3:17a

This verse starts with a pronoun which emphasizes that here Peter has stopped talking about the people who were using the Scriptures incorrectly and started talking directly again to the Christians to whom he was writing, urging them not to allow the words of evil men to deceive them. Good News Translation translates this pronoun like this: “But you, my friends.” Berean Standard Bible does not translate the pronoun with any special emphasis.

beloved: See note on 3:1a.

already know these things: Here these things may refer to all that Peter had been saying about Christ’s return. Or it may refer to what he had said immediately before this verse, in verse 16, where he wrote that people would destroy themselves by twisting Scripture.

3:17c

the lawless: See note on 2:7b.

3:17d

secure standing: The literal meaning of the Greek is “stability.” This word is the opposite of “unstable” in the previous verse. If they listened to false teaching, they would doubt what they had believed, and they would no longer firmly trust in Christ. In some languages you can use an idiom like: “you will leave God’s road and get lost.”

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.