As Peter began his second letter, he wrote of the promises through Jesus. We often consider what God wants from us when we think of religion. In this letter, Peter tells us about what God wants for us. False teachers claimed that Jesus wasn’t enough; people must get special knowledge from them. To counter this, Peter wrote how faith in Jesus alone was sufficient to receive eternal life.
God Gives Us Everything We Need
God had designed us in His image. He designed us not to be divine but to share in His nature. Genesis 1: 27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.[1] Unfortunately, the fall into sin corrupted this image. Yet, God planned to send Jesus to pay the price for our sin so we could be reconciled to Him. Peter explained what God desires for us and how He has provided.
2 Peter 1:3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. [2]
In God’s glory and excellence, He sent Jesus with great and precious promises. These promises are great because they are powerful. This is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. The promises are precious because they are valuable. We have the potential to live through the power of God by the Holy Spirit. This enables us to walk in the way of Jesus and escape the world’s corruption.
God Enables Our Godliness
The first step in the Christian life is to trust Jesus as our Savior; this is when the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us. We cannot live a Godly life on our own. Only through the power of the Holy Spirit can we live a moral life that honors God. Salvation is through Christ alone; we can’t earn it ourselves. Thus, God supplies what we need so that we can fulfill His plan for us. Living a Godly life results from what God has given us, not from earning blessings from God.
Peter wanted his readers to be assured of this so that false teachers could not lead them astray. It is the same for us today. We don’t need to add anything to Jesus, such as certain religious rituals or good works. We receive eternal life by knowing the glory and excellence of Jesus, not any extra special knowledge. To learn more about the promises through Jesus, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/jesus-promises
[1-2] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation . Tyndale House Publishers.