By what logic do any of us think we deserve or can expect God’s blessings? Because sin has wrecked every part of being, we have no right to anticipate anything but trouble in our lives. Eliphas was often off track but he was accurate when he said to Job, “Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. We shouldn’t be surprised when cancer strikes us; disease is a part of the curse Adam brought upon us. We shouldn’t be stunned we can’t sleep, worrying about the state of the world or of our bank accounts. When our grandchildren run toward Sodom instead of Bethel, it should make us sad, but not shocked. Remember we were moving in that same direction years ago. Even something as simple as a peaceful night’s sleep is a gift of God, because, as we are told, “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights…” – James 1:17. I know this sounds melancholy and morbid, but despite being true, it doesn’t have to end there.
In his introduction to this second epistle, Peter indirectly reminds us of some blessed possibilities. He prays that God would multiply His grace and peace toward us, because genuine peace is a gift. We will not enjoy real peace in this troublesome world until we have received peace from the God of peace. And Peter says that those things which pertain to life and godliness come from God’s hand and divine power. He says, the only way we can escape the corruption that is in the world is through the maintenance of the Lord’s promises to us. And these things are in part, the purpose for his writing this book.
Last week, we looked at the first two parts of Peter’s preface to his letter. We considered the SERVANT who penned these words – God’s amanuensis – “Simon Peter a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ.” And then we were introduced to the SAINTS who were the recipients of the letter. They were ordinary people who had been given faith to believe on the Saviour – the Lord Jesus Christ. They were so ordinary that we shouldn’t confine our thoughts to those people two thousand years ago. Believers today are no different from those people who first received this epistle. So there is no reason to read this letter surreptitiously as though it was found in our sister’s diary. This is a letter from the Holy Spirit to you and me through the pen of Peter.
Moving from Peter and his readers – we come to the third part of Peter’s preface – his SALUTATION.
“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of the Jesus our Lord.”
Speaking from experience, I know that it is hard to mortify our native PRIDE. Nine times out of ten, if not ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the thing that keeps the sinner from properly coming to the Saviour is his pride. I say, “PROPERLY coming to the Saviour.” Multitudes wouldn’t mind Christ’s salvation if they were permitted to contribute something. We all naturally want some part to play in our deliverance from sin. We think we should be able to contribute a few cheesy corn chips to God’s feast of salvation. And even after He brings us to the point of absolute and humble surrender, we still want to add some little dessert to His banquet of roasted sacrificial lamb. Even after our salvation has begun, we, in our pride, think we can feast and thrive on our own junk food.
What I’m trying to say is that the need of grace doesn’t end at the moment of our salvation. The unmerited favor of God is a daily necessity, just as was Israel’s manna in the foodless desert. For example, it is by the grace of God that you arrived at this church building safely this evening. And it is evidence of God’s grace that you even had a desire to be here. The Christians who first received Peter’s letter were facing extinction through persecution. And it is by the grace of God that Christians in this country are not being persecuted like the Christians in some African and Asian countries today. If we could see, understand and measure God’s daily grace toward us, we’d have to use descriptive words like “rivers” and even “tsunamis.” We are not recipients of showers of blessings, but downpours and deluges. And to whatever grace we have received, we don’t need a bit more ADDED now and then. We need it MULTIPLIED day after day, day after day. And that means we should make that grace a matter of prayer, as Peter does – for ourselves and others.
Now think about all the ways those early Christians could have used God’s superlative grace? Had any of them lost their jobs and businesses, because they cast aside society’s idols? Were any of their children hungry, and were any of them starving? Supposing they were, we see that Peter didn’t pray for God’s gracious manna. Were any of them suffering from broken bones, concussions and internal injuries from their beatings? Peter didn’t pray for their health or protection. He didn’t pray about changes in government, or shifts in societal policies. He prayed that the Lord would cause His peace to bound within them.
Isn’t multiplied peace a far more powerful a testimony than multiplied health or wealth? If someone doesn’t get COVID, while everyone else around him does, observers might say that he has a strong immune system, when in fact it was the unrecognized grace and power of God. And if another person is as wealthy as Abraham or Barnabas, some will think it has nothing to do with the blessing of the Lord. If a Christian inherits a piece of property, it is not considered a miracle; it is a matter of connections. But when God’s people endure hardships with joy and peace, like Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail, others will be more apt to credit their God than their personal optimism. When a Christian can praise the Lord in the midst of his cancer, or share his testimony with his last gasp of air – that is more powerful than great wealth.
In last week’s church bulletin, I put a quote from J. H. Jowett. “Is there not something captivating in the sight of a man or a woman burdened with many tribulations and yet carrying a heart as sound as a bell? Is there not something contagiously valorous in the vision of one who is greatly tempted, but is more than a conqueror? Is it not heartening to see some pilgrim who is broken in body, but who retains the splendor of unbroken patience? What a witness all this offers to the enduement of His grace.” Peace in the midst of pain, or want, or death is very often a gift of grace. “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of the Jesus our Lord.”
But it needs to be remembered that despite the giftiness of grace and peace, our enjoyment of these gifts is still related to our reaching out to grasp those gifts. Often, they are just like promises. Until we accept the promise, we don’t have the promise. How and why we can have peace in this world is something we learn through the study of God’s Word. Here in these pages, we read of God’s power and His willingness to bless others; so why not us as well? Through our knowledge of God, gleaned from His Word, we come to understand God’s omnipotence and all His other peace-giving attributes. The more we know of the Lord, the more blessed we know ourselves to be. And to have that knowledge is a part of the blessing itself.
But obviously, it must to correct knowledge; it must be the truth. Paul saw and expressed this need to the Colossians. “We… do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness…” He prayed for the Laodiceans, “That their hearts might be comforted… unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God…” Where were these folk going to find comfort? In the full assurance of understanding. We need a full knowledge and assurance of the Lord and His Word, if we want to enjoy the peace which passeth all understanding. And there is a need to have it more fully, and more fully. I know that is oxymoronic – but we grasp ungraspable understanding by growing in our knowledge of the unknowable God.
But again, the blessings of the Lord, despite what is required of us, are still dependent on grace.
And they come to us by way of our SAVIOUR – the fourth point in Peter’s preface.
“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of the Jesus our Lord.” Notice the punctuation our translators have given to us in verse 2. Grace and peace, both gifts of God, come through our knowledge of both God the Father and God the Son. It might be asked why the Holy Spirit isn’t included here? The answer is that despite being part of the Trinity, the Spirit doesn’t attempt to promote Himself. It is a wonderful and useful endeavor to study the Holy Spirit. But it is a somewhat difficult study, because the Spirit has revealed more to us about Christ and Father than He has of Himself. Like what we find in God’s Word, I have dozens of books on Christology, but only a couple on the Spirit. “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of GOD, and of the JESUS our Lord.”
Now please return to verse 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.” Why doesn’t the Bible ever use the words “an apostle of GOD,” even though it might be appropriate? II Corinthians begins with the words, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.” Ephesians repeats this almost word for word, as does Colossians and I Timothy. It was the Father’s will that Paul be an apostle over Matthias. But he was an apostle of Jesus Christ. Titus 1:1 says, “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ…” Galatians begins with “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead…)” Here we come a little closer, but this still doesn’t say he was an apostle of the Father.
The office of the apostle originated during the ministry of Christ which He had while He was here upon the earth. Even Paul’s special participation in that office was by the direct call of the Saviour. And beyond that, it is safe to say that all the blessings we have are through the merits of our Saviour. We are saved because of Christ, and if we are apostles, it is because of Him. If we are “successful” or victorious, it is by the grace and blessing of Christ. Everything we are and have comes to us from the Father, but though the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now notice verse 3 – “According as his divine power hath given unto all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” If the pronoun “his” connects this thought to the person just mentioned, then it is through Christ’s divine power that we have these blessings. And even if we insist on including “God and Jesus Christ our Lord,” we are forced to see that “his” is a singular pronoun. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all act in unison in the bestowal of the divine blessings.
And with that we return to verse 1 and its punctuation. Verse 2 ends with “the knowledge of God (comma) and of Jesus Christ our Lord.” Verse 1 ends with “the righteousness of god and our Saviour Jesus Christ” but without a comma. Our translators are telling us that our Saviour, Jesus Christ is God. (And by the way the translators of the other most common versions agree.) John Gill in explaining this verse says that “Jesus Christ is our God and Saviour.” A. T. Robertson, the Baptist Greek expert, points to this verse and says that “God and Saviour refer to one person not two.” Matthew Poole redundantly and emphatically puts it this way: “We have these blessings through the righteousness of our God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ, who is God.” And just for emphasis, I’ll throw in the last words of verse 2 once again: “Jesus our Lord.” Christ Jesus was not just Peter’s mentor, pastor, or master; He was that apostle’s God and king.
And remember that Peter spent three and a half years following the Lord Jesus, eating with him, sleeping near Him, crossing Galilee in storms with Him, seeing Him miraculously feeding thousands of people and watching water blush into wine at His command. Peter’s life had been radically changed, taking him from cleaning fish to preaching the good news of God. Not only did he change directions, but Christ had changed the nature of Peter’s life – his very character. Peter wasn’t trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes, in suggesting Jesus’ deity. He wasn’t trying to start a new religion with himself as the Supreme Pontiff, but as the vicar of Christ. Peter knew, “according as God’s divine power had given unto him all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him that had called him to glory and virtue,” that Jesus Christ was Jehovah God.
But at the same time notice that he didn’t beat us over the head with this information. It was so much a part of who Peter had become that these thoughts of Christ were as natural to him as breathing. This just came flowing out of him in his discussion of other things – even simple things like his salutation in the preface to this letter. The deity of Christ should be such a common idea that it doesn’t need to be expounded or promulgated. It just is.
What this salutation is all about is this: Jesus Christ is God. And it was because of Him that Peter was writing to his friends.