Third, 2 Peter 3:16.
Third, 2 Peter 3:16.
§ 426. (3) “In 2 Pet. 3:16 the apostle declares that in the Pauline Epistles there are some things difficult to understand, which the unlearned and unstable corrupt. Here we must note that Peter did not say that some things were difficult for the unlearned and unstable but were difficult absolutely.” We respond. [a] This argument is narrower than the question. He ought to be proving not that there are some matters in Scripture that are difficult to understand, but that all of Scripture is obscure. [b] Peter is not saying that all the Pauline Epistles are obscure and, indeed, in those places where the dogmas of faith that all must know for salvation are taught. Rather, he says that “some things” in them are difficult to understand. [c] These things are said to be difficult to understand not “absolutely” and simply for everyone but for those who are unlearned and unstable. Such people corrupt those passages just as they corrupt the rest of Scripture. [d] The obscurity of the things in themselves because of their majesty must be distinguished from the way they are taught. If we inspect the words carefully, Peter is not saying that the Epistles of Paul are obscure but that in them some difficult matters are being set forth, namely, in those things about which the apostle Paul wrote. Peter is speaking, as is evident from the context, about the final judgment and the destruction of the world. Thus that “in them” does not refer to “letters” but to the phrase “of them.” Luther, Diatribe contra Erasm.: “Dogmas are obscure in themselves. However, insofar as they are set forth in Scripture they are clear, if we are willing to be content with that knowledge that God has set before the Church in Scripture.” [e] Peter is not saying that they are obscure but that they are difficult to understand both because of the majesty of the matters and because of the weakness of our mind.