“speaking of these things in all his letters. Some things in these letters are hard to understand, things the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16 NET).
Despite the understated nature of this passage, our text from 2 Peter 3:16 contains a pivotal statement regarding the Word Of God. We can begin unpacking that statement with a definition of the word “scriptures” as it appears within this verse…
“The word translated ‘Scriptures’ here is graphe, a word that occurs fifty-one times in the New Testament and that refers to the Old Testament Scriptures in every one of those occurrences. Thus the word Scripture was a technical term for the New Testament authors, and it was used only of those writings that were thought to be God’s words and therefore part of the canon of Scripture. But in this verse, Peter classifies Paul’s writings with the ‘other Scriptures’ (meaning the Old Testament Scriptures). Paul’s writings are therefore considered by Peter also to be worthy of the title ‘Scripture’ and thus worthy of inclusion in the canon.” (1)
This tells us that Peter the Apostle recognized Paul the Apostle’s New Testament letters as “Scripture” right from their inception. Of course, Paul recognized the God-inspired nature of those messages as well…
“For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
What’s more, “Peter thus puts Paul’s Epistles on the same plane with the O.T., which was also misused (Mt 5:21-44; 15:3-6; 19:3-10 ).” (2) This has led one source to make the following statement…
“It is also very significant that Peter refers to Paul’s letters and groups them with ‘the rest of the Scriptures’ (2 Pet 3:16), and Paul quotes a passage from the Gospel of Luke, introducing it with the phrase, ‘For the Scripture says’ (1 Tim 5: 18). It is abundantly clear, therefore, that most, if not all, the NT writers claimed divine authority for themselves and their writings, sometimes even authenticating each others’ writings as such. What can explain this except their being convinced that Jesus had promised them the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that their teachings-both verbal and written-would be divinely inspired?” (3)
(1) Grudem, W. A. (2020). Systematic Theology, Second Edition: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic). pg.17
(2) 2 Peter 3 – Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament – Bible Commentaries – StudyLight.org. (n.d.). StudyLight.org. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/rwp/2-peter-3.html
(3) Cowan, S. B., & Wilder, T. L. (2013). In Defense of the Bible: A Comprehensive Apologetic for the Authority of Scripture. B&H Publishing Group. pg 459