"His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness." (2 Peter 1:3, NIV)
"His divine power has given us everything...." This should keep you and me the rest of our lives.
I learned, or was a target of attempted brain washing, while in seminary that 2 Peter was not written by Peter. What often amused me was the reality that no one can "prove" authenticity or disprove it. Many of the "scholars" of the last 150 years who got into what is called "form criticism" or "higher criticism" were those who basically told humanity that the Bible cannot be accepted as, "God-Breathed." I remember closing a paper in seminary one time with something like, "Now some say that Jesus probably did not say what John asserts Jesus said. No problem for me, John. I believe you." Professor Batdforf's note on the paper at this point was not one of challenge or rejection. He simply summed up my suppositions and then wrote, "You believe John." Yes, and I believe Peter too.
"For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty....We were with Him on the sacred mountain." Now I remember hearing in one of our classes, as a first year seminary student, of writings which have the names of "The Gospel of Nicodemus" and "The Gospel of Thomas." Nothing was said one way or the other about them that day, but I remember thinking, "Wow, a gospel according to Nicodemus," that should really be good. So I went to the library stacks and looked it up. As I was reading, it didn't take me long to think, "Wait a minute; something's not right here." Of course it wasn't. It was, like so many false writings of the first few centuries, a Gnostic writing. What "tipped"me off? The Holy Spirit bearing witness in my spirit. You and I today must trust the Holy Spirit to do the same. Just as in the First Century, today there are many false teachings in the land. "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master Who bought them, bring swift destruction upon themselves" (2 Peter 2:1, NASB).
Sorry, the theologian in me just keeps popping up. You could say, "What does all of this have to do with the text?"-- perhaps everything. If anyone can get you and me to doubt that the "God-Breathed" Words are actually "God-Breathed," then you and I will be, "of all men most miserable." Our hope would be false, and we would be as the Ephesian Epistle says, "without hope and without God in the world," because any "hope" not based on the Bible is an illusory hope. If anyone doubts the authority of the Scriptures, viz., that Jesus Himself, Word of Father, is speaking to us in what we call the Bible, we won't read it/Him, believe it/Him, or obey it/Him. We only know Who is God the Father, Son Jesus, and Holy Spirit in His Words, "wonderful words of life," Words which are indeed, "God-Breathed." Anyone who believes this will be committed to daily subjecting him/herself to these Words.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I so need Your continual Life Barometer. Amen.
********************
What you need to know about Rick Steves at: jhs58.blogspot.com
"His divine power has given us everything...." This should keep you and me the rest of our lives.
I learned, or was a target of attempted brain washing, while in seminary that 2 Peter was not written by Peter. What often amused me was the reality that no one can "prove" authenticity or disprove it. Many of the "scholars" of the last 150 years who got into what is called "form criticism" or "higher criticism" were those who basically told humanity that the Bible cannot be accepted as, "God-Breathed." I remember closing a paper in seminary one time with something like, "Now some say that Jesus probably did not say what John asserts Jesus said. No problem for me, John. I believe you." Professor Batdforf's note on the paper at this point was not one of challenge or rejection. He simply summed up my suppositions and then wrote, "You believe John." Yes, and I believe Peter too.
"For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty....We were with Him on the sacred mountain." Now I remember hearing in one of our classes, as a first year seminary student, of writings which have the names of "The Gospel of Nicodemus" and "The Gospel of Thomas." Nothing was said one way or the other about them that day, but I remember thinking, "Wow, a gospel according to Nicodemus," that should really be good. So I went to the library stacks and looked it up. As I was reading, it didn't take me long to think, "Wait a minute; something's not right here." Of course it wasn't. It was, like so many false writings of the first few centuries, a Gnostic writing. What "tipped"me off? The Holy Spirit bearing witness in my spirit. You and I today must trust the Holy Spirit to do the same. Just as in the First Century, today there are many false teachings in the land. "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master Who bought them, bring swift destruction upon themselves" (2 Peter 2:1, NASB).
Sorry, the theologian in me just keeps popping up. You could say, "What does all of this have to do with the text?"-- perhaps everything. If anyone can get you and me to doubt that the "God-Breathed" Words are actually "God-Breathed," then you and I will be, "of all men most miserable." Our hope would be false, and we would be as the Ephesian Epistle says, "without hope and without God in the world," because any "hope" not based on the Bible is an illusory hope. If anyone doubts the authority of the Scriptures, viz., that Jesus Himself, Word of Father, is speaking to us in what we call the Bible, we won't read it/Him, believe it/Him, or obey it/Him. We only know Who is God the Father, Son Jesus, and Holy Spirit in His Words, "wonderful words of life," Words which are indeed, "God-Breathed." Anyone who believes this will be committed to daily subjecting him/herself to these Words.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I so need Your continual Life Barometer. Amen.
********************
What you need to know about Rick Steves at: jhs58.blogspot.com
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
