Home	Our Hope
Bible Study		November 22, 2009
Keeping the Faith

Introduction

This lesson began as a study of 2 Peter 1:3-15 but gained a secondary focus on how translations can differ markedly. So this lesson attempts to do something it probably shouldn't – two things at the same time.

"The book of 2 Peter includes some interesting features. First, it is written in a style of Greek very different from 1 Peter (although this may not be apparent to readers of English versions). Peter notes that his first letter was written with the help of Silas (1 Peter 5:12). Silas, a companion also of Paul, seems to have been an educated Jew from a privileged background, for we know he was a Roman citizen (Acts 16:25, 38). We speculate that his help with 1 Peter provided the polish to that letter."

"Peter's Second Letter, however, seems to have been written quickly, under great duress, and with no help from anyone like Silas. Peter himself wrote down the words rather than passing them over to someone else to edit. The style of 2 Peter is terse and direct, with few literary niceties."1

In this lesson we will be analyzing Peter's words as they come from two different Bible sources, one Greek and one Aramaic. For all the verses listed in this lesson, both the NIV and Aramaic NT versions are given, NIV first. Notable areas of difference between the two are highlighted in yellow.

Lesson

In these passages Peter is looking back on a life that he knew would soon end and celebrating that he had kept the faith and also challenging others to do the same. Therefore he reviews points that he knows his audience knows in an effort to make sure that they do not forget.

³ His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

² Grace and peace be multiplied to you by the teaching of Our Lord Yeshua The Messiah, ³ As The One who has given all things which are of the divine power, with The Life and Awesomeness of God by his teaching, who has called us into his glory and majesty, ⁴ Who has granted you by these great and precious declarations to be sharers of the divine nature, when you flee from the corruption of desires which are in the world.

Though these verses differ significantly, it is certain that the teaching of Jesus the Messiah contains promises that let us become participants in the divine nature of God.

Peter now lists qualities that Christians should strive to make a part of them. Then he goes on to say that Christians who grow in these qualities will be effective and productive / fruitful.

⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith

goodness; and to goodness,

knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge,

self-control; and to self-control,

perseverance; and to perseverance,

godliness; ⁷ and to godliness,

brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness,

love.

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.

⁵ And when this has happened, bring all diligence and add to your faith

virtue and unto your virtue,

knowledge, ⁶ But unto knowledge,

perseverance, and unto perseverance,

patience, and to patience,

the reverence of God, ⁷ But unto the reverence of God,

the affection of the brotherhood, but unto affection of the brotherhood,

love.

⁸ For when these things are found in you and abound, they prove you are not lazy nor fruitless in the teaching of Our Lord Yeshua The Messiah.

"Faith is the beginning point of this search for excellence. […] Having received that life [as a result of faith] the believer is now to add virtue. It is plain that a Christian cannot produce this from himself, but he adds it only in the sense of choosing to act in such a way as to reflect the moral excellence of Jesus who dwells within him. He chooses goodness rather than corruption. To this must be added knowledge i.e. practical wisdom, obtained by acting on the understanding which truth imparts. Third in the list is self-control. This means mastering one's moods, rather than being controlled by them. […] Peter is showing that submission to Christ means evil moods can be rejected and Christian character exhibited instead. The fourth quality, perseverance, naturally follows, for if one exercises self-control he or she will not easily succumb to discouragement or the despair that tempts one to quit. […] To this is to be added godliness. […] [T]here is no sense of religiosity here but of a continual awareness of God's presence affecting and governing every aspect of life. It is never a burden to bear but a delight to enjoy, as it was with Jesus. The sixth quality to be added, that of brotherly kindness is so closely linked with godliness that 1 John 4:20 says, "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar." As Jesus taught in John 15:12-17, love for the brethren involves serving one another (laying down one's life); sharing with one another, practically and intimately; and praying for one another. It would be, He said, the mark of a true disciple. Such an attitude would immediately reject any display of prejudice, class or race distinction, or any form of exclusiveness or elitism in the Christian community. Finally, the seventh quality to be manifested is love. This is God's kind of love in which the origin lies not in the one loved but in the one who loves. God loves because He is love; we are to love, because we are of God! It reaches beyond the Christian community to love anyone, anywhere, manifesting itself by seeking that person's highest good, even at cost to ourselves."2

Now Peter describes the other side of the coin – Christians that do not have these qualities.

⁹ But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

⁹ For he in whom these things are not found is blind, because he does not see that he has forgotten the purification of his former sins.

Peter goes on to emphasize that we must make the effort to add these qualities to ourselves that we may achieve good deeds in this world and thus assure ourselves a richly deserved entrance into the Kingdom.

¹⁰ Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, ¹¹ and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

¹⁰ And all the more my brethren, take pains concerning this, that by your good deeds you shall make your calling and your election sure, for when you are doing these things, you will never fall. ¹¹ For in this way an entrance of the eternal Kingdom of Our Lord and Our Savior Yeshua The Messiah is richly given to you.

Even though Peter has told them this before, he says he is determined to continue to remind his fellow Christians so that they will not forget them, once he is gone.

Greek has ‘tent' but Aramaic has ‘body'. In DSS script, the Aramaic reading for "in body this" is . DSS Aramaic for "in a tent" is . The Greek for body is "σωματοξ" and tent is "σκηνωματοξ".

The Greek word for tent is traditionally often used metaphorically for "the body" as a "tent" for the soul, according to Greek philosophy and theology. The Aramaic word does not carry that usage.

– Excerpted from Aramaic NT notes by Dave Bauscher

¹² So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. ¹³ I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, ¹⁴ because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. ¹⁵ And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

¹² And for this reason I do not weary of reminding you concerning this, truly, even though you know these things well and are established on this truth, ¹³ But it seemed good to me, that as long as I am in this body, to awaken your memory, ¹⁴ As I know that the departure from my body is soon, just as Our Lord Yeshua The Messiah has informed me. ¹⁵ But I take pains that you may also constantly have a record by which to do these things after my departure.

Choose words with the opposite meaning of these words describing the qualities a Christian should have.

Now, understanding that each pair of words sets the opposite ends of a measurement scale, consider where your life is on those scales.

1 NIV Standard Lesson Commentary

2 Ray C. Stedman, http://www.raystedman.org/2peter/2peter1.html