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Prayer –
Our music today is taken from
“The Lord is our King”
“If God is for us.”
Silent worship
All right, last week we read and covered verses 1-4 of 2nd Peter which say:
2nd Peter 1:11
Meat
December 27th 2015
2nd Peter 1:1 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 Savior Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
And then Peter continues and says:
2nd Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Okay, back to verse 5.
We remember that Peter taught in verse 4 some impressive things, saying:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these . . . ye might . . . be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Then in verse five he says:
2nd Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge . . . (etc) . . .
We have to see that what Peter says here in verse 5 is related to the words we covered last week. In other words,
“since God has given us these great and precious promises where, by them, we might be partakers of His divine nature, having escaped the corruption of the world which exists and abided through lust . . . “
Verse 5
“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge . . .”
“For this very reason . . .”
“that God has given us these great and precious promises where we can be partakers of His divine nature, having escaped the corruption of the world which exists and abided through lust . . . “
“In light of this,” “besides all this,” in addition to these things,” “for this very reason . . .” (verse 5)
“diligently add to your faith, virtue . . .”
The Greek for diligently is “spoo-day” and it means “eagerly” and “with speed.”
Eagerly add to your faith (in these “great and precious promises”) that we can be “partakers of His divine nature . . .”
Virtue (says the King James).
Now, we have some terms that Peter has used to frame the idea of his message for us.
“For this very reason . . .” (purpose)
“eagerly, speedily” (action)
“add to your faith in these great promises of taking on His divine nature . . “
And we read in the King James, “virtue.”
Not a good translation and it’s the same translation found in verse 3.
Again the Greek word is “ARE-ET-AY” and it really means
Manliness, valor.
How can I say it means, manliness? Because the root word from which it comes, is “are-rhain” means, male, pure and simple.
A couple things about this. Firstly, the apostles were dealing with the ebb of the Old Testament (which Paul says was ready to vanish) but it came with a male dominated culture.
Paul – to the gentiles- certainly taught that in Christ there is no difference between male and female, etc. but with Peter, being the apostle to the Jews, I can’t help but believe that he primarily spoke and related to them through the firmly established patriarchal order – still.
If this was the case (as it seems to be to me) then Peter was writing to males only. Which brings us to another point –
God created males and females – and in doing so formed us with some general characteristics that are Godly and natural.
Our respective “parts” are the most obvious evidence of this and cannot be disputed or called into question (unless we are talking about hermaphrodites).
But nuanced down from these obvious male and female characteristics are attributes that can be generally – generally – ascribed to the respective genders as well.
I understand that due to the fall and some freakish genetic mixtures some attributes traditionally viewed as female or male can drift over but generally speaking (because the general is always a better standard than the exception) generally speaking males exhibit (to some level or another) male characteristics and females exhibit female traits.
Peter here is not speaking to the exceptions in the male world. He is speaking to the general rule. And he is telling the males of his audience to be unabashedly male –
To be brave, courageous, full of manly valor. “Ar et ay” manliness.
I think we can get confused on what this looks like due to the flesh of men verses the spirit of manliness.
In other words, as believers we could never allow ourselves to believe that a real man of should shun humility, kindness, gentleness or love.
On the other hand, as believers we would never fall prey to the idea that men should abandon innate manliness – including courage, bravery, zeal, a brazen work ethic, a desire to protect women and children, to hunt and provide, etc.
A study of religious art over the course of history illustrates the unfortunate effeminization of Christ (and his apostles) over time as each progressively became pictorially less than male and more androgynous if not outright female in appearance.
At the end of the 15th century Leonardo Di Vinci really confused the archetypal male figure with his last supper. I remember as a kid staring at the painting and wondering why there were so many women in it.
Peter makes it clear that believers ought to be men – of course as Christ was a man – and as men were made.
Now, reading this list that Peter provides:
And add to your
faith,
Manliness, (and to manliness)
knowledge; (and to knowledge)
temperance; (and to temperance)
patience; (and to patience)
godliness; (and to godliness)
brotherly kindness; (and to brotherly kindness)
charity.
There is a temptation to teach these things as if there is a systematic order to them. We tend to such thinking because “we abhor vacuums” and want there to be “order in lists,” “priorities,” “somewhere to begin,” “somewhere to end.”
But if we step back, Peter is recommending them all and there is no reason brotherly kindness has to wait to be exhibited after patience, or for godliness only to be available once manliness is embraced but before charity can be had.
These attributes are mentioned and by the sheer physical nature of words there will be an order.
Peter’s design seems to be to say that we ought not be satisfied with just one grace but to cultivate all of them – and so he lists them.
I guess we might think of all the characteristics Christians could embrace to be like manners.
Someone who has learned to properly use a napkin at the table but has not learned the impropriety of loud belching (unless they are in Germany) might realize that all social morals are needful to be considered polite and not just some.
So it is with the Christian character – and hence the laundry lists of characteristics that ought to be, shall we say, cultivated by the Spirit in all who love Him.
Unlike table manners and the like, however, the cultivation of Christian characteristics require an internal reform which leads to an external, plus these attributes are expected to grow in strength and power over the life of the believer.
Having said this, I do believe that there is purpose in the “bookends” of this eight point list as the first is faith – which in my estimation is elemental to all other attributes – and with the last being love, which I believe is the grand end result of all Christian virtues.
And this observation hearkens back to our study of James 2 where we were clearly taught that faith without love is dead.
When Peter wrote,
“And add to your faith,” the Greek word for add is a long one –
“epi-khore-eh-gay-oh”
We know “epi” means superimpose or over as mentioned in the past, but the word “choregayo” is where we get the word, “chorus” or even “chorus-line” and this leaves us with an image of faith, being a main character in a chorus line of dancers or singers who have all locked arms and have moved to the edge of the stage for the encore.
They are working in unison with each other with faith being the lead.
Okay, to our “manliness” knowledge.
We mentioned last week that Peter has mentioned knowledge a number of times already in this epistle.
2nd Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
2nd Peter 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and manliness
2nd Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge. (and then)
2nd Peter 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness.
And then his summary of his train of thought:
2nd Peter 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Quite frankly, Peter wraps the Epistle up in chapter 3 at verse 18 with:
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
We hit on this last week but it seems from these instruction, other passages and the words of Christ tying “life eternal to knowing the only true God and His Son,” that knowing them is the goal of every Christian.
Presumably true knowledge of them will either result in, or be the product of, true faith and true love.
And somehow this all equates to eternal life. I say “this all” because scripture does not say we are saved by knowledge (or knowing) but by grace through faith.
Nevertheless knowing God and His Son is paramount to eternal life and we are left to wonder why and how?
I mean ginosko (defined as “to know in an absolute sense”) is used 208 times in the New Testament and faith is used only 20 times more! So the import of knowing and knowledge is once again affirmed to us in the Word.
By why does “knowing them” equate to life eternal?
I want to confess something that is frankly a bit terrifying to me personally.
First, I take this stuff seriously. I believe the Word and its emphasis on knowing the only True God and Jesus Christ whom He sent.
What frightens me – and I am not easily frightened by many doctrinal or theological issues – but what frightens me is the abundance of views on God and His Son – and I wonder sometimes if I do know them.
AW Tozer, a Christian mystic and writer of dozens of books, suggests that the views people and churches have of God are a sure-fire way to determine their future.
You all know the trouble I have gotten in regarding the Trinity. And then there are the LDS views, and the oneness Pentecostals, and the Sabellianists – and just recently I received some information on Finis Dake and his views – and it can all become quiet disconcerting.
But again we find rest that when Jesus says plainly that if we have seen Him we have seen the Father, and since He also said that “God is a Spirit” and that “a spirit does not have flesh and bones as they saw Him bearing” then we can be pretty darn sure that the knowing we are to have of who scripture calls, “the invisible God” and His Son” (of whom we do not have photographs or accurate drawings) that we are talking about knowing them by and through the Spirit.
But this knowledge is truly an imperative to life eternal.
I would suggest that there are some things we might seek to remember and to refuse when it comes to our spiritual knowledge of God and His Son.
First, the command is to know both. I believe that to know His Son refers to the Man and how He lived among us as such, and I would suggest our knowing the only True God is to know the invisible spiritual drivers, power, and force of God (which dwelled fully and within Him).
Tozer warns that we have embraced what He calls, “a low view of God,” and that the “gains of the modern church are mostly external while the losses are mostly internal” enforcing the idea that our knowledge of God is spiritual residing in the heart and head.
He adds:
“Compared with our actual thoughts about Him our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God.”
He goes on in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy and addresses
God’s incomprehensibility
The Trinity
His Self-Existence
His Self-Sufficiency
His Eternality
His Infinitude
Omniscience
Wisdom
Omnipotence
Transcendence
Omnipresence
Faithfulness
Goodness
Justice
Mercy
Grace
Love
Holiness
Sovereignty
And the need to seek Him by and through our lives which reflect the life of His Son.
To miss or ignore these areas of knowing them Tozer believes that the end result winds up to be some form or another of idolatry- a sin God seems to hate most.
In the end, maybe the focus on knowing them and having a knowledge of them is the means by which believers escape idolatry – and hence the focus upon it.
Peter goes on and says: (verse 6)
And to knowledge “temperance;”
and to temperance “patience;”
and to patience “godliness”
And to knowledge temperance – the Greek word being ENG-KRATIA and it means self-control over the appetites.
We noted that in 1st Peter he specifically told his reader to be sober and that the word related directly to drinking wine.
Here, though we often associate the King James word “temperance” with things like the temperance movement (and therefore abstinence from drinking alcohol) the word means control over all fleshly appetites – which (depending on who you talk to includes) total asceticism (including abstinence from all tobacco products, over eating, all alcohol, drugs, whatever – soda, diet drinks) and most forms of sex – whatever that looks like.
You want some interesting reading check out the puritan views of such things – or even the LDS views of the 1970’s and back.
I remember a friend of mine served a room full of LDS apostles and was so impressed that one of them requested a half a glass of water – room temperature, no ice – and that it was a sign of control over his entire person.
I personally think it’s between the individual and God. If its not but truly about asceticism a lot of people are in trouble.
“And temperance patience”
We’ve addressed patience on our study of James and bottom line it is the product of trial and in the midst of trial trusting in the promises of God.
Our verse by verse of James chapter one and then parts of five goes into more depth.
“And to patience godliness.”
The word is “eu-see-bia” (used 15 times in the Newt) and is translated most of the time to godliness (lower case) and once to holiness.
Broken down “YOO – SEBIUS is
“yoo” – meaning good
And
“Seb ohm ahee” – revere, devout, adore
Good adoration.
Good reverence.
Good devotion.
Goodness, this is getting heavy isn’t it?
I mean what happened to His yoke is easy and His burden is light?
From this I am seeing why Luther was resistant to this epistle – it was the teaching, which seem so opposite of the good news.
But we have to take these instructions in the Spirit in which they are given. We cannot perform or become or do these things in the flesh or we will die.
They have to come by allowing Him to work, for Jesus to operate through us by our dying to the flesh. (verse 7)
And to godliness brotherly kindness
The Word – you got it, Philadelphia – brotherly love and then his 1st cousin –
and to brotherly kindness charity (or simply put, “agape.”
The unconditional agape love to all – the same love that is God, and which in my opinion serves as the other bookend to faith.
Then Peter adds yet ANOTHER reiteration on the importance of knowledge of our Lord, saying:
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I like the way the BBE translation puts this:
“For if you have these things in good measure, they will make you fertile and full of fruit in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
And we come to what is perhaps one of the most mentioned and obvious tenets of the mature Christian walk – the bearing of fruit.
Peter tells us here that having these things in us (in good amounts) . . .
faith,
Manliness, (and to manliness)
knowledge; (and to knowledge)
temperance; (and to temperance)
patience; (and to patience)
godliness; (and to godliness)
brotherly kindness; (and to brotherly kindness)
and agape love
we will not be barren (or unfertile) but will be bearers of fruit.
If you are watching at home or from the archives or are here in the studio/church, and you have been a believer for some time now, hear the straight-up fact of the matter –
God wants, desires, seeks for all who are His to “bear fruit” and scripture defines the fruit of the Spirit as
“love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (again, the same word Peter uses – ENG-KRATIA – self control) “against such there is no law.”
I believe that while there is a list of things Paul offers here that the passage ought to read:
The Fruit of the Spirit is LOVE (colon) with all the remaining words being examples of this agape love.
The allusion to fruit bearing in the life of those who believe in Christ is not more powerful or poignant than in Jesus words of John 15.
Listen to them closely:
John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch (1) in me that (2) beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
There is no mistake that after teaching this Jesus amazing lesson He launches into the following words and says right after verse 8:
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
The fruit which glorifies the father – AGAIN – the Christian fruit which GLORIFIES the FATHER – is love. God wants us to bear MUCH of it.
It is by this (love) men will know we are His disciples – and by no other way. This is the fruit God desires “much of” from us, it is the means by which He is glorified, and this fruit is generated and enhanced IN THIS WORLD through suffering as every one of the attributes mentioned by Peter here –
faith,
Manliness, (and to manliness)
knowledge; (and to knowledge)
temperance; (and to temperance)
patience; (and to patience)
godliness; (and to godliness)
brotherly kindness; (and to brotherly kindness)
and agape love
All require a dying to the self and to the flesh and a living to and through the Spirit.
So again Peter has said:
“For if these things be in you, and abound . . . if they are in you in rich abundance ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful.”
We have allusions to fruit trees bearing fruit here but the word for barren here in the King James is ar-gos and it really doesn’t mean barren, it better means idle,
Inactive, not working.
It is a compound word taken from
A – neutralizing the word after it which is –
Ergon – which means work
So instead of “ergon” (work) its argon – not working.
And this message, so contrary to much of what Paul appears to teach, is yet another reason why 2nd Peter was in question – especially by the Reformers.
This stuff – found in the Gospels, James, John and Peter – really throws every believer into somewhat of a quandary.
Many in the faith sit before the piano-Christian and play one note over and over and over again – grace, grace, grace.
On the other hand others slide down the bench and play another note or two – works, works, righteousness, holiness, works, works, righteousness, holiness.
In reality we ought to have both hands floating over all the keys and composing music of His love and How it causes us to be and do the same.
Before God I testify to all who hear or will hear the best contextual explanation of the Word as a whole:
“Christians
are
saved
by Grace
through faith
to love
by suffering
as Christ
according to
the Spirit
to the glory
of God.”
These are all the keys of the Christian keyboard.
We cannot stop with
“Saved . . . ” or “by grace . . .” or “through faith . . .” or even “to love . . .”
We must continue on “by suffering” and on “as Christ” and on “according to the Spirit and then even on further, “to the glory of God.”
Peter here says that having all these characteristics in us will keep us from being idle – argos.
And we can see that the faith is anything but stationary or static. It is a dynamic faith, exhibited in works of the Spirit through love.
And then Peter gives us the other side of the description, and again, they are not easy to hear as he says:
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
I gotta tell you, Peter and some of the others, in my estimation really make once saved always saved a very difficult proposition in my mind.
Here Peter describes a person who apparently knew that he or she had been forgiven of their sins through the shed blood of Christ but has gotten to a place in their lives where they are near-sighted due to their eye lids shutting so often it makes the long-view of things impossible.
They have no clear views of the big picture nature of the faith, or as the King James translates it:
“They cannot see afar off.”
The Greek word used here does not occur anywhere else in the New Testament is
MOO-OPE-ADZO, which can mean anything from shutting the eyes to blinking or twinkling with obfuscation – as one who cannot see clearly.
“Near-sighted.”
“Indistinct vision; one who can see only the objects that are near him, but who has no correct apprehension of objects that are more remote.”
Applying it to a believer the parallels are obvious –
They see a little way into the true nature and design of the gospel but have lost the big picture – or can’t see or discern it.
Where Peter says that they, “hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins,” to me (because of context) I think this is Peter’s way of saying that he has forgotten the obligation that grows out of the fact that the way has been paved; that those who retain this forgiveness in their minds also retain the gratitude that seeks to honor such a forgiveness.
Of course it could mean that he forgot that he was forgiven and sank back into despair.
But at this point Peter lays out some radical passages that we will spend next week discussing. Ready?
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Questions/Comments
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