Why St. Peter wrote those two epistles @ the end of your Bible
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| We tend to think of these apostles as opposites, but... |
The Bible
This
is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have
tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory.
-- 2 Peter 3.1 NLT
Thesis Statement
A thesis statement anything from a simple sentence to a paragraph which states your topic & the essence of your argument. For example, I am writing the blog post to share with you what I feel was Peter's original intent for his two recorded epistles.This kind of statement is critical for any good piece of writing. This has nothing to do with sacred scripture, it has everything to do with grammar & the structure of argument/rhetoric. If you don't know what you're actually trying to say, how can you say it without contradicting yourself?
Given these facts, it is also important to note that these thesis statements are common in scripture. I am almost certain that, given simple study, one can find the thesis statement of any book in scripture fairly easily. This is especially true since this statement is seldom cryptic and almost always sounds like I am writing to...
Two Things
St. Peter tells us his message is twofold: to stimulate wholesome thinking & to refresh your memory. So the ultimate goal or result of all his arguments is to occupy our thoughts with wholesome things and to serve as a reminder.Consider how Peter has directed his messages. He navigated us through wondrous thoughts of our position in Christ & what that means for proper behavior. A famous football coach once said, They are who we thought they were. Guess what, you are who you think you are. Think you are trash? You will behave that way. Think you are a child of God? You will behave that way.
Peter also reminds us over and over again that our standing is only on the grace of God. This serves to limit our pride to Christ, which is where it remains secure. If you have pride in anything but God's omnipresence, omnipotence or omniscience then it is misplaced. In fact, Peter endorses Paul's writings about grace later in the chapter! Should we be marked by grace? Absolutely. It should be simultaneously our lifeline & our joy. It is our great hope which should never be taken for granted or replaced by legalism.