2 Peter 3

Ver. 1, 2. In this as well as my former epistle, I chiefly aim at awakening and warning you, who are still sincere in the faith, to be on your guard against false teachers, and their destructive schemes and attempts to overthrow your faith and hope, holiness and comfort,—and to excite you seriously to remember and reflect on the predictions and doctrines which have been delivered to you by the prophets, and more lately by us apostles, whom Christ, the Saviour and King of his church, appointed for that effect; particularly what relates to his second coming to judgment, that ye may be fortified against the pernicious influence of secret and open seducers; 3, 4. Especially, as ye have been 2 THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN Was probably written about twenty years after the destruction of Jerusalem, and chiefly to the Jewish Christians. The scope of it is to establish their faith in Christ, as the eternal Son of God and promised Messiah; to lead them into affecting views of his and his Father’s love in the work of our redemption, and thereby engage their love to God and to one another, and sweetly constrain them to depart from all iniquity, and yield a cheerful obedience to all his commandments, answerably to their high privileges, hopes, and obligations;—and, in fine, to exhibit a system of infallible marks for trying the reality of our grace. 3