Growing in Discernment (2 Peter 1:12-2:22)
The need for guarding gospel truth in the face of false teaching
A few decades ago in the 1980s, a particular American faith healer named Peter Popoff rose to prominence. And he would pack out theatres with people, and then over the course of the evening, he did this remarkable thing, where he would have this seemingly divine insight into people’s lives. He knew their names, their ailments and details of their lives. And he’d invite them to come forward for healing.

He’d look around the crowd and say,
‘The Lord is saying, the Lord is saying… There’s a woman in row J, seat 14, named Alice.’
And sure enough, there was.
‘You wanna get rid of this walker, sister?’
‘Yeah.’ She’d reply.
‘16/27th Kent Street? Is that right?’
‘That’s right!’
He knew where she lived. And then inviting her to stand, he’d lay his hands on her, proclaiming: ‘Burning this arthritis, right outtya body! Take a few steps just to make the devil mad. Hallelujah!’1
And on he’d go the next person. Don Carson reflects on this, saying, ‘He would do this night after night after night, and he’d never get it wrong. It was so impressive that people thought, “Well, maybe the Lord is speaking because he’s really good.”’2 And Popoff was making millions of dollars from his miraculous healing ministry.
What should we make of things like this?
THE NEED IN EVERY GENERATION FOR DISCERNMENT
In every generation of the history of the church, Christians have encountered countless debates, new ideas, controversies, theological developments, heresies, trends, reformations, syncretism, denominational movements, cultural trends, political pressures, charismatic personalities, cults, revivals, awakenings, and more. In every generation, Christians have needed to decide what is true and what is not. What is of God and what is not.
All of this is to say that in every generation, there has always been the need for Christians to exercise discernment.
And this is why the Apostle Peter wrote his letter to the scattered Church in Asia Minor. Peter wants the church to grow in discernment. Peter wants Christians everywhere to grow in our discernment of truth. And this is what we’re focussing in on, in this article.
Please have a copy of 2 Peter open as we work through this. I want you to see and discern for yourself that the authority of what is taught is from God’s word, not simply this writer’s opinion.
Here’s a roadmap of where we are heading today:
First, we see our goal for discerning truth.
Second, how we grow in our discernment of truth. And,
Third, our need to guard the truth through discernment.
1. Our Goal for Discerning Truth (1:12–15)
First, from verses 12-15 of chapter 1, Peter gives us our goal for discerning truth. Why grow in discernment? Why is being discerning necessary for our Christian life?
Remember & rely upon the foundation
In 2 Peter 1:1-11, Peter showed us how the foundation of our salvation and sanctification as Christians… is faith in Jesus Christ. Trusting in who he was and what he accomplished in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
And now, in verses 12–15, Peter knows that his earthly apostolic ministry is coming to an end. He is not going to live forever, and so he implores the church to wake up and remember their foundation in Christ.
12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. (2 Peter 1:12-15)
Notice how many times in these verses Peter uses ‘memory’ words? Remind, Know, Remember, v13 he wants to refresh… literally ‘wake up’ their memory of the gospel!
Our goal of growing in our discernment of truth, is so that we would always remember and rely on the foundational truth of the gospel. Rembering the story of Jesus, including his glorious return.
Peter is saying something profoundly important for us: ‘Believers know the gospel, and yet they must, in a sense, relearn it every day.’3 The gospel is not merely something for those who don’t yet know Jesus—the gospel is for Christians! I love what J. D. Greear says about this:
‘Growth in Christ is never going beyond the gospel, but going deeper into the gospel. The purest waters from the spring of life are found by digging deeper… into the gospel well.’4
So Peter wants us to see our discernment of truth as something which helps us guard the true and reliable foundation which we have in Jesus. Discernment ensures that we grow deeper into the gospel, not beyond it.
2. Growing in our Discernment of Truth (1:16–21)
So how do we grow in our discernment of this truth?
Living in a post-truth world
Eight years ago, Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year in 2016 was ‘post-truth’. ‘Post-truth is an adjective defined as ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.’’5 And fast-forward to today, in a world teeming with Deep Fakes and Generative AI, it is fair to say that we live in an age where having confidence in the truth seems a little tricky.
Post-truth culture is nothing new
Even in the First Century, there were people and ideas jostling around, masquerading as the truth. In 2 Peter, we get an insight into the current threat that Peter is responding to. Within a generation of Jesus’ ministry, death, resurrection and ascension, it seems that there were already people teaching that Jesus was not, in fact, coming back.
The implications of this idea are: Since there was no future coming of Jesus, then logically, there would also be no judgement where Jesus calls everyone to account. If that’s the case, then it surely doesn’t matter how you live your life today… so go, be free and follow the passions of your heart!
To combat this threat to the truth, Peter gives the believers two reliable sources of truth, so that they may grow their discernment. And for us today, these two reliable sources of truth, remain vital for us to grow in our discernment too.
i. The true apostolic witness (vv.16–18)
First, Peter wants us to rely on the truthfulness of the apostolic witnesses. From verse 16, he says:
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming (parousia) of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eye-witnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
Peter is saying, ‘You can rely on what I and my fellow apostles teach about Jesus, because we were there. We saw and touched and heard Jesus for ourselves… we were eye-witnesses. Jesus himself taught us about who he was and about his future return. We didn’t make this up.’
The transfiguration as confirmation of Christ’s future return
Then, Peter starts talking about their experience of Jesus’ transfiguration.6 Why? Because for the apostles, this experience of seeing Jesus in his glorious splendour served as a foretaste of the future parousia. A theological term which refers to the glorious coming of the Son of Man at the end of the age (Matthew 24:27, et al.).7
It’s a bit like when I get carried away with cooking at home. Suddenly this unassuming circle on my ceiling erupts with a piercing scream! Sure, I held out hope that my smoke detector could and would protect us from an actual fire in the future, but having witnessed a glimpse of that sound and protection for myself now, is a confirmation that it is fitting to fulfil its true purpose in the future.
Peter’s point is that Jesus has shown us his true glory, so we know that he will return in that same glory one day, as he promised!
ii. The reliability of the Prophets (vv.19–21)
Second, Peter says we can rely on the reliability of the Old Testament prophets, which point to Jesus too. In verse 19, he says:
19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (terms which refers to the final day of the Lord) 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
The ‘day of the Lord’… Jesus
For Peter, the Old Testament prophets point forward and confirm a future ‘day of the Lord’. ‘In the Old Testament the day of the Lord is a day of judgment and salvation, when those who oppose God will be punished and those who love him will be delivered’8
And now for the Apostles, the transfiguration of Jesus has confirmed that this prophetic, anticipated day of the Lord, will be ultimately fulfilled when Jesus returns in glory at the end of the age—just as he promised and taught (cf. Acts 2:20; 2 Corinthians 1:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2).
Growing discernment by embracing Scripture
The primary way we grow in discernment is by embracing the trustworthiness, truthfulness, reliability, and supreme authority of Scripture. Both the Old Testament which points to Jesus, and the eye-witness, apostolic teaching of the New. Thankfully, Peter says this in a single verse in chapter 3:
‘I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.’ (2 Peter 3:2)
Both New and Old Testaments affirm: ‘There is a future coming of Christ for judgment and salvation.’9 And so, this certainty of the future must frame how we live today. It does matter how you live. Peter’s exhortations in 1:1-11 therefore must apply to all Christians as we await Christ’s return.
Growing in our discernment enables us to confidently hold to the firm and true foundation of Jesus, and not be led astray.
3. Guarding Truth through Discernment (2:1–22; 3:17–18)
And Peter is clear that there will be people and teachings which will try and entice us away from this truth.
The continual threat of false teaching (vv.1–3, 17–22)
In fact, the whole of chapter 2 is one giant, confronting warning of what every generation of Christians will encounter: false teaching. The Early Church faced false teaching and so do we today.
Peter starts chapter 2, saying:
2 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them – bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. (2 Peter 2:1-3)
And on he goes for another 19 confronting, detailed verses. I won’t explore the details today, but I do recommend you read through it.
Guarding the Truth (3:17-18)
Peter’s point is that in the face of the continual threat of false teaching, you and I exhibiting discernment is how we guard the truth. At the end of his letter, Peter says he gave us these vivid warnings so that we would be on our guard.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. (2 Peter 3:17-18)
On our guard, so that we may not be unexpectedly carried away by deceptive error and falsehood, but rather, grow in grace and knowledge of the truth of Jesus.
Peter Popoff popping off
Despite many Christians believing that Popoff had divine powers, others, like Magician James Randi, suspected that something was not quite right. People noticed that ‘Popoff had a hearing aid. Exactly what a faith healer is doing with a hearing aid I’m not quite sure sure’. So one night, ‘without telling him, they went in there with a radio scanner’ to see if they could detect anything.10
And they did! They discovered what was happening. It turned out that Popoff’s ‘divine’ revelation was really coming from a far more worldly source: his wife.11 As Don Carson describes:
‘as people were coming into the meeting, was collecting cards they were filling out about prayer requests, pains, and so on. She’d be shuffling through them, and if she spotted one for back pain [for example] (as opposed to terminal cancer) … then she’d note carefully where the person sat. … once everybody got in and the meeting got going,’ she would sit down with a microphone and dictate those details to her husband.12
Turns out that Popoff’s hearing aid, was actually a radio receiver.
Once Randi discovered his secret, he arranged to have a recording of Popoff’s healings played on national television, but this time, they included the hidden audio prompts from his wife. As you can imagine, ‘when this was exposed on national television, Peter Popoff popped off.’13 He filed for bankruptcy the year after. But a few years later, he was at it again with his same old (and new) deceptions. In fact, he continues his deceptions even today.
A note of clarification…
In mentioning this story of Popoff, I want to make clear, that I’m not making any suggestion that God doesn’t heal people, or that He cannot reveal truths to us by his Spirit, or that everyone who prays for healing for others is like Popoff. Not at all.
On the contrary, I certainly believe God can heal and he does heal, and it is right and good and biblical to … pray for healing… when we get sick or somebody we love is sick.14 And the Bible says that the Spirit continues to grant some people gifts of healings for the building up of the church (1 Corinthians 12:9). But we also must affirm these with the understanding that ‘not everyone we pray for will necessarily be healed’.15 It’s part of living in a now-and-not-yet age.
Problematic assumptions of over-realised eschatology
For the believers the Apostle Peter was writing to, the prevalent false teaching was a denial of biblical eschatology—the return of Christ, judgement and salvation, and the blessings of a new creation.
Popoff that pronounced healing and prosperity, as part of growing in discernment, we also need to be wary of something called ‘over-realised eschatology’, which is the assumption that all the promised blessings associated with Christ’s return and heaven are to be experienced and expected in this present age.16 This is just as problematic and can lead to a plethora of other problems. Someone holding to an over-realised eschatology might wrongly assume that:
Since the Bible promises that there will be no more sickness or pain in the future (Revelation 21:4), we should not experience sickness or pain in the present.
Since the biblical picture of the new creation includes imagery of gold and splendour (Revelation 21:18-21), we should expect to be financially successful living in this creation.
Since Christ will wipe away every sin and we’ll live in a sinless state in the future, we should expect to grow to sinless maturity and never struggle with sin in the present.17
While we await the certain and promised return of Jesus at the end of the age, we live in a now-and-not-yet kingdom. This means that not everyone we pray for will necessarily be healed, which can be really hard. In this present ‘partially-realised’ eschatology which we live in currently, we still await the future redemption of our bodies in the new creation (Romans 8:23). We shouldn’t infer that unanswered prayer is a failure of God or a deficiency of someone’s faith.
Following Peter’s warning
I focussed on this story of Popoff, because it is such a vivid example of the sort of wicked, greedy, manipulative, scamming, abusive, false teachers the Apostle Peter warns us about in his letter. Deceivers who are fundamentally evil, because they know they are charlatans. People who target vulnerable people, committing fraud in the name of God.18 And while it should certainly make us angry that people appear get away with away with it… since we know Christ is returning as judge, we know that he will call all to account for what they’ve done.
The failure of Christians exercising discernment
For me, the saddest thing about Popoff’s fraudulent ministry, is the fact that it was an atheist magician that exposed his deceptive, manipulative scam. ‘It should have been just sensible Christians [exercising discernment] who exposed that which is fraudulent in Jesus' name. That's really sad.’19
In every generation, there will always be teachers and teachings which threaten to carry us away from the truth. Therefore, we must grow in discernment so that this will not happen to us. Growing in our knowledge of the Scriptures, so that we would learn to hold fast to our firm foundation in the gospel, and not settle for anything less or more.
GROWING OUR DISCERNMENT
I want to finish this article by giving you a moment of personal reflection. Take some time to think though these questions:
What do you think are some potential sources of error which Christians today might be tempted to follow?
Are there areas where your church might need to be wary of?
Have there been assumptions or beliefs, which you inherited over your Christian walk, but you have not actively discerned whether they are in line with God’s truth?
Are there certain personalities or ministries or movements which you know are enticing you away from the foundational truth of Jesus?
What area does God want me to grow in discernment today?
May Paul’s prayer in Philippians 1, be ours too:
9 And this is [our] prayer: that [our] love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that [we] may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)
Amen.
James Randi Debunking Peter Popoff's Faith Healing Scam, YouTube link.
D. A. Carson, The Agony of Doubt (John 20:24-31), The Gospel Coalition, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/sermon/the-agony-of-doubt-john-20-24-31/; See also D. A. Carson, How Can I Believe Jesus Rose from the Dead?, How can we believe? Christ Expo Bible Talks, 2010, 18:36–19:30.
Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, NAC (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2003), 309
J. D. Greear, Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary (Nashville: B&H, 2011), 21-22.
Word of the Year 2016, https://languages.oup.com/word-of-the-year/2016/
This event is described in Matthew 17; Mark 9; Luke 9.
18 out of the 24 times παρουσία is used in the NT, it refers to the future coming of Jesus.
E.g. Isa 13:6, 9; Ezek 13:5; 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14; Amos 5:18, 20; Obad 15; Zeph 1:7, 14; Mal 4:5. See Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, 321.
Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, 319.
D. A. Carson, The Agony of Doubt (John 20:24-31), The Gospel Coalition, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/sermon/the-agony-of-doubt-john-20-24-31/
James Randi Debunking Peter Popoff's Faith Healing Scam, YouTube link.
D. A. Carson, The Agony of Doubt (John 20:24-31), The Gospel Coalition, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/sermon/the-agony-of-doubt-john-20-24-31/
D. A. Carson, The Agony of Doubt (John 20:24-31), The Gospel Coalition, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/sermon/the-agony-of-doubt-john-20-24-31/
John Piper, What Should We Make of Healing Ministries?, Desiring God, https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-should-we-make-of-healing-ministries
Nicky Gumbel, Questions of Life, Third Edition. (London: Alpha International, 2016), 197.
Kenneth Berding, What is Over-Realized Eschatology? What’s the Problem with it? https://kennethberding.com/2023/05/10/what-is-over-realized-eschatology-whats-the-problem-with-it/
James Williams, Three Dangers of an Over-Realized Eschatology, Gospel-Centered Discipleship, https://gcdiscipleship.com/article-feed/three-dangers-of-an-over-realized-eschatology
Quoted Ole Anthony, Scam Everlasting: After 25 Years, Debunked Faith Healer Still Preaching Debt Relief Scam, https://www.businessinsider.com/scam-everlasting-after-25-years-debunked-faith-healer-still-preaching-debt-relief-scam-2011-9
D. A. Carson, How Can I Believe Jesus Rose from the Dead?, How can we believe? Christ Expo Bible Talks, 2010, 21:45–22:00.