2 Peter 1:1-4

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2 Peter 1:1-4
Before we dive into examining the book of 2 Peter and studying 2 Peter 1:1-4, lets start off with our memory verse for the book of 2 Peter, which is:

2 Peter 3:18 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

2 Peter 3:18 really summarizes the primary theme of the book, which is to “…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

As Christians, we should be continually growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This should be our prayer. This should be our heartfelt desire. This should be the course of action we take. We should continually strive to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I want to encourage you to memorize this verse and meditate on it often over the next month or so, because it represents a practical directive and a practical course of action we can take as we live our lives for Christ Jesus.

Now that we have the memory verse for 2 Peter and the thematic idea of the book, let’s examine the authorship and canonicity of 2 Peter.
Authorship and Canonicity of 2 Peter
The authorship and canonicity of 2 Peter has been a point of debate among scholars since the third century and an even a greater point of debate among skeptical and liberal scholars with the last century.

The argument against 2 Peter being written by the Apostle Peter centers around three specific arguments:
1.   The argument that no long line of church tradition in the second century appeared to support Peter as the author.
2.   The argument that 1 Peter and 2 Peter literary styles are different, and that 2 Peter’s literary style is too similar to the Book of Jude.
3.   The argument that the mention of Paul’s writings means that the book of 2 Peter was written after Peter’s death.

Even though these three arguments may bring up some interesting points for us to ponder and consider, all three of these opinions carry very little weight when we review the external and internal evidence that supports Peter as being the author of 2 Peter.

Another point that we should also consider here is that the Holy Spirit speaks through Peter as the Spirit desires. It is vitally important to understand that the Holy Spirit speaks through the authors of the Old and New Testament and that He sometimes speaks in different ways or uses different styles of communication to make a point.

Let’s take a moment to look at the external and internal evidence to see why Petrine authorship makes the most sense. 

There are several pieces of external evidence that we should consider in relation to the argument for Peter being the author of 2 Peter. The external evidence includes:
•   2 Peter is very short and was probably not widely distributed due to the persecution occurring at the time.
•   Because Peter died shortly after writing 2 Peter, he could not directly confirm that he was the author.
•   The acceptance of 2 Peter came slow due to the skepticism of the early church.
•   In the third century Methodius of Olympus, Firmilian (a bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia), and Origen made reference to Peter being the author of 2 Peter – even though Origen pointed out a current trend of doubt.
•   Two of the great theologians of the early church, Athanasius and Augustine, considered 2 Peter as canonical.
•   The Council of Laodicea (a.d. 372) included the epistle in the canon of Scripture.
•   Jerome placed 2 Peter in the Latin Vulgate (ca. a.d. 404).
•   The great third Council of Carthage (a.d. 397) recognized the intrinsic authority and worth of 2 Peter and formally affirmed that it was written by the Apostle Peter.


There are also several pieces of internal evidence that we must consider in relation to the argument for Peter being the author of 2 Peter. The internal evidence includes:
•   Peter most likely used a scribe other than Silvanus who served Peter in writing his first letter.
•   Both books are filled with hapax legomena, words that occur only once in the New Testament.
o   1 Peter contains 62 and 2 Peter has 54—more, proportionately, than most New Testament books their size.
•   Both books include the unusual salutation, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you” (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Peter 1:2).
•   The term aretas (“praises” KJV) in 1 Peter 2:9, and aretē (“goodness” KJV) in 2 Peter 1:3 are forms of the same unique word and refer to the moral excellence and goodness of God.
•   The word apothesis (“removal” KVJ) is used in the New Testament only in 1 Peter 3:21 and 2 Peter 1:14.
•   The graphic phrase amōmou kai aspilou (“blemish or defect”), used in 1 Peter 1:19 to refer to the sinlessness of Christ as One without “blemish or defect,” is artfully rephrased in 2 Peter 2:13 as spiloi kai mōmoi (“blots and blemishes”) to refer to the character of the false teachers.
•   The phrase is used again in 3:14, aspiloi kai amōmētoi (“spotless and blameless”), to challenge Christians to moral excellence in light of Christ’s return.
•   Second Peter also reflects the unique vocabulary of Peter’s sermons recorded in the Book of Acts.
o   One of the best examples is the verb kolasōntai (“punish”), found only in Acts 4:21, and kolazomenous (“punishment”) in 2 Peter 2:9.

Now that we have discussed the authorship and canonicity of 2 Peter, let’s look at the date and audience.
The Date and Audience
The book of 2 Peter was probably written shortly before Peter’s death, anywhere from A.D. 60 to 68 and some believe that the Neronian persecution had already begun when the letter was originally written.

Knowing where the letter was sent is somewhat difficult for us to understand because Peter does not come right out and directly say it like he does in 1 Peter. If one understands the second letter to refer to the first letter (2 Pet 3:1), as I do, then the letter was sent to churches in Asia Minor, churches that were mainly Gentile.

If it was sent to Asia Minor, there are clues that Peter wrote to a church facing syncretism (the blending of two or more religions) and that he used the language of their culture to address the church or churches he was writing to.

Another aspect that we should consider here is that if the letter was sent to Asia Minor and those believers were facing syncretism, it should be of no surprise to us that Peter dedicated a whole chapter to calling out false teachers.

Now that we have discussed the date and audience of 2 Peter, let’s look at the purpose of the book and the outline of the book.


The Purpose of 2 Peter
The purpose of 2 Peter is to call Christians to spiritual growth so that they can combat apostasy within their church and their life as they look forward to the Lord’s return.

Even though Peter is an Apostle, his writing is like that of a senior pastor expressing concern for his flock while simultaneously championing the idea of proper theological orthodoxy.

Right off the bat, we see that Peter desired to refresh his audience’s memories and stimulate their thinking so that they would remember his teaching. He meticulously described the characteristics of mature believers and challenged them to make every effort to grow in grace and knowledge.

Peter’s final impassioned plea to grow in Christian maturity and guard against false teachers was precipitated by the fact that his time was short and that his audience faced immediate danger from false teachers who would “secretly bring in destructive heresies.”

The credentials Peter provides for true teachers are given to help the readers be discerning students of God’s Word. Peter cautioned them against false teachers and exposed the evil characteristics of false teachers.

At the end of 2 Peter, Peter encouraged his readers with the certainty of Christ’s return.

The Outline of 2 Peter
The outline of 2 Peter is quite beautiful. What is interesting about the book of 2 Peter is that it opens and closes with a theme of victory and when we read through this epistle, we find that Peter’s primary focus is centered on how we should live our lives as believers and what we should be aware of when it comes to false teachers.

After painting a landscape in chapter 2 and a portion of chapter 3 stuffed with false teachers, fallen angels, flagrant immorality, and flaccid scoffers, Peter charged his readers “to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”

Faithful living in difficult times – that is the lesson Peter would have believers learn through this dynamic letter. This is the same lesson that we should learn today! We should strive to live faithfully in difficult times by growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Chapter 1 walks us through the Christian nature considering the Work of God and the Word of God.

Chapter 1 reveals:
•   The Work of God
o   The fact of the divine nature – divine power, divine promise, and divine participation.
o   The function of the divine nature – characteristics of the function, consequences of the function, and contrasts of the function.
o   The finality of the divine nature – experiential finality and eternal finality.
•   The Word of God
o   Memory of God’s Word
o   Majesty of God’s Word
o   Meaning of God’s Word

Chapter 2 dives right into Christian warfare and the attack of false teachers, giving us a nice contrast to the qualities Peter listed in chapter 1. Chapter 2 reveals:
•   Deliverance from false teachers.
•   A detailed description of false teachers.
•   The destruction of false teachers.
Chapter 3, the last chapter of 2 Peter, then talks about our hope in the Lord’s return. Chapter 3 reveals:
•   Believers remember it.
•   Scoffers laugh at it.
•   God guarantees it.
•   Peter describes it.
•   That our behavior is change by this hope.

Even though 2 Peter is a very short book in comparison to other books in the Bible, it is easy to see from the outline that 2 Peter is stuffed with so many important things we should learn and apply to out life!

Now that we have covered the purpose and outline of 2 Peter, let’s dive into our text for today.

2 Peter 1:1-4
“1 Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

1:1a “Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ”

The author is identified as Simon Peter. Peter is the Greek translation of the Aramaic Cephas; the name Jesus gave Simon when he was called to be a disciple (John 1:42). The name Peter means “rock” and nobody else in the New Testament could be identified as Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

This bold statement of apostolic authority is supported both by internal evidence in the text and by its early and universal acceptance as a part of the canon of Scripture.

By combining these distinctly Hebrew and Greek names together, Peter may be giving us an indication of the mixed audience (Hebrew and Greek Christians) he is addressing in the letter.

What is interesting and beautiful about this opening passage is that Peter uses the term servant (doulos, lit., “slave”) before his title of apostle of Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:1; Titus 1:1). This reveals to us that Peter was under the authority of Jesus Christ, that he submitted to the lordship of Jesus, and that he held no inherent authority of his own.

The usage of the term “servant” also suggests a position of honor. Peter was honored to be a servant of Jesus Christ and he was in good company because the term servant was also used in the Old Testament to describe people like Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, David and so many others.

This brings us to the first point in this passage of text:

1.)   We are servants of Christ before anything else.

Peter was Christ’s servant first, and an apostle second. An example of this would be to say that I am servant of Christ first, and a pastor second. You are Christ’s servant first and secondly a father, a husband, a wife, a brother, a sister, an employee, a retiree, etc.…

Whatever title you may carry in this world, you are a servant of Christ Jesus first, before you are anything else. This means that you operate from a position of submission to Jesus. Your thoughts, your attitudes, your actions all emanate from a position of submission to Christ.

Having said that, it is important to note that there may be conflict between your title as a servant and other secondary titles that you may carry in this world. In cases such as these, you should always seek to submit to Jesus by searching for answers in His Word and by applying those answers to your life.

For example, many years ago I had a boss that consistently lied to his clients and encouraged me to do the same. I knew that lying was not Biblically appropriate, so I went to him a few days after he encouraged me to lie, told him that it wasn’t appropriate for him to lie, and that I would not lie for him.

Even though he didn’t like what I had to say and even though he responded poorly to what I had to say, I had to take a stand. I had to be a servant of Christ first, before being his employee.

This is the position that we need to take as Christians – we are servants of Christ before anything else.

Another interesting aspect of this text is the use of the term “apostle.” Peter not only called himself a slave but also an “apostle of Jesus Christ.” The term “apostle” in some contexts may refer to missionaries or messengers (Rom 16:7; 2 Cor 8:23; Phil 2:25), but neither of those meanings fits here.

Peter was speaking more technically of those whom Jesus Christ specially called and appointed to serve as apostles (Matt 10:1–11:1; Mark 3:13–19; cf. Acts 1:21–26).

Peter was an Apostle called and appointed by Jesus. This meant that Peter held a high position in the Christian church and that his words carried authority among believers. However, like the other Apostles, Peter did not abuse his power or use his position for selfish gain. 

This brings us to the second point in this passage of text:

2.)   Use your title to honor Christ

No matter what your position is, you owe it to Jesus use your title to honor Him.

You might be asking yourself, “How do I do this?”

Well, it all goes back to being a servant of Christ Jesus. If we take the position of being a servant of Christ first, we will honor Christ in the title we hold. This may sound like an abstract concept; however, it is not!

We could easily find Scriptures from the Old Testament and the New Testament that illustrate and affirm the idea of using our title to honor Christ. In fact, Colossians 3:23-24 sums this idea up quite nicely.

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

Even though we may not be a capital A Apostle, we should honor Christ in whatever we do by working heartily as for the Lord.

Our title, whether in relation to a job, a family position, or social position is NOT what is important here! What is important is that we live a life of servant-hood to Christ.

What is important here is that we are servants of Christ before anything else!

The other side to this coin is that we should never abuse or misuse our titles, positions, or social status. To do so would bring dishonor to us and more importantly it could bring dishonor to the work of Christ.

For example, I once knew a man that held a pretty high position in a company that I used to work for years ago. The man said that he was a Christian and for the most part he seemed to act like a Christian. However, about a year after I started to work for the company the company fired him for making inappropriate advances towards some of the women that he supervised.

His actions caused at least two of those women to question their faith.

With that being said, this leads us into another beautiful part of this passage of text.

1:1b “To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:”

Peter describes those who he is writing to as having “obtained a faith of equal standing with ours.”

Peter is not referring to faith in a particular body of teaching or doctrine here, because the way the word “obtained” is used here signifies the obtaining of something by lot.

For example, Zechariah obtained by lot the privilege of offering incense in the temple (Luke 1:9). The Roman soldiers cast lots to see who would get Jesus’ garment (John 19:24). In each instance obtaining something by lot is a gift that one receives.

The “faith” Peter is referring to is a “faith” in Jesus Christ. This is a personal and subjective faith in Jesus Christ that is given to us by the grace of God.


This brings us to the third point in this passage of text:

3.)   Faith for Salvation is a divine gift

Faith, which is necessary for salvation, is a divine gift from God. Faith for salvation cannot be produced by our own will or our own strength – it must be received from God Himself as the precious gift it is.

We must understand as a point of good doctrine that God appointed, as it were by lot, that Peter’s readers would receive such faith and that we would receive such a faith as well. Having said that, I want to stop right here and provide a word of caution.

If you are wrapped up in a religion or doctrine that teaches you that you must somehow apprehend a saving faith or that a saving faith comes from a work that you do, please run from that religion or doctrine. It is not Biblical, and it is not helping you to grow in your relationship with God.

Let’s get back to the text. The other interesting aspect of this passage is the phrase “of equal standing with ours” in conjunction with the phrase “by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:”

The general point Peter is trying to make here is that all believers of all places, classes, and ethnic backgrounds share the same blessing of faith in Jesus Christ by the grace of God. In other words, the “faith of equal standing” is a faith in Christ by the grace of God.

Another wonderful aspect about the phrase “by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:” is that the grammar used here clearly indicates that Jesus Christ is called “God” in this verse.

The structure of the clause agrees with the famous rule of G. Sharp, that says when two singular nouns, which are not proper nouns, fall under the same article, they refer to the same entity.

The phrase used here fits every part of this definition. If Peter wanted to distinguish Jesus Christ from the Father, he would have inserted an article before the noun “Savior.”

The pronoun “our” also indicates that only one person is referred to here. To add to this, in four parallel texts “Lord and Savior” refers in every case to the same person, Jesus Christ (2 Pet 1:11; 2:20; 3:2, 18).

The glory of Jesus Christ is also emphasized at the conclusion of the letter in the doxology (3:18), so that the letter is bounded by the theme of Christ’s supremacy. By using this type of language here, Peter emphasizes that Jesus Christ is both God and Savior.

This is not just a wonderfully crafted statement that speaks to Christ’s supremacy – it is a wonderfully crafted statement that speaks to His divinity! This is a fundamental point of doctrine that all Christians should believe – Jesus is God!

1:2 “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

The greeting of 2 Peter is the same greeting used in 1 Peter and Peter infuses this greeting by using the word “grace.” This might seem like a normal type of greeting for an epistle, however the placement of the word “grace” before the word “peace” is significant because it implies that those who receive God’s grace will also experience God’s peace!

The other significant point is that Peter’s greeting is a point of prayer – Peter prayed that God would multiply His grace and peace in the lives of His readers, because he knew that their progress in the Christian life depended upon God alone.

This brings us to the fourth point in this passage of text:

4.)   We should pray that God multiply His grace and peace

As Christians, a portion of our prayer life should be dedicated to praying that God multiply His grace and peace to other believers and to our life as well!


I am not sure what your prayer life looks like right now, however I want to implore you and encourage you to incorporate this into your prayer life.

Make a commitment right now to pray every day that God would multiply His grace and peace in the lives of other believers and your own life as well. Let this prayer become the theme of your prayer life!

Another significant aspect of this passage of text is that grace and peace are multiplied through knowing God and Jesus Christ our Lord. This type of knowledge of God is personal and relational, but it also involves intellectual content.

This is important because Biblical writers never divorce the head and the heart in terms of spiritual growth. Grace and peace abound when we know more about God and come to know God in a deeper way in the crucible of experience.

1:3 “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,”

Christ’s divine power has provided us with everything that we need to live a godly life. All that we need for spiritual vitality (life) and godly living is attainable through the knowledge of Christ. In other words, an intimate “full knowledge” of Christ is the source of spiritual power and growth.

This brings us to the fifth point in this passage of text:

5.)   You already have what you need – use it

Christ called us to this life of godliness by His own glory and goodness and it is our personal responsibility to use the knowledge He has given to us in His Word.

In practical terms, this means:
•   We should be praying for wisdom and understanding.
•   We should be studying God’s Word every day.
•   Every day we should be actively looking for ways to apply His Word to our life.

In this life, we will face all sorts of situations and challenges – some more difficult than other. However, we have the Word of God, and His Word provides us with the wisdom, insight, and understanding we need to live a godly life.

Church we already have what we need – let’s use it!


1:4a “by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises,”

“By which,” that is to say by Christ’s “glory and goodness,” He has given us His very great and precious promises.

The Greek verb translated “has granted” means “to bestow, to endow.” The usage of the word “granted” carries with it the idea of the worth of the gift.

This brings us to the sixth point in this passage of text:

6.)   Remember the worth of the gift

Jesus paid to high a price for us to simply forget the worth of the gift He has given us. In fact, Peter goes on to address this in verse 9 by saying:

“9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.”

As believers in Christ, we should keep the worth of His gift on the forefront of our minds. We should never forget the work of Christ and His promises to us.

Speaking of promises, the word for “promises” implies an obvious public announcement. These promises are not something that is hidden from the us – they are publicly announced through the Word of God, and we should go to the Word often to encourage ourselves with these promises!

As we read on, we see that Peter appropriately describes the promises as “very great and precious.” The promises of God have intrinsic value and they are exceedingly precious! We should never lose sight of their value or have an attitude of indifference towards God’s promises.

God has given us His promises for a very specific reason, so let’s read on to understand that reason.

1:4b “so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

These promises of God enable us to participate in the divine nature.

The word “partakers” is literally “become partners.” In other words, we become partners with God and partake of God’s very nature – each one of us who trusts in Christ as Lord and Savior is a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17).


This brings us to the seventh and final point in this passage of text:

7.)   Remember that you are a partaker of the Divine nature

This is astounding! First, God gives us the gift of salvation and then He allows us to be partakers of His very nature through His promises! I don’t know about you, but this is exciting stuff! Just think about it for a moment. The God Who created everything gave you the gift of salvation and then the God Who created everything, the One Who hold all power and authority over all things wants you to partake in His Divine nature. That is truly amazing!

Here is another amazing point for us to consider and rejoice over! Because we are “partakers” of God’s nature, we can share in Christ’s moral victory over sin in this life and share in His glorious victory over death in eternal life.

In other words, because of the promise of the new birth, the promise of God’s protecting power, and the promise of God’s enabling power, we can be “partakers of the divine nature,” that is, to share in Christ’s victory over sin and death.

If that doesn’t get your engine running, I don’t know what will! The Most High God gives you salvation and then He allows you to share in Christ victory over sin and death. Powerful stuff right there!

That is not all though… God doesn’t stop there! In addition to this, we escape the corruption and moral decay of this world which is caused by man’s sinful desires (epithymia, lit., “lust”). This is just icing on the cake here!

Summary and Closing
As I close out this sermon today, I would like to reemphasize the seven points that we covered in this passage of text.

1.)   We are servants of Christ before anything else
a.   Put Christ first and foremost
2.)   Use your title to honor Christ
a.   Whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord
3.)   Faith for Salvation is a divine gift
a.   We can never apprehend a saving faith – it is a divine gift
4.)   We should pray that God multiply His grace and peace
a.   Let’s make a commitment to pray that God multiply His grace and peace to other believers and ourselves
5.)   You already have what you need – use it
a.   God has already given you all that you need to live a godly life – use it
6.)   Remember the worth of the gift
a.   Never forget that you were cleansed from your sins by the precious blood of Jesus Christ
7.)   Remember that you are a partaker of the Divine nature
a.   You share in Christ’s victory over sin and death because of the work of Christ

Taught by Matthew McWaters

Associate Pastor of Verse By Verse Fellowship

2 Peter Series