Bible Text: 2 Peter 1:12-21 | Preacher: Pastor Joe Ricchuiti | Series: “That’s The Gospel Truth”, 2 Peter

 

Peter is concerned that these believers be reminded of some important basics in their Christian lives (verses 12,13,15 “remind,” “refresh,” “remember”). There was a need for spiritual “labor” in their lives and the resultant spiritual growth it would bring, as well as the confidence it would bring in their relationship with God; there was also a need to look past this “passing” world to the eternal and live for it.

 

He begins with a compliment before challenging them. They knew the truth and were firmly established in them, but they weren’t living them. Their problem was not what they knew but rather what they practiced of what they knew. As David Wheaton wrote: “Although Christian people know the truth, it is the preacher and teachers’ task constantly to be setting it before them afresh.” Peter uses the word “refresh” meaning to stir up or awaken from sleep.

 

The physical body is looked upon as a “tent” by Peter and other New Testament writers (2 Cor. 5). It is an acknowledgment that our physical bodies are temporary shelters. When a believer dies her soul or spirit (immaterial part) goes to be with Jesus while their body awaits the resurrection when we will receive our glorified eternal bodies.

 

He calls his impending death a “departure.” He uses the Greek word “exodon” which is related to “exodus” the same word used of Jesus’ coming death in Luke 9:28-36. Death to Peter is a departure to a better place, even as the Israelites departed from Egypt, the place of sorrow and pain, to the Promised Land. Death for the believer is “the entrance into something better” (Burton).   Death, however, for the unbeliever is the entrance into eternal punishment for rejecting God’s provision for sin and death, Jesus Christ (Luke 16; Rev. 20:11-15).

 

Peter expected that they would always be reminded of these truths because of his writings in 1 and 2 Peter, his influence upon Mark’s gospel, and because he had poured his life into those who would continue to communicate the message (1 Peter 5:12,13; see 2 Tim. 2:1,2 for the principle).