For this very reason …
Summary: This conjunctive phrase connects the reasons for living a godly life to the need to live a godly life.
Continue reading “2 Peter 1:5a — Open and Closed”2 Peter 1:5a — Open and Closed
2 Peter 1:4d (Part 2) — No Place to Hide
… having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Summary: As we read Peter’s words, it is important to remember that we exist in two forms at once. We are both flesh and spirit.
Continue reading “2 Peter 1:4d (Part 2) — No Place to Hide”2 Peter 1:4d (Part 1)— Escape!
… having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Summary: Peter points to something that may not be obvious because like a fish in water, we are immersed in our culture’s sin.
Continue reading “2 Peter 1:4d (Part 1)— Escape!”2 Peter 1:4c — One With God
… so that through them you may participate in the divine nature …
Summary: How is it possible that we can participate in God’s divine nature? How is it possible that a hundred choral voices can join into one? There is a parallel here that might help us understand this passage.
Continue reading “2 Peter 1:4c — One With God”2 Peter 1:4b — Awkwardness
… he has given us his very great and precious promises …
Summary: Peter is writing us a letter, but he is not a writer. His thoughts might seem a bit disconnected to us two thousand years later. (They might have seemed disconnected to his first readers, too.) Yet, if we give Peter a bit of grace, the meaning of his words shines very brightly.
Continue reading “2 Peter 1:4b — Awkwardness”2 Peter 1:4a — Grass Clippings
Through these …
Summary: Stopping to examine these two words leads to an interesting study in cause and effect. What has Peter talked about so far that enables God to give us his promises?
Continue reading “2 Peter 1:4a — Grass Clippings”2 Peter 1:3c — The Day Everything Changed
… through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Summary: Peter reminds us that the reason for Jesus to be born as a human here on earth was to establish a new covenant that replaced the old.
Continue reading “2 Peter 1:3c — The Day Everything Changed”2 Peter 1:3b — A Godly Life
… has given us everything we need for a godly life …
Summary: What is a godly life? It is a question we should spend some time thinking about. Jesus is God, so we know that we should be like him, but are we to be like him in every way?
Continue reading “2 Peter 1:3b — A Godly Life”2 Peter 1:3a — A Different Kind of Power
His divine power …
Summary: Divine power is different than physical power. In the physical realm, physical power is mostly what we see, but the Bible is full of stories about a different kind of power.
Continue reading “2 Peter 1:3a — A Different Kind of Power”2 Peter 1:2 — I’d Know You Anywhere
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Summary: Recognizing someone you know is a kind of “knowing” that is hard to describe. Seeing a loved one after twenty years means seeing someone whose appearance has changed a lot, yet we “know” who they are. This is the kind of knowing that Peter refers to in this passage.
Continue reading “2 Peter 1:2 — I’d Know You Anywhere”