2 Peter 1:1-21

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: 2 Peter

Rusty's Notes

67 AD

• Peter knows that his time on Earth is also ending.
• He is burdened to write one last letter to the churches in the Diaspora (the Jews who are dispersed into Gentile nations).
• He has it on his heart to remind them of the things of Christ that have been deposited in them, to encourage them to continue to walk steadfastly in the Lord and to warn them of coming false teachers.
• The differences between these two epistles are also significant.
• The first epistle ends, "Stand firm in it [grace]" (5:12).
• Its theme is the sufficiency of God's grace.
• We need to stand fast in grace as Christians.
• The second epistle ends, "grow in … grace" (3:18).
• Its theme is the responsibility of grace.
• We need to keep growing in God's grace.
• This second letter builds on the first: We do not only need to stand fast in grace, but we also need to keep growing in it.
• PETER WRITES 2 PETER
• Year: A.D. 67
• From: Rome
• To: The churches in northwest Asia: Pontus, North Galatia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia.
• Provocation: Peter reminds the churches of the true apostolic message, which is being threatened.
• He also encourages the believers to cultivate their spiritual lives.
• Peter warns the church about the coming of false teachers and their destructive heresies, exposing their motives and teachings in detail.
• He also informs the churches that his time on this earth is closing.
• Peter ends the letter by commending to them Paul’s letters, which he calls “Scripture.”

 
GREETING
2 PETER 1
1 Simeon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ:

• Simon was Peter's Hebrew name, and Peter is the Greek translation of the nickname Cephas (Rocky, cf. Matt. 16:18).
• There is only one Peter mentioned in the New Testament
• Peter establishes his identity as an apostle to establish his authority and encourage the church to guard against false doctrines that violate the true faith.
• Peter was not a newcomer onto the Christian scene.
• He had walked with Jesus, learned from Jesus, and knew the Gospel very well.
• Therefore, he was able to speak with such authority.

To those who have received a faith equal to ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

• Peter encourages the church not with a different message but with the same Gospel that he has always taught.
• This Gospel involves the righteousness of God given to all through faith in Jesus.

2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

• All believers understand the Gospel on some fundamental level.
• However, every Christian is also maturing in their knowledge, not of religious rules and customs, but of this grace of God.
• The more we understand the Gospel, the more grace and peace will multiply in our lives experientially.
• This will allow for general stability in Christ despite individual struggles we may encounter.

 
GROWTH IN THE FAITH
3 His divine power has given us everything required for life

• Through the true knowledge of God, the Gospel of grace, we have been equipped fully with everything we need for life and godliness.
• This is because Jesus Christ, the living Son of God, is alive within us.
• This startling reality means that we do not need rules and regulations for the Christian life.
• Furthermore, we do not need to perfect ourselves or equip ourselves somehow.
• What we need to do is learn all that we already have in Christ.
• We have total forgiveness for sins and an entirely new nature.
• When you proclaim the Gospel, don’t give me a website… give me the Scripture reference.

and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

• If the God we know is not excellent then we need to rethink the God in whom we believe.
• We don’t need to try to be thankful or try to celebrate God.
• We must recognize his awesomeness and allow natural thankfulness to arise.
• His excellence is manifested fully in the Gospel of Grace and the person of Jesus.
• As we focus on everything Jesus has done, we will truly understand God's nature.
• If the Gospel we believe is anything but magnificent, then we believe a false Gospel.
• "Each man must make a choice. Either he becomes freed from sin or further enslaved to sin."

4 By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.

• Believers have escaped their previous way of life in which they were enslaved to sin.
• We now have God’s very nature within us.
• God is so fused to us that we participate in His godly nature.
• This is the heart of the true Gospel.
• We are not only perfectly forgiven but righteous to the core of our beings.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, 7 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

• Because we are partakers of the divine nature, and because we have everything we need for life and godliness, we can mature into our salvation through new behavior and mindsets.
• Each of these characteristics listed come from the very nature of the Spirit.
• These traits are His traits produced within His children.
• So, we don’t need to work on conjuring attributes such as self-control.
• We simply let God produce self-control and all of His fruit within us.
• We receive it and transmit it to others.
• Power steering in the car has progressed over the years.
• Model T > Tesla

8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins.

• The one who lacks: Those believers who lack these characteristics or commit sins have forgotten their identity.
• As we think about Christ and our purification from sins, these qualities will increase in our behavior.
• As we understand grace better, we will see God’s amazing fruit coming through as we enjoy rest in Him.

10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble.

• This is not an encouragement for Christians to doubt whether or not they are true believers.
• This is a behavior verse.
• Peter wants Christians to embody their identity through behavior consistent with their righteousness in Christ.

11 For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

• Peter, while potentially referencing Heaven, is more likely speaking about the kingdom being actively supplied to us in the present.
• God’s kingdom has come in Christ, and we can participate in it through behavior fitting with our identity in Christ.

12 Therefore I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right, as long as I am in this bodily tent, to wake you up with a reminder, 14 since I know that I will soon lay aside my tent, as our Lord Jesus Christ has indeed made clear to me. 15 And I will also make every effort so that you are able to recall these things at any time after my departure.

• Believers know the truth of the Gospel, but we need to be continuously reminded of God's grace.
• We need to be reminded of our forgiveness, newness, and closeness to God.
• Peter made it his mission to remind the church of the Gospel so they could recall the truth whenever needed, even after his death.
• This is especially pertinent in the midst of the false teachings they were encountering.

 
THE TRUSTWORTHY PROPHETIC WORD
16 For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

• Peter is speaking of the first coming of Jesus Christ.
• Because he and the other apostles saw Jesus and learned from Him directly, they had an authoritative message from God.
• This message was the pure Gospel of grace, free from odd theology or cleverly devised tales.

17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased!”

• Jesus’ identity as God’s Son was validated visibly during His earthly ministry.
• Thus, we must believe in Jesus’ true identity to be saved.
• This is the message that the apostles brought to the world.
• The gate to God is narrow, not because being a true believer is so hard, but because of the exclusivity of Jesus.
• He is the one path to God, and this is a difficult message for the world to hear.

18 We ourselves heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 We also have the prophetic word strongly confirmed, and you will do well to pay attention to it,

• The prophetic word is the identity of Jesus as God’s one and only Son.
• This is the message spoken by the Holy Spirit.
• The Spirit is forever perpetually communicating to the world about Jesus.
• If we hear something that contradicts the Gospel, then it is not from the Spirit.

as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

• Jesus, the lamp shining in the dark, wants to save everyone.
• When we agree with the prophetic word about Jesus’ identity, we are given God’s light in a dark world.
• According to Peter, the key to Christianity is not moralism or ethics but knowing the person of Jesus, who is life itself.[1]

20 Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.[2]

[1] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. 2 Peter 1
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 2 Pe 1:1–21.