the "The Greek New Testament" is
longer (e.g., English version of 1John = 66 pages compared to
Greek version = 94 pages in part because the latter includes
comments of more technical nature), the substance of the commentary is
otherwise similar to that found in the "NT for English Readers".
Henry Alford The Greek New Testament
2 Peter Commentary
Recommended
James Rosscup writes that "This was the great work in the life of
the versatile Dean of Canterbury. An outcome of this production was
the New Testament for English Readers (4 vols.). Alford was a
Calvinist, conservative and premillennial, though not dispensational.
He takes a literal interpretation of the thousand years in Rev. 20 and
has a famous quote there, is strong on sovereign election as in Ro
8:29, 30 and 1Pe 1:2, but, unfortunately, holds to baptismal
regeneration in such texts as Titus 3:5 and John 3:5. He shows a great
knowledge of the Greek text and faces problems of both a doctrinal and
textual nature."
(Commentaries
for Biblical Expositors: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Works)
John
Piper writes ""When I’m stumped with a...grammatical or
syntactical or logical [question] in Paul, I go to Henry Alford. Henry
Alford...comes closer more consistently than any other human
commentator to asking my kinds of questions."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon writes that this text "is an invaluable
aid to the critical study of the text of the New Testament. You will
find in it the ripened results of a matured scholarship, the
harvesting of a judgment, generally highly impartial, always worthy of
respect, which has gleaned from the most important fields of Biblical
research, both modern and ancient, at home and abroad. You will not
look here for any spirituality of thought or tenderness of feeling;
you will find the learned Dean does not forget to do full justice to
his own views, and is quite able to express himself vigorously against
his opponents; but for what it professes to be, it is an exceedingly
able and successful work. The later issues are by far the most
desirable, as the author has considerably revised the work in the
fourth edition. What I have said of his Greek Testament applies
equally to Alford’s New Testament for English Readers,* which is also
a standard work." (Spurgeon,
C. H. Lectures to my Students, Vol. 4: Commenting and Commentaries;
Lectures Addressed to the students of the Pastors' College,
Metropolitan Tabernacle)
James Rosscup writes that Barnes "includes 16 volumes on the Old
Testament, 11 on the New Testament. The New Testament part of this old
work was first published in 1832–1851. Various authors contributed. It
is evangelical and amillennial...Often the explanations of verses are
very worthwhile."
(Commentaries
for Biblical Expositors: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Works
or
Logos)
C H
Spurgeon "Albert Barnes is a learned and able divine, but his
productions are unequal in value, the gospels are of comparatively
little worth, but his other comments are extremely useful for
Sunday-school teachers and persons with a narrow range of reading,
endowed with enough good sense to discriminate between good and
evil....Placed by the side of the great masters, Barnes is a lesser
light, but taking his work for what it is and professes to be, no
minister can afford to be without it, and this is no small praise for
works which were only intended for Sunday-school teachers." (Spurgeon,
C. H. Lectures to my Students, Vol. 4: Commenting and Commentaries;
Lectures Addressed to the students of the Pastors' College,
Metropolitan Tabernacle)
Johann A Bengel Commentary on 2 Peter
Gnomon of the New Testament
James Rosscup writes "This work (Gnomon), originally issued in
1742, has considerable comment on the Greek, flavoring the effort with
judicious details about the spiritual life. It has much that helps,
but has been surpassed by many other commentaries since its day."
(Commentaries
for Biblical Expositors: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Works
or
Logos)
Johann Bengel
The Critical English Testament
Commentary on 2Peter
Represents Combination of Bengel's Gnomon (above) and
Comments
by more modern expositors (in brackets) to make this more usable for
those who do not read Greek.
Spurgeon comments on the goal to make Bengel's Gnomon
(listed above) more accessible -- "Such is the professed aim of this
commentary, and the compilers have very fairly carried out their
intentions. The whole of Bengel’s Gnomon is bodily transferred
into the work, and as 120 years have elapsed since the first issue of
that book, it may be supposed that much has since been added to the
wealth of Scripture exposition; the substance of this has been
incorporated in brackets, so as to bring it down to the present
advanced state of knowledge. We strongly advise the purchase of this
book, as it...will well repay an attentive perusal. Tischendorf and
Alford have contributed largely...to make this one of the most
lucid and concise commentaries on the text and teachings of the New
Testament" (Spurgeon,
C. H. Lectures to my Students, Vol. 4: Commenting and Commentaries;
Lectures Addressed to the students of the Pastors' College,
Metropolitan Tabernacle)
Bible.org
Resources Resources that
Reference 2 Peter
on the largest Bible Study Resource on the Web Hint: Do a "control +
find" when you open a "hit" and search only 2 Pet (or II Pet),
not full name.
This may take some practice but is guaranteed to yield some "gems"! Recommended Resource
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Biblical Illustrator
Anecdotes, Illustrations,
Exposition
Joseph Exell, Editor
James Rosscup gives Bigg's commentary on 1 Peter high marks (and
he also recommends 2Peter but no additional comments): "This is
probably the second best older study on I Peter from the standpoint of
the Greek text. Selwyn is the other. As other ICC works, it deals with
details of philology, grammar and possible views on problems."
(Commentaries
for Biblical Expositors: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Works)
John Brown
2 Peter 1 Commentary
Parting Counsels: An Exposition of the First Chapter
of the Second Epistle of the Apostle Peter
With Four Additional Discourses
1856
Recommended
James Rosscup writes"Brown was minister of Broughton
Place, Edinburgh (1829–58), at which post he died. He gives rich,
solid comments verse by verse and can refresh any Christian in his
devotional times or help a preacher pull together facets of truth and
how they relate to life. To Brown, making the calling and election
sure refers not to seeing to their existence but to the evidence of
them (p. 53). Some, however, feel that they are saved when they are
far from it (54). He is helpful on furnishing the virtues in verses
5–8. After 225 pages the rest of the book is given to other discourses
on how Christians may have proper assurance of salvation, pray for the
preacher (Ephesians 6:19), etc."
(Commentaries
for Biblical Expositors: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Works)
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