Virtue is rare, but it is a quality that we as Christians should all be striving to possess. Virtue has been described as an “uncommon character worthy of praise” and as being the marker for “excellence of character” (BDAG). Praise-worthy and excellent character ought to be the markers for the child of God – and this is exactly what Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1:5. With the right foundation and willing effort, such an uncommon characteristic ought not to be uncommon within the body of Christ Jesus. Peter tells us Christians to “add to [our] faith virtue” (2 Pet. 1:5, NKJV). As noted above, virtue is “uncommon.” Therefore, if we are looking to add virtue to our lives, we must know where to turn to find virtue. Thankfully, Peter points us in the right direction. Virtue is only going to be found through the example of Jesus – the one in whom we have faith (2 Pet. 1:3-5). With a proper conviction concerning Christ Jesus, we will come to mold our lives to His character. We will look to His example of service to grow in our service toward others (Mk. 10:45). We will look to His compassion to grow in our compassion toward others (Matt. 9:35-36). We will look to His example of faith to grow in our endurance (Heb. 12:1-2). We will look to His example of patient suffering to grow in our ability to handle persecution (1 Pet. 2:21-25). In all that Jesus did, virtue is …

The basis of our Christian growth according to Peter is our faith (2 Peter 1:5). Faith is essential to our walk with Christ – for without faith, we have no real conviction or reason to live for Him. As Christians, we must give our best effort to build upon our faith. Building upon our faith, however, requires us to have an understanding of our faith.                   According to Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (NASB). Faith is not a wish, nor is faith a doubt. Faith is true belief. It is true belief that can only be produced by the truth of God’s word (Rom. 10:17; Jn. 8:24; Jn. 17:17). In the case of 2 Peter 1, this true belief is in the all-sufficiency of God’s word for the knowledge of all pertaining “to life and godliness” through Jesus Christ, as well as the “exceedingly great and precious promises” concerning eternal life through Him (2 Pet. 1:3-4, NKJV). If we truly believe that we can find all the necessary knowledge for this life and for our salvation in Christ Jesus, it only makes sense that we will then wish to build upon this faith. A desire to build upon our faith is a sign of a true, living faith. The Holy Spirit reveals to us through the writing of James that “faith without works is dead” (Jas. 2:20). Even in Hebrews 11, the Hebrews writer reveals the connection between one’s …

Hard work can be a welcomed challenge to some. There are those who enjoy exerting and exhausting themselves over a job. They find great satisfaction in knowing that something good was accomplished by the sweat of their brow. At the same time, there are those who seem to be allergic to hard work. Any effort at all is unenjoyable and creates more problems than it solves. When it comes to Christianity, we need those who are willing to work hard. In fact, Peter tells us by inspiration that if we are to excel in our Christian walk, we must apply “all diligence” (2 Pet. 1:5, NKJV).             To give “all diligence” is to put forth some hard work. If one has “all diligence,” he will have a certain eagerness and great desire to tackle whatever task might be thrown his way. It is the quality that is demanded of us all as Christians (cf. Rom. 12:11). This effort exerted by the hardworking Christian, however, merits nothing. Jesus would say concerning the labor done by the child of God that we “have done what was our duty to do” (Lk. 17:10). In other words, hard work is merely what a Christian does. There is a misconception by some that we work with “all diligence” so that we can be saved. No amount of hard work will save us – “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of …

To start our second Peter class off, it will be good for us to understand the book as a whole, this will allow us to better understand the details as we go through the book. This second letter written by Peter was once again a reminder to the people. The first letter Peter wrote was a reminder of the salvation Christians enjoy in order to encourage them through the suffering they were going to face. This second letter is reminding the people of the salvation they enjoy and warning them of the false teachings that will be coming to them soon. This book grouped along with Jude and 1 John tell us the progression of the false teachers. 2 Peter 2:1 tells us the false teachers are coming. Jude 4 tells us the false teachers have come. 1 John 2:19 tells us they have left and are coming again. Peter thankfully doesn’t leave us in the dark. There are different ways to break the book down, we will break it down into chapters. Chapter one Peter reminds the Christians of the things they already know about Jesus Christ, “For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth” (2 Peter 1:12). Chapter two Peter explains the approach the false teachers are going to use, “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through he lusts of the thresh, through lewdness, the ones …

            Perhaps it is due in part to the great freedoms we enjoy, but we often feel as though we do not owe anyone anything. It may not be the case that we owe a financial debt to another, or still owe an I-O-U to a neighbor, but as Christians, we all share a certain amount of responsibility to all with whom we come in contact. In obeying the gospel, we recognize our responsibility to God (Rom. 6:16-18), but we also find that we owe something to our fellow man. Because of the grace we have received to be forgiven of our sins through Jesus’ sacrifice, we are indebted to sharing His love and His saving gospel with all men.             As Christians, we owe the love of God to one another. Paul writes in Romans 13:8, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law” (NKJV). Paul goes on to explain that love fulfills the law of Moses since “love does no harm to a neighbor” (Rom. 13:10). If love is not looking to harm a neighbor, then love must be seeking something greater. Love looks for that which is better for the other person – even at the expense of self. This type of sacrificial love is the reason we can even know love. John writes by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought …