2 Peter - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

some “hard to understand” teachings in them (Latin: difficult). Paul taught advanced
doctrine as well as the basics; what he wrote was geared to the knowledge level of his
audience and the overall intent of his letter. On occasion, some untrained and unstable
believers took one of Paul’s advanced doctrines and distorted it (Customary Present
tense) from its proper meaning. On some occasions this may have been an accident; but
the Greek word “strebloo” leans towards a deliberate “twisting” in order to support some
sin or deviant philosophy the believer espoused. The reference in back of Peter’s mind is
the ignorant and emotionally weak false teachers he has been dealing with throughout
this epistle. The false teachers and their followers do not have a completed edification
complex; they are living in reversionism.
They once had a doctrinal structure in progress, but they destroyed their previous
progress by introducing heresies alongside the truth and living a depraved lifestyle. Now
these false teachers and their reversionistic followers couldn’t apply even the most basic
of doctrines, let alone advanced ones from Paul. Peter also adds that it wasn’t just the
Pauline epistles that they distorted to justify their lascivious lifestyle; they also twisted
the meaning of the other Scriptures as well (Latin: et cetera). Peter’s use of the Greek
word “loipos” (the rest, the remaining, the other) means he categorized Paul’s letters as
part of the canon of Scripture. He considered them to be as important as the Old
Testament ... This distorting and twisting of Scripture by the false teachers was
contributing to their own spiritual ruin. If they continued to mishandle the Word of God,
they would likely die the sin unto death. This is not a reference to the loss of salvation;
misguided commentators got that idea from the Vulgate word “perdition.” The translation
“spiritual ruin” or “wasted effort” is preferred when dealing with reversionistic
Christians.
RELEVANT OPINIONS
In the middle of the first century, Christians relied on the OT Scriptures and on the spoken
word of the apostles. But when the written Gospels and epistles appeared, the apostles were
among the first to acknowledge the inherent divine authority of these writings. (S.
Kistemaker) The false teachers, identified as the ignorant and unstable, are said to twist or
torture Paul’s epistles and the OT to support their views. (D. Watson) False teachers, who
have no regard for the holiness of Scripture and who twist its intended meaning, “rush
headlong into ruin.” (S. Kistemaker) The apostle Paul became the chief advocate of
dispensational teaching. Paul taught dispensations to the disciples themselves (Gal. 2), and
through his canonical epistles he continues to communicate to believers in every generation
of the Church. “These things” refers to dispensations, in context specifically the
eschatological dispensations. (R.B. Thieme, Jr.)
Such persons are stirred from their Christian stability by every apparent difficulty, are
rendered anxious and perplexed by hard texts, and showing more anxiety to interpret them
somehow, than to wait upon God for their solution, rush upon erroneous and dangerous ways
of interpretation. (H. Alford) Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects. (Will Rogers)
But this is a deliberate and willful ignorance, not a lack of opportunity to learn the truth.
(LWB) It signifies not so much “unlearned” as “uneducated;” a mind untrained and