2 Pt. 1:1-4; Jn. 17:20-26, Great and Precious Promises

Let us continue our consideration of the amazing truths surrounding our great and precious promises.

Ø What Jesus gave them that night came from His divine power.  Jesus could do this because He was the Son of God!  What He gave them can be summarized as all things that pertain to life and godliness.  He gave them everything they would need to fit their calling.  And He even told them what they were getting would be better than if He, Jesus, were to maintain His physical presence with them (16:7).  

Ø The channel through which these promises are fulfilled is glory and virtue.  The specifics language of v3 is this: God called us “through” glory and virtue.  What does this mean?  What we are called to is holiness (Eph. 1:4) or Christ-likeness (Rom. 8:29-30).  Thus Peter is saying we achieve this goal through glory and virtue.  Does he mean the glory and virtue of Christ?  Certainly that is the case in Scripture.  It is the “divine” power of Christ.  That speaks of His glory.  The word “virtue” is the term used in 1 Pet. 2:9 when Peter said that we have been called to proclaim the “praises” of Him who called us out of darkness into light.  

However it is possible Peter is saying something different.  Remember that on that very night of His betrayal Jesus prayed that His people would share in His glory (John 17:22).  We are being transformed into the same image (of Christ) from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).  Paul was speaking of this calling we have: increase in Christ-likeness means we are increasingly bearing the glory of Christ.  And it is believers who, in 2 Peter 1:5, are called to add to your faith virtue.


So which is it: the glory and virtue of Christ or the glory and virtue of the believer?  The answer is, of course, that both are true.  As Peter says in 1:1: what we obtain is obtained by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.  We have no glory of our own; it is only what Christ shares with us.  That’s why our sanctification is defined as putting on the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 13:14).  Sanctification is being renewed in the image of Christ (Col. 3:10).  Christ is our life; thus when He appears we will appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:4).  Remember: glory is not a place; glory is the reality of the believer when we stand with Christ in the resurrection.  No suffering is worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18).  We long for this day, when the virtues of our Savior are ours as well.

Ø The last phrase of 1:4 reminds us that putting on the Lord Jesus Christ always involves repentance.  We must escape the kingdom of death we entered when we were born the first time.  The lusts (flesh, eyes, pride; 1 Jn. 2:15-17) have corrupted this world and this corruption holds us captive.  We are slaves to sin.  In Christ we have escaped and thus are now fit to be partakers of the divine nature.  Thus we always remember that putting on the Lord Jesus Christ requires making no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts (Rom. 13:14).