2 Peter 1:1-4 | Sermon Resources | 16 March 2025
Summary
Peter does not hide the purpose for which he writes his second letter: “I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder (1 Peter 1:13).” Peter is writing to stir up, to arouse, to awaken the church. As Pastor Billy preaches on the first few verses of this letter, we will see this purpose at work. Peter wants to wake us up to the power of God.
Discussion Questions
1. Peter says (2 Peter 1:13) that he is writing this letter “to stir you up by way of reminder.” Spend some time reflecting on this idea. What does it mean to be stirred up in our faith? Where do you need to be stirred up right now?
2. As you look over our passage this week (2 Peter 1:1-4) what idea most stirs you up? How so?
3. In his previous letter Peter wrote to the “elect exiles” but here he writes to those who have “obtained a faith of equal standing with ours.” Why do you think Peter emphasizes their faith is equal to his? What does that stir up in you?
4. What do we learn about “divine power” in this passage? What is it? What does it do? What would you say to someone who was eager to experience this divine power? How would you encourage someone who feels like they have not fully experienced what Peter is describing here?
5. A main theme of this passage (and the rest of the letter as well) is the knowledge of Jesus Christ:
- What is the difference between knowing about a person and knowing a person?
- How can we come to know Jesus in the way that Peter talks about here?
- Why do you think we often settle for knowing about Jesus rather pursuing the deep personal knowledge Peter describes here?
6. What does it mean when he says he we will “become partakers of the divine nature”? How does knowing this help us to shake off entanglements with the world?
7. What did you find most encouraging or challenging from our time studying this passage today?
Quotes
“It is not vague sentimentality and idealism so characteristic of those whose interest is merely the immortality of the soul. Here we have the concreteness and realism of the Christian hope epitomized in the resurrection of the life everlasting…” — John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, p.192
“Let us then mark, that the end of the gospel is, to render us eventually conformable to God, and, if we may so speak, to deify us.” – John Calvin, 2 Peter Commentary
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.” — CS Lewis, Weight of Glory (essay)
“We must remember throughout our lives that in God’s sight there are no little people and no little places.” — Francis Schaffer (sermon)
