Free Bible Commentary
“Second Peter 1:12-15”
Categories: Second Peter“Therefore, I will 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. I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.”
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If Peter’s brethren proved themselves to be short-sighted and forgetful, the Apostle did all that was in his power to make certain it was not because of his negligence. He was “always…ready to remind” them of “the truth” about Jesus Christ that they had been “established in” (verse 12). He was not saying that they didn’t know the truth or that they had already forgotten it because it was “present with” them. But there were false teachers peddling a perverted gospel (2 Peter 2:1), and he wanted to make certain that they could readily recognize a counterfeit from the genuine article, even long after he was dead and gone (verse 15).
How many times have you laid your song book aside and opened your Bible in preparation for a good sermon, only to hear the minister preach on a subject you’ve heard dozens of times before? If that happens frequently then you are a truly blessed disciple and your preacher takes his job very seriously. He is only following the example of an inspired apostle of Jesus Christ by stirring “you up by way of reminder” (verse 13). He is endeavoring to reignite the flames of your faith by carrying you back to your spiritual roots and the story of your spiritual heritage, and remind you of the reasons you obeyed the Gospel in the first place.
Peter had reminded his brethren in his first letter that they were only “strangers and pilgrims” (1 Peter 2:11) upon the earth, and now he informs them that “the laying aside of his” own earthly tent was imminent (verse 14). This may have been a reference to what Jesus told him in John 21:18-19 or some other revelation that the Lord had given him, but either way, Peter was keenly aware that his earthly body was only a temporary dwelling place for his spirit. The best he could do with the remainder of his earthly pilgrimage was spend it teaching and reteaching people what they needed to do to gain their entrance into the everlasting kingdom of the Lord in heaven (verse 11).
Please read 2 Peter 1:16-21 for tomorrow.
Have a blessed Lord’s Day!
-Louie Taylor
