2 Peter 1:1-11
We are going to begin 2 Peter this week. In chapter 3, he says that this is the second letter he has written to them, which leads us to believe that Peter is writing to the same church or churches. However, not everyone agrees.
There are some who question every author in the New Testament, but three books generate the most debate. Hebrews, because the author is not named, 3 John, and 2 Peter. I hold to the belief that Peter is the author because he was considered the author when these letters were being considered part of the canon of Scripture. The reason they survived is that they were attached to a prominent author who held some measure of authority.
In Peter’s first letter, he spent a lot of time encouraging the people because of the persecution and suffering they faced. In this letter, the focus is on how to grow in their faith. Consequently, this is an essential letter. It is a shame that it gets ignored in most churches.
The way Peter is going to encourage growth is by discussing four main topics.
- The opportunity to participate in God’s divine nature
- The value of true prophecy
- The danger of false teachers and immoral behavior
- The truth of Christ’s return
Today, we are going to look at chapter 1, verses 1-11, which cover the first of these four topics.
Verses 1 and 2 are a standard introduction and greeting. Peter identifies himself, but this time uses a more personal introduction. In his first letter, Peter identified himself as Peter, an apostle, but here we see him use Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.
He is writing to those who have received a faith equal to ours. This is an important statement because it demonstrates that there are no levels of faith or importance in Jesus. The most experienced believer and the newest convert have an equal share in the faith. At the same time, it reminds us that we must continue to grow in that faith.
This comes through in verse 2, where Peter prays for grace and peace to be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. As we learn more, we grow, but no matter how much we grow, it never makes our faith unequal to everyone else’s faith.
Beginning in verse 3, we see Peter start to instruct us on how to grow in godliness and faith. The key to any growth is to understand that it is only by His divine power we have anything at all. Peter tells us that it is by God’s divine power we have everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Notice that there is nothing of me here. It is by His divine power that I have everything I need; it is He who called me, and it is for His glory and goodness. The first step in growing in godliness is to recognize who provides everything. If we fail, or refuse, to acknowledge this basic truth, we will never grow.
By these things, God’s divine power and provisions, He has given us very great and precious promises. Through these promises, we may share in the divine nature. This is pretty shocking language. We can share in God’s divine nature. Peter does not mean we become gods. This is Peter’s way of expressing what others already say in Scripture. Paul speaks of this as “being conformed to the image of Christ,” and John says “becoming like Christ.” It is the process of moving from immaturity to maturity. As we become more mature, the easier it becomes to resist or escape the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires. The more we focus on Christ, the less we want to follow our own evil desires.
Verses 5-7 are the heart of Peter’s point. Because we want, or should want, to move from immaturity to maturity, we must make every effort to supplement our faith with goodness and goodness with knowledge. We are not going to look at what each word means, but we must stop here and discuss knowledge.
This is the second time Peter has mentioned knowledge, but what is missed in our English Bibles is that Peter is speaking of two different things. Peter uses different words that can mean the same thing, but also have slightly different meanings. In verse 3, the knowledge Peter speaks of is a deep, relational understanding and experience of God. In verse 5, Peter is speaking of the truths of the faith. Verse 3 is relational knowledge, and verse 5 is book knowledge.
Knowing the truths of God, as revealed in the Bible, is important, and even necessary. But if that book knowledge doesn’t lead to a deeper relational knowledge, it accomplishes nothing. We must read our Bibles to know God, but that then must lead us into a relationship with Him. It doesn’t matter how many verses you can quote or how much trivia you can answer if you have no personal, deep, intimate relationship with Jesus.
When Peter gives this list, it looks like each quality leads to the next, but that is not Peter’s point. These are not stages we go through in order. Instead, the key is found in the number 7. There are 7 qualities, which is the number of perfection, and they all lead us to love. Without some measure of the first six, love is not possible.
What stands out to you in verse 8? The key here is possessing these qualities in increasing measure. We never get to a point where we are good enough, or we have enough book knowledge, or show enough brotherly affection, and so on. Each of these qualities is to be constantly increasing.