• Home
  • About Us
  • Bible Study
  • Media
  • Giving
  • Knowing God
  • Are You Ready?

2 Peter

2 Peter 1

By Doug Ford
Greeting the Faithful;
Fruitful Growth in the Faith;
Peter's Approaching Death;
The Trustworthy Prophetic Word

2 Peter 1:1

The custom of the time was to begin a letter by stating who you were.  Peter identified himself as an apostle and bondservant of Jesus.  That's not just a title but that's who he is.  How would identify yourself?  We live in a world where titles and associations are all important.  Do you find that as we grow in the Lord the titles of this world fade away and lose their importance and we find our identity is more and more as that of a bondservant of the Lord?

 

Our first identifier ought to be as a servant of the Lord. As a bondservant, we can then operate in this world in many different ways.  I want to be a bondservant of Jesus Christ first, then a Pastor, a husband, father and grandfather among other things.  Somewhere, way down the list, you'll find Maintenance Manager.  If I'm a bondservant first, all those other things will be done unto the Lord.

 

Peter introduced himself, he then stated who this letter was addressed to.  This letter is to those who have obtained a like faith.  The NASB translates this "Like faith" as "a faith of the same kinds as ours."  Those who were saved through faith by the Grace of God were of a like faith.  All who have come to Christ have this like faith.  The apostles or those of the early church weren't any more special than the lost soul who will repent and trust in Jesus this morning.

 

One of the things going on at the time was false teachers were teaching special revelation and Gnosticism.  This was like insider knowledge.  The false teachers taught that if you discovered the secret knowledge of God then you could get God to do all kinds of things for you.  Peter addressed this to those of a 'like faith".  And Peter called it a precious faith obtained by the unchanging righteousness of God.  Faith is an ability to believe and not just believe but believe in the face of all circumstances this world throws at you. 

 

We see the word "faith" is thrown around a lot today.  I think its safe to say that most of the time people use this word they give little or no thought to the source of faith.  In the world, faith has become a blind belief that bad things won't happen to me; that I deserve good things.

 

In Peter's time, the false teachers were offering a faith that had no backing.  It's like funny money.  It never paid off.  It never delivered anything.  And we can see the same thing today in many places, around the world.  Some of these guys are attached to Jesus Culture or the New Apostolic Reformation.  We can also point out oprahanity for new spirituality that isn't new at all and Joel Osteen teaching a prosperity gospel.  It's just not biblical.

 

We don't find faith by our wisdom or knowledge.  It's not acquired by any work or worthiness on our part.  We don't just whip ourselves up into spiritual frenzy and really, really, really believe we are going to heaven.  In our spiritual deadness we don't just suddenly decide we're going to believe that Jesus died for us.  We don't accept Jesus out of our deadness.  Jesus begins a work in us.  Jesus accepts us.  Jesus saves us.  We don't save ourselves coming to him.

 

Faith with no source is just an emotion, it'll pass.  Faith with no source of power or onging purpose is an empty hope.  That kind of faith gets some people through the day but it will never deliver anything lasting.  Peter says that source of faith is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  By the power of the Spirit and a willingness to receive it, we come to faith.  This faith is the ability to believe and it comes from God.  That faith lets us see our true nature and our standing with God.  That faith shows us what Christ did on the cross in spite of what we deserve.  From that moment of belief our faith is sharpened, tested, formed and shaped as we continue our lives holding onto it.  Faith keeps us daily moving toward the promise of eternal life.

 

2 Peter 1:2-4

A natural progression to being one of those in the precious faith is the pursuit of God; to get to know Him better, to come to a deeper and fuller understanding of our creator and savior.  The grace & peace come in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus.  We want this grace & peace but we aren't always good at getting to know God and his Son.  The blessing of grace and peace are multiplied by an ever-increasing knowledge of God and of Jesus.  This 'knowledge' is a deeper and broader relationship.  It's not a surface knowledge of who God is but a deep and relational knowledge of Him.

 

This knowledge is vastly different from what the false teachers were pedaling with their Gnosticism.  They were teaching salvation came by discovering the secret path to god through knowledge.  This gets blended with eastern mysticism today where false teachers get you to seek the answers within yourself; teaching to find the god in you for the answers.  And so forth.

 

Our knowledge of God grows by the revelation of Him: that's primarily the bible.  The bible reveals our beginning and end.  It reveals God's purpose for the universe and for us.  The deeper you wade into scripture, the more you discover how deep it is.  But we can also learn of God by the creation.  In the creation we see intelligence, design and we can see the vastness of God.  We can even see God has a sense of humor.  (Ever seen a ductbill platypus?)

 

Our faith also grows in our experiences with Him.  This comes from walking with Him through life; through perseverance.  Our faith grows as our relationship with Him grows.  This comes from walking with Him over time, over years, on the mountaintop and in the valley.

 

In this knowledge of God, Peter said, we find that His power has given us the things we need for life and godliness.  By God's promises, we have all that we need to overcome the corruption of this world.  We are without excuse, even though we continually offer them.  God has given us great and precious promises.  We have an amazing ability to quickly forget them when things get difficult.  When the corruption of this world is all around or the temptation of the lust of the flesh is before us, we often drop the armload of promises to once again embrace the sins of this world.  Once we have our arms around what we thought we desired we find its not what we thought it was.  We've been deceived again.  It looked like fun, and maybe was for a time, but is now ugly, burdensome and unholy.  The shame is awful and the there seems to be no way to get clean again.  But our Lord takes us back; He forgives us again because He already paid the price for that sin.  It's forgotten.  What an awesome God!  In time we learn to trust Him more.  In time, we learn to not be deceived and we find we must hold onto the promises that much tighter when the world comes calling with all her sins. 

 

Peter said, in this way, we become partakers of the divine nature.  To partake of His divine nature is to be a child of God.  We see a picture of this in baptism.  It's identification with the divine Lord in His death, burial and resurrection.  It's becoming a new creature in Christ and having an eternal promise.  Of ourselves, we have no power but by the precious promises from our Lord, by the empowering of His Holy Spirit, we find that Christ gave us this power we need.  Those that fail to pursue the knowledge of God have chosen not to know God's glory and virtue and not to understand His divine power and not to know His great and precious promises.  Those who fail to grow in the knowledge of God aren't partaking of His divine nature and are bound to be caught in the corruption of this world.  Partaking of this divine nature keeps us on the straight and narrow.  It keeps us between the ditches.

 

2 Peter 1:5-9

'All diligence' is taking care of business as quickly as possible.

 

Since we partake of the divine nature, we should be quickly taking care of business.

Because we have the incredible power from Christ we can't treat it flippantly or be indifferent about it.  We can't say, I've got my salvation. I'll go about my life taking care of my business, my way.  You started with faith and even that was a gift from God.  And that was just the beginning.  We are to add virtue, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love.  This is the business we are to be diligent in.  All of these things are ultimately a work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  But we are responsible for pursuing them.  Our lives should foster these virtues.

 

These qualities help us bear fruit making us effective and productive.  In the same way if we have the knowledge of Christ but don't have faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love then we will be ineffective and unproductive. 

 

If you don't have these things Peter says you are shortsighted and blind and forgotten your past sins were forgiven.  How can we be so blind?  Peter's talking about being forgiven but not forgiving others; about being loved but not loving others; about having received the benefit of God's patience but being impatient with others; about having the knowledge of God so as to be saved but then forgetting then forgetting about it.  You would have to be blind not to see faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love in a savior who died for the likes of you and I.  This shortsightedness and lack of fruit doesn't reflect the God we now identify with.  The one who says they have partaken of the divine but then turns from it, by their actions, cast doubt on their own salvation.

 

This isn't to say you have to do these things if you're saved.  It's saying you will desire them, this is the normal path.  These things are a natural progression when your sins are forgiven.  They set you apart from others.  Not only do these things work in you but they begin to work in others as they see the change in you.  Without the qualities listed, you will look like the world.  (See also 1 Corinthians 13) 

 

2 Peter 1:10-11

Knowing that that absence of faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love is the indication of a shortsightedness or even an indication of forgetting our sins were forgiven, we are to be eager to make our calling and election sure.  Peter is setting this out there so we can examine ourselves to see if our call and election are sure.  Why is Peter doing this?

 

In the face of persecution and suffering doubts will creep in.  Peter offers these characteristics as a way for these folks to find assurance in their salvation.  This is salvation assurance and that's important for each of us.  It's very normal for us to have doubts at different times in our life.  Feelings and emotions and moods can easily lead you astray.  These godly characteristics Peter lists reveal a pattern of life that is going to look very different from the rest of the world.  Therefore, even when you have doubts you can see the fruit of your life.  You can see God has done a work in you.  And you can find that comfort of knowing that you are among the elect.  God did call you and save you.

 

As Peter offers up this list of characteristics, he's not giving a timeline or telling anyone where they should be.  It doesn't matter when you started or where you are at what age.  You're not going to be saved one day and witness all these characteristics the next.  This is about forward progress.  This list of characteristics isn't a progressive list either.  You don't go from one to the next.  We don't master one before moving on to the next.  They are all to be sought after diligently and added equally.

 

If a Christian is maturing and growing in the knowledge of the Lord these things will be evident.  Here's where you diligently examine yourself in prayer and the presence of the Holy Spirit to make sure your call and election are sure.  The pursuit of faith, virtue, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love is testimony that your election is sure.  And our very pursuit of these things is growing more Christ-like and that will keep you from stumbling.  Our growth in the Lord keeps us on the path set before us.  It keeps us out of the ditches.

 

We all need this rock-solid assurance in our life; first, for when the enemy from within attacks.  That's our moods, emotions and doubts.  But also, that assurance will be important when false teachers or false teachings come knocking at your door.  In the knowledge of God, we might quickly recognize they teach of another Jesus.

 

These deceptions are subtle.  They aren't labeled Satanic.  They sound very heartwarming and comforting at times.  They come from many directions and they are very prevalent in our world.  If we are diligent and make our calling and election sure, Peter said you will never stumble and an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly.  We won't just have an entrance, but we'll have an abundant entrance. That entrance then is into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  This is a big deal.  This offer of the everlasting appeals to everyone at some level; to those in Christ eternal things are becoming our reality.  There is an eternal longing in everyone's heart.  God made us as eternal creatures.  It's only when we come to Christ that we can begin to make sense of this eternal longing.  That may well be when you recognize what that longing is.  We long to be with Jesus in His kingdom.  He made us co-heirs of this kingdom so it's our kingdom also.  We long for it but it seems so far away.

 

CS Lewis called this the inconsolable longing.  Theirs's actually a German word for it .. Sehnsucht (Sane Zookt.  It's a word that has no adequate and complete definition because it attempts to describe the human longing for eternity.

 

Listen to how CS Lewis describes this inconsolable longing:

In speaking of this desire for our own faroff country, which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness. I am almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you—the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence; the secret also which pierces with such sweetness that when, in very intimate conversation, the mention of it becomes imminent, we grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves; the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both. We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience. We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it, and we betray ourselves like lovers at the mention of a name. Our commonest expedient is to call it beauty and behave as if that had settled the matter. Wordsworth's (He's an English Romantic poet) expedient was to identify it with certain moments in his own past. But all this is a cheat. If Wordsworth had gone back to those moments in the past, he would not have found the thing itself, but only the reminder of it; what he remembered would turn out to be itself a remembering. The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited."

 

This longing is especially visible when we grow weary of this world; when we're worn down from fighting the affects of sin.  I've seen it the nursing home with folks whose bodies are failing and they are nearing the end.  I met a lady one day crying out in the hallway.  Everyone ignored her but she just keep crying out, "someone help me.......won't someone help me."  I kneeled down and held her hand and asked her what was wrong.  She was frail, near 90, weak and barely able to sit upright in her wheelchair.  She said, "I just want to go outside and play.  No one will help me.  My legs won't work but I just want to go outside again." 

 

This dear lady was dreaming of days gone by; of times she ran and played outside; when she felt the sun on her face or the breeze on the back of her neck.  Playing outside wasn't the thing she really longed for.  It just reminded her of it.  It was an image of what she longed for; freedom from a body of sin, innocence, peace, contentment and much more.  I knew as I sat there, this was the inconsolable longing.  It's a longing only the Lord can satisfy.  The memory of those special things in her life was a small taste of eternity.

 

This same inconsolable longing was found in those people of that day; a desire for peace, safety, comfort, simpler times, an unchanging truth and more.  Peter speaks to that inconsolable longing by holding up this abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom like a battle flag to rally the wearied troops.  Heaven is right before us, eternity is near.  Make your call and election sure.  Don't stumble when you are so close.

 

2 Peter 1:12-15

Peter said as long as he is in his body, he's going to remind them.  We all have a tendency to remember what we ought to forget and forget what we ought to remember.  Peter could testify to that as well as anyone.  Our memories are poor when it comes to the things of the Lord so Peter penned this letter that would serve as a reminder to all who came after Him, primarily because he wasn't going to be around to remind them much longer but also he had to be keenly aware that the apostles were dying away.

 

Eyewitnesses of Jesus wouldn't be around much longer.  The truth and testimony of Jesus couldn't be preserved by men's memories so Peter wrote this truth down.  This allowed it to be built into the next generations and the ones after that, right up today.  Since that day the church has always been one generation from extinction. Yet, by the word that's been passed on, it lives on.

 

Peter carefully wrote all this down so the church would have it after he parted from His tent.  A tent is just a temporary place to stay while away from home.  Peter refers to the body as a tent.  It's just a temporary housing for the soul.

 

Peter said he would put off his tent as the Lord showed him.  He's speaking of what Jesus said in John 21.

When you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish." 19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me."

Jesus made it clear to Peter that he would live a full life and then die a martyr's death.  Peter knew this for 40 years.

 

That's why when Peter was arrested by Herod, put in prison and scheduled to be killed the next day, Peter wasn't worried.  Jesus had already told him he would grow old and die a martyr's death.

 

2 Peter 1:12-15

True faith is founded on facts, not fables.  It was Peter's goal to stir up a remembrance of the facts in these folks.  These people were not much different from us.  Their lives and thoughts and feelings were polluted with fables, lies and half truths that have snuck into our being.  We might be offended at being compared to them; however, most folks know more beer commercial slogans than 10 commandments.  They can tell you the plot line of and character outlines of multiple TV shows, but can't identify but a couple apostles.  The fables Peter is referring to were fantastical stories and myths of false gods performing amazing miracles.  These kinds of stories are exactly what the false teachers were pedaling among these believers.  They were being offered these lies.  False teachers were attempting to lead them astray.  In that day and at that time, false religions and false teachers were beginning to break out everywhere and some were questioning the testimony of the apostles and saints.  At the same time, those very same apostles and saints who walked with Jesus and were eyewitnesses were dying away.  This was simply Satan trying to squash the church.

 

The Christians needed to know the truth and stand fast on the truth.  We serve a God of one sovereign unshakable, unchanging truth and we function in a world that wants to claim multiple truth, especially in a political season.  How are we to know what truth is the real truth?  We need an unchanging, unbiased, authoritative standard to measure all other truths against.

 

When Peter's teaching didn't align with that of the false teachers, the false teachers may well have pointed to Peter and accused him of making up fables.  Daily we are exposed to the same lies from Satan.  False teachers are found everywhere and they are attempting to affect how you look at your world.  They don't want you to view your life in light of Jesus Christ.  They'll offer many short-term solutions to life's problems today to keep your eyes off Jesus.

 

These false teachers put forth their ideas, bending scripture, creating their own truth, all for the benefit of themselves, for Power, authority or money.  The false teachers point to creature comforts or even luxuries of a fallen world, all of which will burn away.  We can contrast that to Peter who points to the work of the Holy Spirit in a life and the abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom that comes by way of Jesus.

 

False teaching and false teachers have been around from the beginning.  It was happening in Peter's time and it is happening even more in our time.  If you remember in Paul's letter to Timothy, he said this.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

 

Maybe that time has come.  This seems to be happening right before our very eyes.  Sound teaching lifts up Jesus, glorifies God.  It deals first in eternal things.  False teaching tickles our ears, it glorifies man and is characterized by a shortsightedness and spiritual blindness. 

 

Peter wrote this letter so we would be reminded of the facts because fables are constantly presented as facts.  Facts are supported by other facts.  Facts are confirmed.  That's why Peter said he was eyewitness to the majesty of Jesus Christ.  He's not repeating stories, he was relaying facts.

 

2 Peter 1:17-18

The majesty Peter was eyewitness to specifically refers to was the glory of God that Peter saw on the Mount of Transfiguration.  You can see this in Matthew 17.  Jesus led Peter, James and John up the mount and was transfigured before them.  Jesus was clothed in glory and he shone like the sun.  And Moses and Elijah were there and they talked.  Peter saw all this.  And then he heard God from the cloud.  "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."  When they heard this voice, they fell to the ground and trembled in fear.

 

These are real events that false teachers wanted to ignore or imagine didn't happen.  The Law was present in Moses.  The prophecies were present in Elijah.  And they stood in agreement with God the son in His glory in the presence of God the Father.  And all this was witnessed by Peter, James and John.

 

2 Peter 1:19-21

As Jesus walked the earth, He was the fulfillment of the prophetic word.  The Mount of transfiguration was confirmation of that.  Peter said this prophetic word is fact and you would do well to heed it.  And it's not a fact that stands alone.  It's not a mountaintop experience that trumps the false teacher's claims.  Even though he saw and heard God they shouldn't listen to the testimony of just one man.  They should listen to all of God's prophets and the law.  They should listen to Moses and Elijah as well as Jesus and Peter, James and John.  The prophetic words are the very word of God, penned by man guided by the Holy Spirit. 

 

The scriptures Peter is referring to is the Old Testament writings of the prophets and the law.  He is saying we should trust these scriptures because they have been confirmed or authenticated by Jesus.  These scriptures are literal and supernaturally inspired. 

 

What the church was battling were those among them who were denying prophecy and denying the prophets.  And people were coming forward with new prophecies and new revelations.  None of these were confirmed and in many cases were in opposition to the prophets and the scripture.  God doesn't deliver an unconfirmed prophecy to the world through one man.  In the Old Testament, as a prophet, you were only wrong once.  If you said 'thus sayeth the Lord' and the Lord didn't thus sayeth, you got stoned to death.  The prophetic word is always confirmed by scripture. 

 

Peter went on to say that No prophecy is of private interpretation. What was happening in that day is people were taking the scriptures and twisting them around and coming up with their own personal prophecy.  They were claiming special and private revelation saying God says this scripture means this for you.  This is like playing bible Roulette or using the bible like the magic 8 ball.  This sounds bizarre but people do this.  Instead of learning the scriptures and the God who wrote them they will try to short circuit the process.

 

There is no private interpretation and there is prophecy never came by the will of man.  No man ever sat down and said I'm going to write prophecy.  These holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.  The word used for moved would be used to describe a boat blown along by the wind and carried by the currents.  There seemed to be no clear direction but they went where the spirit carried them.  They yielded to the will of God and God moved them to write scripture and prophecy.

 

Many times, these guys that wrote prophecy didn't even understand what they were writing.  And who knows if Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter and Paul and the other writers of the New Testament scriptures knew they were writing scripture.  There are some indications of it throughout scripture but I have to believe they didn't know we would be holding their words in our hands 2000 years later.

 

Peter said this word is a light in a dark world.  It's our source of light and comfort for a time.  The word is complete and speaks truth into our lives.  Many times, we feel as though that is somehow not enough.  We feel the burdens of living in a dark world.  Things don't appear clearly to us.  And we fall subject to those who tend to lead us astray.  The night is dark but morning is coming.  When the day dawns and the true source of a spiritual light is seen coming on the horizon, we'll understand all of this perfectly; no more doubts, no more questions

 

Until then, God's word will guide us and speak to us as we make our way in the world.  The world will attack the word and tell us it has something better.  The false teachers will pollute and pervert God's word to serve their purposes.  Truth will be attacked.  Fables will be repeated and repeated as if they were the truth.  We can always sort it out by looking at who is lifted up and who is glorified; man or Jesus.  True teaching lifts up Jesus Christ.  And in spite of us, in spite of sin and this fallen world, by Jesus we have the opportunity of an abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom of God.

 

For more on Christ as the Morning Star see Luke 1:78; Ephesians 5:14; Revelation 2:28; 22:16.  For prophecy of Jesus see Micah 5:2; Zechariah 9:9; Zechariah 11:12-13; Isaiah 53; and Psalm 22. 

 

© 2012 Doug Ford

Updated & revised 2020