II Peter 1:1. “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:”
I love the way the writers of the New Testament letters introduced themselves. It was customary, in their day, to do so. It clarified their true identity, supporting their authority as apostles and followers of Jesus.
In this greeting, Peter calls himself a bond-servant of Christ. The Greek words is doulos. It denotes one who gives himself up to another’s will; those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing His cause among men.
Peter had certainly given up his own life and will to Christ! He served without reservation until the very moment of his death.
He wrote to fellow-believers, whom he described as having received the same “precious faith” as he himself knew, through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Precious faith. I’ve read those words for years, but never stopped to consider the truth of the words.
That which is precious has indescribable value. Its worth cannot be measured. Peter applied the word to the blood of Jesus in I Peter 1:17-21:
If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; 18 knowing that you were not [a]redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared [b]in these last times for the sake of you 21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Jesus’ blood was precious because it was unpolluted by sin. Our redemption depends not on earthly, perishable things–not even on our own good works. It is only through the shed blood of Jesus that we have entrance into heaven when we repent of our sin nature and accept His death as the only atonement for our sin.
Linda's Bible Study 