Attacks From False Teachers

II Peter 1:16-19

Have you ever been at a big event, a one-time occurrence, whether it was something great or something tragic, and some other people deny your eyewitness account?  You were there.  You saw it.  You were an eyewitness. Now there are people going around saying that what you saw did not occur the way you recount, or didn’t even occur at all.  That can be very aggravating, even angering.   This is what the Apostle Peter was facing, and our Scripture passage for today is his answer to them.

After the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and His ascension back into heaven, Peter and the other apostles were spreading His message of salvation throughout the Middle East and the Mediterranean world.  The good news of Jesus met with much opposition from false teachers and religious leaders wherever they went. One of the accusations they threw at Peter was their claim that the Gospel, or parts of it, were a myth, just like the myths of other false and pagan religions (vs. 16).  The false teachers tried to discredit Peter.  He was accused of making up fables and myths so people would follow him, and that way he could gain power, money, prestige, etc.  They claimed that Jesus was no more than an ordinary man, not the Messiah, and that He, and now the apostles, were spreading fables, nothing more than myths.

Peter’s response to them, and to those who were listening to their false message was that he and the Apostles John and James had been eyewitnesses to Jesus’s glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. Approximately six to eight months before the crucifixion, Jesus took three of his disciples, Peter, James and John, up a mountain, and there He was transfigured into His heavenly glory.  There He also met with Moses and Elijah, speaking with them about His coming death for the sins of the world.  This was one of the most dramatic events in Peter’s life, one that he would never forget, and now he is stressing this to those false teachers.  This wasn’t just a fable!  Also, it wasn’t just him, but James and John saw this as well.  Not only did they see this with their eyes, but they also heard the voice of God as He told them “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”. (vs. 17 - 18).  God the Father affirmed the deity of the Son, Jesus Christ.

These false teachers had not been there on the Mount of Transfiguration to see Jesus’s glory, as Peter, James and John had been.  What they were saying came from the twisted lies and deception of the devil.  Peter and his companions had been there. They were eyewitnesses, just as they were of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Peter never stopped preaching this gospel because he knew the truth!  He and the other apostles knew that Jesus was not just an ordinary religious teacher and leader.  Jesus is the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, not just a good religious leader, as many people today teach and believe.  Jesus is the only true religious leader, and He is the only way to the Father (John 14:6).

The eyewitness accounts confirmed Scripture (vs. 19).  Scripture ranks over any eyewitness testimony.  The Word is more complete, more permanent, more authoritative than anyone’s experience.  The Word of God is more reliable. Everything that Peter had been preaching, whether it was of Jesus’s death and resurrection, His second coming, or any other doctrine, his words were backed up by Scripture.  He wasn’t relying solely on his experiences, however all of his eyewitness accounts were backed up with God’s Word.

When false teachers bring their teaching, go to God’s Word to expose them, just as Peter did.  The light of God’s Word will shine into their darkness.