St. Peter’s List is Rooted in Knowledge, Grace and Glory

St. Peter’s List is Rooted in Knowledge, Grace and Glory.

The List… “Because you have been given all these blessings, it’s time now for you to apply yourself with diligence to those gifts of grace;  make every effort with all zeal to take your basic faith and develop moral excellence; and to that virtue add an intimate knowledge of God; and to your personal knowledge and understanding add an inner strength; and then in exercising that self-control develop patient endurance; to that steadfastness supply a fervent reverence; and to that piety add mutual affection; and then when exercising your brotherly/sisterly kindness add the most important quality in your spiritual transformation… unconditional love.” (2 Peter 1:5-7).

Peter’s Ideas Leading Up to the List:

Knowledge. A recurring theme in this second letter of Peter is the importance of knowledge of God. This idea must have been at the top of Peter’s mind here near the close of his life, because he started his letter with it, he ended the letter with it, and in between he mentions knowledge 16 times! Peter makes it perfectly clear in this letter that if we don’t understand what the Bible means by “know,” by “knowledge,” we are missing the heartbeat of our relationship with God and our spiritual transformation in Him. The Bible has a lot to say about the meaning of know, including the usual suspects: memory of a fact or event; possession of a technical skill; a perception of a piece of reality; an intuitive awareness; a mastery of a particular subject; an understanding of something; a personal familiarity with something. That’s all good. Nothing new there. But now the fun begins… The Hebraic-Christian understanding of “know” is not at all limited to an intellectual or mental knowledge. To know someone in the Biblical sense is to experience that person in a deeply intimate way. “Know” is a relationship word and involves an intimate knowledge that comes from personal experience. To know involves a deeply personal union with a truth or a person. In the Hebrew and Christian mind, we don’t really know something until it becomes a part of us, something that changes us in some way. To truly know something is to be able to live it out, to experience participation with that which is known. Knowledge requires devotion, a heartfelt focus, an intense investment. To know something is to care for it, to give oneself over to it.  To know someone in the Biblical sense is to literally participate in a profound relationship with that person, to establish an ongoing union with someone, to be personally invested to an intimate degree with a person. A spiritual relationship with God seems best understood in the context of “knowledge” in the biblical sense, a deep union involving spiritual relations between God and the believer. In the same way that Adam and Eve “knew” each other physically, God wants to “know” us spiritually, and for us to know Him at that same level. To walk with the Lord is to grow in our “knowledge” of Him, to experience spiritual relations with Him in an intimate way.  In fact, to know God in the way He want us to know Him means to have spiritual intercourse with Him, an ongoing spiritual union that involves, not “carnal knowledge,” but spiritual knowledge. Head knowledge is not sufficient, because it leaves the knowledge in the abstract. Limiting ourselves to surface knowledge like religious principles, doctrinal statements or theological propositions doesn’t go nearly deep enough. Too many of us stop at talking about God, instead of talking with God. Intellectual knowledge is a dead end if disconnected from a personal relationship with God. Knowledge of God requires an ongoing personal investment, an intimate involvement, a long surrender. Otherwise, it’s all just an abstract idea. And God can tell the difference. The worst words any of us could possibly ever hear at the End is, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:33).

1:2: “Grace and peace are abundantly multiplied in our spiritual lives as we grow in our experiential knowledge of God and Jesus. As we deepen our intimate knowledge of the Lord, we increase in grace and peace. We will continue to receive more and more of God’s grace and shalom as we mature in our personal experience of Him.”

… Grace: In the Hebrew Bible, grace is the centerpiece of God’s character that has forever initiated divine favor to those who don’t deserve it; the nature of God which prefers to show mercy to those who haven’t earned it; the heart of God which leans toward offering the free gift of love and acceptance to others, free of charge; God’s desire to restore and heal whose who are broken whether or not they deserve it; the lovingkindness provided by God as a free gift for no apparent reason other than sheer compassion. In the New Testament, grace is a central spiritual fact fo life that is used over 170 times.  At one point, grace was a general term adopted from Greek mythology, and could mean goodwill, loveliness, charm, sweetness, favor, and that which gives delight. But the NT writers expanded its meaning to point to God’s undeserved favor on us; His unearned gift of good will; His unmerited kindness; His unexpected spiritual blessings that bring us delight and pleasure; God’s free gift of acceptance with no strings attached. This is the basic concept, but writers like Paul and Peter used grace as a word that summarizes all the blessings that God offers to us. This biblical grace is an absolute truth, and so grace exists whether or not we choose to accept it. Divine grace is not logical in human terms, it has no reasonable rhyme or reason to it. The human mind cannot fathom the logic of grace and fails at making sense of it. Grace is the ideal time for each person to trust God and His instincts, His character, and to accept His way of thinking as best for us.

…Peace: Peace is one of the greatest gifts that God can give us. With the Prince of Peace, we are able to enjoy a taste of heavenly shalom now… full reconciliation with God; flourishing in mind and spirit; an inner harmony that heals us and joins together loose ends in our spirit; an outer harmony with others; a tranquil heart of contentment and trust; an inner assurance that all will be well. Shalom is the ancient Hebrew word translated as peace: completeness or wholeness, as in the joining together of opposites; integrity, as in the effective holding together of separate pieces; to give/restore harmony; fulfillment; health; security; abundant well-being; the state of having the vitality needed to thrive and flourish; tranquility; freedom from disquiet and disorder; reconciliation; resolution of conflict/war; healing of division; prosperity. The Greek word for peace in the New Testament is “Eirene,” and means the same thing as “Shalom” in the Hebrew Bible. Peace ranks the highest of all values in the Hebrew Bible, according to Jewish scholars. Shalom is the most important goal in all of life. “Rabbinic teaching describes it as the only vessel through which God’s blessings can flow into this world.” (Rabbi Arthur Green, These are the words: A Vocabulary of Jewish Spiritual Life). How do we grow in peace? Live in harmony with others; intentionally help in the combining of separate people into a unified whole; lend a helping hand in reconciling apparent differences with others; adjust yourself in order to fit together with others; as much as is possible, honestly be of the same mind with others; be agreeable and forgiving; join together with others in a unifying purpose; actively listen to achieve mutual understanding; bravely pray that God’s shalom will flood the atmosphere with His presence.

1:3: “Not only that, but by learning more and more about God at an increasingly deeper level, we miraculously experience His divine power that provides for us everything we need to live a godly life. We have the privilege of personally knowing at an intimate level the very One who calls us to Himself by means of His glory and His excellence. In other words, everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know and understand the One who has invited us to Him.” 

… Power: The Greek word for power is “dunamis,” from which we get our word for dynamite. God’s power is mentioned at least 120 times in the New Testament, and is a vital word we need to understand if we want to think about spiritual growth as Peter does. Dunamis means miraculous energy, explosive power, dynamic strength. Dunamis refers to God’s unlimited life-giving ability and His potential for violent force when needed. God’s dunamis is the only possible source of our superpower when it comes to spiritual transformation. As is noted in Strong’s, dunamis is “the pulsating energy of God’s own life, revealed in creation, embodied in Jesus, bestowed by the Holy Spirit, and is the only power destined for triumph.” Peter wants to make clear that God’s explosive power provided all we would need to begin the faith, grow in His character, and be renewed in the image of Christ.

… Glory:  Peter wants to make sure we understand the truth that God’s glory and moral excellence were revealed to us in such a compelling way that He was irresistible. The biblical meaning of God’s glory tends to emphasize the weighty splendor of God’s personal Presence; God’s supreme worthiness to be honored and praised; the overwhelming greatness of God’s beauty and power; the eternal weight of God’s substance; the heaviness of God’s inherent majesty.  The weight of God’s presence outweighs the world; His presence is more substantive and heavier than the universe. His eternal glory remains constant, whether or not He decides to reveal Himself to us. God’s essential glory is forever Real in the heavens, whether or not we experience Him here with our senses on earth. When God’s glory makes an appearance, we can get everything from angels and trumpets and fire and earthquakes, to lightning and clouds and wind and thunder, to smoke and voices and blinding lights and foreign languages, to open graves and resurrected bodies and torn curtains and noontime darkness, to miracles galore. God’s glory can be described as the weighty, majestic, and fiery presence of God on the earth when He wants to localize Himself. God’s glory is what He looks like when He chooses to make an appearance. God is indeed everywhere, but apparently there are those times when He wants to appear on earth. The Jewish scholars between the Testament periods developed a wonderful word for “dwells,” Shekinah, which sums up for them, and us, God’s personal, divine presence on earth. Shekinah literally means “the One who dwells, settles in, resides, makes Himself at home.” So these two terms, Shekinah and glory, have come to mean much the same thing, and the two terms are often spoken as Shekinah glory, both terms together. For the Spirit of the Shekinah, that is, the Spirit of God, is resting on you!” (1 Peter 4:12-14; from The Complete Jewish Bible). The supernatural power of God’s presence has an understandable effect on nature. Shekinah Glory bursts the earth at its seams. Nature doesn’t seem prepared for God’s glory and seems to sometimes have a difficult time managing something so otherworldly. After all, God’s glory is weightier than the universe, it has more substance to it than the entire world. Even a sliver of Shekinah glory sends the earth into turmoil.

… Excellence: (Greek, “Arete”): St. Peter shifts from one of God’s calling cards, His glory, to another… His moral excellence. The term he uses for excellence is centered on moral excellence, integrity, character, goodness and virtue. Once the Lord exposes His moral perfection to us coupled with His magnificent splendor, we’re hooked. Once the majestic splendor of God’s moral virtue calls to us, we can’t help but respond to His call. And so taking that a step further, Peter is teaching us that the first spiritual quality we add to our basic faith is personal morality. We need to work hard at breaking free from anything in our lives that is impure, crooked, warped, tainted, anything that doesn’t reflect our faith in the righteous and holy God. We are to fill our minds with thoughts that help us flourish morally, fixing our minds on ideas that help us to develop integrity and goodness. Arete is a character word, and we are to focus on ideas that nourish a godly character, an inner core of goodness that can be demonstrated to a watching world. Not only that, but we are to make effort to reject what is unworthy of a Jesus-follower, asking God constantly to strengthen our will to live into His goodness.  Putting our best mind forward in order to put on our best behavior would have to include a focus on arete, on thoughts that reflect our growing desire for an exceptional character that reveals the very character of God Himself.

1:4: “And because of His glory and virtue, God has given us invaluable and magnificent promises that are beyond price, so that through the power of these tremendous promises we may escape the world’s corruption due to evil desires, and be enabled to participate in His divine nature, sharing with Him in His own divine life, enjoying a partnership with God in becoming increasingly like Him in character and personality.”

… Promises: Peter is highlighting the spiritual idea that God’s promises have a Life of their own, they have the power to purify us in faith, connect us with Him, prepare and enable us to grow into His image. The Person of Christ, assures us that God is going to keep all his promises: His promise of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2 and Acts 2); His promise that we will participate in His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4); His promise that God will be an intimate Father for His children (2 Corinthians 6); His promise of a believer’s salvation (Psalm 119:41), resurrection (Acts 13), and eternal life (1 John 2:25); His promise of faithfulness to His followers (Joshua 23:14); His promise of shalom, the fullness of peace (Psalm 85:8); His promise to restore and spiritually provide salvation for Israel (Jeremiah 33 and Romans 11:29). It looks like through His promises, God wrote all the major headlines in the human story before the creation of the world, from being created in God’s image, to the Fall, to all His promises seen throughout Scripture. God planned ahead, wrote the outline for a true story before it happened, and fulfilled all His promises. God promised all we could possibly hope for and more in His basic outline of human life. And now it’s up to us to trust in His promises through Jesus and cooperate with His plans as we live into His outline of the world. “All of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding Yes!” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Jesus is Yes! If there is one word that could summarize Jesus Christ, what would it be? St. Paul seems to think that word would be Yes! Christ doesn’t just say Yes in agreement with God’s promises. He doesn’t merely preach Yes to confirm that God’s promises are true. Christ is literally Yes!, Yes-in-the-flesh. Christ embodies Yes in His Person. Christ is Yes!, fulfilling everything that God has promised down through the ages. Christ is Yes!, confirming God’s faithfulness in staying true to His divine assurances. Christ is Yes!, ending any doubts anyone might have about what God has promised in the past. Christ is Yes!, accomplishing every promise that make up God’s purpose and will. Christ is the ultimate Yes!, answering any questions there may be about God’s character. Christ is Yes!, personally embodying the truth of the true God. Christ is Yes!, testifying to the truth of God’s promises. Christ is Yes!, personally demonstrating the promises that God has given.

… Partakers in the Divine Nature: Peter uses the term “Koinonia” here, which may be the closest Greek word in the ancient world to the modern term “relationship,” and it is biblically described as fellowship; personal communion; held in common; shared partnership; close companionship; in community; active participation; partakers; deeply united; intimately bonded; dwell or abide within.  This is a great mystery of the Faith… when we join with Jesus, we share in His holiness. We become partakers of His divine nature. To share in God’s holiness is to be set apart from sin and its consequences; to grow in those aspects of divine nature that God shares with believers; to be partners with Christ in His divinity because of His partnership with us in humanity; to cultivate divine characteristics because of intimate fellowship with God; to be in the process of God’s image being restored in us because of our union with Him; to acquire God’s spiritual DNA; to be in communion with God through our intimate relationship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Does that make us Gods? Are we changed into His essence? Does sharing with Jesus’ holiness make us worthy of worship? The quick answer is no. There will always be a profound distinction between man and God. We do not become God, we do not become divine. But at the same time we are sacred, being made in His image. Humans are not quipped to take on the full nature of God, but we can acquire Godlikeness. This is indeed a mystery. We participate in God’s holiness. We become intimate partners with God in a unique fellowship. We share in His divine nature, without becoming God. We become God-like. As we participate in God’s nature, we become more like Him in moral excellence, in goodness and virtue and integrity. This won’t happen under our own steam, even though the process does require our most diligent efforts. The more we partake of God’s nature, the more like Him we become in moral excellence and in every other of His qualities.

The Bottom Line of St. Peter’s List:

1:8: “Now since you already have the seeds of those divine qualities sown within you, and they are like a plant growing underground, they will make you fertile and fruitful in the personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. These virtuous gifts of grace will keep you from being spiritually barren and useless, and they will demonstrate that your intimate knowledge of Jesus Messiah is productive, effective, and full of good fruit.”