Peter and the Law – The Kingdom Curriculum I (3)

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Peter and the Law

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The Kingdom Curriculum I (3)

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Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 2 Peter 1:10

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Which “qualities”? Peter is abundantly clear in both his epistles. They who have been chosen by God and who have come to salvation through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will take up the practice of those qualities that must characterize the elect of God: godliness and righteousness (2 Pet. 1:5-7; 1 Pet. 3:8-12). Not only must the elect of God confirm His choosing by manifesting these qualities, but by manifesting them increasingly (2 Pet. 1:8). The true follower of Jesus Christ will abound in godliness and righteousness, which are the fruit of the Spirit’s work in their lives.

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And that fruit is wrought in us by the Spirit as He brings the Law of God to bear in transforming our hearts, minds, consciences, and everyday lives through daily instruction and meditation in the Law of God (Ps. 1). We cannot confirm our election, in other words, apart from being instructed by the Spirit in the Kingdom curriculum of Jesus Christ.

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Peter made no effort to hedge his words when he chose “godliness” and “righteousness” to characterize the life of the believer. If these words did not involve the Law of God, or if Peter meant something by them other than what Paul meant in passages such as Romans 7:12, then we might have grounds for saying that Peter did not seem particularly adamant about instructing his hearers in the Law of God.

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Yet Peter recommended the writings of Paul, who wrote that the Law of God is holy and righteous and good, and he used the same terms as the Apostle to the Gentiles in describing the life of faith. He condemned the “lawless deeds” of those false teachers who were seeking to lead believers away from that curriculum which alone can engender godliness and righteousness (2 Pet. 2:1-10). For Peter, as for the Lord Jesus, learning and living the Law of God is a necessary component of the life of faith.

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Order your copy of The Law of God today. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, click Publications, Waxed Tablet, to place your order and take up the Kingdom curriculum of our Lord.

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.