Week 1 – Laying down the rails

Have you ever read something that makes your mind go a little boggly? This verse might do that for you—it definitely did for me. It talks about precious promises, participating in the divine nature, and escaping corruption. Whaaat?

Don’t worry—we’ll spend the next four chapters breaking down this scripture, starting with its context: who’s speaking, to whom, at what point in history, and why. Let’s get started.

Who is the author?

The book of Second Peter conveniently identifies the author right away: Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. Peter is one of my favorite disciples. He always seemed so… passionately human.

For instance, in John 13, when Jesus tried to wash Peter’s feet, Peter stopped Him. It felt too outrageous that his Savior and King would stoop to washing his dirty feet. But when Jesus explained that, unless He washed him, Peter would have no part with Him, Simon Peter replied, “Not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well!”

What a character, right?

Who was Second Peter addressed to?

The audience is described as those who “have received a faith as precious as ours” (2 Peter 1:1). So we can deduce that Peter is writing to people who are already believers. This theme continues throughout the book, as he warns about false teachers, offers guidance for maturing in faith, and cautions against letting faith grow stagnant.

When was it written?

Second Peter was written around A.D. 67, about three years after 1 Peter. At this time, Peter knew he was a wanted man under Emperor Nero, who was actively seeking out and executing Christian leaders. Shortly after writing this letter, Peter was martyred for his faith in Jesus.

Looking at the context

Now let’s turn to the first chapter of 2 Peter, where we find our key scripture. After a brief greeting, Peter sets it up with this:

2 Peter 1:3 — “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.”

Verse 3 is important because our main scripture refers directly back to it. So let’s think about what it is saying. In this verse, we learn that we can know God because He, in His divine power, reached out to us first. And because we know Him, we already have everything we need to live a godly life (more on that next week).

From there, we arrive at our focus passage:

2 Peter 1:4 — “Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

Now that we’ve looked at the previous verse, we can see that “through these” refers to God’s glory and goodness. Because of who God is (glorious and good), we are able to receive and live into His promises.

There’s much more to explore, but now that we’ve covered the who, what, when, where, and why and laid the groundwork for this passage, we’re ready to start unpacking these concepts in the weeks to come.