2 Peter 1:1-11 Challenges in the Church Part I

Map

Introduction to the Letter

Peter is urgently writing to the Church of Christ that the Lord has given them everything they need to continue the mission after his departure. God has given them faith and has promised them eternal security in return for their obedience and service.

Peter provides a list of the characteristics of a Christian. Sanctification is the development of these traits. These are necessary to serve God, and to confirm our election. If we lack these qualities, we have forgotten our purification. These characteristics are key to eternal life and God will grow them in you.

When was the letter written?

AD 64-67. Possibly after Paul’s death

Mention of Paul’s writings as Scripture in ch 3

Can infer Peter was in prison, awaiting execution himself

Conversely - he was old and facing death

What was going on at the time?

The apostles were dying off. Wolves were attacking

James, head of the church in Jerusalem, had been executed.

Roman persecution was happening

AD 62, Death of James, brother of Jesus.

AD 64-67, death of Paul in Rome

AD 64 Nero persecutes Christians in Rome

Why was Peter writing

First letter was about persecution from outside the church. This one is about problems within the visible church

False teachers were trying to gain a following in the church

They were apostate

mixed paganism and Christianity

Misunderstood Paul’s teachings

New converts influenced by pagan or Judaizer teachings

They were out for worldly gain

A note - content is very similar to Jude

They were aware of each other

They had the same concerns separately

I note that there are no commands given here, only explanations and reasons. From those reasons, Peter infers promises.

Theme of the letter: As the apostles are called home to glory, be on watch for the wolves, the false prophets and teachers, who will try to win you over to gain power and money.

Key verse of the Letter: 2 Peter 3:17–18 (NASB95). You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

2 Peter 1:1–4 (NASB95)

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: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 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. 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.

1. Peter’s greeting and God’s promise:

Explanation

Who wrote this letter?

the Apostle Peter

Stylistic differences - Jerome resolution

Content is consistent with Peter’s thought.

Who was the audience?

Same as 1 Peter. This appears to be a general letter or epistle. Catholic epistle

Saved, born again Christians. Covered by the righteousness of Christ and having faith in Him.

Because of their faith, Christ promises them grace and peace

God has preserved this letter for us, the new generation of Christians

KJV-All sanctification derives from the knowledge of God and through faith in that knowledge - all this is God's gift and grace.

2 pe 1:3 knowledge is the conduit to His divine power

Promises are the conduit to the divine nature

Mounce: The promises have been given so that through them you may participate in the divine nature. This is an amazing claim. Peter says that by means of the promises given to us by God we are able to share his nature

Eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Once justified, we have already entered the kingdom, being lively stones and operating the new Temple as priests. We are a peculiar people of God's own choosing.

In the Christian faith, God has promised us salvation if only we repent of our sins and turn to Him in righteousness. How do we properly repent of our sins?

It is not acknowledging them and seeking forgiveness

It is turning away from them to follow the righteousness of our Saviour.

Illustration:

A child says I’m sorry, but does not repent. He is sorry because he is being punished, not because he did wrong or sinned.

Argumentation:

Wrong way: do more good than bad to earn God’s favor

Do good deeds more than you sin

Application/Exhortation

Jesus promises His followers salvation, if they believe the Gospel

Salvation from hell/for eternal life in heaven

Believing the Gospel means doing the Gospel - must have knowledge - WWJD is meaningless if you don’t know what Jesus would do.

Slide

2 Peter 1:5–9 (NASB95)

Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 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.

2. The Character traits God is building in you

Explanation:

Explain the attributes

Sanctification is the building of these qualities

Justification means that God has saved you. No one is justified, but not sanctified - if Jesus really touches your heart, and you turn to Him, you will be sanctified over time.

This is a conditional promise. These qualities will make you an effective Christian.

Calvin - Add to your faith virtue, or, Supply to your faith virtue. He shews for what purpose the faithful were to strive, that is, that they might have faith adorned with good morals, wisdom, patience, and love

Calvin: virtue means an honest and rightly formed life.

Calvin: For if these things be in you. Then, he says, you will at length prove that Christ is really known by you, if ye be endued with virtue, temperance, and the other endowments. For the knowledge of Christ is an efficacious thing and a living root, which brings forth fruit.

It then follows, that those who do not strive for a pure and holy life, do not understand even the first rudiments of faith.

If we lack these qualities, we are unqualified for service. To be fit for service, we must remember and practice these qualities.

we ought to differ from the unbelieving, as God has separated us for himself. Though, then, we daily sin, and God daily forgives us, and the blood of Christ cleanses us from our sins, yet sin ought not to rule in us, but the sanctification of the Spirit ought to prevail in us;

Illustration: Enlisting in military service

Preparing to soldier

What if no preparation?

Argumentation:

The heresy of easy believism

Justification: Redeem you from sin

Sanctification: Makes you fit for fellowship with God

Application/Exhortation: Peter gives us the application in the next text

2 Peter 1:10–11 NASB95

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; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

3. Perseverance - Finishing the race

Explanation:

God expects us to do our part to work to develop godliness.

A conditional promise that if we are sanctified, we will be glorified.

Romans 8:28–30 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”

God gives us the ability to fulfill our end of His promises - but He expects us to obey.

Calvin: “God, by ever supplying you abundantly with new graces, will lead you to his own kingdom.”

Illustration: The parable of the drowning man, also known as Two Boats and a Helicopter, is a short story, often told as a joke, most often about a devoutly Christian man, frequently a minister, who refuses several rescue attempts in the face of approaching floodwaters, each time telling the would-be rescuers that God will save him. After turning down the last, he drowns in the flood. After his death, the man meets God and asks why he did not intervene. God responds that he sent all the would-be rescuers to the man's aid on the expectation he would accept the help, highlighting the axiom that God acts through humans and other earthly entities.

Argumentation:

God helps those who help themselves

That’s not biblical, as in the story above, we see that God will provide for us, but we must be obedient. God helps those who can’t help themselves.

Hyper Calvinism

Application/Exhortation:

James 1:21–22 “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

Don’t just believe God’s word - do God’s word. It’s why He gave it to us.

Conclusion

In this letter, Peter is preparing Christ’s followers to carry on to the next generation and beyond

We have everything to do His will, and we have His promises.

We need to grow in grace and sanctification: faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, brotherly love and Christian love

Even though He has blessed us mightily, we must be obedient to His will.

As we practice these things, we become assured of our salvation

Gospel Appeal

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 10:9–13 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.””