15 “And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.” (2 Peter 3:15-16)
As the Apostle Peter brings his second epistle to a conclusion. He issues a command to all believers. The command is to “count the patience of our Lord as salvation.” The specific command is to “count.” The word count (ἡγεῖσθε; hegeisthe) means to regard, to consider and to hold an opinion.
What believers in Christ are to count, regard or to consider is the patience (μακροθυμίαν; makrothymian) forbearance and longsuffering of the Lord. Peter is reminding his readers what he already spoke of in 3:9. The Lord is patient in continuing His saving work until it is complete. When the Lord completes this work that is when He will return in power, might and glory to judge the wicked.
What Peter wrote was not that different from what the Apostle Paul was writing about in his epistles to the churches. Peter refers to Paul as “our beloved brother.” He also mentions that Paul has received wisdom from God.
Peter acknowledges that some of the things Paul writes about are difficult to understand. However, Peter also acknowledges that the written works by Paul are Scripture. One of the evidences that Paul’s writings are Scripture are the attempts by false teachers to twist and diminish to their own destruction and ruination.
Dr. R. C. Sproul writes that, “Peter views Paul’s letters in the same category as the inspired, authoritative writings of the Old Testament and in harmony with Paul’s own claim to unique apostolic authority (Romans 1:1; I Corinthians 2:13; Galatians 1:1). This (2 Peter 3:15) is an important verse for showing that the apostles intended to gives us new covenant Scripture when they wrote.”
May each believer in Christ take comfort in the harmony found in the Scriptures.
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 