May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (ESV)
As I said last time we so often gloss over the
greetings and miss out on much value that God has for us in both the heart with
which the greetings are toned and the teaching that is in them, last time we
saw how the words of Peter in v1 put his stamp of apostolic authority on what
he is about to say but also highlights the equal value of those he is writing
to ‘A faith of equal standing with ours.’ And the humility with which he is
about to appeal to the readers recognizing the foundational truth that righteousness
comes by Christ alone and not any work of their or our own.
It is often said that grace is the active work that is done for and to us that we don’t deserve, in the sense we are looking at it now it is specifically the fact that Christ works in us through sanctification which builds upon itself in a multiplicative way, the more we receive grace the more we realize how much more we need, it’s a bit like looking through a keyhole and seeing something of what is happening but not getting the whole picture but as Christ works in us we become more perceptive of our blindness and failings and thus need more and more grace shown towards us to lift us up, in a sense God gradually pulls us through the door so that we get to understand more and more of His Glory and understand better the disastrous effect our sinfulness had on that relationship, and yet because we see more of his glory and receive more of His grace, in the fuller awareness we cannot help but leap in joy and praise as what lays behind us becomes comparably insignificant.
Peace is I think both the peace that denotes the restoration of the relationship between ourselves and the Godhead as well as the effect of that peace on our brothers and sisters around us, peace in this sense is not a quiet cessation of hostilities, but a joining of enemies that results in a greater work spilling exponentially over into the hearts and minds of those around us, who see mortal enemies now able to live and work in harmony. We see different parts joined together in a way that works as a whole, we see broken parts being supported by other parts, many also broken but in different ways. And the lifeblood flowing through this wonderful organism is Christ’s and at the centre of it is the cross.
All of this has it’s root founded upon the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, we cannot leave this out, without a foundation no building can stand when the storms come, it will wash away from underneath or it will blow over as it has nothing to keep it on the ground, it will crumble as the ground shakes as walls come apart. The weak walls even when cemented together cannot hold under pressure if they have no grounding that transmits its strength up the heights and breadth and width of the structure. It’s also important to note that a foundation is not just a simple laying of a border and a slab but the very design of the building on top of it is taken into consideration, it is no use simply building the outer wall and then building other load bearing walls inside, eventually the floor will cave in and these other walls will collapse, God has created a design in the foundation that we must not waiver from, or we will fall into destruction, we cannot simply willy-nilly put up a wall where God did not design for one to be, it’s also a bit pointless not building a wall where God designed one to be as it will leave a gap in the structure that would be important when the roof or the next level is put on. We need to ground our faith on the plan and purpose of God and not try to twist it to our own ends.
As you will see later this is all important introduction for the warning which is to come in this book, we need to grow in our knowledge, we must not run around in ignorance, it will lead to many being pulled around by false doctrines, we need to dig into God’s word and see where he has planned for us to stand, rooting ourselves, and allowing ourselves to be built upon by the next layer or generation of believers as the builder builds His temple the Church. And all of this whilst we seem to be busy applying our own strength is amplified by God’s strength as he provides all that we need to accomplish His purpose and plan.
It is often said that grace is the active work that is done for and to us that we don’t deserve, in the sense we are looking at it now it is specifically the fact that Christ works in us through sanctification which builds upon itself in a multiplicative way, the more we receive grace the more we realize how much more we need, it’s a bit like looking through a keyhole and seeing something of what is happening but not getting the whole picture but as Christ works in us we become more perceptive of our blindness and failings and thus need more and more grace shown towards us to lift us up, in a sense God gradually pulls us through the door so that we get to understand more and more of His Glory and understand better the disastrous effect our sinfulness had on that relationship, and yet because we see more of his glory and receive more of His grace, in the fuller awareness we cannot help but leap in joy and praise as what lays behind us becomes comparably insignificant.
Peace is I think both the peace that denotes the restoration of the relationship between ourselves and the Godhead as well as the effect of that peace on our brothers and sisters around us, peace in this sense is not a quiet cessation of hostilities, but a joining of enemies that results in a greater work spilling exponentially over into the hearts and minds of those around us, who see mortal enemies now able to live and work in harmony. We see different parts joined together in a way that works as a whole, we see broken parts being supported by other parts, many also broken but in different ways. And the lifeblood flowing through this wonderful organism is Christ’s and at the centre of it is the cross.
All of this has it’s root founded upon the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, we cannot leave this out, without a foundation no building can stand when the storms come, it will wash away from underneath or it will blow over as it has nothing to keep it on the ground, it will crumble as the ground shakes as walls come apart. The weak walls even when cemented together cannot hold under pressure if they have no grounding that transmits its strength up the heights and breadth and width of the structure. It’s also important to note that a foundation is not just a simple laying of a border and a slab but the very design of the building on top of it is taken into consideration, it is no use simply building the outer wall and then building other load bearing walls inside, eventually the floor will cave in and these other walls will collapse, God has created a design in the foundation that we must not waiver from, or we will fall into destruction, we cannot simply willy-nilly put up a wall where God did not design for one to be, it’s also a bit pointless not building a wall where God designed one to be as it will leave a gap in the structure that would be important when the roof or the next level is put on. We need to ground our faith on the plan and purpose of God and not try to twist it to our own ends.
As you will see later this is all important introduction for the warning which is to come in this book, we need to grow in our knowledge, we must not run around in ignorance, it will lead to many being pulled around by false doctrines, we need to dig into God’s word and see where he has planned for us to stand, rooting ourselves, and allowing ourselves to be built upon by the next layer or generation of believers as the builder builds His temple the Church. And all of this whilst we seem to be busy applying our own strength is amplified by God’s strength as he provides all that we need to accomplish His purpose and plan.
