2 Peter 1 - Divine Sovereignty meets Human Responsibility

You've been given everything you need to live a godly life, so make every effort!

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2 Peter 1 Summary

The opening greetings of New Testament epistles often seem repetitive, but don't be too quick to skip over them, especially in Peter's letters. The opening to the second letter contains some awesome theology:

Your faith is of equal standing with the apostles - in other words, there's not various classes of Christians.
Notice that the righteousness upon which your faith is based comes not just from your Savior Jesus Christ, but from our God and Savior Jesus Christ. This is a striking proof of the divinity of Jesus!
God's grace & peace is multiplied to you as your knowledge of God grows. The more you learn about Him, the more grace and peace you'll have!

It's not just faith you've been given, but Christ's divine power has been granted to you! This enables you to not just be a better version of yourself, but makes you a partaker of the divine nature.

After reading about the faith, grace and power that's been given to you, it may seem like there's not much for you to do as a Christian since everything has been done on your behalf. But look at the aggressive language Peter commands you with:

Make every effort to supplement your faith (v5);
Increase godly virtues in your life so that you will be effective and fruitful (v8);
Diligently confirm your calling and election (v10)

Dig Deeper

It may seem like we're spinning our wheels at church because you keep hearing the same message over and over again. Peter hits the nail on the head in v12 as to why it seems this way. Even though you are firmly established in the truth, I need to keep reminding you of these things, writes Peter.

He's not insulting you by saying that you're carelessly forgetting the gifts God's given you, rather he's acknowledging that we live in a world that's constantly making every effort to separate you from those gifts, therefore it's necessary to be reminded of them often.

AAA Prayer :

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our God and Savior Jesus Christ (v1) and the Holy Spirit (v21) - One God, who makes Himself known in three persons.
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for giving you everything you need for a Godly life (v3), and ask Him to strengthen you to make every effort (v5, 10, 15)
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: