In
this chapter we have, I. An introduction, or preface, making way for, and
leading to, what is principally designed by the apostle, ver. 1-4. II. An
exhortation to advance and improve in all Christian graces, ver. 5-7. III.
To enforce this exhortation, and engage them seriously and heartily to
comply with it, he adds, 1. A representation of the very great advantage
which will thereby accrue to them, ver. 8-11. 2. A promise of the best
assistance the apostle was able to give to facilitate and forward this good
work, ver. 12-15. 3. A declaration of the certain truth and divine origin of
the gospel of Christ, in the grace whereof they were exhorted to increase
and persevere.
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The
Felicity of the Church.
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A. D. 67.
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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, 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of
him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust.
The apostle Peter, being moved by the Holy Ghost to write once more to those
who from among the Jews were turned to faith in Christ, begins this second
epistle with an introduction, wherein the same persons are described and the
same blessings are desired that are in the preface to his former letter; but
there are some additions or alterations which ought to be taken notice of,
in all the three parts of the introduction.
I. We have here a description of the person who wrote the epistle, by the
name of Simon, as well as Peter, and by the title of servant,
as well as that of apostle. Peter, being in both epistles, seems to
be the name most frequently used, and with which he may be thought to be
best pleased, it being given him by our Lord, upon his confessing Jesus
to be Christ the Son of the living God, and the very name signifying and
sealing that truth to be the fundamental article, the rock on which all must
build; but the name Simon, though omitted in the former epistle, is
mentioned in this, lest the total omission of that name, which was given him
when he was circumcised, should make the Jewish believers, who were all
zealous of the law, to become jealous of the apostle, as if he disclaimed
and despised circumcision. He here styles himself a servant (as well
as an apostle) of Jesus Christ; in this he may be allowed to glory,
as David does, Ps. cxvi. 16. The service of Christ is the way to the highest
honour, John xii. 26. Christ himself is King of kings, and Lord of lords;
and he makes all his servants kings and priests unto God, Rev. i. 6.
How great an honour is it to be the servants of this Master! This is what we
cannot, without sin, be ashamed of. To triumph in being Christ's servant
is very proper for those who are engaging others to enter into or abide in
the service of Christ.
II. We have an account of the people to whom the epistle is written. They
are described in the former epistle as elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, and here as having obtained precious
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; for the faith here mentioned is vastly
different from the false faith of the heretic, and the feigned faith of the
hypocrite, and the fruitless faith of the formal professor, how orthodox
soever he is. It is the faith of God's elect (Tit. i. 1), wrought by
the Spirit of God in effectual calling. Observe, 1. True saving faith is a
precious grace, and that not only as it is very uncommon, very scarce, even
in the visible church, a very small number of true believers among a great
multitude of visible professors (Matt. xxii. 14), but true faith is very
excellent and of very great use and advantage to those who have it. The
just lives by faith, a truly divine spiritual life; faith procures all
the necessary supports and comforts of this excellent life; faith goes to
Christ, and buys the wine and milk (Isa. lv. 1) which are the proper
nourishment of the new creature; faith buys and brings home the tried gold,
the heavenly treasure that enriches; faith takes and puts on the white
raiment, the royal robes that clothe and adorn, Rev. iii. 18. Observe, 2.
Faith is alike precious in the private Christian and in the apostle; it
produces the same precious effects in the one and in the other. Faith unites
the weak believer to Christ as really as it does the strong one, and
purifies the heart of one as truly as of another; and every sincere believer
is by his faith justified in the sight of God, and that from all sins, Acts
xiii. 39. Faith, in whomsoever it exists, takes hold of the same precious
Saviour, and applies the same precious promises. 3. This precious faith is
obtained of God. Faith is the gift of God, wrought by the Spirit, who raised
up Jesus Christ from the dead. 4. The preciousness of faith, as well as our
obtaining it, is through the righteousness of Christ. The satisfactory
meritorious righteousness and obedience of Christ gives faith all its value
and preciousness: and the righteousness of such a person cannot but be of
infinite value to those who by faith receive it. For, (1.) This Jesus Christ
is God, yea, our God, as it is in the original. He is truly God, an
infinite Being, who has wrought out this righteousness, and therefore it
must be of infinite value. (2.) He is the Saviour of those that believe,
and as such he yielded this meritorious obedience; and therefore it is of
such great benefit and advantage to them, because, as surety and Saviour, he
wrought out this righteousness in their stead.
III. We have the apostolical benediction, wherein he wishes for the
multiplication and increase of the divine favour to them, and the
advancement and growth of the work of grace in them, and that peace with God
and in their own consciences (which cannot be without grace) may
abound in them. This is the very same benediction that is in the former
epistle; but here he adds,
1. An account of the way and means whereby grace and peace are multiplied--it
is through the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ; this acknowledging
or believing in the only living and true God, and Jesus Christ whom he
has sent, is the great improvement of spiritual life, or it could not be
the way to life eternal, John xvii. 3.
2. The ground of the apostle's faith in asking, and of the Christian's hope
in expecting, the increase of grace. What we have already received should
encourage us to ask for more; he who has begun the work of grace will
perfect it. Observe, (1.) The fountain of all spiritual blessings is the
divine power of Jesus Christ, who could not discharge all the office of
Mediator, unless he was God as well as man. (2.) All things that have any
relation to, and influence upon, the true spiritual life, the life and power
of godliness, are from Jesus Christ; in him all fulness dwells, and
it is from him that we receive, and grace for grace (John i. 16),
even all that is necessary for the preserving, improving, and perfecting of
grace and peace, which, according to some expositors, are called here in
this verse godliness and life. (3.) Knowledge of God, and faith in
him, are the channel whereby all spiritual supports and comforts are
conveyed to us; but then we must own and acknowledge God as the author of
our effectual calling, for so he is here described: Him that hath called
us to glory and virtue. Observe here, The design of God in calling or
converting men is to bring them to glory and virtue, that is, peace
and grace, as some understand it; but many prefer the marginal
rendering, by glory and virtue; and so we have effectual calling set
forth as the work of the glory and virtue, or the glorious power, of God,
which is described Eph. i. 19. It is the glory of God's power to convert
sinners; this is the power and glory of God which are seen and experienced
in his sanctuary (Ps. lxiii. 2); this power or virtue is to be extolled by
all that are called out of darkness into marvellous light, 1 Pet. ii.
9. (4.) In the fourth verse the apostle goes on to encourage their faith and
hope in looking for an increase of grace and peace, because the same glory
and virtue are employed and evidenced in giving the promises of the gospel
that are exercised in our effectual calling. Observe, [1.] The good things
which the promises make over are exceedingly great. Pardon of sin is one of
the blessings here intended; how great this is all who know any thing of the
power of God's anger will readily confess, and this is one of those promised
favours in bestowing whereof the power of the Lord is great, Num.
xiv. 17. To pardon sins that are numerous and heinous (every one of which
deserves God's wrath and curse, and that for ever) is a wonderful thing, and
is so called, Ps. cxix. 18. [2.] The promised blessings of the gospel are
very precious; as the great promise of the Old Testament was the Seed of
the woman, the Messiah (Heb. xi. 39), so the great promise of the New
Testament is the Holy Ghost (Luke xxiv. 49), and how precious must
the enlivening, enlightening, sanctifying Spirit be! [3.] Those who receive
the promises of the gospel partake of the divine nature. They are renewed
in the spirit of their mind, after the image of God, in knowledge,
righteousness, and holiness; their hearts are set for God and his
service; they have a divine temper and disposition of soul; though the law
is the ministration of death, and the letter killeth, yet the
gospel is the ministration of life, and the Spirit quickeneth
those who are naturally dead in trespasses and sins. [4.]
Those in whom the Spirit works the divine nature are freed from the bondage
of corruption. Those who are, by the Spirit of grace, renewed in the
spirit of their mind, are translated into the liberty of the children
of God; for it is the world in which corruption reigns. Those who
are not of the Father, but of the world, are under the power of sin;
the world lies in wickedness, 1 John v. 19. And the dominion that sin has in
the men of the world is through lust; their desires are to it, and therefore
it rules over them. The dominion that sin has over us is according to the
delight we have in it.
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Spiritual
Diligence; Advancement in Holiness.
A. D. 67.
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5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add
to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to
knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience
godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to
brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and
abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But he
that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath
forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10 Wherefore the
rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for
if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 11 For so an
entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
In these words the apostle comes to the chief thing intended in this
epistle--to excite and engage them to advance in grace and holiness, they
having already obtained precious faith, and been made partakers of the
divine nature. This is a very good beginning, but it is not to be rested in,
as if we were already perfect. The apostle had prayed that grace and peace
might be multiplied to them, and now he exhorts them to press forward for
the obtaining of more grace. We should, as we have opportunity, exhort those
we pray for, and excite them to the use of all proper means to obtain what
we desire God to bestow upon them; and those who will make any progress in
religion must be very diligent and industrious in their endeavours. Without giving
all diligence, there is no gaining any ground in the work of holiness;
those who are slothful in the business of religion will make nothing of it;
we must strive if we will enter in at the strait gate, Luke xiii. 24.
I. Here we cannot but observe how the believer's way is marked out step by
step. 1. He must get virtue, by which some understand justice;
and then the knowledge, temperance, and patience that follow, being
joined with it, the apostle may be supposed to put them upon pressing after
the four cardinal virtues, or the four elements that go to the making up of
every virtue or virtuous action. But seeing it is a faithful saying, and
constantly to be asserted, that those who have faith be careful to maintain
good works (Tit. iii. 8), by virtue here we may understand strength
and courage, without which the believer cannot stand up for good
works, by abounding and excelling in them. The righteous must be bold as a
lion (Prov. xxviii. 1); a cowardly Christian, who is afraid to profess the
doctrines or practise the duties of the gospel, must expect that Christ will
be ashamed of him another day. "Let not your hearts fail you in the
evil day, but show yourselves valiant in standing against all opposition,
and resisting every enemy, world, flesh, devil, yea, and death too." We
have need of virtue while we live, and it will be of excellent use when we
come to die. 2. The believer must add knowledge to his virtue,
prudence to his courage; there is a knowledge of God's name which must go
before our faith (Ps. ix. 10), and we cannot approve of the good, and
acceptable, and perfect will of God, till we know it; but there are proper
circumstances for duty, which must be known and observed; we must use the
appointed means, and observe the accepted time. Christian prudence regards
the persons we have to do with and the place and company we are in. Every
believer must labour after the knowledge and wisdom that are profitable to
direct, both as to the proper method and order wherein all Christian duties
are to be performed and as to the way and manner of performing them. 3. We
must add temperance to our knowledge. We must be sober and moderate
in our love to, and use of, the good things of this life; and, if we have a
right understanding and knowledge of outward comforts, we shall see that
their worth and usefulness are vastly inferior to those of spiritual
mercies. Bodily exercises and bodily privileges profit but little, and
therefore are to be esteemed and used accordingly; the gospel teaches
sobriety as well as honesty, Tit. ii. 12. We must be moderate in desiring
and using the good things of natural life, such as meat, drink, clothes,
sleep, recreations, and credit; an inordinate desire after these is
inconsistent with an earnest desire after God and Christ; and those who take
more of these than is due can render to neither God nor man what is due to
them. 4. Add to temperance patience, which must have its perfect
work, or we cannot be perfect and entire, wanting nothing (Jam. i.
4), for we are born to trouble, and must through many tribulations enter
into the kingdom of heaven; and it is this tribulation (Rom. v. 3) which
worketh patience, that is, requires the exercise and occasions the increase
of this grace, whereby we bear all calamities and crosses with silence and
submission, without murmuring against God or complaining of him, but
justifying him who lays all affliction upon us, owning that our sufferings
are less than our sins deserve, and believing they are no more than we
ourselves need. 5. To patience we must add godliness, and this is the
very thing which is produced by patience, for that works experience, Rom. v.
4. When Christians bear afflictions patiently, they get an experimental knowledge
of the loving-kindness of their heavenly Father, which he will not take from
his children, even when he visits their iniquity with the rod and their
transgression with stripes (Ps. lxxxix. 32, 33), and hereby they are
brought to the child-like fear and reverential love wherein true godliness
consists: to this, 6. We must add brotherly-kindness, a tender
affection to all our fellow-christians, who are children of the same Father,
servants of the same Master, members of the same family, travellers to the
same country, and heirs of the same inheritance, and therefore are to be
loved with a pure heart fervently, with a love of complacency, as those who
are peculiarly near and dear to us, in whom we take particular delight, Ps.
xvi. 3. 7. Charity, or a love of good-will to all mankind, must be
added to the love of delight which we have for those who are the children of
God. God has made of one blood all nations, and all the children of men are
partakers of the same human nature, are all capable of the same mercies, and
liable to the same afflictions, and therefore, though upon a spiritual
account Christians are distinguished and dignified above those who are
without Christ, yet are they to sympathize with others in their calamities,
and relieve their necessities, and promote their welfare both in body and
soul, as they have opportunity: thus must all believers in Christ evidence
that they are the children of God, who is good to all, but is especially
good to Israel.
II. All the forementioned graces must be had, or we shall not be thoroughly
furnished for all good works--for the duties of the first and second
table, for active and passive obedience, and for those services wherein we
are to imitate God as well as for those wherein we only obey him--and
therefore to engage us to an industrious and unwearied pursuit of them, the
apostle sets forth the advantages that redound to all who successfully
labour so as to get these things to be and abound in them, v.
8-11. These are proposed,
1. More generally, v. 8. The having these things make not barren
(or slothful) nor unfruitful, where, according to the style of the
Holy Ghost, we must understand a great deal more than is expressed; for when
it is said concerning Ahaz, the vilest and most provoking of all the kings
of Judah, that he did not right in the sight of the Lord (2 Kings
xvi. 2), we are to understand as much as if it had been said, He did what
was most offensive and abominable, as the following account of his life
shows; so, when it is here said that the being and abounding of all
Christian graces in us will make us neither inactive nor unfruitful, we are
thereby to understand that it will make us very zealous and lively, vigorous
and active, in all practical Christianity, and eminently fruitful in the
works of righteousness. These will bring much glory to God, by bringing
forth much fruit among men, being fruitful in knowledge, or the
acknowledging of our Lord Jesus Christ, owning him to be their Lord,
and evidencing themselves to be his servants by their abounding in the work
that he has given them to do. This is the necessary consequence of adding
one grace to another; for, where all Christian graces are in the heart, they
improve and strengthen, encourage and cherish, one another; so they all
thrive and grow (as the apostle intimates in the beginning of v. 8),
and wherever grace abounds there will be an abounding in good works. How
desirable it is to be in such a case the apostle evidences, v. 9.
There he sets forth how miserable it is to be without those quickening
fructifying graces; for he who has not the forementioned graces, or, though
he pretends or seems to have them, does not exercise and improve them, is
blind, that is, as to spiritual and heavenly things, as the next words
explain it: He cannot see far off. This present evil world he can
see, and dotes upon, but has no discerning at all of the world to come, so
as to be affected with the spiritual privileges and heavenly blessings
thereof. He who sees the excellences of Christianity must needs be diligent
in endeavours after all those graces that are absolutely necessary for obtaining
glory, honour, and immortality; but, where these graces are not obtained
nor endeavoured after, men are not able to look forward to the things that
are but a very little way off in reality, though in appearance, or in their
apprehension, they are at a great distance, because they put them far away
from them; and how wretched is their condition who are thus blind as to the
awfully great things of the other world, who cannot see any thing of the
reality and certainty, the greatness and nearness, of the glorious rewards
God will bestow on the righteous, and the dreadful punishment he will
inflict on the ungodly! But this is not all the misery of those who do not add
to their faith virtue, knowledge, &c. They are as unable to look
backward as forward, their memories are slippery and unable to retain what
is past, as their sight is short and unable to discern what is future; they
forget that they have been baptized, and had the means, and been laid under
the obligations to holiness of heart and life. By baptism we are engaged in
a holy war against sin, and are solemnly bound to fight against the flesh,
the world, and the devil. Often call to mind, and seriously meditate on,
your solemn engagement to be the Lord's, and your peculiar advantages and
encouragements to lay aside all filthiness of flesh and spirit.
2. The apostle proposes two particular advantages that will attend or follow
upon diligence in the work of a Christian: stability in grace, and a
triumphant entrance into glory. These he brings in by resuming his former
exhortation, and laying it down in other words; for what in v. 5 is
expressed by giving diligence to add to faith virtue, &c., is
expressed in v. 10 by giving diligence to make our calling and
election sure. Here we may observe, (1.) It is the duty of believers to
make their election sure, to clear it up to themselves that they are the
chosen of God. (2.) The way to make sure their eternal election is to make
out their effectual calling: none can look into the book of God's eternal
counsels and decrees; but, inasmuch as whom God did predestinate those he
also called, if we can find we are effectually called, we may conclude
we are chosen to salvation. (3.) It requires a great deal of diligence and
labour to make sure our calling and election; there must be a very close
examination of ourselves, a very narrow search and strict enquiry, whether
we are thoroughly converted, our minds enlightened, our wills renewed, and
our whole souls changed as to the bent and inclination thereof; and to come
to a fixed certainty in this requires the utmost diligence, and cannot be
attained and kept without divine assistance, as we may learn from Ps. cxxxix.
23; Rom. viii. 16. "But, how great soever the labour is, do not think
much of it, for great is the advantage you gain by it; for," [1.]
"By this you will be kept from falling, and that at all times and
seasons, even in those hours of temptation that shall be on the earth."
When others shall fall into heinous and scandalous sin, those who are thus
diligent shall be enabled to walk circumspectly and keep on in the way of
their duty; and, when many fall into errors, they shall be preserved sound
in the faith, and stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. [2.]
Those who are diligent in the work of religion shall have a triumphant
entrance into glory; while of those few who get to heaven some are scarcely
saved (1 Pet. iv. 18), with a great deal of difficulty, even as by fire
(1 Cor. iii. 15), those who are growing in grace, and abounding in
the work of the Lord, shall have an abundant entrance into the joy of
their Lord, even that everlasting kingdom where Christ reigns, and they
shall reign with him for ever and ever.
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Spiritual
Exertions.
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A. D. 67.
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12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put
you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and
be established in the present truth. 13 Yea, I think it meet, as
long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in
remembrance; 14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this
my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. 15
Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these
things always in remembrance.
I. The importance and advantage of progress and perseverance in grace and
holiness made the apostle to be very diligent in doing the work of a
minister of Christ, that he might thereby excite and assist them to be
diligent in the duty of Christians. If ministers be negligent in their work,
it can hardly be expected that the people will be diligent in theirs;
therefore Peter will not be negligent (that is, at no time or place,
in no part of his work, to no part of his charge), but will be exemplarily
and universally diligent, and that in the work of a remembrancer. This is
the office of the best ministers, even the apostles themselves; they are the
Lord's remembrancers (Isa. lxxii. 6); they are especially bound to make
mention of the promises, and put God in mind of his engagements to do good
to his people; and they are the people's remembrancers, making mention of
God's precepts, and putting them in mind of the doctrines and duties of
Christianity, that they may remember God's commandments, to do them. And
this the apostle does, though some persons might think it needless, inasmuch
as they already knew those thing that he writes about, and were established
in the very truth that he insists upon. Observe, 1. We need to be put in
mind of what we already know to prevent our forgetting it, and to improve
our knowledge, and reduce all to practice. 2. We must be established in the
belief of the truth, that we may not be shaken by every wind of doctrine,
and especially in that which is the present truth, the truth more peculiarly
necessary for us to know in our day, that which belongs to our peace, and
which is more especially opposed in our time. The great doctrines of the
gospel, that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners, that those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be
saved, and all that believe in God must be careful to maintain good works--these
are truths the apostles insisted on in their day; these are faithful
sayings, and worthy of all acceptation in every age of the Christian
church. And, as these must be constantly affirmed by ministers (Tit. iii.
8), so the people are to be well instructed and established therein, and yet
must, after all their attainments in knowledge, be put in mind of such
things as cannot be too clearly known nor too firmly believed. The most
advanced Christians cannot, while in this world, be above ordinances, nor
beyond the need of those means which God has appointed and does afford. And,
if the people need teaching and exhortation while they are in the body, it
is very meet and just that ministers should, as long as they are in this
tabernacle, instruct and exhort them, and bring those truths to their
remembrance that they have formerly heard, this being a proper means to stir
them up to be diligent and lively in a course of gospel-obedience.
II. The apostle, being set upon the work, tells us (v. 14) what makes
him earnest in this matter, even the knowledge he had, not only that he must
certainly, but also that he must shortly, put off this tabernacle.
Observe, 1. The body is but the tabernacle of the soul. It is a mean and
movable structure, whose stakes can be easily removed, and its cords
presently broken. 2. This tabernacle must be put off. We are not to continue
long in this earthly house. As at night we put off our clothes, and lay them
by, so at death we must put off our bodies, and they musts be laid up in the
grave till the morning of the resurrection. 3. The nearness of death makes
the apostle diligent in the business of life. Our Lord Jesus had shown him
that the time of his departure was at hand, and therefore he bestirs himself
with greater zeal and diligence, because the time is short. He must soon be
removed from those to whom he wrote; and his ambition being that they should
remember the doctrine he had delivered to them, after he himself was taken
away from them, he commits his exhortation to writing. The apostle had not
any great opinion of oral tradition. This was not so proper a means to reach
the end he was in pursuit of. He would have them always to remember these
things, and not only to keep them in mind, but also to make mention of them,
as the original words import. Those who fear the Lord make mention of his
name, and talk of his loving-kindness. This is the way to spread the
knowledge of the Lord and this the apostle had at heart: and those who have
the written word of God are thereby put into a capacity to do this.
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Evidence
of the Gospel.
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A. D. 67.
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16 For we have not followed cunningly devised
fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received
from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. 18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when
we were with him in the holy mount.
Here we have the reason of giving the foregoing exhortation, and that with
so much diligence and seriousness. These things are not idle tales, or a
vain thing, but of undoubted truth and vast concern. The gospel is not a cunningly
devised fable. These are not the words of one who hath a devil, nor the
contrivance of any number of men who by cunning craftiness endeavour to
deceive. The way of salvation by Jesus Christ is eminently the counsel of
God, the most excellent contrivance of the infinitely wise Jehovah; it was
he that invented this way of saving sinners by Jesus Christ, whose power and
coming are set forth in the gospel, and the apostle's preaching was a making
of these things known. 1. The preaching of the gospel is a making known the
power of Christ, that he is able to save to the uttermost all who come to
God by him. He is the mighty God, and therefore can save from both the guilt
and the filth of sin. 2. The coming of Christ also is make known by the
preaching of the gospel. He who was promised immediately after the fall of
man, as in the fulness of time to be born of a woman, has now come in the
flesh; and whosoever denies this is an antichrist (1 John iv. 3), he is
actuated and influenced by the spirit of anti-christ; but those who are the
true apostles and ministers of Christ, and are directed and guided by the
Spirit of Christ, evidence that Christ has come according to the promise
which all the Old-Testament believers died in the faith of, Heb. xi. 39.
Christ has come in the flesh. Inasmuch as those whom he undertakes to save are
partakers of flesh and blood, he himself also took part of the same,
that he might suffer in their nature and stead, and thereby make an
atonement. This coming of Christ the gospel is very plain and circumstantial
in setting forth; but there is a second coming, which it likewise mentions,
which the ministers of the gospel ought also to make known, when he shall
come in the glory of his Father with all his holy angels, for he is
appointed to be Judge both of quick and dead. He will come to judge the
world in righteousness by the everlasting gospel, and call us all to give
account of all things done in the body, whether good or evil. 3. And though
this gospel of Christ has been blasphemously called a fable by one of
those wretches who call themselves the successors of St. Peter, yet
our apostle proves that it is of the greatest certainty and reality,
inasmuch as during our blessed Saviour's abode here on earth, when he took
on him the form of a servant and was found in fashion as a man, he sometimes
manifested himself to be God, and particularly to our apostle and the two
sons of Zebedee, who were eye-witnesses of his divine majesty, when he
was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his
raiment was white as the light, exceedingly white, as snow, so as no fuller
on earth can whiten them. This Peter, James, and John, were
eye-witnesses of, and therefore might and ought to attest; and surely their
testimony is true, when they witness what they have seen with their eyes,
yea, and heard with their ears: for, besides the visible glory that Christ
was invested with here on earth, there was an audible voice from heaven.
Here observe, (1.) What a gracious declaration was made: This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased--the best voice that ever came
from heaven to earth; God is well pleased with Christ, and with us in him.
This is the Messiah who was promised, through whom all who believe in him
shall be accepted and saved. (2.) This declaration is made by God the
Father, who thus publicly owns his Son (even in his state of humiliation,
when he was in the form of a servant), yea, proclaims him to be his beloved
Son, when he is in that low condition; yea, so far are Christ's mean and low
circumstances from abating the love of the Father to him that his laying
down his life is said to be one special reason of the Father's love, John x.
17. (3.) The design of this voice was to do our Saviour a singular humour
while he was here below: He received honour and glory from God the
Father. This is the person whom God delights to honour. As he requires
us to give honour and glory to his Son by confessing him to be our Saviour,
so does he give glory and honour to our Saviour by declaring him to be his
Son. (4.) This voice is from heaven, called here the excellent glory,
which still reflects a greater glory upon our blessed Saviour. This
declaration is from God the fountain of honour, and from heaven the seat of
glory, where God is most gloriously present. (5.) This voice was heard, and
that so as to be understood, by Peter, James, and John. They not only heard
a sound (as the people did, John xii. 28, 29), but they understood the
sense. God opens the ears and understandings of his people to receive what
they are concerned to know, when others are like Paul's companions, who only
heard a sound of words (Acts ix. 7), but understood not the meaning thereof,
and therefore are said not to hear the voice of him that spoke, Acts xxii.
9. Blessed are those who not only hear, but understand, who believe the
truth, and feel the power of the voice from heaven, as he did who testifieth
these things: and we have all the reason in the world to receive his
testimony; for who would refuse to give credit to what is so
circumstantially laid down as this account of the voice from heaven, of
which the apostle tells us, (6.) It was heard by them in the holy mount,
when they were with Jesus? The place wherein God affords any peculiarly
gracious manifestation of himself is thereby made holy, not with an inherent
holiness, but as the ground was holy where God appeared to Moses (Exod. iii.
5), and the mountain holy on which the temple was built, Ps. lxxxvii. 1.
Such places are relatively holy, and to be regarded as such during the time
that men in themselves experience, or may, by warrant from the word,
believingly expect, the special presence and gracious influence of the holy
and glorious God.
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Inspiration
of the Scriptures.
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A. D. 67.
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19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy;
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a
dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the
will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost.
In these words the apostle lays down another argument to prove the truth and
reality of the gospel, and intimates that this second proof is more strong
and convincing than the former, and more unanswerably makes out that the
doctrine of the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is not a mere
fable or cunning contrivance of men, but the wise and wonderful counsel of
the holy and gracious God. For this is foretold by the prophets and penmen
of the Old Testament, who spoke and wrote under the influence and according
to the direction of the Spirit of God. Here note,
I. The description that is given of the scriptures of the Old Testament:
they are called a more sure word of prophecy. 1. It is a prophetical
declaration of the power and coming, the Godhead and incarnation, of our
Saviour, which we have in the Old Testament. It is there foretold that
the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. His power to
destroy the devil and his works, and his being made of a woman, are there
foretold; and the great and awful Old Testament name of God, Jehovah
(as read by some), signifies only He will be; and that name of God
(Exod. iii. 14) is rendered by many, I will be that I will be; and,
thus understood, they point at God's being incarnate in order to the
redemption and salvation of his people as what was to come. But the
New Testament is a history of that whereof the Old Testament is a prophecy. All
the prophets and the law prophesied until John, Matt. xi. 13. And the
evangelists and the apostles have written the history of what was before
delivered as prophecy. Now the accomplishment of the Old Testament by the
New, and the agreeableness of the New Testament to the Old, are a full
demonstration of the truth of both. Read the Old Testament as a prophecy of
Christ, and with diligence and thankfulness use the New as the best
exposition of the Old. 2. The Old Testament is a more sure word of
prophecy. It is so to the Jews who received it as the oracles of God.
Following prophets confirmed what had been delivered by those who went
before, and these prophecies had been written by the express command, and
preserved by the special care, and many of them fulfilled by the wonderful
providence of God, and therefore were more certain to those who had all
along received and read the scriptures than the apostle's account of this
voice from heaven. Moses and the prophets more powerfully persuade
than even miracles themselves, Luke xvi. 31. How firm and sure should our
faith be, who have such a firm and sure word to rest upon! All the
prophecies of the Old Testament are more sure and certain to us who have the
history of the most exact and minute accomplishment of them.
II. The encouragement the apostle gives us to search the scriptures. He
tells us, We do well if we take heed to them; that is, apply our
minds to understand the sense, and our hearts to believe the truth, of this
sure word, yea, bend ourselves to it, that we may be moulded and fashioned
by it. The word is that form of doctrine into which we must be cast (Rom.
vi. 17), that formulary of knowledge (Rom. ii. 20) by which we are to
regulate our thoughts and sentiments, our words and confessions, our whole
life and conversation. If we thus apply ourselves to the word of God, we
certainly do well in all respects, what is pleasing to God and profitable to
ourselves; and this indeed is but paying that regard which is due to the
oracles of God. But, in order to this giving heed to the word, the apostle
suggests some things that are of singular use to those who would attend to
the scriptures to any good purpose. 1. They must account and use the
scripture as a light which God hath sent into and set up in the world, to
dispel that darkness which is upon the face of the whole earth. The word is
a lamp to the feet of those who use it aright; this discovers the way
wherein men ought to walk; this is the means whereby we come to know the way
of life. 2. They must acknowledge their own darkness. This world is a place
of error and ignorance, and every man in the world is naturally without that
knowledge which is necessary in order to attain eternal life. 3. If ever men
are made wise to salvation, it is by the shining of the word of God into
their hearts. Natural notions of God are not sufficient for fallen man, who
does at best actually know a great deal less, and yet does absolutely need
to know a great deal more, of God than Adam did while he continued innocent.
4. When the light of the scripture is darted into the blind mind and dark
understanding by the Holy Spirit of God, then the spiritual day dawns and
the day-star arises in that soul. This enlightening of a dark benighted
mind is like the day-break that improves and advances, spreads and diffuses
itself through the whole soul, till it makes perfect day, Prov. iv. 18. It
is a growing knowledge; those who are this way enlightened never think they
know enough, till they come to know as they are known. To give heed to this
light must needs be the interest and duty of all; and all who do truth come
to this light, while evil-doers keep at a distance from it.
III. The apostle lays down one thing as previously necessary in order to our
giving heed to, and getting good by, the scriptures, and that is the knowing
that all prophecy is of divine origin. Now this important truth he not only
asserts, but proves. 1. Observe, No scripture prophecy is of private
interpretation (or a man's own proper opinion, an explication of his own
mind), but the revelation of the mind of God. This was the difference
between the prophets of the Lord and the false prophets who have been in the
world. The prophets of the Lord did not speak nor do any thing of their own
mind, as Moses, the chief of them, says expressly (Num. xvi. 28), I have
not done any of the works (nor delivered any of the statutes and
ordinances) of my own mind. But false prophets speak a vision of
their own heart, not out of the mouth of the Lord, Jer. xxiii. 16. The
prophets and penmen of the scripture spoke and wrote what was the mind of
God; and though, when under the influence and guidance of the Spirit, it may
well be supposed that they were willing to reveal and record such thing, yet
it is because God would have them spoken and written. But though the
scripture be not the effusion of man's own private opinion or inclination,
but the revelation of the mind and will of God, yet every private man ought
to search it, and come to understand the sense and meaning thereof. 2. This
important truth of the divine origin of the scriptures (that what is
contained in them is the mind of God and not of man) is to be known and
owned by all who will give heed to the sure word of prophecy. That the
scriptures are the word of God is not only an article of the true
Christian's faith, but also a matter of science or knowledge. As a man not
barely believes, but knows assuredly that that very person is his particular
friend in whom he sees all the proper, peculiar, distinguishing marks and
characters of his friend, so the Christian knows that book to be the word of
God in and upon which he sees all the proper marks and characters of a
divinely inspired book. He tastes a sweetness, and feels a power, and sees a
glory, in it truly divine. 3. The divinity of the scriptures must be known
and acknowledged in the first place, before men can profitably use them,
before they can give good heed to them. To call off our minds from all other
writings, and apply them in a peculiar manner to these as the only certain
and infallible rule, necessarily requires our being fully persuaded that
these are divinely inspired, and contain what is truly the mind and will of
God.
IV. Seeing it is so absolutely necessary that persons be fully persuaded of
the scripture's divine origin, the apostle (v. 21) tells us how the
Old Testament came to be compiled, and that, 1. Negatively: It came not
by the will of man. Neither the things themselves that are recorded, and
make up the several parts of the Old Testament, are the opinions of men, nor
was the will of any of the prophets or penmen of the scriptures the rule or
reason why any of those things were written which make up the canon of the
scripture. 2. Affirmatively: Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by
the Holy Ghost. Observe, (1.) They were holy men of God who were
employed about that book which we receive as the word of God. If Balaam and
Caiaphas, and others who were destitute of holiness, had any thing of the
spirit of prophecy, upon occasion, yet such persons were not employed to
write any part of the scriptures for the use of the church of God. All the
penmen of the scriptures were holy men of God. (2.) These holy men were
moved by the Holy Ghost in what they delivered as the mind and will of
God. The Holy Ghost is the supreme agent, the holy men are but instruments.
[1.] The Holy Ghost inspired and dictated to them what they were to deliver
of the mind of God. [2.] He powerfully excited and effectually engaged them
to speak (and write) what he had put into their mouths. [3.] He so wisely
and carefully assisted and directed them in the delivery of what they had
received from him that they were effectually secured from any the least
mistake in expressing what they revealed; so that the very words of
scripture are to be accounted the words of the Holy Ghost, and all the
plainness and simplicity, all the power and virtue, all the elegance and
propriety, of the very words and expressions are to be regarded by us as
proceeding from God. Mix faith therefore with what you find in the
scriptures; esteem and reverence your Bible as a book written by holy men,
inspired, influenced, and assisted by the Holy Ghost.
