1-2 Peter

Bible doctrines affected by modern versions

1 Pet 1:22 "through the Spirit" is removed. The Bible teaches that it is through the agency of the Holy Spirit that men are brought to believe in Christ. In John 16:8-9 he convicts the world (all men) and draws them to faith in Christ.

1 Pet 1:23 "for ever" is dropped and thereby the preservation of the Word of God is called into question. The agency here of the new birth is the Word of God, which is eternal. Our new birth therefore is as eternal as the Word which originated it.

1 Pet 2:2 The phrase "unto salvation" is added by Westcott and Hort to "that ye may grow thereby." This puts a question mark over the certainty of our present salvation. It makes salvation a process rather than an accomplished fact. The doctrine of eternal security is denied by the new exhortation to grow UNTO SALVATION.

1 Pet 3:18 "suffered for sins" is changed to "died for sins." The context has Christians suffering for well doing and they are exhorted to keep on because Christ also has suffered for us. It is a Bible teaching that Christ not only died for our sins, but that he suffered for our sins (see Isaiah 53:5-7).

1 Pet 3:18 "quickened by the Spirit" is changed to "quickened in the spirit." The correct rendering attributes the resurrection of Christ to the Holy Spirit. This completes the truth that all three persons of the Trinity were involved in the resurrection of Christ (see Jn 2:19; Rom. 8:11).

1 Pet 4:1 "for us" is left out. Christ suffered for us, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

1 Pet 5:2 "taking the oversight thereof" is omitted. To watch over the flock of God with authority is a clear teaching of the Word.

1 Pet 5:12 "wherein ye stand" is changed to "wherein stand." By the removal of the word "ye" there is a change from our standing in grace to an exhortation to stay there standing. The blessing of a perfected standing in grace is thereby removed.

2 Peter

2Pet 2:17 The words "for ever" are dropped. Peter, in the word concerning false teachers, states that their darkness is to last forever. The change leaves us with no definite word as to their end.

2Pet 2:18 "those that were clean escaped" is changed to "those that are scarcely escaping." The change from past tense to present tense moves us from a completed salvation to a hope-so salvation. Those who are saved are in possession of eternal life (see Jn 5:24).

2Pet 2:20 "the Lord and Saviour" becomes "our Lord and Saviour." The false teachers had escaped some of the world's worst sins by following the teachings of "the Lord" but they had never come to know him as "our Lord" is known to real Christians. They were not saved and then lost, but never saved at all.

2Pet 3:2 "us the apostles" is changed to "your apostles." The Church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20) and there are no apostles and prophets today nor is there any such thing as an apostolic succession. The phrase "your apostles" indicates that the people he was writing to had special apostles designated for them and lends support to the continuance of a so-called "Apostolic Succession."