Because what I have written is long, I have made it available as a nicely formatted page, with an audio version as well. Go to, [url=http://theopenlife.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-covenant-and-2-peter-2.html]The New Covenant in 2 Peter 2[/url].
Philologos, I apologize I have not been able to respond sooner. I'm doing the 5am-1:30pm shift at work, which leaves little time with necessary duties included. Please accept my weak attempt to explain what better men have before attempted. If at any time I am forthright, it is the move of conviction and not of strife. With you, my brother, I may contend but I shall not be contentious. My prayer is to Christ, for the help of His Spirit who opens our minds to comprehend the scriptures.
Let us look first to the text,
"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be [b]false teachers[/b] among you, [b]who privily shall bring in damnable heresies[/b], even [b]denying the Lord that bought them[/b], and bring upon themselves swift destruction."
The so-called problem of 2 Peter 2 is found in the word 'bought' being applied to evident reprobates. This construct gives the appearance of an ineffectual atonement, one which neither successfully purchased the elect nor propitiated the Father. However, I believe the issue which seems at first to be a blot on the doctrines of grace is found at last to be a smear on the glasses of him who reads it, and like all scriptures is more easily understood with a view unobstructed by native presuppositions. May God by these words remove scales.
I take the purchase here mentioned to be covenantal and to deal with broader aspects of the New Covenant than the particular atonement for sin. By 'covenantal', one must understand that every covenant includes terms, together with promises of rewards or penalties, but not every covenant guarantees the moral means of fulfilling those terms. For instance, consider the Old Covenant made with the nation of Israel. This covenant was ten commandments written on stone tablets:
"He wrote upon [b]the tables[/b] the [b]words of the covenant, the ten commandments[/b]." - Exodus 34:28
"When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the [b]tables of the covenant[/b] which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water: 1And the LORD delivered unto me [b]two tables of stone[/b] written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the [b]tables of the covenant[/b]." -Deuteronomy 9:9-11
The ten commandments received at Mount Sinai functioned together as the foundation document for the nation. Specifically, the covenant was an if/then agreement promising life to those who perfectly heeded its terms, and judgment to those who erred. What the ten commandments, as a covenant, did not provide was the moral impetus to fulfill the terms perfectly. For this reason, the law which was good in itself became a yoke and burden to the people upon which it rested.
"Now therefore, [b]if ye will obey my voice indeed[/b], and [b]keep my covenant[/b] [ten commandments], [b]then[/b] ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." -Exodus 19:4-6
In Galatians 4, Paul highlights the burden of the terms of the Old Covenant when he refers to the ten commandments in their covanental function, as "bondage" to Mount Sinai. It is important to note that he is not speaking here about the ceremonial law, though that too is dispensed as an obsoleted administration of the Old Covenant, but of the ten commandments themselves as a covenantal system. If this were not the case, his reference to Sinai would be irrelevant:
"Tell me, ye that desire to be under [b]the law[/b], do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had [b]two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman[/b]. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was [b]by promise[/b]. Which things are an [b]allegory[/b]: for [b]these are the two covenants[/b]; the one from the [b]mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage[/b], which is Agar. For this [b]Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia[/b], and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children." - Galatians 4:21-25
And so we see the ten commandments as a life and death covenant are a burden impossible to bear. They promise life to anyone who keeps them perfectly, but "all have sinned", and the "wages of sin are death." Because the law cannot remove sin nature, it offers no help to the already fallen man. Though the terms are clear, the moral will is not present to fulfill them. The promise is true, but the requirements are impossible for ones born of Adam.
With this understanding of covenantal terms and promises, we come to 2 Peter, and the New Covenant established by Christ's death. It is imperative to understand that there was more than one object to be accomplished in the crucifixion. [1] The first object was the creation of a New Covenant with new terms. [2] The second was the propitiation of God's justice for those, and only those, who would fulfill the terms.
First we shall deal with the object of creating a New Covenant with new terms. By his death and resurrection Christ [b]purchased the terms of the New Covenant[/b] for all the world, and in this sense He has the rightful place as sole "Savior of all the world, especially of them that believe." [1 Tim. 4:10] Which is to say, He is the only Savior held out, the only Snake lifted up, the only Way, Truth, and Life by which men are directed to come to the Father, and that His salvation is only apprehended through belief. Herein lies the essence of New Covenant terms. Those who would have life must cease from law-righteousness, accepting the atonement to provide through faith the imputed righteous of Christ to all who believe on Him.
These terms are illuminated by Christ Himself, particularly in the sign of the New Covenant,
"The Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took [b]bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, [b]Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you[/b]: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, [b]This cup is the new testament [covenant, GRK] in my blood[/b]: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me."
Whereas the Old Covenant said, "fulfill the ten commandments and you will have life," the New Covenant says, "believe on Christ, who fulfilled the law and bore its curses, and you shall have life." This belief is more than bare intellectual assent to the historical facts, but is likened by Jesus to "eating" the Substitute, that is, inwardly appropriating the Covenant Head.
"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, [b]Except ye eat[/b] the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, [b]ye have no life in you[b]. Whoso [b]eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day[/b]. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 [b]He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.[/b] 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so [b]he that eateth me, even he shall live by me[/b]. 58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: [b]he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever[/b]."
By faith one must partake of Christ's atonement; that is, one must inwardly receive his afflictions and sufferings under God's wrath to be a satisfactory means of life. One must eat of this broken body and spilled blood by trusting it to be a sufficient satisfaction for the sins of those who it atoned for, namely of all who will believe. So again there are clear terms in the New Covenant, and these terms could not have existed unless Christ was "broken" and "poured out."
This leaves the final question, in what sense does the New Covenant buy reprobates such as those described in 2 Peter 2? We glance at the text again, "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be [b]false teachers[/b] among you, [b]who privily shall bring in damnable heresies[/b], even [b]denying the Lord that bought them[/b], and bring upon themselves swift destruction." This purchase refers to some deliverance, such as the children of Israel were 'bought' from Egypt, and implies a due moral response which these are denying. Calling to mind the multitude who were lead through the Red Sea and yet perished in the wilderness, we remember that there are deliverances unto terms and promises, as well as unto life. The children of Israel were pictured escaping from utter hopelessness, to be saved at last only through perseverance in hope. They were delivered from bondage up to a decision, and their response would determine their fate.
This is to teach us that Christ's New Covenant holds out a great hope to the Jew and the Gentile. The son of Jacob has not kept the ten commandments, yet he could have faith in Christ if only he would. And the Gentiles who were formerly "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and [b]strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world[/b]" [Ephesians 2] are given access by faith in Christ to the very holy of holies. The whole world has been delivered from the impossibility of the personal righteousness required by the Law, up to the hope of imputed righteousness in Christ by faith. And like the wanderers in the wilderness, there are many now presented the means of escape by the gospel who will die in unbelief. The promised rest lies ahead of them, the Manna is offered. They should eat and live, if only they would take it. In this sense Peter says, verse 20, "It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them." They are ones with much light, who will receive greater stripes for their refusal of the terms. They are ones bought by Christ's death from utter hopelessness under the law, unto the promise of life by faith - the "way of righteousness" - who turn back from the light lest their deeds be exposed.
And so, my understanding is that 2 Peter 2 deals with false converts who were aware of the [b]terms[/b] of the New Covenant, made an outward profession, and yet forsook the offer of life given by the covenant. They did not fulfill the terms and so were not saved. That they were false converts is plain enough by the description of them. The least ambiguous text in 1 John says plainly that, "They [false professors] went out from us, but they were not of us; for [b]if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us[/b]: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that [b]they were not all of us[/b]." These heard the terms, "Eat and live, forgo and die," but chose for themselves the momentary dainties of the present world.
To add a final word, which is addresses in greater detail elsewhere, I would only mention that there was something else which occurred in the crucifixion. As Jesus was broken and poured out, sealing the New Covenant terms, he was also reconciling God to His Church. For these something more was won. By atoning for their sins, Christ purchased the right to regenerate the souls of sinners. By this work, His Spirit brings to life dead men, rebirthing their natures after the Spirit who bears them, and calling forth faith out of unbelief. By grace he gives the moral impetus by which men become willing to repent and believe on Christ.
"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that [b]I will make a new covenant[/b] with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: [b]Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers[/b] in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; [b]which my covenant they brake[/b], although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33But [b]this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel[/b]; After those days, saith the LORD, [b]I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.[/b]" - Jeremiah 31:31-34
"Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, knowing [b]it is God who works in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure[/b]." Philippians 2:12-13
"But [b]God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us[/b], Even when we were [b]dead in sins[/b], hath [b]quickened us together with Christ[/b], ([b]by grace ye are saved[/b];) That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For [b]by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast[/b]. For we are his [b]workmanship, created in Christ Jesus[/b] unto good works, which God hath [b]before ordained[/b] that we should walk in them." - Ephesians 2:4-10
"But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, [b]Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us[/b], by the [b]washing of regeneration[/b], and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being [b]justified by his grace[/b], we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." - Titus 3:4-8 May God bless the reader with the joy of the gospel of grace.
With love in Christ, -Michael:.
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