2 Peter 1:1-2 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ… The advancement in the Divine life of those in whom it is begun is the aim of this Epistle. Solemn and earnest, yet animating and assuring, are these his farewell words. It is a voice from the borders of eternity — from the threshold of glory — the voice of one who has all but reached the goal. The Christian life is life that springs up and grows through the knowledge of Christ. I. ASPECTS OF LIFE IN CHRIST. The delineation of life in Christ by the hand of the apostle here is one of marvellous richness and completeness. First your eye is directed to heavenly birth — the Divine source of the holy life which we enjoy through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. You see it coming down from God out of heaven, having the glory of God stamped on it. "His Divine power (ver. 3) has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness." If with your own hand you must tend and trim the lamp, that the flame of holiness may burn on and burn even brighter, God ministers the oil of grace wherewith it is fed. But next, if we ask, What are the essential elements and characteristic features of this life from on high? we have a clear answer. Worthy of its Divine source is its noble expression, in those Christian excellences which the apostle in the three following verses (5-7), commands us to acquire. A fair and glorious edifice this which you are called to build. Survey it well from base to cope, if you would know what it is to build yourself up on your most holy faith. In the change which every day is making on you, is there discernible any trace of the gradual advancement towards completion in your daily deeds and words of such a structure as this? II. LIFE THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST. The dawn of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus is the dawn of spiritual life in your heart — its noon is life eternal in the heavens. That life and that light are really one. Till you know God revealing Himself in Christ, and in Christ reconciling Himself to you, you have not begun the Christian life. To know Jesus is to master the science of salvation — it is to know God. To know Jesus is to receive the life of God into our souls. To see farther into the heart of Jesus, to see in His face the ever-blessed Trinity — Father, Son, and Spirit — with whom in eternal bonds you are linked, and for whose blissful communion you are prepared — this is to make progress in the life of faith. Each new step of advance in that life is the fruit and the forerunner of new discoveries of Christ. (W. Wilson, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: |
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