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2 Peter 1:1-11
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:: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 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. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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How good is your memory? Do you, like me; need to write notes to yourself to remind you of appointments, or groceries that need buying? Or are you one of those people who never forget anything?
Whatever category you fit into, the message of the verses we read is for you and me. Peters main purpose in writing this letter was as a reminder and to refresh the memories of those to whom the letter was written.
He tells us this in vv 12-13
So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body
It doesnt matter how far along the Christian road we are, whether a babe in Christ or a mature believer who is firmly established in the truth. We all need reminding and our memories refreshed and stimulated to growth!!
So what is it that Peter is reminding us of? Two things:
1. Gods provision:
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises
2. Our responsibility:
So that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason make every effort to add to your faith
Every resource of heaven is available to the Christian for growth and maturity. That is evident from verse 3 His divine power has given us EVERYTHING we need. God hasnt short changed us in his provision for our growth. There is no excuse for lack of growth. We cannot complain to God that we are not growing because he is not providing us with the means. He has already made available all the resources we could ever need!
If we are not growing as Christians it is because we lack the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness
We cannot grow unless we know the one who has called us!
That statement isnt a call to salvation; remember the letter is written to believers so Im not making that statement with the intended purpose of calling unbelievers to faith. Im making it to highlight that if we are not growing then we have shirked our responsibility to participate in the divine nature!
There is no such thing as a passive Christian! God wont cause our growth irrespective or in spite of us. We have to work with Him in our growth process! This is clearly evident from v5: Make every effort to add to your faith ..
The oxford English dictionary defines the word EFFORT as: Vigorous or determined attempt and, Strenuous physical or mental exertion.
It is clear then from our reading of our text that faith on its own is inadequate for the Christian. That is not to say that we need faith plus something else for salvation!!! We are not talking here of salvation by works. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone.
Paul tells us in :
Ephesians 2:8. It is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God
We can add nothing to our salvation. In fact the only contribution we make to our salvation is our sin!!
But Peter is writing to Christians here who have already received salvation. His intention is to remind them that they need to be building upon their faith. Our faith in Christ is the foundation on which we need to build our Christian character!
