2 Peter 1:12-15 Why I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them… The very inwardness of the principal truths of religion makes our being frequently reminded of them so much the more necessary, and renders the ministrations of a Christian pastor so essential to our spiritual welfare. Nay, further, our very familiarity with Christian truths makes the office of the minister as a remembrancer not less necessary. Even the more we know of them, the more we need to be reminded of them. But why is this continual remembrance of religious truths so essential to the Church, that Christ has not only appointed a special order of remembrancers, but has also instituted holy mysteries as sacraments of commemoration? Because only as truths live within the mind can they be influential on the heart and conduct. And only as we are continually reminded of them do they gain this life within us. It is not enough to have received truths, we must feel them. We are living daily in a world of sense; we need to be transferred continually into the world of spirit. We see around us the vanities of time; we need to have heaven opened to our gaze, that we may behold the grand realities of eternity. The grand obstacle to all religion and holiness is sense — the living in the present and the visible, and therefore for the present and the visible. The grand method of deliverance, therefore, from this obstacle is faith. I put you in remembrance that you are the creatures of the one living and true God. I put you in remembrance that before this God, to whom you are thus accountable, you stand charged by His most righteous law as guilty sinners. I put you in remembrance that this same God, whom yon have thus displeased, and before whom you stand guilty, is very holy and yet very merciful. I put you in remembrance that in consequence of this compassion this same God — so holy, yet so merciful — sent down His only-begotten Son into the world to take your place, to bear your sins. I put you in remembrance that this pursuit of personal moral excellence and holy character can be successfully begun, continued, and completed by you only as you obtain the influence and help, the life, the love, and the power of God's Holy Spirit. (T. Griffith, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. |
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