Bible Version: New International Version (NIV)
Application Notes: Life Application Study Bible (NIV)
2 PETER 1
1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Confirming One’s Calling and Election
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Prophecy of Scripture
12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Application Notes
1:1 First Peter was written just before the Roman emperor Nero began persecuting Christians. Second Peter was written about three years later (around AD 67), after persecution had become intense. First Peter was a letter of encouragement to the Christians who suffered, but 2 Peter focuses on the church's internal problems, especially on the false teachers who were causing people to doubt their faith and turn away from Christianity. Second Peter combats these dangerous beliefs by denouncing the self-serving motives of the false teachers and reaffirming Christianity's truths--the authority of Scripture, the primacy of faith, and the certainty of Christ's return.
1:2 Many believers want an abundance of God's grace and peace, but they are unwilling to put forth the effort to get to know him better through Bible study and prayer. To enjoy the privileges God offers us freely, we must grow in our knowledge of God and Jesus, our Lord.
1:3-4 The power to lead a God-honoring life comes not from within us but from God. Because we don't have the resources within ourselves to truly follow God, he allows us to "participate in the divine nature" in order to keep us from sin and help us live for him. When we are born again, God, by His Spirit, empowers us with his own goodness. (See John 3:6; 14:17-23; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 1:22-23.)
1:5-9 Faith must be more than belief in certain facts; it must result in loving action toward others, growth in Christian character, and the practice of moral discipline; otherwise, it will die away (James 2:14-17). Peter lists several results of faith: learning to know God better, persevering under trial, doing God's will, genuinely loving others. These actions do not come automatically; they require dedication and discipline. They are not optional; we must choose all of them as a continual part of the Christian life. We don't finish one and start on the next, but we work on them all together and with each other's help. God empowers and enables us, but he also gives us the responsibility to learn and to grow.
1:6 False teachers were saying that self-control was not needed because human effort would not help believers anyway (2:17-19). It is true that good deeds cannot save us, but they are still absolutely essential in the Christian life. We are saved so that we can grow to resemble Christ and serve others. God wants to produce his character in us. To do this, however, he demands our discipline and effort. As we obey Christ, who guides us by his Spirit, we will develop self-control over our desires, emotions. and behaviour.
1:9 Our faith must go beyond what we believe; it must become a dynamic part of all we do, resulting in fruitful service and spiritual maturity. We develop these virtues out of gratitude for what Christ has done for us. People who claim to be saved while continuing to act the way they did before becoming believers do not understand faith or what God has done for them.
1:10 Peter wanted to rouse the complacent believers who had listened to the false teachers and believed that, because good deeds couldn't save them, they could live any way they wanted. If we truly belong to the Lord, Peter says, the example of our lives will prove it. If we're not developing the qualities listed in 1:5-7, we may still be outside the household of faith. If you are the Lord's--your actions backing up your claim of having been chosen by God ("calling and election")--you will be able to resist the lure of false teaching and self-indulgence. What does your life say about your faith?
1:12-15 Outstanding coaches constantly review the basics of their sport with their teams, and good athletes can execute the fundamentals consistently well. In the same way, believers in Jesus must not neglect the core principles of the faith, even as they go on to a deeper understanding of who God is. Just as an athlete needs constant practice, Christians need constant reminders of the fundamentals of our faith and of how we came to believe the gospel in the first place. Don't allow yourself to be bored or impatient with messages on the basics of the Christian life. Instead, take the attitude of an athlete who continues to practice and refine the basics so that they become and remain second nature.
1:13-14 Peter knew that he would die soon. Many years before, Christ had prepared Peter for the kind of death he would face (see John 21:18-19). At this time, Peter knew that his death was at hand. Peter was martyred for the faith in about AD 68. According to tradition, he was crucified upside down, at his own request, because he did not feel worthy to die in the same manner as Jesus, his master.
1:16-21 These verses provide a strong statement on the inspiration of Scripture. Peter affirms that God's prophets of long ago wrote down God's messages, which became the Old Testament. Peter puts himself and the other apostles in the same category because they also proclaimed God's truth and wrote it down under his inspiration. The Bible is not a collection of fables or human ideas about God. It is God's very words given through people to people. Peter emphasised his authority as an eyewitness as well as the God-inspired authority of Scripture to prepare the way for his harsh words against the false teachers. If these wicked men were contradicting the apostles and the Bible, their message could not be from God.
1:16-18 Peter and the other apostles had staked their lives on the certainty of the gospel. They had heard and seen Jesus firsthand. Here, Peter is showing the corrupt leaders and false teachers the basis for his authority. Peter is referring to the Transfiguration, where Jesus' divine identity was revealed to him and two other disciples, James and John (see Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36).
1:19 Peter called Jesus Christ the "morning star." When he returns, he will shine in his full glory. Until that day, we have Scripture as a light and the Holy Spirit to illuminate it for us and guide us as we seek the truth. (For more on Christ as the morning star, see Luke 1:78; Ephesians 5:14; Revelation 2:28; 22:16.)
1:20-21 "Prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" means that Scripture did not come from the creative work of the prophets' own invention or interpretation. God inspired the writers, so their message is authentic and reliable. God used the talents. education, and cultural background of each writer--they were not mindless robots--and he cooperated with the writers in such a way as to ensure that the message he intended was faithfully communicated in the very words they wrote.
Taken from Life Application Study Bible - Third Edition - (NIV)