Jesus in 2 Peter
May 01, 2025
How to Know Him
Christianity is a person, and it’s about not only believing in Jesus Christ, but in knowing Him, friends! That’s the important thing about the Christian life—knowing Him.
Peter, an eyewitness to Jesus’ humanity and majesty, says at the start of his second letter, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (1:2). Peter tells us the only place we can get that knowledge of Christ is in the Word of God. You can’t know Him out in nature, though you can discover something of His power and wisdom. You might know something about Him through an experience or in some meeting. But you can’t know Him personally apart from His Word.
Peter tells us that Christ has given us all of the things that we need to have a life that’s really worth living. “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness”—and here we go again—“through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (1:3). Again, it’s only through the knowledge of Christ that we can really learn to live well here and to grow into a godly person. The only way you can become that kind of person, with a well-developed personality, is through knowing Jesus Christ, “the knowledge of Him who called us by glory ….” And that means to be like Him.
Having “virtue” means that you have the courage to excel in life. You can stand on your own feet for God. We need that virtue today! He’s called us “by glory and virtue,” and the only way we can do it is in knowing Christ.
Jesus Christ has given us some glorious, wonderful promises in the New Testament. “Precious promises,” Peter calls them. Why has God given us promises? So that we can be like Him. That is, so we might be sons and daughters of God. When your knowledge of God leads you to faith in Jesus Christ and you’re born again, then you’re given God’s nature.
The Christian life is not a series of little do’s and don’ts. It is knowing Jesus Christ.