In order to prepare for the coming judgment, we should not only be found in peace, but we should also be saved from destruction. Concerning this, Peter says in 3:15 and 16: “And count the longsuffering of our Lord to be salvation, even as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these things, in which some things are hard to understand, which the unlearned and unstable twist, as also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” The mockers count, or consider, the Lord’s longsuffering toward the believers as delay, tardiness, or slackness (v. 9). This is their twisting of the Lord’s word spoken by the prophets in the Scriptures and the apostles in their teachings. Hence, Peter charges the believers to count the Lord’s longsuffering as salvation instead of delay, not twisting the prophets’ prophecies nor the apostles’ teachings, including Peter’s and also Paul’s, that they may not be judged unto destruction, as the heretics will at the Lord’s coming. It is by doing this and by being diligent to be found by the Lord in peace that the believers prepare themselves for the Lord’s coming with judgment.
The Lord’s longsuffering in the delay regarding His promise should be counted as prolonged opportunity for the believers to repent unto salvation. Salvation in 3:15 is not salvation in its initial stage, but salvation in its completing stage. The Lord has delayed His coming with the intention that many of His elect may not miss the topmost portion of His full salvation.
In 3:15 and 16 Peter refers to Paul’s writings. Peter was not the only apostle to teach that the Lord’s longsuffering should be counted salvation instead of delay, with the confirmation of the prophets’ prophecy. Paul as another of the apostles also teaches the same thing in his writings, which are based upon the prophetic word of the Old Testament. Peter refers to this fact to strengthen his writing.
In verse 16 Peter gives a warning not to twist the Scriptures. We should twist neither the writings of the apostle Paul nor the writings of the apostle Peter, for both are part of the Scriptures of the New Testament. Those who twist the Scriptures will suffer destruction.
Since Peter’s antidote to inoculate against the heretical teachings of the apostasy is the holy word spoken by the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles, he cannot miss the writings of the apostle Paul, which are the greatest part of the apostles’ teachings for constituting the New Testament. In his writing, which is also a part of the apostles’ teachings and the constituents of the New Testament, Peter has repeatedly in both his Epistles referred to the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles (1 Pet. 1:9-12; 2 Pet. 1:12-21; 3:2). Now he refers to the apostle Paul in the strongest way, saying that Paul in all his writings speaks some things which are hard to understand, concerning the things of which Peter speaks in his writing, and that to twist Paul’s writings is equivalent to twisting the Scriptures as the heretics do, resulting in destruction, that is, in being judged by the Lord at His coming back.
This is a strong warning to both the believers and the heretics in the apostasy.
In 3:16 Peter speaks of “these things.” In his two Epistles of only eight chapters Peter has covered the entire economy of God, from eternity past before the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:2, 20) to the new heavens and new earth in eternity future (2 Pet. 3:13). He unveils the crucial things related to God’s economy, which the prophets prophesied and the apostles preached (1 Pet. 1:10-12), from four sides as follows:
(1) From the side of the Triune God:
God the Father has chosen a people in eternity according to His foreknowledge (1 Pet. 1:1-2; 2:9) and has called them to His glory (1 Pet. 5:10; 2 Pet. 1:3). Christ, foreknown by God before the foundation of the world, but manifested in the last times, has redeemed God’s chosen people (1 Pet. 1:18-19, 2) by His vicarious death (1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18) through His resurrection in life and ascension in power (1 Pet. 1:3; 3:21-22). The Spirit, sent from heaven, has sanctified and purified those whom Christ has redeemed (1 Pet. 1:2, 12, 22; 4:14). (The angels long to look into these things—1 Pet. 1:12.) The Triune God’s divine power has provided them with all things relating to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3-4), guarding them unto full salvation (1 Pet. 1:5). God also disciplines them (1 Pet. 5:6) by some of His varied governmental judgments (1 Pet. 1:17; 2:23; 4:5, 6, 17; 2 Pet. 2:3, 4, 9; 3:7), and He will perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground them by His all grace (1 Pet. 5:10). The Lord is longsuffering toward them that they all may have opportunity to repent unto salvation (2 Pet. 3:9, 15). Then Christ will appear in glory with His full salvation for those who love Him (1 Pet. 1:5, 7-9, 13; 4:13; 5:4).
(2) From the side of the believers:
The believers, as God’s possession, have been chosen by God (1 Pet. 1:1-2; 2:9), called by His glory and virtue (1 Pet. 2:9; 3:9; 2 Pet. 1:10), redeemed by Christ (1 Pet. 1:18-19), regenerated of God through His living word (1 Pet. 1:3, 23), and saved through the resurrection of Christ (1 Pet. 3:21). They are now being guarded by the power of God (1 Pet. 1:5), being purified to love one another (1 Pet. 1:22), growing by feeding on the milk of the word (1 Pet. 2:2), developing in life the spiritual virtues (2 Pet. 1:5-8), and being transformed and built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to serve God (1 Pet. 2:4-5, 9). They are God’s chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, peculiar people for His private possession to express His virtues (1 Pet. 2:9), being disciplined by His governmental judgment (1 Pet. 1:17; 2:19-21; 3:9, 14, 17; 4:6, 12-19; 5:6, 9), living a holy life in an excellent manner and godliness to glorify Him (1 Pet. 1:15; 2:12; 3:1-2), ministering as good stewards of His varied grace for His glorification through Christ (1 Pet. 4:10-11) (under the elders’ exemplary shepherding—1 Pet. 5:1-4), and expecting and hastening the coming of the Lord (1 Pet. 1:13; 2 Pet. 3:12) to be richly supplied with an entrance into the eternal kingdom of the Lord (2 Pet. 1:11). They are expecting further the new heavens and new earth with God’s righteousness for their eternity (2 Pet. 3:13), and they are growing continually in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18).
(3) From the side of Satan:
Satan is the believers’ adversary, the Devil, as a roaring lion walking about, seeking someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8).
(4) From the side of the universe:
The fallen angels were condemned for eternal judgment (2 Pet. 2:4); the ancient ungodly world was destroyed by a flood (2 Pet. 2:5; 3:6); the ungodly cities were reduced to ashes (2 Pet. 2:6); the false teachers and heretical mockers in the apostasy and the living mankind will all be judged unto destruction (2 Pet. 2:1, 3, 9-10, 12; 3:3-4, 7; 1 Pet. 4:5); the heavens and the earth will be burned up (2 Pet. 3:7,10, 11); and all the dead men and the demons will be judged (1 Pet. 4:5). Then the new heavens and the new earth will come as a new universe, in which God’s righteousness will dwell for eternity (2 Pet. 3:13).
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