2 Peter 3:16

"These things" probably refers generally to future events (cf. 2 Peter 3:11; 2 Peter 3:14) and the importance of Christians living godly lives in view of them (e.g., 1 Corinthians 15:51-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12).

"It is not only possible, but probable, that St. Peter received every one of St. Paul’s Epistles within a month or two of its publication. We cannot imagine that one apostle should have remained in ignorance of what other apostles were doing, and it is quite inconceivable that St. Peter should not have read Galatians and I Corinthians." [Note: Bigg, pp. 300-1.]

If Peter wrote this epistle in A.D. 67 or 68, it is possible that he could have read every one of Paul’s 13 inspired epistles. It is somewhat comforting to learn that even the Apostle Peter found some of what Paul wrote hard to understand! Peter also wrote some things in his two epistles that tax our understanding. The "untaught" (Gr. amatheis) are those who had not received teaching concerning all that God had revealed. The "unstable" (Gr. asteriktoi) are those who were not always consistent in their allegiance to God or the world, namely, double-minded, fence-straddling compromisers. These types of people misunderstood and, in some cases, deliberately misrepresented the meaning of Paul’s writings. However this only added to their own guilt before God.

"The verb ’distort’ (streblousin), occurring only here in the New Testament, means ’to twist or wrench,’ specifically, ’to stretch on the rack, to torture’ [James Hope Moulton and George Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament Illustrated from the Papyri and Other Non-Literary Sources, p. 593]. They take Paul’s statements and twist and torture them, like victims on the rack, to force them to say what they want them to say." [Note: Hiebert, "Directives for . . .," p. 335.]

Note that Peter regarded Paul’s writings as having equal authority with the Old Testament Scriptures. This statement reiterates what he said previously about the apostles’ teaching being equal with the (Old Testament) prophets’ writings (2 Peter 1:12-21; 2 Peter 3:2).

"That an Apostle should speak of the writings of a brother-Apostle in the same terms as the books of the Old Testament-viz., as Scripture-need not surprise us, especially when we remember the large claims made by St. Paul for his own words (1 Thess. ii. 13; 2 Thess. ii. 15; Eph. iii. 3-5. Comp. Acts xv. 28; Rev. xxii. 18, 19)." [Note: Plummer, 8:462.]

"In attempting to destroy the Bible men destroy themselves." [Note: Williams, p. 111.]