INSPIRATION TO CHRISTIAN GROWTH
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
2 Peter 1:1. Simon.—The Greek MSS. give Symeon; see Acts 15:14. A servant and an apostle—Compare 1 Peter 1:1, “an apostle,” and Jude 2 Peter 1:1, “a servant.” Like precious faith.—See 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 1:19. This appears to be addressed to Gentile Christians, as called to share in Christian privilege with the Jews. Through.—ἐν; inclusive; that by which they were surrounded, the element of their spiritual existence. “In the justifying grace,” the righteousness which God has provided for us in Christ. God and our Saviour.—Not as two persons. τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος. The single article τοῦ applies to both θεοῦ and σωτῆρος: “Our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 1:2. Knowledge.—ἐπιγνώσει. Increasing—ever-increasing—knowledge; see 2 Peter 3:18. Our Lord.—That is, of Jesus as our Lord.
2 Peter 1:3. Divine power.—τῆς θείας δυνάμεως. The personification of this means the power of the Holy Spirit, who is personally the author of the new creation. Life and godliness.—The new soul-life, and its fitting expression in earthly life and relations. Godliness is a tone and character on conduct. To glory and virtue.—Margin R.V. “by His own glory and virtue.” By the exercise of the same attributes to which we are to refer our call.
2 Peter 1:4. Exceeding great.—τὰ μέγιστα: the greatest, as concerning the greatest things. Partakers of the Divine nature.—Compare 1 Peter 1:23. “A participation in the moral perfections and communicable attributes of the Godhead.” The Christian is thought of as receiving, upon faith, a new, Divine life, which makes him kin with God.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 2 Peter 1:1-4
Christian Provisions, Privileges, and Promises.—The first epistle of Peter was directly addressed to the “elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion,” in the provinces of Asia Minor, but there is no such limitation in the second epistle, which has a general character, and a wider application to all who share in the “common faith.”
I. The person who writes.—The authorship of St. Peter has been disputed, but the difficulties of the denial of his authorship are greater than those which connect with its acceptance. The Petrine character of both the thoughts and the language is evident to every unprejudiced reader, and the differences may find a simple and natural explanation in the supposition of a different amanuensis. The Greek form of the name Symeon is to be preferred here. In the opening words of the first epistle, St. Peter does but call himself “an apostle of Jesus Christ”; but in this epistle he imitates St. Paul, and unites the terms—“servant and apostle” (Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Titus 1:1). The word “servant” carries the more precise meaning of “bond-servant,” or “slave.” The union of the two terms suggests the union of service with authority, which was the characteristic of the apostleship. The service of the Lord Jesus, to which St. Peter was bound, was the service to the people which the Lord Jesus wanted to have rendered. And the authority was not a merely official right, but that kind of authority which is always given by first, precise, and complete personal knowledge. Apostolic authority is indicated in 1 John 1:1. These are the permanent features of all healthy Christian ministry. It is the service of men, because the heart is loyal and devoted to the service of Christ. It is service with the authority that comes with first hand, full, and precise knowledge, more especially when it is the knowledge of personal experience.
II. The persons addressed.—“Them that have obtained a like precious faith with us.” Sharers in a faith which is not said to be always the same in character, but which always had the same quality and the same object. “All believed the same precious mysteries.” We need not think that St. Peter refers exclusively to the apostles. It would be quite in harmony with his manner to refer to the association of the Gentiles with the Jews in the Christian faith. He himself had opened the door to the Gentiles, and they had become fellow-heirs with the Jews in Christian privilege. The object of faith is not here said to be the person of Christ. It is a characteristic of St. Peter that he traced salvation back to God, as its first cause, and regarded Christ as the Mediator, or agent, by whom the Divine purpose was outwrought (see 1 Peter 1:21). The expression, “the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ,” sets before us God’s righteousness in saving men from their sins by Jesus Christ, which is the final object of faith, and which the apostle Paul so fully dwells upon. (Some writers suggest that the righteousness here referred to is only “fairness” in giving gospel privilege to Jew and Gentile alike.)
III. The blessing invoked.—“Peace be unto you!” is the familiar Jewish blessing. “Grace and peace” is the characteristic Christian blessing. The addition of the word “grace” brings in the gospel peculiarity. To all men God gives “peace”; on sinful men He bestows His grace. “By grace are ye saved.” This is familiar; but the peculiarity of St. Peter’s blessing lies in his idea of the way in which the “grace and peace” will come to us. It is through knowledge. Not, of course, mere head-knowledge. Experimental knowledge. The Petrine setting reminds us of the remarkable words of our Lord’s intercessory prayer: “And this is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.”
IV. The provisions made.—“All things that pertain unto life and godliness.” It is important to see that the religious life is never given to any one in a matured condition. Sometimes truth is so imperfectly stated that we get the impression that the new man is created in us fully grown, as Adam was made a full-grown man. Conversion is supposed to be enough, and the converted man is fully saved. Nothing could be more unscriptural. The new man is born in us a babe; all we need assure ourselves of is independent breath and a cry. Abundant provisions are made for its nourishment and growth; and they all range round Jesus Christ, and the spiritual and experimental knowledge of Him. The terms “life” and “godliness,” if they were not intended to mean, may at least suggest to us, the two spheres, the inner life of feeling, and the outer life of conduct and relations. The “glory and virtue” is misconceived as something to which we are called. The idea of the verse is, that our Lord’s own glory and virtue, the inspiring example of His own beautiful and gracious life, are a perpetual call to us to culture soul-piety and practical goodness.
V. The promises given.—This must be restricted to such promises as bear upon our effort to live the godly life. Not the general promises scattered through the sacred Word, but the specific promises which are associated with calls to Christian duty and culture. Such as were spoken by Christ; such as are found in the epistles. It may be shown that they are
(1) abundant;
(2) sufficient;
(3) adapted; and
(4) assured.
VI. The life shared.—“Through these ye may become partakers of the Divine nature.” The idea seems to be this: the culture of the soul is a culture into ever fuller communion with Christ, involving ever fuller communications of Christ’s life and grace. And as the life flows more freely, there is more complete deliverance from the fleshly life, and consequently more and more freedom from the temptations and corruptions of the world. Or, to express it in another way, the full life of love to God in Christ insures full mastery over the life of lust.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
2 Peter 1:1. Message to Gentile Christians.—“Like precious faith with us.” Not that all had an equal amount of faith, which would scarcely be possible; nor that their faith gave all an equal right to salvation, which the Greek could scarcely mean; but that all believed the same precious mysteries (compare 1 Peter 1:7). It is delicately implied that “we as well as you have had it allotted to us; it is no credit to us; we are not superior to you.” “Us” may mean either the apostles or (more probably) the first Christians, as distinct from those converted later, i.e. Jewish as distinct from Gentile Christians. This shows that Gentile converts are chiefly addressed in this epistle as Jewish were in the first epistle. Gentiles would be more likely to be doubters respecting Christ’s return to judgment than Jews, who were well acquainted with Hebrew prophecies on the subject. Gentiles also would be more likely than Jews to fall into the excesses denounced in the second chapter, which bear a strong resemblance to the catalogue of heathen vices given by St. Paul in Romans 1. The idea that Christians are the antitype of the chosen people is prominent in St. Peter’s writings (compare ch. 2 Peter 2:11; 1 Peter 1:10). Note that no particular Churches are mentioned. The second epistle is more “general” or “catholic” in its address than the first. Here again we have a mark of independence. A writer personating St. Peter, and referring to the former letter, would probably have taken care to make the address of the second letter tally exactly with that of the first.—A. Plummer, M.A.
Precious Faith.—God’s righteousness here is His fairness. He has no respect of persons, and hence has given to all Christians, early or late, Jew or Gentile, a “like precious faith.”
1. The nature and origin of precious faith.
(1) It originates with God.
(2) It comes through man’s ministration.
(3) It is the effect, act, and evidence, of a renewed state of mind.
2. A few of the properties of such a faith.
(1) It is essential to the existence of the Christian character.
(2) It is used to denote the whole household of God.
(3) It appears in Christian ordinances.
3. A caution as to its appropriation.
4. Its necessity and importance.—J. Stevens.
What is Faith?—Faith is a grace wrought in the soul of a sinner by the Holy Spirit, whereby, being emptied of all opinionative thoughts of his own righteousness, strength, and fulness, he is enabled to look to Christ, to betake Himself to Him as his only Saviour, to receive Him, to rest and rely upon Him for the remission of his sins, for a righteousness to justify him in the sight of God; for strength to enable him to perform duty, to follow after holiness, and to encounter spiritual enemies; and for eternal life when his work of faith and labour of love is ended, and when he comes to finish, with joy, his course. This is the Scripture notion of saving faith; and it has God for its fundamental and principal object, as He is a God of truth, reconciled to sinners; but it has Christ for its immediate object, for it is only by His mediation that a sinner can come to God.—A. Taylor.
2 Peter 1:4. Divine Assimilation.—“Partakers of the Divine nature.” The text suggests—
1. That the Divine nature is the source and standard of all perfection.
(1) God is an eternal, infinite, and self-existent Being.
(2) He is both remote from and independent of His works.
(3) He is absolutely perfect.
(4) He is an emotional and communicative Being.
2. That man can partake of that nature. We become partakers of it when we
(1) receive Divine ideas;
(2) are made holy;
(3) have eternal life;
(4) are made happy in God.
3. That the process of becoming a partaker of the Divine is most Divine.
(1) The substratum—the mental and moral natures of man.
(2) The Divine medium—the Atonement.
(3) The causation—the Spirit.
(4) The Divine instrumentality—the promises.
4. That such a participation sublimates man. It augments
(1) The Divinity;
(2) the sublimity;
(3) the spiritual development of life.—C. Briggs.
Promises.—Here, not the promises of the Old Testament, that Christ should come, or even promises in general, but precisely the promises of the New Testament, that Christ should come again. “The certainty of Christ’s return to reward the righteous and punish the wicked is one of the main subjects of the epistle.” Promises are distinct from prophecies. These only declare what shall be, but promises declare that what shall be, shall be in special adaptation to us, and shall be provision for the supply of our highest and best needs. However promises in relation to the one special matter of Christ’s coming again may have been in St. Peter’s mind, we may be permitted to see the general truth, that God has always dealt with His people by drawing them on to the future, and giving them present assurances on which they may rest their faith, and feel inspired for present activity. It may even be said of all Christians, as it can be said of Abraham: they have nothing but promises; they live upon promises. Nothing is ever realised here that can in any sense be said to exhaust the promises. Indeed, their partial fulfilments never satisfy; they do but reveal to us the inexhaustible fulness of the promises.
I. Then what do these promises rest upon?—How is it that we can be so confident about them, and can willingly keep them for our cheering, though they are unfulfilled? The answer is not merely this: We have them in the Word. It is this: They reveal to us Him in whom we trust. They reveal Him in His relations, Him in His thoughts and purposes. And in our best moods we rise superior to the shapings of the promise, and rest ourselves in the Faithful Promiser. To have God who promises is far better than to have God’s promises.
II. What of the present do the promises cover?—The most remarkable direct personal revelation that ever comes to a Christian is perhaps the discovery that no need ever arises in his life that has not been thought of by God, and met with a promise in precise adaptation. Let but a Christian get into any night of affliction, and at once the whole heaven seems alive with stars of promise, concerning his things.
III. What of the future do the promises assure?—We easily forget things pledged for our future when it is borne in upon our hearts that God pledges Himself by the promises to be our God for ever and ever. Here or yonder the soul’s only rest is in God Himself, the Faithful Promiser.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
2 Peter 1:3. Our Life-Picture.—“At an artist’s reception one day,” says H. W. Beecher, “I saw a picture of a mountain sunrise, and I wondered at its marvellous depths, richness, and splendour of shade and colour, till the artist told me how he had toned down the picture and softened its colouring in its subdued harmony of tint; and I thought how often our life was growing to be like that picture of a mountain sunrise. God’s unseen band is before the easel, sketching here and shading there. The life-picture looks to us unfinished, fragmentary and imperfect now, but each new joy-light, each sorrow-shade is toning it down with all its gloom and glory into harmony with God’s great ideal. He will frame it at last in such a setting of events as he chooses, and we shall find in the great gallery above that the light has been in the right place, and the shadows too.”