Musings on 2 Peter (1:1)

Chapter One
1: Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ...

Peter has written another letter. Here he styles himself not only an apostle, but also a servant, or slave. At first the two words might seem redundant. An apostle is someone that is sent out, and implies obedience to a sender, and therefore further implies a servant. But I think that Peter wants to communicate his own sense of perspective here. Yes I am an apostle, he says. But more than that I am a servant, a slave, in no way more special than you, dear reader. He emphasizes this point in the next sentence: You have obtained a faith of equal value to mine, dear reader, a faith equally precious to the faith of the apostles. Peter is concerned with those who would attribute to him and the other apostles more honor than their standing deserves. We do honor the apostles. In a similar vein we honor our own elders and teachers. But not in such a way that regards them as super-Christians, with a super-faith, unattainable by us Christians of a "lower order". To think this way falls into two errors simultaneously. First, it mistakingly assumes that God gives different qualities of faith to different people. A stronger faith He gives to one, and a weaker, more tenuous faith He gives to another. This is foolishness. There is one common faith, one common Lord, and one common baptism, Paul tells us in Ephesians. This does not mean there aren't stronger and weaker Christians. There are. God meets us all where we are, and some have heavier burdens than others. But the faith itself is the same faith as that of the apostles, and of every saint through the courses of time. Secondly, this assumption of different faiths for different people would seem to indicate that the faith-holder has done something in his own strength to merit a larger portion of faith, as if faith were a prize pie, and some got a bigger piece because they came in first place. This too is foolishness. Faith is binary. Faith is an on/off switch. Either you believe Jesus, or you don't. Either you love God or you don't. Do you love Jesus? Then you have a faith of equal standing with the apostles, honored though they may be.

Faith is a gift. Faith is all of grace. And this is why it cannot depend on us, in any fashion. It is only by the righteousness of Jesus that any of us can receive faith at all. Every last human being on this earth shares this in common: we are dead in the water of our sin. All of us lie on the bottom. There aren't some super humans floating closer to the surface, more fit in their own strength to receive the grace of God. That is just silly. Dead is dead. When God takes us out of our grave, and gives us new life in the life of Christ, then we are made alive. We have been given new eyes, and a new heart. This is faith. The assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things unseen. Do you believe the promises of God to be true with regard to you, based solely on the mercy of the Father, the blood of Jesus, and the working power of the Spirit? Then this letter is for you.