2 Peter 1 - From righteousness to righteousness: Re-created in God’s Image
 1Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
      To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: 2Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Peter is writing this letter to Christians. He starts out with the clear message that we have received our faith from Jesus. Knowing that our faith is our belief in God and obedience to Him, it would seem that we have received our rightouesness through God’s righteousness. This confirms the writings of Paul, which tell us that by being accounted righteousness for belief, we have the opportunity to be just to God by obeying Him. It is frankly the only justice we can truly accomplish, given the intricacies of this world, and we receive this opportunity through the righteousness of Jesus.
Now, the righteousness of the Jesus is interesting, because he was God taking the form of a man. As God, we know His righteousness was Justice, and as a man, we know His righteousness came from believing and obeying the Father. In fact, as a man, Jesus was even zealous for God’s name. The life of Jesus Christ is the only context in which we see both types of justice manifested by the same being.
God the Father has nothing He need believe, and no one He need obey. As the Holy Spirit, God is acting as Jesus’ servant, and so does manifest the acts of both belief (believing Christ) and obedience (obeying Christ), but Jesus is the one whose example we are meant to truly follow.
As a man, Jesus Christ lived the life of what today we would call an Orthodox Jew. I do not believe the term existed then, or that the religious Jews lived as the Orthodox Jews of today live as the Sadduccees or Pharisees of then, but it is the closest analogy I have to describe Him in modern terms. As such, Jesus lived by the Law, and boy was He zealous for God’s name!
Jesus believed His Father when He read scripture. He believed His father when He prayed in solitude. For this, the Father accounted righteousness to the Son. “This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”
Jesus obeyed His Father in Heaven. He went to the cross and rose from the dead. Before He did it, Jesus even prayed that God would “take this cup” from His lips, “but not my will…” but “thy” will He ultimately asked for. Jesus, the very model of righteousness.
Jesus was also just. Being 100% God, He had the inherent quality of justice, and showed it over and over. His mere sacrifice, to ensure a sin offering so that those who turn from evil to good would still have a sufficient sin offering, was an act of justice… a price paid for their evil, followed by the ultimate reward for embracing goodness. For the prostitute, He showed that her accusers were no more worthy to judge her than she was, and then told her to go and sin no more. It was like saying to turn from evil to good. The woman by the well offered Him water, and he accepted her gesture for what it was, without condemnation, but told her as well to go and sin no more. When accused of wrong-doing, Christ said nothing to His accusers. Having established for the scriptures that the judgements of evil-doers has no weight, He refused to take a defensive stand against them. Though making it appear like He was legitimizing their judgement, it is defending Himself in their court that would have legitimized their right to make such judgement over Him. He simply yielded to show the extent to which He would go for the love of His sheep, letting sinners follow through on their sin so that He could follow through on His obedience.
And through His righteousness, we are righteous… re-created in Christ’s image… born again. It is to us that Peter writes this letter.