II Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
Peter was a very outspoken disciple in his earlier life. He was one who would speak before he had considered what it was that he was saying. Jesus was very patient with him and rebuked him where needed and continued to teach him.
In Acts 2 Peter became a different man. He was still a saved man. A true child of God cannot separate himself from the love of God. In Acts 2 God fulfilled a promise that Jesus made in New Testament passages like John 16. Jesus promised to send “another Comforter” and that Comforter was the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2 He came and dwelt in the apostles. There were many Jews present at that time. They were lacking in faith and God proved that the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit by giving them the gift of tongues. Those tongues were languages known to the Jews that were present there. The people were amazed at what was taking place. Some of them assumed the apostles were drunk.
In Acts 2:14, Peter stood up with the eleven and began to preach a true Gospel message. He proved that this was not some out of control event. This was a new work that God was beginning. From that time on, all those who are truly born again receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. They do not pray for Him to come. God sends Him to indwell all true believers. The gift of tongues was a unique gift that we read of a few times in the book of Acts. Every time tongues was used, there were Jews who needed to be convinced that God’s salvation was for all people. The Bible declares that tongues was a sign to unbelieving Jews. It was never what the Charismatics claim it is.
The Charismatics have taken the few instances of tongues speaking in the New Testament and made a false doctrine out of it.
There is a danger of abusing the Word of God for selfish means. Peter began II Peter by stating his credentials. He was not a false teacher. He was a genuine child of God who was chosen and called to be an apostle by Jesus Christ.
In verse 1 he reminds the reader that he was a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. God would use him as one of the holy men that would write down God’s Word for further generations to read and study.
It is important to note that even though he was an apostle, he was also a servant. The apostles all understood that they were not men who could twist and corrupt the Word of God to their own liking. They walked in the fear of God and humbly submitted to His authority.
There are no apostles today, and there are few true servants of Jesus Christ today. Most professing Christians want to take liberties with God’s Word and make it say what they want it to say, rather than submit to His Word and know His peace and blessing. Being called a Christian is still quite acceptable in certain regions. As the Muslims take over, that word becomes less popular and when the antichrist comes along, it will disappear.
We need to understand that the word “Christian” was first given to true followers of Jesus Christ in Acts 11:26. It was a term given to those who were true believers in Jesus Christ, by the enemies of God. Those who were true Christians were despised by the false religionists and they were persecuted. Over time that term was secularized and the Catholics and others used that term as well. We do not need a new term today; we need to remind people of what a true Christian is. That is what Peter was led to do in this epistle.
Peter was chosen by God to write to those who have obtained “like precious faith with us”. We have talked about the Catholics in the past. This epistle exposes the ecumenical/New Evangelical movement.
Keep in mind a servant is one who submits to the authority of his master. True Christians submit to the will of God. They do not make up their own doctrines.
This precious faith is “through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”. When we look at modern day Christianity, it is obvious that most of the people who profess to be Christians have never bothered to read God’s Word. If we have like precious faith, it will agree with what God says in context. It will not be pulling verses out of context and making them say whatever we please.
Those who are truly born again are offered God’s grace and peace. This grace and peace is not in short supply. Peter was directed by God to state that his desire was for true saints to have God’s grace and peace multiplied in their lives. How does this happen. We read in verse 2 that it happens “through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.” The Bible teaches that people need to be taught the importance of true Biblical salvation first of all, and then after they are saved they need to be taught to “observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:20).
True Christians understand the importance of submitting to God’s Word. They want to be taught the truth. It is sad that so many people are willing to subject themselves to lies of smooth talkers rather than submitting to the Truth. As we already mentioned, those who are truly saved, have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. He does not speak of Himself. He works to make the truth, which is God’s Word, become clearer to the true child of God. He does that as the true child of God reads His Word and submits to the teaching of a true local church. Personal Bible reading is important. However, it is possible to convince yourself of a false doctrine. That is proven by the many false teachers in our world.
We have noted in the past that God has ordained certain men to be evangelists, pastors and teachers. The duty of these men is to help the saints to grow in the Lord. We need to submit to God’s man if we are going to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not submit blindly to any man. We examine what a man says by the Word of God. The man of God must handle the Word of God carefully and truthfully. He must not try to push some personal opinion or agenda. He will be corrected as well as he studies God’s Word.
Peter had submitted to the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had learned many things from the Lord Jesus Christ. He also needed to submit to the correction of the apostle Paul. Peter had walked with Jesus earlier than Paul did, but Peter was slow to submit to the authority of the Holy Spirit in his life. He was causing division among the Jewish saints and the Gentile saints. He was slipping into the lies of the Judaizers and that could not continue for a true apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul was directed by God to publicly rebuke Peter and stop the division he was causing among true saints. The good news is that Peter was a true apostle of Jesus Christ and thus he received the rebuke and stopped causing the division.
God wants His children to see the importance of growing in Him. As we study this epistle, we will see more of the truths that will help the true child of God to grow properly. We need to take God’s Word as our authority and not allow false teachers to interfere with the Truth.
Pastor Bartel