2Peter 3:15-17 - Scripture Twisters: More Warnings

15-17 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.

We who await the Lord, who look for His coming, are to count His patience in delaying to return as time given for his as yet unsaved people to repent, and for his children to be sanctified the more. His patience is the opportunity for us to be used to further and to expand His church. While He delays, there is yet work to be done. While He delays there remains the opportunity and the privilege to serve. While He delays, more souls will be saved.

Peter displays here the true grace of a man under the power of God when he speaks of Paul as a "beloved brother." This same Peter had been publicly rebuked and upbraided by Paul for his hypocrisy regarding Gentile believers. But God uses such things in the hearts of his people to humble them, to burn off the chaff of pride and duplicity and prejudice. Through faith in Christ and by the power and grace of indwelling God, Peter speaks that which is upbuilding of the brother that had corrected him. There is not even the hint of any acrimony. There is no residual "side-swipe" - no "damning with faint praise." There is only loving respect for the truth and for a brother who abode in it. He refers, most probably to Ro 2:4 which states:

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Here we can note something very important in our understanding of the inspiration of the New Testament writings. Peter calls Paul’s letters "Scriptures" in such a way that there can be no doubt he regards them as on a par with the Old Testament Writings. He is quite clear in comparing Paul's letters to "the other Scriptures". Now Paul was the instrument of God’s in writing a large portion of the "scriptures" that constitute our New Testament. It is one more instance of the quiet and untrumpeted way that the Bible as whole witnesses to itself.

Another thing worthy of note is that Paul was just as misquoted and misrepresented in Peter’s day as he is today. There were, even then, those who twisted the meaning of Paul’s letters and his doctrine because they were ignorant and unstable people. These characterizations refer to them being unlearned and unsteadfast. While not all people can be scholars, all believers have a duty to know and to understand the doctrines of the faith. This can only be done through diligent study and attention to faithfully transmitted apostolic teaching. But even more so it is incumbent upon those teaching to have a proper understanding of the Christian faith as laid down by Christ and the Apostles. Novices, unstable people and perverters of the doctrine ought never to be allowed to propagate falsehoods and misunderstandings. There is no substitute for knowledge with understanding.

Unsteadfast people are particularly highlighted because they are the ones who tend to twist things. People who jump from church to church ought never to be put in teaching positions until they have demonstrated a knowledge in concept and wisdom in living of the truths of the Bible. People who are ignorant of Biblical doctrines ought never to be found as Elders or Deacons. This is why novices are proscribed from offices, and why Elders must be "apt" teachers.

Beyond this, every believer has a responsibility to himself (and to God) not to be carried away by the errors of people who twist the scriptures, whether ignorantly or not. It’s no use pointing the finger and saying you were led astray. You have a duty not to be led astray. You have that duty. And the best way to ensure that you are not misled is to know the Word of God, and to be walking in the Spirit Who reveals the truth in it to you. Some errors are indeed worse than others. Some are from misunderstanding. But there are others that come from lawless people.

By lawless people is meant inveterate sinners. Unregenerate pretenders. False teachers. Those who talk a big storm but live like the world. As stated earlier, there are literally thousands and thousands of such people supposedly naming the name of Christ - but who preach a twisted and demonic gospel. Today it is every bit as bad, if not worse, than in Peter’s time. God commands you to be on guard, to be prepared and to watch that you do not become ensnared.