2 PETER 1:2-3
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
Peter’s benedictory exclamation isn’t merely for grace and peace upon the saints, but that these wonderful blessings “be multiplied”! Any tiny morsel of grace is so potent and fulfilling, but what about the fullness of that grace? Then take that grace and multiply it to the Nth degree! And on top of that, the peace that GOD graciously provides!
It’s only a child of GOD, experiencing the grace of GOD, that can know the fullness of peace as GOD intended! And how are these blessings distributed? According to “the knowledge of GOD and of Jesus our LORD”. There is no other venue by which this grace and peace can be received and experienced.
By the grace of GOD, He manifested in the flesh in the Person of GOD the Son and willingly suffered the wrath and judgment of GOD the Father for the sins of all humanity – though we as a rebellious people were unworthy of such: still, He made this offer of salvation, according to His grace (this unmerited favor). Astounding!
And by that grace, we now have peace with GOD (ROM 5:1), no longer condemned as guilty, criminal sinners (ROM 8:1) but enjoy the privilege of being children of GOD (JN 1:12-13). And because we are no longer under the Holy Judge’s wrath, but find peace with GOD as our loving Abba Father, we can experience the peace OF GOD (PHIL 4:7-9).
In these two verses “knowledge” is mentioned twice “…the knowledge of GOD and of Jesus our LORD…” and “…through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue…”
Where do we find this “knowledge of GOD”, this holy “calling to glory and virtue”? Of course, it’s through the holy revelation of the inspired Word! NOT by extrabiblical writings of human beings, and certainly not through mystical meditation where “esoteric wisdom” reveals the “deep truths of divine origin” – that’s the stuff of Humanism (in such writings of people who disparage the Scriptures) and New Age advocates (who prefer subjective, seductive experiences over the objective, inspired, plenary Scriptures of truth)!
What I love about the LORD is that He makes our salvation simple in its requirements:
Express from your heart genuine faith in Christ, His atonement, His resurrection (ROM 10:9-10) and then as a born again disciple, begin to read, meditate, study, love the Word of GOD, applying it practically to your life (JOHN 15:4-8). You don’t need anything other than these (Of course, the Word instructs us on prayer, sharing the Gospel, attending a local body of believers – but all of this is self-contained in the Holy Bible).
Salvation is an all-encompassing expression that includes justification, sanctification, propitiation – and so many other aspects of salvation that the Bible explains using key biblical words. And we learn about all of these as we pour into the Word of GOD.
Contrary to what theologically liberal teachers claim (that the Bible isn’t enough. "Let's make a group decision to drop once and for all the ‘Bible-as-Owner's-Manual’ metaphor. It's terrible. It really is.This is part of the problem with continually insisting that one of the absolutes of the Christian faith must be a belief that 'scripture alone' is our guide. It sounds nice, but it isn't true. . . When people say that all we need is the Bible, it is simply not true." ~ Rob Bell), YES – all we need is GOD’s Word!! Meditate on PSALM 119 which is all about the Word of GOD!
PSALM 119:127-128
127 Therefore I love Your commandments More than gold, yes, than fine gold! 128 Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right; I hate every false way.
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