A Dispensational Approach
By R. B. Shiflet
II Peter
I. Introduction 1:1
“Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Pet. 1:1)
A. The Author
In spite of attempts by many scholars to discount the Petrine authorship of this letter, the Divine Author, the Holy Spirit, puts His seal on Simon Peter, the disciple who wrote the preceding epistle, and the one to whom our Lord gave the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Chapter 3, verse 1, surely confirms that. If that verse is not inspired, how could we believe that the remainder is inspired?
1. A Servant
The word is doulos, a bond-slave. It is one of the Apostle Paul’s favorite words to describe himself. Both had been ransomed from the bondage of sin and now willingly served their Lord and master Jesus Christ.
We see a striking illustration of this in a tourist attraction in Nassau in the Bahamas. Chiseled into a limestone cliff is what is known as “The Queen’s Staircase.” Nationals will tell you that this 102 foot high stairway had its 65 steps chiseled out by former slaves in honor of Queen Victoria who had freed them.
2. An Apostle
An apostle is one who is sent with an official message. Peter was one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by our lord in His earthly ministry; he was chosen to go to his people Israel with a message of repentance and return to God. In his first commission, he was told not to go to the Gentiles, but to go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. When he received the commission of Mark 16, he was to go to all the world, but to begin at Jerusalem, then go to Judea, then Samaria and only then to the uttermost parts of the earth. This commission contained a command to baptize these people for the remission of sins, with signs following as evidence of their salvation. He, along with the other members of the Twelve, was promised by our Lord that in this kingdom they would sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Paul, on the other hand, was chosen as the apostle, preacher and teacher of the Gentiles, and it was to Paul that the mystery of the church, the Body of Christ, was revealed. These distinctions must be made, even though we can get numerous applications, word studies and instructions in righteousness from this letter.
B. The Addressees
“… to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:” (2 Pet. 1:1b)
For some strange reason, many well known commentaries insist that this letter was written primarily to Gentiles. But as we have already seen, 3:1 obviously indicates that it is to the same people to whom he had already written the first epistle, and that epistle was definitely addressed to the “scattered abroad” or the dispersion (diaspora). This was a term used of Jews who had been scattered into the various Gentile nations.
C. The Affirmation
“… to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:” (2 Pet. 1:1b)
He makes it clear from the beginning that his readers had obtained their faith through the righteousness of God, and in the same sentence, affirms the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(To Be Continued)
