The Christian should be diligent to add one Christian grace to another that he may bring glory to God by abounding in much fruit among men and that his own calling and election may be thereby thoroughly tested out. He should the more seek to obey God’s Word because it is God-inspired, of undoubted truth, and therefore of vast concern.
II 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 Saviour 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.
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 Saviour Jesus Christ.
12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.
15 Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
II Peter 1:1 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 1:2 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 1:3 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 1:4 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 1:5-7 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 1:8 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 1:9-10 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 1:11-13 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 1:14 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 1:15-18 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 1:19 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 1:20 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 1:21 – J. Vernon McGee
2 Peter 1:1-11 – The Rule of Christian Growth
The keynote of this paragraph is these things, II Peter 1:8-10. Precious faith, II Peter 1:1, answers to precious promises, II Peter 1:4. Notice that God has given us every provision for a godly life, through the knowledge of Jesus, but that we must avail ourselves of it. The promises are great and precious, but we must appropriate and absorb them, if we are through them to partake of the divine nature. Our redemption has been secured by our Savior, but we must constantly advance and add to the golden links already securely stapled in faith.
In II Peter 1:5-7, a choir with linked hands passes before us, each member of which leads another; or we may use another similitude, and say that each grace, here mentioned, is contained in the next, as a series of Chinese boxes. To be deficient in these things is to be barren and unfruitful, II Peter 1:8, and to be shortsighted, II Peter 1:9. We may well desire the abundant entrance, II Peter 1:11, not like waterlogged vessels, but with every sail unfurled—hot landing on the celestial shore unexpected and unwanted, but welcomed by those we have helped. —Through the Bible Day by Day
2 Peter 1:4 – The promises of God scattered throughout the Bible are like the stars in the firmament; if it were always day we should not know that the sky is so full of them, but when night approaches they begin to shine. When the night of affliction overtakes the child of heaven the promises of God are seen to shine forth one after another in the firmament of His Word. (Moody)
2 Peter 1:11 – You see yonder ship. After a long voyage, it has neared the haven, but is much injured; the sails are rent to ribbons, and it is in such a forlorn condition that it cannot come up to the harbor: a steam-tug is pulling it in with the greatest possible difficulty. That is like the righteous being “scarcely saved.” But do you see that other ship? It has made a prosperous voyage; and now, laden to the waters edge, with the sails all up and with the white canvas filled with the wind, it rides into the harbor joyously and nobly. That is an “abundant entrance”; and if you and I are helped by God’s Spirit to add to our faith, virtue, and so on, we shall have at the last an “abundant entrance into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Spurgeon)
2 Peter 1:11 – Though the wheels move slowly, yet they will reach the goal! You are not the men you were twenty years ago. The most of the desert-road is now behind some of you. Your future on earth is narrowing itself to a point. How is it with your souls? Your feet are sore with the long journey; are your wings ready for flight into the kingdom of the crystal river and the unsetting sun? (Joseph Parker)
II Peter 1:11—An entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly.
There are two ways of entering a port. A ship may come in, waterlogged and crazy, just kept afloat by continual working at the pumps; or it may enter with every sail set, her pennon floating at the masthead. The latter is what the apostle desires for himself and those whom he addresses. He desired that an entrance abundant should be ministered unto them.
An abundant entrance is really a choral entrance. The idea may be illustrated from the entrance of a Roman conqueror to his city, whence he had been sent out to war. Amid the crowds of spectators, the procession climbed slowly to the capital, while sweet incense was poured on the air, and music raised her sweetest and most inspiring strains. Will your entrance into heaven be like that? Will you enter it, saved so as by fire, or to receive a reward? Will you come unrecognized and unknown, or be welcomed by scores and hundreds to whom you have been the means of blessing, and who will wait you? Will your coming make music right through the home of God? This is the meaning of the choral entrance. It reminds us of those words of Christ about the friends whom we have made by the right use of money welcoming us into eternal habitations.
The conditions on which that choral welcome will be afforded are clearly enunciated here. Look back to II Peter 1:5-6. There the identical word “ministered unto” occurs again, translated “add.” It is as though these eight Christian graces composed the octave choir, and that our diligence in acquiring and cultivating these will be rewarded hereafter by the choral welcome into the eternal kingdom of the Lord Jesus. Wherefore give diligence. —Our Daily Homily
2 Peter 1:12-21 – “Eye-Witnesses of His Majesty”
Peter could never forget what the Master had predicted of his death. See John 21:18. Oh, that in our death, whatever be its mode, we may glorify God! The fulfillment of those words was already looming before Peter’s eyes, but he had no fear. He describes his home-going by the word used by Moses and Elijah when they spoke of the decease which the Lord would accomplish. Compare II Peter 1:15 with Luke 9:31.
Then the whole scene of the Transfiguration rose before his mind. It seemed as if he were again on that holy mount, beholding the majesty of the Lord and hearing the Father’s attesting voice. There are three infallible proofs of Christianity: (1) the witness of the Apostles; (2) the light of prophecy as fulfilled in Christ; (3) the testimony of the Holy Spirit. These three burn in the dark night of the present and we may count on them till we see the first glimmer of dawn. Then we shall need no candle, for the Lord God will give us light. —Through the Bible Day by Day
2 Peter 1:19
Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, the venerable missionary and educator, tells the following story. While he was in Constantinople, soon after the Crimean War, a colonel in the Turkish army called to see him and said: “I want to ask you one question. What proof can you give me that the Bible is what you claim it to be—the Word of God?”
Dr. Hamlin evaded the question and drew the officer into conversation, during which he learned that his visitor had travelled a great deal, especially in the East in the region of the Euphrates. “Were you ever in Babylon? ‘ asked the doctor. “Yes, and that reminds me of a curious experience I had there,” replied the visitor, who then related the following account of his visit to the ancient capital of the world:
“I am very fond of sport, and having heard that the ruins of Babylon abound in game I determined to go there for a week’s shooting. Knowing that it was not considered safe for a man to be there except in the company of several others—and money being no object to me—I engaged a sheik with his followers to accompany me for a large sum. We reached Babylon and pitched our tents. A little before sundown I took my gun and strolled out to have a look around. The holes and caverns among the mounds which cover the ruins are infested with game, which, however, is rarely seen except at night. I caught sight of one or two animals in the distance, and then turned my steps toward our encampment, intending to begin my sport as soon as the sun had set. What was my surprise to find the men striking the tents. I went to the sheik and protested most strongly. I had engaged him for a week and was paying him most handsomely, and here he was starting off before our contract had scarcely begun.”
“Nothing I could say, however, would induce him to remain. ‘It isnt safe,’ he said, ‘no mortal flesh dare stay here after sunset. In the dark ghosts, goblins, ghouls, and all sorts of things come out of the holes and caverns, and whoever is found here is taken off by them and becomes one of themselves.’ Finding I could not persuade him, I said, ‘Well, as it is, I’m paying you more than I ought to, but if you’ll stay I’ll double it.’ ‘No,’ he said, ‘I couldn’t stay for all the money in the world. No mortal flesh has ever seen the sun go down on Babylon and lived to tell the tale. But I want to do what is right by you. We’ll go off to a place about an hour distant and come back at day-break.’ And go they did and my sport had to be given up.”
“As soon as he had finished,” said Dr. Hamlin, “I took my Bible, and read from the thirteenth chapter of Isaiah (vs. 19-22): ‘And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gornorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent
there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.’”
“‘That’s it exactly,’ said the Turk when I had finished, ‘but that’s history you have been reading.’ “No,” answered Dr. Hamlin, “it’s prophecy. Come, you’re an educated man. You know that the Old Testament was translated into Greek about 300 years before Christ.” He acknowledged that it was. “And the Hebrew was given at least 200 years before that?” “Yes.” “Well, wasn’t this written when Babylon was in its glory, and isn’t it prophecy?” “I’m not prepared to give you an answer now,” he replied, “I must have time to think it over.” “Very well, do so, and come back when you’re ready and give me your answer,” said Dr. Hamlin. “From that day to this I have never seen him,” continued the doctor, “but what an unexpected testimony to the truth of the Bible in regard to the fulfillment of prophecy did that Turkish officer give!” (Moody)
1 Peter 1:21 – In the diamond fields of South Africa a diamond was found, celebrated lately under the title of fly-stone; placed under a magnifying-glass, you see enclosed in all its brilliancy a little fly, with body, wings, and eyes in a most perfect state of preservation. How it came there no one knows, but no human skill can take it out. So in Holy Scripture the Spirit of God is found in a place from which no power of man can remove it. (M’Ewan)