Charles Pogue
Peter made it known that God the Father, through His Son Jesus Christ, has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3). Just what has God given us? He has given us the guide, the book of standards and rules, the consolation, the hope, the answers to everything we will ever encounter in this life. God has given us, through His word the proper way to react to good times and bad, about what to rejoice and over what to sorrow.
God has given us the description of what constitutes holiness, so that we will the right decisions in life concerning marriage, an occupation, possessions, recreation and entertainment, and everything else there is. If a thing does not comply with what God has given us to build our lives upon, then we must leave it alone. “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified” (Act 20:32).
God has given us His positive divine law; the message and our response to it, that will lead to the salvation of our souls. The answer to the question, what must one do to be saved, can be found nowhere else but in the New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It was Christ in person who first laid out the conditions when He gave the great commission to the apostles “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned (Mark 16:16). The apostles preached just what Jesus told them to, so that beginning on the great day of Pentecost Peter answered that all important question, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). God, in His graciousness, did not stop with the information of how to get into Christ, but how to be faithful to Him as an individual and as congregations of His body
Have you ever known well someone who asserted they knew the difference between right and wrong, but never once did you ever sneak up on that individual and discover them with an open Bible in their hands? You could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times they have dug into the Word of God, yet they have the answers to all of life’s questions. No, with all due respect, they have none of those answers and it shows in the decisions they make.
In that great verse from Second Peter 1, there is something that needs to be made very clear. If one attempts to separate either life or godliness from the standard that God has given, he will fail. On the other hand, let us rejoice that the Lord has given us, not a few things, not some things, not most things, but all things that pertain to life and godliness.
