2 Peter 1:3-11
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Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I smashed my finger this Monday, cutting through the nail and the skin, and snapping my bone underneath the laceration. Let me tell you, it hurt! After around 3 hours in urgent care, I left with a total of 3 numbing shots, 10 stitches, a splint, medicated gauze, this medical self-sticking bandaging, antibiotics, and some painkillers. It wasn’t fun the most fun, but I’m grateful for my brother Taylor being there with me the whole time. Every morning and every evening I have TALK THROUGH THE CLEANING PROCESS. You see, if I don’t do this, my finger will get infected, become ineffective, worthless. I might as well cut it off and throw it away. I have to apply that neosporin, apply the wrappings, supplement my body with antibiotics so that it can fight infections, and treat my hand with extra care so that it doesn’t make the damage worse. In the same way, Peter wants to encourage us to live a life growing in spiritual health. Let’s jump into the context.
The ESV puts verse 1 a little easier to understand, “To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” So Peter is undoubtedly writing to believers, to those whose faith is equal to the apostles, and that faith is according to God’s righteousness, not ours. It is grounded in God’s perfections. With this greeting, Peter sets the ground for his following instruction. We will see 2 things in this passage “The State of Spiritual Health for the Faithful” and “Instructions for Spiritual Health for the Faithful.”
The State of Spiritual Health for the Faithful
The State of Spiritual Health for the Faithful
Beginning in 2 Peter 1:3,
as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
Peter references YHWH God’s perfections again, His divine power, which grants us faith and also grants us all things that pertain to life and godliness. So we see here, first, The Spiritual Life and Health of the Faithful.
If we give our kids all that they need for life and education, have we supported their health for today and the future? If we give them food, water, a home, clothes, teach them to read, write, do math, fix a toilet, we are giving them what they need to succeed in life! We know this is true. YHWH has provided the same to us in a much grander way. But how? By what method does Peter explain that we gain this “all things,” how are they granted to us?
“Through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, or excellence (if you have an ESV or goodness in the NIV).” So it is in knowing YHWH that we are granted this provision of health. But catch this, it matters for later, it is in knowing YHWH that we are called to, or to find completion in, His perfections, which grants us “all things” for spiritual health. He mentions specifically His glory and excellence/virtue. So our completion, our spiritual well-being, is found in His glory and His excellence/virtue.
Flash forward to verse 5, this is exactly what we are supposed to grow in!
So what is included in the “all things” which we are granted and obtain through knowing YHWH’s perfections?
by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
“exceedingly great and precious promises”, or “his precious and very great promises" in the ESV.
Never leave/forsake
be our God & we His people
eternity to come
to keep us from evil
to give us His Spirit
How about this morning Psalm 22:24
For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from Him;
But when He cried to Him, He heard.
And these promises go on for a long time.
Why? Why would YHWH grant us these promises as the substance of life and godliness through faith and the knowledge of His perfections?
by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
“that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature”
“having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (because of sinful desires ESV).”
First, “that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature.” Do we understand this? This is spiritual health! Who, of all, has peak spiritual performance? Peak spiritual ability and health? How about YHWH God! His attributes, His nature, what Stephen Charbock would argue in his “Attributes of God” would be called His perfections, are by themselves the definition of perfect! YHWH’s perfections are what we strive to be, what we measure ourselves up against.
And guess what, brothers and sisters? We have been given this divine nature, this spiritual state of health, from eternity at the moment of salvation, in our election! I say election because that’s what Peter argues in verse 10. YHWH elected us, and in that (follow the flow of these verses): He grants us faith by His perfections (righteousness), He has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness (His precious and very great promises) through the knowledge of Him, and this knowledge leads to His perfections so that that we can partake in these very things!
Said simply, your salvation, brothers and sisters, means you already have been given this gift of spiritual healthiness and perfection in the divine nature!
Second, by partaking, or sharing, in the divine nature, we have escaped sinful corruption. This harkens back to Jeremiah 17:9
“The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
Some translations well translate the term “wicked” as sick, the word there is “incurable or sickly.” So the heart is corrupt, sick, wicked. While YHWH’s nature can be called “ God’s perfections,” the nature of man cannot be called “man’s perfections” because our core, our heart, our nature, is sick and corrupted by sin! But, by our election to salvation, we do have a share in the divine perfections of YHWH which means that our nature is no longer defined by corruption, but incorruption.
We are reminded in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 49
So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.
that in the resurrection we are given the imperishable body. Like the seed that is planted and dies only to be raised a living plant, we will be given a perfect body in the full likeness of Christ! God is not corrupted, we won’t be either, and we are told that our state of being at this moment is not identified with corruption because 2 Peter 1:4
by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
we have escaped with Christ’s death from our corruption.
Now, don’t take this the wrong way, and we will cover it in a minute, but we still have a corrupt human flesh that brings about sinful desires and we still sin, we won’t get that perfect body and desire until eternity, but our state, our identification is that of the divine nature, perfect.
“This is all well and good, Koty. I get that we are identified with this and we are supposed to know God and have faith to be spiritually healthy, but how? How do I do this?” Great question, my friends! Peter anticipates this and presses on. Verses 5-7 give us:
Instructions for Spiritual Health for the Faithful
Instructions for Spiritual Health for the Faithful
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
These align with Peter’s that we are (remember a little bit ago) saved by YHWH’s perfections and given access to spiritual health in the kowledge of them. We are to supplement, or use as a way to boost our faith and godliness: virtue/excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness/affection, and love.
Antibiotics versus bodily restoration with my fingers, scab with skin flap on ring finger.
Let’s break these down.
Look at paper if there will be time.
Having these 7 qualities, according to 2 Peter 1:8
For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
if they are abounding/growing, they are what keep us from spiritual disease! Remember, these are related directly to the perfections of YHWH, so if we strive towards what Peter says is our current state of incorruption through sharing the divine nature, we are guaranteed to not be barren, ineffective, or unfruitful in our knowledge of YHWH.
The unfruitful tree is sick, diseased, broken. But we are told that we have already escaped this disease and corruption in Christ, so those who have escaped it are to exhibit these 7 signs and qualities of spiritual health as they grow in knowing YHWH God.
Said another way, “If we know God’s perfections, we will grow in God’s perfections. And if we grow in God’s perfections, we are guaranteed to know God’s perfection.”
For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
2 Peter 1:9 continues to make the contrast. If we lack these 7 qualities, we are blind because we have forgotten our cleansed stt]ate.
Understanding that there are those we know with blindness, and being sensitive to that, we all must admit that blindness is not the natral state in which humans are ordinarily made. If you need glasses, you do not have, what? “Perfect vision!” For those who like math, I have made an equation:
Blind ≠ Healthy ≠ Perfection
God tells us in Isaiah 6:9-10 and we see it quoted in Matthew 13, that those who hear the Gospel He would blind and deafen to prove their spiritually dead state, lest they repent and He must heal them.
Our position is spiritually healthy, so live according to that state, not like sick, corrupt, wicked, world. Remember the Gospel, preach it to yourself daily, read it often! Foolishness of trans-disabled, apply to my fingers.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:10-11 finish off this passage. If we do all of these things, if we take the faith boosting supplements of these 7 qualities, we will be doing the action of diligently confirming YHWH’s calling and election in our lives. And by practicing them, we can be sure that YHWH God’s mighty hand will, according to John 10:28-30, never let us stumble, never let us fall. Living out these qualities of the spiritually healthy based in YHWH’s perfections, is the guarantee that we are in the eternal kingdom of God.
Remember, verse 1, because we have been saved by God and His perfections, we can, verse 4, partake in these perfections by, verses 8 and 10, living out these perfections. That is spiritual health!