In Abundance

DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER OF PETER

IN ABUNDANCE

2 Peter 1:1-2

1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: 2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

NIV

As we begin to take a look at this second letter Peter needed to write, we notice something different in this letter than from his first. As we discovered going through that first letter we saw how Peter was warning them about the dangers they face from outside the church. They were being persecuted, they were experiencing sufferings from the hands of men outside the community of faith. Now there are also problems within, influences that need to be addressed. We should get to those and hopefully find truths we can apply to our lives in the process. Peter starts this letter, once again establishing his authority to instruct them in proper Christian living, correcting and or rebuking any erroneous patterns. The people he addresses, although they are long dead, his statement as to who this letter is for includes us. We have, through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, received a faith as precious as Peters. What we know is that God does not show favoritism and if he gives every man a measure of faith, then it would make perfect scriptural truth that every man has received the same measure of faith. Thus we have received the same faith that Peter received and we should consider just how precious this gift is from God.  Without faith, we are simply dead men walking. That phrase, dead man walking, has to do with a prisoner on death row, who is making his final walk to his execution. He might be alive at the moment he is walking, but he is already dead. This is the sense of those who have not taken advantage of the faith God offers in Jesus Christ. We can give a gift to a friend, but it would do them little good unless they opened it.  We have received this gift from God and praise His Holy Name, we opened it as well as we know just how precious that gift is, as it cost Christ that agony on the cross, so we could although we will experience the death of the body, we will live forever with Jesus. We have also received his grace and peace in abundance because we know, we have the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. That may sound boastful, saying we have the full knowledge of God and of Jesus. So let us just say we have that knowledge in abundance. The Greek word translated as abundance can mean just that, however, a more direct translation would be to multiply, increase, and that is an active, present tense, transitive verb. That is, it deals with a subject, a noun, or nouns, in this case, grace and peace. They are transferred from God to us. Therefore we have the grace and the peace of God. This is not a grace or peace any man can give another, for this is given to us from God. Sure we might be able to extend a gracious act toward another, but that is so minuscule compared to the grace of God. We might also be able to live in peace with someone, but again that does not compare in any sense of living with the peace of God in our hearts. Having God’s grace and peace means everything. Again, we see this grace as both the gracious act of God, Jesus on the cross, shedding his blood for the forgiveness of our sin, and his divine influence on our heart and how that is reflected in our lives. His peace can be seen as the opposite of being at war with God, and we know the outcome for those who war against him. However, His peace can also be seen as the tranquil state of our soul, assured of our salvation through Jesus, and thus we fear nothing from God, and we are content with our earthy lot, whatsoever that is. All that is ours because we have the knowledge of God and of Jesus. We know them, we know who they are and what God did for us. So this grace and peace are forever increasing, multiplying, being in abundance, being transferred from God into us.