[0:00] Thank you. Very good to be with you. Thank you for the invitation.
[0:15] ! Thank you, Chris.
[0:32] So, if something occurs to you that you want to ask about, as I'm talking, do ask then. Don't necessarily wait till the end because you may lose the moment. So feel free to interrupt me.
[0:51] Everybody else does. Two letters then. One Peter and two Peter. They're quite different from each other.
[1:01] If you've read them through recently you may have noticed that. They really are quite different. But they are both, I think, extremely relevant to what it means to live a Christian life today in our world, in the West.
[1:20] And I think if there's one theme that I think runs through both letters it is that. It is the realities of living a Christian life in our world.
[1:33] This commentary by Juan Sanchez he says it's an excellent commentary. I really enjoyed reading it for this. I've not come across it before.
[1:44] He says here is a letter written to churches like ours about a time such as ours here is a letter for today. I think he's absolutely right.
[1:55] Now, who are they written by? They're written by the Apostle Peter. Some people dispute that.
[2:06] Commentators dispute that. I'm not going to go into that. If you want to ask me about that later please do. But they both say quite clearly that they're written by Peter and I take that to be true because it's the Word of God.
[2:18] Almost certainly they're written from Rome. So, here is Peter probably at the end of his life towards the end of his life obviously he didn't know it was the end of his life but tradition says he was executed under the Emperor Nero in Rome around about 65 AD.
[2:39] Now Paul was probably in Rome around 60 or 62 AD at the end of the book of Acts and then left Rome for a while and because Acts doesn't mention Peter it's probable that they weren't there at the same time.
[2:54] So all that to say that the likelihood seems to be Peter wrote these letters in the last two or three years of his life 62, 63 AD something like that. But more important than the date I think is the person remember who we're talking about we're talking about this man Simon Peter who we meet so often in the Gospels and you know what kind of character he is very forward always ready with an answer whether it's right or wrong is secondary he's always ready to say something sometimes he's magnificently right isn't he and other times he's amazingly wrong and interestingly that characteristic goes on in his life after the death and resurrection of Christ into the acts of the Apostles God has to deal with him in Acts chapter 10 isn't it with the sheep coming down from heaven to show him that the Gospel had to go to the Gentiles as well on the same basis as to Jews and then in Galatians
[3:59] Paul tells us how he had to stand up to Peter and how Peter was not really acting as he ought to do so here's a man who's who loves Christ who trusts Christ but who is he's like us he makes lots of mistakes and it's this man who's writing these two letters as an apostle at the end of his life let's think about 1 Peter first of all I'll probably spend more time on 1 Peter because it's longer who is he writing to well he tells us who he's writing to if I can find it somewhere here we are in verse 1 so he says to the elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia as I'm sure you know those are places those are areas in what we call Turkey so he's writing to churches he's writing to
[5:00] Christians in that area but the description is interesting and I think is important for us the elect exiles of the dispersion he says he says something similar in chapter 2 verse 11 he says beloved I urge you as sojourners and exiles why does he call them that I wonder why does he call them exiles the word in English in the original means people who are living for a time in a foreign place and the word dispersion in verse 1 was the technical term for Jews who were living outside Israel now the letter is not written specifically to Jewish Christians people thought that at one time but almost certainly it's written predominantly to Gentile Christians what's he saying though he's saying he's writing to them as exiles in this world as Christians this world is not our home that's what he's saying essentially
[6:04] Ed Clowney in his commentary in the Bible Speaks Today series says Peter is writing a traveller's guide for Christian pilgrimage traveller's guide for Christian pilgrimage we're pilgrims in this world it's not our home and I think that's the point Peter is making as he begins the letter the main theme of the letter I've put it on the handout living a godly life in an ungodly world chapter 1 verse 16 which I think is central to the letter he says quoting from the Old Testament you shall be holy for I am holy or verse 15 as he who called you is holy you also be holy in all your conduct so here he is writing to these churches writing to them as pilgrims exiles people who don't really belong in this world and as the letter unfolds we see he's writing to them as people who live in a world that's quite hostile to them which is no doubt why he calls them exiles so we could say the letter is about living a Christian life not just in the world but in a hostile world and again it seems to me that is increasingly our situation isn't it we don't necessarily suffer physical persecution but there is increasing hostility in the world in which we live in our society he's writing then to
[7:50] Christians who are under pressure and they're under pressure in three ways I've given you that in the handout suffering the attractions of their former worldly lives and difficult relationships you can see from the verse references there that the predominance is in the category of suffering he's writing to Christians who are suffering and that suffering is sometimes physical so in chapter two and the beginning of chapter three seems to be addressing congregations partly made up of slaves who have been beaten unjustly by their masters so sometimes that suffering is physical but especially it would seem to be verbal chapter two verse twelve keep your conduct among the Gentiles honourable so that when they speak against you as evildoers or verse fifteen this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people chapter three verse nine do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling but on the contrary bless and verse sixteen when you answer people do it with gentleness and respect having a good conscience so that when you are slandered when you are slandered those who revile you your good behaviour in Christ may be put to shame and similar verses in chapter four so all the way through the letter there is this emphasis on at least verbal hostility suffering as a result of the insults of others there is this theme of the attractions of their former worldly lives these are people who have been converted out of paganism out of a very worldly lifestyle it would seem it is one reason for thinking it is not just Jewish
[10:02] Christians that he is writing to chapter one verse fourteen as obedient children don't be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance and verse eighteen knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers and a verse in chapter four so I put that under the heading of Christians under pressure we feel that don't we sometimes depending on where we have been converted from I suppose but we perhaps feel sometimes the temptations the pressures of a worldly lifestyle that perhaps we once lived in ourselves and Peter addresses that and then difficult relationships that seems to be the situation in chapter three verse one he seems to be talking to wives some of whom are married to husbands who are not believers and that puts them under pressure it's all very familiar isn't it really
[11:03] Christians under pressure Christians in a hostile world this is the world they were living in this is the world we live in as believers and Peter's question to them all his letter to them is answering the question how then do we live in such a society in such a situation you get the impression from this letter that this is a marginalised Christian community just as today we're increasingly marginalised rejected by unpopular with the society that they're living in suffering for their faith in these different ways perhaps sometimes tempted because of those sufferings to go back to the world worldly lifestyle from which they came that's the setting that's the situation that he's writing to how does he do it what does he say to them then quite a good exercise sometimes when you've done that kind of analysis who's he writing to to step back and say well what would you say what would you say if you were writing to Christians in that situation what truth would you bring out what message would you want to bring to them to help them well Peter does it this way now I've given you
[12:29] I think on the handout where it says Peter's response halfway down this is the breakdown that you'll find in Tim Chester's little guide to one Peter so when it says TC does it say TC in the handout yes that means Tim Chester okay my breakdown one of two places mine is slightly different but more or less I've followed his but I've got two major parts to the letter which he doesn't do and I think there is a major break at chapter 2 verse 10 and I think up to that point Peter is talking about who they are he's talking about identity he wants to impress upon them in this first part of the letter who they are in Christ and it's an absolutely extraordinary passage this first chapter and a bit it really is just amazing every time
[13:30] I read it I think it's more amazing than last time I read it I've divided this into two as Tim Chester does so the first 21 verses is where the focus I think really is on us as individual believers now it's not to exclude the kind of corporate sense that we are these things all together and we encourage one another in them but there's I think an individual emphasis and then from chapter 121 to 210 there's a corporate emphasis he's talking then about the church about our existence together as a church just scan your eyes over chapter 1 from verse 3 to 21 Tim Chester heads this living with hope it's it's it's an amazing list really of glorious truths about who we are in Christ and what
[14:33] God has done for us so just looking through it very quickly verse 3 it talks about regeneration how we're born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ by the way back in verse 2 he's in verse 1 he's talked about us being elect verse 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the father and the sanctification of the spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ so he's got the trinity here the whole triune God as it were working together since all eternity to save a people sinners like us through the blood of Jesus we're born again verse 3 we have an inheritance verse 4 that is imperishable undefiled and unfading it's preserved it's guarded in heaven by God's power verse 5 ready for that last time when it's revealed to us end of verse 5 he says in this you rejoice verse 6 now there is the note of suffering then in verse 6 but he puts a positive spin on it he says the suffering is for your good it's so that we're tested our faith is tested that is more precious than gold that perishes and the end result is that we should be found for praise glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ so he puts even there a positive spin on our suffering you haven't seen him but you love him verse 8 you rejoice in him with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory talks about salvation verse 9 talks about how the
[16:18] Old Testament prophets looked forward to this time verses 10 to 12 and now implication is you're enjoying it this is the time that you're living in so it's a tremendous wonderful peace about who we are in Christ and what God has done for us and then he begins to apply that prepare your minds for action verse 13 be sober minded be holy as God is holy verse 15 and 16 be careful how you conduct yourselves throughout the time of your exile there's that idea again in verse 17 knowing how you were ransomed speaks of Christ and then moves verse 22 into speaking specifically about our lives together so Tim Chester heads this living with one another and he speaks of our love for one another love one another earnestly from a pure heart verse 22 again speaks of being born again verse 23 the living word of
[17:26] God chapter 2 verse 1 again thinking of how we live together as a church put away all malice all deceit hypocrisy envy and so on long for the pure spiritual milk of the word and then verses 4 and 5 coming to him to Jesus a living stone rejected by men but chosen and precious in the sight of God you like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ he's taking Old Testament language there isn't he in those verses language that's used to describe the temple in the Old Testament and the priests and the whole sacrificial system and he's saying you Gentile Christians you are the fulfillment of all of that everything that you see in the Old Testament in the temple the sacrifices the priesthood system you are the fulfillment of it in Christ you are the living version of it the spiritual version of it verses 9 and 10 then round off this first half of the letter you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for God's own possession that you may proclaim the excellences of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light once you were not a people but now you are
[19:03] God's people once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy and then I think the most extraordinary thing happens in this letter just stop there pretend you have never read the rest of this letter and you have no idea what Peter is going to say next and he has just painted this extraordinary picture of who we are in Christ individually and corporately and all that God has done for us and the tremendous blessing that it is to be a Christian and the wonderful inheritance that we have in heaven ahead what is he going to say next then let's assume we know that he's going to talk now about what that means for our lives in this world what sort of life is it then to live in this world as people like that like he's been describing what might you expect you might expect that he's going to talk about wonderful miracles miracles that are going to accompany you wherever you go tremendous glory in all that you do
[20:12] God is with you and life is just extraordinary and amazing the whole time and everything is wonderful and of course that's precisely not what he says and that if anything is the most exciting and wonderful lesson of this letter that given all that he's said about who we are in Christ what does that mean in reality well it means actually we live quite ordinary lives that we go about our ordinary duties at work in relationships in families in church and we live those out responsibly unto the Lord and in an atmosphere of much hostility and suffering that's what it means I think that's a tremendous antidote to one of two extremes because people either go to one extreme where they think what I've just described a moment ago they think
[21:25] Christian life is just wonderful and should be full of miracles and we have this wrong expectation of what the Christian life is like Peter comes and corrects that or we go to the other extreme and say well the whole thing is just very difficult and horrible and I don't know how I'm going to face it forgetting what he said in the first half of the letter so I think the way he brings those things together is very very helpful okay I'm taking too much time on this first bit let's move on a bit so you see the structure then of the second half of the letter he talks about our responsibility as citizens of the state as it were in verses 13 to 17 of chapter 2 our responsibility well as slaves well we're not in that situation we could think of that in terms of work I suppose verses 18 to 25 hopefully you don't get beaten at work husbands and wives chapter 3 verses 1 to 7 and then all of you verse 8 onwards so our lives our corporate lives together it seems to me and that runs through that theme really runs through more or less to the end of the letter of life together any questions anything anybody wants to say at this point all happy with that the in terms of who he's writing to there's so much sort of of the testament yes yes you know
[23:00] I can understand why people would have thought it was to Jews yes yes and sometimes it's not always explained it's not like you're writing to gentiles you know you might think if you're writing to gentiles you might need to explain a bit about all testament sacrifices yes that is right and I think that is why people thought and still think sometimes that it was written to Jewish Christians those verses about being converted from your pagan ways though just don't fit that do they there must be a gentle element yes yes yes which he does but yeah must be thinking they're of unbelievers you get this in other parts of the new testament where the letter is obviously being written to a predominantly gentile audience gentile believers but as you say old testament passages are being quoted as if they know them I just think they probably just had a much better grasp of the old testament than we do that was their bible that's what they would have been taught when they became
[24:09] Christians and I just think they're well taught I think that must be the answer but it's a good point there's a bit on the handout where it says over the page at the top important stroke difficult passages he says confidently let me just say something about chapter 3 verses 19 to 22 18 let me read that he says starting at verse 18 Christ also suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formerly did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through water baptism which corresponds to this now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to
[25:18] God for good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels authorities and powers having been subjected to him commentators say things like this about this passage this is the most difficult passage in the new testament Luther said he couldn't be sure what Peter meant so it really is difficult there are questions like who are the spirits in prison in verse 19 that's one question and what was preached to them what was proclaimed to them and when did Jesus go to them in verse 19 and people have lots of different answers to questions like that and others some people want to argue that there's some kind of second chance going on here somehow after death the spirits in prison people who died as unbelievers
[26:21] Jesus somehow goes and preaches the gospel to them and they have the opportunity to believe again I can't accept that it doesn't reflect anything else in the scriptures I think we have to reject the idea of any kind of second chance theology here I think there are two ways of understanding these verses and I can't decide between them but one is that what he's talking about when he says in verse 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formerly did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah he's talking actually about Noah's preaching Christ preaching through Noah and if you think that's a bit of an odd idea it is an idea that is elsewhere in the scriptures that when the gospel is preached when the good news is preached it is Christ who is preaching it whether he's there in person or whether it's through an ambassador you can find that in
[27:24] Ephesians chapter 2 for example and Paul says that sort of thing elsewhere so this first understanding of the passage says it's Noah preaching at the time before the flood and Christ was preaching through him the spirits in prison then would be the people who were alive in Noah's time who were unbelievers they did not obey in verse 20 God's patience the ark was being prepared the flood came and so on so that's one understanding that's quite an ancient understanding goes back to Augustine at least the other way of understanding the passage which I think probably has more support from evangelical commentators today says that this isn't talking about Noah's preaching it's talking about Christ declaring victory or triumph to the spiritual realm after his resurrection the spirits in prison do refer back to
[28:37] Genesis chapter 6 and the time of Noah but they refer to that rather also difficult to understand passage where it talks about the sons of God and the daughters of men and the union between them giving rise to offspring which here are taken to represent the kind of whole realm of evil spirits of evil and so Christ then when it says in verse 19 he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison it's thinking of the time after his resurrection either at his ascension or before his ascension when he proclaims triumph he proclaims victory over the realm of evil if you like he's not preaching to them and the word is different from the normal word to preach for good news it's proclaiming victory to them you'll find that view in Sanchez
[29:45] I can't remember which view Tim Chester takes as I say I'm not sure which of those views I take it is an extremely difficult passage to understand and those aren't the only difficulties that's the central difficulty you've also got to think how baptism relates to it all in verse 21 and what he's saying there perhaps a useful way to think about this is to think about the context what's the overall argument what's the main thing that Peter's trying to say here one thing he's certainly trying to say is he's talking about witnessing in a time of persecution verse 15 and 16 he talks about being ready to give an answer doesn't he to those who ask you and it's a context of hostility so that would seem to fit with the first of the two interpretations I gave Noah in a time of hostility was faithfully witnessing to the
[30:46] Lord another theme though here is that of being persecuted suffering in this life and being vindicated at the return of Christ being shown to be right at the time of Christ's return and that fits as well he talks at the end of the chapter about the resurrection of Christ he's gone into heaven he's at the right hand of God with angels authorities and powers having been subjected to him so this proclamation of triumph to the spirits in prison is the kind of vindication of Christ after his suffering so yeah you can fit both those interpretations into the context as well so that doesn't help solve the problem it's one of these passages isn't it we have to we come across these from time to time we have to think how do we deal with this
[31:49] I think the best way is to be quite honest and say it is difficult and we're not quite sure what it means but try to understand it in the context of the overall argument and see what Peter is saying overall any questions about that anybody got some wonderful insights yes do you think which understanding of that sort of section we have influence our understanding of the rest of the letter no I don't think so it's sufficiently kind of small section self contained almost yeah yeah no I don't and I think either of those fits the overall message that I think Peter is trying to get across to us indeed yeah yeah 2 Peter 3 16 there are some things in Paul's letters that are hard to understand yeah yeah shall I say a quick word about 2
[32:59] Peter and then you may have other things you want to ask so it's quite a different letter so different that some people think Peter didn't write it because the language in the original is stylistically very very different but as I said it quite clearly says it's written by Simon Peter at the beginning and in verses 16 17 18 of chapter 1 he talks about his own experience at the time of Transfiguration it would be very very odd to say this must have been written by somebody else because Peter there talks in first person terms of his own experience with the Lord at the time of Transfiguration so this is Peter's letter another oddity is that some of it's quite similar to Jude Jude's letter so you can find similarities in particularly chapter 2 of 2 Peter and
[34:00] Jude verses 4 to 19 and commentators love that because it means they can fill up a few pages discussing which came first was it Jude first Peter used Jude or was Peter first and Jude used Peter and you can never solve these things so you can write to your heart's content they're not identical but there are quite close similarities between them he still focused very much on living the Christian life in this world but I think the difference we could say is this 1 Peter looks at it from the perspective of human relationships and institutions how do we relate to one another how do we relate to the state how do we relate to other relationships that we have in this world as Christians 2 Peter looks at it from the point of view of the kind of spiritual realities which lie behind those things so 1 Peter is very sort of earthed and very everyday 2 Peter looks more as I say the spiritual realities behind it talks about false teachers in the church talks about demonic powers in chapter 2 and in chapter 3 talks about the end of the age and the burning up of all things and the coming end of
[35:15] Christ and so on but it is nevertheless it's rooted in reality it's not that he's away with the fair it is rooted in reality but he's looking at it from that particular perspective I think there's a very clear theme to it or clear aim as I put on the handout he wants them to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ chapter 3 verse 18 and much of chapter 1 the first part of chapter 1 is taken up really with that theme growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ where it talks about these virtues that we're to add one to another from verse 5 onwards this is something we have to make an effort for verse 5 of chapter 1 it doesn't just happen and this is what he wants us to do I think you can think of the letter as sort of three concentric circles so the outer circle is what I've just said those exhortations to make every effort to grow in Christ you see it in chapter 1 and you see it at the end of the letter in chapter 3 verses 14 to 18 that theme and then within that you've got another circle focusing on the two comings of Christ so the second part of chapter 1 transfiguration the incarnation his earthly ministry but looking forward particularly the transfiguration looking forward to his return in glory first half of chapter 3 the end of the age and the coming of the day of God so that's the kind of second circle and then in the centre chapter 2 the centre circle the centre of the letter in some sense chapter 2 condemnation of false prophets teaching heresy blasphemy and ungodly ways so he wants us to grow in Christ puts that positively in that outer circle negatively in that inner circle and in between talks about the two comings of the
[37:20] Lord Jesus Christ which of course are the means by which we grow in grace there are various individual verses which I could comment on but I won't I think I'll stop at that so I'll put that on the handout at the end of the summary yes let us grow in grace chapter 1 guarding ourselves from evil chapter 2 and looking forward to the coming of Christ in glory chapter 3 3 3 3 3 3 minutes and then probably we've got 10 minutes to just ask a question so think of good questions and we'll come back in two minutes thank you very much for that thanks Thank you.
[38:46] Thank you.
[39:16] Thank you.
[39:46] Thank you.
[40:16] Thank you.
[40:46] Thank you.
[41:16] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[41:27] Yeah, I think that's probably the church in Rome. So Babylon is a, is, seems to be a kind of code word for Rome. And, um...
[41:37] So it's really the whole church? I think it's probably the whole church. That's, yeah, who is likewise chosen, I would think. There is a Puritan commentator who insists that this is Babylon.
[41:50] This is really Babylon. It has to be Babylon. It has to be Babylon. I'm not sure there was a church in Babylon at this time. I wondered whether, because obviously in 2 Peter, he again refers to Noah as an example.
[42:05] Yeah, that's true. And then he's specifically facing on the fact that he was a preacher of righteousness in an ungodly time. And I wonder whether that maybe helps us understand more the interpretation of his use of Noah in one Peter.
[42:19] If Noah at the time was sort of held up as a model of preaching righteousness in an ungodly time, maybe that makes one of the interpretations more... Yeah, I think that certainly gives weight to the first of the two I mentioned, doesn't it?
[42:36] Which, you know, if you backed me up against the wall and made me choose, I'd probably go for that one. But it is difficult, and I'd have a lot of eminent people like Tom Schreiner against me.
[42:50] Could you tell us the origin of the second view? The origin of it? Yeah, that's an interesting question. I think it's fairly new, newish.
[43:00] So the first view that it's Christ preaching through Noah certainly goes back to Augustine of Hippo. This other view...
[43:13] Yeah, I couldn't say for sure what you first came up with it. My impression is that it's more modern. Not in the 20th century terms.
[43:26] But I could be wrong about it. Do you know, Paul? Do you know, Paul? Do you know, Paul? Do you know, Paul? I don't know. It tends to be the... Yeah, evangelical commentators today seem to prefer this second view.
[43:41] But Clowney, sorry. Remembering that Calvin followed her first speech. Almost certainly. I haven't checked Calvin on that point, actually. I don't think he followed the 20th century. Ed Clowney takes the Augustine view.
[43:59] It gives me some confidence that there might be something in it. Sorry, I'm doing good. Is this the primary place where the Roman Catholic Church gets purgatory?
[44:16] Hmm. It could be. I don't know that they bother too much about finding particular texts. I have heard this one about purgatory.
[44:27] Yeah, it could well be used. Spirits in prison, it sounds like. That sounds like it might be purgatory, doesn't it? Yeah. It's not. I suppose if they wanted to refer to texts, that would be one.
[44:42] In 2 Peter, chapter 2, verse 1, it talks about false topics and false teachers. Yeah. Brilliant heresies and denying the master who taught them. Is that saying that they were purchased by the blood of Christ?
[44:55] Yeah. Yeah, that's... Okay. Yeah. So the problem in chapter 2, verse 1 of 2 Peter is, what does he mean by that phrase?
[45:06] Denying the Lord or denying the master who bought them. When he seems to be talking about people who are really apostate, who are really not believers at all, false teachers.
[45:17] Yeah, they bring upon themselves swift destruction. There's a lot of discussion about how we're to understand that. If we believe, as Peter has said, certainly in 1 Peter, that God elects those who are going to be saved since eternity past.
[45:38] If we believe that scripture teaches, as I do, that Christ came to purchase his elect when he died on the cross, paid for their sins and not for the sins of every individual.
[45:51] How do we understand this? Does this deny that truth? I think I would say, you know, when Bible writers write, they're not always using strictly theological language.
[46:10] They're writing normal, using normal language in ways that normal people like us can understand. And I don't think we're to press these words too far, therefore.
[46:26] And I would take it, he's meaning even denying the master who bought them. He's saying denying Christ who paid for the sins of his elect, who bought them.
[46:37] To understand that of saying that he bought those individual people, those false teachers, I think is just pressing it a little bit too far. There's a warning, isn't there, in 2 Peter 8.
[46:52] It's probably in 2 Peter 3, 9, where we often take that as a kind of great evangelistic fact.
[47:04] I'm not sure it is. So, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise of some kind of slocus, but is patient towards the U, which is the church that he's writing to.
[47:16] Nor watching that any should finish out in the U, is there? So that there are those within the church, who I think shares light maybe on the start of chapter 2, that there are those who were... Could be. Yeah. Have you got thoughts on that?
[47:30] Yes, certainly in chapter 3 I would agree with that entirely. It's like Hebrews 6, isn't it? Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 11. Where people get themselves into an awful mess.
[47:42] How can... Why do we need to be warned of the danger of perishing if we are true believers and we know that we will persevere to the end? Well, one of the reasons why we will persevere to the end, if we are true believers, is that we will take heed of warnings like this.
[47:59] To persevere with the Lord and to be faithful to him and not to go astray. That's what you're saying. Yeah. What I was going to ask was, what would be the warnings, you think, in 2 Peter and 1 Peter I think?
[48:14] Yeah. What's he warning them? Hmm. Well, here in 2 Peter 3, is he warning them about being caught up with this idea that, you know, Christ isn't going to come?
[48:32] Is that perhaps the problem there? The Lord is thinking that the Lord is rather slow to fulfil his promise. And not being ready then, perhaps.
[48:44] Not watching. Not watching for the Lord's return and not being ready. In 1 Peter, do you agree one of the big things is that the church is a new people, a new Israel.
[48:59] Absolutely. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. In chapter 2 of 1 Peter, verses 4 to 10.
[49:10] It's wonderful. Old Testament language, isn't it? Applied to the New Testament church. The church of Christ. Well, it's all the church of Christ, but the new covenant church.
[49:22] But unlike Paul, he doesn't give us anything as to the possible future of ethnic Israel. No, I don't think he's dealing with that.
[49:36] I don't think so. No. I wouldn't say so. I love the way there. There are these three stone texts.
[49:49] In chapter 2, verses 6, 7 and 8. Three different places in the Old Testament where there's reference to a stone. Psalm 118. Isaiah.
[50:00] And somewhere else. Just escapes me. Psalm 34. Thank you. And he brings them together in this way.
[50:12] They're all referring to Christ. And get back to the original context. Particularly in the Psalms. And you can wonder. How do we get from that to the Messiah?
[50:28] They're quoted elsewhere in the New Testament. Paul quotes them. And obviously in the Gospels as well. But Peter brings them all together here. And I think it's wonderful how he does that.
[50:39] Peter's astounding has an affinity. Yes. Yes. Very good. Very good. In 1 Peter 3, verse 7.
[50:53] He uses that unhelpful phrase. Weaker partner. When he's describing why. Do you have any helpful... I knew I should have. I knew I had a reason for bringing my Greek.
[51:05] I don't have actually being deaf. I didn't mean to be weaker. Aspenestero. Yeah. It does mean weaker. It is the adjective which is normally used for weak or sick.
[51:19] Physical. Yes. Yes. Whether we're to take it in a physical sense is another matter. Here. I mean it may be... But on the other hand.
[51:32] A crystal wine glass is weaker. Mm. Than a pewter tank. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. I used to think of myself as a crystal wine glass.
[51:44] Yeah. We could get onto very sticky ground here, couldn't we? We could. That's why I was asking for it. Yeah. I was hoping the word would be a bit more sort of rare or difficult.
[51:55] But it is pretty clear. Men likewise living according to the knowledge as with... As with... As with... As with... We could... The implication must be that of care for the wife, mustn't it?
[52:10] Husbandly care for the wife. That's what he's talking about. He's not... Obviously not being rude about women in any... In any way at all. He's emphasizing that live in an understanding way, ESV says, with them.
[52:24] And the second part of the verse is tremendous as well. Since they are heirs with you. They are fellow heirs. Again, the word in here is fellow heirs.
[52:35] It's one word. Of the grace of life. He's writing in a context, in a society that is tremendously patriarchal. Tremendously, you know, men have all the power.
[52:48] Women are not worth very much in the society he's writing in. So to speak of men and women in that way as heirs together is tremendously significant, I think.
[53:00] So that part had much more to do with the comparison of value. Of value. Which part? The part about heirs together.
[53:12] Yeah. Yeah. Where the speaker is... It's a description that helps them to know, don't treat your wife like you would treat. Yeah. Under the name. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, look after.
[53:23] But treating her with value. Yeah. Yeah. And with care and respect. How is that... I mean, the verse before... Like verse 6, it says...
[53:34] Mm-hmm. As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, and you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that's frightening. Mm-hmm. What is he... Yeah.
[53:48] And again, I'm afraid the Greek is perfectly clear. There's no way I can... You can't sort of tone it down. It does say, as Sarah obeyed, calling him Lord. Well, that's part of it.
[54:01] Oh, I see. It's the second part. Oh, okay. Yeah. What's he doing there? Um... I've never really asked myself that question.
[54:20] It's a very good question. Has anybody got any ideas on that? Well, if they're under pressure, can't that relate to the frightening scenarios? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
[54:30] So, he's thinking perhaps... Well, he is thinking of some women at least being married to unbelieving husbands. Verse 1. And I suppose that could lead to a situation between the two where the wife could be in a state of fear of what her husband might do to her.
[54:47] And so, yeah, maybe on the one hand he's saying, well, wives should respect their husbands and obey them, but not to fear them.
[55:01] Presumably implied because they are to fear the Lord and the Lord will watch over them. Maybe. I say that rather tentatively. I'll rest to you, Robert.
[55:14] Good. Thank you.