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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. — 2 Peter 1:16-18

We just finished a passage where Peter reveals that he knows his end is coming soon. As far as we know, this is the very last letter he wrote, it is certainly the last record we have regarding the life of Peter. As Peter just noted in verse 14, Jesus prophesied that Peter would die on a cross. Tradition holds that he died in just such a way shortly after writing this letter. Actually, tradition states that Peter refused to be crucified in the same way as Christ because he didn’t feel worthy of the same form of death, so they crucified him upside-down. Whatever the case may be, we do know that he was martyred for his faith. (John 21:18-19) In fact, tradition holds that all the apostles, with the possible exception of John, were martyred.

Yet, one criticism of Christianity is that these men died for a myth, something that never happened. This last letter of Peter anticipates many common attacks on Christianity and responds to them: “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths.” He goes on to testify to the miracles of Jesus’ life to state: we saw this with our own eyes! This quote refers to two events in the life of Jesus. The first occurred at Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist:

In Matthew 3:13-17 we read about this:

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” (cf. Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22)

The second event was when Jesus climbed a tall mountain with John, Peter, and James and was transfigured.

We can read of this in Matthew 17:1-13:

“And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’ When the disciples hear this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise and have no fear.’ And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.” (cf. Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36)

So, Peter, just before he goes to martyrdom ties Christianity tightly to the miracles of Jesus. Anyone who wants to become a follower of Christ must also accept these miracles as fact. To reject these is to reject the essence of the truth. If Jesus Christ did not perform miracles, did not rise from the dead, then upon what basis do you accept his divinity? You can’t, you’ve just rejected it. Either Jesus was a great miracle worker and provides salvation to believers or he was a liar or a lunatic. His closest followers certainly believed him and died following him. I’m not saying that’s conclusive proof, but it is a point to consider.

We each accept Christ by faith or we don’t take Him as lord at all. There is no middle ground. I can understand when an Antichrist scoffs at miracles and mocks Christians for naively believing fairy tales and myths, as the Athenian philosophers rejected Paul when he mentioned Christ’s resurrection of the dead. (Acts 17:32) Scoffers scoff and skeptics are skeptical regardless of what they are told, as Paul states in another sermon in Antioch, “‘Look, you scoffers, / be astounded and perish; / for I am doing a work in your days, / a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’” (Acts 13:41) What I cannot understand is someone who calls himself Christian and claims to believe in a God that created the universe, but stops short of believing (“allowing” might be a better word here) the same God who continues to animate the universe (Colossians 1:17) the authority to do unexpected miracles and perform wonders and signs. This is deism, the work of an impotent or uncaring god, and is not the Father who is Love that Christ revealed to us.

Peter wants us to know that these wonders really happened “so that after [his] departure you may be able at any time to recall these thing.” Peter believed it and then died for it. I believe it and hope, should I ever be put to such a test, that I could die for it as well. And, should it happen, what a great and honorable way to go!

Cheers.

Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. — 2 Peter 1:12-15

If you have not read it yet, you need to read the post on 2 Peter 1:5-7. There, Peter declares what it looks like to pursue maturity in Christ. As a reminder, the qualities Peter recommends include:

• Faith
• Virtue
• Knowledge
• Self-control
• Steadfastness
• Godliness
• Brotherly Affection
• Love

It is interesting that Peter writes this letter and says in it about the letter itself, “You already know this, but I am reminding you.” In this life, we face a conflict within ourselves. Christians have a new spirit of righteousness, but the same old corrupted flesh. (Galatians 5:17; Romans 7:14) As such, we must constantly be reminded of the fundamentals. Every mature Christian needs the same regular dose of the plain gospel as the new believer who is still working out the basics. In our carnal nature we still to desire that which we should not do and every one of us can stand to be reminded again. (Romans 7:15)

It tells us something more. Peter intended his letter to be read by you and me. Not specifically by name, but the letter is intended to be passed on to the following generations of believers. He magnifies this remark later on in chapter 3, but we will get to that later. For now, I want to point out that Peter knew his end was coming soon and that all that would be left of him were his writings. So, he wrote down these important reminders that every believer needs, “so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.” (2 Peter 1:15)

The final item of interest is that Peter saw the prophesied day approaching. Jesus Christ predicted Peter’s death. Jesus made this prophecy after the resurrection at the end of a story I find to be one of the most personally meaningful in the Bible.

I would love to retell the whole story, but you can read about it at the end of the Gospel of John in chapter 21. Basically, Jesus restores Peter following Peter’s three-time rejection of Christ on the morning before Jesus was crucified. Then, he says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” John adds the comment here, “(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.)” (John 21:18-19)

Jesus confirmed for Peter the thing which Peter had once swore he would do: die for Jesus. Peter had just proven himself faithless by denying Christ to save his own life the morning of Christ’s own crucifixion. Jesus tells Peter, after restoring, him (my paraphrase), “You will, in fact, die for my name as you promise.” Peter had to first learn the hard lesson that to do the work of Christ requires leaning on the grace of Christ. He failed to do that the night of the crucifixion. Tradition states that Peter was indeed crucified as Christ was, shortly after writing this letter of 2 Peter.

I think it would be a worthy goal of every Christian for his testimony to Christ be as Peter’s. To serve Christ so whole-heartedly that we would be a reminder to others to hold fast the fundamentals when we are gone. It is a worthy goal to hold so fast to the faith that we would be willing to face persecution and martyrdom for the name Christ. I don’t wish to face such a trial myself, but any man who does is greatly blessed in the day of such a trial. (Luke 6:22; Mark 13:13)

Cheers.

For if these qualities are yours and 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 make your calling sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fail. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. — 2 Peter 1:8-11

Peter is now reinforcing for us the purpose of having the virtues he enumerated previously in verses 5-7. “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 brother affection with love.”

Verses 8, 10, and 11 give us the good news while verse 9 gives us the bad. Let’s start there. If you, as a Christian believer, fail to practice and work on these virtues you are as good as blind and you will lack the assurance of salvation. As James 1:23-24 puts it, “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he look at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.” It isn’t good enough to know belief, but you must do it. If you don’t do it, it’s almost as good as being an unbeliever. How can you be assured of salvation if you don’t behave as if you believed it?

On the other hand, if you do these things. If you take hold of your faith and supplement it with virtue, then move on to knowledge, then on to self-control, then to steadfastness, then on to godliness, and then on to brotherly affection, and finally take hold of love, you will avoid being ineffective and unfruitful in your pursuit of God. (v. 8) This pursuit will bring you assurance of your salvation. (v. 10) Finally, this assurance will prove fruitful when you finally pass from life into death and into life again through the resurrection, so long as you pursue these virtues until the end. (v. 11)

This passage is, overall, about our role in working out our own faith. Faith is not some magical gift delivered by God that somehow works itself out. We can’t just sit on our laurels and do nothing once God has chosen us. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12) God, in turn, rewards this diligence with assurance.

Cheers.

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. 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 make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fail. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. — 2 Peter 1:5-11

A long time ago, I remember having a conversation with one of my best friends in high school. We were talking about life after death and he said something to the effect of, “When I die, I will go to heaven.” At the time, I marveled and questioned how he could be so sure. A year later, had I had the same conversation, I would have replied, “Me too.” I think every believer has a moment of doubt every now and again, but a Christian who believes and practices his belief can be sure of the salvation provided by his savior. This section of 2 Peter addresses this issue in detail.

Context: In verses 3-4, Peter has just stated that God blesses his followers with everything they need to completely follow Christ. So now he says that “for this very reason” we should “supplement [our] faith with virtue.” Why? “They will keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful” and to “make your calling and election sure.”

Salvation is Assured

There are those who would use this passage to say that salvation is something we must work at. They believe that we must in our own free will participate and hold fast to our salvation. However, I think it’s pretty clear that this is not what Peter is referring to. I have two reasons for this.

1. In verse 9, Peter equates failure to “supplement” these things with blindness rather than death, the spiritual state of someone who is not saved.
2. In verse 10, Peter uses terms that indicate failure here leads to sin and assuring oneself, not death.

Peter seems to be pretty circumspect if he’s trying to say this is a salvation issue. Instead, he’s speaking to those who have been elected and telling them to seize the assurance of election by embracing these qualities.

This leads to a very practical conclusion. If you believe, you must act like you believe if you want to be sure of it. As James put it, “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:18) Not only does doing so help us to grow in the knowledge of Christ, but it helps us to be more confident in that knowledge.

Qualities of Assurance

So what are these qualities? Let’s look at each:

Faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. … By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” (Hebrews 11:1,3) This is the foundation of all Christian quality and virtue. Without faith, you are not a believer and can do nothing at all that pleases God. “For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23b)

Virtue: This term is translated “moral excellence” in the New American Standard Bible. It indicates a life lived with great virtue. Christian virtues include “love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

Knowledge: “Make me know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.” (Psalm 25:4) Virtuous and faithful knowledge is of great worth (Philippians 3:8) and such knowledge comes grows out of faith and virtue. (Proverbs 9:10)

Self-control: Self-control means “being sober-minded” and not being “conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.” (1 Peter 1:13-14) Know your sins and resist temptation. Pray for the strength to overcome and grace will be provided. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Steadfastness: Sometimes this is called “perseverance.” This indicates the ability to patiently endure trial and still hold fast to your virtue. (James 1:2-3)

Godliness: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” (Ephesians 5:1) It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. When talking about God, flattery is called worship. Attempt to be as perfect as you can.

Brotherly Affection: While the virtue of godliness is vertical to God. This is performing the same act horizontally. This is the second great command, “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39)

Love: “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:14) Love is the capstone and chief of all virtues. Love can be used to describe the essence of all other virtue and a mature believer can term all acts of virtue in how they show love to others and most especially to God.

Our pastor, Bob Flack, recently defined love as “continuing to seek my joy by pursuing God’s best for another person regardless of the cost to me.” Love is both the most fundamental virtue and a fitting end to this list.

Practice Virtue and…

Practice virtue and you may become assured of your salvation. If you have been saved by Christ, your salvation cannot be taken away at all. As Paul said, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rules, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) Yet, you may forget the great gift of salvation if you fail to practice your faith.

Cheers.

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. — 2 Peter 1:1-2

Letters from the apostles always begin with a salutation that sounds very similar to this. I suppose if letter writing were the ordeal it would have been then, letters today would probably be long and well-introduced like this as well. Yet, as common as the salutation is, it is still full of valuable content. Let’s take a look at a few of these.

To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours: This is a truly fascinating remark to me. Peter starts by mentioning his position as apostle and using the term “servant,” literally a Roman slave. He makes the claim of servant-leadership, like the service Christ rendered in washing his disciples feet before his last meal before the cross. (John 13:4)

He continues by humbling himself further by noting that his faith, the faith of one who knew Christ, is of equal standing to those to whom he is writing. Peter was a special member of the Twelve, but his faith is the same as our faith. He was just a sinner saved by faith in the sacrifice of the Creator-Man, Jesus Christ. As Jesus told Thomas, who wanted some proof of Jesus’ identity after the resurrection, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.” (John 20:29) Christ was referring to the faith of the very men and women Peter was writing. Peter reaffirms it in this greeting.

By the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: This faith we have in common with Peter is in “our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” This is somewhat contentious among certain anti-Christian sects who try to say that God and Jesus are separate individuals and yet Peter continues to repeat the theme throughout this letter. (2 Peter 1:11; 2:20; 3:2, 18) Jesus is God and Savior. (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 9:6; 1 Corinthians 15:47)

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Grace is that which will allow Christ’s followers, in that faith of equal standing with Peter, into the presence of God. Grace is only needed where there is sin and boy is there ever sin. It is greatly confusing in this post-modern age how many try to say that man is not inherently sinful when this is really the easiest doctrine to see played out every day in humanity. It is the greatest delusion of our age that people think they are not sinners.

Grace is an unmerited gift. Grace comes in two forms. The first form is a general form that is universally received from God. God is restrained from judging the great sin of the nations and provides means by which sin is restrained. It’s not beneficial or convenient for sinners to sin constantly. This is a form of general grace.

What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath [sinners] prepared for destruction. — Romans 9:22

The second form of grace is a specific kind received only by believers. This is the kind of grace Peter is referring to here. This grace is given to those who rely upon the work of Jesus Christ on the cross to become a ransom for the sins of that believer. (Matthew 20:28; Ephesians 1:7; Acts 10:43) This grace flows from the Christian to others, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” goes the Lord’s prayer. (Matthew 6:12)

Peter’s salutation tells us that we have peace and grace through Christ. He tells us about the deity of Christ. He also teaches us to seek humility and follow the servant-leadership model of Christ. So much in such a small, seemingly irrelevant, bit of text. Amen.

Cheers.

Before diving into the passages themselves, it’s always a good idea to reflect upon the book overall. Who wrote it? Why? What’s it generally about?

The author of the book is pretty clear, it’s stated as the first two words in 2 Peter 1:1, “Simeon Peter.” Of course, that hasn’t prevented the critics of the past 150 years from trying to look for another author. Some scholars even say the book was forged. (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: 2 Peter & Jude, p. 1) Yet, the book’s content really helps negate any such claim of forgery. The book itself denounces the false teaching and deception such a forger would be engaged in. (Ibid. p. 12) In any case, while there are scholars who doubt that Peter was the author, I don’t know of any compelling evidence for those doubts and accept it has Peter’s.

The book itself is probably written toward the end of Peter’s life. While he does not say so, it is possible that Peter was in prison and waiting for a death sentence to be carried out, based upon his comment in 2 Peter 1:14, “since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon.” This would place the place of the writing in Rome around AD 67 or 68. (Ibid., p. 14) According to verse 2 Peter 3:1, this is his second letter and likely a follow up to 1 Peter, which is addressed to the “elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” It is clearly a letter to believers based upon comments in 2 Peter 1:1, 12-15, 3:1, 18.

The book itself is directed almost exclusively at the defense of the gospel against false teachers. The entire book is directed towards standing strong in the truth and standing against false teachings and false teachers. The MacArthur outlines it like this (Ibid. p. 15)

1. Avoiding False Teaching by Understanding Salvation (2 Peter 1:3-11)
2. Avoiding False Teaching by Understanding the Scriptures (2 Peter 1:12-21)
3. Avoiding False Teaching by Understanding False Teachers (2 Peter 2:1-22)
4. Avoiding False Teaching by Understanding the Future (2 Peter 3:1-18)

I think that’s a pretty good outline. In these last days, I think this is a pretty important theme since there are more varieties of false teaching than there are believers.

Next week, I plan to dig in to the salutation itself. That may not sound interesting, but it’s really surprising how much there is in those first two verses.

Cheers.

Lately, I’ve been hearing more and more about how important it is for Christians to engage in a new sacrament: protecting the environment. As with so many teachings, this desire is often couched under the premise that this is just an extension of our commanded service to be stewards and keepers of creation. Yet, as with any good thing, there can be too much. This desire for stewardship can easily become sin, idolatry.

Stewardship of God’s creation is commanded very early in scripture, in the first chapter of the first book even, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) We are indeed the delegates of God to be masters over and caretakers of creation. We are told to fill the earth and bring it into order. That means, in my understanding, that we are to cultivate the earth in the way a gardner cares for his garden, we encourage that which is beneficial and discourage that which is harmful. This is good environmentalism, in my view of scripture.

Too often, however, it would seem that the goal of environmentalism is to minimize and even eliminate our influence over creation. Yet, the command is to productively exert human influence over creation, a creation that is hostile to us, rather than leave the earth in a pristine, “natural” state. The fact is that earth is no longer in its original paradisiacal state is the result of sin and because God cursed the ground as punishment for Adam’s sin. (Genesis 3:17-19; Romans 8:20-22) And yet, God commands us to care for and use this cursed ground for ourselves, not let it go wild, but I digress.

2 Peter

What in the world does this have to do with 2 Peter? I explain all this to tell you the agenda I came to this text with. As with most any Bible study that anyone chooses to start, the selection of the text is done with bias. The above is the bias I started with (and still hold to, but… I’ll get to that in a minute). Specifically, I wanted to study 2 Peter 3:1-7, which culminates with:

But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

It says some specific things about creation that I think are very timely and meaningful to any discussion we might have about the stewardship of our planet. I am looking forward to the exposition of this passage for this reason.

Yet, as I’ve studied the text and it has spoken to me through the Spirit, I now take a slightly different tack. The book as a whole matches up with the title of this post very well. The Second Letter of Peter to his beloved spends much of it’s time explaining those things which will sustain the Church. He’s writing this letter to “[stir] up your sincere mind by way of reminder” to tell us how to live on in and protect the Christian faith now that he is gone. (2 Peter 3:1; 1:13-15) That will be the primary focus of this study.

How do we preserve and sustain our belief and our Church?

That will be the focus as I work my way through 2 Peter over the next few months. I pray that my study is useful to you and profitable for myself. The next post will look at the general overview and outline of the book before starting in to the exposition of the book itself.

Cheers.