◄ 2 Peter 1 Devotional Commentary ►
2 Peter 1:1
Simon Peter was a recipient of God's grace and salvation, and an eyewitness of His majesty and glory. This headstrong, young fisherman, who was the first to proclaim by revelation, "Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God," addresses himself to fellow-believers in simplicity and humility as: "The bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ."
Simon was the one who denied His Lord three times, read more...
2 Peter 1:2
God commended His love towards us in that while we were still sinners and estranged from Himself, Christ died for us, forgave us of our sins, removed us from condemnation, came to take up residence within our hearts, and abide within us. We are positioned in Christ Who gave us His life, promised to do a good work within us, bestowed on us eternal life, and poured into us the riches of His glory, simply because we trusted Him as Saviour.
read more...
2 Peter 1:3
The position and privileges that are ours in Christ Jesus, and all that we will ever need to live a godly life which is pleasing to the Lord, were given to us as a free gift of God's grace. Freely given through the merit of Christ's sacrificial death at Calvary and because of His omnipotent, divine power.
As His children, we are called to live a life of godliness, to live our life in spirit and truth, and to live in total read more...
2 Peter 1:4
What privilege to know that through His divine power, God has given every believer in Christ Jesus our Lord, all we need that pertain to life and godliness, and it is appropriated through a knowledge of Him.
God has already equipped us with the power to live a victorious Christian life, to live our lives as He intended us to live (in total dependence on Him). And His divine power is accessed through a knowledge of Him Who called read more...
2 Peter 1:5
The urgency of Peter's message in his second epistle is that the Christian's life, which begins with faith, must grow and develop into Christian maturity and produce spiritual fruit which is so honouring to the Father.
As believers, we are not left on our own to forge through our Christian life blindly, depending on our own personal potential, business acumen, innate abilities, or educational excellence, for to do so would cause read more...
2 Peter 1:6
Grace and peace is not only given to the child of God, but multiplied as we grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Heavenly Father and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Because we trusted the Lord Jesus as Saviour, all that we need for life, godliness, and spiritual growth is ours already, but it is accessed by faith. We started our spiritual journey by grace through faith in Christ, and we are kept throughout our life-journey by the read more...
2 Peter 1:7
We are to grow in grace - to grow in godliness and Christlikeness. We are to display the fruit of the Spirit in the bond of peace and we are to demonstrate the gracious characteristics that only come from above, in our everyday life and pattern of living.
As children of our Heavenly Father, we are to function in the divine nature that is ours, by faith in Christ. The Lord Jesus lived his life, from start to finish, in the way that read more...
2 Peter 1:8
Peter knew that the Christian life begins with precious faith in the finished work of Christ and continues with maturing faith, as it is implemented day by day throughout our earthly walk. But he also knew that spiritual growth is not automatic, for we must grow and mature in grace and in a knowledge of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. And as we trust in the promises of God and depend on Him alone through all the eventualities of life, we may bear much fruit to the read more...
2 Peter 1:9
Our heavenly Father desires that all His children walk in spirit and truth. He wants each one of us to become firmly established in the faith and produce much fruit in our lives, to His praise and glory. Indeed, it is the desire of most Christians to be fruitful and to live a life that is honouring to God.
Peter points out how blessed we are that we have been given all we need to live a life of godliness, because God in His read more...
2 Peter 1:10
God knows the end from the beginning. He knows before the foundation of the world the choices that every man and woman will make with regard to their salvation. God knew Your choice, and He knew mine before we were even born. We who, at some point in our life, have chosen to accept His gift of salvation, were elected as God's children before the foundation of the world.
God has given every man and woman volition to choose their read more...
2 Peter 1:11
Our privileges and position in Christ are beyond our comprehension and we have been given all that we need for life and godliness as a free gift of grace; and it is all by faith in Him. Instead of facing God's justified wrath and eternal indignation, grace and peace has been multiplied to us, by faith in Christ Jesus our Saviour, and in Him we have been forgiven of our many sins and reckoned by our Heavenly Father as righteous.
read more...
2 Peter 1:12
The old apostle Peter knew that his time on earth was short, but felt it necessary to continue reminding believers of the truths of the Word of God and of the responsibility we all have to become increasingly established in the gospel of Christ so that we may grow in grace and become increasingly fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Peter's heart desire was to establish believers in the gospel of read more...
2 Peter 1:13
After the customary greeting to his readers, Peter begins his letter by reminding us of our privileged position in Christ as believers, and emphases the importance of our Christian conduct, in the light of this gracious, God-given advantage we have been given.
He catalogues the divine power that is ours in Christ, for in Him, God has given us all we need that pertains to life and godliness. And he reminds us of the exceedingly read more...
2 Peter 1:14
It must have been amazing to watch the apostle Peter grow in grace and mature in his Christian faith, in his advancing years. Peter grew from the young petulant man who boasted that he would die for the Lord, even though others would forsake Him... to that old seasoned saint who came to understand that the trial of our faith is more precious to the Lord than gold.
Though we are in the world, Peter understood that we are as read more...
2 Peter 1:15
By the time Peter, the big, brawny, blustery fisherman, was writing his second epistle, we discover he had matured into a modest and unassuming man who continued to express his deep devotion for his divine Master and articulate his immense gratitude for his eternal salvation. Peter continued to enumerate to others the privileges that are the right of all who trust in Him.
read more...
2 Peter 1:16
Peter was one of the three disciples in Christ's 'inner circle'. He was a man that boasted of his loyalty and love for the Lord in the early days of faith. He walked with Jesus along the way and witnessed Christ's powerful prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. He was both astonished and bewildered when Jesus, the incarnate Word of God, girded Himself with a towel and began to wash His disciple's dirty feet - but Peter was also an eyewitness to Christ's heavenly read more...
2 Peter 1:17
The apostle Peter, was one of the men who heard the voice of John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord. He was one of the company who went in and out among Christ's disciples from the beginning, and readily responded to the Lord's call to, "follow Me."
He heard the gracious words that Jesus spoke, and saw despised lepers healed. He witnessed the dead being raised, the blind receiving their sight, and the lame read more...
2 Peter 1:18
In the first chapter of second Peter, members of the Body of Christ are called to develop a strong Christian character. Spiritual growth and maturing in the faith is not something we have to do in our own strength. By God's grace, we have been given everything we need for life and godliness, and the apostle Peter wants us to keep this in the forefront of our minds.
He reminds us that as born again children of God, we have read more...
2 Peter 1:19
We live in a dark world. Despite the advances that man has made in areas such as medicine and technology, nonetheless the world is a dark place where evil rules. But the Christian is called to live by faith in the Word of God and not by sight. We are to live by faith in His Word, and not to be led by our feelings, experiences, or emotions that may be induced by the world around us.
The Word of God not only tells us of our read more...
2 Peter 1:20
The Word of God is not simply a collection of so many interesting writings from antiquity. God's Word is living and powerful and has been breathed-out from the heart of the living God, to enliven those who trust in His name. Not only was it the Spirit that prompted and inspired holy men of God to script His message to humankind, but He continues to prompt and inspire all who search its pages diligently, with a desire to discover the truth within its pages, and read more...
2 Peter 1:21
God has spoken to man through the holy Scriptures, and His Word endures forever. The Bible is the singular, unchanging, and non-negotiable plumb-line for truth, and it was holy men of God who were moved by the Holy Spirit in bygone days, who were entrusted to record the sacred, inerrant, God-breathed text.
The Scriptures were not devised by the whimsical impulses of men, nor manufactured from their own creative imagination, but read more...