Present Truth

The apostle Peter in his second epistle commends those to whom he was writing, acknowledging that they already knew the things he was writing about, and were “established in the present truth” (1:12). Even so, he wanted them to be able to have these things—this present truth—in remembrance. Thus, and very thankfully, we have his two epistles.

What is present truth? Perhaps we ourselves need to be reminded lest what was once truth present with us is now only a distant past we have forgotten. Or, perhaps we have put off into the future what is already present truth, and is therefore to be embraced by faith, and walked in now.

Peter has much on his heart this matter of spiritual memory, aware that living truth must be spiritually maintained, continually refreshed to the mind. And so he writes to “put you always in remembrance of these things” (2 Pt. 2:12). He writes to “stir you up by putting you in remembrance” (1:13). He is aware that very shortly he is about to put off his tabernacle for a permanent dwelling place, and wants those among whom he ministered “to have these things in remembrance” (1:15) after he is gone. In Chapter 3 he uses the same words as in 1:13, saying that in both of his epistles his intention has been to “stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance” (2 Pt. 3:1).

And so in his second epistle he lays out for his readers how the entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is supplied to them. It involves an ever-increasing growth in spiritual virtues beginning with faith—mark that: beginning with faith—and culminating in love, all of which will involve them, he says, “in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

It is just after this that Peter writes the words we’re focusing on:

Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

(Do you catch in this the fragrance of the great humility of this great man? “You’re already well established in these things; I’m just refreshing what you already know.”)

Present here is a Greek word which transliterated is parousei. It is an adjective, a qualifier. What kind of truth? Present truth. The Strong’s definition is “to be near, at hand.” That is, present.

The same word stem is found a little further on when Peter speaks of “the power and coming (parousia) of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pt. 1:16). Strong’s defines parousia as “a being near, that is, advent.” In the King James Version it is translated coming, or presence. In 2 Pt. 3:4 and 3:12, and in several other places in our New Testament, it refers to Christ’s second coming. But the word is also used of the coming of disciples who had not formerly been present, and had now arrived (1 Cor. 16:17, 2 Cor. 7:6). It also means simply presence. “His bodily presence is weak” (2 Cor. 10:10).

Present truth is truth that has arrived and is now here.

Vincent’s Word Studies points out that the phrase in 2 Peter 1:12 is also found in Colossians where Paul thanks God for their faith and love, and also “for the hope that is laid up for you in the heavens, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which is come unto you…” (Col 1:6). Or, as Vincent has it, “is present unto you. Has come, and is present.” Come is the Greek parantos, which has the same word stem as parousei in 2 Pt. 1:12.

So there it is. What is present truth? The word of the truth of the Gospel.

There was a time when this truth of the Gospel was not present. It was prophesied of by prophets who longed to see, but did not, “the things that are now reported unto you…” (1 Pt. 1:10-12). It was “kept secret since the world began, but is now made manifest…” (Rom. 16:25). It was “hid in God” (Eph. 3:9)—the Good News of a very great salvation that would embrace both Jews and Gentiles in “the mystery of Christ which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed…” (Eph. 3:4,5).

That is present truth—the now of the wondrous Gospel of Christ.

With this in mind, let’s look at another place where the word present appears in Peter’s second epistle, and we have already alluded to it. It’s back in verse 9, where Peter has said, “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins (2 Pt 1:9). According to Vincent’s Word Studies again, he “that lacketh these things” is he “to whom these things are not present.” Present is the Greek parestin, which has the same word stem as the adjective in verse 12.

And so, the present truth for which Peter commended his readers is not present with the one who has forgotten the purifying from his old, his former sins. There is a lingering darkness in the conscience, the result of which is the stunted development of all the beautiful graces Peter mentioned. The one with whom these things are not present is blind and short-sighted—and forgetful. He has forgotten the foundational truth of the Gospel—that he was “purged from his old sins.”

Peter, tender and loving shepherd that he is, is doing some reminding here; this has been the object of his epistle. He is calling the flock of God, those who have obtained the same precious faith he himself had obtained, to remember that their sins are not with them anymore; they are old history.

When did this happen? It was the work of Christ at Calvary, who:

…When He had by Himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high…” (Heb. 1:3).

How, then, was this wondrous work of Calvary effected in the lives of those Peter wrote to? It was simply, or shall I say purely, because they had “received like precious faith with us through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pt. 1:1).

Peter in his first epistle marks this same truth concerning Christ and those who receive and believe Him:

Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripe ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but have now returned unto the Shepherd and bishop of your souls (1 Pt. 2:24,25).

Note the before/after in these verses.  Note the now. You were as sheep going astray. Now you have returned unto the Shepherd and bishop of your souls. You were once sick with the mortal sickness of sin. He Himself in His own body bore the stripe that slew, and healed, that sickness. The result is that now you are dead to sins. That is present truth. Now you live unto righteousness. That is present truth.

That is the Gospel, and when received, when believed… God imparts to the believing ones His Spirit bearing witness to Christ and His completed Calvary work, thus purifying their hearts by faith (those are Peter’s words in Acts 15:8,9). And, hearts now no longer in darkness, hearts now wide open to the healing rays of the Sun of righteousness, begin to bring forth unto God the beautiful fruit of the Gospel.

It is tragic when the wondrous present truth of the Gospel has been forgotten, even more tragic when it is entirely relegated to the future, and the saints are taught that they can never be completely purged, cleansed, of sin as long as we poor mortals continue to dwell in houses of clay. No. That is not so. This cleansing is for here and now. One who believes the Gospel does not await Heaven for this cleansing, nor even a mighty move of the Spirit in the future—although we anticipate such things and know that many in darkness shall yet be brought into the present truth. Even so, for those who now believe, it is present truth now. It is present truth to be embraced by faith, and walked in… and built upon, and enlarged, and added to, from faith to virtue to knowledge to temperance to patience to godliness to brotherly kindness to love. It is present truth that means growing and abundant fruitfulness, and the entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.