I find it interesting that the last Biblical book on righteousness would amount to a treatise on righteousness. Just in the first 10 verses (2 Peter 1 - From righteousness to righteousness: Re-created in God’s Image, 2 Peter 1: Righteousness Leads to Christ’s Love Manifested in You), we have seen confirmation of the following:
- Jesus is righteous, and through Him we receive righteousness (v. 1)
- Jesus provides us promises that we should believe (v. 4), and of course belieiving is accounted to us righteousness
- We are to love others in obedience (vv. 5-8)
- Lack of obedience does not negate belief, or the righteousness we are credited for it (v. 9)
- However, as James writes, faith can die, but we can sure it up through obedience (v. 10)
- We are rewarded for obedience with riches in Heaven (v. 11)
From here, Peter turns to the genuineness of his message. Where is getting this stuff from? Is he making it up? How does he know Jesus is righteous? Did he see Him believe? See him obey? Why is Peter so intent on repeating this message over and over and over? Why is a treatise on Christ’s righteousness so important, that he would dwell on it like he is?
 12So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.
He sounds like me talking to my 8 year old son. My son is old enough to believe me and old enough to obey me, yet his passions can make it hard. So, I repeat myself, not because he doesn’t know the values I am teaching him, but because he is not yet able remember those values every time he needs to. The repetition is therefore not to teach him per se, but to train his brain to associate his situations with what he knows, so that he does what it is right automatically, without me correcting him later. And so goes Peter.
 16We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
Many either accuse the apostles of inventing their stories, or they accuse the church of blowing those stories out of proportion. Well, apparently, Peter believed what he wrote, or loved people so dearly that he was willing to make stories up about Jesus within mere years of Jesus’ death. These verses are an argument for Peter’s authenticity, and therefore Christ’s.
It seems then that Peter was present at God’s declaration of Jesus’ righteousness, on what has come to be known theologically as the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus was transfigured, embraced, immersed, in God’s glory, where the Holy Spirit appeared as a cloud and the Father spoke from that cloud that He was pleased with Jesus, His Son whom He loved.
Jesus was the obedient Son, who knew only what His Father in Heaven told Him, and considered it enough for Him. Therefore, we can follow Peter’s thought process in this letter pretty well:
- Jesus is righteous
- In Him, you are righteous
- We witnessed Jesus’ righteousness
- We witnessed God’s praise of Jesus’ righteousness
Not only that, but this righteousness was prophecied! It is the fulfillment of scriptures written long ago…
 19And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.