Have you ever been reading through the Bible verse by verse, grasping the main ideas from each verse, only to notice a few words at the end of the verse that might seem like a small detail? We often skip over these details unless we're conducting a word-by-word analysis. Sometimes, these details carry profound implications that can even overshadow the main thought. I think of these verses as hidden treasures in plain sight. 2 Peter 3:16 is precisely one of those verses.
"speaking of these things in all his letters. Some things in these letters are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also with the rest of the Scriptures." - 2 Peter 3:16 (NET)
When I first started delving into this verse, what caught my attention was Peter's point that some of Paul's writings (he references Paul by name in v15) are hard to understand. In fact, in the broader context of Peter's letter, he is writing about Jesus' return and all that it entails. So, when he says 'speaking of these things,' he is referring to Paul's writing about Jesus' return. Paul does write some challenging passages, and if Peter himself struggled with them, I feel better about my own struggles to understand them. When things are hard to understand, they can easily be misunderstood, leading to teachings that Paul did not intend at all. Peter was concerned then, and we should be concerned now about incorrect teachings resulting from misunderstandings of Paul's writings. The book of James 3:1 even issues a sober warning to any of us who teach the Scriptures: "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, because you know that we will be judged more strictly."
Down the rabbit hole of Paul's eschatology I went, beginning to enumerate difficult passages. I also started reflecting on how Scripture repeatedly teaches that God expects us to persist and dig for deeper truths (Matt 7:7-8, Matt 13:44-45, Luke 18:1-8, Matt 7:6). Additionally, Scripture teaches that we must be mature enough to receive deeper truths (1 Cor 3:1-2, Heb 5:11-14). God does not simply hand us deeper truths; He wants us to invest ourselves in discovering them because we remember things better that way.
Then, I noticed the end of the verse: "as they do the rest of the Scriptures." A quick read through the translators' notes pointed out that this little phrase from Peter, the disciple whom Jesus made the leader over the Church, equated Paul's writings with 'the rest of Scripture.' BOOM! Some may say, 'Well, duh, Paul's writings are in the Bible.' Not so at the time; when Peter and Paul were writing their letters, the "Bible" (Scripture) consisted only of the Old Testament. What we call the New Testament didn't become an officially agreed-upon collection until the Council of Carthage in 397 AD. At the time, these letters could have been viewed as sermon notes, a Christian book, or a blog like this today. In fact, Paul must argue with the Corinthians over his authority in 2 Corinthians.
This little detail, at the end of a very different thought, shows that Paul's writings were considered scripture in the New Testament Church from Peter, the very apostle named head of the Church by Jesus. That right there is treasure hidden in plain sight. Another verse on authority gives credibility from Paul to other New Testament writings by Luke: 1 Tim 5:18 "For the Scripture says, 'Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,' and, 'The worker deserves his pay.'" The part about the ox is from Deut 25:4, but the "worker" statement comes directly from Luke 10:7. So, Paul was citing Luke's gospel as authoritative. One could easily miss this detail as well.
2 Peter 3:16 is only one verse, but it contains a wealth of teaching within it. It is an excellent example of why we need to carefully read all the words and understand what is being said. It also provides a great example of the treasure that can be found by doing some digging, as well as simply examining what is hidden in plain sight.
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