Category Archives: 2 Peter

Because those who know need reminding
Reading:

2 Peter 1:12-15

  1. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
  2. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
  3. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.
  4. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

Peter’s readers knew these things. And they were solidly grounded in that truth. I gather these folks faithfully lived out the truth they knew.

Nevertheless, Peter knew they needed reminding. So he committed himself to being faithful in reminding them. “Always.”

I know a lot about the Bible and about living the Christ life. I am well-established in what I know. But I still need reminding. “Affirming,” they buzz nowadays. Continue reading →

The "secret" of vigorous stability and victorious strength
Reading:

2 Peter 1:8-11

I made some observations about verses 8 and 9 yesterday, but I wanted some of verse 10’s wherefore context here.

  1. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  2. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
  3. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
  4. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Peter repeats several already-familiar themes in verses 10 and 11: diligence, these things, furnishing, and abundance. (If you haven’t read my previous three entries, you might want to start with the first one: Effects of Knowing Jesus.)

To avoid the idle worthlessness and blind forgetfulness that come from not abounding in “these things” (2 Peter 1:8,9), I must prioritize securing my vocation and election. I must also remember, though, that both of them are the work and gift of Jesus, who dwells in me.

These Things
2 Peter 1:5-7

virtue
knowledge
self dominion
endurance
piety
brotherly affection
charity

If I do “these things,” I will never fall! Vigorous stability and victorious strength come from faithfulness in “these things.” So let me treasure them, pursue them, and nurture them. Thus would Christ Continue reading →