Discipleship Material
2 Peter

The Second Epistle of Peter

 

Block Diagrammed 

One of the pressing needs of any serious student of Scripture is an understanding of the syntax of a given passage.  Syntax refers to the interrelationships of paragraphs, sentences, phrases, clauses, and words.  The purpose of Block Diagramming is to graphically illustrate the syntax of a passage of Scripture. The Block Diagramming process involves the laying out of a passage of Scripture by indenting subordinate linguistic units while maintaining the word order of the given text or translation.  This allows the student of Scripture to determine the Divinely-inspired structure of the passage, it’s key features, and main points, so as to enhance the study and understanding of God’s Word.

Ronald Jay Frasco

 

Scripture taken from

the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE (R), (C)

Copyright The Lockman Foundation

1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977

 Used by permission.

2^nd Peter

I. Greetings

:1  Simon Peter,

 a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

 to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours,

  by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

II. Growing in Grace – 1:2-21

A. Divine Supply – :2-4

:2  Grace and peace be multiplied to you

  in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;

:3   seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness,

   through the true knowledge of Him who called us

    by His own glory and excellence.

:4    For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent

   promises,

     in order that

     by them

   you might become partakers of the divine nature,

    having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

  B. Personal Diligence – :5-9

:5  Now for this very reason also,

  applying all diligence,

  in your faith

 supply moral excellence,

 and

  in your moral excellence,

 knowledge;

:6  and

  in your knowledge,

 self-control,

 and

  in your self-control,

 perseverance,

 and

  in your perseverance,

 godliness;

:7  and

  in your godliness,

 brotherly kindness,

 and

  in your brotherly kindness,

 love.

:8   For if these qualities are yours and are increasing,

  they render you neither useless nor unfruitful

   in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

:9    For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted,

    having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

C. Conclusions

:10  Therefore, brethren,

 be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing

 you;

  for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;

:11    for

    in this way

   the entrance

into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

will be abundantly supplied to you. 

D. Brotherly Encouragement

:12 Therefore,

 I shall always be ready to remind you of these things,

  even though you already know them,

  and have been established in the truth

   which is present with you.

:13  And I consider it right,

  as long as I am in this earthly dwelling,

 to stir you up by way of reminder,

:14   knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent,

   as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

:15  And I will also be diligent

  that

   at any time after my departure

  you may be able to call these things to mind.

:16    For we did not follow cleverly devised tales

    when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord

    Jesus Christ,

   but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

:17     For

     when He received honor and glory from God the Father,

    such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory,

     “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”–

:18     and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven

     when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

:19     And so we have the prophetic word made more sure,

     to which you do well to pay attention

     as to a lamp shining in a dark place,

      until the day dawns

      and the morning star arises in your hearts.

:20    But know this first of all,

   that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,

:21     for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will,

    but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

III. The Malignancy of False Teachers – 2:1-22

A. Their Certainty and Influence 

2:1  But false prophets also arose among the people,

  just as there will also be false teachers among you,

   who will secretly introduce destructive heresies,

    even denying the Master who bought them,

     bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

:2 And many will follow their sensuality,

 and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;

:3  and in their greed they will exploit you with false words;

 their judgment from long ago is not idle,

 and their destruction is not asleep.

B. Their Judgment

:4   For

   if God did not spare angels when they sinned,

   but cast them into hell

   and committed them to pits of darkness,

    reserved for judgment;

:5   and

   [if God] did not spare the ancient world,

   but preserved Noah,

   a preacher of righteousness,

    with seven others,

    when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

:6  and

   if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction

    by reducing them to ashes,

    having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter;

:7   and

   if He rescued righteous Lot,

    oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men

:8      (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man,

      while living among them,

 felt his righteous soul tormented

  day after day

  with their lawless deeds),

:9    then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation,

   and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of

   judgment,

:10   and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires

   and despise authority.

C. Their Activity and Character

    Daring,

    self-willed,

   they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties,

:11    whereas angels

    who are greater in might and power

   do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.

:12    But these,

    like unreasoning animals,

     born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed,

    reviling where they have no knowledge,

   will

    in the destruction of those creatures

   also be destroyed,

:13    suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong.

   They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime.

   They are stains and blemishes,

    reveling in their deceptions,

     as they carouse with you,

:14     having eyes full of adultery and that never cease from sin,

    enticing unstable souls,

    having a heart trained in greed,

    accursed children;

:15     forsaking the right way

    they have gone astray,

     having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor,

      who loved the wages of unrighteousness,

:16     but he received a rebuke for his own transgression;

     for a dumb donkey,

      speaking with a voice of a man,

     restrained the madness of the prophet.

:17 These are springs without water,

 and mists driven by a storm,

  for whom the black darkness has been reserved.

:18    For

    speaking out arrogant words of vanity

   they entice

    by fleshly desires,

    by sensuality,

   those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,

:19     promising them freedom

     while they themselves are slaves of corruption;

      for by what a man is overcome,

      by this he is enslaved.

:20        For if

after they have escaped the defilements of the world

 by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus

 Christ,

       they are again entangled in them and are overcome,

       the last state has become worse for them than the first.

:21         For it would be better for them not to have known the

        way of righteousness,

        than

         having known it,

        to turn away from the holy commandment delivered

        to them.

:22         It has happened to them according to the true proverb,

         “A dog returns to its own vomit,”

        and,

         “A sow,

          after washing,

         returns to wallowing in the mire.”

IV. The Spiritual Horizon – 3:1-18

A. A Ridicule of Truth 

:1  This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you

  in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,

:2   that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy

  prophets

  and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

:3  Know this first of all,

 that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking,

  following after their own lusts,

:4   and saying,

   “Where is the promise of His coming?

    For

     ever since the fathers fell asleep,

    all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”

:5    For

    when they maintain this,

   it escapes their notice that

    by the word of God

   the heavens existed long ago

   and the earth was formed out of water and by water,

:6     through which the world at that time was destroyed,

     being flooded with water. 

:7    But the present heavens and earth

    by His word

   are being reserved for fire,

   kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

:8     But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved,

   that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years,

   and a thousand years as one day.

:9    The Lord is not slow about His promise,

    as some count slowness,

   but is patient toward you,

    not wishing for any to perish

    but for all to come to repentance.

 B. The Day of the Lord

:10  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,

  in which the heavens will pass away with a roar

  and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat,

  and the earth and its works will be burned up.

C. A Call to Faithfulness

:11  Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way,

 what sort of people ought you to be

  in holy conduct and godliness,

:12   looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God,

   on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning,

   and the elements will melt with intense heat!

 D. A Future Hope

:13  But

  according to His promise

 we are looking for new heavens and a new earth,

  in which righteousness dwells.

 E. An Active Pursuit of Salvation

:14 Therefore, beloved,

 since you look for these things,

 be diligent to be found by Him

  in peace,

  spotless

  and blameless,

:15  and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation;

  just as also our beloved brother Paul,

   according to the wisdom given him,

  wrote to you,

:16    as also in all his letters,

    speaking in them of these things,

     in which are some things hard to understand,

      which the untaught and unstable distort,

       as they do also the rest of the Scriptures,

        to their own destruction.

 F. A Final Warning

:17  You therefore, beloved,

  knowing this beforehand,

 be on your guard lest,

  being carried away by the error of unprincipled men,

 you fall from your own steadfastness,

:18  but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 To Him be the glory,

  both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.