To Death - 2 Peter 1:12-21

1:12-14 - The goal that Peter has in this letter is “to stir you up by putting you in remembrance.” He says that while he’s “in this tabernacle… knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.” The word “shewed” is cross-referenced with John 21:18-19, which is long but profitable. This is Jesus speaking directly to Peter saying, “Verily, Verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest: but when thou shaly be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.” John gives the explanation in verse 19 saying, “this speak he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.” Peter knew that he was going to be killed because of his belief in Jesus and he still went when Jesus told him, “follow me.” I wondered why Jesus would tell Peter about Peter’s death, but I guess a lot of prominent leaders know that they are going to die beforehand, especially spiritual leaders so I guess it’s not that far out there. There’s a picture in the IM of Caravaggio’s painting “Crucifixion of St. Peter” which depicts Peter being nailed to the cross by his hands and feet and then crucified upside down. I’ve heard it explained that he was to be crucified but didn’t consider himself worthy to die in the same manner as the Savior, so he requested to have his cross affixed upside down. I imagine that that would have been a quicker death because there would have been so much pressure on his chest from his legs and gravity that he would have suffocated faster. Still a rough way to go man. 1:15-18 - It’s really important to Peter that after he dies, the people remember that his testimony is not the result of “cunningly devised fables… but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” Peter’s speaking specifically about the transfiguration of Christ in front of him, James, and John as recounted in Matthew 17:1-9. It’s really interesting that this was such a critical moment for Peter and apparently known throughout Christendom, but yet I don’t know hardly anything about it, and I studied those verses in depth. I just don’t understand very much about it. The article on this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com says, “While Peter, James, and John were transfigured on the mount, at least three key things happened. They heard the voice of the Father saying, ‘This is my beloved Son,’ they received the keys of the kingdom, and they received ‘a more sure word of prophecy,’ in other words they received the promise of exaltation.” I would have no idea what the phrase “a more sure word of prophecy” means, but the IM says, “The Prophet Joseph Smith defined what this term means: ‘The more sure word of prophecy means a man’s knowing that he is sealed up unto eternal life, by revelation and the spirit of prophecy, through the power of the Holy Priesthood.” I think it’s important to note that Peter received his “promise of exaltation” BEFORE he denied Christ 3 times. When considering what it would take for someone to be considered a “son of perdition,” we could think that it would be denying the Holy Ghost, and Peter being the chief apostle, with all his experience with Jesus, still denying Christ 3 times, if that doesn’t count then surely nothing we can do in our mortal life can count. Of course, we know that perdition is a choice, but it’s just something to consider. Clearly, having one’s “calling and election made sure” doesn’t mean the journey is over, and it doesn’t mean that we’ve peaked spiritually. But what does it mean? Does it mean we still have choices? Of course. But I honestly have no idea what it means beyond that. The article is full of quotes of church leadership urging the members to seek to have their own calling and election made sure, but I just don’t know what that means and if it would be something healthy for me to focus on obtaining. I think for me now, I’ve found a niche where I can spiritually thrive without the pressure of achieving a certain level of spirituality, and that’s where I just tell Jesus, “I’ll do whatever you want.” I don’t need any grand gesture on His part, I just want to do what he wants me to do. 1:19-21 – Verse 19 has a JST that changes the meaning quite a bit, saying, “We have therefore a more sure knowledge of the word of prophecy, to which word of prophecy ye do well that ye take heed.” Instead of this just being about Peter’s promise of exaltation, now we can see that it might be Peter’s way of saying, “because of my eyewitness account of Jesus, I have a better knowledge of Christ and you would do well to pay attention to what I have to say about Him.” Peter continued with another important JST saying, “knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scriptures if given of any private will of man. For the prophecy came not in old times by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” There are a couple of concepts to note here, first is that random men didn’t create the scriptures to serve their own ends, the words in the scriptures came from God. Therefore no man should use them to justify himself, even though that’s pretty much all that happens now. Second, the scriptures were given by the Holy Ghost to ancient prophets, therefore we can turn to the prophets for interpretation of the scriptures. Third is said best by Bruce R. McConkie as quoted in the article, saying, “There is no way, absolutely none, to understand any scripture except to have the same spirit of prophecy that rested upon the one who uttered the truth in its original form. Scripture comes from God by the power of the Holy Ghost. It does not originate with man. It means only what the Holy Ghost thinks it means. To interpret it, we must be enlightened by the power of the Holy Spirit. It takes a prophet to understand a prophet, and every faithful member of the Church should have ‘the testimony of Jesus’ which ‘is the spirit of prophecy.’”