Author : Keith Sharp
Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind (2 Peter 1:12-15, New American Standard Bible).
As the apostle Peter neared the end of his earthly pilgrimage his thoughts became focused on passing on the truth of the gospel which was already present with them and which they already knew. This truth consisted of those things taught by the prophets of old and the commandments of the apostles of Christ (2 Peter 3:1-2). This is the truth we now find in the Bible. We must know and diligently apply this truth in order to “enter the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1-11), the home in heaven reserved for the faithful (1 Peter 1:3-5).
The apostles had a special power and responsibility to pass on this body of truth. They were guided by the Spirit of truth into all saving truth (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13-15). In obedience to the Lord’s command, they preached this truth to their world (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8).
But now Peter, as the other apostles, knew his earthly life must soon end. The Master had foretold a violent death for Simon Peter (John 21:18-19), and with deadly persecution facing all the disciples of Christ (1 Peter 4:12-13), the apostle knew the time for the fulfillment of the Lord’s prophetic warning drew near, when he would put off his tent, his temporary dwelling place, his body of clay.
Simon Peter’s concern was for the disciples after his exodus from this life. They must be reminded of the truth they had learned so they could always believe and obey. The letters written by Peter, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, James, and Jude, those documents which comprise the New Testament, are, along with the Old Testament, “Scripture” (2 Peter 3:14-16; 1 Timothy 5:18; cf. Deuteronomy 25:4; Luke 10:7), the writings inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
By writing these documents, the apostles and prophets of Christ passed on the faith to all succeeding generations. They contain all the truth we need to know to be everything God would have us to be (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:2-4).
The Lord God has always intended that the generation passing from the scene should pass on His truth to the one following. The Lord God has never promised greater blessings to any mere mortal than he pledged to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3,7), but He knew He could so bless the patriarch because He realized that Abraham “would command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice” (Genesis 18:17-19). Parents in Israel were obligated to teach the word of the Lord diligently to their children (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). Their failure to do so led to a generation “who did not know the Lord” (Judges 2:10), so they left the Lord for idols. Even in the present age, this is the most serious responsibility fathers have to their children (Ephesians 6:4).
The apostles of Christ were uniquely given the responsibility to bear witnesses to the resurrection of Christ to the whole world (Acts 1:21-25; 10:39-41) and to be His ambassadors to reveal His will to all men so they could be reconciled to Him (1 Corinthians 2:7-13; 4:9; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20).
But the apostles were also preachers and teachers of the word (2 Timothy 1:11). Their obligation to pass on the truth to the following generation is shared by all preachers and teachers (2 Timothy 2:2; 4:1-5).
I am now “aged,” as was Paul when he wrote Philemon, and I am concerned for my children, both fleshly and spiritual, as Paul was concerned for his son in the faith Onesimus (Philemon verses 8-11).
I plan to remind my children, grandchildren, nephews, and nieces of the divine, saving truth they must believe and diligently obey in order to go to heaven. I plan to write to them a series of letters containing these fundamentals of the faith. The plan is also to publish them in “Meditate on These Things.” May you find them edifying.
