Bulletin Articles
What Sort of People?
At the end of Peter’s second epistle, he writes that the Lord is returning in judgment (2 Pet 3). While many mocked this as they followed their own sinful desires, they overlooked the fact that God always keeps His word and has judged the world before in the flood. Yet God’s timing is not the same as man’s, for with God “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (v. 8). Even so, the Lord is not slow about keeping His promises the way we count slowness, but is longsuffering, “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (v. 9). The Day of the Lord will come, the heavens and earth will pass away, and the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells will be a reality (vv. 10-13). Embedded within these promises is a question that needs answering: “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God…?”
What sort of people ought we to be? There are some matters over which we have no control. We do not control God’s timing, His judgments, or details about what happens when the Lord returns. We, do, however, control our response to truth. God has given His word and it will happen. Knowing this, the question is put forth: what sort of people ought we to be? How should we living in view of the return of Jesus Christ?
While we can find answers to this question throughout Scripture, let’s just focus on the context of 2 Peter. What does he have to say about the kind of people we ought to be? The full answer to this requires a complete reading of the book (which I recommend), but I want to think about three primary areas on which Peter lands as it concerns how God’s people are to behave in the light of the coming of the Lord.
First, Peter shows that we ought to be the sort of people who are growing in character. We are to have “lives of holiness and godliness.” In chapter one, Peter writes that God’s people have been called to God’s glory and excellence (v. 3). We have escaped the corruption of the world because of sinful desire desires (v. 4). Consequently, we are to “make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love” (vv. 5-7). These are not independent of one another, but grow in harmony with each other (much like the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-24). We are to be diligent in adding these to our faith so that we do not stumble (vv. 9-11). This indicates that faithfulness, holiness, and godliness are the result of diligence in growing and increasing in these qualities.
Second, Peter shows that we ought to be the sort of people who have an unwavering commitment to truth. In chapter two, Peter warns of false prophets and teachers who would “secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction” (v. 1). Many would follow their destruction path as the “way of truth” is blasphemed. No one is immune to this type of influence, and even angels fell to the delusions of false words as they came to despise authority. The point is that God’s people must be vigilant in their stand for truth, understanding that there are many ways to go astray and that “ignorant and unstable” teachers twist the Scriptures to their own destruction (2 Pet 3:16-17). Christians are dedicated to reality, and truth corresponds to what is real. If we give up our commitment to truth, we become slaves of corruption and error.
Third, Peter shows that we ought to be the sort of people who are looking for the return of the Lord. This brings us full circle back to the text in which Peter asks the question. Scripture is full of examples of God judging the unrepentant. All judgments point us to a final judgment, the proof of which is found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Acts 17:30-31). Peter says we are to be “waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Pet 3:12). Other passages concur with this (e.g., Titus 2:11-14; 2 Thess 4:13-18). Because we trust God’s promise and we await His Day, we are dedicated to lives that reflect God’s glory and excellence.
In the conclusion of the epistle, Peter reminds us 1) to be diligent to be found by Him without blemish and at peace, 2) to count the patience of the Lord as salvation, 3) to take care not to be carried away by the error of unprincipled men, and 4) to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” May God help us to be the sort of people we are called to be as we await the Day of God’s visitation.
