James and Peter Overview

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As I have explained in the past, one of the reasons I am doing this blog is I am curious to see what kind of messages one might get from reading the bible. What might one learn as a take-away. Here is my quick summary of the good and bad from James and 1 & 2 Peter.

I'm continuing my efforts to organize and categorize the items here. Coming up with the right categories is more difficult than I had expected, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I will start with the categories that have all good items, next show categories with some good and some bad items, then finish with categories with all bad items.

Good

--Anger and Communication--

J 1:19 Be a good listener and be slow to anger

"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;"

--Authority--

1P 2:13 Follow all rules of earthly government

"Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution..."

1P 5:2-3 Leaders should lead by example, and shouldn't be in it for personal gain.

"shepherd the flock of God...not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock."

--Interpersonal Conflict--

1P 2:1 malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander are all bad things.

"So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander."

1P 2:12 Act in an honorable manner even in the face of slander.

"Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation."

--Lies, Selfishness and Jealousy--

J 3:14 Lying, selfishness, boasting, and jealousy are bad

"But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth."

--Love--

J 2:8 Love your neighbor

"If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well."

1P 4:8 Love has the power to repair rifts caused by sin

"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins."

--Meekness, Pride and Humility--

J 3:13 Show your works through meekness

"Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom."

J 4:6 pride is bad, humility is good.

"Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'"

--Patience--

J 5:7-8 patience is a virtue

"Be patient, therefore, brothers...8 You also, be patient..."

--Thoughtfulness--

J 3:10 Be careful what you say, you can do a lot of damage with a thoughtless word

"From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so."

--Values--

1P 3:3-4 spend time developing a good personality and not just outer beauty

"Do not let your adorning be external--the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear-- 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious."

1P 3:8-9 sympathy, love, humility, turn the other cheek

"Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling...

1P 4:9-10 Help each other out

"Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another..."

2P 3:14 Be good and at peace at all times

"Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace."

Good and Bad

--Faith--

J 1:6 Skepticism is bad

"But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind."

J 2:14 Do good works, faith is not enough

"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?"

J 5:16 Prayer is powerful if you are righteous enough

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

1P 1:8 believe in Jesus despite a lack of evidence

"Though you have not seen [Jesus], you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him..."

--Prejudice--

J 2:3-4 Don't treat poor people worse than you treat rich people.

"if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place,"while you say to the poor man, "You stand over there," or, "Sit down at my feet," have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?"

J 2:7 Rich people are blasphemers

"Are [rich people] not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?"

1P 4:3 Sex is bad, drinking is bad, and all non-Christians do it

"For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry."

--Suffering--

1P 3:17 Do good, even if you risk personal suffering

"For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil."

1P 4:1,13 suffering (for Christ?) makes you sin free

"...for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin"

"But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings..."

1P 5:9 If you are suffering, you are not alone

"...knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world."

Bad

--Apocalypse-- 

J 5:3,8 the end is near!

"...You have laid up treasure in the last days."

"...Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand."

1P 4:7 the end is near!

"The end of all things is at hand..."

--Fear--

1P 1:17 You should be ruled by fear

"conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile"

--Justice--

J 2:10 All crimes are equal

"For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it."

1P 2:18 Slaves, respect your masters even if they are unjust to you

"Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust."

--Knowledge--

2P 3:8 God can't tell a day from a millenium

"But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

--Marriage--

1P 3:1,5 wives submit to your husband no matter what they do

"Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands..."

"For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands"

--Obedience--

1P 1:14,22 Obedience is of supreme importance

"As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance"

"Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth..."

2P 2:9-10 lust and lacking obedience are the worst offenses of the unrighteous

"...and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority..."

--Sexuality--

J 4:4 You are evil people (probably should reference whole section)

"You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

1P 4:3 Sex is bad, drinking is bad, and all non-Christians do it

"For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry."

2P 2:2 sensuality leads to blasphemy

"And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed."

2P 2:9-10 lust and lacking obedience are the worst offenses of the unrighteous

"...and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority..."

2P 2:18 bad people use sex to trick believers away from the faith

"...they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error."

--Slavery--

1P 2:18 Slaves, respect your masters even if they are unjust to you

"Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust."

--Stacking the Deck--

J 1:13,17 God takes credit for good and distances himself from bad

"Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one."

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

J 3:15 God gets credit for good things, absolved from bad things

"This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic."

2P 1:3-4 God is the source of good stuff, bad stuff is from earth

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness...escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire"

--Wealth--

J 5:4-6 All rich people are evil

"the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud... You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence...You have condemned and murdered the righteous person..."

2 Peter 3

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The Day of the Lord Will Come (v. 1-13)

You should remember the prophecies that said that heaven and earth would perish and be replaced by a new heaven and new earth in which righteousness dwells.

This type of thing I find interesting, I'm not really even sure what to make of it. I remember hearing this as a kid and just being confused, and never really getting a good answer to what it means. Heaven is eternal, so why do we need a new heaven? Is the new earth where we go when we go to "heaven"? Does heaven have it's own sky and that is the new heaven of the new earth? Perhaps the confusion comes from the double use of the word heaven, for the place we go when we die and also for the sky. That's the best explanation I can come up with, but I really don't get this. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Christian commentaries have to say here.

Well, I'm disappointed, Guzik basically says nothing here. Gill just talks about things dissolving away and being replaced with something that isn't corrupted like our earth, but what about heaven? Matthew Henry similarly doesn't really explain this. Maybe I'm just missing something.

Scoffers will come in the last days and ask why Jesus hasn't returned yet. But for the lord 1000 years is like a day.

This is an answer I have seen a few times out in 'the wild' and also it has come up at least once before in the bible itself as well. It is a defense for the fact that the return of Jesus is talked about in the bible as if it was about to happen, and yet it has been 2000 years and nothing. It seems like some pretty obvious patchwork trying to cover up an obvious problem, but apart from that, I would argue that if it is correct it is still a problem.

Think about their claim, the argument is that it was the bible does indeed say that Jesus is going to come back soon, but for the lord a thousand years and a day are basically the same thing, so soon for him might be a long time for us. This demonstrates a pretty huge communication failure. Jesus was trying to tell people that he was coming back in thousands of years, and he gave them the impression that he was returning in their lifetimes. How can we trust anything else that is written in this book if such a basic thing cannot be communicated properly? You might come back at me with "He wasn't trying to tell them he was coming back in thousands of years, he wanted them to think he was coming back sooner", in that case, he was lying to them and my question still stands.

These scoffers also had something else to say that interested me, "For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation"

I'm not completely sure what this means, but I'm guessing the claim is that no miracles happen any more. If that is correct I think it is a very good question. Also, who are those fathers?

Gill says that these fathers are the first men to walk on the earth. If I'm understanding correctly, he is saying that before that time, things were different as God was creating the world, but after that things settled into business as usual which is what we see now.

Final Words (v. 14-18)

As you wait for Jesus, make sure that when he finds you, you will be without blemish and at peace.

I like the idea of being at peace, and always trying to be "without blemish" is good, sort of a catch all "be good all the time" command. Not particularly instructive but good nonetheless.

Consider the fact that he is taking so long to come back as patience on his part to let more people be saved.

I suppose there might be some logic to this idea, still hard to imagine the immense amount of time that has passed for this to still hold.

The letter of Paul, as well as the other scriptures, are sometimes hard to understand, and so the lawless can twist them to their own ends, be careful not to be swept up with those people.

This is a defense mechanism for the religion. I would also argue that it is an admission that the book is not perfect and divinely inspired. If it were, I would expect it to be constructed in such a way that it can't be used for nefarious ends.

For the overview post (If you think I should add or remove stuff from this list please let me know, I think it would make good conversation)

Good:

3:14 Be good and at peace at all times

"Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace."

Bad:

3:8 God can't tell a day from a millenium

"But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

2 Peter 2

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False Prophets and Teachers (v. 1-22)

Just as there were false prophets, there will be false teachers who bring destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality and blaspheme the truth. In their greed they will try to exploit you with false words.

I wonder how you are supposed to tell a false prophet from a real one. Apparently they are sensual, that is one clue given here. Also they will try to exploit you, I wonder how much of their money they could extract out of you, maybe 10% of everything you make?

God knows how to rescue the godly from trials and punish the wicked until judgement, especially those who "indulge in the lust of defiling passions and despise authority". As evidence of this, Peter cites the angels who were cast down, the flood of Noah, and Sodom and Gomorrah.

I think it is interesting that these stories have been chosen as examples of how great God is, they are terrible and in I can't believe they are taught to children. Also, I think it is interesting that the two examples of wickedness that are given are related to sex and obedience.

These wicked people have done a lot of bad things, and therefore "the gloom of utter darkness" is in their future.

A lot of time was spent describing what they do that is wrong, but this seems to be the punchline, their afterlife will be utter darkness. Is this a precursor to our concept of hell? For the record, let's look at the things that these people have done.

v10,12 blasphemy
v13 revel in deception and feast with you
v14 eyes full of adultery.
v14 they entice unsteady souls
v14 greedy
v18 they entice the sensual passions of those who are barely escaping

So basically, they talk bad about God, they trick people, they like sex, and they are greedy. Tricking people is mentioned 3 times, the concern seems to be having people tricked away from their religion. It makes sense from the perspective of the religion itself, but you would think once a member notices this kind of tactic a red flag would go up. Why are they so concerned about losing members? Is this a problem they are having? If I stop a minute and think about leaving will it seem obvious that I should? Why are they setting up such strong barriers here? Which actually leads pretty well into the next item.

If a believer goes back to his sinful ways after coming to Jesus Christ, it is worse for him than if he had never known Jesus.

More of what I was talking about, trying to keep people from leaving the church through fear.

For the overview post (If you think I should add or remove stuff from this list please let me know, I think it would make good conversation)

Bad:

2:2 sensuality leads to blasphemy

"And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed."

2:9-10 lust and lacking obedience are the worst offenses of the unrighteous

"...and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority..."

2:18 bad people use sex to trick believers away from the faith

"...they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error."

2 Peter 1

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As usual, when looking at a new book, I like to check out the wikipedia page and see what it says about date and authorship. We are in the normal situation, both of these items are hotly contested. One thing that caught my eye and made me chuckle, is that one of the arguments that it is not written by Peter is the linguistic difference between 1 Peter and 2 Peter, but 1 Peter was also argued to be not written by Peter. Although I guess that argument would lead to the conclusion that at least 1 was not really written by Peter, even if it can't pin down which is which.

Greeting (v. 1-2)

Peter identifies himself, and then wishes grace and peace to those of the faith.

Basically just a hello.

Make Your Calling and Election Sure (v. 3-15)

God granted us everything that is good, the world is the source of all things sinful and bad.

Same old thing, they give credit to God for anything good and he is free from responsibility from anything bad. If he is an omnipotent creator, shouldn't he take responsibility for the good and bad?

 Supplement faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with steadfastness, steadfastness with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, brotherly affection with love.

Seems odd to have been structured this way, where each item is intended to supplement the last. It doesn't seem to make a ton of sense to me, I think it would have been better to simply have a list of things that a good qualities, which is essentially what this becomes. What does it mean to supplement godliness with brotherly affection?

As for the list itself, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, brotherly affection and love are good. Virtue and godliness are relatively vacuous terms as far as I'm concerned. What does it mean to be virtuous? "Well, it means to do good things." What good things? "Well such as..." Yeah, whatever goes in that list, that's what I want to hear. And of course there is faith, which is a bad thing. I'm just going to leave this off of my overview post. I hate these lists, and it is a mixed bag anyway. Kinda hard to pick out the good bits and argue those parts make a good lesson.

Christ's Glory and the Prophetic Word (v. 16-21)

Peter says he knows Jesus is really the son of God because he personally heard the voice of God make this claim. He also says that he has prophetic word, which we should all listen to. Prophecy doesn't come from people, but rather it comes from God through the holy spirit.

Interesting that he talks about how awesome prophecy is, and yet he doesn't give any specific prophecies, maybe next book.

For the overview post (If you think I should add or remove stuff from this list please let me know, I think it would make good conversation)

Bad:

1:3-4 God is the source of good stuff, bad stuff is from earth

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness...escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire"