2 Peter 1 (NASB)
15 And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.
Verses 15 and 16
are above the rest of the passages because they explain why Peter wrote to
the people of the church. Peter had preached and taught orally. He was near
the end of his life and wanted to make sure the followers of Jesus remembered
accurately what he had told them while training them. Peter wanted them to
remember that what he and the other disciples taught them were not myths. These
lessons were facts which the disciples experienced first-hand. They heard and
saw these things.
Peter wanted two main
things for his hearers: 1) multiplied grace (God’s unmerited love for us)
and 2) multiplied peace. God’s peace is a tranquil state of the soul assured of
its salvation through Christ, so, fearing nothing from God and content with its
earthly lot. God multiplies this grace and peace in you when you come to know
Him more each day. With this closeness to God, we grow closer in likeness to Him
and exhibit more of His love to others. Growing more like Christ will show your
faith, which has come about to affect your work and
life, as James says in chapter 2. This growth is the call of God
and His purpose for us, to come to Him, receive His grace and peace, and to
grow throughout the days of our lives. These are why Peter felt persuaded to
write this letter. Two questions remain; do you know Christ and His saving
power in your life? Are you growing in knowledge of Him, which leads you to be
more like Him every day?
15 And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His
majesty.
3 seeing
that His divine power
has granted to us everything
pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of
Him who called us by His
own glory and excellence.
4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so
that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the
world by lust.
5 Now
for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply
moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in
your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly
kindness, love.
8 For if these qualities are yours and
are increasing, they render
you neither useless nor unfruitful
in the true knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For he who lacks these
qualities is blind or shortsighted, having forgotten his
purification from his former
sins.
10 Therefore,
brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for
as long as you practice these
things, you will never stumble;
11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly
supplied to you.
12 Therefore,
I will always be ready to
remind you of these things, even though you already know them,
and have been established in the truth, which is present with you.
********
We must now understand what Peter
wanted to make sure they understood and believed. Peter’s first statement wished the followers
would be so familiar with Jesus they would possess God’s grace and peace. What Peter wanted most for them is the
peace God gives through the gracious gift of Jesus, who was the sacrifice for their sins. Peter wanted them to recognize and
believe this in their hearts, so they could have
eternal peace resting in the hope He gives of eternal life with Him in His
kingdom. Peter knew God’s power is so great that
not only does He give life through birth, water, food, and protection, but God
has the power to bestow on “us all things that pertain to life and godliness.”
What do we need for life and godliness?
The obvious I stated above are air, food, water, protection, and shelter. What
else, though, do we need? We need love, acceptance, and a purpose for our
lives. Each of these God gives to us as we live out our belief in Him. God did not say, “Ok, you believe. Great. Goodbye.” No, He gives us a
standard of life that is greater and far better than anything we can produce
for ourselves. This life comes through our walk with Him. Yes, you must follow Him
by doing. Remember, James said in James 2:17 (NASB), “Even so
faith, if it has no works, is dead.” If a
person has faith in Jesus Christ, he will want other people to have faith
in Jesus, too. The person will be “driven” by the love implanted within him to
act out Christ's love by acts of love and kindness. This is where the fruit of the Spirit enters. The Spirit inside of a person
manifests itself when a person allows himself to be a conduit of Christ’s love. The person will show acts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
This journey of faith is what Peter is
getting at in this first chapter of 2 Peter verses 5-7. He says to add to your
faith, with all diligence, moral excellence
and, to your moral excellence, add knowledge. First, we need to decide what
“diligence” means. Diligence means earnestness in accomplishing, promoting, or
striving after anything. Diligence is taking a sincere and earnest interest
into what one believes. Diligence by someone is not a lukewarm interest, which
so many people express in their commitments. Diligence is the internal drive of
a person to become so involved in what he or she attempts to perceive or do
that his or her life is shaped by it. That being said, Peter now tells the
hearers and readers of this letter to make sure you strive to learn more and
more about Christ and His way of living. Come to understand more
and more about being a Christian. Do not just make a profession that Jesus is God’s Son. God said even the demons recognize
Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit are one and shudder
(James 2:19). That is not a profession of faith. A
profession of faith is life changing. When you study under a great teacher or leader because you
want to learn from him or her, your life is changed to be like his or hers. This
commitment is what Peter was saying concerning being a Christian. You not only
hear the Word and profess He is the Son of God, but you let it be the driving force that leads you to
change your life.
This changing of life Peter
speaks of occurs as you begin to be more acquainted with God. See verse 6, “in your knowledge,
self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness.” Knowledge leads
to changing your life if you are an earnest student/follower. You will gain more self-control. The
knowledge of Christ affects your mental processes and, through the Holy Spirit, you will let it guide your mind and impulses so you
have better self-control. You have the best self-control available through
Jesus. As you gain self-control, you will
develop perseverance. Perseverance here means endurance and constancy. You will
not let a desire sway you from the truth. You will not be swayed from your
deliberate purpose and loyalty to your faith, even by the greatest suffering and trials. This perseverance in life leads to
more stability in life, and to godliness, which is piety toward God. This is
reverence and respect for God. We see in verse 6, this diligence of increasing
in knowledge gives us control of our impulses and thoughts (self-control) and
makes us strong so we do not waver in our faith (perseverance). We grow in our
piety, our respect, and our reverence of God. This is the vertical
relationship, our relationship with God.
Consider verse 7, “in your godliness, brotherly
kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.” Once you control yourself and you
give God control of yourself, then you can begin to see
changes in how you relate to other people. This is the horizontal relationship.
As we come to be in a relationship with Jesus Christ and experience Him more in
our lives, we experience and express brotherly love to other believers. This word
comes from the old Greek filadelia meaning love of brothers or sisters. Fidelia in the New Testament meant cherishing
other believers. If we cannot love those who have been forgiven and redeemed,
how are we going to begin to let the love of God shine through us to
non-believers? We can diligently begin to develop love for all people. Remember,
diligence is earnestness in accomplishing, promoting, or striving after anything.
We must be earnest in choosing to love everyone. Loving everyone will not be
easy to do in every case. It must be done in the strength of Christ. Christ had
to overlook sinful people to be able to love them. He gives us
that same strength to love others. Loving like this may not come easy, but it
will come because the Spirit of Christ lives within us.
Peter commends believers that they
must always earnestly strive to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). He says growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus is
an ongoing activity. If you do not get it right the first time, keep working on
growing like Him. Verses 8 and 9 say,
For
if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither
useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or
short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
We will sincerely want these qualities
because we earnestly seek to resemble Christ, our Lord and our leader. We will
continue to strive to develop these areas of our life. We will not give up
because we understand it is possible and preferable to living as an unbeliever.
We are not blind or shortsighted, unless we stop growing in the knowledge of
Jesus Christ. If we stop growing, then we have stopped reading our Bible, praying, and attending worship services.
There is still hope, though; Jesus has not given up on us.
Verse 10 states, “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain
about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things,
you will never stumble.” Is this not a great reason for continuing to follow
Christ, so we may not stumble? I would love to live without stumbling and messing up
something. Usually when I make a mistake, I realize I have let myself choose
what to do or say without considering what Christ wants me do or say in the
situation. Christ's way is best. Hence, we must be diligent in practicing these
things, acquiring faith, moral excellence, knowledge,
self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and
love. We must remember this growing in Christ is not a linear map to perfection
but a rotating guide. We start with faith and desire moral excellence so we
seek knowledge from the Word, which then leads us to one or more
of the other actions. We then return to the Word and learn another new thing
which we put into practice. Peter states, “In this way the entrance into the
eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you”
(vs. 11). You realize your salvation, without a doubt, because you do these
things, the fruit of the Spirit grows within you. See how similar Peter’s list
is to Paul’s list in Galatians?
In the end, Peter stated, “Therefore,
I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already
know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you” (vs. 12). Peter
determined he would remind followers of Jesus of these things. He was going to make
sure it occurred; therefore, he wrote this letter. How would Peter have known his
writing would last over 1900 years and continue to remind believers to follow
Jesus? This is why he stated in verse 15,
“And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be
able to call these things to mind.” Peter felt accountable to God for the followers who came to believe in Jesus through his
ministry, so much so, he wanted to leave a written testimony of what his life’s
work had been, to preach and teach Jesus Christ’s love and power for them. He reiterated to make it
known without a doubt, “For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we
made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty” (vs. 16). Peter tells us stories of
the Lord and Savior and he tells us truth, which he witnessed himself.
He was compelled to write this epistle.
