Wednesday Bible Study: Peter builds the Church in 4 verses

This week takes us to what I believe is the second most important passage of the 3:16s we are studying, and for 3 very different reasons.  As I have been doing lately, let me give you our verse with some context around it- from 2 Peter 3:


2Pe 3:14  Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 
2Pe 3:15  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, 
2Pe 3:16  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. 
2Pe 3:17  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. 

Actually, when you float it out like this, we can make it 4 points- and, if I leave my own "editorial comments" out for the most part, it will be quick and simple for a change:

Point 1- And count the patience of our Lord as salvation.  So often we say to ourselves, "Why doesn't God come down here and do something about all this?" and here is the answer.  WHEN God- as Christ- DOES come down, it will be in final judgment.  Every moment He 'delays', salvation comes to more people.

Point 2- There are some things in them that are hard to understand.  Boy o boy, when I first read this, I said, "At least it isn't just me!"  Over the months I have learned two things: one, Paul was an intellectual beyond what he is commonly given credit for, even in secular terms the equal of any philosopher of his day or since.  Two, it is "wisdom given him" by Jesus.  His human gifts, already great, were amplified by the power of what Christ could then give him.  Jesus had given a poor fisherman the ability to lead a Church.  He gave a misguided intellectual the ability to turn the world upside down.  Peter is humble enough to not only admit that, but to elevate it, as we shall see.

Point 3- Which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction...take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.   To truly understand Paul, you have to be willing to look past the secular mindset.  Too many times have I jousted with atheists who said, "I HAVE read the Bible, I just don't get anything out of it."  Too many times I have debated co-religionists (supposedly), who use a passage from earlier in this book-

1:20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

-to say, "You are too stupid to read the Bible on your own, you need to look at what the Church Fathers say and stick to that."  (That despite the commendation of the Berean believers in Acts.) What results is a flat, dead reading- if you can call it that- of the Scriptures that they can then pick nits about, or build whole false philosophies based either on the presence, or the ignoring, of one passage.  I am at the beginning of Proverbs all over again for the third time (one chapter every month, and you can get a clear sense of what is wrong with this here:

Pro 2:1  My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 

Pro 2:2  making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 

Pro 2:3  yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 

Pro 2:4  if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, 

Pro 2:5  then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. 

Pro 2:6  For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 

Pro 2:7  he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 

Pro 2:8  guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. 

Pro 2:9  Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; 

Pro 2:10  for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 

Pro 2:11  discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, 

Pro 2:12  delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, 

Understanding the Bible is an if-then- IF you sincerely seek God, He will reveal Himself in His word.  If you're just a tourist, you'll find little to buy but trinkets.

Point 4- as they do the other Scriptures.   Peter here is talking at a point where these letters of Paul have all made the circuit of the churches.  And, they have been accepted into the "canon" at this point, and have the weight of Moses and the Prophets.  Look here at Matthew Barnes' commentary:

This is an unequivocal declaration of Peter that he regarded the writings of Paul as a part of the holy Scriptures, and of course that he considered him as inspired. The word “Scriptures,” as used by a Jew, had a technical signification - meaning the inspired writings, and was the common word which was applied to the sacred writings of the Old Testament. As Peter uses this language, it implies that he regarded the writings of Paul as on a level with the Old Testament; and as far as the testimony of one apostle can go to confirm the claim of another to inspiration, it proves that the writings of Paul are entitled to a place in the sacred canon. It should be remarked, also, that Peter evidently speaks here of the common estimate in which the writings of Paul were held. He addresses those to whom he wrote, not in such a way as to declare to them that the writings of Paul were to be regarded as a part of the inspired volume, but as if this were already known, and were an admitted point.

In my recent tilt with the Catholic crowd on FB, I was given one explanation that, "After Christ ascended to heaven, Peter became the voice of the Church", and yet they will not accept Peter's word that Paul has the weight of the Scriptures!  And that weight comes down on three big points:

Romans 10: 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Confession+ belief= salvation...

Ephesians 2:  8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Grace alone, a gift from God, not any ritual, any work, though good works are a necessary fruit that PROVES salvation..

And Galatians 1:  8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

And that Gospel is found in Jesus' response to Satan;

Matthew 4: 4  But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" 

And THAT is Sola Scriptura.