Chapter 1: What does the Mount of Transfiguration reveal about Christ's glory?
But on the Mount of Transfiguration, when the countenance of Christ began to shine, it was shining not from something bouncing against him from the outside, but it was something bursting out of him from his very deity. And when that cloud enveloped them and they were terrified, they heard the voice coming from heaven. This is my beloved son.
The Bible is not a book of myths, fairy tales, or exaggerations. The stories of the Bible are true. When Peter says that he beheld the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, he really did. Through his own eyes, in real time and space, the apostle Peter, along with others, beheld the glory of the God of the universe. Welcome to the Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind.
I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and I'm glad you're joining us today. These past few Sundays, we've been studying 2 Peter chapter 1, and today we come to the conclusion of our short series. So if you've not yet requested a copy of R.C. Sproul's expositional commentary on 1 and 2 Peter, be sure to do so at renewingyourmind.org.
But be quick, as this offer ends at midnight tonight, and it will not be repeated next Sunday. Well, Peter beheld the glory of Jesus, but how should that affect our Christian lives today? Here's Dr. Sproul to explain.
We're going to continue with our study of the second epistle of Peter, and I will be reading from chapter 1 beginning at verse 12 through verse 18. For this reason, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.
Yes, I think it is right for as long as I am in this tent to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but were eyewitnesses of his majesty, for he received from God the Father honor and glory. When such a voice came to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice which came from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain.
This passage begins with Peter's giving an explanation for what preceded this statement, the things that we examined most recently of the importance of our making our calling and election sure, that we may be fully enabled to work out our sanctification, manifesting the various fruit of the Spirit.
And I mentioned to you last week that the way in which Peter emphasizes these things is not at all unlike the similar emphasis found in the writings of the Apostle Paul. And that may give us pause and
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Chapter 2: How does R.C. Sproul emphasize the truth of the Bible?
We might ask, why does Scripture repeat some of its themes again and again? Why do we have four Gospels and not just one when much of the material that is contained in the four Gospels is found in all four of them? Well, I think we get something of a clue to that in what Peter says here. He said, for this reason, I will not be negligent to remind you always, not to remind you from time to time.
But the reminder of which he speaks is one that is consistent and constant. He said, I don't want to be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. I know you know these things. not only that you know them, but you are firmly established in them.
So why in the world would he find it necessary to be so repetitive, to remind people over and over and over again of these same truths of which they're already aware?
On my way to church this morning, I had some anxiety about the sermon I'd prepared because I had contained within it two illustrations that I know that I have given before in this church, and my justification for using them was twofold. On the first, I thought, well,
This congregation has grown so much in the last few years that probably most of the people who would be here for the morning worship service would not have heard these illustrations. And secondly, I thought even if they have heard them, they've probably forgotten them by now. And I learned long ago as a teacher
that if we are going to learn things, we not only have to hear things, but we have to retain the knowledge that we receive. And how does that customarily happen? It usually happens when the things that we study, we study over and over and over again. And I really believe that's how we learn. through repetition. At least that's what Peter is saying here.
He says, if I didn't repeat it, I would be being negligent. And that's why we have to hear these truths over, over, and over again. And Peter goes on to say, yes, I think it is right as long as I am in this tent to stir you up by reminding you. The word that is used here is the word that is used when somebody has to roust somebody from sleep who's deeply in sleep and doesn't want to wake up.
You know those situations when your kids don't want to get out of bed and you have to shake them and shake them and say, get up. And the force of this is that we are people who fall asleep. And in our slumber, We are unconscious to these holy things. And so Peter says, I figured that as long as I'm still in this tent, I need to give you a wake-up call.
I need to rouse you from your slumbers, to call you to vigilance in working out your faith. Now, in this passage, as the apostle Paul did in his second letter to his beloved Timothy, Peter, is announcing his imminent departure from this world.
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Chapter 3: Why is repetition important in spiritual teaching?
And so maybe that's what Peter was thinking about. I'm writing this down on paper. so that you will have a reminder of what I'm teaching you even after I'm gone. Irenaeus, later on, one of the early church fathers, quoted this exact verse and attributed it to Peter. Some skeptics don't believe that Peter wrote this. Irenaeus did.
And Irenaeus thought that what Peter was referring to in verse 15 was not this epistle, but the gospel of Mark, which was written where Mark basically served as a secretary for Peter. We could just as easily call the gospel of Mark the gospel of Peter. So perhaps Peter had in mind, at least according to Irenaeus, something even with greater grandeur than this epistle, the entire gospel of Mark.
Whichever it was, he was able in his care to make certain that even to this day, we have a reminder of these things. Now, verse 16 changes the basic thought here in the text, although it's not unrelated to what has gone before it. But Peter makes this declaration that's extremely important, first by speaking in the way of negation.
when he's talking about the message that he has been proclaiming, he wants to explain what that message is not and where it has not come from before he speaks about what it is and where it has come from. He says, for we did not follow cunningly devised myths or fables. when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Other translations say it this way, that we don't teach cunning myths, but we declare to you what we have seen with our eyes and what we have heard with our ears. Some of the other gospel writers make the same declaration that they are passing on to us in their writings, not folklore, but things of which they had firsthand experience.
When Paul gave his case for the resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15, he showed, first of all, the biblical evidence, which should have been enough for the resurrection. But then went on to recite the appearances of Jesus to the 12, then to 500 people at one time. And then finally he said, as one born out of due time, he appeared unto me. I saw him. I heard his voice.
He spoke to me in Hebrew on the road to Damascus. Now, when Peter says that they were eyewitnesses of his majesty, it's not difficult to discern what specific event in the life and ministry of Jesus to which he was referring. Listen to what he said. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty, for he received from God the Father honor and glory. When?
Well, when such a voice came to him out of the excellent glory. out of the majesty, out of the glory. Do you remember when John writes his prologue to his gospel, and the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and then he goes on, and he said, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth, and we beheld His glory.
Is there really any doubt about what John was referring to there and what Peter is referring to here? In that event that took place on the mountain of transfiguration. I've always thought to myself, if I had been blessed to have been alive during the earthly ministry of Jesus... and would have been able to have been an eyewitness of the things that he did, the miracles that he performed.
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