Beloved, I now write to you this second letter, in which I am stirring up your sincere thinking by way of a reminder,
Truth to Learn
We all need to be reminded of Biblical truths.
Behind the Words
The word translated “sincere” is the Greek word eilikrinēs, which is made up of eile, meaning “the shining or splendor of the sun” and krinō, meaning “to judge, discern, or examine.” So, eilikrinēs literally means “judged or examined in the sunlight.”
The word translated as “thinking” is the Greek word dianoia, which is a compound word made up of dia, meaning “through” and a form of noeō, which means “to think over.” Hence, dianoia means “to thoroughly think over or to think completely through.”
Meaning Explained
Peter starts off this third section of his letter with an explanation of why he is writing. He says this is the second letter that he has written to these people and that the reason for writing both letters was that they might be “reminders to stimulate you to sincere thinking.”
Peter wants to remind these people that they have thoroughly thought about the previous truths taught to them by Peter and others. They have taken the words of Scripture and have given them careful examination under the most illuminating conditions. They have not just accepted teachings on face value, especially those teachings of the Old Testament and of Christ himself (as we will see in the next verse). They have thoroughly examined them and thought about them extensively.
So how is this different from the “full knowledge” possessed by the deceived ones in the verses we studied in the last chapter? Those people possessed a “full knowledge” of salvation. That is, they tried to intellectualize their way into Christianity instead of believing their way in. The act of salvation is not an act of our intellect; it is an act of our will. It means a submission of our will to His in accepting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as complete payment for our sins. To understand it intellectually and to believe it are two distinctly different things. What Peter is talking about in today’s verse is the thorough investigation of the teachings after salvation has taken place.
Peter is now reminding them again of the things that they have believed in the past and that they have examined and discovered to be true but which they are likely to forget if they are not occasionally reminded of them. This is one of the reasons that it is important for us to be reading and studying our Bibles day after day, going over things we have learned previously to remind us of what God is trying to teach us.
Application
I am reminded of a powerful sermon that I heard as a very new Christian in which the preacher proclaimed that the Christian life is never standing still, “You’re either moving forward!” he bellowed with a grandiose gesture of the arm pointing in the forward direction, “Or you’re moving back!” proclaimed with an equally grandiose gesture of the arm pointing to the rear.”
Which direction is your Christian life moving today?
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2017 Will Krause. All rights reserved