2 Peter 1

2 Peter 1:1-4

The Initial Theme of 2 Peter. The initial theme of 2 Peter is found in 2 Peter 1:1-4. It is that our God and Saviour Jesus Christ has come into the world, and that thereby:· He has called usby His own gloryand virtue (2 Peter 1:3)· So that we may enjoylife and godliness(2 Peter 1:3).· And thus escapethe corruption of the worldbrought about by lust (2 Peter 1:4).· As a result of becomingpartakers of the divine nature, that is, by becoming a new creation (2 Peter 1:4; compare 2 Corinthians 5:17).These themes are then expanded on as follows;· ForHis glorymanifested - see 2 Peter 1:16-18; 2 Peter 3:18.· Forlife and godliness- see 2 Peter 1:5-9; 2 Peter 3:11.· Forthe corruption that is in the world through lustthat has to be escaped from - see 2 Peter 2:2-22.· For final delivery through the destruction of the world and its lusts by fire, and the entry intothe new creation, the new Heaven and the new earth of the godly as we become more and more partakers of the divine - see 2 Peter 3:7-13.Introduction. As was usual in those times the letter begins with and introduction of himself by the author.

2 Peter 1:2

‘Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,’The combined greetings of ‘grace’ (a Greek greeting) and ‘peace’ (a Jewish greeting) again reflect the unity of God’s people. But to the Christian ‘grace’ reflects more than just ‘well-being’, it reflects the unmerited, active love and compassion of God at work on his behalf. Peace also reflects their wellbeing in Him, and also has in mind the peace and contentment of a settled heart, the ‘peace which passes all understanding’ (Philippians 4:7). So to some extent they are interchangeable. The main idea in Peter’s mind is their spiritual wellbeing brought about through the activity of a gracious and compassionate God.‘Be multiplied.’ Compare 1 Peter 1:2; Jude 1:2. Wellbeing is to be multiplied towards them within the sphere of the spiritual knowledge (epignosis) of ‘God’ and of ‘Jesus our Lord’.

Or ‘of our God, even Jesus our Lord’. In Jesus’ own words, ‘no one knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son pleases to reveal Him’ (Matthew 11:27).

2 Peter 1:3-4

God Has Made Full Provision For Us To Life A Godly Life (2 Peter 1:3-4). Having greeted the recipients, and having reminded them that they had a like precious faith with all God’s people, Peter now reminds them of the huge benefits that that faith has brought them. They should recognise that the divine power of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has granted to them all that is necessary for life and godliness through their knowledge of Him, as the One Who has called them by His own glory and excellence.In other words, says Peter, the spiritual knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ, provided to us by His divine power, is our all sufficiency in all things. In knowing Him we have all that we can possibly need in order to live out our lives in accordance with His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). For through Him God has ‘shined in our hearts giving us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2 Corinthians 4:6; compare 1 Peter 2:9).Thus in Paul’s words our desire must be, that more and more ‘we might know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death, if by any means we might attain to the resurrection from among the dead’ (Philippians 3:10-11). And the result will be that we will be ‘strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man’, with Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith (Ephesians 3:16-17), so that being rooted and grounded in His love which passes all knowledge, we will be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:17-19).The comprehension of these glorious truths is important for what follows. For it is this very knowledge that they have of their Lord, Jesus Christ, in all His glory, that will reveal the folly of the experiences being offered by the false prophets in chapter 2. Indeed it is that knowledge from which they have turned away (2 Peter 2:20-22).

2 Peter 1:4

‘By which he has granted to us his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.’Because we have been called in His glory and in virtue of His powerful excellence, and because we have come to know Him in that glory and excellence, (compare 1 Peter 2:9), He has granted us certain hugely effective and precious promises, as a result of which we have become partakers of the divine nature. These great and precious promises were outlined in his first letter. It is through His resurrection that we have been begotten again of incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:23) to a living hope (1 Peter 1:4). It is through His cross and subsequent victory that we have certainty for the future and can live unto righteousness (1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18-22; 1 Peter 4:1-2). We do not have to distinguish here whether the ‘He’ is God or Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ has already been revealed as ‘our God and Saviour’.

The ‘He’ has in mind the whole of the Godhead inclusive of our Lord, Jesus Christ.There may be in mind in the ‘divine begetting’ mentioned here the claims of some Hellenistic religions which promised some kind of ‘divine begetting’, but if so it has been taken over and given new content and a new perspective. The point is not that we become divine, but that the seed of the divine word has been implanted within us, so that we have been made one with the divine Christ (compare John 15:1-6).

The result will be that as a result of the work of the Spirit within we will grow up to become trees of righteousness and the planting of the Lord (1 Peter 1:2). It is a totally Biblical idea. See for example Isaiah 61:13; and compare Isaiah 55:10-13; Isaiah 44:1-5; Ezekiel 36:26-27.It should be noted that the Christian’s partaking of the divine nature is not seen as resulting from emotional ritual acts (that was a later perversion), it is seen as being through ‘knowing Christ’ and as a result of the activity of God through His word. It results from God reaching down to man in Christ, not man reaching up to God.The ‘exceeding great and precious promises’ relate to all the precious promises which link us with the precious ‘living foundation stone’ (1 Peter 2:4). It is through His dying for us, and His power released through His resurrection, that we can be delivered from the corruption of the world (1 Peter 2:24-25; 1 Peter 3:18-22). It is through ‘knowing Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable to His death, if by any means we might attain to the resurrection from the dead’ (Philippians 3:10-11).

In other words it is when we can each say, ‘I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, and yet it is not I who live, but Christ Who lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me’ (Galatians 2:20).And the result of participating in His divine nature through dying with Him and rising with Him in newness of life, is that we are delivered from the corruption that is in the world as a result of men’s evil desires. We are lifted out of the filth and the morass of evil and worldly living (1 John 2:15-17), and made into citizens of Heaven (Philippians 3:20).

This in stark contrast to the false teachers in chapter 2.

2 Peter 1:5-8

We Are Thus To Cultivate All That Is Good and Pure In Life (2 Peter 1:5-8). Because of our participation in His divine nature, we are therefore to become an example of all that is good and pure.

2 Peter 1:8

‘For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.’The importance of these ‘virtues’ is now brought out. Those who abound in them will neither be idle nor unfruitful with regard to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will be stirred to activity in testifying to Christ (1 Peter 3:15) and in good works which reveal Christ (1 Peter 2:9; Matthew 5:16), and they will study to show themselves approved to God (1 Peter 2:2; 2 Timothy 2:15). Thus will they grow daily in their knowledge of Him.

2 Peter 1:9-11

A Plea That They Make Their Calling And Election Sure (2 Peter 1:9-11). Peter now points out that those whose lives fail to be continually fruitbearing in the way that he has described reveal that they are blind to Christian truth. Thus he calls on his readers in contrast to make their calling and election sure by following out his words.

2 Peter 1:10-11

‘For which reason, brothers and sisters, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things, you will never stumble, for thus will be richly supplied to you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’Rather, therefore, than blinking because their sight is dimmed, they are to have their eyes open to eternal realities and are to put their utmost effort into doing what he has described, for as a result they will never stumble, and they will make their calling and election sure. And the further result will be that their entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be ‘richly supplied’ to them.‘Brothers and sisters (adelphoi).’ Only here as a greeting in 1 & 2 Peter, but a regular Christian greeting found in Paul’s letters, Hebrews, James and 1 John, often also found as ‘my brothers and sisters’. Peter tends to prefer ‘beloved’ in both letters. Both indicate a warmth of feeling for God’s people.‘Make your calling and election sure.’ As with Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:27 he is not in doubt about the certainty of their calling and election. He is just pointing out that those who are called and elected will do all that they can to make sure that it is genuine. His point is that to be called and elected is incompatible with blinking and short-sightedness and half-heartedness.

Those who are so called and elected should be marching on in confidence with Jesus Himself. And if they are not it should call into question whether they have been called or elected at all.‘Calling’ and ‘election’ are two of the great words of Scripture.

It is as the result of the effectual ‘call’ of God that we first came to Him (2 Peter 1:3; 1 Peter 1:15; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 2:21; 1 Peter 3:9; 1 Peter 5:10; Romans 8:29; Acts 2:39; Romans 1:6; Romans 9:24; Romans 11:29; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 1:24; 1 Corinthians 1:26; Galatians 1:15; Ephesians 1:18; Ephesians 4:1; Ephesians 4:4; Colossians 3:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 1:9; Hebrews 3:1).Such a ‘call’ is within the eternal purposes of God (Romans 8:29). It is ‘according to His own purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began’ (2 Timothy 1:9). It is thus as sure as anything can be, and even surer than that. If it is a genuine call it is as sure as the eternal purposes of God. All Peter is therefore saying, is that although God has made it sure, we must make it doubly sure.It is also as a result of His ‘call’ that we go on in service (Matthew 10:1; Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 7:17). Sometimes this latter call to service results from inner conviction, but almost always as combined with outward circumstances.

More harm is done by those who overestimate their calling than can be imagined. However, it is not inevitably so.

Everyone said that Gladys Aylward was unsuitable. Yet what glorious unsuitability! But always, without exception, it must be in humility. The one who thinks that he is ideal for the task is assuredly not God’s ideal. However, this is not the call that is in mind here.There is, of course, also a calling which is not effectual (Matthew 20:16; Matthew 22:3; Matthew 22:14). But that also is not in mind here.The doctrine of ‘election’ is one that many fear, partly because some then go on to theorise too far. Election does not exclude men’s freedom to choose. Rather it overrides it.

None will be lost who did not choose to be so. But all who are saved are so because God has chosen them. Salvation is His free gift, and not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). For we are ‘Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world that we might be holy and without blame before Him in love’ (Ephesians 1:4). Note as with Peter that the choosing results in purity of life. None who are truly chosen will remain what they have been.This question of ‘election’ is made clear in Romans 9:11; Romans 9:15; Romans 9:19-21; Romans 11:4-7. In the end all God’s true ‘Israel’ will be saved (Romans 11:26). Their number is fixed (Revelation 7:1-8) and they are sealed unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).

That is why, even though it may be a near thing (Matthew 24:24), they will not finally be deceived. And they will be gathered in at the last day (Matthew 24:31). This is because God has ‘from the beginning’ chosen them for salvation through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and belief of the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13). That is why their names were written from the foundation of the world in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 13:8). Some may argue their way out of it by mental gymnastics, but there can really be no question about its being Scriptural.And it is by being eager to make their calling and election sure, in Paul’s words by their eagerness to gain the prize of the high calling of God (Philippians 3:14), that they will ensure that they NEVER stumble. And ‘thus will be richly supplied to you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’ This picture of entering the eternal kingdom of God was one that he had often heard on the lips of Jesus (Matthew 7:21; Matthew 8:10-11; Mark 9:47; compare Acts 14:22; 1 Corinthians 15:50).

Note the emphasis on God’s rich supply. God’s giving is never niggardly.

For those who are truly His, in the day that they enter Heaven the trumpets will blare, and they will enter Heaven in triumph, with crowns of righteousness and of glory on their heads, loaded with the riches of His grace.As with eternal life this idea of entering under the Kingly Rule of God has two aspects. We enter under God’s Kingly Rule when we become Christians (Matthew 18:3; Matthew 19:23-24; Matthew 21:31; Matthew 23:13; Mark 10:15; John 3:5; Acts 20:25; Acts 28:31; Colossians 1:13), a first experience which prepares us for our later entry into the eternal kingdom as above. In the same way we enjoy eternal life now (John 3:15-16; John 5:24; John 10:28; 1 John 5:13), with the guarantee of enjoying it in all its fullness in the future (Matthew 25:48; Mark 10:30; Romans 2:7; 1 Timothy 6:12; 1 Timothy 6:19; Titus 1:2; Titus 3:7).‘Eternal kingdom’ is found only here. It is Peter’s only mention of the kingdom as such (but see 1 Peter 3:22; 1 Peter 4:11; 1 Peter 5:11). It stresses that he was referring to the future aspect of the Kingly Rule of God in the new Heaven and the new earth (2 Peter 3:13). We can compare ‘heavenly kingdom’ in 2 Timothy 4:18.

2 Peter 1:12-15

Peter Emphasises His Willingness To Continue Exhorting Them, and The Rightness Of Doing So, And He Promises That He Will Pursue It With True Diligence (2 Peter 1:12-15) Peter now stresses his readiness and eagerness to fulfil Jesus command to him to ‘Feed My sheep’ (John 21:15-17). Compare 1 Peter 5:1. He is always ready (2 Peter 1:12), for he thinks it is right for him while he is in his body continually to stir them up (2 Peter 1:13), because he wants to be sure that they will remember these things once he has gone (2 Peter 1:15).We should note here Peter’s emphasis on the fact that they might have these things that he has been pointing to (2 Peter 1:3-7) in remembrance. He mentions remembrance three times. He is ready always to put them in remembrance (2 Peter 1:12), he desires to continually stir them up by putting them in remembrance (2 Peter 1:13), and he wants to ensure that they will be able to call these things to remembrance after he has gone (2 Peter 1:15). Remembrance is very important.

That was why Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, ‘do this in remembrance of Me’ (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:25). For no remembrance is more important than to remember Him Who has called them in His own glory and excellence (2 Peter 1:3).

2 Peter 1:13-14

‘And I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified to me.’Indeed as long as he is in his earthly tent he considers it right to continually stir them up, by reminding them of these things, and especially so because he is aware that he must shortly put off this tent, as the Lord Jesus Christ had told him.The reference to his living in a tent is a reminder of his emphasis in 1 Peter that we are but sojourners here (1 Peter 1:1) and are strangers and pilgrims in the world (1 Peter 2:11), journeying on to our living hope (1 Peter 1:3) and inheritance (1 Peter 1:4). It is a reminder of the brevity of life.How the Lord had indicated to him that he would shortly die he does not say. He would undoubtedly remember how the Lord had told him that one day others would take him and stretch forth his hands and carry him to where he would prefer not to go (John 21:18), but that was something that he had known ever since the resurrection of Christ. It hardly explains this sense of urgency. This would seem to indicate a clearer and more urgent warning recently received.Perhaps he had received news of the arrest party coming to take him. Or perhaps it had come in a dream or vision.

Or perhaps it was simply the result of an impression made on his heart as he prayed. But whichever way it was he knew that his time was short. He had run his race and the time was drawing near (see 2 Timothy 4:7-8). And the very thought of it takes his mind back to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ that he, with James and John, had seen when he was on the mount (2 Peter 1:16-18), a mount which he could only call ‘that holy mount’ (2 Peter 1:18) because of the awesomeness of their experience. Soon he would see that glory again and be a partaker of that glory to its fullest extent (1 Peter 5:1). That this is his train of thought comes out in his reference to his ‘exodus’ in the following verse which had been used of Jesus’ death at the Transfiguration.

2 Peter 1:15

‘Yes, I will give diligence that at every time you may be able after my exodus to call these things to remembrance.’He is concerned that after his death they would still continue to have in remembrance:1)The divine power received through the knowledge of the One Who had called them by His glory and excellence (2 Peter 1:3).2)That He has granted to them those great and precious promises which have resulted in their partaking of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).3)The reality of their calling and election.These three certainties, along with the resulting life that they are to lead as described in 2 Peter 1:5-8, will be the foundation of their future lives.Some see here the promise of further written information from which they will be able to learn, and refer it to the writing of the Gospel of Mark. The idea is that the writing of it is already in progress, and he will speed it up so as to ensure that it is soon available for them. The fact of Peter’s input into the Gospel of Mark is accepted by many scholars, and was testified to early on in the writings of Papias (mid-second century).Note the use of the term ‘exodus’ for death. Moses and Elijah had discussed Jesus’ coming ‘exodus’ on the Mount of Transfiguration (Luke 9:31). So as his mind turns towards the experience that he, James and John had had there he begins to align himself with his Master Whose glory had been revealed there. This sure touch reveals that this is Peter himself writing, especially in view of the fact that the description of the Transfiguration that follows is clearly independent of the Gospels.

2 Peter 1:16-18

Peter Confirms That What He Has Said About The Glory of Jesus Our Lord Is Based On His Own Factual Experience (2 Peter 1:16-18). They have been called by His own glory and excellence (2 Peter 1:3), and have been promised abundant entry into His eternal kingdom (2 Peter 1:11). Here is the essence of their faith in Christ. In their being called they have come to know Christ as He is and to rely on His promise for the future. But the question may well be asked how can they be sure that His glory and presence (Parousia) are genuine? How can they know that this is any different than the gnosis (knowledge) received by Hellenistic religionists. Why should they listen to Peter rather than to the false teachers? Well, says Peter, there are two reasons:· Firstly because he and his fellow-disciples HAVE ALREADY AND HIS POWER AND GLORY AND COMING (Parousia) on the holy mount. There can therefore be no doubt about it.

They know that He has come in His glory as the Saviour. As a result they know that His power and glory and Parousia are not just some unverified spiritual experience, but are something which is historical and real. They have actually experienced His power. They have actually seen His glory. They have actually been made aware of His Parousia.We should notice that to Peter His Parousia is not just His second coming. It is His total coming combined. He has come and was here and will one day be even more glorously revealed.· And secondly because the prophets of old have borne witness to it (2 Peter 1:19-21).An important point should be noticed here about His Parousia (presence, coming). This has already been experienced on the holy mount.

Thus we must see that in Peter the word parousia refers to the coming and presence of Jesus as a whole, and not just to His second coming, although it does, of course, very much include that. Like the writer to the Hebrews in Hebrews 9:26-28 he sees Christ’s Parousia as happening in two stages, firstly in His revealed presence on earth, which continues on in His presence within His people (John 14:23; John 17:22-23; Ephesians 3:17; Colossians 1:27; Acts 9:4), and secondly in His manifested return in glory, of which the Transfiguration was a foretaste. It is this combined event that has changed history for ever, and confounds the false teachers. And His people can know that the whole is real and historical because Christ’s appointed eyewitnesses saw the reality of it revealed in the Transfiguration.

2 Peter 1:17

‘For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there was borne such a voice to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” ’For he wants them to know that the disciples themselves had been witnesses and had seen Him receive honour and glory from God the Father. The ‘honour’ may well refer to the fact that Moses and Elijah had come to bear witness to Him. Or it may be because in their coming He had had the central place. Or it may simply be that Peter saw Him as having been honoured by the very fact of His full glory being revealed. The ‘glory’ refers to the fact that He had been transfigured before them in blinding light. An examination of the Transfiguration narratives brings out just how glorious it had been.‘And He was transfigured before them, and His face shone as the sun, and His clothing became white as light’ (Matthew 17:2). ‘And He was transfigured before them and His clothing became glistening, exceeding white as no launderer on earth could whiten them’ (Mark 9:3). ‘The fashion of His countenance was altered and His clothes became white and dazzling’ (Luke 9:29). ‘We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Son of the Father’ (John 1:14).Peter’s very reticence in providing the full detail here is a sign that we have here his own words.

He did not need to spell it out because the detail was burned into his heart. But we can sense beneath his words a memory of how glorious it had been.And together with ‘the honour and glory’, and adding to and enhancing both, had come the voice from Heaven, from the Majestic Glory Himself, when He had said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.’ Interestingly this confirms the longer version of Mat 17:5 (although significantly differing in minor ways).

But all three Gospels add ‘Hear Him’ which is omitted here. Peter omits this because his attention is focused on His honour and glory. It is a further sign of authenticity, a pseudepigraphist would almost certainly have included it.The point he wants his readers to recognise is that the revelation of Jesus in honour and glory had been accompanied by a confirming voice from God in His majestic glory. For the cloud which so often in the Old Testament demonstrated the presence of God had descended on the mount. This was no Hellenistic tale or myth. This had happened in front of them, and they themselves had heard a real voice ‘from Heaven’, that is, from God Himself.

And the voice had revealed that Jesus was God’s true and beloved Son, and was fully pleasing to Him. The King was here.It is difficult for us to know whether he was expecting his readers to pick up the further reference to the Davidic King (My Son - Psalms 2:7) and Servant (in Whom I am well pleased - Isaiah 42:1), as well as His unique Sonship.

The words about the prophecies that follow may suggest that he did.Thus what they had experienced had not been some Hellenistic vision, some vivid hallucination, but a genuine experience of something seen with their own eyes, which was now being, and would also be in the future, manifested on earth.

2 Peter 1:18

‘And this voice we ourselves heard borne out of heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount.’And what was more the voice had been heard by them all. They had heard it borne to them out of heaven, when they were with Him in the holy mount. And it had been a real voice heard and decipherable by each of them.The description of the mount as a ‘holy mount’ is also an evidence of genuineness. There is no hint anywhere that any mount was especially honoured by the early church. But to the three the mount could never again be thought of except with awe. It would have reminded them of the glory of God revealed on Mount Sinai.

In their minds this mountain had replaced the holy mountain of Jerusalem, for here the glory of the Lord had been revealed, the One Who was God’s new Temple (John 2:19; John 2:21). To them it was the holiest place on earth.

2 Peter 1:19-21

His Honour And Glory Is Also Witnessed To By The Prophets (2 Peter 1:19-21). And all this had been previously confirmed by the prophets which had prophesied of His coming and His glory. This was no Hellenistic myth.

2 Peter 1:20-21

‘Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of that person’s own explanation, for no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but men spoke from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.’For they must primarily recognise that no prophecy of Scripture was ever but the personal opinion of the prophet. For no such prophecy ever came as the result of the prophet’s decision, but rather men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.So the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ have been evidenced both by the voice of God’s majesty on the mount of Transfiguration, as connecting with His honour and glory which was revealed there, ‘we beheld His glory’ (John 1:14), and by the word of prophets themselves, moved by the Holy Spirit. ‘Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you’ (Isaiah 60:1). Two voices had spoken. What greater testimony could they have? And this was in total contrast to the false teachers of whom he will now speak.Others translate as ‘of private interpretation’ meaning interpretation by the reader, signifying for example that we must interpret with the help of the Holy Spirit, or that we must agree together concerning the meaning of Scripture, and abjure odd flights of fancy, or that the people must be subject to the Apostolic teaching. All are of course true. But these latter views, although true, do not really tie in with the context of the words.