What does "fall from your secure position" mean in 2 Peter 3:17?

(Vv. 17, 18). Having put us in remembrance of these things, and warned us against false teachers, against scoffers of the last days, and those who wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction, the Apostle finally warns us against being led away by “the terror of the wicked”, thus losing our assurance by falling from the steadfastness that is proper to the believer.

We are to seek to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For the fifth time in this short Epistle our blessing is connected with the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:2-3, 8; 2 Peter 2:20). The Apostle has pressed upon us the value of the prophetic Scriptures, the commandments of the apostles, and the deep importance of resting upon the Word of God, but he realises that mere knowledge of the letter will not keep us. Scripture is only rightly used as we gain through the word a deeper knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him is the “glory both now and for ever. Amen”. Let us not forget that little word “now”. We all admit that glory will come to Him for ever, but we may well challenge our hearts by asking, Is He getting glory from our lives even now?

It seems to me that there is great force today in the warning conveyed in the words: “Beware, lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness” (2 Peter 3:17).

The believer then in the face of this is exhorted to holy conversation and godliness. "Ye therefore, beloved, seeing that ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away by the error of the wicked, should fall from your own stedfastness;" for there is danger of the Christian's contamination by the spirit of the world. What then is the preservative? "Grow in grace, and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."

What strikes me as so all-important for us to ponder over, is, that these same epistles which show us the danger of declining and of decay, or of complete apostasy, on the part of those who bear the name of Christ, are encouraging and urgent, more than any other epistles, for the growth of the Christian. Can you tell me any place where you find it asserted in the same manner as in these two epistles? In the verses just now read we find it thus: "Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye knew these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness." Instead of that, instead of merely yielding their ground, or going back from what they began with, they are cheered to go on, growing in grace.

No matter how much one may have seen the grace of God in the first coming to the knowledge of Christ, this should not, and does not, satisfy our soul, still less the Master. It is well if grace has wrought a good beginning, but Galatians 3:3, Galatians 5:7 warns not to rest there. It is of all moment to be also going forward in the ways of God. "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and [not simply for ever, but] to the day of eternity. Amen." Peter puts in view the day of eternity, with the new heavens and new earth, where everything that can be broken is gone.

It may be well imagined, if these things are so, and if the present dispensation ends in apostacy and consequent excision, that the whole policy of Satan will be used to divert the minds of believers from the consideration of them. And thus in truth it is; and we may observe his power exercised, both in leading some into unholy and unscriptural speculations, and also in using these as instruments for bringing the study of the simple truth itself into discredit in the estimation of others. Either way his end is gained; for "if we know not these things before," there is no security against "being led away by the error of the wicked" (2 Peter 3).

There is really no security against error save in a growing, deepening knowledge of the Lord Himself. Let us set our hearts on this most precious knowledge. The walls of no ecclesiastical fold, however strong, can afford this security. There must be growth in grace and in the personal knowledge of the Lord, in order to maintain true steadfastness in testimony to Him.

Oh, do they never read the Bible? or, if they read it, do they not believe it. It is there, sure enough, repeated over and over again, from the days of Enoch (as quoted by Jude) to the end of the Revelation by John. I question if any statement in Scripture is more generally or emphatically announced than is “judgment to come.” But this ribald, infidel, last-day scoffer, whether shot by the tongue of the atheist or written by the polished pen of the critic, is more than likely to injure the faith of the lambs and sheep of Christ; and hence the timely warning. The error of the wicked may lead them away and cause them “to fall from their own steadfastness.” But to be forewarned is to be forearmed.

The Second Epistle of Peter ends with another warning, so well suited for our times, "Beware, lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked (destructive critics and deniers of Christ), ye fall from your own steadfastness." And the safeguard is "Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

For the fifth time in this Chapter believers are addressed as "beloved." Responsible because knowing these things, we are gently encouraged to be on guard, lest the subtle error or wickedness might so affect us as to lead us astray, The pride of thinking we are able to stand renders us all the more susceptible to a fall from the steadfastness of consistent devotion to the lord.

How precious a preservative in v.18: Growing in grace is in contrast to a legal attitudes it involves deeply learning and valuing the grace of God in Christ Jesus, grace which lifts one above the level of all the surrounding evil. And this is of course vitally connected with the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The better we know Him, the more firmly. our feet shall be kept in the path of devoted obedience. Precious object indeed to fill our hearts both now, and for eternity! -- consistent with the endurance of His own glory. The lest expression is rightly translated, "both now and to the day of eternity." cf.vs.10 & 12.

Yet he had to say that in Paul's epistles there were things "hard to be understood." In so saying he wrote doubtless as the apostle to the circumcision identifying himself with the believers of his own nation. All the truth concerning the church, its place in the purposes of God, its privileges, its composition of an election gathered from Gentiles as well as Jews, all that which Paul speaks of, in short, as "the mystery of Christ" (Eph. 3:4) was bound to be "hard" to a Jew. It cut across every fibre of their national feeling which had been fostered for centuries. The truth was simple enough from an intellectual point of view but the eyes of their hearts needed opening to see it. This was recognized by Paul in Ephesians 1:18, where the word "understanding" should be "hearts". Except we too have the eyes of our hearts opened we have to sadly confess when we read God's Word it is hard to be understood.

Scripture too may be wrested or distorted to the destruction of those who so treat it. Those who do so are "unlearned and unstable." "Unlearned," or "untaught," means of course untaught, not in the wisdom of the world, but in the things of God. Here Peter may have been especially referring to a Gentile danger, the sort of thing that Paul himself warns Gentiles against in Romans 11:13 to 29. If Gentiles misunderstand and misuse God's truth so as to become "wise in their own conceits" they are very near destruction. Still even if Peter did especially refer to this his words are capable of a much wider application. Let us all beware of twisting the Word of God!

Now, we have been forewarned. Thus we are forearmed against the error of the wicked, lest we should fall. The error of the wicked was fully exposed in 2 Peter 2. It is not enough however to be warned against evil; we must be in the positive enjoyment of truth. The way not to go back is to go on. Like a man on a bicycle, the Christian must go on if he would avoid falling off. Hence we must "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

This word just summarizes the main teaching of the Epistle. Spiritual growth was the great theme of 2 Peter 1 and to it the apostle returns in his closing words. All true growth is in grace, the grace of God. Then as we expand in grace we grow in graciousness of spirit. All true growth too is in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, in whom the grace of God has reached us.