When Peter Said Paul Was Hard to Understand
Sometimes a verse makes you stop and wonder.
Peter wrote something about Paul that caught my attention:
“...in which are some things hard to be understood...”
— 2 Peter 3:16 KJV
Peter wasn't calling Paul wrong.
In fact, he called him “our beloved brother Paul” and recognized that Paul had been given wisdom and even called Paul's writings Scripture,
But Peter did admit something rather interesting:
Some things Paul wrote were hard to understand.
Now, Peter wasn't an outsider looking in. He was one of the twelve apostles. He had walked with Jesus. He had seen things most of us can only read about.
So what was it that Peter found difficult to understand?
That's where I'm going to stop for now.
Rather than trying to answer that question immediately, let's leave a breadcrumb and look at another passage.
Paul writes:
“But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter...”
— Galatians 2:7 KJV
That's interesting.
Peter had a ministry.
Paul had a ministry.
Both were serving the same Lord.
But Scripture plainly identifies a distinction between the apostleship of the circumcision and the apostleship of the Gentiles.
What does that distinction involve?
And how does it connect with the things Peter said were “hard to be understood” in Paul's writings?
I'm not going to try to answer all of that in one post.
That's another breadcrumb for the next study.
For now, read 2 Peter 3:15–16 and Galatians 2:7–8 for yourself.
Sometimes the best Bible study doesn't begin with an answer.
Sometimes it begins with a question that makes you want to keep digging.
