Saved in His Life

PETER – CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM

A commentary

Peter’s speaking

Acts 2: 14-36

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Men of Judaea, and all

who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and hearken to my words:  For these are not drunk, as ye suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.  But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. On my menservants and on my maidservants I will pour out my Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath: blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of that great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested of God to you by miracles,  wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know – Him, being delivered by the determined purpose foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it. For David says concerning him:

“I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.

“Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.”

For David did not ascend into the heavens: but he says himself,

“The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit at My right hand until I make thy enemies your footstool.”

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made that same Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

As the spokesman of the kingdom economy, Peter relies heavily on the Old Testament prophets to convince Israel that Jesus is the Messiah whom they had murdered. But having witnessed the resurrection, he is forceful in his argument that God did indeed raise Him up. His audience is exclusively Israel.

Acts 2:38-39

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.   For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Peter’s terms of salvation are repentance and water baptism, necessary human works.

Acts 3:4-6

And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.”  So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.  Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

A major part of the kingdom economy is the exercise of signs and miracles, as in this case. Israel required signs, like they did in Egypt and the wilderness; Peter accommodates them.

Acts 3:12-38

So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?  The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.  But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.  Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said to the fathers,

‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’

Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.  You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham,

‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

Peter’s preaching is based on the ancient prophets of Israel.

Acts 4:8-12

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Peter is the consummate kingdom economy preacher and is here attempting to guilt Israel into repentance.

Acts 4:23-30

And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who [c]by the mouth of Your servant David have said:

‘Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.’

“For truly against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.  Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”

Peter, as usual, rails against the people, quotes the prophets, and appeals to the Lord for signs, wonders, and miracles to convince them.

Acts 5:3-4

But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?  While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

Peter here prophesies supernaturally.

Acts 5:29-32

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.  The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree.  Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.  And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

The resurrection emboldens Peter and again he accuses the Jews of murder.

Acts 9:34

And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed.” Then he arose immediately. 

Here is another miracle, but will Israel be swayed from their rebellion?

Acts 9:40

But Peter put them all out, and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.

Peter’s faithfulness to Israel in another miracle.

Acts 10:13-14

And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”

Peter argues with the Lord because of his orthodoxy. He is Jewish through and through.

Acts 10:28-29

Then he said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.  Therefore I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. I ask, then, for what reason have you sent for me?”

Here is Peter’s preparation to use the keys of the kingdom to open the door to the Gentiles. He admits that he “should not call any man common or unclean.” This is a huge turning point in the Lord’s purpose.

Acts 10:34-43

Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.  And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

Peter’s consistent message: the Jews murdered Jesus, God raised Him from the dead the third day, and we testify of these facts.

Acts 10:47

“Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

Though Cornelius, the Gentile, is saved by believing, Peter requires he be baptized by water.

Acts 11:5-17

“I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came to me.  When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air.  And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.’ But the voice answered me again from heaven, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’ Now this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea.  Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, ‘Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter,  who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.’ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning.  Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”

Peter argues for Gentile inclusion in the kingdom economy with the Jews. This is a massive turning point for him, though the religion in him would rise to resist this change.

Acts 15:7-11

And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.  So God, who knows the heart, [a]acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no 1

This is Peter’s last recorded word – an admission that Gentiles are saved as are the Jews. This allows for the apostle to the Gentiles (Paul) to go forth to them unimpeded by religious Jews. His mention of “grace” makes one wonder if this is Paul rubbing off on him. Reading his two letters seems to confirm this.

Peter’s writings

1 Peter 1:1

To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

These pilgrims are the Jewish little flock congregations that scattered from Jerusalem and Judea during the persecution following Stephen’s murder (Acts 8:2).

1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Peter here embraces the resurrection that undergirds the kingdom economy.

1:5

who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

To Peter’s perception as a member of the little flock, salvation will come “in the last time;” therefore it is necessary to endure.

1:7

that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

Under Peter’s teaching, salvation is less about the inward indwelling Spirit than it is about withstanding the test and being rewarded at Jesus’ second coming.

1:8-9

whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

The end of faith must wait for the Lord’s return from heaven. This is what the little flock awaits.

1:10

Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 

This salvation comes with the King and His kingdom.

The ancient prophets prophesied of the sufferings of Messiah and the glory that should follow. What they couldn’t see was the interval between the two. Picture a Hebrew prophet looking toward a mountain range with another range looming above and beyond. What this prophet cannot see is the valley between the two ranges. That is the interval between the Lord’s suffering and future glory. That interval is the economy of the body of Christ, never known to the Lord’s people until Paul.

1:13-15

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children. . .be holy in all your conduct . . .

Peter here urges the little flock to press on in their faith until Jesus appears to establish His kingdom. To Peter grace comes to the saints at the Lord’s appearing. This is not a deep understanding of grace, necessary for obedience and holy conduct, but it is all Peter knows.

1:17-19

And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Salvation under the kingdom economy was not assured but had to be accompanied by faith works to be judged by the Father. Peter has a full understanding of the lamb of God being the Passover lamb sacrificed for redemption.

1:23

having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,

Peter learned well from Jesus’ discourse with Nicodemus about the new birth. Here he sheds further light.

1 Peter 2:2

as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,

Peter must have been referring to the Hebrew scriptures and, perhaps, Jesus’ words if they were available at that time.

2:4

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious,

Here he refers to the temple.

you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Peter draws upon his familiarity with the temple and its practices. This is expected of one whose passion is the coming Messiah and His kingdom when He builds His new temple.

2:9-10

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God,

Peter promotes the uniqueness of Israel as he should, being the apostle to the circumcision.

1 Peter 3:4

rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

Here is Peter’s knowledge of the inner parts of a person.

3:6, 8-12

as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.

“He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil,
and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Salvation under the kingdom economy always involves doing good works. This is the way the saints “inherit a blessing,” probably the kingdom.

3:15

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 

The heart holds a high place in Peter’s perception of the inward parts.

3:20

when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism. . .  through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

From Pentecost onward, baptism by water is always necessary for the remission of sins under the kingdom economy.

1 Peter 4:1,10

Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind . . . As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Under Peter’s preaching the saints have definite responsibilities to attain participation in the kingdom.

4:13

but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

The saints’ gladness comes at the second coming of the King. Little flock saints are always looking forward to the future.

4:17-18

For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now “if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

Kingdom saints are always faced with the coming judgment. They have no assurance of their “scarce” salvation until they stand before their King and hear His verdict.

1 Peter 5:3-4

but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

Flock and Shepherd have to do with Israel, proving that Peter is writing to the little flock of believing Jews. Note that their crown of glory has to await the appearing of the Chief Shepherd prior to the kingdom.

5:5

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

In the kingdom economy grace flows from humility. It is not free.

5:6

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

Exaltation also flows from humility and must wait for the “due time” – the Lord’s coming to Earth.

5:10

But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

To Peter grace is not free. Here it is accompanied by suffering.

2 Peter 1:1

To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

As in the first letter, Peter’s audience is the little flock of kingdom-anticipating saints.

1:5

giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue,

The saints have to be obedient and diligent if they want the Lord’s blessing now and His future salvation in the kingdom.

1:8

For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“If” is a strong condition laid on the little flock.

1:10-11

Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Once again diligence is required of the saints: this time to ascertain the surety of their call and election, and their entrance into the kingdom.

1:11

which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;

The kingdom saints always must wait for the day of the Lord.

1:14

knowing that shortly I must put off my tent,

Peter must have written this letter late in his life, probably around the time of the final rejection in Rome.

1:21

for prophecy never came by the will of man,

Everything of the kingdom economy comes from the prophets of Judaism. Their predictions of the future determine the hope of the little flock.

2:1-3

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

Peter exercises the fire of the ancient prophets against those who started well as believers in Christ, but, for whatever reason, they turned away into heretical teaching. It grieves the apostle to report that “many will follow their destructive ways.” These were probably the so-called “Judaizers” who wanted to force Gentile converts to be circumcised for salvation. Peter, in his last written words, is having none of it.

2:4-6

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;

Peter is so angry that he compares the heretical troublemakers to the fallen angels who, in Noah’s time, cohabited with human females and produced the Nephilim, giants of renown, who contaminated humanity with their evil seed, brought in violence on the Earth, and instigated the Lord’s watery judgment. After that miserable, but righteous, judgment, the fallen angels struck humanity again during Abraham’s life. The result then was the fiery judgment brought down on Sodom and Gomorrah.

2:9

the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,

Noah and Lot were delivered out of tribulations, and the rebel angels were consigned to the abyss. Jude states it well: “And the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire (vv. 6-7)

2:12-14, 17

But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children . . . These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Peter is relentless in his righteous anger. That former believers would engage in deliberate deception is beyond Peter’s ability to fathom. He sounds just like an ancient prophet and gives no quarter to the evildoers who harm the little flock saints.

2:20

For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.

Kingdom saints, Peter’s audience, have no assurance of salvation until the Lord returns to establish His rule; especially those who once believed and now distort the truth and deceive the flock. Their end is too terrifying to contemplate.

3:2

that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets

Peter always relies upon the prophets of old to buttress his message.

3:3-4

knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,  and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

Peter faces his scoffers head-on, even when they put him in a tough spot. All his life with the Lord until the present, he has lived in anticipation of the millennial kingdom; but now it seems that the prospect is slipping away. He surely knows how rebellious and stubborn are his countrymen but doesn’t know when the Lord will pull the plug on Israel. Now detractors are in his face mocking him by saying all thing are the same since creation. This rankles the apostle. What do these scoffers know about creation?

3:5-6

For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Peter takes his mockers back to the distant past, to the overthrow of the world, back to Earth that “thenexisted” to make his case that they don’t know what they are talking about. How much do they know about creation when they mockingly state that everything is like it was from the beginning? Peter returns the scorn by taking them on a little tour of something they’ve never heard about.

The scene opens with Earth standing half in water and half out of water under the Lord’s judgment, “being flooded with water.” What is this? Certainly not Noah’s flood when the judgment water covered the whole of Earth’s surface. This is the judgment water of Genesis 1:2. This is the water upon which the Spirit brooded to bring forth life, not in a creative process but in a restorative process. What follows in Genesis is that restoration in six literal 24-hour days, culminating with the creation of man, our race’s first ancestor.

The Earth which now (in Peter’s day) is being preserved by the Lord’s word for a future judgment by fire at the Lord’s second coming. This confirms the situation in Genesis 1:2 – “And the earth became desolate and ruined and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” The Earth became three things, all extremely negative – desolate (tohuw), ruined (bohuw), and dark. But Isaiah says in 45:18 – “For thus says the Lord who created the heavens; God himself who formed the earth and made it; he has established it; he created it not in desolation (tohuw); he created it to be inhabited.” It can only be concluded that something terrible happened in the distant past, something profoundly cataclysmic. Peter’s scoffers are ignorant of this and arrogant in their opposition to him. As the ancient world was swept away by water, so the future world will be swept away by fire with them in it.

3:10

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,

This is the great tribulation, Jacob’s trouble, which will usher in the return of the King –the only hope at that time of the little flock.

3:13

Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Peter draws upon John’s Revelation concerning the new heaven and Earth.

3:14

Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;

Another call for diligence, critical for the little flock. Under Peter’s teaching, behavior is vital for salvation into the kingdom.

3:15

and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

Peter acknowledges Paul, a high point of his life and ministry. He even equates Paul’s writings to scripture.

3:17

You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness

Peter warns the saints to beware of falling away. It is a very real possibility to the kingdom saints.

3:18

but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Peter sounds like Paul, the apostle of grace. As he saw the prospect of the kingdom fading away, perhaps he was learning from Paul what the Lord had given the apostle to the Gentiles.

What can we learn about Peter from this brief look into his speaking and writing?

He was a man committed to the ancient prophets of Israel for his authority and teaching. He was an obedient man, using the keys of the kingdom to open the way of salvation for Israel and for the Gentiles. He stayed on point through all his speaking and writing, never deviating from the message of repentance and water baptism for the remission of sins. The word “grace” is not mentioned in his speaking, but it appears several times in his two letters, perhaps an indication that his contact with Paul provided him some elementary insight.