In his second letter the apostle Peter explains the divine plan for developing Christian character. He writes that God has “given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”4TC 272.2

“Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.”4TC 272.3

The apostle presents the ladder of Christian progress to the believers. Every step represents advancement in knowing God. We are saved by climbing rung after rung to the height of Christ’s ideal for us. God wants to see men and women reaching the highest standard, and when they lay hold of Christ by faith, when they claim His promises as their own, when they seek for the Holy Spirit, God will make them complete in Him.4TC 272.4

Having received the faith of the gospel, the believer is to add virtue to his character, and in this way prepare the mind for the knowledge of God. This knowledge is the foundation of all true service and the only real protection against temptation. This alone can make us like God in character. No good gift is kept back from anyone who sincerely desires the righteousness of God.4TC 273.1

No one needs to fail to reach, in his or her sphere, perfection of Christian character. God places before us the example of Christ’s character. In His humanity, perfected by a life of constant resistance of evil, the Savior showed that through cooperation with Divinity, human beings may reach perfection of character in this life. We may obtain complete victory.4TC 273.2

Overcoming Every Fault by Grace

The Bible holds out to the believer the wonderful possibility of being obedient to all the principles of the law. But by ourselves we are unable to reach this condition. The holiness that we must have is the result of divine grace’s working as we submit to the discipline and restraining influences of the Spirit of truth. The incense of Christ’s righteousness fills every act of obedience with divine fragrance. Christians are never to give up in overcoming every fault. Constantly they are to ask the Savior to heal the disorders of their sin-sick lives. The Lord grants strength to overcome to those who in repentance turn to Him for help.4TC 273.3

The work of transformation from unholiness to holiness is a continuous one. Day by day God works for our sanctification, and we are to cooperate with Him. Our Savior is always ready to answer the prayer of the humble person. He gladly grants the blessings we need in our struggle against the evils that surround us.4TC 273.4

Those who become weary and allow the enemy of souls to rob them of the Christian graces that have been developing in their hearts and lives are in a truly sad condition. “He who lacks these things,” says the apostle, “is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.”4TC 273.5

Peter’s faith in God’s power to save had become stronger over the years. He had proved that there is no possibility of failure for the Christian who climbs by faith to the top rung of the ladder. Knowing that soon he would die as a martyr for his faith, Peter once more urged his fellow believers to keep going steadily in Christ’s path: “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”4TC 274.1

“I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.”4TC 274.2

Why Peter Was Sure of Gospel Truth

“We did not follow cleverly devised myths” about Jesus, he reminded the believers, “but we had been eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to Him by the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is My Son, My Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with Him on the holy mountain” (NRSV).4TC 274.3

Yet there was another even more convincing witness. Peter declared, “We have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. ... Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”4TC 274.4

While exalting true prophecy, the apostle solemnly warned the church against the torch of false prophecy, lifted up by “false teachers” who would bring in “destructive heresies, even denying the Lord.” The apostle compared these false teachers, who many of the believers thought were true, to “wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. ...4TC 274.5

“It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.”4TC 275.1

Looking down the ages, Peter was inspired to outline conditions in the world just before the second coming of Christ. “Scoffers will come in the last days,” he wrote, “walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’” However, not everyone would be ensnared by the enemy’s traps. There would be faithful ones able to recognize the signs of the times, a remnant who would endure to the end.4TC 275.2

Peter’s Faith in the Second Coming of Christ

Peter kept the hope of Christ’s return alive in his heart, and he assured the church that the Savior’s promise, “I will come again” (John 14:3), would certainly be fulfilled. His coming might seem to be delayed for a long time, but the apostle assured them, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (NRSV).4TC 275.3

“Since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”4TC 275.4

“Beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”4TC 275.5

Peter closed his ministry in Rome, where The emperor Nero ordered his imprisonment about the time of Paul’s final arrest. In this way the two apostles, for many years widely separated in their labors, were to bear their last witness for Christ in the world’s greatest city, and on its soil to shed their blood as the seed of an immense harvest of believers.4TC 275.6

Peter had faced danger bravely and had shown a noble courage in preaching a crucified, risen, and ascended Savior. As he lay in his cell, he called to mind Christ’s words: “When you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish” (John 21:18). Jesus had revealed ahead of time that the disciple’s hands would be stretched out on the cross.4TC 276.1

As a Jew and foreigner, Peter was condemned to be scourged and crucified. In looking ahead to this fearful death, the apostle remembered his sin in denying Jesus in the hour of His trial. Once he had been unready to acknowledge the cross, but now he counted it a joy to yield up his life for the gospel. Yet he felt that to die in the same way his Master had died was too great an honor. He had been forgiven by Christ, but he could never forgive himself. Nothing could lessen the bitterness of his sorrow and repentance. As a last favor he asked his executioners to nail him to the cross with his head downward. They granted this request, and so the great apostle Peter died in this way.4TC 276.2

The Apostle Peter, a Faithful Undershepherd

John, the Beloved Disciple