ANALYSIS. This letter is written to those who have obtained a like precious faith with the writer, and that they may be assured of the correctness of the gospel and its God-given source, and thereby the more strongly intrenched in its belief and not easily moved therefrom by false teachers, he assu... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 1. SIMON PETER, A SERVANT AND AN APOSTLE. In the former Epistle the writer names himself Peter. The Master said to him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona," and subsequently said to him: "Thou art Peter" (Matt. xvi, 17, 18). Peter here uses both names, and calls himself both a servant and an ap... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 2. GRACE AND PEACE BE MULTIPLIED. Paul quite frequently used this benediction. May these graces increase. THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM. Knowledge of God. The more we know of his word the more we know of him and of his Son. To know God aright is eternal life. Hence, the more knowledge we pos... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 3. ACCORDING AS HIS DIVINE POWER. From God everything relating to the Christian system, the plan by which man is reconciled and brought back to God, is derived. It is according to his plan. It is divine, and by divine power given. It includes everything pertaining to life and godliness. It is... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 4. WHEREBY ARE GIVEN UNTO US EXCEEDING GREAT. By his divine power God expressed his will to men, and in that will God made promises to us. The Holy Spirit, through the pen of the apostle Peter, attempts to convey to and bring within the comprehension of our weak minds the moral grandeur, supe... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 5. BESIDES THIS. Now, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by being translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son, accomplished by your faith carried out by obedience, the Holy Spirit points out your way step by step. GIVING ALL DILIGENCE. The progress proposed to you in... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 6. AND TO KNOWLEDGE, TEMPERANCE. Temperance. This virtue consists in an ability to control yourself in all your conduct. This may be, and no doubt is, difficult, but the Christian is admonished to make this addition to his other virtues. AND TO TEMPERANCE, PATIENCE. To your temperance you m... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 7. AND TO YOUR GODLINESS, BROTHERLY KINDNESS. Brotherly kindness is love of the brethren, love of the saints, members of Christ's body the Church. This love is active, showing itself in kind acts continually, without questioning and without hesitation, as to cost or labor. AND TO BROTHERLY K... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 8. FOR IF THESE THINGS BE IN YOU AND ABOUND. The qualities heretofore enumerated forming the per fect Christian character being in possesed by the saints to their fulness can not make the possessor barren of results for good, but, contrariwise, such a one is industrious, and achieves success... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 9. BUT HE THAT LACKETH THESE THINGS IS BLIND. The one that does not possess the qualities named is blind, morally blind. As natural blindness prevents the seeing of objects, so one morally blind can not see afar off, so far as spiritual matters are concerned. His moral vision is so defective... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 10. WHEREFORE THE RATHER, BRETHREN. For the reason that, by adding the qualities named, you are fruitful, and for the further reason that, if you are wanting in these qualities, you are rendered morally blind, deficient in vision, and even faulty in memory, earnestly endeavor to make your cal... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 11. FOR SO AN ENTRANCE SHALL BE MINISTERED. Here, again, the apostle, in few words, says much. The entrance will be abundant. You will be fully, richly prepared for an entrance into the everlasting kingdom. That is, the heavenly kingdom; the mansions of God, where the Master has prepared a pl... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 12. WHEREFORE I WILL NOT BE NEGLIGENT. Peter here speaks of his own duty to the brotherhood, and tells them he will not neglect to remind them of these things, although he assumes that they all know them as the truth in Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 13. YEA, I THINK IT MEET. Yet he feels it a duty he owes to the brotherhood, and the, obligations he is under to the Master, to keep the saints stirred up to the necessity of perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Hence his many and earnest exhortations to the performance of Christian duties... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 14. KNOWING THAT SHORTLY I MUST PUT OFF THIS TABERNACLE. Peter here alludes to his own death. Of this he felt assured, for the Lord Jesus Christ had shown him that he must suffer, and he here states that the time for his death was not far distant: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou w... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 15. MOREOVER I WILL ENDEAVOR. A determination is here expressed of leaving behind him after his death the means by which these exhortations to, and reminder of, duties to be performed by the saints, shall always be kept in memory.... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 16. FOR WE HAVE NOT FOLLOWED CUNNINGLY DEVISED FABLES. The gospel of Christ is no fable. About it there is no myth. There is no mistake or room for doubt. WHEN WE MADE KNOWN. That is, when we apostles proclaimed the power and coming of the Lord, we made no mistake. We were eyewitnesses. Bei... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 17. FOR HE RECEIVED FROM GOD THE FATHER. A such qualified eye-witness, and as a man shortly to die, I again assert the fact to be that Jesus Christ whom we preach was recognized by the Father with his own voice from on high to be his beloved Son, and that with him he was well pleased.... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 18. AND THIS VOICE WHICH CAME FROM HEAVEN. And I further assert that the voice which we heard came from heaven, and that it occurred while we were with Jesus Christ in the holy mount. As witnesses, our senses of seeing and of hearing were called into requisition. I give you the place where wh... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 19. AND WE HAVE A MORE SURE WORD. The language of the Common Version is in this place ambiguous. The thought is more clearly expressed either in the Revised Version or by Rotherham. The latter has it: "And we have more firm the prophetic word." The idea is that at least some of the brethren a... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 20. KNOWING THIS FIRST. While taking heed to the prophetic word, I desire you to know one thing in relation to prophecies; that is, that no prophecy is an interpretation of the feelings and sentiments of the prophets who uttered them. They are expressions of God's will. They are therefore not... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 21. FOR THE PROPHECY CAME NOT IN OLD TIME. I give you the reason now why the prophecies were not self-solving: because they came not as the will of man. But the prophet the holy man of God spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost. Hence the prophecy is not an expression of man's words, but is... [ Continue Reading ]