2nd Peter and Deconstruction, Part 2: KNOWLEDGE
Last week we examined the first verses of Second Peter. Here we find the answers to our “faith crises,” now often referred to as going through “deconstruction.” This letter was written by the one who experienced the first period of deconstruction / faith crisis when he denied Christ, the apostle Peter.
” 1Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: 2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:1-2 NIV).
With a faith as precious as that of the apostles, we enter into relationship with our God and Savior Jesus Christ, ransomed through His righteousness. (v.1, above) Fully God and fully man, Jesus never sinned. His righteousness paid the penalty for our sins.
For grace and peace to be ours, we must seek Him (v. 2b). If we do so, we will receive grace and peace in abundance (v. 2a). But how? “. . . through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (v. 2b).
This requires effort on our part. We must seek to truly know Christ. Deconstruction typically involves a tearing down or doubting of previous beliefs. And so, the crucial test is this:
“Do we actually know God and Jesus our Lord? Is He truly our Savior?”
The “knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” in verse two is epignosis in the Greek. It expresses a more thorough participation in the object of knowledge, in this case God and Jesus our Lord.1.
How do we thoroughly participate in knowing God and Jesus our Lord?
Have we ever done so during our years of believing ourselves to be Christians?
We are called to seek to know more about our Savior, acquiring this knowledge:
- Through our participation in hearing the Word taught
- By learning from the Word on our own, investigating the Word more deeply
- By taking classes taught by scholars who are solidly trained in God’s Word, seeking Christ.
- By applying the Word to our lives, and thus gradually changing the norms of our behavior as we learn of Him, coming to know Him, for He Himself is the Word.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Now we return His affection. We focus in on learning to know and to love Jesus our Lord. He is our goal. We seek to acquire personal knowledge of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We seek to know and to love.
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life,”
2 Peter 1:3 informs us of this. So, what do we need? We need Christ Himself.
We don’t just sit, thoughtless, waiting for the Holy Spirit to drop spiritual wisdom upon us.
Rather, we seek the Lord within the Word of God, participating in His divine nature by learning all we can about Him from The Bible, and then walking in His steps as the His Holy Spirit moves and leads us. And thus, we become more like Him, for we are now His companions, His partners, partakers of all of His unique goodness, love, kindness, and merit.
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life.”
Knowledge gained by thorough and active participation in learning about Him, becoming intimately acquainted with Him, seeking to be a true follower of His, and loving Him in return results in changes in our behavior that conform us more to His likeness.
When we increasingly and personally involve ourselves in seeking to know Jesus our Lord, our faith isn’t merely head knowledge. His Spirit instructs us through His Word, transforming us.
We are convicted. We turn away from our sins. The Holy Spirit transforms us.
When we are increasingly and personally involved in seeking to know Jesus our Lord, our faith isn't merely head knowledge. His Spirit instructs us through the Word, transforming us. #bgbg2 Click To Tweet We are convicted. We turn away from our sins. The Holy Spirit transforms us. #bgbg2 Click To TweetWe have pursued our Lord, and through our knowledge of Him we have obtained grace and peace, for our doubts and our questions have been addressed. This is how grace and peace become ours in abundance: through the intimate knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life.”
What produces the challenge of deconstruction or of doubt is that we haven’t fully participated in Christ Jesus, nor relied upon His divine power. We don’t actually know Him. We only know about Him.
And so, once we have intimate knowledge of Him, we can recognize what we must do:
We haven’t identified in Christ, who was harmed by those who claimed to believe, a pain that we have also experienced and which may be driving us away from our faith. But now, we know Him and are identified in Christ.
Rather than turning from our faith to deconstruct it further, seeking to identify in Christ draws us closer to Him, the One who was rejected and harmed by those who also claimed to believe.
Therefore, He is the One who can comfort us most effectively, having experienced harm at the hands of false believers just as we have experienced.
When the Scriptures are confusing and unclear, we no longer are tempted to thrown up our hands, mystified. Rather, now we want to learn how to seek what the Scriptures really say, so we can know Him better, and are able to obediently apply God’s Word in our own lives.
Effort is required to grow in the knowledge of Christ Jesus, maybe even years of effort.
My own crawl back from my crisis of faith in the mid 1990s required somewhere between five and ten years of learning Who God is and what He wanted from me in my life as a Christian. This came by learning to how to study the Word and then responding to His Word when convicted of my sin. Through the years of this process, I found God’s Word and God Himself to be trustworthy.
Within God’s Word we come to know Jesus more thoroughly.
I had to face my fears and accept what it means to follow, believe in, and entirely trust an omniscient God who has His own agenda that I may never fully understand.
Confirming One’s Calling and Election
This is a component of deconstruction, which has always been part of a faith crisis.
And so, after our pursuit of Him, do we now truly know Him?
Has He truly called us to be His? Are we saved?
This we puzzle over. This we seek to know. And once we recognize and know that He did pursue us, and that is why we are His, then we grow to trust His actions, to yield to His leading, and to believe wholeheartedly in Him once again.
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life.”
KNOWLEDGE
“His divine power as saved us through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV).
This is how our salvation is obtained. It is not by our own efforts. In dying for us, the Lord sought to save us, not only from an eternity in hell, but from the power of evil desires at work in our lives. Salvation is a lifetime work in progress.
The goal for us in this life is to “escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires,” for we now “participate in the divine nature” of God Himself, and so it is imperative to recall that:
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life”
RELATIONSHIP
We are called into relationship, into participation in our Lord’s divine nature, for through our salvation, we gain the help of His Holy Spirit to be strong, to flee, and to escape from the corruption and the ruin of the world and its addictive sins fueled by polluted and corrupted desires.
Our escape is accomplished by His Spirit, our knowledge of Him, and our reliance upon His very great and precious promises. The more we seek Him, the better we know Him and increasingly grow, becoming able to reject and to turn from evil desires.
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life”
INCREASING INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE
…through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Verse 3, yet again, is epignosis,1. translated knowledge of Him. Our faith isn’t merely about head knowledge. It’s about relationship, for He has called us by His own glory and goodness.
God's divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:3) #bgbg2 #KnowingGod Click To TweetPARTICIPATORY KNOWLEDGE PROVOKES CHANGE
Participatory knowledge of Christ provokes change in us, for we grow to know him personally, to learn that He is for us, helping us along the way, drawing near to us when we call out to Him.
Participatory knowledge of Christ provokes change in us, for we grow to know him personally, to learn that He is for us, helping us along the way, drawing near to us when we call out to Him. #bgbg2 #KnowingGod Click To TweetThe definition of the Greek word “epignosis,” yet again teaches us that this is a participatory faith. We are called to action. The Lord sought us, He called us, and, because of that, when we seek the Lord, we will find Him. And, once found, He will equip us for every trial we face in this life.
Through His pursuit of us, and our pursuit of Him, we have relationship, causing us to grow and to obtain the divine power necessary to live a godly life through our knowledge of Him, for He has called us by His own glory and goodness. The more we seek Him, the better we know Him.
Why has he called us to this Godly life of seeking Him and listening to His voice?
- So that we may participate in his divine nature, v.4
- So that we may escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires, v.4.
- So that we may live a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us, v.3.
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life”
INTIMACY INCREASES KNOWLEDGE
…through this participation in our intimate relationship with Him. By examining the great and precious promises given to us in Christ, written throughout the Scriptures, we may seek Him to help us to grow, to change, and to respond to Him, the One Who seeks us.
What has He given us? Very great and precious promises, so that through them we may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
God's divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our participation in our intimate relationship of Him. #bgbg2 #KnowingGod Click To Tweet“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life”
We learn to repent quickly when we fall into sin. We have his divine power to do all of these things if we will but turn to him, for we participate in His divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
God's divine power has given us everything we need for a godly live, for we participate in His divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. #bgbg2 #KnowingGod Click To TweetGrowing in faith and changing our ways are how we seek and respond to Him as He seeks us.
How has your life changed as you have come to truly know the Savior?
I am a Bible Gateway Partner and Affiliate, one of many bloggers on the Blogger Grid, #bgbg2.
My blog is also available on the BG² portfolio at: https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/bloggergrid/.
My Twitter account @MelindaVInman is on the Bible Gateway Twitter List: http://bg4.me/1DNKdv2.
Continued next week. . . .
- Definition of epignosis from The Complete Word Study New Testament, edited by Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D.
Excellent message. Your words truly remind me that God equips us with what we need to be able to share His love and glory with others. Every day is an opportunity to grow a deeper relationship with God.
Yes indeed, Melissa! God equips us to love Him, to heed His voice, to change our sinful behavior, to grow in our affection for Him, and to bring along others who may be grasping for the Truth while deconstructing their faith.
What a true blessing to know that God equips us for everything.
Thanks be to God! That’s so true, Yvonne!
Love, love, love your repeated use of the word participatory: participatory knowledge, participatory faith. Yes! In fact faith isn’t faith UNTIL it’s participatory. Our actions flow from faith. Even James said faith without works is dead (2:17).
Another home run, Melinda!
Thanks, Ava! Faith without works is indeed dead. Good point, sister! Our participation in our growth is essential. We must grow in knowledge of the Lord for our faith and our love of Him to grow and increase.
I like this type of deconstruction, causing the believer to grow in their knowledge and love of Jesus rather than leaving the Church because someone in the Church, being a sinner like ourselves, hurts them n some way. Indeed, Jesus was not just hurt, he was killed by those in the church of his day!
Yes, good point! Jesus, set the example. He was hurt by the same type of people who hurt believers today. And yet, He turned to the Father for comfort, and, of course, being God in the flesh, He adhered to His course and the truth of the Scriptures. He helped me to return to Him when I deconstructed in the 1990s. The Bible study “Lord, Where Are You when Bad Things Gapoen?” by Kay Arthur anchored me to God’s Word and grew my faith.
“We are called to seek to know more about our Savior”… yes!!! I have a hunger to know God, more and more… His will, His way, His works, and HIM. Thank you for powerful and crucial instruction, Melinda!
That is all evidence of Christ in you, Jessica! When we seek Him, we find Him, and O how very dear He is to us!
Your message supports 2 Peter 1:3 so intentionally, Melinda. Loved your points about acquiring knowledge of Jesus and the Word. Especially “investigating the Word more deeply.” That’s my heart’s desire, to let the Word transform me from the inside out, not expecting the Holy Spirit to drop wisdom in my lap. 🙂 But really yearning for the implanted Word to come alive in me and my life! Great post as usual.
Thanks so much, Karen! This passage is so full of so much good theology. The urging to pursue the Lord, deepening our knowledge of Him, is essential for our spiritual growth. Without knowledge of the Lord, we cannot grow. Knowing Him transforms us as we come to love Him and to understand Him ever more thoroughly.