Grow in Confidence

As we have noticed over the past couple of weeks, one of Peter's goals in his second letter is that believers in Jesus Christ would "grow". That is, that we all leave behind where we are in our walk with God, and that we would all become everything that God desires us to be. And as he writes to this group two thousand years ago, and as he writes to us today, the need to “grow” is still vitally important.

As he writes, Peter encourages us to grow in our understanding of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. He also encourages us to grow in our "remembrance of Christ", that is, to grow in our rock solid commitment to the foundations of the faith, to build upon that foundation of the faith, and to not abandon it for some new teaching, idea, or philosophy. To grow in our understanding, without abandoning our commitment to the fundamental truths of the Gospel of Jesus.

But what we notice in our reading from 2 Peter 1:12-21, is that Peter also wants us to grow in our confidence in Christ. That is, he wants us to grow in our assurance that everything that is said about Jesus, everything that is said about the Gospel, is true, dependable, and worthy of putting our faith in.

You see, it is one thing to grow in our understanding of something. It is one thing to grow in our commitment to the foundations of something. But it is something else altogether different to have the confidence that it is absolutely true and dependable.

You may have read in the West Australian some years ago how in Stephen Hawking's last book, Hawking loudly proclaimed that "there is no God".[1]

So, what are we to do? After all, Hawking was a pretty smart guy. And the West Australian said that it is true, so why shouldn't we listen to them instead of Peter? What is it about Peter's words that should prompt us to accept what he says rather than what Hawking says?

That is, in fact, the issue that Peter addresses in this part of his letter. The question of, "why should we listen to him"? Peter says in 2 Peter 1:12 that he wants to "remind us" of what we were once taught. And in 2 Peter 1:15 he wants us to always "be able to remember the things" that he has said.

• But why should we listen?

• How can we know that it is true and dependable?

• How can we have the confidence to trust what he is saying, and then to act upon what he is saying?

In 2 Peter 1:16-18 Peter tells us “why” we can have this confidence:

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.

For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.

And notice the three things that Peter says that give us the confidence to believe, accept, and follow his message:

• We were eyewitnesses.

• We ourselves heard.

• And we were with him.

And it is interesting that Hawking, in that same book, said:

There is no reliable evidence for [the afterlife], and it flies in the face of everything we know in science.

In other words, Hawking said,

I want evidence! I want proof!

And in this passage Peter talks about that proof, and he tells us that the reliability, the trustworthiness of his message rests on the fact that he was there. He saw it, and heard it, for himself. He was an eyewitness to it all. And then, being an eyewitness, he told others what he had both seen and heard.

And this insistence on the trustworthiness of the message because those who proclaimed it were "eyewitnesses", reoccurs often in the New Testament. In 1 John 1:1-4, when John encourages the churches to remain faithful to Jesus, he says:

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

Notice the phrases that John uses here: We have heard. We have seen. We have looked at. We have touched. We have seen. We have seen. We have heard.

Three times John says, "we have seen". Twice that "we have heard". We were eyewitnesses to everything that happened.

And then he goes on to say that, because he was an eyewitness to it all:

We declare to you eternal life.

We testify to it. We proclaim the things that we saw. We write to you about what we saw. We are not telling you some "cleverly devised myth", using Peter's words. We are not telling you something that we have made up, something that comes from our own imaginations, but we are telling you what we, personally, were witnesses to.

As John also said in John 1:14:

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

And that is why we can have confidence in what Peter and John say. And that is why we need to listen to what Peter and John say. We need to listen to them because they were there and saw it all.

And it isn't just them, for Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8:

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

If Hawking wanted evidence of life after death, then all he needed to do was look to Jesus and the resurrection, for when Paul wanted to prove to the church in Corinth the truth of the resurrection, he doesn't turn to philosophy. In fact, he doesn't even turn to the Scriptures themselves, although he says that the Scriptures foretold the resurrection.[2] No. When Paul wants to prove the truth of the resurrection, he turns to eyewitnesses. To those who saw the risen Jesus.

Cephas, that is, Peter. The twelve, that is, the Apostles (minus Judas, of course). James, the brother of Jesus. Five hundred brothers and sisters at one time. And, finally, Paul himself. In other words:

If you don't believe me, then ask them. They were there. They saw Jesus raised from the dead. They will tell you the truth because they, like me, were eyewitnesses of the resurrected Jesus.

And even those who were not eyewitnesses, those who weren't personally there, they also let us know that they heard the message from those who were there. And so we read in Hebrews 2:3b:

 [This salvation] was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him.

In other words:

I wasn't there, but I heard the message from someone who was there, and that is why I know that it is true and dependable.

And as Luke began his Gospel, he says in Luke 1:1-4:

Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,

I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.

Notice what Luke says here. We notice that, among other things, Luke gained his information from "eyewitnesses". But Luke was a Greek! When did he have any contact with these "eyewitnesses"? This is a good question, especially when we realise that these eyewitnesses would have all been in Judea or Galilee.

First of all, we read in Acts 21:16, that when Luke accompanied Paul on his final journey to Jerusalem:

Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came along and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.

And what we see here is that Luke joined Paul on the trip to Judea. And while in Judea he met "an early disciple". That is, an early "eyewitness" to Jesus.

And then, after Paul had been locked up in prison in Caesarea, we read in Acts 24:27:

After two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus; and since he wanted to grant the Jews a favour, Felix left Paul in prison.

What this tells us is that for two full years Paul was in jail. But what was Luke doing all that time?

Those two years would have given Luke plenty of time to meet, talk with, listen to, and learn from "early disciples", like Mnason, in order to find out more about Jesus.

It would have given him the time to talk to James, the brother of Jesus and leader of the church in Jerusalem, from whom Luke possibly received the story of Jesus' birth in Luke 1-2, and the genealogy in Luke 3. Unless, of course, Mary herself was still living. She would have only been in her eighties at that time, and she could have told Luke the full story for herself.

In other words, Luke spent two years meeting eyewitness, talking with eyewitnesses, talking with those who knew Jesus, had seen Jesus, had talked with Jesus, and witnessed his miracles.

And not only that, but Luke also read written accounts by others about the life of Jesus, and not just Matthew and Mark, for Luke says that:

many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events.[3]

And so there were a number of people who had seen Jesus, had talked with Jesus, and who had begun to write down what Jesus had said, and what Jesus had done, so that those who came afterwards could know the truth about Jesus, and Luke says, "I've read them also". I have studied, and researched, and talked, and listened, and questioned, and evaluated, and done everything that I can in order to get my account of the life and ministry of Jesus right. In other words, Luke did the job of a very good historian!

Now Luke didn't know that he was writing sacred Scripture. Luke didn't know that he was writing down the Word of God. He didn't know that he, just like the prophets, was being:

moved by the Holy Spirit [so that he] spoke from God.[4]

All he was trying to do was to be a good, careful, honest, historian. Why? Why was Luke being so careful? He tells us in Luke 1:4 when he says:

so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.

So that you might grow in confidence.

• Grow in confidence that everything you have learned is true and dependable.

• Grow in confidence that Jesus is who he said he is.

• Grow in confidence so that, as Peter says in 2 Peter 1:16:

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.

And Luke was being careful to make sure he got his facts right because his goal was the same as that of John in John 20:31:

These are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

And he knew that he had to write the truth, so that people could have confidence in the truth, and so build their faith on the firm and solid foundation of truth.

Lies don't do you any good when you are facing torture and death. Lies don’t do you any good when the Romans say, "sacrifice to the emperor or die". Thrown to the lions. Crucified. Burned alive. Beheaded. Lies don't do you any good when you are faced with the loss of life, loss of family, loss of property. And so, Luke, along with Matthew, Mark, and John; Luke, along with Peter and Paul, they all write:

so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.[5]

So that you might have absolute confidence in the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And that is why I encourage you to read the Bible. Read the Gospel accounts about the life of Jesus. Read, grow in your understanding, grow in your remembrance of the foundations of the faith, so that you might grow in your confidence in the truth of the Gospel of Jesus.

And it isn't just the words of the New Testament that give us confidence. It isn't just the Gospels or the letters from the Apostles that talk about the activity of God; about who God is, what he has done, and what he desires from us, for Peter goes on to say in 2 Peter 1:19:

So, we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

Peter encourages us to focus on the words of the prophets. And this isn't just talking about prophets such as Isaiah or Jeremiah. Peter is talking about all of those individuals, from Genesis to Malachi, or, in the Hebrew order, from Genesis to Chronicles, who wrote down the word of God as the Spirit of God led them. Each of these wrote down God's message to us. A message that informs. A message that challenges. A message that compels change in our attitudes, our conduct, and our direction. As Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16-17:

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

Now Paul did not know that he was writing sacred Scripture. Instead, Paul, like Peter, was referring to the words of the Old Testament.

And Peter says that this "prophetic message" is "completely dependable".[6] That is, it is totally trustworthy and reliable. And because of that, Peter says that we must "pay attention to it".[7] And he uses this marvelous illustration:

As to a lamp shining in a dark place.[8]

Have you ever been in the dark? All of sudden the power goes out, the lights go out, and you are sitting there, in the dark. What do you do? You get a candle, and you light it. You find a torch and turn it on. You find something to bring light, to drive back darkness, so that you can see.

And that is what the word of God, the word of the Old Testament, the word of the New Testament, is. A light.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.[9]

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.[10]

The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eyes.[11]

The word of God is that light that shines into the darkness of our souls, the darkness of our lives, the darkness of our conscience, and brings light.

The Bible brings clarity of direction. The Bible brings an understanding of our true purpose for living. The Bible brings a proper vision for what we should – or should not – do; what we should – or should not – be.

And because the Bible is that "light", as we continue to allow it to shine into our lives, as we allow the word of God to transform our understanding and to lay a solid foundation of faith in Jesus Christ, we will find that our "confidence", our "assurance" in Christ, our faith in God, grows.

But why are the words of the prophets "trustworthy and dependable"? What is it about the Bible that makes it a "light"? Peter answers that question when he says in 2 Peter 1:20-21:

First of all, you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

The words of the prophets are "trustworthy" because of the activity of the Holy Spirit in producing them.

The words of the prophets are dependable because, unlike today's newspaper where somebody thinks, "I will write such and such", no matter how wrong, or biased, or filled with half-truths or untruth it happens to be.

• And not because someone sees something in world events and thinks: "this means that", even if they might totally misunderstand what is going on, and why.

• And not because someone is pushing their own personal agenda and trying to manipulate society to their own values and opinions. Again, often like in the newspaper.

Instead, the Scriptures came into being because the Spirit of God so worked in a person's life that they were carried along to view the world the way that God wanted.

• They were enabled to interpret what was going on around them the way that God wanted.

• They were enabled to write down exactly what God wanted written down, so that the message that they wrote down was true, dependable, and trustworthy. It was "light" for our darkness.

The Scriptures of the Old Testament, as well as the Scriptures of the New Testament, are trustworthy and reliable because God so moved in people's lives that they were carried along by God to say what God wanted said, so that we might know the truth of God.

And knowing the truth of God; having the confidence that what the prophets have written is reliable, we can grow in our confidence in the trustworthiness of the message, place our faith in the message, and adjust our lives to the message of God as found in the Scriptures.

Peter wants us to grow in our confidence.

• Confidence in the reliability of his own message, because he, himself, was an eyewitness to everything.

• To grow in confidence in the reliability and trustworthiness of the Scriptures, because they are a light for us in the darkness of our lives.

• To grow in our confidence in what the prophets, the Gospel writers, and the writers of the letters have said because, instead of spouting their own opinions, they were:

moved by the Holy Spirit [and] spoke from God.[12]

Where does your confidence lie?

I encourage you, I challenge you, to read your Bible, and in it you will see the light of Christ. And as you see the light of Christ:

• Put your trust in him.

• Build your confidence upon him.

• Let him be the foundation of your life, your hope, and your future.

 

[1] https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/human-body/stephen-hawkings-final-warning-from-beyond-the-grave-beware-of-superrich-superhumans/news-story/dc5eb5dda38a10350998da84043e224e [accessed on November 4, 2025]. He also warned about AI: “He was a loud voice in the debate about the implications of artificial intelligence. Hawking made it clear he was afraid that cold, calculating machine logic could lead them to take charge ‘for our own good’. “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race”.

[2] Psalm 16:10. And see the sermons in Acts 2:22-36; 13:26-39.

[3] Luke 1:1

[4] 2 Peter 1:21

[5] Luke 1:4

[6] Using the comparative adjective from βέβαιος [bebaios], with the idea of "more reliable, more certain, more trustworthy". The question would be, "more reliable than what"? The answer must be, "more reliable than even eyewitness testimony", because, although eyewitnesses can get things wrong (just ask any policeman), because the words of the prophets are "carried along by the Holy Spirit", they are "more reliable" than those of human eyewitnesses because they are divine words, not merely human words.

[7] 2 Peter 1:19

[8] 2 Peter 1:19

[9] Psalm 119:105

[10] Psalm 119:130

[11] Psalm 19:8

[12] 2 Peter 1:21b