Peter’s Second Epistle, like the first, is not addressed to anyone in particular; but rather, to the Christian Church in general. It is written to all persons who have obtained the same precious faith as that which the writer possessed. This precious faith is obtained from God. It is the gift of the Father, and wrought by the Holy Spirit, Who raised up Jesus from the dead. It is the satisfactory meritorious righteousness and obedience of Christ that gives faith all its value and preciousness; indeed, the righteousness of such a holy Person cannot be anything other than infinitely valuable to those who receive it by faith.
In the fourth verse, Peter goes on to encourage believers’ faith and hope in looking for an increase of grace and peace. The good things which the promises of God make over to us are exceedingly great! Pardon of sin is one of these blessings, and it is a wonderful thing. The promised blessings of the Gospel are also very precious. Just as the great promise of the Old Testament foretold the coming of the Seed of the Woman, the Messiah (Heb. 11:39); so also, the great promise of the New Testament is the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49). And how precious must this enlivening, enlightening, and sanctifying Spirit be!
In verses 5-11, the Apostle comes to the chief thing that he intended to speak of in this Epistle. He endeavors to excite and engage his readers to advance in grace and holiness, since they have already obtained precious faith, and been made partakers of the Divine nature. Faith is a very good beginning; but it is not to be rested in, as if we were already perfect. The Apostle had prayed that grace and peace might be multiplied to the people of God, and now he exhorts them to press forward for the obtaining of more grace. Those who desire to make any progress in religion must be very diligent and industrious in their endeavors. Without “giving all diligence” (verse 5), there will never be any gaining of ground in the work of holiness. Those who are slothful in the business of religion will make nothing of it; we must strive hard if we desire to enter in at the Narrow Gate (Luke 13:24).
From the word add in these verses, a reader might be tempted to infer that all the graces thus clustered together are independent each of the other, and may be selected or omitted as each individual sees fit; and that a person might at least be safe in having only the first, even though his negligence causes him to lack all the rest. But such is not the Apostle’s meaning. The believer is not called upon to furnish a single and isolated grace. Rather, he is directed to “add” each one of them to the last, to make up the whole harmonious and interwoven train – the complete sisterly choir of Christian graces! Each item in this cluster of Christian excellences is incomplete and untuned without the rest. Each grace is the supplement and complement that is indispensable to the symmetry and melody of all its sister-graces. In this choir, Faith is the eldest sister; and upon her, all the others depend. Faith alone justifies; but as the theologians of olden times were fond of saying, it does not stay alone. It comes alone to the task of a person’s justification; but in the heart and life of the justified child of God, it does not stay solitary and build a lonely hermitage.
We must be established in the belief of the truth, so that we shall not be shaken by every wind of doctrine. The importance and advantage of progress and perseverance in grace and holiness made Peter very diligent in doing the work of a faithful minister as long as he was in his earthly body, so that he might thereby assist the people of God to be diligent in their Christian duties. Nothing can give us such composure in the prospect or the hour of death, as to know that we have faithfully and simply followed the Lord Jesus and His glory.
In verses 16-21, we have the reason for Peter’s giving the foregoing exhortation with so much diligence and seriousness. These things that he was speaking of are not idle or vain tales; they are of undoubted truth and vast importance! The Gospel is not a cunningly devised fable. It is not the words of one who has a devil, nor is it the contrivance of any number of persons who employ cunning craftiness to endeavor to deceive people. The way of salvation by Jesus Christ is eminently the counsel of God, and the most excellent plan of the infinitely wise Jehovah; it was He Who invented this way of saving sinners by Jesus, Whose power and coming are set forth in the Gospel and preached by the Lord’s faithful ministers – including the Apostles, who were eyewitnesses of His life and actions! The Law sets before us our wretched state by sin, but there it leaves us. It reveals our disease, but it does not make known the cure. It is the sight of Christ crucified, in the Gospel, that heals our souls! He is the Messiah Who was promised – through Whom, all who believe in Him shall be saved.
The truth and reality of the Gospel were foretold by the prophets and penmen of the Old Testament, who spoke and wrote according to the direction and influence of the Holy Spirit of God. How firm and sure should our faith be, when we have such a firm and sure Word to rest upon! When the light of Scripture is darted into the blind mind and dark understanding by the Holy Spirit, it is like the daybreak that advances and diffuses itself throughout the whole soul, until it makes perfect daylight. The Christian knows that this Book is the Word of God Himself – in which he tastes a sweetness, feels a power, and sees a glory that is truly Divine. Let us pray for grace to mix faith with what we find in the Scriptures, and to esteem and reverence the Bible as a Book written by holy men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit!
Thank You, Lord, for the “exceeding great and precious promises” that we have in the Scriptures, for these are indeed a firm and sure Word to rest upon! Amen.
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