Introduction

‘Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours.’ 2 Peter 1:1

Peter addressed his second letter to those who have received a faith as precious as that of the apostles through the righteousness of our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. In other words, Peter’s letter was addressed to all Christians. The first verse of Peter’s letter immediately tells us two important things about our faith.

Firstly, it is precious (and therefore it should be well taken care of) and secondly, it did not come out of our own making – we received it through God’s righteousness. Wow! God makes us right (with Himself) when we decided to follow Him. This is mind-blowing!

Again, faith is the first requirement for everyone that would come to God as we must first believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seeks Him, Hebrews 11:6. Also, faith is one of the three things that now abide, 1 Corinthians 13:13.

Peter shows us that this faith we received from God and Christ is so precious that it forms the foundation of Christian qualities. This shows how important it is to have faith in God. Whilst talking of the additives in verses 5 to 7, Peter actually started with ‘faith’.

In the fifth verse, he says: ‘For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness’. Before listing other qualities to add on, his starting point was ‘faith’. After-all, Paul says to the Romans: ‘it is with your heart that you believe and are justified’. Let’s therefore hold on to our faith in God for it is more precious than gold.

‘Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: ‘The person who does these things will live by them.’ But the righteousness that is by faith says: ‘Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down) ‘or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him.’ Romans 10:1-12

‘And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’ 1 Corinthians 13:13

Prayer

Thank You Father for the faith we have in You. May we never stop believing You till the end.