Latest / Reformed Thinking / Contending for the Faith Until the End (2 Peter & Jude) | Thomas R. Schreiner
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome to Reformed thinking. If you're looking for wisdom
- 0:03rooted in the ancient faith, you've definitely found the
- 0:06right place. And today we are presenting our
- 0:09special format, The Deep Dive. That's right.
- 0:12And our goal here is pretty simple, to take a stack of, you
- 0:15know, sometimes dense, sometimes difficult source material and
- 0:18get right down to the critical Nuggets of insight that
- 0:21genuinely matter to you. And today, our sources are
- 0:24guiding us through two of the shortest, but certainly among
- 0:29the most urgent letters in the New Testament Canon to Peter and
- 0:32Jude. The brief, yeah, but just packed
- 0:35with doctrine and warning. Absolutely.
- 0:37So for you, the learner, the mission today is to quickly
- 0:40grasp the crucial insights of these letters, which are so
- 0:43often paired together. We really need to understand the
- 0:45crisis that was facing the early church.
- 0:47I mean, this was intense pressure from false teachers who
- 0:50are operating inside the churches.
- 0:52Right from the inside. And then we need to look at the
- 0:54powerful, unified theological response that these apostles
- 0:57provided. Our sources for this deep dive
- 1:00give us a really consecrated theological analysis of both
- 1:03letters, and they focus heavily on their their striking
- 1:07similarities both in structure and in doctrine.
- 1:10So we're zeroing in on that shared context of addressing
- 1:13this, this internal corruption. And most centrally, the
- 1:17singular, coherent message they deliver regarding the absolute
- 1:21rule and authority, the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
- 1:23It's a steady and urgency really, calling believers to
- 1:27doctrinal defense and moral stability.
- 1:30OK, so let's start with the obvious connection between these
- 1:33two letters. You really can't do a deep dive
- 1:34into one without sort of seeing the shadow of the other.
- 1:37No, we can't. They are rightfully studied side
- 1:40by side. So why is this pairing so, you
- 1:42know, so necessary both academically and theologically?
- 1:46Well, the similarity is just far beyond any coincidence.
- 1:48I mean, you can't deny it. A huge portion of Jude's
- 1:51content, especially his really severe warnings and his
- 1:54historical examples of judgment, it all appears, you know,
- 1:57replicated or released, clearly adapted in second Peter.
- 2:00And that's most obvious in Second Peter chapter 2, isn't
- 2:03it? It is.
- 2:03It seems to track Jude's structure almost point for point
- 2:07in some places. It's really remarkable.
- 2:09So you have two Apostolic writers addressing maybe two
- 2:12different audiences, but they're using nearly identical
- 2:15arguments, even similar phrasing.
- 2:17So what's the most plausible explanation our sources give for
- 2:21this overlap? The consensus view and what our
- 2:24material supports is that Peter utilized and adapted Jude's
- 2:29earlier letter. So Jude wrote first.
- 2:32It seems most likely, yes. Jude was probably written first,
- 2:35it circulated, and then Peter, who was addressing a similar but
- 2:39maybe a more widespread or evolved crisis, drew on Jude's
- 2:43work that was already out. There, that's fascinating
- 2:45because that suggests that the issues Jude was dealing with,
- 2:48the specific errors that resulting libertinism, they
- 2:51weren't just isolated problems in one little church.
- 2:53Not at all. They were spreading like
- 2:55wildfire. You can see them moving rapidly
- 2:56across different areas where the apostles were ministering.
- 2:59This wasn't community squabble, this was a continental crisis
- 3:03for the church. An existential crisis?
- 3:05Precisely. These false teachers hadn't just
- 3:08knocked on the door, they had gotten inside.
- 3:11They'd successfully infiltrated the churches, essentially
- 3:14masquerading as believers. And they were upsetting people
- 3:16not just with, you know, abstract theological errors.
- 3:19No, and that's the key. It was also through their
- 3:21immoral behavior, which they actually claimed was the logical
- 3:25result of their new superior doctrine.
- 3:27So the teaching and the lifestyle, they were completely
- 3:30inseparable in this attack. You can't separate them.
- 3:33So if the church is being destabilized like this from the
- 3:35inside, the apostles first job is to call believers back to
- 3:39some kind of establish objective truth.
- 3:42What was the the nature of that Apostolic recall?
- 3:45Well, Jude gives us a remarkably direct appeal, said verse three.
- 3:49He urges believers to contend earnestly for the faith that was
- 3:53once for all delivered to the Saints.
- 3:55Once for all. That's a huge phrase.
- 3:57It is. It's a really clear call for
- 4:01doctrinal fidelity. It's stresses that the saving
- 4:04truth was unique, it was complete, and it was
- 4:06unrepeatably delivered to that first generation of believers.
- 4:10The faith isn't something new they have to invent, something
- 4:13ancient they have to defend. And Peter echoes this, but he
- 4:17frames it a little differently, doesn't he?
- 4:18He talks about the need to remember.
- 4:20Right. He calls believers to recall the
- 4:22Apostolic Word, which he says carries the instruction of their
- 4:26Lord and Savior. For Peter, it's not enough to
- 4:30have heard the truth one time. You have to actively recall it.
- 4:32You have to. Actively recall it, remember it,
- 4:34apply it in your life. Peter knew that.
- 4:36You know, forgetfulness just breeds vulnerability.
- 4:39And this concern over fidelity and memory, it brings us right
- 4:43to the central error these opponents were making both
- 4:45theologically and practically, which was they refused to
- 4:48genuinely submit to the rule of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
- 4:51Every other problem, every other theological mistake.
- 4:54The denial of the second coming. The rejection of moral laws.
- 4:57It also stems directly from that root rejection of Christ's
- 5:00authority. It does, and this is where the
- 5:03specific language of the letters becomes an immediate
- 5:06counterpunch. Peter makes a point of
- 5:09identifying Christ with a specific title to push right
- 5:12back against their claims. So how does he define Jesus to
- 5:15counter this rejection of his authority?
- 5:18In Second Peter, Christ is identified 4 separate times as
- 5:22Lord and Savior. Lord and Savior.
- 5:24Lord and Savior is a deliberate dual identification.
- 5:27Savior speaks to His saving work, the free redemption
- 5:31through grace, but Lord curious that speaks to His sovereign
- 5:35authority, His absolute rule over the life of the person He
- 5:38sags. And the point is, you can't have
- 5:40one without the other. You can't.
- 5:42You can't claim him as savior while you reject him as Lord.
- 5:45Doesn't work that way. And Jude is just as sharp, maybe
- 5:47even more confrontational. He comes right out with a direct
- 5:50accusation. He.
- 5:51Does he says the opponent's denied Jesus Christ as Master
- 5:54and Lord. This confirms they weren't, you
- 5:56know, necessarily rejecting him by name.
- 5:58They were probably using all the right Christian words.
- 6:00But they were rejecting his rule over their lives.
- 6:03Exactly. And you could see it clearly
- 6:04through their self-serving behavior.
- 6:06Our sources confirm that for these writers, genuine salvation
- 6:09itself depends on recognizing this Lordship.
- 6:12For Peter, salvation is described as knowing Jesus
- 6:16Christ as Lord. And this isn't just intellectual
- 6:20ascent. It's not just ticking a box.
- 6:22It's a personal knowledge that results in submission.
- 6:25And this knowledge, you see, it isn't a static thing.
- 6:28It's not a badge you earn once and then put away in a drawer.
- 6:31No, Peter is clear that this knowledge has to actively grow
- 6:35and increase. If it's not growing, if it's not
- 6:38leading to more moral obedience and love, then Peter suggests
- 6:42it's not genuine at all. He even says those who claim
- 6:45this knowledge but then depart and return to their old ways
- 6:48will face judgement. Which brings us right to the
- 6:50practical consequence of denying Christ's Lordship.
- 6:53What are sources call libertinism?
- 6:54Or, you know, the misapplication of grace?
- 6:57If you reject his authority, you're going to reject the moral
- 7:00standard that comes with it. And the result is a lifestyle of
- 7:04license. So what drove this?
- 7:06The motivation for their lawlessness was at its heart as
- 7:09scatological, which I know we'll get to.
- 7:12But the immediate driver was the idea that if Jesus isn't coming
- 7:16back, or if his return is just infinitely.
- 7:19Delayed and there's no future judgement.
- 7:21Exactly. No final reckoning for the
- 7:23ungodly. And if there's no final
- 7:25accountability, well then people feel totally free to live
- 7:28however they please, right? Chasing every women desire
- 7:31without any prospect of future punishment.
- 7:34It creates A theological vacuum for hedonism.
- 7:37What's really disturbing, though, is that they tried to
- 7:39ground this in actual Apostolic teaching.
- 7:42Oh yeah. Our source material notes that
- 7:44the opponents in Second Peter were even drawing on Pauline
- 7:47teaching about grace and God's kindness.
- 7:49They were twisting what Paul wrote to support their own
- 7:52licentiousness. It's a classic theological
- 7:55corruption. Paul writes so eloquently about
- 7:57the believer being free from the penalty of the law through
- 8:00Christ. We're justified by faith alone.
- 8:03A magnificent truth. It is, but the false teachers
- 8:06took that truth and twisted it into what we call antinomianism,
- 8:11the idea that grace now gives you a license to sin.
- 8:14So they were taking concepts like the glorious freedom Paul
- 8:17talks about in, say, Romans 6 or 8, where we're no longer slaves
- 8:21to sin. And they just flipped it.
- 8:23Yeah, they inverted it completely.
- 8:24Instead of freedom from sin, they used it as freedom for sin.
- 8:28Absolutely. It's the distortion of good
- 8:30doctrine to excuse bad behavior. It's taking a good theological
- 8:34concept and corrupting it into a get out of jail free card for
- 8:38sin. Jude warns against this very
- 8:40thing, distorting God's grace as an excuse for impurity.
- 8:43So the unified urgent message of both letters is crystal clear.
- 8:48True faith does not lead to lawlessness.
- 8:50Because true faith recognizes Jesus as sovereign Lord.
- 8:53And Sovereign Lordship demands obedience and a story.
- 8:56That distinction right there between the gift of salvation
- 8:59and the resulting obligation of obedience, that's the dividing
- 9:02line. It separates true faith from the
- 9:05dangerous heresy Peter and Jude were fighting.
- 9:07And if the core error is denying lordship and the result is
- 9:12lawlessness, we have to look deeper at the engine driving
- 9:16that denial. Which takes a street into the
- 9:18theological battlefield of eschatology and.
- 9:20That really is the essential link, isn't it?
- 9:23The core theological error that made all the practical
- 9:25lawlessness possible was their denial of the second coming of
- 9:29Christ. If Christ isn't coming back in
- 9:31judgement, the whole structure of accountability just
- 9:34collapses. Completely the opponents in
- 9:36second, Peter denied the return of Jesus outright.
- 9:39For them, the promise of the Perugia, his glorious return,
- 9:42was just a myth, an old wives tale to frighten people into
- 9:46obedience. And this wasn't just some
- 9:47abstract error. This was a fundamental rejection
- 9:50of one of the central hopes of the early Church.
- 9:52And the rationale for this denial is what makes the sources
- 9:55so interesting. The sources identify these
- 9:57scoffers as holding a view we might call uniformitarianism.
- 10:00Uniformitarianism. OK, that's a bit of a technical
- 10:03term. How do we unpack that for the
- 10:04listener? Think of it as the status quo
- 10:06forever argument. They looked around and said,
- 10:09look, everything continues just as it has from the beginning of
- 10:13creation. Where is this promised return?
- 10:16So because things have been stable for millennia, why should
- 10:19we suddenly believe in some future cataclysmic event?
- 10:22That was their view, essentially.
- 10:24As it was, so it is and so it shall be.
- 10:27The physical world operates by these unbroken, predictable
- 10:31natural laws, and there's no room for some divine
- 10:33intervention or a fiery cosmic finale.
- 10:36And they were so confident in this that they were predicting
- 10:39that scoffers would appear, people who would doubt the Lords
- 10:42return. Yes, they were in effect self
- 10:44fulfilling prophets of skepticism.
- 10:46They used the perceived delay of Christ's return to justify their
- 10:50claim that the whole Apostolic message was a myth designed to
- 10:53keep people in line. So Peter's defense had to be
- 10:56really comprehensive. He couldn't just say no, you're
- 10:58wrong. Right.
- 10:59He couldn't just assert the truth, he had to counter their
- 11:02empirical observation with a superior form of evidence.
- 11:05Evidence rooted in historical witness and inspired scripture.
- 11:08Exactly. He fights back with witness and
- 11:10scripture. And first he has to refute this
- 11:13idea that the Second Coming was just a cleverly contrived myth.
- 11:17How does he do that? He cites his own unique
- 11:19eyewitness testimony. Peter wasn't relaying some
- 11:22second hand story or a myth. He was a literal witness to
- 11:25Christ's authority. This personal experience gives
- 11:29so much weight to his claim that the promise return is real, not
- 11:32something they made-up. And the centerpiece of that
- 11:35eyewitness account is the transfiguration.
- 11:37Peter uses the transfiguration not just as a historical event,
- 11:41but as a preview and anticipation of Jesus's glorious
- 11:44second coming. It's a moment where the future
- 11:47burst into the present. At the Transfiguration, Peter
- 11:50saw Christ's unfiltered, radiant glory, His true, majestic
- 11:53nature. He heard the voice of God the
- 11:55Father affirming Jesus as his beloved of its Son.
- 11:58Which signifies Christ's absolute rule over everything.
- 12:00It demonstrates that He is already Lord and therefore fully
- 12:03capable of returning His Judge and King.
- 12:05The Transfiguration is a dual weapon in his defense.
- 12:08It proves Christ's authority, and it gives a sneak preview of
- 12:11the Perusia. But then Peter takes the
- 12:13argument up a level, doesn't he? He links this eyewitness
- 12:16revelation to the written word. He does.
- 12:19He basically says, look, the external spectacular event, the
- 12:23transfiguration, it helps us interpret the written
- 12:26revelation, he says. We have a more sure prophetic
- 12:29word. So the Holy Spirit inspired the
- 12:31written prophetic word which then accurately interprets the
- 12:35event, the transfiguration. And both of them point
- 12:38definitively to Jesus's eventual, inevitable return.
- 12:42The scoffers were wrong to dismiss the written word as a
- 12:46myth because the apostles had the event, the voice of God, and
- 12:50the inspired interpretation all confirming the exact same truth.
- 12:53Precisely so, Peter, which establishes the authority of the
- 12:56word, but he still has to dismantle their core
- 12:59philosophical assumption, this uniformitarianism.
- 13:01Because he goes after the idea that the world is eternally
- 13:04stable. Right, and he starts with a very
- 13:05simple but devastating counter argument creation itself.
- 13:09What's the argument there? If creation took place at a
- 13:12certain point in time, then the created world is by its very
- 13:15nature not eternal. It's temporal, it has a
- 13:18beginning, which means it's subject to God's intervention,
- 13:21and it will have a determined end.
- 13:23So the world isn't self existent, God spoke it into
- 13:26being and he can interrupt it whenever he wants.
- 13:28Exactly. And then Peter moves to the
- 13:31strongest historical evidence he has the flood.
- 13:35That event was a virtual destruction and resetting of the
- 13:38world. It's the definitive proof that
- 13:40the stability of the uniformitarians were claiming is
- 13:43false. It's the undeniable historical
- 13:45moment of a cataclysmic divine disruption.
- 13:48Peter uses it to establish a pattern.
- 13:51God does intervene in the physical world.
- 13:53The flood serves as a clear precursor, forecasting the final
- 13:57judgement to come. So this powerful refutation of
- 13:59stability allows Peter to move right to the final consummation,
- 14:02the promise of the new creation. Yes, he transitions from past
- 14:06disruption by water to future destruction by fire.
- 14:09Just as the ancient world was judged by water, the future
- 14:12world will be judged and consumed by fire.
- 14:14And that shift in the element suggests an even greater
- 14:16finality. A greater intensity in the
- 14:18judgement to come, and Peter gives this vivid, almost
- 14:21terrifying picture of the sheer finality and suddenness of the
- 14:25day of the Lord. He says it will arrive
- 14:26unexpectedly, like a thief. The present heavens will pass
- 14:29away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned
- 14:32up and dissolved. I mean, that's total
- 14:33transformation. It's cosmic deconstruction on a
- 14:36massive scale. The Greek term he uses for a
- 14:39pass away suggests a loud rushing noise, a tearing apart.
- 14:43It forces you to acknowledge God's sovereignty over this
- 14:46physical world the scoffers held so dear.
- 14:49Their stable world will be utterly unstable when God
- 14:52decides to wrap it up. Yet for the faithful, the
- 14:54message isn't just destruction, it's one of incredible hope.
- 14:58Yes, believers are called to wait for new heavens and a new
- 15:01earth in which righteousness dwells.
- 15:04So the present world won't be annihilated, but changed,
- 15:07purified by fire. A new creation will dawn.
- 15:10And that phrase in which righteousness dwells is so
- 15:14important. The source material highlights
- 15:16this. The new creation reflects God's
- 15:19original intention, the absolute moral rectitude intended from
- 15:23the very beginning. Sin won't just be discouraged,
- 15:27it will be functionally impossible because the
- 15:29environment itself is total righteousness.
- 15:32And this matches the ultimate hope we see elsewhere, like in
- 15:35Revelation 21 and 22, or the vision of a heavenly country in
- 15:38Hebrews. Right.
- 15:39The return of Christ isn't just about judgement.
- 15:42It validates all of human history and finally restores
- 15:45creation to its intended perfect, righteous state.
- 15:48So denying the return isn't just an error about a timeline.
- 15:52No, it's a denial of the ultimate triumph of God's moral
- 15:55order. Which directly undercuts the
- 15:57justification for the false teachers lawlessness.
- 16:00If Christ is coming back, judgement is certain, and the
- 16:03life you live now matters profoundly.
- 16:05And that brings us to a closer look at the people whose lives
- 16:08contradicted this truth. All right, let's shift our focus
- 16:10to the people actually causing this problem, the false teachers
- 16:13themselves. This deep dive is so valuable
- 16:16because the apostles don't just critique their doctrine in a,
- 16:20you know, an abstract way. They give us a clear, detailed
- 16:23and frankly shocking profile of their behavior.
- 16:26And that behavior, as we've established, was the inevitable
- 16:29consequence ecquence of denying Christ's rule.
- 16:32The description of their behavior is, well, it's
- 16:35alarming. Both Peter and Jude sketch out a
- 16:37lifestyle marked by clear licentiousness, pride and greed.
- 16:41In Second Peter we see they prize sexual freedom, often
- 16:45described as indulgence in the passions of the flesh.
- 16:48They also aggressively sought material comfort and gain,
- 16:52twisting the church community into a way to get wealthy.
- 16:54And what really stands out, according to the sources, is
- 16:56that this wasn't subtle. This wasn't happening behind
- 16:59closed doors. Not at all, Peter notes.
- 17:01They were so brazen they paraded it in public church gatherings.
- 17:04Wow, so in the very place meant for fellowship and instruction.
- 17:07That's where they were exhibiting their debauchery, and
- 17:09they operated with this incredible arrogance.
- 17:12They were characterized by boldness and pride, projecting
- 17:14any form of established authority, whether it was
- 17:16Apostolic or local church leadership.
- 17:19They presented themselves as the real authorities, right?
- 17:22Bring a new spiritual freedom and refreshment.
- 17:25But the reality was the exact opposite of freedom, Peter says.
- 17:29They were actually enslaved by their own desires.
- 17:31So they offered this empty promise of liberty, while they
- 17:34themselves were captives to their own habits and appetites.
- 17:37And the tragic result for their followers was that they left
- 17:39them spiritually desiccated. They were like springs without
- 17:43water or clouds. Driven by a storm, they appeared
- 17:47to promise vitality but delivered nothing but drought
- 17:50and ruin. And Jude's descriptions are
- 17:52similar, maybe even more acidic. I think so.
- 17:55His opponents were sexually loose.
- 17:57They rejected authority because of their pride, and critically,
- 18:00they criticized persons and things that were far nobler than
- 18:03they. This rejection of moral and
- 18:06spiritual nobility was a trademark of their arrogance.
- 18:09And Jude uses one of the most vivid images to warn the church.
- 18:13He calls them hidden reefs. It's a powerful metaphor, isn't
- 18:16it? Think about a reef.
- 18:18It's unseen, it's suddenly dangerous, and it can instantly
- 18:21destroy the vessel that sails over it.
- 18:23So there were these internal threats masquerading as part of
- 18:26the congregation just waiting to shipwreck the faithful.
- 18:29Yes, and he also labels them as grumblers and scoffers,
- 18:33constantly dissatisfy with God's provision and God's rule.
- 18:36So the apostles response to this has to be rooted in the
- 18:39certainty that Christ is Lord over evil and that those who
- 18:43reject his Lordship will be judged.
- 18:45That the final judgement is absolutely central to both books
- 18:48and the apostles use these historical parallels, what we
- 18:51call typology, to foreshadow the ultimate destruction.
- 18:54Peter gives two key examples, right?
- 18:56He does. They function as a prelude to
- 18:58the greater future judgment. First, the judgment of the
- 19:02angels who sinned, a judgment against heavenly rebellion.
- 19:05Second, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, a judgment against
- 19:08gross earthly immorality. And these ancient judgments
- 19:12aren't just, you know, interesting history stories.
- 19:14Not at all. They are presented as functional
- 19:16types. They're a preview of the
- 19:19climactic future judgment of the ungodly.
- 19:22God has always judged those who oppose him, and He will do so
- 19:25again. And Jude adds to this typology.
- 19:28He adds the judgement of Israel in the wilderness, and what's
- 19:31key here is why the judgement fell.
- 19:34Israel failed to believe their disobedience and rejection from
- 19:38the Promised Land stemmed directly from a lack of genuine
- 19:41faith. Which powerfully links
- 19:43faithlessness to judgment for the current generation.
- 19:47Absolutely. And Jude doesn't stop there.
- 19:49He gives 3 specific named paradigms of evil, Cain, Balaam
- 19:55and Cora. That level of specificity must
- 19:57have really hit home for the original readers.
- 20:00Oh, it would have. These three men illustrate
- 20:02different facets of the false teachers sins.
- 20:05Cain is the paradigm of violent envy and ungodly ritual.
- 20:08So the false teachers were envious of Apostolic authority.
- 20:11And resorted to spiritual murder in the community.
- 20:14Balaam represents mercenary greed, the willingness to lead
- 20:17God's people into apostasy for money.
- 20:19The false teachers were clearly driven by financial gain.
- 20:21And kora kora. Is the model of rebellion
- 20:24against God's appointed authority mirroring the false
- 20:26teachers rejection of Apostolic and church leadership?
- 20:29The warning is stark. They will meet the same fate.
- 20:32And Jude connects all of this to the coming logical fire.
- 20:36He says Sodom and Gomorrah function as an example of those
- 20:40who will perish in eternal fire. Which tells the reader that the
- 20:43fire of judgement isn't temporary, it's eternal.
- 20:46Now, all this detailed profiling raises a really crucial, nuanced
- 20:50question. Our sources get into What was
- 20:53the spiritual status of these false teachers?
- 20:56Were they believers who fell away?
- 20:58Or were they never really believers to begin with?
- 21:00This is where the language, particularly Peters, can be
- 21:03challenging. Let's start with Jude, because
- 21:05he seems less ambiguous. Jude is absolutely clear.
- 21:08He identifies them as unbelievers.
- 21:11He describes them as devoid of the spirit and worldly.
- 21:15For Jude, they were never genuinely regenerated.
- 21:17They were always imposters. Peter's language is more
- 21:19complicated, though. He says they lived among you and
- 21:21were even bought by Jesus Christ.
- 21:23Right, that language of participation, even apparent
- 21:26redemption, seems to suggest some genuine connection.
- 21:29Maybe even election. It could suggest they were
- 21:31beneficiaries of common grace or part of the covenant community
- 21:35by outward profession. But Peter ultimately resolves
- 21:38the ambiguity by focusing not on their previous connection, but
- 21:41their departure. He says that having known Jesus
- 21:43Christ, they turned away, relapsing to their former
- 21:46unregenerate condition. So that relapse, the return to
- 21:50the defilements of the world, shows their true state was never
- 21:54genuinely transformed. They were cleansed externally,
- 21:56maybe through baptism or some outward religious act, but not
- 22:00internally renewed. And to confirm this, Peter uses
- 22:03two of the harshest analogies in the whole New Testament.
- 22:06He does. They're like dogs returning to
- 22:08vomit and pigs returning to mud. The sources note how incredibly
- 22:12harsh that imagery is. Why was that level of
- 22:14condemnation necessary? What did it tell the church
- 22:17about their true nature? The language is purposefully
- 22:20forceful, even vulgar, to under score the shocking severity of
- 22:24their true nature. The dog returning to its vomit
- 22:27and the pig to the mire illustrate an inescapable innate
- 22:31nature. Their outward reformation was
- 22:33only temporary, right? Their spiritual appetite remains
- 22:36unchanged. If a person is truly transformed
- 22:39by the Spirit, they can't stand the thought of returning to that
- 22:43former filth. The false teachers do return,
- 22:46which confirms they were never regenerated.
- 22:48Their nature remains that of the unregenerate world.
- 22:51So the verdict is definitive. They were unbelievers, exposed
- 22:55by their denial of Christ's rule and their return to corruption.
- 22:58But. Peter and Jude don't just leave
- 23:00the faithful with condemnation, they pivot to the antidote.
- 23:04Which is the gift of grace and the call to diligence.
- 23:07And we have to remember, this neither tempt Peter nor Jude is
- 23:10just about judgement. Both writers quickly pivot to
- 23:14highlight and celebrate the grace of God.
- 23:16Because that grace is the very foundation upon which godly
- 23:19living is built. And where the true believers
- 23:21identity is secured. They stress that believers are
- 23:24saved by faith, which itself comes from the saving
- 23:27righteousness of God. That's a key Reformed concept,
- 23:29isn't it? God's righteousness is the
- 23:31active agent. That's right, Peter uses
- 23:33righteousness in that Old Testament sense, meaning God's
- 23:36active, faithful, saving interview prevention for his
- 23:40people. God does the work of calling and
- 23:42justifying. And Peter is crystal clear.
- 23:45Believers do not have the power on their own to produce
- 23:48godliness. No, it is only by divine power
- 23:51that they're unable to live in a way that pleases God.
- 23:55God has supernaturally called them to moral excellence and
- 23:58provided the means to achieve it.
- 24:01The whole thing starts with God's grace.
- 24:02And that leads to the extraordinary claim that
- 24:05believers are partakers of the divine nature.
- 24:08It does, and this participation isn't achieved through our own
- 24:11moral efforts. It's granted by God's gift,
- 24:14allowing the believer to escape the world's corruption.
- 24:16And Jude, who's writing to a community terrorized by these
- 24:19hidden reefs, he offers assurance that's vital for
- 24:22stabilizing. Them it is, He reminds his
- 24:24readers, that God called them and, crucially, that Jesus
- 24:26Christ will actively keep them. The promise of perseverance is
- 24:29strong. Very, Jude assures them they can
- 24:32be confident of the final reward because God will keep them from
- 24:36apostasy and present them blameless on the last day.
- 24:40This assurance grounds their present efforts in God's
- 24:42sovereignty. Their salvation is secure
- 24:45because God is holding them. So the exhortations to godly
- 24:48living that follow are rooted firmly in that grace and power.
- 24:52Which means believers don't have to resist the false teachers or
- 24:55strive for holiness in their own strength.
- 24:58They strive because of the power God has already supplied.
- 25:01Peter even gives a historical example to build their
- 25:03confidence. God rescued Noah and Lot when
- 25:06they were a tiny minority surrounded by just overwhelming
- 25:09evil. That shows God's power to
- 25:12preserve and deliver his own people.
- 25:14If God saved a lot from Sodom, he can certainly preserve the
- 25:17faithful from these false teachers.
- 25:19Right. But grace doesn't negate human
- 25:21effort, it inspires it. Peter lays out the connection.
- 25:25Faith is the root that has to bear the fruit of moral virtue.
- 25:29Believers have to actively live out and make use of the grace
- 25:32that's already theirs in Christ. He gives that chain of virtues
- 25:35that must be diligently supplied.
- 25:38Goodness, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness,
- 25:42godliness, brotherly affection and love.
- 25:45And that's not a checklist for earning salvation.
- 25:47No, it's a description of the life that inevitably flows from
- 25:50salvation. And if you look closely at that
- 25:52list, those virtues are the direct antidote to the vices of
- 25:56the false teachers. They are the opponents displayed
- 26:00licentiousness, pride and greed. The faithful must respond with
- 26:04self-control, steadfastness, and brotherly affection.
- 26:07And this is a critical point. Peter says that only those who
- 26:10actively practice these qualities will gain entry to the
- 26:13Kingdom and be assured now of their calling and election.
- 26:16The love that marks their lives is the visible certification.
- 26:20It's the evidence that certifies them as truly believers.
- 26:23Salvation begins and ends with God's power and grace.
- 26:27But that salvation necessarily changes the person, so their
- 26:30lives are characterized by a growing holiness.
- 26:33And this diligence is intensified because of the
- 26:35certainty of the end. Peter offers this compassionate
- 26:38insight about the delay in judgement.
- 26:41It's God granting time for repentance.
- 26:44He isn't slow because he's forgetful.
- 26:46He's slow because he is patient. He's patient, hoping more will
- 26:51turn back before the judgement fire comes.
- 26:53So, because the end is certainly coming, believers have to live
- 26:56holy and godly lives. They have to be diligent so that
- 26:59they pass muster or are found blameless when the final court
- 27:03is opened. It's the human response to the
- 27:05divine promise. Yeah, they have to avoid being
- 27:07swayed by the false teachers. Instead, the final command is to
- 27:11actively grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
- 27:14Jesus Christ. Growth and knowledge and grace
- 27:17is the spiritual alternative to relax.
- 27:19And Jew provides a beautiful parallel command that really
- 27:22captures this balance of divine sovereignty and human
- 27:24responsibility, while God keeps believers from falling.
- 27:28Believers must actively keep themselves in the love of God.
- 27:31Which means they maintain their position in God's love by being
- 27:34strengthened in their faith, praying in the Spirit, and
- 27:37continually waiting for the return of Jesus.
- 27:39They show they live under God's Lordship not through theory, but
- 27:42by submitting to Jesus as Lord in their everyday life.
- 27:46This has been a necessary and a surprisingly sharp deep dive
- 27:51into second Peter and Jude. Let's just quickly synthesize
- 27:54the joint message we've pulled from the sources.
- 27:57I think the unified message is a declaration of Christ's absolute
- 28:00Lordship. That is the singular theological
- 28:03hill to die on. And that lordship is defended by
- 28:06the absolute certainty of his second coming, which defeats the
- 28:09Scoffers. And is expressed through the
- 28:11believers godly character which is the only true response to
- 28:14God's grace. So the core take away for you
- 28:17the learner is this. True disciples show they are
- 28:20under the Lordship of Christ by their godly lives.
- 28:23And this holiness is presented as both a gift of God's grace
- 28:25and calling. But it also requires human
- 28:28diligence to confirm that call and election.
- 28:31The gift produces the response. We established that rejecting
- 28:34Jesus's return was never some abstract theological mistake.
- 28:37No, it was motivated by the desire to pursue selfish desires
- 28:42without any consequence. The scoffers were driven by lust
- 28:46and greed, and they needed a theology to excuse their
- 28:48behavior. And Peter assures us that the
- 28:50present heavens and earth will be purified by fire, and a new
- 28:54heaven and earth will dawn where righteousness will become
- 28:56reality, the very righteousness intended for creation at the
- 29:00beginning. So if the denial of the Second
- 29:03Coming is motivated by the desire for unchecked selfish
- 29:06desires today, what specific aspect of that coming new earth,
- 29:10where absolute righteousness dwells, challenges the most
- 29:14pressing selfish desire in your own life right now?
- 29:17That is something worth reflecting upon, because the
- 29:19nature of the coming world dictates how we must Live Today.
- 29:22We encourage you to contend earnestly for the faith and
- 29:25continue growing in the knowledge of our Lord.
- 29:27That concludes this deep dive. We'll talk to you next time.