This chapter is based on the Second Letter of Peter, RSV.
(TT 278)
In his second letter the apostle Peter sets forth the divine plan for developing Christian character. He writes: God “has granted to us His precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature.”
(TT 278.1)
“Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.”
(TT 278.2)
The apostle presents before the believers the ladder of Christian progress. Every step represents advancement in the knowledge of God. We are saved by climbing round after round to the height of Christ’s ideal for us. God desires to see men and women reaching the highest standard; and when by faith they lay hold of Christ, when they claim His promises as their own, when they seek for the Holy Spirit, they will be made complete in Him.
(TT 278.3)
Having received the faith of the gospel, the believer is to add to his character virtue, and thus prepare the mind for the knowledge of God. This knowledge is the foundation of all true service and the only real safeguard against temptation. This alone can make one like God in character. No good gift is withheld from him who sincerely desires the righteousness of God.
(TT 278.4)
None need fail of attaining, in his sphere, to perfection of Christian character. God places before us the example of Christ’s character. In His humanity, perfected by a life of constant resistance of evil, the Saviour showed that through cooperation with Divinity, human beings may in this life attain to perfection of character. We may obtain complete victory.
(TT 279.1)
Before the believer there is held out the wonderful possibility of being obedient to all the principles of the law. But of himself man is unable to reach this condition. The holiness that he must have is the result of the working of divine grace as he submits to the discipline and restraining influences of the Spirit of truth. The incense of Christ’s righteousness fills with divine fragrance every act of obedience. The Christian is to persevere in overcoming every fault. Constantly he is to pray the Saviour to heal the disorders of his sin-sick soul. The Lord bestows strength to overcome on those who in contrition seek Him for help.
(TT 279.2)
The work of transformation from unholiness to holiness is a continuous one. Day by day God labors for man’s sanctification, and man is to cooperate with Him. Our Saviour is always ready to answer the prayer of the contrite. Gladly He grants the blessings needed in their struggle against the evils that beset them.
(TT 279.3)
Sad indeed is the condition of those who, becoming weary, allow the enemy of souls to rob them of the Christian graces that have been developing in their hearts and lives. “Whoever lacks these things,” declares the apostle, “is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.”
(TT 279.4)
Peter’s faith in God’s power to save had strengthened with the years. He had proved that there is no possibility of failure before the one who, advancing by faith, ascends to the topmost round of the ladder. Knowing that soon he would suffer martyrdom for his faith, Peter once more exhorted his brethren to steadfastness of purpose: “Therefore, brethren, be the more zealous to confirm your call and election, for if you do this you will never fall; so there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
(TT 279.5)
“I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to arouse you by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. And I will see to it that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.”
(TT 280.1)
“We did not follow cleverly devised myths” about Jesus, he reminded the believers, “but we were eye-witnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was borne to Him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we heard this voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain.”
(TT 280.2)
Yet there was another even more convincing witness. “We have,” Peter declared, “the prophetic word made more sure. You will do well to pay attention to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts... . No prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
(TT 280.3)
While exalting true prophecy, the apostle solemnly warned the church against the torch of false prophecy, uplifted by “false teachers” who would bring in “destructive heresies, even denying the Master.” These false teachers, accounted true by many of their brethren in the faith, the apostle compared to “waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved... . It would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.”
(TT 280.4)
Looking down the ages, Peter was inspired to outline conditions in the world just prior to the second coming of Christ. “Scoffers will come in the last days,” he wrote, “following their own passions and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’” Not all, however, would be ensnared by the enemy’s devices. There would be faithful ones able to discern the signs of the times, a remnant who would endure to the end.
(TT 281.1)
Peter kept alive in his heart the hope of Christ’s return, and he assured the church of the certain fulfillment of the Saviour’s promise, “I will come again.” John 14:3. The coming might seem long delayed, but the apostle assured them: “The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
(TT 281.2)
“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire! But according to His promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
(TT 281.3)
“Beloved, knowing this beforehand, beware lest you be carried away with the error of lawless men and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
(TT 281.4)
Peter closed his ministry in Rome, where his imprisonment was ordered by the emperor Nero about the time of Paul’s final arrest. Thus the two apostles, for many years widely separated in their labors, were to bear their last witness for Christ in the world’s metropolis, and on its soil to shed their blood as the seed of a vast harvest of saints.
(TT 281.5)
Peter had braved danger and had shown a noble courage in preaching a crucified, risen, and ascended Saviour. As he lay in his cell he called to mind the words of Christ: “When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldst: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.” John 21:18. Jesus had foretold the stretching of the disciple’s hands on the cross.
(TT 281.6)
As a Jew and foreigner, Peter was condemned to be scourged and crucified. In prospect of this fearful death, the apostle remembered his sin in denying Jesus in the hour of His trial. Once unready to acknowledge the cross, he now counted it a joy to yield up his life for the gospel. But he felt that for him to die in the same manner as his Master died was too great an honor. He had been forgiven by Christ, but he could never forgive himself. Nothing could lessen the bitterness of his sorrow and repentance. As a last favor he entreated his executioners that he might be nailed to the cross with his head downward. This request was granted, and in this manner died the great apostle Peter.
(TT 282.1)