As I am sure you know, when individuals are instructed in how to determine real bills from counterfeit bills they are always first and most diligently shown what a real bill looks like before they ever see a fake one.
In this letter Peter exposes the false teachers with counterfeit faith that will arise but before he does that he explains what real biblical faith looks like. And the key idea of this section is: Peter introduces the theme of the letter to his readers, namely, those who receive true biblical faith will continue to grow in it and not turn away from it.
As we start this letter let me mention its content briefly. In verses 3-11 Peter speaks of the growth that should be taking place in the life of the believer. In verses 12-21 he describes the authenticity of his message that those with real faith will recognize. In chapter 2 Peter describes the flood of false teachers that will inundate the church. From this he shows that God is able to rescue the true believer from these false teachers while keeping the false teachers and other unrighteous prepared for the Day of Judgment.
In chapter 3, Peter describes the reasons for the delay of Christ’s return. What are the reasons? First, the delay of Christ’s return is to cause the unrighteous to scoff at God’s slowness (and thus reveal their unbelief). But it is a sign to believers of God’s patience and the impetus for us to put off all filthy behavior.
Peter’s introduction is broken into three parts.
I. His Titles
The first part of this introduction is the declaration of his titles. Ancient letter formats began with the writer’s name and titles and this is what Peter describes here.
A. A servant
The first title that he gives to us is that of servant. Peter calls himself a bond-slave of Jesus Christ. This speaks of Peter’s humility within the church. I think it is noteworthy to see that the first title Peter gives to himself is that of the lowest servant. Not just a servant but a bond-servant. And this is the case even though he is the most well known and preeminent of the apostles. In the four lists of apostles noted in the Scripture Peter is always recorded first. He is a member of the big three, “Peter, James and John.” Jesus told Peter he was to strengthen the others after he had repented of his sin of denying the Lord. After the resurrection he was still seen as the leader of the group. And yet he realized that he was nothing more than a servant. He did not accept any special honor from anyone. Someone once bowed down before him and he said, “Get up I am just a man.”
Perhaps he calls himself servant because Jesus made it clear that if anyone is to be a leader they must be the servant of all. The way the world exalts people is clearly not the way that Christians should act. Seeking praise and honor at the hands of men forfeits our rewards at the throne of God. Jesus once told his apostles, “When you have done everything you were told to do,” (you should say), “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”
God has paid the price to purchase us out of the slave market of sin. Now we are His servants. He has bought us that we might serve Him. He has given us new life and we belong only to Him. Peter reflects the attitude of a humble servant carrying out what his Master has for him to do. And whether it is writing a letter that will be incorporated into the Scripture or opening the doors of the Gospel to the Gentiles when he preached to Cornelius and his household, he is simply a humble servant doing only what God has told him to do.
Is this your attitude? Or do you believe that somehow you are indispensable to God’s kingdom. I hope you recognize that in your life God’s kingdom will go on without you. God’s kingdom will progress without Dave. God could kill me right now and this church could continue on without a hiccup because God is the one doing the work. Friends, what are you? Are you simply a servant? What are your motivations in being here? To be noticed? To be on top? Or are you here because you want to be God’s servant as you live. God has called us all to be humble and recognize that each one of us is a servant of the King of kings and Lord of lords.
B. An apostle
Secondly, Peter titles himself as an apostle. This speaks of Peter’s role within the church. There are two uses of the word apostle in the New Testament. The first use, the technical one, of which most of us are familiar, is that of one of twelve individuals chosen by Jesus to follow Him. The requirements for this role, found in Acts 1, is that they were to have followed Jesus during the entire time of His ministry on earth, and that he was to be an eyewitness of His resurrection and ascension. This was a foundational ministry. By this I mean that this specific ministry of apostle was for the foundation of the church during its formative time in which the New Testament was being written. Paul discusses this foundational aspect of the apostle in Ephesians 2.
There was another use of the word within the New Testament and that is the description of one who was dispatched for any purpose. The word literally means, “One who is sent.” In the letter to the Hebrews Jesus is called an apostle because He was commissioned and sent by the Father to do His will. Barnabas and Paul are called apostles in Acts 14 because they had been sent out by the church in Antioch to plant churches among the Gentiles.
Peter is describing his role in the church. He was an apostle. He was set apart for the founding of the Church until its founding documents were complete. This is his role. As a matter of fact Peter alludes to it at the end of this chapter and at the beginning of chapter 3. He says that he will continue to remind them by letter until such time that he goes to heaven, about which he says, Jesus reminded him that it would be very soon. Friends, as with Peter, God has given us roles in the church. There are places for each one of us to serve. And let us recognize that whatever capacity it is to which God calls us let us be content to serve Him with all our heart in it.
II. His Recipients
Let’s look at the next section of Peter’s introduction. He introduces his recipients. Who are his recipients? Those who possess true biblical faith. In the middle of verse 1 he says, “To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours.” Throughout Peter’s letter he continually makes a distinction between those who do and those who do not have genuine faith. There is a faith that does not profit. The apostle Paul described this as believing in vain or believing falsely. There is a true biblical faith and there is a false one. And Peter addresses those who have received a faith of the same kind that Peter knew. In verse 1, Peter describes three characteristics of true biblical faith.
A. It gives us equal standing
The first characteristic of true biblical faith is that it gives us equal standing. Look at the implications of Peter’s statement, “a faith of the same kind as ours.” Peter was announcing to his readers that their faith was in no way inferior to his own. This means that first generation Christians and second generation Christians have the same kind of faith. Literally Peter says that they have an “equally precious faith” or “equally valuable faith.” It was of the same value as Peter’s. Peter didn’t have something up on his readers because they hadn’t seen Jesus and he did.
Many times I hear people say that we need the faith of the 1st century church. Now I know what most people mean when they say that but some are thinking that their own faith is somehow less than the faith of those who saw the Lord and lived with Him. Friends we need a 21st century faith, not a first century faith. We don’t need to meet daily in the temple to have the faith of Peter, we don’t need to meet in upper rooms to have the faith of these early believers. What do we need then? Or perhaps a better question to ask ourselves would be, “Why did these believers, who hadn’t seen the Lord, like Peter, have a faith of the same value as his?”
Why? They received it from the same source. Peter described that it was not from themselves when he said, “you who have received this faith.” The source of their real faith was the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the instrumental party in bringing us to faith in Christ. In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells His disciples that the Holy Spirit will bring conviction to the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Paul says in his letter to the Galatians that the fruit of the Spirit is faith and in his letter to the Philippians he says that the Spirit brings us the gift of faith. The reason that these believers had a faith of the same kind as Peter’s is that their faith had the same source.
The fact that their faith was not inferior to anyone else (even an apostle) was important for Peter’s readers to understand because, as we will see, Peter is going to describe these false teachers who were going to try and exploit them. So it makes sense that he begins with the foundational truth that their faith was not riding in second class. This is how these false teachers would present the faith of Peter’s readers. Your faith is good but it is lacking something. You need what I have to give. And as long as you follow me you will be initiated into the deeper truths. Don’t look into that Bible yourself because you can’t understand it without my help. This is not what Peter or any of the apostles described because the Holy Spirit was the source of their faith.
This happens today. Brother what you need is a special touch. What you need is to go and hear this special speaker. What you need is this conference. What you need is this spiritual gift. This is not the case. To be a God honoring believer you simply need a real biblical faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this brings us to the next point.
B. It comes through Christ’s righteousness
The second characteristic of true biblical faith that Peter elucidates for us is that it comes through Christ’s righteousness. This is what the end of verse 1 says. “By the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” These believers had a faith that was on par with the apostles since it was Christ’s righteousness that brought them to God. They had a faith like Peter’s not because Peter measured his goodness to theirs and it was the same. They had a faith like Peter’s because the same Christ who made Peter righteous (that is, perfect in the eyes of God) made them righteous.
The issue is righteousness, not goodness when it comes to whether God accepts us or not. The truth is that God can only accept those who are completely perfect into His presence. And so that means either you must be completely perfect, not likely, or you must have someone who is completely perfect that is willing to give you His righteousness. So if you are struggling before God to be good enough to enter heaven, forget it. You are fighting and straining and toiling to do something you can never accomplish. If you leave earth and come to God like that He will not accept you. It is not because He doesn’t love you it is because His standard is too high and holy to let imperfection dwell with Him. He loved you so much that He came Himself and paid the penalty for your sin completely so that all who would trust in that payment alone would have life in Him.
True biblical faith only has Christ’s righteousness as its focus. If you are trusting anything else you will die in your sins. Let these words of Paul sink into your heart and believe them. In Romans 4 the Apostle Paul says, “What does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to Him as righteousness’ . . . to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness APART FROM WORKS.”
My friend, if you are not trusting only in the righteousness of Christ as your sole means of entrance into heaven then you are lost. Listen to the Scripture. Stop striving, start trusting. It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with Christ. If you are not trusting Christ only, it is because your stubborn human pride is keeping you from humbling yourself and saying, “Yes it is all of Christ.”
C. It sees Jesus Christ as God
Thirdly, true biblical faith sees Jesus Christ as God. If you notice the end of verse 1 says, “our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Now if you have a King James Bible it doesn’t read this way. In the King James it reads, “God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” Theologically this is alright, when this formation occurs elsewhere, such as in verse 2, it is speaking about God the Father and Jesus the Son. However, it actually obscures the simple declaration Peter is making, in this verse, that Jesus is God. Peter is saying unequivocally that Jesus Christ is our God and Savior.
Now the King James translators weren’t attempting to deny Christ’s deity, in their day, they simply didn’t have knowledge of the rule that governed the construction of this phrase. It wasn’t until almost 200 years later that a man name Granville Sharp discovered (or rediscovered) this wonderful Greek syntactical rule. Let me briefly explain this without boring you to tears with syntax and grammar (99% of the time Greek grammar and syntax should remain in the study used there only to help me explain God’s Word in plain English). But this is instructive.
Now Granville Sharp, who was a member of the English Parliament, was also a fine Christian who worked alongside of William Wilberforce in bringing about the abolition of the slave trade. He desired to know Scripture so much that, in his spare time as a busy politician, he learned Greek and actually became a very fine linguist. He discovered this rule, now named after him, that if two nouns were linked by the definite article (assuming certain specific conditions) they always, ALWAYS refer to the same person. Sharp looked through hundreds of conditions in the New Testament and found it to be the case WITHOUT EXCEPTION. And when he came to this passage (and a very similar one in Titus 2:13) he saw that it clearly declared Jesus Christ to be God. And when a friend of his checked through all the Greek Church Fathers concerning these passages he saw that they too understood the construction in this way.
What is Peter saying to us? He is saying that one mark of true biblical is that it recognizes Jesus Christ as God. The false teachers that Peter describes later are going to deny this essential truth of the Christian Gospel, namely that Jesus Christ is God. In chapter 2 he says, they are “denying the Master who bought them.” When all is said and done, Christ’s deity is in someway denied or downplayed by these false teachers.
Jesus Christ is our God and Savior. Peter declares this emphatically as a characteristic mark of true biblical faith.
III. His Wish – Grace and Peace
With this we come to the final part of this letter’s introduction. We see in verse 2, Peter’s wish. He desires grace and peace for his readers. Let’s look at these briefly.
A. Their definitions
First let’s make sure we understand their definitions. We often define God’s grace as His undeserved favor (a good definition) but do we understand the depths of that definition? What do we deserve? If we are honest and understand God’s justice and holiness we recognize that we only deserve God’s wrath. We deserve being cast into hell forever. We do not deserve even another breath. We do not deserve a roof over our heads. We do not deserve anyone’s concern or care for us. We deserve to be left alone in pits of darkness forever. And yet God has given us so much more than this. And if we don’t recognize the extent of God’s grace, how much undeserved favor He has granted to us, then we become petty critics and grumblers when things don’t go our way. We become despondent and unthankful when everything is not easy as if we deserved better when in reality we have it better than we deserve.
Think about how petty we can be. We get upset because our hair didn’t turn out right, because the driver in front of us is slow, because I didn’t get the raise I wanted, because someone took my seat, because the checkout line is too long. We get upset at all these things instead of being reminded of God’s grace in the fact that you can buy food (even if it is in a long line), that I am able to walk to another seat (even if someone took mine), that I have a job (even if I didn’t get my raise), that I have hair (even if it doesn’t do what I think it should).
Our selfishness tells us God owes us; grace reminds us that we owe God everything and deserve nothing. Peter wishes God’s undeserved favor to be multiplied in our lives. When things go your way will you see that as your due or as God’s grace?
Now as a Christian God’s grace has even greater implications than just receiving good things. For the Christian, God’s grace is everything that we have received because of Christ’s death and resurrection on our behalf. Grace is what God gives to us, not just in wiping away our sins through Christ but also in being granted the power to overcome our sin through that same work of Christ on our behalf. God, through His grace, not only imparts Christ’s righteousness to us so that we would be made right with Him and be given eternal life but He also gives us through that imputed righteousness the ability to live a righteous life. This is God’s grace. So, for the believer, when Peter speaks about God’s grace being multiplied in our lives he is speaking of God work in our lives to live more like Christ.
Peace, from the Christian perspective is probably best defined as “internal security.” Peace, for the believer should have nothing to do with external circumstances. Whether things around us are quiet or boisterous we need not be disturbed. God’s peace is that which passes all understanding. This means there is no natural explanation for why we can be at peace though what we are passing through is difficult or frightful. God’s peace is truly internal security. Why is it so? Real peace comes from our trust in God and not from our surrounding circumstances. This is God’s peace.
B. Their reception
Secondly, Peter describes their reception. God wants you to receive His grace and peace. And Peter tells us how they come to us. The end of verse 2 says, “in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” They come through the knowledge of God. If grace and peace are going to be multiplied in your life then you need to be growing in the knowledge of God. Grace and peace do not come from some ceremony or ritual that we do. Pagan religions have rituals that grant to them certain favors from their gods. But superstition is not how God operates. He gives grace and peace in the realm of a relationship with Him. As we learn who He is and grow in that we receive more of His grace and peace.
This isn’t simply head knowledge. It is a combination of learning about the God of the Scripture by knowing Him through His Word and by trusting Him in life experience. This word signifies a deep personal knowledge of God. And unless we are going to invest our time in studying the Word and applying what we learn about God to our lives we are not going to know Him. We are not going to receive grace and peace.
Do you want to grow in grace? Do you want to live more like the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you want to experience the peace of God that passes understanding? Then you must take the time to get to know the God who is both the God of grace and the God of peace.
Peter has given us some words to ponder today? Are you God’s servant? What role does He have for you in the church? Do you have real faith that gives you equal standing with the apostles? Do you have real faith that comes through Christ’s righteousness only? Do you have real faith that sees Jesus Christ as God? And are you seeking God’s grace and peace in His way or by some way that will not profit you?