What Has Been Done for Us? (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Who does Peter mean by the pronoun ‘his’ at the start of verse 3? It could be the Father, or it could be Jesus, because both are mentioned in the previous verse. The answer is probably Jesus because the ‘his’ is likely connected to what is said about him at the end of verse 1 – ‘our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.’ Another reason for concluding that ‘his’ refers to Jesus is the other references to him in this paragraph, in verses 9 and 11.

Peter says in verse 3 that his people know who Jesus is. No doubt, there are many details that could be said about him, and indeed it is difficult to mention him and not say something about him. Even his names say a great deal about him. But what does Peter say about him here? Two details seem to sand out.

The first detail that Peter mentions is that Jesus is sovereign. That word is not in the verses, but the idea is there. When we speak of earthly rulers, we know that their power may not amount to very much. But when we speak of divine power, we mean total power. Along with such power, there is the reality of total authority. People today talk about a crisis of authority, but that never happen with Jesus and his kingdom. He always does what he wishes, and no-one can stop him, which is good for us to know.

The second detail that Peter mentions is that Jesus is gracious. We see that feature of him in the word ‘granted’, which occurs twice in these verses. Only a person with authority can make a grant, although sometimes the grant falls short of their resources. But Jesus’ grants are in line with his resources, and Peter goes on to explain what they are in two ways.

All things

The first way in which we can see that is in the words ‘has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness’. Peter does not say that such are only given to exceptional Christians. In fact, what makes anyone truly exceptional as a Christian is that they have used for Jesus what they were given by Jesus. The all things are found in the word grace, and here Peter has in mind all things that are necessary for living as believers in the world. They are being sanctified, and they should be progressively sanctified since they have been given all that they need for the process.

This is what Peter means by life and godliness. He means something like a godly life or living godly. Everything about our life is to be stamped with godliness. Sometimes we imagine that we need something new, maybe a powerful spiritual experience, so that we ascend the spiritual mountain like a rocket rather than as a competent mountain climber using the suitable equipment. But such an imagination is only a distraction from using the means that Jesus has already provided for his people.

Those resources come to us through our knowledge of Jesus. Peter does not mean an intellectual ability to describe Jesus in a theological way. The apostle would not have imagined a range of books that could provide believers with options about defining Jesus. Such books are helpful, but they cannot be a substitute for what Peter has in mind by knowledge. He means the experiential knowledge of Christ that begins at conversion and continues throughout life. Jesus defined eternal as knowing the Father and himself (John 17). True knowledge of Jesus comes about through contact with him. Paul writes in Philippians 3 that his focus as a believer is on knowing Jesus.

How were we given those resources? There is a disagreement as to how the clause involving glory and excellence should be translated. Our version says that Jesus has called his people ‘to his own glory and excellence’ whereas others say it should mean called ‘by his own glory and excellence’. If it is the second option (by), it means we were given them because Jesus called us by his competence, a competence that only he possesses. In his calling of sinners Jesus reveals his greatness and his grace. What is revealed about Jesus in a conversion? Love, sovereignty, power, wisdom, patience, illumination, forgiveness, are only some. If it means ‘to’, it refers to what will be revealed about Jesus in the future? His glory and excellence as displayed in his exaltation and glorification. Whichever translation is correct may be discussed, but each of the options highlights how incredible Jesus is. Maybe Peter was thinking about his own experience of Christ’s call, how it happened, and where it would take him.

Promises

What else is granted by Jesus the King? This takes us to verse 4 where the second use of the word ‘granted’ occurs. We have been given ‘his precious and very great promises’. The promises are precious because they are personal, given to each one of his people. They are very great in what they contain and attain for his people. It could be that Peter has every promise in mind, but perhaps it is more likely that he has the greater ones in mind, such as the promises that he refers to later in this letter about the second coming.

False teachers in Peter’s time denied the reality of such great promises (‘They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming?”’ [3:4]), but Peter stresses the truthfulness of the promises in 3:9 (‘The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance’) and 3:13: (‘But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells’).

Why have we been given such great promises? The reason is that we ‘may become partakers of the divine nature’. There is an example here of how later theological terms can cause problems when reading a Bible verse. In theology, God’s nature refers to his essence, but Peter does not mean God’s essence here because it is impossible for us to have God’s nature in that sense. Christians will never become divine, even if they are the sons of God. Rather, what Peter means is that God’s people will become like God through the work of the Holy Spirit. He is referring to sanctification. The Puritan, Thomas Adams, summarised what is meant when he wrote, ‘This communication of the divine nature to us, is by reparation of the Divine Image in us.’

The necessity of holiness is stressed in the next statement which says that true Christians have ‘escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire’. Conversion is the experience of getting out of the prison of sin, which describes the world. Unconverted people are enslaved to sinful desires. Peter will refer later in his letter to those who go back to such ungodliness, and that will indicate they were never liberated in the first place.

Lesson 1

There were several popular ideas in the society in which Peter lived and those ideas would influence the church to some extent and perhaps to a great extent. For example, there was an interest in what can be called special knowledge and there was an assumption that physical actions did not matter because the body was seen as unimportant. The former notion encouraged pursuit of dubious religious practices and the latter allowed immoral behaviour. There were false teachers in the church advocating such ideas, as we can see from Chapter 2.

Today, those ideas are still around, even if they are described with other words. Ecumenism, not only with errant Christianity but also involving other religions, is a way of participating in other forms of knowledge that are not biblical. Antinomianism, which says that we are not under the law, advocates that we can behave as we like because God will tolerate it.

Peter’s answer to those possibilities is to remind his readers that Jesus, when he saved his people, called them out of sinful behaviour, equipped them for a life of holiness, and promised them that they would yet be in a new universe where righteousness dwells. And those are the themes that he will focus on in this letter. In his first letter, we can say that he explains how to live in a world where suffering is constant; in his second letter, he explains how to live in a world where sin is rampant.

Lesson 2

Peter says that Jesus has given us all things that are needed for life and godliness. Since he does not list what they are, we must find out what they are. Where will we get that information? By searching the scriptures. There are many reasons for searching the scriptures and this is one of the most important. It is our responsibility to find them because, if we don’t search for them, we will not be able to benefit from them. Something similar is said about the promises. Peter does not list them, nor does he say which of them helped him most. He merely says that the promises are there, and we need to search for them.

Lesson 3

Regarding the promises, one Puritan writer says that they are signed, sealed and sent. He says that are signed by Christ as his will for his people (his will is recorded in the Bible), they are sealed as ours through the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (they are visible confirmations to us of the promises), and they are sent to us by the Holy Spirit (who brings them into our hearts).