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Monday 13 July 2009

2 Peter 1:3,4

Peter is writing to a people who were facing various kinds of false teachings. Peter's first response to this is to assure them that In Christ they have everything they need in order to lead a godly life. Paul says that the devil sometimes appears as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). When someone comes to Christ they naturally want to live a life pleasing to God, and one of the enemies tactics is to try and persuade us that we need to do something extra in order to truly please God. For instance in Galatia some tried to insist that Gentile Christians needed to be circumcised. Gnostic type teachings talked about a deeper knowledge. The truth is that in Christ we have all that we need.

We are given all this provision through our knowledge of Him. So if we want to please Him more, then we need to know Him more. And Jesus called us by His own glory and goodness. Jesus was dependent upon no one else.

Some of the false teachings talked about getting in touch with God or today talk about spiritual awareness. The promises of Jesus enable us to share in the divine nature. "The corruption of the world" is the decaying nature of the world, and the world is in a state of decay because of sin. But our lives can be different. We need no longer be subject to the same decay. This does not mean that we will not grow physically older, but it does mean that inwardly we are being renewed each day (2 Cor 4:16). We should have a confident expectation of the future, because of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

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