As in any good relationship, people don’t just give information about themselves, but they also give themselves to the other person. So Peter makes clear that Jesus has given himself to us. Believers receive grace and peace and spiritual power to face life and live holy lives only because God the Father has called them, and Jesus has given himself to them in his life, death, and resurrection. 

Editor’s note: This is part two of BCL’s two-part series “The Good Master.” Click here to read part one: “The Beauty of Belonging to a Good Master.”

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:1).

2 Peter 1:1-4 stresses how much believers receive from Christ, and, yet, here we find the apostle Peter describing himself as a servant—a slave (δοῦλος; “doulos”)—of Jesus Christ. This is surprising because we would expect that if “slave” was a defining term for a relationship, we would hear first about all the demands of the master for his slave. We would expect a list of commands and duties to be performed for the master. Yet Peter completely flips this concept of slave on its head, instead stressing the gifting nature of Jesus, the greatest slave of all.

The Same Beautiful Christianity That the Apostles Had Has Also Been Given to Us

Peter speaks first of the faith believers have received from God. This faith is of the same status as the apostles. So, even if you were a poor, uneducated, suffering believer, you had the same beautiful Christianity given to you that the apostles had. Even now, a present-day Christian’s faith is not inferior to the faith of the apostles.

And this faith that was gifted to believers was provided “by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (v.1). This emphasizes the true nature of the gift. God does not give the gift because he saw that we were worthy in any way. We do not stand before God because we were able to do anything good or would do anything good in the future, but only because of Jesus’s work on our behalf.

Jesus Gives Us the Gift of Increasing Blessedness

Then, Peter, speaking for Jesus Christ, proclaims a wish for the believers, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you” (v.2). For those bought by Christ Jesus’ precious blood, this wish is a possible and powerful reality. These blood-bought slaves have possession of God’s favor and instead of being at war with God are now at peace with him. But they also have the privilege of experiencing more grace and peace in their life. The Creator of the universe smiles down upon them, loves them, and cherishes them. They have peace with God— no fear of condemnation from the righteous Judge of heaven and earth.

These slaves stand before a holy God, assured that they have favor with him and forever possess a relationship of peace (i.e., harmony) with him because of what Jesus Christ did.[1] With this status, they stand in the position of growing in their relationship with God by growing in their knowing of God and their salvation in Christ. This is the call to show forth the fruit of our union with Christ. This gift is the call, in the words of C.S. Lewis, to move “further in and further up,”[2] so that we might have an even more abundant experience of God’s favor and peace.

Jesus Gives Us the Gift of God Himself

By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire (2 Pet. 1:4).

Next, we take heart that this master desires a personal relationship with his people. Those who belong to Jesus belong to a master who desires us to know him in a personal way.

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