“…even denying the Master who bought them…” — from 2 Peter 2:1

This phrase, while a monumental theological brain teaser, is a great passage to encourage you to persevere in faithfulness and love for Jesus and his church.

How so? Well, it can’t be true that the decretally elect would deny Jesus who ransomed them on the cross. What good is the decree, then? It isn’t everlasting, because these people, by denying the Master who bought/ransomed them, bring destruction upon themselves three ways in the context: destructive heresies, which bring destruction upon these persons, a destruction which is not far away in time, v. 3. Most don’t believe the decretally elect are subjects of destruction.

So Peter must be talking about covenantal destruction, not decretal. About destruction of people who are in covenant with God but then who reject those covenantal blessings by being a false prophet and teacher among the church, teaching heresies that destroy people and cause them to fall away, heresies that even destroy themselves in the end, v. 1e. These are people in the church who have suffered shipwreck of their faith (1 Timothy 1:19), and have fallen away or are in the process as they prey on the sheep of the church. These are the Christians who haven’t been “diligent to confirm their calling and election…” (2 Peter 1:10). Like King Saul, like Judas (v. 20-22), like the guy in 1 Corinthians 5.

Peter is warning his audience, and you, to watch out for these false teachers, and to live by what is revealed (Deuteronomy 29:29), not by their false teachings. To live by what Peter the Apostle is teaching in chapter 1, versus their misleading beliefs.

In short, he doesn’t want you to deny Jesus your Lord who bought you with his ransoming death. He wants you to proclaim him, and live by His Word!

Peter’s statement in 2 Peter 1:14 that “the putting off of my body will be soon…” bears some wholesome and encouraging reflection by us as Christians. The context makes clear he is talking about his death, but his seemingly nonchalant attitude of “putting off his body” deserves some further thinking, and embodiment, by us. It appears that Peter is not at all frustrated, anxious, flummoxed, or worried about “putting off his body,” but almost speaks about it as one gets his old and worn out tires replaced for new ones. And that surely is his point, spoken as mildly as it is. Death is surely his entrance into glory, and putting off this sinned-inflated body is a right necessity: this body has to be put off, if we are to put on a new, sinless, immortal body, as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 15.

Peter is a great double witness to Paul: your death is not something to be feared in Christ. In fact, it’s a necessary beginning to the rest of your life! It’s the putting off of this present body in order to receive another glorified and eternal body at the final resurrection. It’s our path as Christians to follow Jesus: “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore…” (Rev. 11:17–18). As Paul exclaimed in Philippians 1, “to die is gain…My desire is to depart and be with Christ.”

So let Peter’s “matter of fact” approach to the putting off of his body guide you, as it does him, to the right use of this present life (1:12–15). Jesus’ divine power has granted to you all things that pertain to life and godliness (1:3), and part of that “all things” is living faithfully for Jesus until your name gets called for a glorious body “putting off”!

Because we are still on this earth, Paul says, “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Walking by faith gives us good courage because of what is to come. Nevertheless, we often whine because we want to see things with our own eyes. The Israelites wanted to see the leeks and onions again; theys wanted to see Yahweh in the “golden calf,” King Saul wanted to see Samuel in the flesh; idolaters want to see their gods, not just hear the “voice” of Yahweh (Deuteronomy 6).

Yet there is a passage that will help you “see” what God is doing, and so encourage you in the faith and give you good cheer. It’s a passage that will open your eyes to all the things that Jesus is doing in YOUR day and age. Today!

What is that passage? It’s Revelation 20, where Jesus binds Satan so he can no longer deceive the nations (20:1–3) during the millennial period as he did before, as in the days of the recently vanquished harlot of chapter 17, the old covenant unbelieving Yahweh haters who rejected his Son Jesus for the power and protection of Rome (chapter 13). Satan deceived nations to worship false gods and receive marks on their bodies and follow him to the abyss, but no longer. He’s bound as to the gospel; he can’t keep the minds of men in darkness. And so in obedience to the Great Commission, the church goes out and baptizes and teaches and makes disciples of all the nations. Even in North Korea and Saudi Arabia and China and Iran there are believers in Jesus, worshipping and praying and fulfilling the Great Commission. Think about it: all across the globe there are churches, ministry centers, gardens and villages where Christ is worshipped openly, all filled with believers who don’t murder and maim and offer child sacrifice nor molest their neighbor’s daughter or steal his livestock or burn down their houses over petty disputes. Live by faith, and open your eyes and see the difference Jesus is making!