Through The Personal Knowledge

Scripture Reading: 2 Peter 1:1-2

It happens all the time. We take on reading a book or section of the Bible and we are so intense on getting to the meat of the passage that we often run through profound truths....usually contained in the opening of a book. Such is today's example passage. At first glance the greeting is the typical salutation made to the writer's audience. Notice though that Peter or any other writer of the Bible is not writing under their own influence. No word of Scripture is put in for filler or it was just something nice to say with no real meaning. Often times we speak verbosely about nothing with great swelling words, we talk much and say little. This is not the case here. Let's look a the whole passage here below, I have highlighted in blue the "important" parts.

1 ¶ Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

Now the whole passage is important, but notice how Peter greets us. This we will look at this week and see how powerful God's Word is, though not always verbose and long winded.

The KEY to all this in the passage is the phrase Through the Knowledge of God. If it is not for our knowledge of Him we have no basis or hope in anything about Him, or about us in Him. Let's examine,

Through the Knowledge of God that ultimately brings about our redemption to those who trust in Christ, we have....Like Precious Faith.

Peter was writing about a Common Faith, or, the same faith he has is the same that all his readers had. Truly there is only one Faith Ephesians 4:5) in the Lord and that is essential. Think how confusing it would be to follow and keep track of a whole string of gods for every detail of life. Pagans had to appease the god of harvest, fertility, hearth and home, the sun, the rain, the soil, the harvest, etc. We have ONE God who is over all. How comforting that is. Now, you may think that Christianity is a convoluted confusion of different sects and teachings. Some interpret one way while others another, so who is right? Those that hold truly to exactly what the Word teaches and not try to throw their own spin from traditionalism or modern thoughts into the mix. Peter not only describes it as the same faith we share but it is precious. In other words the Faith in Christ is to be valued as the rarest gemstone or the most expensive rare antique we can think of. It is precious to us because it is unique, for there is no salvation in any other. The faith is precious on the individual scale for it brings hope, relationship, freedom, and fellowship. The precious part is the benefits which we can have in Christ, freely. There has been no other anything that did so much and cost US nothing. We have never been benefacted so much at so great an expense like we have in Jesus Christ. This makes it precious. Yet the key again, is the knowledge of Christ. He puts within us to know Him personally and thus we find out more and more about Him and the Faith in Him we commit our lives to.

Then there is the second phrase, Grace and Peace, be multiplied unto you. This may sound at first like a nice compliment to make on writing a letter. In fact how many times do we carelessly say, God bless you? Again the words spoken have root and meaning. When Peter announced he wished Grace (unmerited favor of God to Hell bound sinners like me) PLUS peace knowing that through Christ the penalty of sin is taken away, he meant this to comfort them deeply in the soul as it is meant for us. Notice that this state of Grace AND Peace is found only by the knowledge of Christ and God. These two states are not something we can derive for ourselves on our own. These must come from God and none else. These two states are eternal, that is, if we know Christ as Saviour we will always posses these because He possesses us! Mankind can say these words over one another but they are empty unless there is the Spirit of God in the recipient working it in them. Another thing to notice is that we cannot have this Grace and Peace by simply knowing ABOUT God. Peter is not backing a supposition for head knowledge. No the language is intimate and of the heart. It is so dangerous for one to think himself a Christian because he or she has heard the stories in Sunday School or has been under preaching, or has read a book once long ago. To know about Christ is fine, but it should spur us on to know Christ in person and Lordship that makes the difference and the blessing bestowed here in the passage.

Lastly, the Knowledge of Christ is to be multiplied. This simply means it is a growing reproducing state within us. This Knowledge is foundational and builds us to be stronger and more resilient to the world's philosophy and to the evil temptations. Multiplying knowledge is growing us in our remembrance of Christ's atonement for us, lest we soon forget. Also multipying knowledge is to be contagious among its hearers. We need to share it with our brothers in Christ to edify and exhort them when they are going through the rough times. It is also to be shared with the unsaved in the hopes it will draw them to desire to know the Saviour. When something multiplies, it spreads out and covers. This is precisely what Peter hoped to do as his audience was being persecuted sorely.

Final thought: Does the knowledge of God and Christ impact or do anything specific for you? Knowing Christ liberates the soul. The whole sum of our relationship with Christ is based on our knowledge of Christ, NOT just knowing the facts, but knowing the PERSON. If we do not know the Person of Christ we cannot know anything of Christianity. Meaningless prayers, words, liturgies, events, without the proper relational knowledge these have no value.

"Through the personal knowledge," is our conduit or artery that allows us to be all of what a Christian is, without it, we have no faith or hope.

Take time this week to study the openers to books of the Bible, find these key statements that set the whole stage for what we know and who we are in Christ, "Through the Knowledge."

Help us Lord to bask in Your knowledge and to desire to know You better every day. Amen.

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