Key Verse: 1 John 2:17 “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

As stated in the introduction, John was concerned about the effect of heretical teaching on his “dear children” (v.1). These heretics (known as “Gnostics”) were spiritual “elitists” who saw the Gospel as being too simple, and they longed for the “depth’ of the mysteries of God. Some of them saw the biblical account of creation as inadequate; they believed in a king of spiritual evolution whereby the world arose through generation or emanation from God over and through a long, series of “aeons”. They saw the material world as radically separated from the immaterial world. And they saw Jesus, not as God made flesh, but as someone who only seemed to be God. A common view was that Christ’s diving nature was only a temporary condition that came at His baptism and went before His crucifixion. Irenaeus, one of the Church “fathers” wrote of the Gnostics as “these blasphemous systems which divide the Lord…saying that he was formed of two different substances (Against Heresies III, 16:5).

One of the consequences of Gnosticism was a moral gap between what you preached and how you lived. They saw all matter (including your body) as evil, so only evil behaviour was expected. But, you could soar to the heavenliness with your spirit — so live like the devil, but worship like an angel.

This is why you see so much in this chapter about obeying the word, loving your neighbour, walking as Jesus. did, living in the light, confessing that Jesus is who He says He is, and doing the will of God. We are to “continue in Him” until He comes (v.28. His truth is not ephemeral but historical.

Key Verse: 1 John 1:3 “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father with His Son, Jesus Christ.”

In the poet Browning’s “A death in the Desert”, the apostle John lies dying in the presence of some of his followers. When my ashes scatter, says John,
“there is left on earth
No one alive who knew (consider this!)
–Saw with his eyes and handled with his hands
That which was from the first the Word of Life.
How will it be when none more saith, ‘I saw’?

John was the last living eye-witness of “the Word of life”. He had “heard” Jesus speak. He had “seen” Jesus. He had “touched” Jesus. And Jesus wasn’t merely another teacher, He was “the life” (2a). “We have seen it and testify to it”, says John. “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard.”

One day my wife and I were driving when we heard a loud crash a few hundred meters ahead of us. I say “heard” because that was the extent of our knowledge of the accident. We didn’t see it happen We did see the aftermath. And, as we assisted the victims until the arrival of the police and ambulance, we heard their (differing) accounts of the event. When the police arrived they quickly passed us by as witnesses — we hadn’t seen it happen.

An eye-witness is of incalculable worth in a court of law. Theories, biases, and lies all yield to the power of a first-person account.

One of the great strengths of Christianity is that it is rooted in history. We have the first-person accounts of eye-witnesses. Whether we like it or not, whether we accept it or not, history tells us the story of Jesus.

Key Verse: 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

The subject of this concluding chapter is the return of Christ. Already in Peter’s day there were impatient believers and outright unbelieving scoffers who were saying, “Where is this ‘coming’ He promised (v.4). Only a few decades had passed since Jesus ‘ ascension, but already there were doubters about this much acclaimed “parousia” (second coming). These questioners were disappointed and in some cases disillusioned — Jesus had let them down — or, at least He was pretty slow in fulfilling His promise to return.

So Peter puts things in perspective. First of all he reminds his readers that God doesn’t work within our space-time limitations. In His eternal kingdom, one day has no more quantitative reality than a thousand years (v.8); for God, everything is “now”.

That’s why He’s not “slow in keeping His promise” (v.9a NIV). To us He seems slow just like a newborn infant thinks its mother slow when she switches him from one breast to the other. He bleats impatiently and angrily at the interruption to his feeding and the length of time until its resumption. To the mother, however, it’s no time at all.

If God is waiting even in the least sense, it is because He is “not willing that any should perish”. He wants as many as possible to enjoy “a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (v.13). But let’s not lose our sense of perspective — from God’s point of view, Jesus is at the door. So, let’s “lift up our heads, for our redemption is near!”

Key Verse: 2 Peter 2:19b “…a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.”

Chapter 2 is rather gloomy reading. It describes false teachers in very explicit terms. Peter refers to them as shameful (v.2), greedy (v.3), corrupt (v.10a), arrogant (v.10b), blasphemous and ignorant (v.12a), beasts (v.12b), blots and blemishes (v.13), springs without water and mists driven by a storm (v.17a). They “mouth empty, boastful words” (v.18) but are, in fact, “dogs returned to their vomit” and “sows wallowing in the mud” (v.22). They are truly a destructive lot.

The men Peter refers to here were probably some of the earliest heretics known as “Gnostics”. There were various kinds of Gnosticism (from the Greek word “gnosis” — “knowledge”), but the heresy itself essentially was an outworking of spiritual pride. the Gnostics were mystics who were tired of if not “beyond”, the simplicity of the Gospel. They wanted the “deeper” things.

One of the tragic realities of Gnosticism was the dehumanizing of Jesus. Because they saw all material things (including flesh and blood ) as evil. They declared it a contradiction in terms that God should become flesh and dwell among us. Jesus, in their eyes, wasn’t really human, but some kind of angelic illusion. This, of course, totally destroyed the meaning of atonement — for only if Jesus was truly man, and truly sinless, and shed real blood on a real cross, was He a once for all sacrifice for sin. If He wasn’t human, he could never have become “the Lamb of God”.

Their view of Jesus was wrong, and, as you might expect, their morality was also wrong. They were characterized by spiritual mysticism on one hand and carnal sensualism on the other. They had “eyes full of adultery” and “never stopped sinning” (v.14a). They preyed son the gullible and seduced them to their compelling combination of sex and religion (v.14b).

That’s why the chapter is so forbidding. Peter was angry; and rightly so.

Key Verse: 2 Peter 1:8 “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (NIV).

Would you listen and take note if some trusted pastor gave you a list of things to do with the promise that, if you did them, you would “never fall” spiritually? Well, that’s exactly what Peter does in this chapter.

Look at verses 5-8. In these two sentences Peter challenges us to do seven things. Or, more correctly, to add seven things to our faith. We are to add goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love, to our faith. And we’re to do so “in increasing measure”.

Let us briefly consider all seven. It seems that in almost every choice we make, we face a fork in the road — one path is the good, the other is the bad. Usually we don’t have to spend much time determining which is which — our conscience kicks in automatically. Peter says, choose goodness.

Knowledge comes through study and thought, self-control through goal-setting, and perseverance through singleness of purpose — all three mean work.

Godliness can only be attained through a high view of Scripture and committee obedience to its directives. Brotherly kindness depends absolutely on a high view of your neighbour. Both of these virtues could be expressed in other terms: righteousness and justice.

As for love, there is a final distillation of its meaning in the writings of many theologians: to love means to seek the highest good of neighbour and of God. To truly love means to be truly selfless — it’s as far from sin as you can get in this limited universe. You have a taste of eternity when you love.

“Do all these things” and “you will never fall” (v.10).

Key Verse: 1 Peter 5:6,7 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

Peter concludes this letter with some words for the church leaders (the elders). He encourages them to focus on pastoring and to serve not as hirelings but as obedient servants (v.2). He wants them to avoid arrogance and pompousness and be “examples to the flock of what it means to be a follower of Christ (v.3). He reminds them that any self-seeking, in terms of temporal reward for their labours, pales in the light of the true reward awaiting the faithful under-shepherd “when the chief shepherd appears” (v.4). Then he shifts to the young men and encourages them to emulate the elders and be submissive to them. He says they should “‘humble” themselves, and when the time is right they too will be elevated to responsible leadership (v.6).

Then Peter says, “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you” (v.7 NIV). Here is the critical point. Any lust for money (v.2), lordly arrogance (v.3), or galloping ambition is rooted in insecurity. We fear poverty, or rejection, or insignificance, and we strive to be ahead of the next guy. We use people.

But we’re to serve people. And to do so means ongoing self-denial. That doesn’t mean, however, that God is blind to our labours. He knows our heart and our needs. And, if we’ll let Him do it, He’ll care for us. We can be sure He’ll care for us completely. Trust Him.

Key Verse: 1 Peter 4:7, 8 “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (NIV).

The New Testament writers were all conscious of the “end of all things”. They expected the culmination of human history to be at hand. And, in the light of the soon return of Christ, there was an urgency about the early believers’ choices and values. They lived as though Jesus were at the door.

This is the context of the key verse — “The end of all things is near.” With that in mind, Peter encourages his readers to do three things: 1. Be clear minded, 2. Be self-controlled, and 3. Love each other deeply. Keep your brain in gear. Keep your morality pure. Keep your relationships strong. Practical, good advice.

Clear-mindedness means good thinking, focused thinking, and godly thinking. We all know how easy it is to let our minds be filled with all kinds of unhealthy stuff. Covetousness, adultery, dishonesty, and most other sinful behaviour starts with what you think about. You are what you think. And if you’re not yet, you will soon be. Solomon said, “As he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7).

Self-control has a lot to do with keeping a clear head. A man who fathers a child extra-maritally had the capability (I assume) to think through the possible consequences of it all back when he was fantasizing, long before he acted. We think, we choose, we act. Our morality reflects our thinking.

As we think clearly and act morally, we will be able to love deeply. God wants us to seek the good of our neighbour — to see him/her as a person, not an object. We’ll avoid a lot of sin that way.

Key Verse: 1 Peter 3:15, 16a “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience…”

There’s a difference between being able to “give a defence” and being defensive. Unfortunately, too many believers take it personally whenever someone questions their faith. They forget that it is not our responsibility to win anyone to Christ (“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him,” said Jesus in John 6:44). Our responsibility is simply to tell others about the Lord. We should have no performance anxiety or notches on our gun. Saving people is what God does. Telling people is what we do.

Giving a defence for the hope within us, then, is inextricably tied to knowledge — knowledge of God, His word, and of our experience. I refer to knowledge of our experience deliberately. Sometimes people will say, “I know that I know that I know…” — which means, “I know, but I don’t know why.” Peter is saying that’s not good enough. We’ve got to know why. We’ve got to be able to give a reason (NIV) for the hope that we have.

This means we’ve got to engage our minds with Gods’ word, with God’s Spirit, and with ourselves, thinking through what it means to be a believer. It’s not enough to say, through our lack of thoughtful preparation, that “You should believe because I do.”

Rather, we’ve got to be able to say “I believe, and here’s why”, rightly “dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). And we should do so “with gentleness and respect” (v.15 NIV).

Key Verse: 1 Peter 2:2 “…as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby…”

A newborn baby is voracious — he lives to eat. His whole world is committed to survival. And his parents (especially his mother!) must align their lives to that infant’s appetite for life.

One of the wonders of those first critical days of life is the special milk the mother’s breasts provide her baby. In fact, for 3 or 4 days her breasts produce not milk but “colostrum” — a specially customized drink that provides the infant with important nutrients and antibodies. I say “customized” because this wonderful fluid is perfectly compatible with the baby’s digestive system. It’s the fines elixir the little one will ever drink.

Have you considered the “customizing” factor in the Word of God? Think about it with me. God could absolutely confound, confuse, and overwhelm us with information that to Him is rudimentary but to us is beyond imagining. Instead, He carefully reveals His will and His love to us in terms we can understand. What’s more, He sends His Son to us to be one of us and speak to us on our level; in so doing, Jesus becomes the living Word.

So we have the written and the living Word custom designed for our spiritual digestive systems. Ingest the Word. It’s designed just for you — and it will give you life.

Key Verse: 1 Peter 1:3-5 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an in hesitance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (NIV).

Peter starts his letter by praising God the Father. He has done so much for us! He has given us a new beginning by raising Jesus from the dead. Jesus died because of our sin (and, as the Bible so clearly says it, all who put their trust in Him died with Christ — because “the wages of sin is death”). But, even as Christ rose from death, so too we will one day rise — to “newness of life”! In this new life, we have an incorruptible inheritance in heaven that’s waiting for us. Right now we’re saved through faith, but the Day of the Lord is coming, a day when the extent of that salvation will be revealed. In the meantime, we are “shielded by God’s power”. There’s no more effective protector than God Himself! I think we should join Peter and praise God too.

This is why Peter calls our hope a “living hope”. Even though our salvation is fixed in the Lamb of God who died in space and time “once for all”, it is also a dynamic thing. We’re both “saved” (static) and “being saved” (dynamic). We’ve become children of God, but we’re also growing in “the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”. He is our hope, and He is alive!

So whatever “trials” we may have to suffer, they’re only for “a little while” (v.6). It’s only a matter of time until every tear shall be wiped away. We will enter our living inheritance forever. Praise the Lord!

Key Verse: James 5:20 “…Whoever turns a sinner from the error his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins” (NIV).

In the context, the key verse is the continuation of a sentence which begins, “My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this:…” The  sinner who is being turned “from the error of his way” is someone who has formerly embraced the truth. He/she is probably someone who, for whatever reason, has grown negligent, discouraged, or bitter. Somehow, the right of Christ no longer shines brightly for them. Sin, decay, and death have regained a grip. They’re drowning.

So how do we go about bringing the light of Christ back into the backslider’s life? Certainly not with condemnation and finger pointing. “I told you so” doesn’t do it either. Whatever we do, we must do with wisdom — a heavenly wisdom that “is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (3:17). And if you feel anything but wise, why not “ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault…” (1:5). Notice that God Himself gives generously to our inadequacy and does so without laying on any guilt trips (“without finding fault”). He fives graciously, and so would we.

That’s why the “grace” we show others “covers a multitude of sins”. We forgive rather than condemn. In so doing, the backslider is attracted rather than blinded by the light. The sinner sees himself in the overwhelming presence of grace (from us) and Grace (from God). His sins lose their power, and new life enters in — both for him and for the one “saving” him. For when we share God’s love with someone overwhelmed by sin, we’re “only a beggar telling another beggar where to find some bread.”

Key Verse: James 4:7, 8a “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

Years ago the American comedian Flip Wilson used to get lots of laughs when he would look innocently into the camera and explain some fictional bad behaviour by saying, “The devil made me do it!” It was funny, but that’s all. In the real world, the devil can’t make us do anything.

Satan is a creature Like you and me, and all creation, he is subject to the creative activity of a Creator. The Creator. The devil can’t create; he can only distort and destroy. What’s more, unlike God, the devil is not all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful. Only God knows everything. Only God is everywhere . Only God has no limits on power (although He does have the power of self-limitation). That means the devil has unanswered questions (he can’t “read” God’s mind — nor can he read ours). As a creature he can be in only one place at one time (although he has thousands of fallen angels covering mankind). And he’s powerless with you if you choose to resist him. Even his power to tempt mankind has been overrated — James tells us that temptation is a function of our “own evil desire” (1:14).

Satan’s war is bigger than his bite. He’s not even a legitimate lion — he is “like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour”. His strength lies in counterfeit. There’s only one true Lion; the “Lion of Judah”, Jesus Christ, our Lord our Saviour.

When Satan encounters resistance from someone who has the indwelling Lion of Judah, he turns tail and flees! There are a lot of unprotected souls out there to harass and bully. And bullies are cowards — they don’t waste any time around those in whom real power and integrity dwell.

So don’t see yourself as a victim of Satan. If anything, he should be victimized by us. We’re not victims. in Christ we’re victors!