2 Peter: Faith in a Sceptical World

30 Undated Bible Readings

David Burge

• Publisher: 10Publishing
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781910587515
• eBook ISBN: 9781910587515

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Your faith is precious! So often, though, we can feel weak, irrelevant and marginalised. Living in a sceptical world where truth is twisted and false teaching abounds isn't easy.

Peter knew about the challenges of living in such a world, but he also knew Jesus deeply, and he was utterly convinced of the importance of trusting Jesus and living for Him.

Bible teacher David Burge delves into this letter and highlights relevant applications for our lives today. Be reminded of the truth about Jesus, motivated to continue to trust him and equipped for living in a sceptical world with these thirty undated devotions.

 

DAY 1

A Powerful Little Letter: An Overview of 2 Peter

Before delving into the text of 2 Peter verse by verse, it will help if we first appreciate 2 Peter as a whole; we will look at the forest before examining the trees.

At the time of writing, false teachers are close by and have hurt churches in other places such as Corinth with their persuasive misuse of Scripture, their distortions of the gospel, as well as their promotion of false wisdom and loose morals. In 2 Peter, we see the pre-emptive strike of Peter the shepherd to defend the flock. Peter was specifically charged by Jesus with the duty of tending his sheep, a role that we know he took seriously (John 21; 1 Pet. 5).

How does 2 Peter defend and strengthen the Christians?

First, in chapter 1 Peter assures Christians that our faith in Christ is absolutely legitimate, built upon reliable knowledge of His power and coming (vv. 1–2, 16). He died for the forgiveness of our sins (v. 9) and will one day welcome His people into His eternal kingdom (v. 11). Peter reminds us of these core gospel truths (vv. 12–15), and urges us to become more established in them (v. 12), adding to our faith the traits that lead to growth: goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love (vv. 5–7). Such traits will not only render us well established for the rest of our lives, but will also mean we cannot help but live fruitful and effective lives in Christ’s service (vv. 10–11). In chapter 1 then, Peter offers Christians a vaccine against the allurements of the false teachers. The traits Peter endorses are antonyms of the lifestyle the false teachers will promote, meaning that those who heed Peter’s letter will find repulsive what might otherwise have entangled and overcome them.

Second, in chapter 2 Peter warns the sheep by describing what the wolves look like – clever in their deception (vv. 1–3), corrupt in their behaviour, ignorant of essential truths, and selfishly motivated (vv. 10–16). However, their demise is certain because Jesus will return to judge (vv. 4–9). On that day their so-called prosperity and freedom will be exposed as mere illusions (vv. 17–22).

Third, in chapter 3 – since it is Jesus’ powerful return that motivates godly living in chapter 1, and threatens those who oppose Christ’s ways in chapter 2 – Peter considers it important to assure his readers that Jesus will return despite what some say to the contrary (vv. 1–10). The false teachers deny that Christ will come in power to judge the world, but Peter, who has already witnessed the power and first coming of Jesus, knows that Jesus will complete His unfinished business according to His promise (v. 7). Those who oppose Him will suffer destruction; those who are waiting well for Him will be led to their eternal ‘home of righteousness’ in the new heavens and new earth (vv. 11–13).

REFLECTION

Have you given much thought to the importance of Peter in the Gospels, Acts and letters of the New Testament? Why was he given such a role, including his failures, successes and development?

 

DAY 2

READ 2 Peter 1:1–2

Some letters are considered valuable because of the identity of the author, whether it be a Prime Minister, President or celebrity.

The first line of 2 Peter assures us that we have before us something very special. Here is a message from Simon Peter, the close friend of Jesus who went from being a fisherman to the prominent Apostle and rock of God’s church (Matt. 16:18). This author had vivid memories of the living, crucified, and then resurrected God-man, Jesus Christ. He is writing to churches near the end of his life with a message he deemed critically important. Right up until the end of his life, around 64–65 AD, Peter saw himself as ‘a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ’ (v. 1).

In verses 1–2 Peter sweepingly endorses some of the great doctrines of the Christian faith. Without explanation, he refers to our ‘precious’ faith, to ‘grace and peace’ through our ‘knowledge of God and of Jesus’, and by referring to Jesus as our ‘Saviour’.

Significantly, verse 1 is one of the few verses in the New Testament that explicitly calls Jesus ‘God’ when Peter says, ‘our God and Saviour Jesus Christ’. When combined with verse 2, we are struck that while Jesus is called God in verse 1, He is in the same breath described as being distinct from God when Peter says, ‘through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord’. He describes one God (v. 1) in two persons (v. 2). Peter knew first-hand what it was like to live with One who was truly human, distinct from the Father, and yet truly God. He walked and talked with the man Jesus, but was also terrified by His divine power: ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’ (Luke 5:8).

And yet, Peter says that the believers’ faith is ‘as precious’ as his own in verse 1. He believed by sight, and we without sight. This faith of equal worth as Peter’s means we receive the very same ‘grace and peace’ as Peter through our knowledge of God the Father and Son.

Has it ever dawned on you that while you live in a place and time far removed from the first-century world of Peter, your faith in Him is equally precious to that of the Apostles? Jesus is no longer physically with us, but ‘we’re in’ with Jesus, as Peter was, through our common faith.

REFLECTION

What encouragement and boldness can you draw from belonging to Jesus’ ‘band of brothers and sisters’ in your time and place? In verse 1 Peter refers to our faith, and in verse 2 to our knowledge. How are faith in Christ and knowledge of Christ complementary?

 

DAY 3

READ 2 Peter 1:3–4

When will I ever cease being proud? Why do I continue to seek the approval of people more than the approval of God? Why do I find it so hard to forgive? When will I grow out of self-pity and discontentment?

Often many of us Christians feel defeated and discouraged by our seemingly overwhelming struggle to resist sin and to embrace Christ’s likeness. Others might seek to let themselves off the hook, as though sin were inevitable, and the fight against it a lost cause.

In verse 3, what Peter says helps us to avoid both of these responses of despair and apathy. God’s ‘divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness’! What a profound truth to get our heads around!

Notice again, Peter emphasises knowledge, saying that it is through our knowledge of Him that God’s power takes effect in us (v. 3). This is similar to the point made in Romans, that we are ‘transformed by the renewing of [our] mind’ (Rom. 12:2). God transforms us in large part by informing us, so that we ‘participate’ (v. 4) with Him in the process of our sanctification; we intentionally pursue holiness.

As we grasp the truth and ‘great and precious promises’ (v. 4) of God, the transformation begins and will continue. In Christ, we also ‘participate in the divine nature’ (v. 4) – a phrase describing our union with God by His Spirit so that we begin a moral transformation to be like Him. Sharers in the divine nature have thus found a new power to ‘escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires’ (v. 4).

In verses 1–4 we notice the many causes and forces that God has used to bring about change in our life: it was ‘through the righteousness of our God’ (v. 1), but also through His ‘grace and peace’ and ‘through the knowledge of God’ (v. 2). We credit too ‘His divine power’ (v. 3) and the changes brought by our ‘knowledge of him’ (v. 3). Yet it was also because of His call of us (v. 3) and ‘through these … great and precious promises’ (v. 4), as well as our partaking ‘in the divine nature’ (v. 4).

While such overlapping causal forces might make it difficult to generate a satisfactory explanatory flow-chart, the text instead intends that we sense that our transformation comes via a gracious flood of God’s power at work in us and for us.

Before Peter describes the efforts we are to make in our own transformation (in v. 5 onwards), it is important to see just how indebted we are to God’s grace (v. 2) and calling (v. 3). He, not us, is the Prime Mover in our salvation and sanctification. His divine power is responsible for our new beginning as well as our ongoing transformation and godliness. His divine power means we have no reason for despair or apathy, but in their place, grateful confidence.

REFLECTION

Which sins do you sometimes feel complacent about, or find hard to overcome? Why not ask right now for God’s help in battling against them?

DAY 4

READ 2 Peter 1:5–9 (especially vv. 5–6)

If we read verses 5–7 without first studying verses 1–4, we might make the mistake of thinking that our transformation will come through pure grit and willpower. God’s grace is ours through our faith and knowledge of Christ, and now God is powerfully working within our minds and w...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 5
• Day 6
• Day 7
• Day 8
• Day 9
• Day 10
• Day 11
• Day 12
• Day 13
• Day 14
• Day 15
• Day 16
• Day 17
• Day 18
• Day 19
• Day 20
• Day 21
• Day 22
• Day 23
• Day 24
• Day 25
• Day 26
• Day 27
• Day 28
• Day 29
• Day 30