Faith That Escapes Corruption

November 24, 2019 Background Scripture: 2 Peter 1 Lesson Passage: 2 Peter 1:1 – 15 Peter’s second letter differs markedly from his first; starting with the intended recipients. Whereas in the first letter Peter addressed the believers who were dispersed, in the second letter he addressed all who have obtained the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. It is easy to conclude that the first letter was addressed primarily to the Jewish believers who were dispersed from Jerusalem because of the persecution that came against the Jerusalem church. Likewise, it seems clear that the second letter is intended for all believers in Jesus Christ, Jews and Gentiles. God had brought Peter to the point of accepting everyone that He would save by sending him to the home of a Gentile believer, Cornelious. Until this encounter, Peter was steadfast in his view that the world was divided into two groups: Jews and everybody else. Likewise, his behavior, as recorded in scriptures, suggests that he felt that Jews were above all other people. As it is with us, quite often, so it was with Peter that one occasion was not enough to completely convince him to change his mind about something he believed. After the visit to Cornelious house, Peter was still trying to satisfy the Jewish believers by separating from the Gentile believers in Antioch. God rebuked Peter through Paul for that incident. The salutation of this letter is a clear indicator that this was no longer an issue for Peter at the time he wrote this letter. At that time, Peter openly embraced all believers in Jesus Christ and recognized that our salvation is a common salvation to all believers. It is this common salvation that is our assurance that we will be made partakers of the divine nature. This is the promise God makes to all believers in Christ. The world is filled with corruption as a result of the presence of sin and the lustful desires of the flesh. As long as we are in the world, we are either caught up in the corruption of it or constantly fighting to overcome it. Through faith, we know that the promises of God will all come to fruition. As the song goes, “Trouble don’t last always”. We thank God that this life is temporary and that eternal life will be lived with the divine nature where the lust of the flesh will no longer exist. In the meantime, we should continue to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. This will allow us to gain self-control and perseverance that lead to brotherly kindness and love. With these attributes, Christians can live a victorious life in this world in spite of the corruption that is all around us. This growth towards Christian maturity is based on the faith we have in the precious promises of God. In essence, our walk in this world should be a foretaste of the life to come when we are made partakers of Christ’s divine nature. Our faith will give us the strength to overcome the challenges we will face. When Christians become entangled in the cares of this world, it causes us to stumble in our walk. We cannot stumble and be fruitful at the same time. Our increasing knowledge of Jesus Christ should help us be fruitful servants of God while living here. Peter sent this as a reminder to believers to encourage the recipients of the letter as well as others. This encouragement was intended to extend even beyond Peter’s death. Looking at this letter today is a reminder that Peter’s encouragement to Christians has continued for almost two thousand years after his death. Robert C. Hudson October 30, 2019

Faith That Is Focused

November 17, 2019 Background Scripture: Galatians 5:22, 23; 1 Peter 1 Lesson Passage: 1 Peter 1:13 – 25 Our lesson passage begins with the preposition “therefore”. Because of this, we understand that our lesson passage is a conclusion drawn from the evidence of the background scripture that precede the lesson passage. In the background scripture, Peter addressed this letter to the believers who had been scattered. This is descriptive of the Jewish believers who were scattered as a result of the persecution of the church that was in Jerusalem. They were pilgrims because they were away from their homeland. Peter reminded them that their salvation was according to God’s foreknowledge, and therefore, they were the elect of God. The finished work of faith that God had wrought in and through Jesus Christ was the foundation of their salvation. Their salvation was not to be seen as a present or temporary status, but rather as an eternal inheritance in Christ. God had previously given His plan of salvation through the Old Testament prophets who gave explicit details about the suffering savior. The angels desired to know what God was going to do about the spiritual condition of mankind. The first-century apostles, who laid the foundation of the church, were eyewitnesses of the unfolding revelation of God’s plan. It was through their proclamation of this “good news” of God’s salvation that so many first century saints came to receive Jesus as their personal savior. It was because of this that Peter exhorted the recipients of his letter to be vigilant in their spiritual walk in this world. They were admonished to be holy in their living rather than imitating others who had not received Christ as savior. The assurance of their salvation should rest totally on the grace of God. The salvation God offers can only be received as an unmerited gift from God. In essence, there is nothing anyone can do to earn God's salvation or become deserving of it. We must simply trust God—which is to say, we must focus our faith in God and God alone. Our lives should reflect our faith in God. As we understand more and more about our eternal salvation in Christ, then we should all begin to see ourselves as pilgrims in this world. We have not been saved so that we can enjoy the sins of the world. We should no longer live life as though this temporary life is all there is. God has revealed to us the hope that is to come because of Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection from the grave. The sufferings of this world are all temporary. Christians are admonished to show fervent love for fellow Christians. With all that Christians endure in this life, being assembled with fellow Christians should be a time of great joy because of the common faith. No one is perfect, but Christians do share a common faith and that should cause us to care about each other differently. This message would have come across totally different to the recipients of Peter’s letter. They were dispersed because of an unrelenting persecution against the church. Christians only experience this in isolated situations around the world today. Today, we sometimes appear to embrace ecumenical fellowship just as much—if not more than Christian fellowship. This was not the case for the first century saints. They understood that Christianity was the exclusive way to salvation. Perhaps if our faith was similarly focused, then evangelism would never be seen as an option—especially for our family and friends. Robert C. Hudson October 30, 2019