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General Outlines of the Second Epistle of Peter

 
The Effects of the Knowledge of the Lord 
1. Grace and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of the Lord (1:2);
2. Be given all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of the Lord (1:3);
3. Be fruitful in the knowledge of the Lord and be supplied abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of God (1:8, 11);
4. The knowledge of the Lord delivers believers from the pollutions of the world (2:20);
5. Believers get hope because of the knowledge of the Lord’s promise and thus become diligent to be found by Him in peace (3:13-14);
 
Growth 
1. Grow in grace (3:18):
a. Grace be multiplied (1:2);
b. Things that pertain to life and godliness are abundant (1:3-8);
c. The call and election are sure and believers will never stumble (1:10);
d. Be diligent to be without spot and blameless (3:14);
2. Grow in knowledge (3:18);
a. Add to … knowledge (1:6);
b. Be fruitful in the knowledge of the Lord (1:8);
c. Be established in the present truth (1:12);
d. Stir up the pure minds (3:1);

The World

1. The history of the world:

a. Which was created by the word of God (3:5);

b. Which was once destroyed because of corruption (3:6);

c. The present world is preserved by the same word until the day of judgment (3:7);

2. The present condition of the world:

a. Corruption that is in the world through lust (1:4);

b. Ungodliness (2:5-6);

c. Lawless deeds and pollution (2:8, 20);

3. The end of the world:

a. Which will be judged and dissolved on fire (3:7, 10-12);

b. There will be new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (3:13).

Several Things

1. Things we have to be diligent:

a. Give all diligence and add to several things (1:5-8);

b. Be even more diligent to do these things (1:10);

c. Be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless (3:14 );

2. Things we have to be mindful of:

a. Be often mindful of these things (1:12-15);

b. Be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior (3:2);

3. Things we have to be reminded:

a. Remind believers always of these things (1:12-13);

b. Remind believers and stir up their pure minds (3:1);

4. Things we have to heed ---- heed the prophetic word (1:19);:

5. Things we have to know:

a. Knowing this first that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation (1:20);

b. Knowing this first that scoffers will come in the last days to scorn the promise of the Lord’s coming (3:3-4);

6. Things we have not to forget:

a. Do not forget that the heavens and the earth were created by the word of God (3:5);

b. Do not forget this one thing that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (3:8);

7. Things we have to beware ---- be led away with the error of the wicked so as to fall from one’s own steadfastness (3:17):

Be Steadfast

1. Make your call and election sure so that you will never stumble (1:10);

2. Be established in the present truth (1:12);

3. False teachers entice unstable souls (2:14);

4. The untaught and unstable people twist the Scriptures (3:16);

5. Beware lest you fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked (3:17);

False Teachers

1. The names of false teachers:

a. False prophets (2:1);

b. False teachers (2:1);

c. The unjust (2:9);

d. Slaves of corruption (2:19);

e. Scoffers (3:3);

f. Ungodly men (3:7);

g. The wicked (3:17);

2. The teachings of false teachers:

a. Be of any private interpretation (1:20);

b. Destructive heresies (2:1);

c. With deceptive words (2:3);

d. Speak evil of the things they do not understand (2:12);

e. Speak great swelling words of emptiness (2:18);

f. Promise men liberty (2:19);

g. Scorn the promise of the Lord’s coming (3:3-4);

h. Error of the wicked (3:17);

3. The hearts of false teachers:

a. Deny the Lord who bought them (2:1);

b. By covetousness … have a heart trained in covetous practices (2:3, 14);

c. They are presumptuous and self-willed (2:10);

d. They carouse in their own deceptions (2:13);

e. They love the wages of unrighteousness (2:15);

f. They walk according to their own lusts (3:3);

g. The wicked (3:17);

4. The conduct of false teachers:

a. Follow their destructive ways (2:2);

b. Walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness (2:10);

c. Count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime (2:13);

d. Have eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin (2:14);

e. Be slaves of corruption and be enslaved by the pollutions of the world (2:19-20);

f. Be scoffers (3:3);

5. The means of false teachers:

a. Blaspheme the way of truth and the righteous (2:2, 10-12);

b. Entice unstable souls and the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error (2:14, 18);

c. Scorn and twist the Scriptures (3:3-4, 16-17);

6. The parables of false teachers:

a. Like natural brute beasts (2:12);

b. Like wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest (2:9);

c. Like dogs and sows (2:22);

7. The ends of false teachers:

a. Bring on themselves swift destruction (2:1, 3);

b. Be reserved under punishment for the day of judgment (2:9);

c. The blackness of darkness forever is reserved for them (2:17);

d. They are reserved until the day of judgment and perdition (3:7);

The Scriptures

1. The source of the Scriptures:

a. The prophets spoke the word of God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (1:19, 21);

b. The apostles recorded what they had eyewitnesses and heard (1:16-18);

c. The apostles wrote the words according to the wisdom given to them (3:15);

2. The constitution of the Scriptures:

a. The words which were spoken before by the holy prophets ---- the Old Testament (3:2);

b. The commandment of the apostles ---- the New Testament (3:2);

3. The function of the Scriptures:

a. As a light that shines in a dark place (1:19);

b. As the morning star rising in our hearts (1:19);

4. How shall we regard the Scriptures?

a. Diligence and knowledge (1:5);

b. Heed the prophecies (1:19);

c. Do not turn from the holy commandment delivered to us (2:21);

d. Be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of the apostles (3:2);

e. Grow in knowledge (3:18);

5. How to read the Scriptures rightly?

a. We shall not be of any private interpretation (1:20);

b. We shall not forget the power of the word of God (3:5-7);

c. We shall not forget the will of God revealed in His words (3:8-9);

d. We shall not twist the Scriptures (3:16);

e. We shall beware the error of the wicked (3:17);

Two Days

1. The day of the Lord (3:10):

a. It is the day on which the promise of the Lord’s coming shall be fulfilled (3:4, 9);

b. It is the day on which we see the Lord (3:14);

2. The day of God (3:12):

a. It is the day on which the unjust are judged (2:9);

b. It is the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men (3:7);

c. It is the day on which the old heavens and old earth will be dissolved by fire (3:10-12);

d. It is the day on which the new heavens and new earth are revealed (3:13);

── Caleb Huang《Christian Digest Bible Commentary Series》

Translated by Mary Zhou