GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 PETER 3:17-18
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you know this ahead of time, be on your guard so that you are not led astray by the error of lawless people and fall from your position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Beware of false teachers! Peter has explained that false teaching and other attacks will take on many forms and come from many different directions. These are some of the things Peter has warned about, and they are well worth remembering:
1, False teachers accuse us of inventing stories (1:16)
2, They claim we were not witnesses of Christ (1:17-18)
3, They claim Christ was not foretold by the prophets (1:19-21)
4, They introduce heresies (2:1)
5, They hold up their own ways and lives (2:2)
6, They invent stories (2:3)
7, They slander angels (2:10)
8, They are guilty of adultery and every other sin (2:14)
9, They are guilty of sinful boasting (2:18)
10, They question Christ’s second coming (3:4)
11, They twist the Old Testament Scriptures (3:16)
12, They twist the New Testament Scriptures (3:16)
What is our best defense against these things? First, pray. God loves and hears the prayers of his people, and he will answer our prayers. So pray that he will protect you and the people you love from the destructive words of false teachers.
Second, recognize those false words; teach your children to beware of them. Be willing to turn off your radio, your TV, or your computer when all you hear is confusion and no cross of Christ. Remember that a false teacher will take you close to the cross, but not right to it. It will feel, well, similar to Christianity, but it will not be the familiar account of Christ crucified for our sins.
Third, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” This means reading, contemplating, and studying the word of God, both the Old Testament and the New. Do not hold up one over the other, or neglect either one. It is right to favor the New Testament and the story of Jesus’ ministry, but not at the expense of leaving Moses, the prophets and the Psalms untouched. If you read the whole Bible in a year and there are months or weeks left, read the Gospels once again.
Fourth, growing in the knowledge of our Lord also means returning to good summaries and studies of the faith and of God’s word, such as the Catechism. If your family prays the table prayer together, or if you live alone, read a single piece of the Catechism (a commandment, a petition, “firstly” or “secondly,” etc., of the sacraments) and then say your table prayer. Doing so, it will take about five weeks to travel at an easy pace through the whole Small Catechism.
The full title, “Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” occurs just three times in the New Testament, and all three are here in 2 Peter (1:11; 2:20; 3:18). Don’t skip too quickly over them, as if Peter says this just to hear his own voice a little more. “Lord” reminds us that Jesus, who is truly God, is the Creator and Judge of all mankind. While “Lord” is a gospel title, it is also a little reminder of the law, because “the law of the Lord is to be on your lips” (Exodus 13:9), and the law of the Lord is the path that we walk (Psalm 1:2; 119:1; 119:55). “Savior,” on the other hand, is gospel and only gospel. The Lord saved us by his grace, purely out of love for fallen sinners, and he rescued us from sin, from death, from the grip of the grave, and from the power of the devil and the prison of hell.
To reject Christ is, as Moses warned, to abandon God and reject the Rock our Savior (Deuteronomy 32:15). The Son of God is the Savior of the world (1 John 4:14), as the Samaritans confessed: “We know that this man really is the Savior of the world” (John 4:42). One ancient pastor illustrated it this way: “The great tree which covers plains and mountains and all the earth is the word of God which was given to all the world. This word is the Son of God, who was preached to the ends of the earth. Those who are under his shade are the nations who have heard the preaching and believed it” (Shepherd of Hermas).
To hear the preaching about Jesus and to trust in him must be the goal of every Christian. We put our faith in Jesus our Savior, who has promised to return one day, to call us to life again out of our graves, and to ascend with him into heaven. We will live with him there, deathless and immortal, sinless and joyful, spotless and holy, forever and ever. From that “day of eternity,” we will live in the world without end. Amen.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Peter 3:17-18 grow in grace and knowledge.