We are meant to be saints!

For the past three days I had been reading 2 Peter. I am trying to become more familiar with the Catholics teaching on the apostle Peter. So this is what I am going to do today. I discovered this really good Catholic commentary by Daniel Keating (I also discovered a wealth of commentaries from this CDSS site).

It is quite refreshing to read the Editor's Preface:
"The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord. . . All the preaching of the Church should be nourished and governed by Sacred Scripture. For in the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and speaks with them; and the power and goodness in the word of God is so great that it stands as the support and energy of the Church, the strength of faith for her sons and daughters, the food of the soul, a pure and perennial fountain of spiritual life." Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum 21

The Editors further noted, "Since Vatican Council II, there has been an increasing hunger among Catholics to study Scripture in depth and in a way that reveals its relationship to liturgy, evangelization, catechesis, theology, and personal and communal life." Coming from an evangelical background this is very heart warming as scripture had always been such an important part of my spiritual upbringing.

Further more, the Editors explained, "Central to our approach are the principles taught by Vatican II: first, the use of historical and literary methods to discern what the biblical authors intended to express; second, prayerful theological reflection to understand the sacred text “in accord with the same Spirit by whom it was written”—that is, in light of the content and unity of the whole Scripture, the living tradition of the Church, and the analogy of faith" (Dei Verbum 12)

So what have I learned from 2 Peter? Here is a short list of learning points from the first few verse of chapter 1 alone:

• There are questions about the authorship and the similarity between 2 Peter (especially chapter 2) and the Book of Jude. The explanation in the commentary is a very good read. Yes, 2 Peter has a lot of God-inspired teaching relevant to me today.
• The existence of false teachers are just as real then as it is today. The ideas and practices that St Peter had to confront  have striking resemblance to our own day. When was the last time I heard that God's judgement was not real so all kinds of sexual immorality in the name of specious freedom are all around us. One of the greatest needs in the church today is to recapture the lively sense of Christ's presence and promise of his return.
• 2 Peter presents us with a marvelous promise of divine power. It says to us clearly: we are called to nothing less than a share in the divine nature: "His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." (2 Peter 1:3-4) We are meant to be saints! This is explained clearly in the Catechism CCC 51 and 460. God's power comes to us through the knowledge of Christ who called us by his own glory and excellence.
• "Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:10-11) The lesson is that I often expect too little from my faith in Jesus. I underestimate what God wants to do for me and what he wants me to do for him. I see my faith as a set of demands, as a bar that I must clear, and so I try a little harder and hope to jump a little higher. But what Peter is telling me today is that God has already given me freely all that I need to live for him. And the goal is nothing less than becoming "partaker of the divine nature".