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
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