“Therefore I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have. I think it is right, as long as I am in this bodily tent, to wake you up with a reminder, since I know that I will soon lay aside my tent, as our Lord Jesus Christ has indeed made clear to me. And I will also make every effort so that you are able to recall these things at any time after my departure.”
These four verses serve as a transition from the introduction into the body of Peter’s letter. He spent the first part telling his readers that they needed to grow and stand firm in their knowledge of Christ. He now writes, “Therefore I will always remind you about these things…” It is no different today. We also need to be reminded of these things. We need the constant reminder to do the things that Peter writes about in the first part of his letter.
Notice that Peter writes, “…even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have.” He is commending them for being faithful. Douglas Moo writes in The NIV Application Commentary, “Not only have his readers heard already about the importance of pursuing godliness; they have also been obedient to the exhortation. As Peter puts it, they ‘are firmly established in the truth.’ Yet Peter knows well how prone believers are to lose the fine edge of their zeal for godliness, for the world keeps trying to ‘squeeze us into its mold’ (cf. Rom 12:2).” We must be on guard by staying in the Word and in fellowship with other believers.
Peter says a second time that he is going to remind them. There is an urgency to his words. Why? Let’s look at the verse. “I think it is right, as long as I am in this bodily tent, to wake you up with a reminder, since I know that I will soon lay aside my tent, as our Lord Jesus has indeed made clear to me.” There are two things I want to look at in this verse: Peter’s impending death and the metaphor of the body as a tent. We will start with his impending death.
According to church tradition, Peter was martyred on a cross in Rome by Nero. He was hung upside down, because he felt unworthy to die in the same manner as Christ. This account is not found in the Bible, but in a book by Eusebius, an early church historian. I found this information about him in the online version of the Encyclopedia Britannica. “Eusebius of Caesarea (flourished 4th century, Caesarea Palestinae, Palestine) was a Bishop, exegete, polemicist, and historian whose account of the first centuries of Christianity, in his Ecclesiastical History, is a landmark in Christian historiography.” We also know that Jesus told Peter what kind of death he would die. “’Truly I tell you, when you were younger, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you and carry you where you don’t want to go.’ He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. After saying this, he told him, ‘Follow me’” (John 21:18-19). What we do not know from the verse in 2 Peter is whether Peter had received a new message from Jesus or was referring to Jesus’s earlier words. Remember Peter’s first letter was all about suffering through trials. The church was being persecuted during this time. Peter knew that his death was near and would have remembered Jesus’s words to him. That is why he felt the urgent need to remind them. He even uses these words again in the third chapter.
Let’s now look at the phrase “bodily tent.” Paul uses this metaphor also in 2 Corinthians. “For we know that if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands. Indeed, we groan in this tent, desiring to put on our heavenly dwelling, since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life” (5:1-4). Both Peter and Paul emphasize that these bodies we have are not permanent. David Guzik writes this in his commentary. “A tent is a temporary place to live. Tents should be taken care of, but you wouldn’t invest large resources into fixing up a tent. You save your real resources for a more permanent place to live. Our more permanent place to live is heaven, and we should invest more in heaven than in our tent- our physical body.” Are you investing more in your tent, or in what is permanent? There is nothing wrong with taking care of our bodies, but we should also be taking care of our spiritual lives. Our permanent home will be with God one day. Are we spending the time today to get to know Him?
The last verse for today is one more reminder that Peter is going to make every effort “so that you are able to recall these things at any time after my departure.” There is some speculation among commentators that he is referring to the Gospel of Mark, which is thought to be eyewitness information given by Peter to Mark. But most commentators think it refers to his letters, both of which we have access to today. This shows me how important God’s Word is. These words were so important for him to get to his readers, and they are still so important for us today. He made every effort so that they could recall these things at any time after his departure. We are now two thousand years after his departure and his words are just as relevant today.
I encourage you this week to spend time in God’s Word. Spend time working not only on your earthly tent, but on what is permanent.
Grace be with you!
Abundant Joy 