2 Peter 1:1

In those days, the author put his name at the beginning of a letter. Also, people started letters with a greeting. Here, the author called himself ‘Simon’ Peter. He described himself as ‘a servant and an *apostle of Jesus Christ’. ‘Servant’ means a slave who served a master. Peter was being humble. He served and obeyed his master Jesus. But Peter was also emphasising his authority. He was the servant of Jesus who is the King and the Judge.

‘*Apostle’ means ‘someone whom God sends’. Jesus chose his *apostles to be special leaders. They taught people about all that Jesus did and said. False teachers were trying to change this good news. But Peter knew the truth. Jesus had sent Peter in the same way that God sent the *prophets in the *Old Testament (Jeremiah 1:7; Ezekiel 2:3). Therefore, Peter was writing his letter with God’s authority.

Peter sent his letter to people whose *faith in Jesus ‘is as valuable as our *faith in Jesus’. In this verse, ‘*faith’ means that people believe God and trust Jesus as their *Saviour. *Faith is a gift from God. God makes people able to believe and trust him. God always acts in a fair way. This means that he does not have favourite people. God’s gifts are for everybody. Many Christians had never seen Jesus. But those people were just as valuable to God as the people who had seen Jesus. All Christians receive the same gift of *faith as the *apostles had received. It is a free gift from God. Nobody can earn it. Our ‘God and *Saviour Jesus Christ’ made this possible. In verse 2, Peter referred to Jesus as God as well as *Saviour. The false teachers were denying that Jesus is God. Matthew 1:23 says that Jesus is ‘Emmanuel, God with us’. Therefore, Peter reminded his readers that Jesus is God as well as *Saviour.

Peter knew Jesus as a man for three years. The *Greek word for ‘Christ’ means the ‘*Anointed Person’. In the *Old Testament, they *anointed men who had special tasks. They *anointed the priests and kings whom God had chosen. (See Exodus 28:41; 1 Samuel 10:1.) The *Hebrew word for ‘Christ’ is ‘*Messiah’. ‘*Messiah’ was a title of the special king that the *Jews were expecting. They believed that he would rescue them from their enemies. God sent Jesus as the ‘*Messiah’. Jesus is both the Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16) and the King that the *Jews were expecting.