06 Why 2 Peter 2 and Jude Sound So Alike and Why It Matters (2 Peter 2:1-3)

Krisan Marotta: If you're listening to the Wednesday in the Word podcast, I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is the podcast where we explain not only what scripture means, but how we figure it out. We are already into our sixth talk on our series on the book of 2 Peter. Today's lecture notes are on the link below this podcast, or just go to the website wednesdayintheword.com slash 2 Peter 6. Thanks so much for downloading the podcast. We're gonna be starting chapter 2 of 2 Peter today, and as always, I want to start with a little bit of review of where we have been in the letter. Peter is writing to churches who are troubled by false teachers. These false teachers are distorting the apostolic gospel and they are deceiving believers into leading immoral lives. In chapter one, Peter insisted that the apostolic gospel is a revelation from God, while the message of the false teachers is a message of their own imagination and invention. The Old Testament prophets promised that God would send a Messiah, and Peter says Jesus of Nazareth is that Messiah, and that he and the other apostles are eyewitnesses to this fact. The message proclaimed by Jesus and the Apostles is that through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus secured forgiveness and salvation for his people, and that one day he will return in judgment to establish the rule of God on earth. Therefore, God's people should persevere in believing that message, persevere in pursuing a life of godliness and living a life that counts on that hope. Now in chapter two, Peter is going to begin a new topic, and it presents at least three difficult interpretive challenges. First, chapter two focuses on the coming judgment of God, and that has become a very unpopular topic to the modern American church. Today we prefer to emphasize the message that God loves you and you're special, and we like to gloss over or even ignore the passages that emphasize that we have this problem with sin and that problem must be solved. Yes, God does love us, but we neglect to include that He loves us in spite of who we are and our problem with sin. One day we will stand before Him in judgment, and if we haven't listened to Him about how to gain forgiveness, we will be in very deep trouble. So as we explore chapter two, we're going to talk about judgment, which is not a popular topic, but it is one the Bible teaches, and so we're gonna seek to understand it and why Peter included it in this letter. The second big challenge with chapter two is that the book of Jude and Chapter Two of Second Peter are very similar. Everyone recognizes this issue, but nobody quite knows what to do with it. In fact, Second Peter two and Jude are basically the same words and the same points in the same order, and that raises the question, what's going on? Why are the two books so similar? So we're gonna get into that today. And then third, both Peter and Jude seem to quote a non-biblical source. Jude clearly quotes from a book we call First Enoch, which is literature outside the Bible, and Peter seems to be alluding to this book as well. First Enoch claims to be written by the Enoch who lived before the time of the flood. No one today thinks that the historical Enoch actually wrote the letter, and I think it's very likely that Peter and Jude's original audience did not think that the historical Enoch wrote the letter either. But we're gonna get into that in the next podcast. But we are left with this question, why would Jude definitely quote non scripture and why would Peter seem to quote it? It just all sounds a little strange. The main point Peter makes in chapter two isn't really hard to figure out. However, his methods and how he makes that point present the challenges. And it's really tempting when you get to chapter two to teach his main point and just skip over all the interpretive issues. But since at Wednesday in the Word we seek to learn not only what the Bible says but how we know, we are not going to skip over those issues, we are going to dive deep into them. And we're only going to look at the first three verses today. In the next podcast we're going to look just at verse four, which is the verse that seems to quote Enoch, and then in the podcast after that we'll go on and talk about the main point of this section in this chapter. So today we're going to start with one of the big puzzles, which is that the letter of Jude and Second Peter chapter two parallel each other very closely. Now Jude is a very short one chapter letter. The author, Jude, identifies himself as a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James. Of course, the most well known James in the New Testament is the half brother of Jesus Christ, one of the other sons of Mary and Joseph, and that would make the author of the letter another one of Christ's half brothers. In Hebrew this name appears as Judah, and in Greek it appears as Judas, and Mark 6 3 tells us that Jesus had a brother named Judas. While there are at least eight people named Jude or Judas in the New Testament, the author of this letter is generally accepted to be the Jude who was Christ's half brother. Most of the similarities between Jude and Second Peter fall in chapter two. However, there is one verse from Second Peter chapter one that also appears in Jude. So I just want to mention that for you. Second Peter one twelve reads, therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. Jude one five reads, Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. So here we have both Peter and Jude saying that they want to remind their readers of something, and both of them say that that is something the readers already know. Now if that were the only similarity between the two letters, it wouldn't even be worth mentioning because it's a very common thing for people to say, especially if they're writing a letter, it's very common to review something they've already taught or said. We find the really striking similarities in chapter two. To start the discussion, I'd like to give you a summary of the ideas that are common to both books. And I have an article on the website that compares chapter two of Second Peter to Jude. It might be helpful for you to review that post while I go over the ideas. I will put a link to it in the lecture notes for today, which are at wednesdayintheword.com slash two Peter six. You don't have to have it in front of you, but it might be helpful. So here's the similarities. Both Peter and Jude say that false teachers are among you who are living ungodly lives and pursuing sensuality. They then claim these false teachers reject the authority and the teaching of Jesus and that they reject angelic majesties. They say the false teachers are marked for judgment. They make the point that God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but that God kept these angels under captivity and darkness until they will face the day of judgment. They both give Sodom and Gomorrah as examples of God's judgment. They say the false teachers are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, and they revile what they do not understand, that they have followed the way of Balaam. They are analogous to springs without water and clouds driven by the wind. They speak arrogant words, and that you readers should remember the words of the apostles such that mockers and false teachers are coming. So that's the list of ideas that both Peter and Jude teach. You don't have to remember them all right now. I just wanted to give you an idea of the content that appears in both letters. Sometimes the ideas are repeated word for word. Sometimes they present the same idea using different words, and by and large they present these ideas in the exact same order. Now no one I read believes that it's a coincidence that these chapters are too so strikingly similar. It's just too unlikely that by chance they would pick up the same ideas in the same order and sometimes word for word. So the interpretive question we want to try to answer is how does this affect the way we understand the books? How should we read Second Peter? What are we to think about these comparisons? Did Peter copy from Jude? Did Jude copy from Peter? And what does it all mean? Some people question the authenticity of Second Peter and this is the kind of debate that adds fuel to their fire. So basically there are three possibilities. One is that Peter wrote first and that Jude later borrowed from Peter. The second possibility is that Jude wrote first and Peter later borrowed from Jude, and the third is that both Peter and Jude are borrowing from some third letter that we don't have access to today, but both of them had access to. And if you read through the commentaries, you'll find scholars who advocate for each of these positions. Something Peter wrote first, something Jude wrote first, and others think there was a third source that both of them copied from. And if you're interested in the details of that debate, I'll leave that to your research and reading. You can find that in just about any good commentary on Peter and Jude. I'm just gonna cut to the chase and give you my own conclusion, which is that Peter wrote first. And here's why. In each of the comparisons between the books, you'll see that Peter and Jude are making the same points in the same order. Sometimes they use different words but they express the same idea and sometimes they use the exact same words and phrases. Except there is one place where although they use very similar words, they are saying something different. And I am persuaded by the scholars that say this difference is important. Now other scholars will dismiss this difference as trivial, but I think it's significant, and of course I might be the one who's wrong, but at this point this is how I put the evidence together. And here's where that place is. This is Second Peter chapter three verses one and two. This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved, and both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. Now we're gonna look at in detail at that when we get to chapter three, but for now notice that in three one and two, Peter is saying, There are these two groups of people whose words you should remember the words of the Holy Prophet and the commandment of the Lord spoken through the apostles. And you will recognize this as one of the main points that Peter made in chapter one. In chapter one, he emphasized that the gospel rests on the eyewitness testimonies of the apostles about the life of Jesus and that they confirm the word of the Lord given through the Old Testament prophets about the Messiah. Neither the apostles nor the prophets made up their message, rather they were commissioned by God to proclaim it. Now Peter doesn't quote here what the prophets said or what the apostles said, he just refers to their words. Then he tells them why it's important that they remember the words of these two groups. This is Second Peter chapter three verses three and four. Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing following their own sinful desires. They will say, Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. Peter says it's important to remember what the apostles and the prophets told them because mockers and scoffers are gonna come and tell them otherwise. And the scoffers are gonna say, Hey, all that stuff the apostles and prophets told you was gonna happen. Well it's not happening. It's just not happening. Life is just going on day by day as it always did. And Peter's saying, You readers will be ridiculed for believing in the promises that don't seem to be coming true. And when that happens, Peter's encouraging them to remember his words as one of the apostles and not be persuaded to abandon those promises even if it seems like their fulfillment is a long time coming. Okay, now Jude says the same thing, but with one difference that I find significant. This is Jude one seventeen and eighteen. But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, In the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions. Jude says, Remember words spoken by the apostles. He doesn't mention the Old Testament prophets, just the apostles, and then in eighteen he quotes what it is that the apostles said that he wants you to remember, and what is it they said in the last time scoffers are coming. So here's what I think is going on. Peter says remember the words of the prophets and the apostles because mockers are coming. And Jude says, Remember the words of the apostles, and here's what the apostles said they told you that scoffers are coming. So Peter makes this statement mockers are coming, and for Jude that statement that the mockers are coming is one of the words of the apostles. Well that language strongly suggests to me that Jude is quoting Peter and that Jude knows he's quoting Peter and that he intends to quote this warning that Peter gave. Essentially he's saying Peter said in his letter scoffers are coming, and I want you to remember the words Peter the apostle spoke when he said scoffers are coming. He doesn't quote Peter by name, but where did an apostle warn us that mockers are coming? Well at least one place is here in Second Peter two. And since it is likely that Jude is deliberately quoting Peter here, that suggests to me that Jude wrote after Peter and that he is liberally quoting Peter throughout the letter. So I would contend that Peter wrote first, that Jude borrowed from Peter, and in that one spot he adapts Peter's words to reveal his circumstances. I think it's very hard to understand these verses the other way around and make it seem that Peter is quoting Jude. In in that situation, the grammar doesn't fit and the language doesn't fit. So as we go through chapter two, my operating assumption is that Peter originated this material and that Jude is borrowing from him. Alright, so let's go on into chapter two of Second Peter. You'll remember that Peter has just insisted at the end of chapter one that neither the Old Testament prophets nor the apostles made up their message, rather God told them what to say and gave them the understanding to say it, and they didn't make it up. They didn't create it like the false teachers, rather they spoke what was from God. So I want to back up to one nineteen to set the context for what we're going to look at in two one through three. So I'm going to start reading at Second Peter one nineteen. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of men, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. And then in two one, but false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who brought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction, and many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed, and in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. Before we get to the details of this, you may have noticed that Peter uses the future tense in these verses, and we want to ask the question, how are we to understand that? So in two one he says there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in heresies. In two two he says many will follow them and the way of truth will be blasphemed, and then in two three, they will exploit you with false words. So why use the future tense? One option is that the events Peter is describing are literally in his reader's future. The false teachers haven't yet come, and that these are events that are about to happen. That's an interpretive option, but I don't think it's the best one. I think Peter is using the future tense in a way that we still use it today, and that is to express something that is always the case. I would say the false teachers are already among them, and he's using the future in the same way Jesus did when he said, There will always be poor among you. Jesus did not mean to claim that there were no poor in Israel at the time he lived. Rather, it will always be the case that there will always be some people in poverty. And we say the same thing today. We say things like boys will be boys, or there will always be a bad apple in the bunch. And we're using the future not strictly to talk about something I expect to happen at some later date, but we use it as a means to say this is a perpetual problem. It is always the case that that this happens. And I think that's what Peter is doing here with his use of the future. He's saying it will always be the case that there will be false teachers among you, and it will always be the case that there will be those who will seek to exploit you with false words. So Peter says, Just as there were false prophets before the time of Christ, there's going to be false teachers after the time of Christ. In Israel's history, there were true prophets who spoke from God and there were false prophets who opposed them, and likewise there are false teachers now who oppose what the apostles teach. And Peter says these false teachers are creating the same kind of problems that the false prophets of old created. In their personal lives they're disobedient to God, they pursue sensuality, they're greedy, but worse, they claim to speak for God when they don't actually speak for him, and they are leading other people astray. They teach destructive heresies. They're obscuring and confusing the true message. They take a little bit of truth and mix it with some lies, and they distort and redefine words to confuse people and confuse the gospel such that people are led astray. He says they even deny the master who bought them. That phrase could mean that they explicitly deny that Jesus is who he claims to be, that Jesus is the Christ, and that's certainly a possible option. But I suspect it was probably more subtle than that. I think it's more likely that with their mouths they affirm the identity of Jesus Christ, but their lives tell another story. They say, Oh yeah, yeah, we follow Jesus too, but then they pursue a lifestyle devoted to greed and sensuality, and therefore they're denying the claim that this is the master they follow. As the Messiah, Jesus bought them, and through his death on the cross he redeemed them out of slavery to sin, yet they continue to pursue sin and thereby deny their own claims to be followers of Christ. You'll notice he says the false teachers arise among you. I think that implies they claim to be believers too. Because of them the way of truth is blasphemed. I think the idea is that outsiders look at them and their immoral lifestyle and they say, Well, if that's what it means to follow Jesus, then count me out because those guys are hypocrites, and in that way the way of truth is blasphemed. Again, that adds weight to the idea that they are claiming to be believers, but their lives tell a different story. So they claim to be believers, they claim to follow Christ, but their actions and their lives deny that claim, and that hypocrisy maligns the gospel. So like the false prophets in the Old Testament, their lies reveal their true beliefs, but secondly, and worse, like the Old Testament false prophets, they are leading people astray with their false claims. And this is the issue that Peter is really concerned about for the people he's writing to. He is concerned that they not be deceived by these false teachers. He says these false teachers have arisen among them, they're introducing destructive heresies. He warns that many will follow their sensuality. He says they're exploiting others with false words, and as a result, the truth is being maligned and rejected by others. So people are looking at these false teachers and saying, if that's what it means to follow Jesus, I don't want anything to do with it. So we have this picture that these false teachers are both personally disobedient and they're leading others astray, and they have set themselves in opposition to the true teachers, the apostles. The New Testament authors claim that the gospel presents us with a choice about how we find life. The Gospel says the only way to find eternal life is through the forgiveness of your sins because of the blood of Jesus Christ. As an apostle, Peter has spent his life proclaiming that choice and trying to make it clear to people, and now these false teachers have come along and they are muddying the waters and they're obscuring the choice. They are hiding the fact that saving faith involves things like godliness and self control, as we talked about in chapter one. They are hiding the fact that That part of repentance and coming to faith is turning away from a lifestyle of greed and sensuality and selfishness, and in essence they have rejected the apostolic teaching in favor of their own made up philosophies, and Peter has been urging his readers to remain true to the apostolic gospel, to reject the ideas of the false teachers, and to continue to strive to live their lives in keeping with their faith and hope in the gospel. As I argued in chapter one, Peter gave us that list of virtues in one, five through eleven because his readers have these kinds of false teachers in their midst. These teachers are claiming that a lifestyle of faith includes greed and selfishness and sensuality, and Peter wanted to emphasize in chapter one that part of saving faith is being freed from the desire to pursue sin. Yes, we will still sin, but we will no longer want to sin, and we will repent when we do. So we have this desire to be freed from sin that we didn't have before coming to faith. Therefore, our lives are going to be marked by things like godliness, self-control, brotherly love, and so forth, and we will not be marked by this pursuit of greed and selfishness and sensuality. Peter ends verse three by pronouncing the destiny of the false teachers. He says their condemnation from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep. He's saying, Just because they appear to be prospering now, we should not think that all is well and they are okay. Later in the chapter, we're going to see that this kind of thinking where we focus only on today is characteristic of the false teachers. They assume that the way things are now is the way things always will be, and they have forgotten what God has done in the past and they have forgotten what God has promised to do in the future. They're just looking at the now and saying, Look, everything is great. But Peter is saying the fact that they look like they're prospering now means nothing. It may seem like their judgment is idle, it may seem like their destruction is asleep because they don't seem to be paying any consequences for their actions right now, but trust me, Peter says judgment is coming. He speaks of their condemnation as being from long ago, and I think he's setting up what he's about to say in the next verses, which we're gonna look at in the next podcast. But the point he's gonna go on to make is from the beginning of creation, God has dealt consistently with us. Those who repent will find mercy and life. Those who rebel against God will find judgment and destruction. So the foundations of their coming judgment were laid long ago. God has always treated mankind this way, he has treated mankind this way since the beginning, but they're forgetting the past and they're ignoring the future. Their future judgment is predictable and they ought to know it's coming because God has judged sin since the beginning of creation. And that is something we lose sight of today. Sin always has consequences. Always. I have yet to find a case recorded in Scripture or experienced in life today where someone sinned and there were no consequences whatsoever. Sin always leads to death, destruction or pain, and by death I don't just mean physical death, but all the things that mark this life like bitterness, anger, frustration, despair, hostility, neglect, loneliness, war, divorce, isolation, tragedies, all of that is death, and all of that is a result of our rebellion to God. And sin always leads to some kind of death. Always. Yes, God forgives. Yes, God shows mercy and grace, yes, God can redeem even the most tragic of sins and bring something positive out of it and something wonderful, but there are always consequences. Judgment always comes, and we have ample evidence that judgment is coming. In the next section, Peter's gonna give us historical examples of how God responded with judgment and how and when he responded with mercy to further this point. But at this point you might be asking yourself, okay, all right, got it. So what? Isn't all this ancient history? Peter's readers had some bad folks in their midst. Peter's being a little preachy here, maybe warning against them, but thanks for telling us Peter, let's move on to the good stuff. But stop and think about his description for a minute and let it sink in what he's really saying. Think about all the voices today that are deceiving believers with the exact same kind of lies. It seems to me that what Peter is saying is very relevant to us today and it ought to sound familiar. I think Peter could write this letter today. We have teachers today who claim to promote the gospel and yet they pursue sensuality and greed and selfishness, and they exploit their followers and their listeners with false words, and the world looks at them and rejects the gospel because of them. I don't have to name any names, just look around at some of the ideas that are being proclaimed in the name of Jesus. It's not too hard to spot. You can even find their books on the bestseller list. What was true in Peter's day is true today. Religion can be a powerfully attractive and tempting way to pursue a selfish and greedy life. And it seems that counterfeit Christianity pays off big in wealth and prosperity. You can get a lot of people to give you a lot of money with a false gospel. You just take the gospel and you leave out the parts that offend and you put in all the parts that sound great that promise prosperity and health and community and security, and we don't need to mention that sin and repentance stuff, and you can build an empire around it. Just say the things that people want to hear without the things that people don't want to hear, and you can deceive a lot of people. But genuine saving faith is challenging. It challenges us to take a hard look at ourselves and to figure out what our real problem is. It challenges us to put our hope in the gospel and not in circumstances or prosperity now. It challenges us not to look out for number one, but rather to seek first the gospel and the things of God, and sometimes that means letting go of our rights for the sake of the gospel. The gospel sometimes challenges us to suffer for the sake of another and to give without thought of what we're going to get in return. It calls on us to repent and to throw ourselves on the mercy of God because of the blood of Jesus Christ, and all of that can be very challenging. To embrace the gospel is to struggle with the basic questions of life like who am I? Who is God? What has God said about the way to find life? Do I need the mercy of God? What am I counting on now? What should my life be about? And a fake gospel appears to offer the best of both worlds. We can attract a lot of people with the appeal of a good life now and with the appeal of being religious and considering ourselves good without ever confronting this problem of sin. False teachers deceive by saying, Follow Christ a little bit, and you can have everything you ever wanted in this life. You can be forgiven and selfish and sensual and greedy, and it's a lie. I don't think we should picture Peter as writing against obviously godless fakes and frauds. These are not the people who explicitly and clearly teach a kind of hedonistic paganism. Rather, I think he's writing against false teachers who've come along and said, I'm just like you. I follow Jesus just like you do. And then they put themselves forward as teachers and leaders and those who should be listened to, and yet their lives never show the marks of repentance, their lives never show the signs of faith, and they are just opportunists and deceivers. They elbow out the teaching of the apostles so that they can profit off of the believers. They mix truth and lies in a way that appeals, attracts, and deceives. And it's easy for us as Christians to say, okay, I'll make sure not to hang out with the murderers and the drug dealers and the gangsters. I can stay away from the bad people, but that's not the kind of warning Peter's making here. His warning is do not be deceived by everything that gets taught in the name of Jesus. We are not to be deceived by the so-called Christian teachers whose lives and messages subtly deny the gospel. These are the people who come among you and claim to be part of you, but look carefully at what they're saying, how they're saying it, and how they're living their lives. This is not the true gospel. They have set themselves against the message of Jesus and the apostles. And it seems to me that Peter's warning is especially appropriate today because right now our culture places a great deal of emphasis on not being judgmental and of tolerating every idea and philosophy and belief that comes along. We are told in America today that all religions are equal and that it's wrong to judge someone else's belief system. Ligoner Ministries conducts a survey of evangelicals every couple of years to assess what they call the state of theology. Their goal is to find out what Americans believe about God's salvation, ethics, and the Bible. They just did another survey in 2018 and I'll link to that in the lecture notes. You can find it at thestate of theology dot com. But in the twenty eighteen survey, fifty one percent of evangelicals agreed with the statement God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and that is up from the forty nine percent who agreed in the twenty sixteen survey. Additionally, sixty percent agreed with the statement religious belief is a matter of personal opinion, it is not about objective truth. Now I would say that Peter has just argued the opposite in chapter one and up to this point in chapter two. One of the implications of his insistence in chapter one that the prophets and the apostles did not make up their message, but instead were told it by God, is that their message is objective truth and that all religions are not equal. Any religion made up by human beings is not equal to a religion that has been revealed by the creator of the universe. Yes, we can be judgmental in a bad way. We can have a judgmental attitude in the sense that I might think, oh, I'm better and smarter than those guys, I've got it all together, they've missed the boat. That kind of judgmental attitude is wrong and we ought to avoid it. We are not to be judgmental in the sense of looking down on others, putting others down and lording it over them. But we are called to be discerning. We are called to recognize truth and lies, and people can distort the gospel and deceive in all manner of ways, and we're to be on guard against it. We are to be thoughtful and sober and alert and learn to recognize what is true and taught in the Bible and what is not and learn to tell the difference. What we believe matters. We ought to strive to believe truth and avoid lives. But how do we tell the difference? There is no substitute for serious Bible study. God has revealed Himself through His prophets, His Son Jesus Christ, and His apostles. They wrote the message that God revealed and they wrote it down in what we call the Bible. And if we want to know the truth, if we want to know what God says is true about this world, then repeated, diligent, persistent Bible study is the place we need to start. You've been listening to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. My mission is to apply serious Bible study to real life and to help you learn how to study. I don't accept any advertising on my website, nor do I ask for any donations, but it does encourage me to hear from you about what you've learned. If you've been blessed by this podcast, please contact me through the website WednesdayInTheWord.com and tell me what you've learned and then share it with a friend. It's really easy to subscribe, just go to wednesdayintheword.com and click subscribe to this podcast. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coates, and you can find more of his music on heartfeltmusic.org. Thanks for listening today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I hope you'll join me next week for Wednesday in the Word.