2 Peter
So, here are. The last book in the bible on Righteousness! I always found it interesting that the very first verse in the bible on righteousness tells us how to get it… believe God, and the 2nd tells us how to use it… obey God. From there, scripture simply uses the terms, only occasionally referencing back to these two verses. It’s like God did not assume we knew what righteousness was, and so made sure those first verses would tell us. This set the stage for the rest of our word study this last year. Well, now we come to the last book on righteousness, 2 Peter, and wouldn’t you know… God assumes we know what righteousness is by now!
In 2 Peter, Peter does not explain what righteousness is. He doesn’t try and distinguish between the roles of belief and obedience. So often throughout the scriptures, we have seen verses reflecting the seqeuence of belief followed by obedience, with occasional nods to one other way to have righteousness… being zealous for God’s name. However, that’s a tough one… so tough in fact, that Jesus died for our sins so that belief and obedience would be enough.
One of my favorite points in our study was in the Old Testament, when God made it clear about His own righteousness, which is defined by His justice. God is just and we are not, and His justice ultimately manifests in His response our treatment of Him. Those who turn from evil are rewarded in death; those who turn from good to evil are punished in death. It is one of those seemingly Christian doctrines that was in the Old Testament before it was in the new.
Later, we learned that Christian faith is combination of both our belief and our obedience. It is the source of much of our needless debate about whether belief will suffice, or whether obedience is require, too. Well, because faith entails both, the word faith can sometimes refer to just one, the other, or both, and context generally tells us which one. This was important in deciphering the endless debate on whether Paul was right, that “faith” is enough, whether James was right that “faith” without works is dead. Well, they are both right! Believing Jesus died for your sins is sufficient to cover your sins, and no works you did were ever going to save you. Once you believe God however (turning from evil to good), it is up to you where you go from there, and if you choose to walk away from God (turning from good to evil), well that is your choice. Now, if you do not actually turn from belief, but you never live to obey Him, well the works you are not doing were never going to save you anyway (Paul), but you risk killing your faith (James), and you shouldn’t be surprised if others question whether you’re saved. You may well be, but why live in the dark, when God has shown you the light?
And so now we come to 2 Peter, which appears to assume your knowledge of all of this. There are four verses on righteousness, which do no teach you what righteousness is, but what to do with it now that you have it. They teach you about God and about Jesus, and about where you go, assuming God has accounting you righteousness and you are living in it. Peter both opens and closes his message with the theme of righteousness, so we will be going through the entire letter starting with verse 1:1. Should be interesting!