2 Peter 2:18

2:18 For by speaking high-sounding but empty words ¹  they are able to entice, ²  with fleshly desires and with debauchery, ³  people ⁴  who have just escaped ⁵  from those who reside in error. ⁶ 

2 Peter 3:16

3:16 speaking of these things in all his letters. ⁷  Some things in these letters ⁸  are hard to understand, things ⁹  the ignorant and unstable twist ¹⁰  to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures. ¹¹ 

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¹ tn Grk “high-sounding words of futility.”

² tn Grk “they entice.”

³ tn Grk “with the lusts of the flesh, with debauchery.”

⁴ tn Grk “those.”

⁵ tn Or “those who are barely escaping.”

⁶ tn Or “deceit.”

⁷ tn Grk “as also in all his letters speaking in them of these things.”

⁸ tn Grk “in which are some things hard to understand.”

⁹ tn Grk “which.” The antecedent is the “things hard to understand,” not the entirety of Paul’s letters. A significant principle is seen here: The primary proof texts used for faith and practice ought to be the clear passages that are undisputed in their meaning. Heresy today is still largely built on obscure texts.

¹⁰ tn Or “distort,” “wrench,” “torture” (all are apt descriptions of what heretics do to scripture).

¹¹ sn This one incidental line, the rest of the scriptures, links Paul’s writings with scripture. This is thus one of the earliest affirmations of any part of the NT as scripture. Peter’s words were prophetic and were intended as a preemptive strike against the heretics to come.