This epistle clearly is connected with the former epistle of
Peter. The apostle having stated the blessings to which God has
called Christians, exhorts those who had received these precious
gifts, to endeavour to improve in graces and virtues. They are
urged to this from the wickedness of false teachers. They are
guarded against impostors and scoffers, by disproving their
false assertions, ch. (3:1-7), and by showing why the great day
of Christ's coming was delayed, with a description of its awful
circumstances and consequences; and suitable exhortations to
diligence and holiness are given.
xhortations to add the exercise of various other graces to
faith (1-11) The apostle looks forward to his approaching
decease. (12-15) And confirms the truth of the gospel, relating
to Christ's appearing to judgment. (16-21)
Verses 1-11: Faith unites the weak believer to Christ, as really as it
does the strong one, and purifies the heart of one as truly as
of another; and every sincere believer is by his faith justified
in the sight of God. Faith worketh godliness, and produces
effects which no other grace in the soul can do. In Christ all
fulness dwells, and pardon, peace, grace, and knowledge, and new
principles, are thus given through the Holy Spirit. The promises
to those who are partakers of a Divine nature, will cause us to
inquire whether we are really renewed in the spirit of our
minds; let us turn all these promises into prayers for the
transforming and purifying grace of the Holy Spirit. The
believer must add knowledge to his virtue, increasing
acquaintance with the whole truth and will of God. We must add
temperance to knowledge; moderation about worldly things; and
add to temperance, patience, or cheerful submission to the will
of God. Tribulation worketh patience, whereby we bear all
calamities and crosses with silence and submission. To patience
we must add godliness: this includes the holy affections and
dispositions found in the true worshipper of God; with tender
affection to all fellow Christians, who are children of the same
Father, servants of the same Master, members of the same family,
travellers to the same country, heirs of the same inheritance.
Wherefore let Christians labour to attain assurance of their
calling, and of their election, by believing and well-doing; and
thus carefully to endeavour, is a firm argument of the grace and
mercy of God, upholding them so that they shall not utterly
fall. Those who are diligent in the work of religion, shall have
a triumphant entrance into that everlasting kingdom where Christ
reigns, and they shall reign with him for ever and ever; and it
is in the practice of every good work that we are to expect
entrance to heaven.
Verses 12-15: We must be established in the belief of the truth, that
we may not be shaken by every wind of doctrine; and especially
in the truth necessary for us to know in our day, what belongs
to our peace, and what is opposed in our time. The body is but a
tabernacle, or tent, of the soul. It is a mean and movable
dwelling. The nearness of death makes the apostle diligent in
the business of life. Nothing can so give composure in the
prospect, or in the hour, of death, as to know that we have
faithfully and simply followed the Lord Jesus, and sought his
glory. Those who fear the Lord, talk of his loving-kindness.
This is the way to spread the knowledge of the Lord; and by the
written word, they are enabled to do this.
Verses 16-21: The gospel is no weak thing, but comes in power, (Ro
1:16). The law sets before us our wretched state by sin, but
there it leaves us. It discovers our disease, but does not make
known the cure. It is the sight of Jesus crucified, in the
gospel, that heals the soul. Try to dissuade the covetous
worlding from his greediness, one ounce of gold weighs down all
reasons. Offer to stay a furious man from anger by arguments, he
has not patience to hear them. Try to detain the licentious, one
smile is stronger with him than all reason. But come with the
gospel, and urge them with the precious blood of Jesus Christ,
shed to save their souls from hell, and to satisfy for their
sins, and this is that powerful pleading which makes good men
confess that their hearts burn within them, and bad men, even an
Agrippa, to say they are almost persuaded to be Christians, (Ac
26:28). God is well pleased with Christ, and with us in him.
This is the Messiah who was promised, through whom all who
believe in him shall be accepted and saved. The truth and
reality of the gospel also are foretold by the prophets and
penmenof the Old Testament, who spake and wrote under influence,
and according to the direction of the Spirit of God. How firm
and sure should our faith be, who have such a firm and sure word
to rest upon! When the light of the Scripture is darted into the
blind mind and dark understanding, by the Holy Spirit of God, it
is like the day-break that advances, and diffuses itself through
the whole soul, till it makes perfect day. As the Scripture is
the revelation of the mind and will of God, every man ought to
search it, to understand the sense and meaning. The Christian
knows that book to be the word of God, in which he tastes a
sweetness, and feels a power, and sees a glory, truly divine.
And the prophecies already fulfilled in the person and salvation
of Christ, and in the great concerns of the church and the
world, form an unanswerable proof of the truth of Christianity.
The Holy Ghost inspired holy men to speak and write. He so
assisted and directed them in delivering what they had received
from him, that they clearly expressed what they made known. So
that the Scriptures are to be accounted the words of the Holy
Ghost, and all the plainness and simplicity, all the power and
all the propriety of the words and expressions, come from God.
Mix faith with what you find in the Scriptures, and esteem and
reverence the Bible as a book written by holy men, taught by the
Holy Ghost.
xhortations to add the exercise of various other graces to
faith (1-11) The apostle looks forward to his approaching
decease. (12-15) And confirms the truth of the gospel, relating
to Christ's appearing to judgment. (16-21)