Resolved to live for Christ
Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight, at peace. Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him. He speaks about these things in all his letters. There are some things hard to understand in them. The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures. 2 Peter 3:14-16 CSB
Peter begins closing his letter with a closing challenge introduced by the word, “Therefore.” The word can also mean, “in light of everything said previously.” The false teachers doing their absolute best to bring down everyone around them into sinful behavior, therefore Peter wants his “dear friends” to actively pursue the characteristics of Christ, “be[ing] found without spot or blemish in His sight.” This is the same descriptors used in 1 Peter 1:19, saying, “but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb,” as “you wait for these things,” living your life day to day, waiting for Christ’s return. Now, none of us are perfect and will slip up, but the idea is that Christ’s imminent return should be the drive that believers focus upon for their behavioral decisions, wanting to be more and more like Him each and every day (see Ephesians 5:1-2). Peter then encourages his readers to also keep in mind Paul’s writings as well, which are filled with “wisdom.” Peter says that “he speaks about these things in all his letters.” Paul’s writings to the early church helped guide believers to pursue godliness and keep themselves pure, such as all of Colossians 3, looking at verse 5 for example saying, “Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.” As we have already read these past months going through Peter’s epistle, these false teachers twisted their own interpretations of the scriptures in order to satisfy their own sinful desires, a warning that Peter again repeats in the last half of verse 16, “The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.” With all this in mind, every day, we must take the time to study diligently the Word of God, applying it to our lives, so that we may be able to discern the truth from the false teachers, and grow more and more like Christ each and every day, obeying His commands to do His work here on earth. “All Scripture is inspired by God[a] and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Blessings,
Isaac De Guzman
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