Study of “Faith” — 2 Peter 1
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Peters two canonical letters were written perhaps only a small handful of years apart on the back end of Peter’s life. I tried to put myself in the shoes of his readers and imagined they might be asking the following questions at the end of his first letter:
“But how? How do we be holy and act in these ways? Sure, Jesus can do it because He’s God, but what about us?”
Whether or not this was actually a question the readers had, Peter seems to give them the answer with his next and final dying letter:
God, by His power, has given us ALL things pertaining to life and godliness (v3)
“Everything we need? How? Where is it?”
Through the knowledge of Jesus (v3)
“What does the mere knowledge of Jesus give us?”
Through Jesus, He has given us His precious and very great promises (v4)
“Why? What do the promises do?”
Through these promises, we may become partakers in God’s very nature because we can escape the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire (v4)
“So He does it for me? I don’t have to do anything?”
Actually, it’s because He gives us these promises that we can grow in godliness and escape the corruption. So it’s for this very reason that we take action in constant growth (v5–7)
“What if I don’t?”
It’s not logical. The growth in these things is the natural fruit that comes from the knowledge of Jesus. If you’re growing in these they will keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful. If you don’t have these, you’re totally blind to the big picture, like you forgot that you were cleansed from your sins (v8–9)
“So they’re really that big of a deal?”
If you practice them you will never fall; I am using my last words on this earth to keep reminding you of them (v10–15)
Thus, it would seem that we ought to grow in two overarching things, which overlap with one another, as the first feeds the second:
- Knowledge of Jesus & His promises
- Peter’s list of qualities
“to know the love of Jesus that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” Eph 3:19
So, I studied Mark.
But why Mark?
It is believed that Mark’s gospel comes from his time spent with Peter later in Peter’s life, and is based on Peter’s remembrances of his time with Jesus. Thus, as I studied Peter’s dying words (2 Peter) I thought it fitting to focus my attention on the highlights of his time with Jesus, captured by Mark, whom Peter saw as a spiritual ‘son’ (1 Peter 5:13).
As I finished my study through Mark, I ended up making a list of the ~63+ promises I found, some implicit, some explicit. I filled in the blank with all of these following scriptures:
THIS PROMISE MAKES ME MORE LIKE JESUS BY MAKING ME __________.
- 1:15 urgent
- 1:17 dependent
- 2:5 confident in my salvation
- 3:28–29 reverently fear God
- 3:35, 4:11 know that I am chosen, special, and a beloved family member
- 4:24–25 faithful with what I’ve been given
- 4:30–32 ponderous of, and eager for, eternity
- 5:34 trust God’s abilities
- 5:39 happy for those who’ve died in Jesus
- 8:12 truly devoted on a heart level
- 8:31, 8:35, 8:38, 9:1, 9:35, 9:37, 9:41, 9:42, 9:43, 9:45, 9:49 sure of a life of suffering and self-denial leading to true life (as well as being sure of the alternative), humble, flee from sin at all costs and strive for holiness
- 10:15, 10:23–24 dependent on God
- 10:27, 10:29–31 encouraged and confident in my good pursuits
- 10:33–34 march toward suffering
- 10:39–40 humbly operate out of grace (rather than for it)
- 11:2 trust Him
- 11:29 honest with where I’m at and what I need
- 12:25 see true reality and forsake the world
- 12:34 seek Him (simply)
- 12:40 reverent and fearful towards God and His standard as a leader
- 13:2, 13:6, 13:7, 13:8, 13:9, 13:10, 13:11, 13:12, 13:13, 13:14, 13:19, 13:20, 13:22, 13:24–27, 13:30–31 assured of suffering, assured of the true end and the true winner, desirous of endurance
- 14:7 see with spiritual eyes
- 14:9 desirous of God’s honor (not man’s)
- 14:13, 14:15, 14:18, 14:25, 14:27–30 confident in God’s faithfulness, hope in the specific promises of God
- 14:62 assured of the end, of Messiah’s return
- 16:16–18 assured of eternity, watchful towards what He’s doing and how He might use me
I then took these things and categorized them all into slightly broader categories:
REST
- God’s great love for me
- Simply walk with God
- Humility and transparency
- Dependence on God; confident in my own inability
- Total assurance of heaven
WORK
- Love God and love others
- Fear, reverence, urgency
- Holiness
- Forsake the world
- Available for hard work and watching what He’s doing
- Total assurance of hell
ETERNITY
- God’s great love for me
- God’s great desire for others
And with this, I completed the sentence:
THESE PROMISES MAKES ME MORE LIKE JESUS BY MAKING ME REST AND WORK IN LIGHT OF ETERNITY.
I considered that the foundation of all of this is Faith. Strong conviction regarding the reality of eternity and its two outcomes. Thus, Peter’s second letter begins with this foundation: Faith.
