THE VERSE
Simon 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.~2 Peter 1:1
THE THOUGHT
This is a staggering, extraordinary verse if you take the time to think about it. Simon Peter, the Rock, the apostle upon whose confession the Lord would build his church, is writing to the church, a group of sinful struggling people, and says that they have obtained a faith equal to his. A faith equal to the faith upon which the church is built and against which even the gates of hell cannot prevail! That’s pretty extraordinary. But what is even more amazing is how we have obtained such an unconquerable faith: “by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”Peter, who tradition says was the first bishop of Rome and therefore the first “pope,” says here that the righteousness of Christ imputed to believers gives us all equal standing before God. We stand before God on equal footing with the apostles, with Peter himself, with every saint who has gone before us, because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Robed in His perfection and accounted with His righteousness, the lowliest, struggling believer has equal standing before God as the greatest saint who has ever lived. God accepts and loves us with the same acceptance and love that He lavishes on His own Son, because we are united by faith with Him.
Be encouraged, struggling saint. Your standing in heaven is not based on your achievement, your good works, or even the strength of your faith. No, your “equal standing” before God is based on one thing alone: the perfect life and death that Jesus lived and died for you. Charles Spurgeon writes, “Only think of it, you whose faith is of a very trembling sort, which might be well described as “little faith” Yet yours is 'like precious faith' with that of Peter and the rest of the apostles. There is indeed a blessed equality here, for the poorest little-faith who ever crept into heaven on its hands and knees, has a like precious faith with the mighty apostle Peter.”
THE PRAYER
Jesus, You are my God and Savior, my righteousness, my only hope. Thank you for everything you have done for me. Thank you for the cross, on which You took all my sin so that I could be free, forgiven, and accepted. And thank you for every moment of Your perfect life which secured my justification and equal standing before God.EXTENDED READING
2 Peter 1:1-2Romans 5:1-2
Matthew 16:13-19
THE QUOTE
“God thirsts to be thirsted after.” ~St. AugustineTHROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Esther 9-10Proverbs 17:15-28
Luke 20:20-26
Philemon 12-25
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