2 PETER 1 (NOTES OF A READING)
[p. 288] 2 PETER 1 (NOTES OF A READING)
Rem There is so much in this chapter. Will you tell us what is specially in your mind?
CAC What I had before me was the thought of power. I feel I would like to be enlarged and encouraged myself in the sense of the divine and spiritual power that is available to us. I do not think we could get over the whole ground; there is, as you say, so much in the chapter; but if we could get a little impression from God of the great resource of divine power, it would be a help to the youngest as well as the eldest. What strikes me is that God is doing something.
Men are busy doing many things, but there is something greater than what men are doing: God is working. The first thing that strikes you is that God is maintaining the line of faith. The apostle begins, “To them that have received like precious faith”. He adds later on, “The greatest and precious promises”. It was a matter of righteousness with God to maintain the line of faith.
Ques Was it because of the promises?
CAC Yes; the word righteousness is used in the sense of faithfulness. It is a great cheer to see the beginning of the movements of faith; you see it in a little child, it begins to take in the things of Christ and to feel it can confide in the Lord and tell Him what it wants with the sense that He will answer prayer. You have something the same as the apostle had; it is God’s doing. You look round and see the world today taking wonderfully attractive forms — Satan is calling out his reserves — but God is going to maintain the line of faith. A person in the line of faith has no need to be afraid of anything; there will be no shortage, everything will be supplied and there will be divine power.
Rem “All things which relate to life and godliness”.
CAC Life is connected with the spiritual side; the most [p. 289] important part of our lives is that part, our secret history with God. Godliness is the practical working out of things, how we carry ourselves in our home, in our business. God’s power has furnished us with all that we need. It is fine; there is nothing for us to do but make use of it. It all started with God; if ever there has been a movement in my heart, a sense of the preciousness of Christ, it shows that God was thinking about me before time began. It is an immense thing to recognise that there are those in this world called by God. Abraham is a leading example, and we find how God has called us; it is “by glory and virtue”; that is how God has approached us, by what He has set forth in Christ.
Ques Do you mean that has attracted us?
CAC I think that is the way He has called us, by setting forth glory and virtue in Christ; He has made it all shine out in a Man. God is the God of glory, and He has made it all to shine out in a Man. All that God is, is set forth in Jesus.
Rem Everything is brought to a focus there.
CAC Yes; every right thought we have, we derived it from the Lord Jesus.
Rem He says in verse 2, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God”.
CAC Everything hangs on how we know God. There is a remarkable scripture in Daniel, “The people that know their God shall be strong, and do exploits” (Daniel 11: 32, Authorised Version). You see some of the exploits here. “In your faith have also virtue, in virtue knowledge, in knowledge temperance”, etc. Those are spiritual exploits. Faith can go triumphantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Ques What is the meaning of virtue?
CAC It is to my mind an excellence that cannot be corrupted. It was seen in the Lord Jesus in all His words and His works of mercy; there was virtue too. A blessed Man who could not be corrupted, although Satan plied every [p. 290] art and brought all his weapons to bear; but there was an excellence there untouched by evil, incorruptible. God has shown Him to us; it is the powerful magnet God uses to draw us out of the world; it is how God calls us.
Rem It is beautiful the way it is put, “Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust”.
CAC If there were not something in us that answers to what is set forth in Jesus, it would not be attractive. If you put a magnet into a dish of brass pins and screws and iron nails, you will see that the brass will be unmoved, but the iron nails will rise to the magnet. Whenever God works in a soul there is something there that answers to glory and virtue when set before it. One can remember as a little child the sense that one could go to the Lord Jesus and entrust everything to Him; that is the beginning of it. God calls us in that way and attracts us so that He may be our confidence and the source of power for us, and we may learn to make use of that which divine power has given to us. Faith alone is not enough; it has to be furnished and if it is not it will not go triumphantly through and have an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ques Was that suggested on the holy mount that Peter refers to?
CAC Yes.
Rem Virtue seems to be the first thing.
CAC Through our Lord Jesus Christ we have got the greatest and precious promises in having the revelation of God in Him. He has pledged Himself so that whatever we need, God will supply. We get things as we need them, and of course we have to acquire them and use them. A believer does not go very far before he finds a need for virtue; there are things going on in the world, and a time comes when you must either go on with them or stand against them, and for that you need courage — virtue. “The fear of man bringeth a snare” (Proverbs 29: 25); you want virtue then. The Lord never did anything to please man. He was marked by an excellence [p. 291] that went steadily on — He could not be corrupted. There comes a time when you feel you cannot do without it — you must either give up or have virtue. With Joseph of Arimathaea there came a moment when he must take a definite stand; he had been a secret disciple for some time. There is many a person who has faith who has not virtue — there comes a time when it must be both; with Joseph he had to say, ‘I honour that One whom you have crucified’. When you feel you must have things from God, you get them; you feel you must have virtue or faith will fail, and you go to God and tell Him so. That is the sort of prayer God answers. Everyone knows how far he has gone with his acquisition. God will put you into circumstances which will bring out your need of these things. The next thing is knowledge that can stand against the moral influences of this world. Courage is not enough, you must have knowledge. You have to acquire God’s mind; there comes a time when we must have knowledge of God’s mind. When people give up seeking God’s mind there is an end of the practical power of their faith; we only “know in part”; there is always something more to be added. David speaks of his desire to dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days and to enquire of Him in His temple (Psalm 27: 4). When people cease to enquire, they drop out of the path of faith.
Rem You have to get knowledge all the way along.
CAC God’s mind has always to be sought for; one would say reverently, God wants intelligent persons. The Lord speaks of knowing the truth in John 8: 32 and the truth setting them free. It is only got by going to God. Temperance is the next thing. If you have not got temperance you get under the influence of your own feelings so that you do not take a sober estimate of things; either they are exaggerated, or you get hard and think too lightly of them. When you come to the point that you need temperance, you will get it.
Rem Without it certain things might [p. 292] be forced.
CAC Yes; these features give you a perfectly balanced character. It is seen perfectly in Christ. The next thing is endurance; that is bearing with things you do not like. The man that can endure is the man that will reign; it is a sign of an apostle so far as I know, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12: 12, “The signs indeed of the apostle were wrought among you in all endurance”.
Ques Is not endurance the evidence of power?
CAC I think so. So that you can go on with things you do not like a bit. I have seen a meeting with people in it who were such opposites in character, naturally and spiritually too, that you wonder how they can go on. In these things we learn to endure, to go on with all. Then you go on to godliness; you might have expected that to come sooner, but you need the others first before you can consider for God, before you can take account of what is due to God. You are then pretty well furnished. Next comes brotherly love: you consider for the brethren; that takes account of everything connected with their interests. There are two sides to brotherly love: not only do I take interest in what concerns my brother, but I am very pleased that he should take account of my concerns. I have heard people say, “I do not want the brethren talking of my affairs”. They are lacking in brotherly love. You begin to see what it is to have brethren. Last of all you come to love. Love is the nature of God; everything is to be marked by love in the assembly, the way of surpassing excellence. When you have got that you are fully furnished.
Rem It is wider than brotherly love.
CAC Yes, love is the spiritual side. So faith is fully furnished, and there is nothing to hinder the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rem Scripture is wiser than we are; we have to be led on to it.
CAC Yes; these things have to be acquired, you must have diligence; the result is we are neither idle nor unfruitful;
he says, “Doing these things you will never fall”; there is power. Nothing is a greater indication of power than that a believer never falls. It is not once for all, it is a constant exercise. The fact that I had virtue yesterday is no guarantee that I shall have it today.
Rem It is very solemn, the way it is put, “Using therewith all diligence”.
CAC Yes, on the divine side it is all furnished, but on our side there must be all diligence; that is most important.
Ques To lack diligence is to get into a sort of Laodicean condition, is it not?
CAC Yes.
Ques How would you advise us to get about going in for it?
CAC The only way I can advise is that when you come into the circumstances, when you find you must have it, you go to God about it. In having God you have all the promises in the Bible. God has pledged Himself to you, and you have them all in Him; the question is, How many have you got the good of? We always find that when we get to God about it we get it, and it is through exercise, having the conscience exercised and making use of God. The result is, faith is furnished; there is nothing to hinder an abundant entrance into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful thing, to think there is such a kingdom; nothing can bring that to an end.
Rem I suppose that really explains what faith is.
CAC One is truly in the path of faith in dependence, and not otherwise. When you think of the everlasting kingdom, you cannot see it; it can be entered into, though — it is a question of faith and a fully furnished faith. Everyone that loves Him can say what a wonderful sphere to go into. When you go in there, there is nothing but majesty, honour and glory, and what they heard. His majesty shone in His countenance and His raiment. The kingdom is full of the effulgence of God. “Thou hast loved righteousness and hast hated lawlessness”; you begin to think of that and you think very little of the glory of this world. Great men in this world are not a bit like Jesus; perfect moral suitability to God is His raiment.
Rem Mark says of His garments, “Such as fuller on earth could not whiten them” (Mark 9: 3).
CAC Then they heard a voice, and honour and glory came with that. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight” (Matthew 17: 5). It is really in the sanctuary we learn sonship; it is the relationship in which Christ is with the Father, and we learn we are sons with Him. In the end of Matthew 17 the Lord says, “Me and thee”. “The kings of the earth, from whom do they receive custom or tribute? from their own sons or from strangers? Peter says to him, From strangers. Jesus said to him, Then are the sons free. But that we may not be an offence to them ... thou wilt find a stater; take that and give it to them for me and thee”. Peter heard Him speaking and saw His majesty, and He as Son puts Peter alongside Himself; and if people are not in the kingdom they will not be in the good of sonship. I do not think anyone can reach it any other way. Peter gives us all this, that we may be put in remembrance till the morning star arises in our hearts. On God’s side it is a free gift, on the other side it is entrance into the everlasting kingdom, so that there is a condition suitable. The morning star arises in the heart; the kingdom is going to come, but what comes now is the morning star.
‘The Spirit brings Thy glory nigh
To those who for Thee wait’. (81:2)
What subsists in divine power makes everything available for faith. Divine power fills the kingdom.