1 & 2 Peter Book Study නියැදිය

Deliver Us from Evil

Seldom in the 21st century do we encounter those who speak of real evil and sinister forces in the way that Peter does in this second chapter of his second letter. Like the short letter of Jude, which is thought to have been written about the same phenomena a few years later, there is a sharpness to Peter’s critique of false prophets/teachers that finds few parallels in the New Testament.

Peter alerts his readers to such individuals and to their methods. They can be recognized by the fact that they lie about the true ways of God. They appear to know about Jesus, but they have failed to recognize how his death and resurrection actually redeemed them from condemnation and eternal death. They even "deny the sovereign Lord who bought them" (2 Peter 2:1 NIV), meaning that they act and speak as if what Jesus did is insignificant and without effect.

There is no way, in Peter’s mind, that these false teachers will be spared because God did not spare angels who sinned (2 Peter 2:4), nor the contemporaries of Noah who ignored his warnings (2 Peter 2:6), nor the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. All are under God’s judgment.

But for true believers, there is hope, even for those who find themselves surrounded by the kind of people who promote ideas that are completely contrary to the message of the gospel and do so with both selfishness and greed. God is powerful and fully able to rescue those who are his and whom he loves. He did it with Noah and with Lot, and he will do it again whenever there are “godly people” who are in dire straits.

Respond in Prayer

Lord God, although my situation may not be as dire as the one Noah or Lot found themselves in, I am grateful that you are the one who is fully able to rescue me and deliver me from evil. Amen.

Henry Friesen