The Qualities of a Christian--2nd Peter 1:1-15

2 Peter 1 English Standard Version (ESV)

1 Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

Simon Peter, the apostle, nearing the end of his life found it necessary to remind the Church of what real Christians were and what they looked like and acted like (similar to The Sermon on the Mount that seemed to be the first full sermon recorded by Jesus).  Jesus came back to these teachings over and over again throughout His three years of ministry and their importance was so impressed on His disciples that the last thing that Simon Peter wanted to do was to maker sure that these values had been passed on and would continue to be passed on after his impending death.

There are a couple words here that probably need explained though.  First the idea of "election"--this is a hard doctrine for many people, but it is clear throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament that God's people are chosen by God, not the other way around.  For example, God chose Noah and his family to survive the flood--while Noah was righteous and obeyed God, nothing Noah did made God reveal that the flood was coming, give him instructions on how to build the ark to survive the flood or shut them up inside the ark and protect them the entire journey.  Similarly, God chose people who were weak and seemed unfit for the duty they were called to...Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, David, and even people like Mary and Joseph and the apostles.  We don't choose Him, but He chooses us.  That's not because we are special and He has need of us, but rather that it brings Him pleasure and glory to do this work in and through us and His word is obvious to everyone when He uses imperfect vessels like us to accomplish His perfect plan as only He can.

The confirmation spoken of in verse 10 is simply that our "fruit" matches what we say is our "root" (see the recent blog from Matthew 7 about the False Prophets and False Disciples).  In this way we can be sure that our faith is genuine and that we will enter the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  It is not the works that save us, but simply that our actions bear witness to the transformation that has occurred within us.  We are a different type of tree that produces a different type of fruit now.  The fact that we now produce "good fruit" (see Matthew 7) is confirmation to us and all around us that the new life we claim we have in Christ is real because only God could find a way to accomplish such a metamorphosis.

This passage seems to summarize much of the Sermon on the Mount with a few verses.  Believe in and worship the right God, have the virtues given in the Beatitudes, learn God's Word and love it so that you can apply it and obey it, be self-controlled (controlled by the Holy Spirit) and not given over to your lusts, be faithful to the end, and live a life godliness that comes from having the right "root" which produces the right "fruit," and love your brother with the kind of love that God has shown you.  If we are identified by these traits, then we will confirm to ourselves and others that we have been chosen by God and are part of His family.

Peter was concerned that Christianity not die with those who had first-hand knowledge--that the truths taught by him and the other apostles and Jesus Himself would be passed on from generation to generation.  While I don't feel in quite the same position as Simon Peter (I'm not on death row awaiting execution by the government for my faith), I do feel this same urgency, especially as I see that we are in the last days, something that Peter will talk about at the end of this letter.  Join me in studying these few short chapters where we see Peter's final words to the Church and what was most important for him to pass on to future generations like ours.