Such a power opening:
3 By
his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a
godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one
who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And
because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious
promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine
nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
5 In
view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises.
Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and
moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone."God has given us everything we need for living a godly life." The first thing that popped into my head is they didn't have a bunch of books about prayer and Bible study (not that those things are necessarily bad). They had the Old Testament, the stories from that were passed down from the apostles and possibly some of the letters from Paul and/or Peter. Yet Peter tells them they have everything they needed, which means we do too!
Again, I'm not saying that Christian "how to" books are wrong or bad, but I do feel we need to make sure their source is Scripture and we go to the Bible as our primary source. I've really appreciated the comments through the year, so many good thoughts and pointing out things that I didn't see in a passage. It's been a blessing!
2 Peter 1
ReplyDeleteGreeting
1 From Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. To those who have obtained a faith that is as valuable as ours, a faith based on the approval that comes from our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. May good will and peace fill your lives through your knowledge about Jesus, our God and Lord!
God’s Power Gives Us the Ability to Live Godly Lives
3-4a God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and for godliness. This power was given to us through knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and integrity. Through his glory and integrity he has given us his promises that are of the highest value.
Pay Attention to God’s Words
16-18 When we apostles told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we didn’t base our message on clever myths that we made up. Rather, we witnessed his majesty with our own eyes. For example, we were eyewitnesses when he received honor and glory from God the Father and when the voice of our majestic God spoke these words to him: “This is my Son, whom I love and in whom I delight.” We heard that voice speak to him from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.