{"id":1036,"date":"2009-07-01T20:26:17","date_gmt":"2009-07-02T02:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1036"},"modified":"2009-07-01T20:26:17","modified_gmt":"2009-07-02T02:26:17","slug":"2-peter-314-waiting-peacefully","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/2-peter-314-waiting-peacefully\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Peter 3:14 – Waiting Peacefully"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

2 Peter 3:14<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We are to be at peace awaiting and looking forward to the return of Christ.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The expression \u201clooking forward to this<\/span>\u201d comes from the Greek, prosdok\u014dntes tauta<\/span><\/em>. Tauta<\/span><\/em> means \u201cthese things,\u201d and prosdok\u014dntes<\/span><\/em> means \u201clooking toward or looking for, with expectation.\u201d Hence, we could paraphrase this as \u201clooking forward to and expecting these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The word translated \u201cspotless<\/span>\u201d is aspilos<\/span><\/em>, which is made up of the privative a<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cnot or without\u201d and spilos<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201ca stain or a blemish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBlameless<\/span>\u201d is from am\u014dm\u0113tos<\/span><\/em>, made up of the privative a<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cnot or without\u201d and a form of m\u014dmaomai<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto censure or to blame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both of these words are expressed in the nominative case, meaning that grammatically they are subjects, not objects. Hence the end of this verse is more appropriately translated as \u201cbe diligent, spotless and blameless ones, to be found by Him at peace.<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Peter is saying, \u201cBecause the world will be destroyed by fire and a new heaven and earth will be created (which will only be inhabited by the righteous), therefore <\/strong>(or so then<\/strong>), we are looking for these things to come to pass just as he said they would. We have no reason to be like the scoffers who don\u2019t believe God anyway, we have every reason to believe the message about the future\u2026 and we should be preparing for it.<\/p>\n

If we believe that this earth and all earthly deeds that we do will be burned up, we should focus not on the things of this world but on the things that pertain to godliness. In order to expectantly look forward to something you have to believe in it. If you don\u2019t believe it will happen, then you won\u2019t be expecting it.<\/p>\n

And, if we believe these things will come to pass, then we are to be diligent to be at peace when He comes for us. Since we are in Christ Jesus, we are under no condemnation from God and should truly have peace. This is exactly how He should find us when He returns to judge the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Notice Peter calls us spotless and blameless ones. I think he does this intentionally to show the contrast between us and the false teachers he was talking about in the previous chapter where the words \u201cblots and blemishes\u201d are the same root words as \u201cspotless and blameless\u201d without the privative a<\/span> in front:<\/span><\/p>\n

They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots<\/strong><\/span> and blemishes<\/span><\/strong>, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.<\/span> (2Peter 2:13<\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Are you expecting Him to return at any time? If so, do you have peace about it, and do you have confidence that He will return to take you home with Him? <\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re truly saved then this peace is yours because in God\u2019s eyes you are spotless and blameless!<\/span><\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

<\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone \"\"(618) 614-3070<\/span><\/span><\/span> and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to:\"e-mail<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2 Peter 3:14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Truth to Learn We are to be at peace awaiting and looking forward to the return of Christ. Behind the Words The expression \u201clooking forward to this\u201d comes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[386,387,61,388],"class_list":["post-1036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blameless","tag-expectation","tag-peace","tag-spotless"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-gI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}