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2 Peter 3:15 And consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also
our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,
2 Peter 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are
some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their
own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
2 Peter 3:17 You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest
you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the
wicked;
2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
Rule #6: The Bible not only has to be Read, It has to be Interpreted.
Rule #7: “A Text taken out of Context is a Con”
Ask yourself, “Is the verse a new thought or the continuation of the previous thought?”
This rule “A text taken out of context is a con” applies to Bible books as well.
For example, do not isolate the writings of Paul from the gospels of Christ or vice versa.
I. WHAT PAUL WROTE WAS SCRIPTURE.
2 Peter 3:15 …our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has
written to you,
2 Peter 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are
some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their
own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
There is a false teaching out there that the books of the Bible were chosen hundreds
of years later in the fourth century by the church and prior to that there was no
agreement on books that should be in or out of the Bible
J.I. Packer “The Church no more gave us the New Testament canon than Sir Isaac
Newton gave us the force of gravity. God gave us gravity, by His work of creation,
and similarly He gave us the New Testament canon, by inspiring the individual books
that make it up.”
Peter Gomes is an homosexual priest wrote in his book entitled ” The Good Book ”
“To base the church’s principle objections to homosexuality and homosexuals
on the basis of Paul’s imperfect knowledge is itself unprincipled …”
Thomas Jefferson letter to William Short, 13 April 1820
“I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely
benevolence: and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much
untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such
contradictions should have proceeded from the same being. I separate therefore
the gold from the dross; restore to him the former, & leave the latter to the stupidity
of some, and roguery of others of his disciples. of this band of dupes and impostors,
Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus. these
palpable interpolations and falsifications of his doctrines led me to try to sift
them apart. I found the work obvious and easy …”
The Scriptures cannot be divided up, they have to be taken as a whole.
Jesus and Paul were full and complete agreement
II. WHAT PAUL WROTE WAS HARD TO UNDERSTAND.
2 Peter 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which
are some things hard to be understood …”
Hebrews 4:12 (NASB) For the word of God is living …”
Luke 24:45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the
Scriptures.
Mark Twain said, “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother
me, it is the parts that I do understand.”
III. WHAT PAUL WROTE WAS TWISTED BY OTHERS.
2 Peter 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are
some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their
own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
Clarence Craig said “The Bible has often been treated as if it were a wax nose
which may be twisted at the whim of the interpreter.”
Romans 3:8 And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are
slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.
Romans 5:20 “…. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Romans 6:2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Romans 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?
Certainly not!
Can a person be saved and go on in the same ungodly sinful life pattern?
Can there be a true salvation experience and divine transaction that takes place
that has no impact on our life?
Because when we are born again, we are changed.
Because we are changed we can and will change.
God’s grace: 1. forgives us 2. changes our nature 3. changes our desires.
Romans 6:4 “… even so we also should walk in newness of life.
2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
