Exploring 2 Peter: The Promise and the Path
Join us for our first Reformed Academy hybrid event in which in-person students, online students, and the teacher will all be able to interact through video and audio. Taught by Rev. Daniel Ragusa, Exploring 2 Peter: The Promise and the Path is the second Bible study class to be featured in our Reformed Academy. This course will open up the biblical-theological riches of 2 Peter in twelve, 30-minute lessons covering the entire book. It is designed to be accessible for Christians of all educational levels and backgrounds who simply want to grow in their knowledge of Christ as he is revealed in all of Scripture. Space is limited to just 12 students for the in-person component of the course.
Schedule
Friday, December 9, 2022
- 1:30–2:00 pm — Registration
- 2:00–2:30 pm — Lesson 1: Introduction and Overview (1:1–2)
- 2:30–3:00 pm — Lesson 2: The Beginning of the Path: The Escape (1:3–4)
- 3:00–3:15 pm — Break
- 3:15–3:45 pm — Lesson 3: The Middle of the Path: The Endeavor (1:5–10)
- 3:45–4:15 pm — Lesson 4: The End of the Path: The Entrance (1:11–15)
- 4:15–4:30 pm — Break
- 4:30–5:00 pm — Lesson 5: The Path Illumined (1): Eyewitnesses (1:16–18)
- 5:00–6:30 pm — Dinner break
- 6:30–7:00 pm — Lesson 6: The Path Illumined (2): A Lamp in the Darkness (1:19–21)
- 7:00–7:30 pm — Lesson 7: End-Time Enemies along the Path (1): Foretelling Their Doom (2:1–10a)
- 7:30–8:00 pm — Questions and Answers
Saturday, December 10, 2022
- 8:00–8:30 am — Light refreshments and fellowship
- 8:30–9:00 am — Lesson 8: End-Time Enemies along the Path (2): Forsaking the Right Path (2:10b–16)
- 9:00–9:30 am — Lesson 9: End-Time Enemies along the Path (3): Returning to Corruption (2:17–22)
- 9:30–9:45 am — Break
- 9:45–10:15 am — Lesson 10: The Day of the Lord (1): The World Stored Up for Fire (3:1–7)
- 10:15–10:45 am — Lesson 11: The Day of the Lord (2): New Heavens and a New Earth (3:8–13)
- 10:45–11:00 am – Break
- 11:00–11:30 am – Lesson 12: Until the Day Break (3:14–18)
- 11:30–12:00 pm — Questions and Answers
Location
Reformed Forum
1585 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Suite 112
Libertyville, IL 60048
Please park in the rear (west) parking lot and enter via the door marked Suite 112.
Course Description
This course explores 2 Peter with special attention to Peter’s use of redemptive history in his depiction and defense of the Christian life as oriented toward Christ and the future. By the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we have embarked on an eschatological pilgrimage down a path out of this world (1:4) and into his eternal kingdom (1:11). But along the path are cunning enemies, scoffers and mockers, who would cause us to turn back in unbelief, misattributing eternity to the present world order rather than to the kingdom (3:4). Alert to this danger, Peter mounts a defense that will endure these “last days” (3:3) in which we find ourselves by reminding the church of Christ’s promise to come again in power with new heavens and a new earth—a promise given long ago through the prophet Isaiah (1:4; 3:13) but now more fully confirmed by the corroborating witness of the apostles (1:19; 3:1–2). Peter exhorts the church not to overlook the Holy Spirit-inspired history of special revelation as it foreshadows this coming reality (1:21), including Noah and the flood (2:5), Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (2:6–8), the restraint of Balaam (2:15–16), the approaching Day of the Lord (3:11), and even the transfiguration of Jesus Christ on the mountain as a witness to his royal sonship (1:17–18).
This course will demonstrate what Geerhardus Vos meant when he said, “The Bible is not a dogmatic handbook but a historical book full of dramatic interest.” It will also explain the typological use of the Old Testament. Finally, it will shape and transform us as our minds are set on the eternal kingdom—where Jesus is and so our hearts too.
About the Teacher
Daniel Ragusa is the pastor of Messiah’s Reformed Fellowship (URCNA) in New York, NY. He received his M.Div. from Mid-America Reformed Seminary and is a Ph.D candidate at Westminster Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Susanna, live in Brooklyn. His publications include: “The Trinity at the Center of Thought and Life: Herman Bavinck’s Organic Apologetic,” The Mid-America Journal of Theology (2017); “Shot through with Personality: Establishing Man’s Freedom within the Sovereign Plan of God,” The Confessional Presbyterian (2018); and “Petrus van Mastricht’s Ad Verum Clariss D. Balthasaren Beckerum: Beginning with Scripture, Ending with Worship,” in Petrus Van Mastricht (1630-1706): Text, Context, and Interpretation (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2020).
