Monthly Archive for March, 1998

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2 Peter 1:1g

Published on March 21, 1998 in 2 Peter. 0 Comments
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“Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

 

of our God
This is one of the greatest verses to prove the deity of Christ. The Greek makes no mistake that God and our Savior Jesus Christ are one person (Matthew 16:16; John 1:1; 20:28; Titus 2:13). The Greek makes the name “God” and “Savior” the same person [Granville Sharp Rule].
Note other great passages that deal with this subject: John 1:1; 20:28; Romans 9:5; Titus 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:12; Hebrews 1:8; 1 John 5:20.
and Savior Jesus Christ
The New Testament never calls Jesus “Savior and Lord,” it always calls him “Lord and Savior.” This is the divine order. Experientially, we first come to Christ as Savior then later get to know Him as Lord. The emphasis of the New Testament is upon his Lordship. Savior occurs 16 times in the New Testament but Lord occurs 663 times. All four occurrences of “Lord and Savior” occur in 2 Peter.
“For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:11).
“For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning” (2 Peter 2:20).
“That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior” (2 Peter 3:2).
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18).
The title “Lord” coveys primarily the idea of the deity of Christ but the deity of Christ implies lordship or sovereignty over our lives. He has the right to dominate us. He has the right to rule over every aspect of our lives.
Can you say, “My life belongs to you. You can do anything you desire with me?”
Peter uses the rare title “Savior” of Jesus no less that five times in this brief epistle (1:1, 11; 2:20; 3:2, 18).
“For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).”For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
“Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).
“From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior–Jesus” (Acts 13:23)
“For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body” (Ephesians 5:23).
“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14).
Principle:
It is God-in the form of Christ who saved us from our sin.
Application:
Did you know that Jesus is God Almighty? He was God incognito who died on the cross. He is the Son of God.
The Savior saves people from sin and hell. He seeks you. Are you hiding from the Savior? You are not reading this study by accident. He brought you here. He brings you here by divine design. Will you at this divine interjection receive Christ as your personal Savior? Has it come as a shock to you that Jesus is the only Savior of the world? It is not until you come into a personal confrontation with Jesus Christ that He becomes your Savior.
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2 Peter 1:1f

Published on March 20, 1998 in 2 Peter. 0 Comments
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“Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

 

by the righteousness
God is perfect and 100% righteous (1 John 1:5). He is so righteous that He does not tolerate sin to the slightest degree (Haggai 1:13). He cannot rationalize sin away. However, God is just in forgiving us our sin because he sent Jesus to pay for our sin (Romans 3:26). The argument of the book of Romans explains how God declares sinners to be as right as Jesus is right in His eyes.
We tend to think that God is just an extension of people like ourselves. We think that He is finite to some degree. But, God is absolute and as an absolute Being, He does not bend or flex to finite standards. He operates according to His own limitless standards. Man is the opposite. Man is finite. We operate on the relative plain and on a system of degrees. That is why our best efforts are obnoxious in God’s eyes no matter how righteous they may be in our own eyes. God’s righteousness is perfect. Our attempts will not hold up before a perfect God (Romans 3:10, 21-26; Matthew 5:20).
We receive faith by grace. This does not mean that grace did not cost something. Jesus paid a great price for the privilege of exercising our faith. The means of our faith is the righteousness of the God-man, Jesus Christ.
The good news is that God makes available His righteousness (as over against our righteousness) to all of us whenever we accept His Son’s righteousness. God’s righteousness is accessible to anyone (Romans 3:22). The one qualification is whether we believe in Jesus’ death to forgive our sins and give us His righteousness. God reckons our faith for His righteousness (Romans 4:5). God puts to our account His very own righteousness. We go to heaven on the merit of Christ’s righteousness. This is a righteousness that can come to us only by faith (Hebrews 11:7). We cannot earn this righteousness; we obtain it as a gift from God (Romans 5:17). As soon as we work for it, it is no longer a gift but a work.
Principle:
God’s standard for accepting us into His heaven is His own righteousness.
Application:
Our good works are obnoxious to God (Isaiah 64:6; Titus 3:5). No matter how righteous, cultured or educated we may be on human standards, we are not righteous on God’s standards. By earthly standards, we may hold character and good habits. Those are areas of personal strength but even our areas of strength do not measure up to God’s 100% standards. None of us are absolute in character. That is why we need the righteousness of God given to us by Christ.
None of us wants to be the finest person in hell. Who wants to be the most outstanding person in the Lake of Fire!? What a dubious distinction! We are totally lost in God’s eyes even if the areas of strength of our character far exceed our areas of weakness. With all our character, we have no capacity to live up to the standard of who God is. This is why God says none of us are righteous in God’s eyes (Romans 3:10).
God imputes His own righteousness to our account the split second we believe in Christ’s penalty for our sin (Romans 3:22). There are no degrees of God’s imputed righteousness. Each believer has the same perfect position before God. God accepts us because He loves Christ (Ephesians 1:6).
There are no degrees of justification. God justifies each believer fully the moment he becomes a Christian,
“Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39).
None of us can say that we are more justified than someone else is because we have been Christians longer than him or her. Length of salvation is inconsequential and irrelevant when it comes to justification. Justification is the same for us all.
God redeems us all equally. None of us can say, “I am more redeemed than you.” There are no degrees of redemption (Ephesians 1:7). We all share equally the forgiveness of sin. None of us can say, “Only 50% of your sins are forgiven but 75% of mine are forgiven. I’m more of a Christian than you are because I have more sins forgiven than you.” There are no degrees of forgiveness of sin. Each born again person has all sins forgiven the moment he came to Christ. The penalty for our sin has been fully paid by Christ (Acts 10:43).
Each of our names is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. None of us can say, “My name is in indelible ink but your name is written in pencil! Someone may come along and erase it (Revelation 20:15).” Eternal life is the same for everyone. No one can say, “I have 900 billion years of eternal life and you only have 500 billion years.” We all have the same amount of eternal life (John 6:47). We all possess the same eternal life by the virtue of what Christ did for us. Each Christian has the blood-bought right for eternal life. We cannot be almost saved. If we are almost saved, we are completely lost. Each born again person is totally in (1 Corinthians 1:13).
God did not almost reconcile us. He totally reconciled us to Himself (Romans 5:10). Therefore, there are no degrees of salvation.
Open your heart and receive God’s righteousness. Don’t work for it (Romans 10:1-10; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:7-9). Receiving the absolute righteousness of God is the genius of the gospel. We have no righteousness of our own that we can present to God as some form of merit in His eyes. We cannot earn brownie points before God. That is present day fashionable, present day religion. “Do good. Be sincere. Have a good batting average with the Ten Commandments. Live by the golden rule. Be nice to your neighbor. Do these things and you have a fine standing before God.” This is the rational but it is a deadly rational. It is the opposite of dealing with God’s righteousness. It simply deals with man’s righteousness. This is the surest route to hell that we could try to conjure before God. We must come to Christ’s righteousness. No human righteousness will impress God. The only righteousness that impresses God is the righteousness of Christ.
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2 Peter 1:1e

Published on March 19, 1998 in 2 Peter. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to 2 Peter

 

“Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

 

like precious faith with us
 
Peter loves the word “precious” (1 Peter 2:7).
 
“That the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7).
 
“Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
The phrase “like precious” means equal in value. It comes from two words: equal and honor. What is equal honor faith? Peter says that those to whom he writes have faith that equals his own. Their faith is equal in significance and value.
The Roman world used this word for a person they gave the privilege of equal citizenship with those native to the country. The faith that God gives us is of equal privilege to that of an apostle. Anyone who expresses faith in Christ holds equal honor before God. All believers have equal honor in their salvation. The reason for this is that at the point of faith we received imputed righteousness. This is God’s righteousness that He puts into us when we believe.
Principle:
Saving faith is exactly the same for every person.
Application:
Faith is equally precious in the individual Christian and in the apostle. It produces the same effects in one as in the other. Faith unites the weak believer to Christ as truly as it does the strong one. Every believer is, by his faith, justified in the sight of God (Acts 13:39).
We should hold our faith in equal honor with Peter’s faith. Our faith has the same privileges as his. We possess full-fledged membership of the household of faith.
Our faith puts us in good stead with God. There is nothing as valuable as that. This is saving faith. This faith will also stand us in good stead in the hour our baby is dying for it is not only faith to live by but to die by. Do you pin both your eternal future and contingencies of this life to your faith in Christ? If not, receive Christ as the one who fully suffered for your sins and trust Him for everything that comes into your life.
Every believer at the point of salvation receives divine operating assets. These blessings are what we call positional truth. We possess these spiritual assets at the moment we come to Christ. These blessings come simply by virtue of knowing Christ. We do not possess them because of our spiritual growth.
It is a pity that so few Christians know what they possess before God. They do not realize what they are worth so they do not enjoy full lives as Christians. Though they know they are Christians, they do not realize how well God saved them. But God put the Bible in our hands and His Spirit in our hearts. So that we might learn our position in Christ, and live in power and fullness. Many people have come to Christ but do not have an assurance of salvation. The Devil has short-changed them.
All Christians have the same sized Savior (John 1:12,16). We do not receive Christ on the installment plan. We do not receive a little of Him now and a little later. If we received Christ, we received the complete Christ. The issue is not getting more of Christ; the issue is allowing Him to get more of us.
There is nothing more valuable to us than our faith. No doubt we will realize how valuable our faith is to us when we are dying. Confidence in our doctor will pale in comparison to our faith in the Son of God.
Christ forgives all who come to Him fully. He forgives us totally. Neither are there degrees of forgiveness. Neither are there degrees of salvation from the penalty of sin. Salvation is complete. We need to do nothing further than what Jesus did for our salvation.
Saving faith is exactly the same for all people. A person’s skin color, culture or educational background make no difference. The quality of saving faith is the same for everyone who comes to Christ. There are no degrees of saving faith (Titus 1:4; Jude 3). However, there are different degrees of developing faith. The building up of each person’s faith is different. The degree to which a person applies principles to experience, is the degree to which that person’s faith grows. This differs in each believer.
Little faith in a big Savior will take us to heaven. Great faith in a false Savior will lead us astray. It is not our faith that saves us; it is our Savior. Our faith simply connects us to our Savior. Faith is the coupling that links us to the Lord of Glory. We ride along as the Engineer pulls us to heaven.
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2 Peter 1:1d

Published on March 18, 1998 in 2 Peter. 0 Comments
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“Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

 

to those who have obtained
 
“Obtained” comes from two words: equal and honor or value. This is an unusual word for the idea of receive. “Obtained” occurs only four times in the New Testament and uses this word for casting lots (Luke 1:9-10; John 19:24).
 
“Obtained” means to receive, to choose by lot, to decide by gambling, with the implication that the process relates somehow to God’s will or favor. The church selected Judas by a decision based on the casting of lots,
“And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said, ‘Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry’” (Acts 1:15-17).
“Obtained” is not a normal word for the idea of receiving. It means to have an assignment. God assigns us to His plan when we initially believe in Christ. Even if we die within one second after we believe in Christ, we enter God’s plan and possess eternal life. God assigned each person who believes to the plan of God.
Believers in Asia Minor came to Christ by process of divine choice. God allots our faith to us. We do not acquire it for ourselves but receive it by divine grace. It comes to us independent from our control. It comes to us as in the casting of lots. God in His sovereignty chose them for His own. No merit of our own deserves such salvation. Our merit comes through Christ.
“For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).”Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began” (Titus 1:1-2).
Note the word “obtained” is not the word “attained.” We obtain faith as a gift not as a work. You cannot attain faith. We cannot work for or earn faith.
Principle:
God assigns each Christian to His eternal plan.
Application:
Though we may have failed in every possible way as Christians, we are still in the plan of God. God has a purpose for our lives. God’s plan for the Christian begins with 1 John 1:9. Exercising that promise frees us to serve the Lord again.
God assigns people to eternal life apart from merit. We cannot work for salvation because Christ already has done all of the work necessary for salvation.
“But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works” (Romans 4:5-6).
If we win the lottery, it is no credit to us. It was sheer luck. Winning has nothing to do with skill. Winning was the result of the lot falling on us. There is nothing in us to merit salvation. All the merit resides in Christ. Do you believe that? Why not accept His generous offer of salvation free of charge?
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2 Peter 1:1c

Published on March 17, 1998 in 2 Peter. 0 Comments
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“Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

 

and apostle of Jesus Christ
 
An “apostle” was a special person in the foundation of Christianity. A person received the gift of apostleship by election from Christ (Romans 1:1). New Testament apostles were appointed by the ascended Christ (Ephesians 4:11). The apostles to Israel were different from the apostles to the church. There were some overlaps between the apostles to Israel and the church.
 
An apostle was also an eyewitness to the resurrection of Christ (Acts 1:22; 1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:8,9). God endowed apostles with miraculous powers to demonstrate their authority for writing Scripture and founding the church (Acts 5:15; 16:16-18). These powers are no longer extant in the church today.
The word “apostle” comes two words: from and to send. An apostle was a sent one. The New Testament uses this word generally for all Christians as well. God sends us out into the world as His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). As ambassadors, we represent Him to other people.
Principle:
God calls every Christian to be an ambassador for Christ.
Application:
Every Christian is an epistle of Christ.
“Clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:3).
Being an epistle means people can read us. “I read you. You come through loud and clear. I get the message.” God’s design for our lives is that people read both what we are and what we say. Do you say something with your life? People may never read the gospel of John but they will read you. What kind of book are you? They will read the Epistle of Sue or the Epistle of Sam.
Has God called you to ministry? It is a great vocation but there are great obstacles in ministry. When we enter ministry, our ministry may not end in “And they lived happily ever after.” The two greatest missionaries of the first century ended their careers in what man calls tragedy. These intrepid missionaries ended their ministries in jail and in execution. Peter knew he was not going to die in bed (2 Peter 1:14). The Lord told him so. Call to ministry transcends the pleasant and the nice.
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2 Peter 1:1b

Published on March 16, 1998 in 2 Peter. 0 Comments
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“Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

 

a bondservant
 
Peter viewed himself first as a slave of Jesus Christ. “Bondservant” is not strong enough translation. The “bondservant” was a slave. Everyone understood this term in the Roman Empire since there were about fifty million slaves in the Empire. In fact, there were more slaves than there were freemen. Slaves numbering four or five times the number of citizens. Numerous wars of conquest had swelled the numbers of the slave class to an enormous extent. Prisoners of war made up a large part of that number. Slaves had few rights. There was no Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Slaves in the Roman Empire of the first century. A man could do anything he wanted with his slaves.
 
Peter calls himself a slave of Jesus Christ. Slave to Christ is the highest role anyone could possess. This is the way God honors the Christian (John 12:26). The slave ultimately becomes a king (Revelation 1:6). True joy comes from serving the King.
Peter essentially says, “I am a slave of Christ. I have no rights. I give myself lock, stock and barrel to the Lord Jesus. Jesus completely possesses me. Everything else is incidental whether it be my wife, children, career, profession, my health or future. He is my Master and Lord!” No wonder God used Peter in a special way. God uses people like that.
Paul viewed himself as a slave as well (Romans 1:1).
Principle:
The slave is totally at his master’s disposal.
Application:
The slave is at the master’s disposal but the master also had total obligation for the well-being of his slave. Have you placed yourself at the service of King Jesus? Can you say with Peter, “I am a slave of Christ. I have no rights. I give myself lock, stock and barrel to the Lord Jesus. Jesus completely possesses me. Everything else is incidental whether it be my wife, children, career, profession, my health or future. He is my Master and Lord.” You can be sure that God will bless you if you do.
“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).
“Not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart” (Ephesians 6:6).
“And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient” (2 Timothy 2:24).
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2 Peter 1:1

Published on March 15, 1998 in 2 Peter. 0 Comments
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“Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

 

Simon Peter
 
The authors of New Testament epistles always sign their names at the beginning. In every New Testament Epistle, there are two basic landmarks: the writer and the addressee. First, we come to the writer, Peter. Peter was at once a slave and a follower of the Lord Jesus. This is all he says of himself, just those two things. These two ideas balance one another. Although Peter was an apostle, all he was after all was a slave to Jesus Christ.
 
“Simon” is the Greek spelling and “Peter” is the Hebrew spelling. Simon is the name given to him at birth. Peter is the name given to him by Jesus. Peter did not use his name “Simon” in the first epistle. “Peter” is the Greek translation of “Cephas.” Jesus gave him the name “Peter.” This is the name most commonly used of Peter in the New Testament. The double name may indicate that Peter writes to both Jews and Greeks.
Cephas is an Aramaic word meaning “stone.” Stone translated into Greek and then English comes out Peter. Peter then became his new name when he became a Christian. Peter here uses both his names.
“And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, ‘You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas‘ (which is translated, A Stone)” (John 1:42).
Peter was Simon the son of Jonah, that would be equivalent to Simon Johnson today!
“So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?’” (John 21:15).
We also know that Peter was married for he had a mother-in-law (Mark 1:30)!
Principle:
We should not be afraid to identify ourselves with the Lord.
Application:
Invariably Peter identifies himself with Jesus Christ. It may make good copy for the news to know where you stand regarding the great leaders of the day. However, this makes no impression on God whatever. What counts in God’s eyes is whether we identify with Christ. When you meet those without Christ, are you courageous enough to advertise who you are?
The question of your eternal destiny revolves around the question “What do you think of Christ?” Your answer to that question will determine your eternal destiny. The issue is not whether you are Protestant or Catholic. Denominations have nothing to do with your salvation. The issue of your salvation revolves around your embracing Jesus as your Savior.
“Saying, ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?’ They said to Him, ‘The Son of David’” (Matthew 22:42).
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1 Peter 5:14c

Published on March 14, 1998 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.”

 

Peace to you all
 
Peter pronounces a blessing upon believers in Asia Minor. “Peace” generally carries the idea of prosperity of soul.
This epistle began with an affirmation of peace (1:2) and now it closes with an affirmation of peace.
We never get away from our need of grace and peace.
who are in Christ Jesus
“In Christ Jesus” narrows the crowd down. There is a special peace given to those who hold the same status that Jesus holds before God. This is also the audience to whom Paul wrote,
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Amen
“Amen” means so be it, or, I believe this. Peter believes in His message. The grace of God will carry them through any suffering they might face (5:10).
Principle:
We all need to look beyond our present difficulties to see God’s grace in everything that comes our way.
Application:
We have hope because God is sovereign (1:3). We have a model in Christ for our suffering (2:2). If we understand and accept these two ideas, we will be able to face any heartache that may come our way.
If we view suffering in this way, our souls will prosper in God’s grace. We constantly need to acknowledge God’s grace if we are to have peace in our souls.
I hope that God blessed your hearts in the study of 1 Peter.
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1 Peter 5:14b

Published on March 13, 1998 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.”

 

with a kiss of love
 
The kiss of greeting was a display of Christian kinship (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26). This kiss took the Christian beyond a formal greeting. The Christian community included both slaves and freemen. A Christian kiss demonstrated oneness in Christ between them. This dispelled prejudices that arouse from social distinctions. There is no condescension or lack of respect when one extends this kind of greeting.
 
The Christian kiss signified a familial friendship among members of the household of faith. It was a special greeting and sign of special affection and appreciation. But before we run out and grab all the young girls or handsome men in the congregation, we need to understand the purpose of this greeting. This greeting was in no way erotic. It was comparable to a warm handshake in our day. Today a kiss implies much more than a greeting.
Generally, the kiss took place between members of the same sex. It was the custom of people for the men to kiss men and women to kiss women in that culture. We still see women kissing women today but few men kiss each other in our culture. I, for one, am glad the custom has changed!
Principle:
We need to focus on others, even in times of suffering.
Application:
There is a tendency for those who hurt to become self-absorbed. You can almost hear them say, “Why should I care about others when I have my own problems with deal with?” Suffering too often robs us of compassion toward others.
The Christian life is a family affair. We should face suffering together. We should be there for one another when the going gets tough. The worst thing we can do is to attack one another during times of duress. Do you hurt when others hurt?
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1 Peter 5:14

Published on March 12, 1998 in 1 Peter. 0 Comments
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“Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.”

 

Greet one another
 
“Greet” carries the idea of to welcome, or salute. When we greet others, we extend to them courtesy. In the first century, greetings of courtesy were important to honor other Christians. When we greet one another, we draw them to ourselves. We welcome others into our lives. Romans 16 uses this term 21 times.
 
Five epistles close with “greet one another with a kiss of love [Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians and 1 Peter].” Giving deference to other Christian was obviously a great value in to the early church.
Principle:
Peter commands Christians to make a point of expressing love to each other to give them respect.
Application
Do you make a point to express love to other Christians? Respect is foundational to love. Love is foundational to respect.
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