Growing in Godliness (Summary)

From our Sunday service on September 8, 2024, 2 Peter 1. Watch the full message: Growing in Godliness on YouTube.

We’re in 2 Peter 1 once again, in a series called Nurturing Faith in a Changing World. Our society here in the United States has been drifting further and further away from God over the past few decades. Things that used to be sacred, like Sundays, are not held in such high regard. Society has moved further away from that, so we’re looking at nurturing our faith in a world that’s changing and walking away from it.

Second Peter was written by Simon Peter shortly before his death, around AD 64 to 68. Emperor Nero was persecuting the church, but there was a bigger threat. False teachers were going around claiming to have secret teachings of Jesus and reframing His words by their own new interpretations. You can see the same trend in some denominations in America today, and in individual churches. They say, “That’s not really what the Bible was saying,” or “The Bible was written for the people of that time and cultural context, so who are we to push their moral expectations on our society?” Then they say, “I have this new teaching. I have this secret understanding,” and they start reframing the teachings of Christ based on their own interpretations and the culture they live in. In Peter’s day it was early Gnosticism. People taught that Jesus was more like a magician with crafty sayings, and that He had secret truths about salvation that were only for the select few. They also taught that some of the sins of the world, such as sexual sins, were not a big issue anymore, that it was just a kind of metaphor. The main argument Peter uses across the whole book is that biblical knowledge is the best offense against false teaching. God wants you to be knowledgeable in the word.

A Servant First, an Eyewitness Second

Peter starts by setting an example. He introduces himself as “a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.” Like Paul, he humbles himself by calling himself a bondslave of Christ first. Second, he is an apostle, an eyewitness of Jesus who heard Christ’s teaching straight from His mouth. He could have boasted, “I am an eyewitness of Jesus. That is my title.” Instead the first quality he wants you to know about him is that he is submitted and dedicated to Christ. It’s more important to be surrendered to Christ than it is to have seen Christ with your own eyes. We may never see Christ with our eyes until we see Him in glory, but there is something greater than that, and it’s to be surrendered to Christ and know His word. Peter is writing to those who have “like precious faith,” the same faith he had, in contrast to the false faith based on secrecy.

Everything We Need

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: 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.

2 Peter 1:3–4

We’ve talked about this divine power: Christ sent His Spirit to dwell in us. If you’re looking for these false teachings outside of the word and the Spirit, you’re looking in the wrong place. Godliness is a proper reverence for God and a proper submission to God. Through a saving knowledge in Jesus Christ we are given “exceeding great and precious promises”: forgiveness, that our sins will be removed as far as the east is from the west; transformation through the Holy Spirit if we follow Him; a resurrection at the end; and the down payment of those promises in the Holy Spirit. “Partakers” is a legal term. It’s what you’d call a shareholder who holds stock, or, in the context of the Romans, a joint partner who owns half of a business. We share the Holy Spirit together as one in Christ, and it’s through this that we can escape the corruption in the world through lust. Lust is a wrongful desire, a longing, a desperate need for something that is bad for you. The false teachings were making that corruption acceptable. Peter says there is something better: a Spirit inside you with the power to overcome it.

Add to Your Faith

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

2 Peter 1:5–7

“Diligence” is being eager and ready to act, putting your full energy into it. You have faith, and faith is what saves you and gives you the Holy Spirit, but there are other steps we need to take. In my Greek study I found it interesting that the word for virtue here is the Greek word for manliness. Men, here’s a little lesson for you: in the Bible there is no such thing as manliness without virtue. The attribute is being an honest man, a man with integrity. Knowledge here means the teachings of Christ and understanding them. Temperance is self-control: instead of instantly jumping out, you ask, “Is this a good idea?” It’s even better to wait on God’s answer, and we need that patience if we’re not going to be driven away by every wind of doctrine. Godliness is reverence. We need to accept that God is sovereign and can do anything He wants. Whether God’s mercy is a good thing to you usually depends on whether you’re the one sinning or the one sinned against. Brotherly kindness is the love you have for a friend, but if we only love our friends, what praise do we have? The wicked do that too. So Peter says to add agape love, translated “charity,” a sacrificial love that acts, not a sensual love. That would be eros, a different Greek word. The last thing Peter says you need to develop is to love your friends and love your enemies, to go out and do good expecting nothing in return. This is always the end game of the Christian: to be a giver in the name of Jesus Christ.

Why It Matters

If each day you look at this checklist and ask, “Do I have this? What am I lacking? What can I improve?” Peter says it is impossible for you to be barren or unfruitful. One way I’ve seen this put is to go around every day imagining that every person you interact with is Jesus. He said that inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these His brethren, you have done it unto Him. If you ask, “If the person at this table were Jesus, how would I react to Him right now?” and then react to that person as if he were Christ, it is impossible for you to sin against him or be judgmental of him. But those who lack these things are blind. You’re nearsighted, and you’ve forgotten that you were purged from your old sins. New secret teachers keep popping up and saying God wants you to really do this or really do that. There’s a good way to sort all of that out: follow these attributes in your life, and anything God wants you to do you’ll already be doing. It’s not a book you have to buy to figure out how to be a good Christian. Peter says, “though ye know them,” and he will endeavor that after his decease we may have these things always in remembrance. That prayer was answered. It was recorded in the word of God and kept there always for our remembrance.

A More Sure Word

Peter knows there are people out there creating lies and writing fake gospels. So he says this is not a cleverly made myth or fan fiction about who Jesus could have been. He was an eyewitness of His majesty, on the Mount of Transfiguration, when they saw Christ’s glory and heard the voice of God confirm that Jesus was the Messiah.

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: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 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.

2 Peter 1:19–21

But Peter doesn’t end with his own testimony, because it only goes so far. He says, “I’m just Peter. I’m the guy who told Jesus, ‘Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.’ I’m the Peter who said, ‘Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.’ I’m the Peter who walked on the water and then lost faith and sank. I’m the Peter who denied Jesus three times. I’m an eyewitness, and I make mistakes.” So he points to something greater: a more sure word of prophecy, the word of God. The “day star” arising in your hearts is talking about salvation with Jesus. There are thousands upon thousands of prophecies about Jesus that all came true, and these things were outside of His control unless He was God. Peter was going to pass away soon, but God’s word will not pass away.

As the waters get rocky, go back to the word. There are no secret golden plates that were buried in Manchester, New York. There are no secret meetings in caves on Mount Hira near Mecca. There are no hidden books of scripture lost to time. There have been no secret meetings with Jesus where He opens someone’s mind to new revelation. This is our revelation: the word of God and the Spirit inside us. The question is, are you reading His word, studying it, and meditating on it? Are you praying for God to make His will for your life clear and to make the steps you should take visible to you?