“As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16 KJV).
This reference to “wresting” or “twisting” the Scriptures contains an illustrative word-picture that sheds light on the efforts of those who intentionally distort Biblical truth. In the original language of this passage, this word conveys the following idea: “to distort the limbs on a rack… to wrench, distort, pervert.” (1) So much like a sinister henchman who wrenched the limbs of a prisoner on a medieval torture rack, there are some who attempt to twist the Scriptures in a similar manner.
For his part, Paul the Apostle was clearly familiar with such efforts. In fact, Paul likely faced numerous attempts to distort his teachings from those who sought to discredit him. The Biblical books of Romans and Galatians appear to document several of those attempts…
“Why not say, then, ‘Let us do evil so that good may come’? Some people, indeed, have insulted me by accusing me of saying this very thing! They will be condemned, as they should be” (Romans 3:8 GNT).
“Well then, shall we keep on sinning so that God can keep on showing us more and more kindness and forgiveness?” (Romans 6:1 TLB).
“What does all this mean? Does it mean we are free to sin, because we are ruled by God’s wonderful kindness and not by the Law? Certainly not!” (Romans 6:15 CEV).
“But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!” (Galatians 2:17).
Paul addressed those efforts with reasoned responses in each instance (see Romans 3:7-26, Romans 6:1-11, Romans 6:15-23, and Galatians 2:18-21).It seems that Peter was similarly aware of those who adopted this approach, and that apparently led him to issue this cautionary message. This has brought one commentary to the following conclusion…
“The false teachers intentionally misused Paul’s writings by distorting them to condone lawlessness. No doubt this made the teachers popular, because people always like to have their favorite sins justified, but the net effect was to totally destroy Paul’s message. Paul may have been thinking of teachers like these when he wrote in Rom_6:15: ‘Since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not!’ …the better we know Jesus, the less attractive false teaching will be.” (2)
(1) G4761 strebloo. Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/strebloo
(2) Life Application Study Bible [2 Peter 3:15-18] Copyright © 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2004 by Tyndale House Publishers Inc., all rights reserved.