Musings on 2 Peter (1:2)

2: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

As one who confesses that Jesus is Lord and believes that God raised Him from the dead, Peter sends you grace and peace. But it is grace and peace that is rooted in something firm and specific. In the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, may grace and peace be multiplied to you. Peter is asking that God would grant us wisdom. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight" (Proverbs 9:10). But the true import of these words has been sorely forgotten. These terms have been hijacked and are currently in the hands of the kings from Psalm 2, who desire to cast off their cords and free themselves from the hand of the Anointed One. But they will not succeed. And we must be proactive in reclaiming the words which belong to us.

Knowledge is much praised in our day. It has itself become a savior in our secularist culture. Ignorance has been named the great demon of our age, and therefore knowledge is the only answer. Knowledge is power, we read on many bumpers across our land. Our schools are founded on the principle that kids who know more will make better choices. If they know about STD's they wont want to mess around. If they know about drugs, they wont want to take a hit. If they know the consequence, they will not step out of line. And when kids do, which they do, ignorance is the scapegoat. It makes sense, given a godless, evolutionary mindset. If there is no God, then we are all by ourselves, and must do all we can to better our position. The problem is that real life does not give this theory any credence. The more we know of what we shouldn't do, the more we want to do it. It is human nature. Every mother's son, coming out of the womb, wants what he wants without respect to consequences. True, we have become shrewd with age and have figured out ways to disguise the action, so that the consequence is legal, or turns to our favor. For the short run at least. But this way of thinking leads to death. Ignorance is not the problem. Defiance of a Holy God is. The Ancients had a word for this attitude of the heart: sin, they called it. And if a heart that is predisposed to hate a holy God is the problem, no amount of knowledge will fix it. If a man is dead, no amount of reading Grey's Anatomy to him will bring him to life. "But see, sir? All you have to do is inhale air into your lungs. We call that breathing. Let's try it on three..." Knowledge by itself will not fix a single soul. We need something far more radical than that.

Enter Jesus stage right. In Jesus the dead man not only breathes, but picks up his mat and goes home, glorifying God. In Jesus death has been defeated. In Jesus life has come. But again we are tempted to attribute salvation to a mere knowledge that 'In Jesus life has come.' We say we know about Jesus and therefore will be saved. If knowledge plays any part in our salvation its from the other end. Does Jesus know you? "Many in that day will say, 'Lord, Lord,' but I will say to them, 'Depart from me, for I never knew you.'" Therefore it is not our knowledge but His that counts. Does Jesus know you? As we saw earlier, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. If you confess and believe, then, dear Christian, Jesus knows you. End of story. Our salvation is not based on how much we know Him. Because He is infinite and we are not, we cannot hope to know Him fully. Therefore rest.

But there is a ditch on both sides of the road, they say. If we come to the realization that knowledge of God does not in itself produce salvation, we are tempted to dismiss knowledge all together. "I believe in Jesus, what more do I need to know?" We grow lazy and complacent. Because we have no desire to read the Word, to grow in the knowledge of God, we miss the parable about the seeds falling among different soils, and the cares of the world quickly come and pluck the seed up and fly away. "Well, how can I rest now?" you might say. The answer to assurance is simple. An apple tree grows apples, not lemons. Do you confess and believe? Very well. Look for apples. If you are an apple tree, you will bear fruit. Your life will be defined by love, joy, peace, and patience. The Holy Spirit is the master gardner, and He will prune and trim and fertilize you so that you bear fruit abundantly, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundredfold. But if you are growing lemons, if your life is defined by anger, malice, lust, and immorality, then chances are you are not a apple tree. Check the box. You probably have the wrong plant.

Peter shows us the path between the two extremes. In the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, may grace and peace be multiplied. It is not salvation that is multiplied, but rather the tools for living a saved life. A man may be declared a farmer, but if he is not given a shovel or hoe, tractor or combine, then precious small will be his farm. We may be saved, but if the Spirit does not multiply within us grace and peace, then precious small will be our hope. How does the Spirit do this then? Through knowledge. The more we know, the more we rest. Say there is a big math test coming up. If we know the formulas backwards and forwards, then we will not stress about the test. But if we refuse to study, and commit the formulas to memory, then we will freak out and worry. We are a math student either way. The amount of knowledge a student has does not affect that. What knowledge does do is produce peace.

Therefore, may grace and peace be multiplied to you, in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Strive to know more of God and of Jesus your Lord. Read the Word. Study it. Immerse yourself in the poetry, in the story, in the letter, in the history. Know the Gospel backwards and forwards. Then when life sends you pop quizzes, you will have peace.