- 1.3 Christians tempted to become complacent are told two things:
– God’s call is such a great favor that we cannot really understand it;
– it is not enough to have been called to believe: we must confirm this election by a truly holy life that prepares us to enter heaven.
You share in the divine nature (v. 4). This paragraph, with the texts of St. John, is the strongest expression of what we are and what we shall be. We have not merely been called to a good way of life that will be rewarded, to love a God who will be grateful to us. Jesus has come to reveal who we are: his brothers and sisters, members of a unique humanity that is to become part of the eternal mystery of God. He was made human so that we become all that God is, nothing less.
What we taught you… was not drawn from myths or formulated theories (v. 16). Faith is not based on reasons and theories. We believe in what the apostles saw and in the prophets’ words. It is true that through the centuries the understanding of the consequences of faith has developed, situating it within the realities of life; there has also been a constant effort to express what faith is in the language of our day. Nevertheless, we continue holding and believing the mystery of Christ in the way the apostles believed and understood it.
The last sentence clearly says what we find in Scripture: all that is there was said on behalf of God and all is the work of the Holy Spirit. It does not say that the Holy Spirit dictated the books nor that he granted revelations to all the authors. One same spirit guided all when each author wrote in his own style, and according to the custom of the time, what seemed good to write. Each author was aware that he was expressing the faith of his people, but was not necessarily conscious that he was inspired. Yet the Spirit arranged everything so that all the books make one whole that becomes a unique witness needed by humankind in every age. The Scripture is at the same time the work of the Holy Spirit and human literature in the language of a particular age.
Therefore, no prophecy of Scripture can be handed over to private interpretation (v. 20). It is true that anyone, according to his intelligence and faith, can understand one text or another. The message, however, is the whole. When we try to see how statements fit together, to see the important lines or discover the spirit of the Scriptures, then only the Church and those who are spiritually alive in her can discern.
The Morning Star (v. 19). This refers to Christ (see Rev 22:16).
- 2.1 This chapter dealing with false masters repeats, in part, the threats found in the Letter of Jude.
- 3.1 Two generations of Christians had already waited for the return of Jesus: a similar hope stimulated their perseverance. Now false teachers refute the words of the prophets (those who announce an imminent end) by citing daily events.
They sow doubt showing that the apostles also died and did not witness Christ’s coming. The response is twofold. On one hand, God does not measure time as we do. He may present something as being very near and not fulfill it immediately. On the other hand, if to us the time seems long, it does not mean that we can settle in this world; we should make good use of the time given us for genuine conversion.
In our days the majority of Christians give little thought to the return of Christ: because we see it as a long way off, or because we do not understand its meaning? In reality, it is always urgent to give ourselves totally.
The paragraph referring to Paul shows that, already at that time, Paul’s letters had the same authority in the Church as the old sacred books or the Gospel, the “rest of Scripture.” The Church was also concerned about the wrong interpretations that people might get from passages in which Paul did not express himself clearly.