Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
2 Peter 1:1-2
Servant is doûlos in Greek
an enslaved person, one who gives himself up to another’s will, those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men, devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests
Doûlos is the word from which the English term Doula is derived, and it refers to a non-medical professional who provides continuous support to someone going through a significant challenge, e.g., assisting birthing parents before, during, and immediately after childbirth. This is poignant if we consider that the original 12 Apostles served as doulas in the birth and propagation of the Gospel.
It is worth noting that Peter’s self-identification as a “Doûlos” precedes his identity as an Apostle of Jesus Christ.
Apostle is apóstolos in Greek
a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders, specifically applied to the twelve apostles of Christ, in a broader sense applied to other eminent Christian teachers like Barnabas, Timothy, and Silvanus a.k.a. Silas.
There is considerable controversy regarding the Apostolic anointing and the office. More than a few people today lay claim to both.
Anointing itself carries a range of connotations today. However, anointing was the inaugural ceremony for priests. (Leviticus 8)
Baptism is a public declaration of individual believers signifying an inner conviction, repentance, death, and rebirth as a new creation in Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:17) It is a first step into a resolve to offer oneself as a living sacrifice Romans 12:1-2, as part of our being conformed to the image of Jesus. (Romans 8:29)
Similarly, anointing is a public declaration of the bestowing of authority, with the sobering reality that to whom much is given, much is required. (Luke 12:48)
The office of the Apostle is even more controversial. Many Christians restrict the title to the original 12 appointed by Jesus. While there is a definite distinction between the original 12, many emissaries are sent out as missionaries today. This commission is certainly Apostolic and applies in the same sense as it did to Barnabas, Timothy, and Silas.
My wife and I were anointed when we were publicly ordained and sent out as missionaries. It was a ceremony in which we committed to lay down our six-figure income and our lives in the Hawaiian paradise to live in the Third World.
Anointing meant six years of beans and rice, bad water, illness, discomfort, and various life-threatening situations while doing our best as doulas to the less fortunate.
It meant being stripped of pride, self-righteousness, and self-centeredness we didn’t know we had. It meant rejection by angry family and friends who didn’t understand how we could leave them. It meant having the closest, most intimate experiences with our Lord because we had no one and nothing else to depend on.
Anointing did not mean platforms or authority that elicited deference from others toward any perceived celebrity. It meant obscurity and marginalization, not fame or a cult-like following of those hoping for a dopamine-driven impartation of significance.
The true Apostolic office and anointing, as compared with the self-inflating modern version, are best described by Paul.
For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.
To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
1 Corinthians 4:9-13
Perhaps the greatest distinction between the Apostles chosen by Jesus and those appointed by the Church afterward is that, in their servitude as Doûlos, they laid the foundation, in conjunction with the Old Testament prophets, for the whole structure; being joined together, it grows into a holy temple in the Lord. (Ephesians 2:19-22)
A foundation is laid once. So often I hear people misquote Amos 3:7: “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets“. Or Isaiah 43:19, “Behold, I am doing a new thing,” in the present tense, as if contemporary false prophets are on equal footing with Amos and Isaiah. They are not. If they were, they would remain subject to death for being wrong. Old Testament prophets were tasked with laying out God’s will and plan, His foundation for His Eternal Kingdom. There was no margin for error. This is called “foretelling”. It foretells the future.
New Testament prophecy is “forthtelling”. It is proclaiming God’s truth, will, and message in the present moment. New Testament prophets may reveal new understanding regarding what was written concerning the foundation. They do not reveal or proclaim a new foundation.
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Revelation 19:9-10
New Testament prophets are to edify, exhort, and comfort the church. 1 Corinthians 14:3
Edify is oikodomḗ in Greek
the base of a structure; confirmation, the act of one who promotes another’s growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness, and holiness
Exhortation is paráklēsis in Greek
persuasive discourse, stirring address, instructive, admonitory, conciliatory, powerful, strongly advising discourse
Comfort is paramythía in Greek
any address, whether made for the purpose of persuading, or of arousing and stimulating, or of calming and consoling
The original prophetic preaching was preaching from Bible prophecy. Not farming Facebook data for fraudulent foretelling. That seems reasonable given that 500 of 2500 prophecies remain unfulfilled.
Hence, a contemporary prophet might edify the body by declaring the impending fulfillment of Ezekiel 38, exhorting them to search their hearts, then prepare to endure, while comforting them with the reality that, regardless of the earthly outcome, we are saved by the blood of Jesus and already have our seat with Him in eternity. (Ephesians 2:1-10)
Once again, the foundation was laid by the 12 Apostles and the Old Testament prophets, not modern renditions of those in Jeremiah 14, 23, and 28. In verse 2, Peter echoes and supports Paul’s words in Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 3.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Ephesians 4:11-14
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—
each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, they will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15
The foundation has been laid. Modern Apostles might expand the original foundation as they plant churches. New foundations are heresy.
Our primary mandate today is to know Jesus and help guide others into the faith of equal standing with the Apostles. Equal standing does not mean equal authority. We build upon their foundation by evangelizing, teaching, and preaching the only thing that can save us, which is the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, until grace and peace are multiplied in unity and in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Faith and knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ come first by the word of God. (Romans 10:17) Not self-appointed celebrities anointed by other self-appointed celebrities.
As we will see, this is the foundation that Peter seeks to uphold and protect in 2 Peter. Hence, he begins the book with a gentle declaration and confirmation that serves as comfort to the faithful and a warning to others. The underlying theme in 2 Peter is the edification of the faithful and a warning that reflects and supports Paul’s in Galatians 1.
But even if an angel from heaven were to preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
Galatians 1:8-9
As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Accursed is anáthema banned, excommunicated, cut off.
Chew on That…
