Chris R. Quinlan

2 Peter 2:3 3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed. This verse was part of the last post, but it needs to be mentioned again here because it sets up the subject for the rest of chapter 2. This verse is saying that God is fully aware of false teachers and has plans to execute severe judgement on them. If that is true, then why do these people seem to get away with what they are doing. Why does God allow them to continue to spew thier deceptions? I look around and see them prospering, not being destroyed! Doesn't God care that there are so many people being duped by these clever snakes? What could be the purpose of allowing so many false teachers to have influence on so many people? These are the questions that I can imagine that the apostles were getting from the true believers of his day. Chapter 2 is Peter's (and God's) answer to the apparent inaction on God's

Hello readers. I hope you are enjoying this devotional study of 2 Peter. It is my pleasure to bring you a small bit of God's word with some application and encouragement. There is power in the truth that we read in scripture. So, with a combination of Romans 1:16 boldness and 1 Peter 5:5 humility, let's continue our study of 2 Peter. 2 Peter 2:1-3 NLT 1 But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed. The preservation of the truth was a huge priority for all the apostles . As I read and study the bible,

2 Peter 1:19-21 19 So we have the prophetic word made more sure, Remember last time that Peter just established his legitimacy as an apostle bearing the true gospel, by explaining to the readers of this letter that he was an eye-witness to a dramatic display that we know as the "transfiguration". The transfiguration was pretty convincing evidence that Jesus was who he said he was... the Messiah. Those who witnessed that event were utterly convinced that Jesus was God's son. Peter never hesitated to make that claim when asked. He did, however, wimp-out when Jesus was on trail with the Pharisees. He never lost the belief that Jesus was God, he just wasn't ready to die for that belief...yet. The Peter we read about in this letter is quite different. He is ready to die and is martyred soon after this letter was written. In verse 19, we have some more evidence offered up by Peter that he carries the true message of salvation, which is only found in Jesus Christ; That bein

1 Peter 1:16-18 16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased"-- 18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. Peter has just been saying that his martyrdom was imminent and that his goal was to remind Christians of the things he thought were important. From what I can tell, Peter thought that it was important to live in a manner worthy of Christ. The other item, that was very important to all the original apostles, was the preservation of the gospel message as given by Jesus. The passage today begins the emphasis on this subject that carries through as the main theme of this entire book. In today's passage Peter sets the foun