Peter's Second Epilogue ...

Our Bible is such a precious gift to us.  It is a collection of works that have been meticulously preserved throughout the history of this world until now.  Make no mistake, it is not by chance, coincidence, or good luck that we have this specific volumes of inspiration to study.  It was by design, and often by miraculous intervention, that our Bible exists today, and is available for us to learn about the deep and abiding love of God for mankind.  Our Bible records events and actions from Adam through the early Christian church in painstaking accuracy.  Both the good and the bad events are recorded and presented in clarity to us, that we might learn both the salvation that God offers, and the consequences of rejecting that salvation.  We can see all throughout history what happens when mankind trusts himself, and his own wisdom or will, in any given situation.  And by contrast we can see what happens when mankind recognizes that he is unable to save himself, and God does what ONLY God can do, saving someone when everyone else thought it “impossible”.

But despite the consistency in the themes of Biblical stories and events, there are a wide variation of beliefs that have arisen based on the same set of scriptures.  There are literally hundreds of different Christian churches that are founded on differences in the interpretation of the same book, and same set of inspired texts.  Central to all appears to be a belief in the divinity and salvation provided by Jesus Christ.  But outside of that shared tenant, the variation is wide, the differences distinct, and the walls between faiths have been built high in order to preserve the specific differences we determine from the same inspired Bible.  Each Christian church believes that “they alone” have the “best” understanding of scripture.  While Christians are hesitant to criticize each other, each still holds that the set of doctrines they believe in, are the most accurate, the most truthful, and follow closest the will of God for mankind.  But given the differences, they could not ALL possibly be correct.  Some of us, must be mistaken, because the differences are too distinct and mutually exclusive to ALL be right. 

So given this dilemma, how do we use the “word”?  If each church believes its own doctrines are biblically based to the exclusion of all others, then has our mission degenerated into debating our varied interpretations of the Bible with each other – each attempting to prove their own position is correct, and the position of their contemporaries is incorrect?  Is this the point of Christianity … that is … to be right?  In the time of Christ, the spiritual leaders of the nation were known as Pharisees.  But in that same time, were another group known as Sadducees.  The same set of Biblical writings had interpretations that differed even then.  Pharisees believed in the resurrection of mankind at the end of all things.  Sadducees did not.  Both had Biblically founded beliefs.  And BOTH were united in only one major purpose … to put to death the author of Love and the writings they both held dear.  Both sets of Biblical scholars were willing to kill God, in the name of God.  Both would rather kill God, than to cede authority to the Inspiration behind all scripture, the Truth that can only be found in the person of Jesus Christ.

Imagine how the story might have been different, if the spiritual leadership of the day, had simply humbled themselves and sought to find truth from the mouth of Jesus Christ, instead of in the mirror of interpretation of the written ”word”.  Christ had no inconsistency with scripture.  He did not deny the validity or accuracy of scripture; in fact he quoted it repeatedly, using it over and over again throughout His ministry here on earth.  The problem was not with what was written.  The problem has ever been how men interpret scriptures.  We “use” the word to establish dominance over each other.  We “use” the word to judge the actions of others, in order to make us feel better about our own comparatively less misdeeds.  We “use” the word to prove we are right, and others are wrong.  And in so doing, we inject “self” into how we read and use the word.  Christ used the word to uplift mankind, to redeem mankind, and to correct the errors of the religious leadership of His day.  His mission was ever redemptive.  It is hard to misuse the word when your goal is ever based in the redemption of another, in loving that person into the kingdom of God.

This difference in perspective on the scriptures was keenly in the mind of Peter as he faced his end.  In the closing verses, the epilogue of his second letter to the church, his last opportunity to write down his thoughts, he spoke to this issue.  He begins in chapter 3 beginning in verse 15 writing … “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;”  Peter continues his rebuke to the scoffers who challenge the validity of the return our Lord, due to His delays.  It is because our Lord is longsuffering, intending that everyone should come to repentance and salvation that He delays His return.  Then Peter again acts in concert with Paul and the writings that Paul has already provided to the church.  Peter states that the wisdom Paul has offered was “given unto him”.  Paul is not merely writing his own opinions about the state of Christianity and the emerging ideology of a new church sect.  He is writing messages to the churches with wisdom and inspiration that is a “gift” of our God. 

Peter continues in verse 16 … “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”  Here Peter lays out the fundamental problem with how some of us use scriptures.  It is the unlearned.  It is the people who do not see scripture through the lens of surrender to Jesus Christ; that are unlearned in the proper use of scripture.  This is not a statement about education, or higher education, or becoming a doctorate in religious studies.  It is about studying the word without looking through the lens of the transformation Jesus Christ alone can enact within you.  The Pharisees and Sadducees were devout men, who dedicated their entire lives to the study and debate of the word.  They were sincere in their quest to discover truth.  But they refused to see the Truth of Jesus Christ.  They refused to acknowledge His supreme authority over matters of interpretation of the word, choosing instead to trust their own wisdom, history, and traditions on the matter.  How many modern Christians have an identical level of certainty around their doctrinal interpretations?

It is the unstable.  Those who have never been made free from sin through the transforming power of Jesus Christ are unfamiliar with the experience of salvation.  They wrestle with texts that espouse the need to do good works, because their inherent nature wars against such things.  They see texts that define what evil looks like, and what evil deeds we should avoid, as threats against themselves, because they know in their hearts, they are guilty of such thoughts, feelings, and deeds.  They wrestle with texts that show that salvation is a free gift of Christ, that we need only accept.  Because even though they believe that Christ can save them, they remain the same person, bound in the same sinful desires they have always cherished, unable to free themselves from the grasp of these sins, and with no clue how to see it change.  Without the lens of Jesus Christ, we cannot interpret scripture rightly.  The same words are used or misused in a variety of ways, but ultimately only leading to a destructive path.

To believe we can be saved by our good works, is to ignore the text that states that “all our righteousness is as filthy rags”.  To discard the law of God as no longer binding is to ignore the words of Christ when He said … “I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law.”  The reason so many variations of Christianity exist, is because we have lost the fundamentals of following Christ, in favor of the distinctions of how best to do that.  Instead of humbling ourselves, surrendering to Christ, and allowing Him to lead us to truth; we assert our knowledge of scriptures and insist only we are qualified to lead others.  Everyone else is doing it wrong … except us.  Instead of allowing the transformation of Christ to reveal to us the beauty of loving others like Christ loves others … we obsess about keeping our doctrines pure from the influence of the world, and tend to cut ourselves off from the world, in order to avoid its corrupting influence.  We, like our Pharisee and Sadducee forefathers, turn away from the redemptive mission of God, and inward towards a self-focused effort to achieve purity.

It is this path that leads to our destruction.  It is this path that takes our eyes off of Christ, and focuses them squarely on our own scriptural interpretations as the means to achieving our salvation.  We lose sight of the Author, in order to focus on the words He inspired and we misinterpret.  This is the situation Peter wants his own readers to avoid.  We can find the Truth and beauty in scriptures, but only as we are led to these truths in the person of Jesus Christ.  When we love others like Christ loved others, the meaning of the words come into sharp focus.  When we do not love others, and instead love ourselves and cherish our own wisdom, we lose all the meaning of the same written words on the same inspired pages.

Peter continues in verse 17 … “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.”  Peter reminds his readers that they have not only heard the gospel message before, they have experienced the freedom only Jesus Christ can bring.  Being led by Jesus Christ is the key to discovering and maintaining the truth taught in His word.  We cannot disconnect from the Author and still expect to get the book right.  Peter challenges his readers to avoid the error the wicked inevitably make, that is putting their trust in themselves.  While we trust in Christ to save us, we can and will be saved by Him alone.  When we begin to trust self, we fail repeatedly.  Instead Peter asks that we maintain our steadfastness in surrender to Christ.  We are not to let scriptural interpretation get between our surrender to Christ, and our salvation.  For without surrender there can be no salvation.  The Law does not save us, but the Author of the Law is alone able to bring us into harmony with it.

Peter concludes his final epilogue in verse 18 writing … “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”  “Grow” in grace.  We are not to stagnate, or come to believe there is no more to achieve.  There is always deeper love to experience.  Understanding His grace for us, is found in an experiential knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Experiencing how He loves us, helps us to know what it is like to love others the same way.  When we allow Him to transform us in this way, we find new meaning in the same written words.  Where once we saw only condemnation of who we are, we now see a promise of who He will have us become.  Where once we saw our judgment and accurate condemnation for the misdeeds we are bound and enslaved to, we now see texts of promise and hope, and a fundamental change in what we want and who we are. 

It is Jesus Christ alone who is worthy of glory and honor.  He is worthy both now, because His work is started in us today, and forever, as His work in us will forever be growing within us.  There is no limit to the love of God, His love is infinite.  Therefore we will never meet the boundary of where that love ends.  Therefore, the same love that lives in the Author of love, can be reflected in us towards others.  The absence of self, enables the experience of loving others, from the same infinite point of view.  That is, no end to how much we can love our wife, our children, our parents, even our enemies.  Think of it.  No end to the amount of love you are capable of experiencing, both to you from God, and through you to others.  That my friends is a solid reason why Christ alone is worthy of glory and honor both now and forever.  Peter understood what it means to love like this.  Peter had a taste of it.  And he wished with his final parting words to the church, that they too never lose sight of what it means to experience the transformative love of Jesus Christ.