Thoughts on 2 Peter: pt 1

Lately I have been reading 2 Peter and it seems that every line is filled with amazing bits of knowledge that I really don't want to forget and the best way I think through things is to write about them so that is what I am going to do in the next couple blogs.

1:1 Peter describes himself as a slave or servant in some translations. This is usually a term we Christians like to avoid because it really doesn't sound good to us or the outside world.No one wants to be a slave. I can't think of any good connotations of the word slave. This is interesting to me because Peter spends the rest of the letter talking about how awesome the grace and peace of God are. He uses the word slave to emphasize complete surrender of his own desires, it isn't that God is a slave driver but that we should be willing to do whatever a slave would be required to do.

Next Peter reminds the audience that he was one of the original 12. He uses the word apostle which should be noted. Apostle comes the Greek word apostolos and is used numerous times throughout New Testament by Paul. He referred to himself as an apostle even though he wasn't one of those hand-picked by Jesus. In fact he used to kill Christians before he became one himself. Paul used this word in regard to a specific calling to a position in the body of Christ in the same breath of prophets, teachers and evangelists. There has been a lot of debate as to what the actual definition of this term means but we see here that Paul and Peter disagree (once again) in their interpretations.
When Peter says apostle, he is talking about THE apostles. Himself and eleven other men who followed so closely to Jesus they were covered in the dust His sandals kicked up behind Him. They actually saw and experienced the things Paul could only preach about. The 12. They were better than the Justice League, which says a lot. You would think that there would be some sort of arrogance attached to this but check out the next verse.
Peter is writing "to those who have obtained a faith of equal privelage with ours." Peter is saying to these people that even though they never met Jesus or maybe haven't even seen Jesus are on the same level as the guys who were best friends with Him. That is huge. Peter is pulling everybody up to his level, a slave.