“as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16 ESV).
2 Peter 3:16 focuses on another important concern- the “…ignorant and unstable [who] have twisted [Paul’s] letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture” (NLT). This reference to “the ignorant” doesn’t necessarily refer to those who are uneducated. Instead, this designation implies that those individuals opted to rely on their own Biblical interpretations rather than seek God’s guidance in understanding His Word. That led to a distorted perception of the Scriptures that skewed their meaning and application.
One source identifies this second reference to the “unstable” in the following manner: “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.” (1)
This also reminds us that context is important whenever we encounter those who seek to use a Biblical text to support their views. The word “context” refers to “the part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning.” (2) In other words, the chapters and verses that surround a Biblical text help determine the meaning of that text. When verses are quoted outside their context, it is sometimes possible to make the Bible say some very unbiblical things.
For instance, it is possible to take an isolated portion of Scripture and quote it in a manner that makes it appear to support an erroneous position. Much like the false teachers chronicled here in 2 Peter chapter two, cultic organizations that claim an affinity with Christianity are widely recognized for this approach. Our text from 2 Peter 3:16 thus serves as a cautionary message, for those who intentionally follow that path are headed for certain destruction.
Finally, it’s important to recognize that this passage does not address various non-essential elements of the Christian faith. For instance, there are many areas where Christians of good conscience may reach different (but Biblically valid) conclusions on secondary aspects of belief and practice. Instead, this warning is directed toward those who deliberately twist, wrest (KJV), or distort (GW) Biblical truth. We’ll explore what it means to corrupt the truth in such a manner next.
Image Credit: Brett Jordan, Hermeneutical basics Context, context, context. https://www.flickr.com/photos/x1brett/page97 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
(1) Dr. Thomas L. Constable, Notes on 2 Peter 2024 Edition. https://soniclight.com/tcon/notes/html/2peter/2peter.htm
(2) context. (n.d.) American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. (2011). Retrieved October 4 2024 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/context