Grace
and
Peace
2Peter 1:1,2 Simon
Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who
through the
righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received
a faith
as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance
through the
knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
In both of his epistles Peter starts off with his credentials,
as Paul
also does. To reject what Peter teaches is to reject the
teachings of
Jesus Christ. The letter was written to believers, those who had
obtained saving faith.
The knowledge of Jesus Christ leads to the abundant experience
of grace
and peace. Grace is undeserved mercy, such as we experience in
the
forgiveness of sins. There are two aspects to peace. One is the
ending
of hostility between us and God as it says,
"Therefore, having been justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ"
Rom 5:1 The second is
the experience
of tranquility as a consequence to our being reconciled with
God.
"Peace I leave with
you, My peace I
give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not
your
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27 So
"be anxious for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let
your
requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which
surpasses
all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through
Christ
Jesus." Php 4:6,7
Attain
Godliness Through Knowledge
2Peter 1:3,4 His
divine
power
has
given
us
everything we need for life and godliness
through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory
and
goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and
precious
promises, so that through them you may participate in the
divine nature
and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
"Knowledge" (epignosis) is used 3 times in chapter 1 and once in
chapter 2. It's one of the themes in this short epistle. Knowing
Christ
personally is "gnosis" in Greek. But here Peter uses "epignosis"
which
means to know about something. An essential part of having a
personal
relationship with Christ first involves knowing facts about him.
Life
and godliness first involves knowledge which we get from the
Word of
God. For in the Bible are very great and precious promises which
provide a basis for living the Christian life.
As an example Paul notes a number of promises found in
scripture:
2Cor 6:16-18
- "I
will
live with them and walk among them, and I will be their
God, and they
will be my people." (Lev 26:12)
- "Therefore
come
out
from
them
and
be
separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean
thing, and I will receive you." (Is 52:11)
- "I
will
be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the
Lord Almighty."(Hos 1:10)
And goes on to say,
"Since
we have
these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves
from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting
holiness
out of reverence for God." 2Cor
7:1
which is what Peter is likewise saying. For participating
in the divine nature involves a changed attitude with leads to a
changed behavior. But as promises are involved, so is faith.
Promises
have no impact if one does not believe.
What is the source of the corruption found in the world? The
corruption
in the world is caused by evil desires. Consequently the
solution to
such corruption involves not merely changes to public policy or
human
regulations, but rather involves changing one' desires.
"As for you, you were dead
in your
transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you
followed
the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the
air, the
spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of
us also
lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our
sinful
nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest,
we were
by nature objects of wrath." Eph
2:1-3
But
"You were
taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off
your old
self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires"
Eph 4:22 "So I say, live by the Spirit,
and you
will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Gal
5:16
Add
Virtues
2Peter 1:5-7 For this very reason, make
every effort
to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and
to
knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance;
and to
perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness;
and to
brotherly kindness, love.
Sanctification unto maturity involves effort on our part.
2Peter 1:5-7 Virtues |
Paraphrase
|
goodness |
Having believed, make up your mind to develop and
apply
Christian virtues. |
knowledge |
But do so based on proper information. |
self-control |
And having inferred applications from the Bible,
control
yourself to
go out and actually do them. |
perseverance |
And don't do them just once, but develop
applications that
will become
part of your lifestyle. |
godliness |
And having attained such, never forget that God is
the source
of your
life and that your behavior, no matter how virtuous,
is ungodly unless
God is central to it. |
brotherly kindness |
And now you are ready to help other Christians come
to the
point where
you are. |
love |
And add to your discipleship ministry a genuine
concern for
the real
needs of others in general. |
Virtues
Invoke Fruitfulness
2Peter 1:8,9 For if you possess these
qualities in
increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective
and
unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But
if anyone
does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has
forgotten that
he has been cleansed from his past sins.
These qualities mentioned in verses 5-7 are a matter of degree.
Everyone has degrees of them, but let us increase in them. The
word
"ineffective" (
argos Gk.)
is
more accurately "idle". For example it's used in Jesus' parable
of the
Workers
in the Vineyard
of those
"standing idle in the
marketplace"
or as the NIV has it "doing nothing". Do you have alot of
idleness with
regards to your Christian faith? Do you find yourself doing
nothing
with regards to serving Christ? If you develop these attributes
mentioned
previously you will find yourself busy with the Lord's work
because
these character qualities will naturally lead you to
fruitfulness.
Likewise note t
he
parable
of the sower where fruitfulness was shown to be a function
of the quality of the soil.
"The
seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good
heart, who
hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop." Lk 8:15
But just as the parable mentions the seed which fell among
thorns, so
also with regards to these others who are short- sighted. For
"the one who received the seed
that
fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the
worries of
this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it
unfruitful." Mt 13:22
Such
people
are
too
distracted by the here and now to take to heart the
things above. Or consider in the same parable the seed on rocky
ground.
He
"is the man who hears
the word
and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he
lasts
only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because
of the
word, he quickly falls away."
Mt 13:20,21 Such people are too short-sighted to have
considered
the implications of their faith - the worldly troubles it would
bring
them. And thus they don't grow. But if you cherish your
having
been cleansed from sins, you will grow in these attributes
because
everything else fades in significance to the redemption we have
in
Christ.
Virtues
Invoke Assurance
2Peter 1:10,11 Therefore, my brothers, be all
the more
eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do
these
things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich
welcome into
the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
While it is true "once saved, always saved", one cannot be sure
that
the "once saved" actually occurred if the effects of salvation
are not
evident in one's life, calling into question whether one's faith
was
genuine. Thus John writes,
"No one
who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed
remains in
him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
This is
how we know who the children of God are and who the children
of the
devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child
of God;
nor is anyone who does not love his brother." 1John 3:9,10 So one's
assurance of
salvation is to be proportional to degree to which one behaves
as a
child of God should. As you mature in godly character your
confidence
of your salvation status will also grow.
And secondly as you mature in these attributes, you will be less
likely
to fall into sin, of which the immature often stumble over. A
similar
verse we find in
Heb 12:1b
"Let us throw off
everything that
hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run
with
perseverance the race marked out for us." Here it even
mentions
"perseverance", one of
the
attributes Peter mentioned earlier.
Furthermore is the incentive of reward in the manner in which we
will
be welcomed into the eternal kingdom. For as
the parable of
the
talents notes, some will be welcomed more richly than
others. Some
will be commended richly. Others not so richly. Just as in many
of his
letters, Paul gives special commendation to those who worked
hard in
the ministry.