Kress Biblical Resources :: Outline

Detailed Outline of 2 Peter

1. Introduction (2Pe 1:1-2)
   1. The writer
      1. The human author (2Pe 1:1a)
         1. His name
         2. His calling
      2. The divine author (2Pe 1:12-21; cf. 2Ti 3:16-17)
   2. The recipients (2Pe 1:1b)
      1. The original recipients (2Pe 1:1b, 12, 20; 2Pe 2:4-8, 15, 22; 2Pe 3:15-16)
         1. Believers [perhaps predominantly Gentile believers] (2Pe 1:1b)
         2. Established in the truth (2Pe 1:12)
         3. Familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures (2Pe 1:20; 2Pe 2:4-8, 15, 22)
         4. Recipients of the Apostle Paul’s letters as Scripture (2Pe 3:15-16)
         5. Facing the threat of false teachers/teaching (2Pe 1:16a; 2Pe 2:1ff; 2Pe 3:3-4, 16)
      2. The current recipients
   3. The requisite greeting (2Pe 1:2)
      1. The prayer for blessing
      2. The place/Person where that blessing is found
2. Remember the Word and be stirred up concerning your faith (2Pe 1:1b, 3-21)
   1. You’ve been given everything you need to live out your faith (2Pe 1:1b, 3-4)
      1. God’s perfect provision is a gift of sovereign grace (2Pe 1:1b, 3a)
         1. The gift of faith (2Pe 1:1b)
         2. The gift of every spiritual resource needed for life and godliness (2Pe 1:3a)
      2. God’s perfect provision is backed by omnipotent power (2Pe 1:3a)
      3. God’s perfect provision has no limitation except God’s life and likeness (2Pe 1:3b)
      4. God’s perfect provision comes only through the true knowledge of Christ [i.e., the Word of God illumined to the true believer by the Holy Spirit] (2Pe 1:3c)
      5. God’s perfect provision ensures your sanctification and victory over the world (2Pe 1:4)
         1. God’s glory and excellence is the basis of your sanctification and victory
         2. God’s gift is the source of your sanctification and victory
         3. God’s nature (implanted by the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God) is the means of your sanctification and victory
            1. Believers partake of the divine nature
            2. Believers escape the corruption that is in the world by lust
   2. You have the responsibility to diligently live out your faith (2Pe 1:5-11)
      1. Faith in Christ lived out, culminates in spiritual character—i.e., love (2Pe 1:5-7)
         1. The basis for living out our faith in Christ (2Pe 1:5a)
            1. The divine nature and perfect provision given to us in the new birth
            2. The divine command given to us, to live out our faith
            3. The divine gift of faith
         2. The basic ingredients of a faith that culminates in love (2Pe 1:5b-7)
            1. Moral excellence
            2. Knowledge
            3. Self-control
            4. Perseverance
            5. Godliness
            6. Brotherly kindness
            7. Love
      2. Faith in Christ lived out, cultivates spiritual fruitfulness (2Pe 1:8)
      3. Faith in Christ lived out, conveys spiritual perception (2Pe 1:9)
      4. Faith in Christ lived out, confirms spiritual life (2Pe 1:10-11)
         1. The command to confirm your calling and election [assurance of salvation in time and eternity] (2Pe 1:10a)
         2. The confidence it brings now in the battle with sin [assurance of sanctification and perseverance now] (2Pe 1:10b)
         3. The confidence it brings concerning entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ [assurance of glorification in the future] (2Pe 1:11)
   3. You have the truth of the Word of God to fortify and direct your faith (2Pe 1:12-21)
      1. The witness of this epistle is to be referenced repeatedly if we are to guard against error and grow in grace (2Pe 1:12-15)
         1. It was written to affirm foundational truths that relate to our faith (2Pe 1:12)
         2. It was written to arouse us from spiritual lethargy (2Pe 1:13-15)
            1. He reminds us that it is right and needful to “be stirred up” in the faith (2Pe 1:13)
            2. He reminds us that this world is not our home (2Pe 1:13a, 14, 15)
            3. He reminds us that faithfulness is more important than death (2Pe 1:14-15)
         3. It was written to aid/serve as a permanent reference for our faith (2Pe 1:15)
      2. The witness of the Apostles (now contained in the New Testament) is to be trusted if we are to guard against error and grow in grace (2Pe 1:16-18)
         1. It is based on fact, not fable (2Pe 1:16, 18)
         2. It looks forward to the second coming of Christ (2Pe 1:16-17)
         3. It focuses on the majesty, honor and glory of Jesus Christ (2Pe 1:16-18)
      3. The witness of the prophetic word [the Old Testament as well as the rest of the Scriptures] is inspired by God and must be heeded if we are to guard against error and grow in grace until Christ comes (2Pe 1:19-21)
         1. The Scriptures are reliable—and self-confirming (2Pe 1:19a)
         2. The Scriptures are revealing—giving light in this dark and dreary world until Christ comes again (2Pe 1:19b)
         3. The Scriptures are not a religion made by man—not a human interpretation of God, religion and history (2Pe 1:20)
         4. The Scriptures are recorded by men, but in reality are the very Word of God—inspired by the Holy Spirit of God (2Pe 1:21)
3. Remember the Word and be stirred up concerning false teachers (2Pe 2:1-22)
   1. They will come—an introduction to the coming of false teachers (2Pe 2:1-3a)
      1. Their arrival is assured (2Pe 2:1a)
      2. Their doctrine will be destructive/damning (2Pe 2:1b)
      3. Their example will be emulated by many (2Pe 2:2a)
      4. Their ministry will misrepresent and malign the way of the truth (2Pe 2:2b)
      5. Their purpose will be personal profit and self-promotion (2Pe 2:3a)
   2. They will be condemned—an exposition of Old Testament examples of judgment and deliverance (2Pe 2:3b-10a)
      1. God’s Word promises the condemnation of false teachers (2Pe 2:3b)
      2. God’s Word pictures the condemnation of Old Testament proponents of false teaching, and the rescue of the righteous (2Pe 2:4-10a)
         1. The condemnation of angels who sought to render mankind unredeemable (2Pe 2:4)
         2. The condemnation of the antediluvian world, but the rescue of Noah and his family (2Pe 2:5)
         3. The condemnation of Sodom and Gomorrah, but the rescue of Lot (2Pe 2:6-8)
            1. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (2Pe 2:6)
            2. The deliverance of Lot (2Pe 2:7-8)
               1. The rescue (2Pe 2:7a)
               2. The reality of Lot’s spiritual condition (2Pe 2:7b-8)
         4. The certainty these examples bring that God knows how to rescue the godly and condemn the wicked (2Pe 2:9-10a)
   3. They will be corrupt in their character—an evaluation of who they really are (2Pe 2:10b-22)
      1. False teachers are full of arrogance and unsubmissive pride (2Pe 2:10b-13a)
         1. They are self-willed instead of submissive (2Pe 2:10b-11)
            1. The crassness of their actions—they revile angelic majesties (2Pe 2:10b)
            2. The contrast of the angels—they do not revile angelic majesties (2Pe 2:11)
         2. They are senseless in their arrogance—and will ultimately reap what they sow (2Pe 2:12-13a)
      2. False teachers are full of avarice and ungodly passions (2Pe 2:13b-16)
         1. Their shamelessness (2Pe 2:13b)
         2. Their seductiveness (2Pe 2:14a)
         3. Their selfish greed (2Pe 2:14b-16)
            1. The fact (2Pe 2:14b)
            2. The false prophet Balaam (2Pe 2:15-16)
      3. False teachers are full of false hope and emptiness, and are enslaved to sin (2Pe 2:17-19)
         1. The false hope pictured (2Pe 2:17)
            1. Their deceptive appearance
            2. Their destruction
         2. The false hope promulgated (2Pe 2:18-19)
            1. Their deceptive words (2Pe 2:18-19a)
            2. Their destitute condition (2Pe 2:19b)
      4. False teachers are full of faithlessness, and are expressly unregenerate (2Pe 2:20-22)
         1. Their tragic condition (2Pe 2:20)
            1. They knew the way of the truth
            2. They are overcome by corruption
            3. They are worse off than the common unbeliever
         2. Their terrifying culpability (2Pe 2:21)
         3. Their true character (2Pe 2:22)
4. Remember the Word and be stirred up concerning the future coming of Christ, and the coming day of judgment (2Pe 3:1-16)
   1. The truth of Christ’s return and the judgment to come will be attacked by unbelievers with mocking and presumption (2Pe 3:1-6)
      1. Remember what the Word of God says (2Pe 3:1-2)
         1. The letters of Peter (2Pe 3:1)
         2. The Old Testament (2Pe 3:2a)
         3. The New Testament (2Pe 3:2b)
      2. Remember where mockers/unbelievers are coming from (2Pe 3:3-6)
         1. They are slaves to their nature—mockers will mock, following after their own lusts (2Pe 3:3)
         2. They are willfully ignorant of, and rebellious against the Word and power of God (2Pe 3:4-6)
            1. They challenge God’s promise (2Pe 3:4)
            2. They ignore God’s power (2Pe 3:5-6)
               1. His power and authority in creation (2Pe 3:5)
               2. His power and authority in judgment (2Pe 3:6)
   2. The truth of Christ’s return and the judgment to come is affirmed by God with His Word (2Pe 3:7-10)
      1. The day of Judgment is assured by divine power and promise (2Pe 3:7)
         1. Divine power
         2. Divine promise
      2. The delay of judgment is on account of divine patience and timing (2Pe 3:8-9)
         1. Divine timing (2Pe 3:8)
         2. Divine patience and desire (2Pe 3:9)
      3. The day of the Lord will arrive unannounced, with devastating destruction (2Pe 3:10)
         1. The surety of the day of the Lord
         2. The surprise of the day of the Lord
         3. The scourge of the day of the Lord
   3. The truth of Christ’s return and the judgment to come should be applied by believers with holiness of life (2Pe 3:11-16)
      1. We must live in light of the coming judgment (2Pe 3:11-12)
         1. Holiness of life—consecration (2Pe 3:11)
         2. Hope—anticipation/expectation (2Pe 3:12)
      2. We must live in light of the coming glory (2Pe 3:13-14)
         1. The promise of the glory to come (2Pe 3:13a)
         2. The perfection of the glory to come (2Pe 3:13b)
         3. The peace, purity, and pursuit of blamelessness that results from expecting the glory to come (2Pe 3:14)
      3. We must live in light of the current patience and grace of God (2Pe 3:15-16)
         1. Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation (2Pe 3:15-16)
            1. The command of Peter under the inspiration of the Spirit (2Pe 3:15a)
            2. The confirmation of Paul under the inspiration of the Spirit (2Pe 3:15b-16)
         2. Redeem the time of God’s patience towards men (2Pe 3:15)
         3. Refuse to distort the Scriptures—but rather be a faithful student (2Pe 3:16)
5. Conclusion—guard against falling, but grow in grace (2Pe 3:17-18)
   1. Guard against error and falling from your own steadfastness (2Pe 3:17)
      1. Understand the Scriptures [that reveal God and His patience/salvation]
      2. Understand the error of false teachers
      3. Understand your own vulnerability
   2. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2Pe 3:18a)
      1. The persistent pursuit of growth
      2. The place of growth
      3. The Person we look to as we grow
   3. Glory in Jesus Christ now and forever (2Pe 3:18b)