2 Pet 1:1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
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, in order that by them you might 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 short-sighted, 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.
The first four verses of 2 Peter 1 are about what God does. The next three are about what we do. Then the last four are an explanation and exhortation of the results of putting all this together.
For a simple fisherman, Peter had a way with words. We know that this is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but it also reflects Peter’s thoughts and style of communication and I don’t know about you but I find it very impressive.
This whole piece is a jewel, and especially that first section in verses 1-4.
Just look at it again… It’s all about what God does for us. 1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
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, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
Bear with me as I pick out the key words here. Faith, righteousness, grace, peace, knowledge of God, His divine power, everything… life and godliness, glory and excellence, precious and magnificent promises, partakers of divine nature, escaped corruption.
There’s a year’s worth of sermons right here in these four verses.
Peter has piled up a high and holy line of heavenly presents here. It’s like a Christian’s shower. A host of Christian supplies hand delivered by the Lord to the door of your heart! And when I read this I can’t help but think of the different reactions such a resource stirs in the hearts of those that hear this.
If you are not a Christian and do not have heavenly interests as the top priority of your life, then Peter’s words here will appear bland and tasteless. One man’s treasure is another man’s trash! A person who has no taste for heavenly things would see what Peter says here as boring and insignificant religious words. Paul describes this well in 1 Corinthians chapters 1 and 2 when he shows how the wisdom of God appears as foolishness to the worldly minded. The spiritual minded Christian thrills over the things of God, but the unspiritual minded has neither understanding nor desire for these things.
Let me illustrate: When I was 16 years old, I came to grips with my deep need to follow Jesus Christ faithfully. Up until that time I had always gone to church. My family never missed any services of the church. But I had friends in the neighborhood and from school who had no interest whatever in spiritual matters of the Christian faith. Church was a requirement, not a delight. We went because we had to. I had been baptized when I was 12 because I knew that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that if he returned and I was in sin I would go to hell. I knew God made me and the Bible was His word and that there was a heaven and a hell and that Jesus death on the cross had made it possible for all to have forgiveness of sins and be saved if they believed and obeyed the gospel. I knew the basics, but what I needed was a relationship with Jesus beyond that of simply one who could deliver me from sin and hell.
I was in the sixth grade going to Mars Hill Bible School when I was baptized. That same year my dad lost his job at Reynolds Metals and it was a while before he got another job that paid well enough to afford the tuition of Mars Hill. So in seventh grade I went to the local public school: Colbert Heights. What a miserable year. There were five huge guys in seventh grade who were 15 years old just waiting to turn 16 so they could legally quit school. The McDougle twins, Eddie Pounders, and two other thugs who’s names escape me (maybe it was Uday and Qusay Hussein). These guys entertained themselves by beating on smaller classmates and P.E. class was a nightmare. New kids were their favorite targets. I remember that year as the darkest year of my life. I actually wanted to kill myself a few times. It was my first experience rubbing elbows with people who used drugs, bragged about getting drunk, had casual sex, and mouths that would make a sewer look clean. Instead of leaning on the Lord for strength, I learned to survive by trying to fit in. If someone had read 2 Peter 1:1-4 to me during that time, it would have sounded like nonsense or just a bunch of religious words. But over the next four years things changed. We don’t have time for the details, but my fear of the Lord finally returned with a vengeance and I began praying for God to help me. He answered. I gave my life back to Jesus at the end of my 16th year and he has only grown more wonderful as the years have gone by. Words of scripture that were just church talk and religious jargon before my change of heart are today like bread from heaven to feed my soul. I love God… because he loves me.
Today these words are precious and are a delight!
I’ll never forget the glorious awareness that came over me of God’s love and peace when I gave my heart fully to him. I wanted to share it with my girlfriend and I took her out to a special place where we used to go and told her. I had read John 20 and was so impressed at the reaction of Mary when she recognized Jesus’ voice and fell at his feet. I shared that with her and how excited I was about my renewed walk with the Lord. She was happy for me, but not impressed. After a few weeks I could tell that she was just hoping I would get over whatever had happened to me. What I got over was my relationship with her. She wasn’t interested in church or sharing the Bible with me. It was just a bunch of religious talk to her, but to me it was life.
We didn’t have what Peter talks about right here in the first verse of 2 Peter 1. We didn’t have as the KJV puts it: “a like precious faith.” This is such a uniting spiritual gift of God. Peter’s words depict a brotherhood in the faith that is by the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ.
When you know God and Jesus as Lord you discover grace and peace abounding to you. This heavenly blessing far outweighs anything this old world has to offer.
We discover that God has thought of everything and given it to us as a gift. Life and godliness are given by his power as we know him more and more. This is all accomplished through his own glory and goodness.
Look at verse 4 with me. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
Have you thought about the promises of God for his people? Jesus said, “I will be with you always.” “I go to prepare a place for you and I will come again to receive you unto myself…”
God always keeps his promises! Look at Romans 8:16-18, 2 Cor. 4:16-18, 2 Thess 1:6-10. Look at the kind of promises he makes for us! “Precious and Magnificent Promises!” The Bible is filled with God’s good promises for his people!
Look at Joshua 23:14-16 with me.
God keeps his own word. He calls us to keep it too!
God supplies the gifts and the power to perform and partake of his divine nature. Next, Peter gives the list of developmental additions to our faith that assure us of God’s good promises for us.
Verses 5-7 list them.
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.
This is how we unpack the spiritual qualities of the divine nature in our lives. This helps us to look like people called by God. Each one of these qualities is a God like quality that builds us into his image. We begin to look and act like our heavenly Father!
Then look at how all of this is put together in verses 8-11:
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 short-sighted, 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.
Just look at what blessings these will bring! And look at what a loss an unspiritual mind that misses them brings! God has given us all things in Christ! We must give ourselves to him and be about the business of the kingdom and personal growth in Christ so that we find certainty and assurance in our walk with Christ. Just look at the end of this… an abundantly supplied entrance into heavenly glory with Jesus Christ.
Where are you today? What is your priority system in this life? Just ask yourself where you spend your most energy and emotional attachment. That’s where you are giving yourself. Is Jesus receiving your best efforts?
