Week 5 – 2 Peter: “BEWARE!”

Devotions written by Missy Iley

Monday
2 Peter 1:1-2

As students of the Bible, we know Peter better than any of the other disciples. We’ve seen him walking on water and then sinking in sin as he cursed and denounced the very One he had claimed to be the Messiah. We’ve heard the Spirit-filled words as he proclaimed that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” But then we witnessed the Apostle Paul calling Peter on the carpet for hypocrisy for showing favoritism to Jewish Christians over Gentile Christians by reminding him “there is neither Jew nor Greek,” everyone is “one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

As Peter writes his second and final letter to believers everywhere, he is near the end of his life. While his first letter emphasized the grace of God, this one screams out to us to “BEWARE!”

* BEWARE of the corruption of this world (1:4)
* BEWARE of false prophets (2:1)
* BEWARE of ignorance of God’s Word (3:17)

The New International Version very sweetly phrases the addressees of Peter’s letters in 1:1 like this: “To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours.”

Our faith is indeed precious, and in order to protect it and proclaim it, we must heed Peter’s insightful warnings so we all may continue to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”