Feed My Sheep

The Lord Jesus’s last recorded words to Peter were, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15–17). Peter realized the best feed he could give his sheep was the Lord Jesus. So, he concluded his letter by saying,

“Beloved, since you have been forewarned, guard yourselves so that you do not fall while being misdirected by their erroneous stands. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be glory now and for eternal days, Amen!” (2 Peter 3:17–18)

This was the second time Peter used the verb guard (filasso). Earlier, he explained how God knows how to guard his people who live in wicked generations (2:5). Now, Peter was asking his readers to guard themselves. The Christian life is always two-sided: God guards while Christians guard themselves.

As they guarded themselves, they’d escape the fall. Peter was giving the picture of soldiers who guarded a castle. The more alert they were, the less they fell victim to enemies’ flying arrows or darts. Similarly, if his readers weren’t alert, they’d escape falling victim to the false teachings. Peter knew the importance of staying alert – the Lord Jesus had told him that in the Garden of Gethsemane, and he hadn’t listened then. He knew what heartache it brought him and alerted his congregation to stay alert and not fall.

Commonly, NT writers addressed God in their benediction. But Peter wanted them to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so he left his sentence by referring to him alone, not God the Father. The audience would have been puzzled that he didn’t praise God; instead, he gave “glory now and for eternal days” to Jesus alone. Eventually, they would have understood that the false teachers were attacking who Jesus was, and they needed to grow in his grace and knowledge to avoid false teachings.

Essentially, he was Lord, Savior, and Christ (Messiah). In his first speech after the Lord’s ascension, Peter said,

“Let all the house of Israel safely know that God made this Jesus Lord and Christ/Messiah – whom you crucified!” (Acts 2:36).

In his second speech, he said,

“God exalted him to his right hand as Ruler and Savior – who gives repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).

With Jesus’s resurrection, Peter understood him as the Lord, Christ/Messiah, Ruler, and Savior. As long as his Jewish audience understood the importance of these titles and jobs of Jesus and grew in this Jesus’s grace, no one could shake them with their false teachings about who Jesus was. That was why Peter exhorted them to grow in the knowledge and grace of Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior. And to him be the glory for now and for eternity!

Early Christians condemned three teachings as false: Docetism, Arianism, and Nestorianism. Docetism claimed Jesus only looked like a human but was not a human. Arianism claimed that God and Jesus were unequal in power and glory. Nestorianism claimed Jesus was two persons – a human and a divine. Even now, false teachings challenge the nature of Jesus Christ. One teaching sees Jesus and Lucifer as spirit beings and brothers. Others claim he is a great teacher and nothing more. We watch for false teachings and grow in the knowledge and grace of Jesus, the Christ/Messiah, the Lord, and the Savior. In this way, we escape from falling.