Skip to main content

Graces abound in Christ and His Word - 2 Peter 1:1 - 21

 Thursday, October 15 –

As we near the end of the week, we come to Peter’s second letter, and our reading as we begin this letter is from 2 Peter 1:1 – 21.  Please come back after you’ve finished your reading and thanks.


The dating of this second letter of Peter’s is not known with any certainty.  He clearly is the author – “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder…” (3:1).  Yet, the suggestion at various points is that Peter knows his execution is soon at hand - “since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me” (1:14).  Church history records that Peter was martyred, hung upside-down on a cross, sometime in 67, 68 a.d.  He was hung upside-down at his own request because he did not believe he deserved to be executed as Jesus was.  This letter is interesting because Peter almost seems to be joyful in anticipating his future, first in his execution, and then in his heavenly eternal home.  It is the reason why this letter is never morose, and always encouraging the readers to live out their faith in the joyous hope of life in Christ.

 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord” (1:1-2)

Peter’s identity is rooted in Christ first.  He is a servant of Christ, and his calling is because of Jesus Christ.  Yet, none of that is because of his own efforts, his own righteousness, his own goodness.  His standing, like outs, is the righteousness God has given him through Jesus Christ.  Like us, Peter knows that it the righteousness he needs is from God, and not from himself.  His faith is squarely in the person of Jesus Christ – his Savior!  It is from Christ that grace and peace are gained, and can be given. Now, in light of what God has given us in Christ what can, should we do?  Peter reminds us that when we receive the gift of life from Christ Jesus, we become participants in Christ – in union with Christ – and receive of his nature, virtues of grace –

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,  by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.  For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,  and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:3-8).

The virtues of grace are life, godly, glorious, excellent in all areas of our life in Christ.  God’s power is fulfilled in his promises, and we have been given the life of Christ in the Holy Spirit within us.  Therefore, his divine nature takes up residence within us.  The ability to grow in Christ is possible as we “make every effort” – a persevering diligence to want more of Christ in every area of life.  He lists a series of grace quests: “virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love”.  By these, he calls us to a higher level of desire in living by faith.  We need to remember, he told us that God is the one who supplies the power, and it is God who is faithful in making the promises to us. 

Are these seven steps?  Are they seven aspects of a maturing faith?  Are they seven requirements for salvation?  We don’t engage in these to “earn” our salvation – that is ours already in Christ Jesus who purchased us through His shed blood.  Rather, Peter reminds us that God has “usefulness” and “fruitfulness” in mind in these graces.

“For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.  Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.  For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have” (1:8-12).

Peter is an old saint.  He’s seen the rise and fall of his own faith and watched as the young church grappled with living our faith in Christ.  Their faith is confirmed in these “practices”.  In these spiritual qualities, we find freedom from the tyranny of the immediate and know that we are always looking to the ultimate – our own entrance into Christ’s Kingdom.  You notice he reminds them that all of these things:  the righteousness that is by Christ (1:2), the power and promises of God that make us partakers with Christ (1:3-4), the qualities of a growing faith (1:5-7), and the practicing of these qualities (1:8-10)…all of these things are essential in “establish(ing) us in the truth” (1:12).  It is such an important word in our world today.  Truth is something we are to be “established” in, and we need to be reminded of it again and again (1:12-13). 

We are not people wandering around in a form of a religious guessing game, wondering who we are, or what we are doing here.  We have the clear truth from God’s word. Truth is not “made up” by religious, or pious people.  Truth came from God through his appointed servants, and it began with the Prophets, and was fulfilled, or made clear in Jesus Christ.

“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.  For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.  And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.  For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (1:16-21). 

The word is not myths, for Peter was an eyewitness of Christ and saw his glory.  The voice that spoke on the mountain is the same voice that spoke to the Prophets.  He tells us, “pay attention” because the word of God is a “lamp shining in a dark place”. We live in a world with an amazing trafficking of information…words.  If we look for other humans to become the source of wisdom and understanding, we will most certainly be guided by untrustworthy sources. 

As he ends this brief word, he begins: “know this first of all”, by which he means, make sure you have this clearly in your mind as the first priority.  What follows is so crucial for us to understand.  Nothing that was written as Scripture – from the beginning of the Old Testament to the end of the New Testament – nothing was written from any human’s wisdom.

“knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (1:20-21).

Yes, the Scripture has human authors – some forty to be precise.  It was written over a one-thousand-year period of time.  God used authors to reveal himself to us and reveal ourselves to us also. Our assurance of the truth is that God moved the people to write and they were “carried along by the Holy Spirit”.  It does not mean they took dictation.  It means that the Holy Spirit superintended over their writings – even Peter’s at that time – to make sure the words represented the truth God wanted to convey.  These two verses might be the most significant verses in Scripture to explain how God revealed himself through humans.  It is the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture that is conveyed (note also 2 Timothy 3:16-17). 

What we have in the Bible is true and trustworthy.  It is the Scripture that describes to us light and life of who God is, and who we are, and therefore, why we need Him.  It is the Scripture that tells the story of God’s redemption, and how Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to have the assurance of salvation.  I fell in love with this word fifty years ago.  I have read it over and over again and never tire of the truth that can be “mined” from within.  Like gold, there is wealth that comes from reading, eating, drinking in the promises, and basking in the joy of God, in Jesus Christ.  As we will soon read, there are countless thousands of ways the world is telling us how to get the truth, how to gain wisdom, but to be honest, nothing even comes close to reading, meditating, and praying through God’s word.

Peace

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The difference between defending and explaining

The news of recent has focused the suffering of Christians in the middle east who have been martyred for their faith in Christ at the hands of Islamic Terrorists. Through the centuries many Christians have lost their lives as a result of their faith. For us, who live in America, there is little chance that we would have this happen here - but it's entirely possibly that terrorism will strike out at Christians sometime.  But, for many Christians in the western world - especially here in the U.S. - being a Christians who believes God's word there is a form of persecution that is defined by words like "ostracized", "passed over", "ridiculed", and more. What do we do in the face of opposition to faith? When the Apostle Peter writes to the early believers who are undergoing great pressure, even persecution for their faith in Jesus, he gives them this charge. 1 Peter 3:8-18 8  Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly lov

Wednesday, Day 25: Christmas Eve - God Loves Us (So We Can Relax)

For Kids: There’s a lot of things we have to do each day. Get up from our sleep, Get dressed, Eat Breakfast, Get ready for School, Listen to the teacher, play with friends, eat our lunch, and after it’s all done, go back home. There’s time to play, Then we eat our supper… And eventually we have to get ready for bed and go to sleep! And then we do it all over again the next day. Sometimes there’s a vacation - like right now - and we get more time to play, to have fun and not have to do work at school. Our parents are good at helping us know what time it is and what we need to do next – even when we don’t want to move on to the next thing.  God is also good at helping us know what time it is, and what is next.  He doesn’t shout at us, or yell, or even scream…he does it peacefully, quietly.  He wants us to understand that he does it, most of all, for us. Christmas can be quite busy and there’s lots of things going on at once…but let us not forg

The Tabernacle

The readings today are Exodus 36, 37, 38 I wanted to post some pictures of what these various parts of the Tabernacle looked like. It's not the easiest read in the world, but if you persevere through it, you can get a picture of all the different pieces that made up the tabernacle. It is a replica of the various parts of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness: First thing in the chapter listed is the outside of the tabernacle which consisted of curtains tied together and put on cross bars through loops. Next at the beginning of 37 is the table and lampstand: Also, the altar of incense: And, the altar for the burnt offering which was in the courtyard: Finally, the courtyard which made it all come together: Hope that helps with what it might have all looked like. Most importantly, this was their "place" of worship they were building. I hope you have a great day of worship. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad