The final chapter of 1 Peter contains admonition on practical matters but no doctrine. This second letter from Peter is to the same audience a couple of years later, near the end of Nero’s reign. Things have gotten worse for the Hebrew Christians in the Roman provinces along the Black Sea coasts of Asia Minor.
By now, the Judaizers had shifted their campaign. The old Talmudic law was passe, so a new crop of charismatic proto-Gnostics was making the rounds. Their doctrine sounded new, but it was simply an excuse for even greater moral depravity. This was the birth of, “Since the flesh is irreparably fallen, let it do what it wants. It won’t affect your salvation. Just keep your head on straight.” These men lived and promoted dissolute lives. This teaching served to completely dismantle the whole concept of living in this world by the power of the Spirit over the flesh.
He offers what we could call a chain of logic beginning with his greeting, proclaiming himself a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ (personally appointed while Jesus was still alive). But his audience had the same faith that propelled Peter’s ministry, made available to them because the righteous obedience of Jesus paid the price. Peter prays they continue finding more grace and peace with God by what they were learning about the Son. This is a subtle reference to learning the painful lesson of holiness in the face of persecution.
Peter has confidence this prayer is not pointless because he is quite certain that Christ won for us a generous supply of everything His followers need to walk in this world with a strong testimony of righteousness. We are called into Christ’s inner circle of disciples, privileged to receive the inside knowledge reserved for those who were nominated to experience a revelation of His glory and greatness. That selection further inducts us into a household of great wealth promised to those who participate in His divine nature. This means we have escaped the prison of the fleshly lusts.
But it’s not enough to simply get the concept. Your commitment should empower a diligent training of your will to seek the greatness of our Lord’s name, which opens the door to the real gnosis those liars keep talking about. True gnosis yields self-discipline, which in turn brings cheerful endurance in persecution, which in turn promotes a morally clean life, brotherly affection and sacrificial love.
That we should improve in these ways makes us very fruitful in drawing closer to Christ. Notice the drift here: Christ is the personal manifestation of our Creator, and anything that resembles a deeper acquaintance with Him results in a disciplined holy conduct in the flesh. This is a very plain counter to Gnosticism.
If you can’t grasp this necessity of holiness, what’s the point of personal spiritual redemption? What happened to being cleansed of the sins of the flesh? We should be diligent to prove by our holy walk that we are the Elect of Christ. If you seek holiness by His power, the whole point is not to stumble back into the sins of the flesh. You don’t defeat the flesh by surrendering to it.
Peter’s demise is very close, but as long as he yet lives, it is his duty to remind every believer of these things. Peter also planned on leaving a body of written material that would keep preaching his message after he was gone. He never forgot the warning Jesus gave him about how He would die, and it was obvious that was coming quite soon. Yes, Peter was a firsthand eyewitness to everything he claimed about Jesus. None of his teaching was dreamed up by human speculation. Unlike the Gnostics, Peter knew what he was talking about, and it wasn’t that hard to understand.
He never forgot that day God’s voice thundered from Heaven affirming that Jesus was His Son and His delight. It was up on that mountainside where Jesus was transformed into His eternal form. The gift of prophecy the Lord gave to Peter turned out to be utterly reliable. If nothing else, his readers could trust his message like a lighthouse in a fog, until the Day of the Lord itself dawns, and they see Him face to face. Meanwhile, the voice of prophecy never comes from a prophet’s own imagination but is the voice of God.
