March 2025: A Study of 2 Peter

2 Peter

1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Confirming One’s Calling and Election

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.

God’s divine power has given us everything we need for a Godly life, what does that mean to us? When you were born again you were born with everything that can help you lead a Godly life. This divine power is the same power that created the universe. That power gives us the ability to overcome, and the spiritual gifts to help further His kingdom. God has given us all we need for the internal and all we need for the external because He has called us to internal glory and external virtue. All of God is in Christ and all of Christ is in you. Sometimes we are tied up by our own doubts and fears. If those insecurities are holding you back then you are missing out on participating in the divine nature. Don’t forget that you have escaped corruption and evil desires. This divine nature has given us rich resources.  Don’t ever forget that because it’s the fact that you know that, you see, is what releases you to function.  You have nothing to fear. Believing God and trusting God is the basic ingredient for the Christian life. You were saved by faith, but it isn’t just a “saving” faith, it is a living faith.  The bottom line is that you live by faith.  That’s the only way to live. Some people have all the Biblical knowledge but do not live out what they know. We are told to have both knowledge of God and to live it out. Peter tells us to persevere against all the world throws at us and to do it in a Godly manner. How are you showing selfless love to others? Selfless love is what the Christian life is all about.

 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1: 8-11.

In verse 8, Peter refers back to the qualities named in verse 6. He tells us that these qualities will keep us from being ineffective and unproductive. Peter asks us to examine what we are doing and where we are going. We are to make sure that the weeds of this world are not growing in our garden of knowledge so that it then takes over. Peter reminds us not to be lost and wandering around in the Christian faith. We should know what our purpose is in the Christian life. When we are knee-deep in weeds and feel like they have overtaken our garden, we can easily forget that we have been cleansed of our past sins. We would rather keep beating ourselves up for how we have lived in the past. This behavior however is unproductive in your Christian walk. How many times do we sit and think about the eternal kingdom that awaits us, the promise of salvation? If we keep this in front of our brains, we can’t help but boast about all that God has done for us. Faith is like a muscle, if you keep using it, it grows and gets stronger but if you don’t that muscle will shrink up and become useless. So if we don’t want to stumble, we should exercise our muscles of faith.

12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. 2 Peter 1: 12-15

Have you ever wondered “Why am I here, what is the purpose of my life?” That is a normal thought for anyone who thinks. But to answer this question we must first figure out who God is and who we are in Him. You see we start with God first, knowing Him, so that we can see why He created us. As we start to near the end of our day, we start to ponder why we exist, since the things we once found joyful are no longer satisfying. Our looks are fading, our minds aren’t as sharp, and our bodies are failing us. So what is it all for? It’s all for the glory of God as if we are glorifying God the way that we should when our looks, minds, and bodies start to fail, we will still have the hope and joy of Christ in our hearts. God made you for enjoyment and fellowship with Himself. God wants to have a close and intimate relationship with you. If you don’t have this relationship, you will have a hard time finding satisfaction in your accomplishments in your life. And God has you where He wants you. Sometimes we think that if we were only living somewhere else, working somewhere else, then we could really live for God. But God did not forget about you, He didn’t forget to move you. He has you where you are for a very specific reason. There is no ideal place to serve God, so serve Him where you are, even if you are in the desert. So wherever God has placed you, use that opportunity to serve and glorify Him. After all, we belong to God, we are His.

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1: 16-21

Peter reminds us that they did not come up with these stories or the resurrection, they were actually eyewitnesses to all these events that have been written down in the Bible. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain to pray with Jesus where the transfiguration appeared. It was not speculation or some sort of psychedelic experience. Peter, James, and John saw Moses and Elijah with Jesus up on the mountain and heard the voice of God. Peter also tells us that Christ is confirming all the words of the Old Testament writers. The apostles heard the word of God and wrote them down with the help of the Holy Spirit. So we don’t have to look for a voice from Heaven. Heaven has already spoken to us from the certainty of the Bible. God has no new messages for us or no new revelations. Our focus and attention should always be maintained on the scriptures rather than outside sources. The world we live in constantly has new-age thinking, new-age living, etc. Following these new-age fads can easily lead us astray. We should always be testing the words we hear, with the words we read in the Bible.