Thoughts on 2 Peter – Part 1
2PET 1:1 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:
This is a very powerful verse to start the letter with! Peter is writing with the authority of the office of an apostle of Jesus and he is writing to Christians and says they have obtained like precious faith with the apostles.
The apostles did not have a different faith or a special type of faith or superior faith than any other Christian. It is the same faith. And this faith is through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Peter is putting the righteousness of God and the righteousness of Jesus on the same level. This is because Jesus is God. We have only 1 God but He is manifested to us in 3 personalities. There is God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit and these 3 are one.
We are all sinners and we have no righteousness of our own. All of our righteousness is as fifthly rags. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous no not one. The Bible is very clear on that.
So for any of us to be declared justified and right before God it must be His righteousness imputed to us and this happens when we believe on the Lord Jesus and what He did on the cross and call upon Him to save us with a repentant heart.
We are then adopted and become one of His dear children. And all because of faith. Peter calls it precious faith. And it really is precious. It is the only way to escape hell. This faith guarantees an Eternal home with the Lord. And this faith also helps us all the way in this life as walk in this sin stained world.
So this faith is precious because of what it does for us, but more importantly it is precious because of who the faith is in and that is Jesus. There is nothing more precious. He is the creator who came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to pay for our sins. The just dying for the unjust. He is holy and righteous, and perfect and is without sin. Amen and Amen!
2PET 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
We gain knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord thru the Bible! And Peter is telling us that Grace and peace in your heart and life can be multiplied thru learning more about Jesus. How this works becomes clearer in the next couple of verses.
2PET 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
It says through the knowledge of him, so it is still talking about the Bible. That is where we learn about Jesus. And this knowledge was given by his divine power. God gave us His Word! He moved men to write exactly what He wanted.
And in the Bible we learn that Jesus has called us to glory and virtue. He tells us to come out from among them and be ye separate. He also tells us to be Holy for He is Holy. In the Bible He clearly tells us what is sin and that we are to live unto Him.
2PET 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
So as we learn knowledge from the Bible about who He is and how He wants us to live, and as we voluntarily yield to His will we will escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.
When we turn from those sins, then we do not have to bear the natural bad consequences that come with those sins. That contributes to us having more peace.
The closer that we get to Christ the more grace we will have in our lives and the more peace we have in our hearts. And this call comes from learning the Bible and then living how the Lord wants us to live based on what we learn.
A Christian cannot have the level of grace and peace in their life that Peter is talking about here if they don’t read their bibles and learn about their Lord and how He wants them to live.
In verse 1 our faith is called precious and it is thru the righteousness of God and not works. In verse 4 we have been given exceeding great and precious promises and we are partakers of the divine nature. When you are saved you are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. These are all wonderful things but we are not to stop there.
2PET 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2PET 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2PET 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
After you are saved you are to grow. You are to add to your faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity.
2PET 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice that the knowledge that you are to gain is not for the sake of having more knowledge. Gaining all the qualities listed here is not just for the sake of having these qualities. These traits and the knowledge that you gain is to have the result that you are not barren and unfruitful.
You are to get the knowledge that you are to witness and then you need to witness. You gain the knowledge that you are to live a godly life and then you are to live it. You gain the knowledge that you should give and then you give. You gain the knowledge that you are to stand for the truth, then stand for the truth. You get the idea.
Some of the high minded type scholars get this idea that the bible is some kind of test to see if you can dig truth out with your mind. They are searching for some kind of hidden deep truth. They are after knowledge for knowledge sake. They might gain a certain type of knowledge but they don’t witness for Jesus. They have their bottle of wine in the refrigerator and so on.
In their search for knowledge they have completely missed the point.
I like the way Mr. Moody put it.
The Bible is not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives. — D.L. Moody
Do not misunderstand me. We are to study the Word of God but not just for the sake of knowledge. We are to study the Word of God so that it will change us.
The primary issue is the issue of the heart and using what we learn from the Bible to walk closer to Jesus.
2PET 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Lacketh what things? The things that has just been talked about. Adding to your faith virtue, and knowledge, and temperance, and patience, and godliness, and brotherly kindness, and charity.
Peter is saying that Christians who lack these things are blind in this area. He says they cannot see afar off. That means they are not looking forward to the judgment seat of Christ where all Christians will have to give an answer and their works will be judged to be either wood, and hay, and stubble or precious stones.
They are just living for today and are not living for Jesus. They are still saved. Watch how Peter words it. He says hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. They are still purged. They are still saved. It is possible to backslide and backslide some more until you get to a point you can even forget that you are saved.
I have personally seen people like this. When you try to talk to them about the judgment seat of Christ for Christians, or Eternal rewards, or hearing those precious words well done my good and faithful servant, they will say something about how rewards do not matter to them.
Some will even get prideful and try to take the high road and say I am not motivated by things and getting rewards. Just being in Heaven is enough for me. They sooth their conscience with this and feel better that they fired back at you, and then go on living in their sinful ways.
It is very sad to me. However, one day they will stand before the Lord and their works will be found wood, and hay and stubble and they will suffer lack of reward. They will still enter into heaven but without being rewarded by our Lord.
Peter then says instead of living that way walk with Christ and add to your faith virtue and knowledge, ect…
2PET 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
The if ye do these things is still referring to adding virtue and knowledge to your faith. When you do this and you experience the increased love and patience and godliness in your life it will give you greater assurance.
And if you do these things then your entrance into Heaven will be much different. You will be rewarded abundantly at the judgment seat. Your entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly.
2PET 1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2PET 1:12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
People by nature forget things. I am sure you have heard the saying out of sight, out of mind. And if we don’t forget something, we can very easily fall into not thinking about it. We can fail to consider how some truth should impact our lives and what we do or don’t do. Peter says in verse 12 that he will not be negligent to put these people in remembrance even though they already know them.
Peter understood that we all need constant reminding of the truths of God and how those truths should affect how we live. Peter felt so strong about this principal of reminding Christians of great truths that he says he would be negligent if he did not put them in remembrance.
One of the main things that I do in my teaching and preaching is simply read the Bible and put us all in remembrance of some great truth. The people I teach rarely ever hear something that they have not heard before. I also realize that I would be negligent if I did not continually put them in remembrance of the truths that they already know.
2PET 1:13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
Peter says that he would do this until he dies. As long as possible he was going to stir them up by putting them in remembrance. It has a way of stirring us up, to grow closer to Christ and do more for Him.
2PET 1:14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.
2PET 1:15 Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
Peter wanted them to always remember these things even after he was gone. He cared for these people and their spiritual wellbeing. To Peter the ministry was not about Peter, it was about others.
2PET 1:16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
2PET 1:17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
2PET 1:18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
Peter and the other apostles and hundreds of other believers were eyewitnesses of Jesus. After Jesus arose He was seen by over 500 people at one time. They have not followed cunningly devised fables. They followed Jesus who they had seen and talked to and touched.
Peter refers here to what is called the mount of transfiguration. Peter was one of the 3 that Jesus took with Him up to the mount. Where Jesus talked with Moses and Elijah. On that mountain Jesus let some of His glory shine thru and Peter saw it.
Peter said something not thinking and was corrected and they heard God the Father speak and say this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Peter is an eyewitness. He saw some of the glory of God the Son shine thru and He heard God the Father testify of God the Son.
God the Son leaving the glories of Heaven and being made in the likeness of men has eyewitness testimony of many people and that testimony has been faithfully recorded in God’s Word.
Peter said they had sure testimonies of eyewitnesses of Jesus, and now he says we also have the sure testimony of the scriptures.
2PET 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
Since the Bible can absolutely be counted on then you would do well to listen to it. The Bible is light that shines and penetrates darkness. It sheds light on what is right and wrong and it exposes sin and tells us how God wants us to live.
Take heed is more than just listen. This is listen as in believe and then make appropriate changes in your heart and mind and actions.
(day star is a name that is referring to Jesus)
2PET 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
I have known some people that sure mess up the meaning of verse 20. They will say you must believe what we say because no scripture is of any private interpretation. That means they say that you therefore are not allowed to think what you want. You cannot have your own private interpretation. They say there can be only one interpretation and of course their interpretation is the only correct one.
There are so many problems with that. One is pride and arrogance and no humility. And they are totally ignoring the context of the verse. The context here is that we have a more sure word. He is talking about the purity of God’s Word and how it is perfect and without error.
Verse 20 is talking about how scripture is interpreted with scripture. He is talking about how you cannot take a verse out of the context of the Bible and interpret it alone. Any verse of the Bible must be left and understood in the context of the surrounding verses and the context of the book it is in and in the context of the rest of the Bible.
Scripture must be compared to scripture. And because scripture all came from God and because He is perfect and all powerful and makes no mistakes, then all scripture must agree together.
The source of the Bible is what Peter covers next.
2PET 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
It has been well said that man could not have written this book if he would, and he would not have written it if he could. Simply stated the Word of God is too far above man’s ability to write it. It is too perfect and it’s ideals too lofty for a flawed sinful man to have written. And even if man was able (which he is not) he would not have written it, because it does not have great things to say about man. The Bible condemns man. It clearly declares that we are sinners, that our hearts are deceitfully wicked.
Hero after hero in the Bible is showed to be flawed with a sin nature. Abraham, Moses, and David are good examples of this. Abraham went to Egypt against God’s will and lied about his wife. He put his wife in danger instead of protecting her.
Moses sinned by disobeying God and could not go into the land because of it. And David sinned in adultery and then committed murder to cover it up. God tells the hard truth about man’s nature in the Bible. Even the heroes are flawed with sin.
The Bible did not come by the will of man. Instead the Bible came by holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. These men where moved by the Holy Ghost. When you get right down to it, it was God doing the speaking and not these men.
In our Bible we have the very words of God. That is an amazing thing. That God would love sinful man enough to give us His Word. He loved us enough to give us His Word and He loves us enough to preserve His Word.
When we study the Bible we need to study it for what it is and that is The Very Word of God. This proper attitude toward the Bible will completely change your Bible study. Instead of correcting it or passing judgments upon it. You accept it and let it pass judgments on you. Studying the Bible with a realization of what it truly is will change your life. You will trust it more and you will live it more. It will be more precious to you.
It is so sad to me how few people have this attitude today.