final spifo project final draft

8/8/2019 Final Spifo Project Final Draft

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Kevin Chen

Box # 2660

Final Bible Study Project

Spiritual Formation

Spring 2009

I. Passage

2 Peter 1:3-18 (New International Version)

3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our

knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.4Through these he has

given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate

in the divine nature and escape (see 4) the corruption in the world caused by evil

desires.

5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness,

knowledge;6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and

to perseverance, godliness;7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly

kindness, love.8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will

keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord

Jesus Christ. (see 2) 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind,

and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. (see 3)



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10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.

For if you do these things, you will never fall,11

and you will receive a rich welcome

into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (see 5)

12So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are

firmly established in the truth you now have.13

I think it is right to refresh your memory

as long as I live in the tent (see 1) of this body,14 because I know that I will soon put it

aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

15

And I will make every effort to

see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

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.17

For 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.



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II. Observations

1. In verse 13 of chapter 1, the word ³tent´ is an interesting word to use. Peter uses this

word to describe the human body. ³Tent´ means a temporary shelter that houses and

protects the thing inside. Peter is trying to emphasis the fact that that human body is, like

a tent, only a temporary place in which we dwell. He is showing the fact that God has

given him the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

2. There is a list of words being used in 2 peter 1:5-7: Faith, goodness, knowledge, self-

control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love. I believe Peter is giving a list

of characteristics of a maturing Christian. And quite obviously, this list of characters is

not presented in a random order, instead, each character builds upon the previous one,

suggesting that these characters should in added in proper order in order for a person to

mature spiritually.

3. There is a comparison verse 8 and 9. Peter is comparing people who possess the list of

characters mentioned in verse 5-7 with people who don¶t have them. Through the sharp

contrast of two consequences Peter outlines the benefits of having these characters and

the dangerous consequences the lack of these characters might lead to, emphasizing to

believers the importance of possessing those Godly characters.

4. There are two imperative verbs in the second part of verse 4: ³participate´ and

³escape´. Peter uses these two verbs to state and make it easy for people to visualize the

result of God¶s great and precious promises. These two words describe exactly how the

gospel is able to transform us. ³Participate´ conveys that fact that we become part of a

big picture when we come to know Jesus Christ personally and ³escape´ gives a sense of

freedom. Peter seems to be implying that believers have been given the promise of

sharing Christ¶s moral excellence in this life and have become partakers of divine nature.

5. Peter uses a condition clause in verse 10. ³For IF you do these things«´ Peter is again

emphasizing the importance of pursuing holiness and he outlines the benefits of doing so

using this condition clause, with a double assurance: those who do so will never fall

(verse 10), and those who do so will receive rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of

our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (verse 11).



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III. Historical Background

Authorship: The authorship of 2 Peter has been highly debatable. Most conservative

evangelicals believe the traditional view that Peter was the author, as specifically stated

in the first verse in chapter one of the book. However, others believe that it¶s very likely

that someone else writes the book of second Peter after his death in his name. If this

belief is true, the question is why did the actual author present the work as Peter¶s

testament instead of his own. According to various sources, this is probably because his

intention, rather than edifying himself, was to defend the apostolic message in the period

after the death of the apostles against teachers who held that in important respects the

teaching of the apostles was discredited. By writing in Peter¶s name he claims no

authority of his own except as a faithful mediator of the apostolic message.

When was it written: We can tell from 2 Peter 1:13-14, where it mentions the time of

Peter¶s departure from the earthly life is near, that the book of second Peter was written

towards the end of Peter¶s life. It says: ³I know that I will soon put it (the tent of this

body) aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.´ Further evidence from the

bible that confirms this is the mentioning of the Lord¶s prophecy in John 21: 18-19. Jesus

refers to Peter¶s death as the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.Additionally, the reliable early tradition records that Peter were martyred at the time

when Christians in Rome were persecuted by the emperor Nero around AD 65. Therefore

the book of 2 Peter was most likely written somewhere prior to AD 65. Overall we can

probably assume that Peter realizes that the time for the fulfillment of the Lord¶s

prophecy about his death had come and thus writes a final note of advice and caution to

other believers before his departure.

Recipients: The author writes to those believers who most likely lived in Asia Minor,Macedonia, or Greece, since these are the regions in which Paul ministered and to which

he addressed his letters. Also, we can basically surmise that at least most of the Christians

the author addresses in the letter were gentiles. The opening verses of the letter might

also indicate that the recipients are Gentile audience. It is mentioned in the first verse

³received a faith as precious as ours´ where the ³ours´ probably refers to Christian Jews.



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Purpose: The author of the book of 2 Peter seeks to commend to his readers a

wholesome combination of Christian faith and practice. Based on the text, the purpose

can be clearly seen as threefold. First of all, the author called on believers to grow in

their faith and become stronger Christians. We can see this evidently in verse 5-7 in

chapter one when the author mentioned a list of Godly characters (faith, goodness,

kindness«etc). Secondly, the author was alarming the believers that false teachings were

starting to infiltrate the churches. And finally the author stressed the sure return of Lord¶s

return and asked the believers to be aware of it.

Political Climate: The general political climate in the book of second Peter is one that

resembles a lot of persecution from the authority. The Emperor Nero heavily persecuted

Christians in Rome back at the time.

Relevant Historical Events: The author cited some historical events from verse 4 to

verse 7 in chapter 2 that deserves our attention: the example of the sinning angels being

sent to hell; the flood; the example of Sodom and Gomorrah; and the deliverance of Lot.

All of these are examples of God's judgment and condemnation of the wicked and how

the righteous ones are spared.

Religion: The book of second Peter was most likely directed against second-century

Gnosticism, which was popular at the time. It¶s is basically a mystical view of

Christianity. It holds the belief that humanity is intrinsically good and all of us human

beings have a divine ³inner spark´ within ourselves. Although our physical being became

corrupted in the fall of men, we have always been divine so the goal is to simply return to

the divine self.

Social Institution: Not available.



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IV. Outline

±

3His divine power

± has given us everything we need for life and godliness

± through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

±

4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises,

± so that through them you may participate in the divine nature

± and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

±

5For this very reason, make every effort to

± add to your faith goodness;

± and to goodness, knowledge;

±

6and to knowledge, self-control;

± and to self-control, perseverance;

± and to perseverance, godliness; 7

± and to godliness, brotherly kindness;

± and to brotherly kindness, love. 8

± For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure,

± they will keep you from being ineffective

± and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

±

9But if anyone does not have them,

± he is nearsighted and blind,

± and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

±

10

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. ± For if you do these things,

± you will never fall,11

± and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ.



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±

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,

±

14 because 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 beable to remember these things.

±

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.



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V. Interpretive Questions

y In verse 5 of chapter 1 of second peter, there is a list of virtues mentioned not just

randomly, but in a specific order. Why are these virtues places this way?

This order that these virtues are listed in the passage is based on the nature of each virtue

and the way they are developed spiritually. Peter begins his list with faith because this is

the initial response to God¶s love as revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus

Christ. Such faith is fundamental and only the beginning of Christian life. Faith is

followed by goodness. As the new life of a new believer is matured, goodness will be

developed. In turn, goodness is to be supplemented by knowledge, since it is the

knowledge of divine principles and ways for living the Christian life that leads to right

decisions and right actions in the sight of God. The growing awareness of divine

standards, which resulted from the accumulation of knowledge, leads to the exercise of

self-control, since human beings are naturally deprived and have a tendency to give sin.

And from the practice of self-control develops perseverance. The next stage of spiritual

development starts with godliness. True piety toward God and has corresponding effect

upon one believer¶s relationship toward another. Hence next in Peter¶s list is brother

kindness, the love for other believers, and that in the end leads straight on to the heart of

Christian living: the expression of Christian love to all.

y In chapter 1, what does the word ³calling´ and ³election´ mean exactly?

³Calling´ refers to God¶s efficacious work in salvation and ³election´ is God¶s work of

choosing some sinners to be saved. ³Calling´ and ³election´ work together to emphasize

the single concept Peter has in mind: God¶s effective drawing of the sinner to himself for

salvation. Peter is saying that in the text the Christian must earnestly seek to grow in

Christian virtue in order to validate this calling and election of God.



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y In verse 8 ³ For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep

you from being ineffective and unproductive´, why is ³in increasing measure´ such

an important condition that has to be mentioned here?

Peter is emphasizing the how vitally important continuous spiritual growth is in the life of

a Christian. Peter is saying simply possessing these qualities are just not good enough!

He is saying that if one already possessed ³these qualities´ mentioned in the previous

verses then he or she must allow them to manifest themselves in increasing measure, he

or she must be fruitful and constantly try to pursue spiritual growth. In other words, lack

of spiritual growth us a sign of spiritual death.

y In verse 4, what does ³very great and precious promises´ mean?

Some of the promises that has appeared elsewhere in the Bible:

y Freedom from sin¶s dominion (Rom 6:14)

y Grace that is sufficient (2 Cor 12:9)

y Response when we call (Psa 50:15)

y Forgiveness when we confess our sins (1 John 1:9)

y The more we think about him the more we become like Him (2 Cor 3:18)

Therefore, these very great and precious promises enable believers to escape the

corruption of this world and to become partakers of the divine nature. This takes place

mainly at the time of conversion. Then as we live in the practical enjoyment of what God

has promised we become more and more conformed to His image.

y In verse 9, how can a man be ³nearsighted´ and ³blind´ at the same time?

In Greek ³nearsighted´ is a participle and could be translated ³because of shutting one¶s

eyes´ or ³willfully blind´. Another explanation is that Peter may mean that such a man is

blind to the heavenly things and engrossed in the earthly, he cannot see what is far off but

only what is near, which makes excellent sense in view of the immorality and earthiness

of the false teachers discussed in Chapter 2.



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y In verse 4, Peter used language such as ³participating in the divine nature´ and

³escaping the corruption that is in the world´. These ideas were characteristics of

certain mystical traditions in Greek world preaching that human beings need to

become divine in order to avoid contagion of material world. So why did peter

choose to use such languages?

There are many different beliefs regarding this issue. Some believe that this is the proof

that peter did not write this letter himself. Others believe that peter is guilty of expressing

some less-than-Christian ideas. A less extreme conclusion would be that Peter is simply

being a good communicator and expressing the message in a way that fits the audience.

His readers were probably in the habit of using such terms or that maybe false teachers

were using this language to make their point. So peter accommodates himself to hisaudience, adopting their way of speaking so he can communicate more effectively.

y In the passage, Peter seems to be suggesting that it is through own effort that we

become Godly. How does this fit with the New Testament emphasis on the spirit as

the one who sanctifies us?

The answer to this question is a matter of balancing God¶s contribution and our own inthe process of becoming holy. The New Testament makes it clear that both are necessary

if we are going to make any progress at all. On one hand, God¶s part in our growth in

godliness is basic and essential (Phil 2:13 & Heb 2:11) but on the other hand as Peter has

pointed out there is also a need for our own effort in becoming holy. Peter naturally

emphasizes human responsibility because he is confronting a situation where people are

in danger of becoming lax about holiness. He is reminding us that the development of a

genuinely Christ-like character is the only proof of our Christian status. He would

certainly not want us to take what he says in these verses as the whole truth.



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Works Cited

Michael, Green, The second epistle general of Peter, and the general epistle of Jude : an

introduction and commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Norman, Hillyer, New International Biblical Commentary: 1 and 2 Peter, Jude.

Massachusetts: Hendrickson

Douglas J. Moo, the NIV Application Commentary: 2 Peter & Jude. Grand Rapid:

Zondervan



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VI. Big Idea

Subject

Christian Virtues

Incorporating Christian virtues into our lives in increasing measure

Why do believers need to incorporate Christian virtues into their lives in increasing

measure?

C omplement

Because

Because it can keep believers from failure of this life

Because it can keep believers from failure of this life and they can be welcomed

enthusiastically into the Lord¶s eternal kingdom

Big Idea

Believers need to incorporate Christian virtues into their lives in increasing measure

because it can keep them from failure of this life and they can be welcomed

enthusiastically into the Lord¶s eternal kingdom

Thoughts The big idea lies in verse 5-9 when peter talks about a series of Christian virtues. Both

verse 3-4 and verse 10-11 work together to support this big idea. In verse 3-4 peter is

saying that God has made all the necessary provisions for spiritual maturity, making

moral progression, namely the incorporating of godly qualities into believers¶ lives

possible. Verse 10-11 Peter talks about making sure of one¶s calling and salvation. Final

salvation is indeed a lavish provision of divine generosity but only a believer¶s firsthand

experience of seeing God producing godly character in their lives could create certainty.

If believers grow in the virtues Peter has listed, then that growth itself is proof of Jesus¶

presence in our lives. This refers back to the big idea



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VII. Application

1. How does this text function in its immediate context (surrounding chapters)?

From verse 3-10 Peter mainly exhorts his readers to grow in the knowledge of God and

the Scriptures. He emphasizes the importance of spiritual growth in this text to show that

in chapter 2 the consequence would be serious when false teachers prevent such growth.

He gives a glimpse of what Godly living should be like in this text when he mentions all

those virtues, which leads to chapter 3 where the theme of Godly living is put forward:

the final coming of Jesus Christ. Overall this text plays an important role in its immediate

context. It calls Christians to spiritual growth so that they can combat false teachings inthe church as they look forward to the Lord's return.

2. How does this text function in its book (for 2 Peter that answer may be the same as

first question)?

See the answer to question 1.

3. How does this text function theologically in the second Testament?

The New Testament is mainly about Jesus Christ coming to offer his life to wash away

our sins so that we might have life once again and how we are now to go and

communicate who God is and his gracious offer of life in Jesus Christ. The mentioning of

how God makes moral progression possible can be seen as a result of Jesus¶ death. Also

we are called to develop Godly characters in this text, which in turn can help us

communicate who God is with other non-believers.

Specifically speaking, in the text, the author explains the idea of salvation as a

participation in the divine nature, which enables virtue. This complements teaching found

in Paul¶s writing in the New Testament. In verse 4, ³these´ refers to Christ¶s glory and

goodness. Because of the quality of his life the believer can receive the promise of



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sharing the very nature of God. This accords with Romans 6 in NT, that by virtue of who

Christ is and through faith-union with him, the Christian enjoys the possibility of a life

free from sin, a life constantly growing more like Jesus. In verse 10-11, Peter urges his

fellow believers to demonstrate the reality of their own standing with God by

incorporating godly virtues into their lives. Instead of teaching earning salvation through

one¶s effort, Peter is reminding believers that the development of genuinely Christ-like

character is the only proof of our Christian status, which is consistent with teaching of

Jesus in other books in the New Testament such as James (3:2), John (1:7-10, 3:10) and

Gal (5:16-25).

4. How does the text fit into the message of both Testaments?In verse 4, Peter mentions how through ³these promises´ believers are able to participate

in divine nature and escape the corruption of this evil world. This gives us an overview of

both testaments. The Old Testament is the story of God's promises to his people while the

New Testament is the story of how all the promises made by God in the Old Testament

were kept, and through the fulfillment of these promises in the incarnation of Jesus

Christ, people are put right with God.

5. What does this text tell us about God, His plan, and the Messiah?

First of all, the text tells us that God is good and gracious, he rescues believers through

his power and promises, by which he makes them participate in the divine nature, this

new nature makes human beings now capable of moral growth, since they are freed from

the power of desire. Secondly, it shows that God¶s plan of salvation is a stunning gift. In

verse 3-4, Peter points out that God¶s power produces everything we need ³for life and

goodliness´. Nothing is to be added! It also lifts us beyond our human limitations so that

we can ³escape the corruption in the world caused by evil ones.´ In addition, in verse 17,

it is mentioned, ³a voice came to him From the Majestic Glory, saying this is my son,

whom I love and am well please´. This tells us that God the father divinely appointed

Jesus to the office. Finally, the texts tell us that we should have confidence about our



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salvation. But we also need to make sure we grow spiritually since it is the growth itself

that proves Jesus¶ presence in our lives. And this internal confirmation of our election is

important to us all.

6 . In what ways does this passage, in all of its contexts, call me to reconfigure how I

see and interact with reality?

First, on the WV question level: God indeed is the one that takes the initiative to call and

elect us in order to give us the free gift of salvation, but that does not mean there is

nothing that we need to do on our part. In order to have confidence about our standing

with God, we are to be fruitful and make sure that we develop genuine Godly characters.

These Godly characters in turn confirm and validate the fact that we are indeed called andelected by God.

Specifically, on the day-to-day level: I will try my best to demonstrate moral excellence

in my everyday life to the people around me and in order to achieve so I will read and

study the word of God on a regular basis. I will pray to ask God to help me make this

moral progression and seek to see God¶s presence through my growth.

7. What did the Holy Spirit teach you through your time of meditation on your

passage?

I came to realize once more that our God and His plan of salvation is truly wonderful. He

³called us by his own glory and goodness´, allowing us to ³participate in the divine

nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desire.´ And this is done all

because of Jesus paid for our sins and died on the cross for us all. Also I have learned

about the balance between God¶s contribution and our own in the process of becoming

holy. God is the one that makes moral progression possible for all of us but we also need

to do our own part and be fruitful because it is through the moral progression and

development of Godly characters that we demonstrate our Christian status and validate

our ³calling and election´ by God.

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