…as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (II Peter 3:16 ESV)
The Twist
Scripture speaks for itself. And only Scripture is the standard by which we can hope to understand Scripture.
Peter admits in this verse that some passages are hard to understand. He notes that Paul and he both wrote about the same, difficult things. Understanding those hard parts of scripture is best accomplished by referencing other similar passages in the Bible, rather than twist and move the hard concepts to fit into OUR own preference.
In fact, when we put our own ideas at the same level of Scripture, we display our ignorance.
And when we disregard Scripture’s principles and applications, making God’s Word say mostly what WE want it to say, our worldview becomes imbalanced.
Some signs that we might be ignorant and unstable might be:
Deciding on a doctrine or truth, and then finding verses to fit our wishes. (Proof-texting)
Ignoring passages that disagree with our opinions. (Cherry-picking)
Skipping passages that condemn our favorite behavior. (Blindness)
Reading some passages over and over, and neglecting others. (Narrow-minded)
Read it all.. Read it again… and listen to it.
Do not do the twist.