SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES by F. D. Starr

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Apr 17, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 16.

SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES.

By F. D. Starr

Second Peter.

THIS is emphatically a last-day message, culminating in a most vivid and glowing description of the day of the Lord, in which the earth and the works that therein are shall be burned up. This warning is given for the practical benefit it will bring to the believer. “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.” 2 Peter 3: 11, 12. The marginal reading for the expression “hasting unto the coming,” is “hasting the coming.” That is to be our attitude in reference to the coming of the Lord. We are to do all we can to hasten that glad event, and not be like the wicked servant who says, “My Lord delayeth His coming,” nor like latter-day scoffers mentioned in verse 4, who deridingly inquire, “Where is the promise of His coming?” As this epistle applies so fully to the time in which we are living, what argument need be advanced to convince any one of the necessity of earnestly studying its important contents?

This letter was written by Peter, about six years after his first epistle, just before he, like Paul, became a martyr to the cause of Christ. In chapter one we find what is familiarly termed “Peter’s ladder” of eight rounds; namely, faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity, from the topmost round of which the diligent follower of the Master is to step off “into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Peter himself knew by experience what it meant to commence at the first round and ascend to the summit. That these graces were quite fully developed in him is evident from the closing part of this letter. He there alludes to the writings of “our beloved brother Paul,” and says concerning them that they contain some things “hard to be understood.” So the inspired declaration is made that the Scriptures do present some things that are difficult to understand. But does this excuse us for not trying to understand them? No, for it does not say “impossible to be understood,” but “hard to be understood.” What person has ever made a success of any line of business who did not do some things that were hard to do? Obstacles must be overcome, and very difficult tasks performed in order to win in any enterprise. Just so in Scripture research, earnest, prayerful work must be done. It might be profitable, however, to inquire what in particular in the writings of Paul was hard for Peter to understand. It is interesting to know that Peter has thus alluded to Paul, and it is equally interesting to note that Paul has made mention of Peter. We turn to Gal. 2: 11-14, and find there what Paul had to say about Peter. He states that Peter was to be blamed on account of the example of dissimulation that he set before the disciples at Antioch, in eating with the Gentiles in the absence of Jewish disciples, but declining to do so when they were present. Paul wrote to the Galatians about eight years before Peter wrote his second epistle. Of course Peter was aware of the description of himself given by Paul in the Galatian letter, and any of us can readily determine for our own selves how it would seem to a person to be placed in this light before the church and before the world. If Peter had any disposition to retaliate he might no doubt have done so by referring to some such instances in the life of Paul as when he had Timothy circumcised “because of the Jews which were in those quarters,” or when he consented to purify himself and have an offering offered for him according to the ritual law to avoid exciting prejudice (Acts 16: 1-3; 21: 26), tho he had for years been preaching that circumcision was nothing and that the

ceremonial law had been abolished, that its services were now vain. Peter might have said: I think I am as consistent as Paul in this matter. But no, instead of giving way to any such base sentiment as that, he simply states that in Paul's writings are some things hard to be understood. He will not wrest them, nor take unjust advantage of the circumstances. This for Peter, naturally so impetuous, was certainly an evidence of great victory in overcoming natural tendencies, and great proficiency in the development of those graces that compose the Christian ladder. Known unto God alone are all the circumstances that may have made a difference between Paul's conduct and that of Peter, tho the natural mind might not detect it. And here is a lesson for us. Should the servant of the Lord expose our faults, and we not be able to see the justice of the correction, shall we like many have done, reject the counsel of God against ourselves and thus go to perdition? or acknowledge it to be from the Lord, and reform our lives accordingly? Let us be like Peter in this. By reading 2 Peter 2: 6 in connection with Jude 7 we get a correct understanding of the nature of eternal punishment. Sodom and Gomorrah are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, but they were turned into ashes, utterly consumed, and thus they were made an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly. That fire shall leave them neither root nor branch. See Mal. 4: 1.

With the closing admonition of this portion of Inspiration, we terminate these brief comments. "But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen." To acquire this growth in knowledge and grace will necessitate a diligent study of the Bible.

F. D. STARR.