January 19, 2010  

Peter’s Denial and Jesus’ Love

I am quite certain that there are many people in the church today, because of bad teaching and theology, who struggle with issues surrounding assurance of salvation. In fact this is not a new phenomenon, but is as ancient as the rambunctious Apostle, Peter. Remember the emphasis of the “Last Supper,” and Jesus’ prediction that one of His disciples would deny any relationship to, or knowledge of Himself. And we all know what happened, Peter most certainly denied any knowledge of or relationship with Jesus (see Mk. 14:66-72, amongst the other synoptics and the Gospel of John); and of course his response was one of sheer horror, and remorse. I think at that moment, and the immediate time following this incident, Peter was most unassured that he would have any further part in the “Kingdom of God.”

But you see, his relationship with Jesus was not dependent on his faithfulness to any kind of commitment or “covenant” that he may have made with God, and His Son; oh no, rather the relationship was completely dependent on Yahweh’s covenant faithfulness to His people (in fact all of humanity, objectively speaking). Let’s go back to the Old Testament for a moment to further substantiate Yahweh’s faithfulness, indeed Jesus’ faithfulness to humanity. In fact there are so many examples of this throughout the Old Testament, that we have our pick, so to speak; lets quickly look at Ezekiel 36 verses 22-32 (click on citation for full text). Here we come across Yahweh speaking to Israel, and coming to them in a time of great, great, sustained unfaithfulness, on their part. He admonishes them, and makes clear His intention to bring judgment on them (per the Levitic curses, Lev. 26; Deut. 28–30); but, and this is the hopeful part, He shows Himself faithful to them, inspite of their unfaithfulness to Him. In fact He promises to bless them beyond belief, at His initiation, and because of who He is, in Himself, inspite of their own unbelief and outright disobedience. Let’s just get a sampling of Yahweh’s staggering, and gracious nature towards an unbelieving people:

Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, ‘It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23. I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. The then nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord God, when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. 24. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. 25. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. . . . (Ez. 36:22-26ff)

Notice the “I–you” pattern, in the section above; this pattern continues on through verse 32 of this chapter another seven times. This is an important pattern, and is used for emphasis in this passage. It is a movement, a unilateral one, where Yahweh is seen to be the One who is always faithful, and does everything because of His love (which we know defines His nature as Father loving Son, Son loving Father, and Holy Spirit loving both bringing communion amongst the three); which we creatures partake of as He showers us with His surplus and super-abundance. So then, when we come to Peter and Jesus we should not be surprised that Jesus responds just as graciously to a fearful Peter, cowering in remorse and sheer angst of soul. Notice the response, and special notice paid to Peter in Mark 16:7 (this is the angel’s message, just after Jesus has resurrected):

. . . But go, tell His disciples and Peter, He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you. . . .

and Paul in his first epistle Corinthians also makes this special distinction of Peter:

. . . and that He appeared to Cephas [Peter], then to the twelve. 6. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; . . . (I Cor. 15:5, 6)

The point to take away from this, is that even though Peter denied Him, Jesus remained faithful in His love for Peter. This is illustrated by the pin-pointed pursuit by God to single out a desperate despairing Peter. The LORD pursues us, and He keeps us as His, no matter what. This relationship between Peter and Jesus was presupposed by who Jesus was (in relationship to the Father and Holy Spirit), and is for us; instead of who Peter (and we are) was and is for Jesus.

What this incident further illustrates is that “assurance of salvation” is not even a scriptural category. In other words, we don’t see this ever communicated as a viable situation in the scriptures. The scriptures presuppose Yahweh’s faithfulness, as well as humanities’ unfaithfulness; which is the point of the cross. It is the cross that reverses the curse and the subsequent doom and gloom of humanities’ fallen situation. Our response to the Father, is firmly located in Jesus’ response to the Father on the cross, “. . . Father into thy hands I commit my spirit. . . .” It is not until much later, within church history that “assurance of salvation” becomes a doctrinal “pastoral” category. The next post will further touch on the system of theology (esp. as developed in English Puritanism) that brought us this deplorable teaching on “assurance.”

Stand firm today in the confidence that it is not our faithfulness, but His faithfulness, and LIFE, that is the source of our confidence and hope!

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8 Responses to “Peter’s Denial and Jesus’ Love”

  1. Ali says :

    Hey, love this.

    Now, how do you fit 2 Peter 1:3-11 into this truth?

  2. Bobby Grow says :

    Ali,

    What do you mean? I would just say if you asked Peter in the midst of this if he was sure of His relationship (in the midst of his denial and angst), he would say NO. But if you would’ve asked Jesus at that time, He would’ve said YES. I would see II Pet referring to Peter’s belief, by the HS, that it is important to walk in the grace and knowledge that we now have in Jesus, to grow, and be confident as a result of walking in the Spirit (to borrow from Paul, also see Col 2:6 as parallel to this, I think).

    Does that help?

  3. Ali says :

    Yes, that’s helpful.

    So you are drawing a distinction between the location of God’s election; for Evan is in Christ’s incarnation and for Fred is in God’s decree. But when it comes to the individual’s confidence in their salvation, you both seem to be saying the same thing as 2 Peter 1:3-11 – walk with Christ in the Spirit and your “assurance” will increase.

    So, how would you counsel a person who has known Christ and comes to you saying they have no faith that God has accepted them?

  4. Bobby Grow says :

    No,

    For Evan I would be saying look at Christ, for Fred I would have to say look at your works and then look at Christ.

    I would tell them that their faith wasn’t their’s to begin with, but Christ’s. That if they are faithless He remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself (just like with Peter). That nothing can separate us from the love of God that we have in Christ Jesus (nothing created). And that no man can pluck us out of His hand. Beyond that, that how we feel is no determinative of what reality is; because the objective reality of salvation is grounded in Christ’s humanity for us. So as sure as He is the eternal theoanthropos (God-man), we are eternally saved not by any works that we have done, but what He has done (which is grounded in His eternal mediating work as our High Priest who is right now making intercession for us Heb 7:25).

  5. Ali says :

    Okay…do you mind if I push further with this? Because 2 Peter 1:3-11 seems to teach,
    1) that our knowledge of Christ is foundational (v3-4) but
    2) that our works can be used as a form of measurement of our spiritual state (v5-11).
    So why not, “Look at Christ, then look at how that’s working out in your life”?

    You see, if I was that person (and I have been at times) I would reply to you, “I understand that I am carnally united with Christ, but how do I know I am spiritually united? Jesus’ vicarious faith and repentance and humanity doesn’t save me unless I’m spiritually united. How do I know I won’t end up like those in Matt 7:21-23?” (which, incidentally, seems to tie what I do to being saved).

    How would you respond? I find this really interesting.

  6. Bobby Grow says :

    Ali,

    It’s one thing to read II Pet through the lense of the TULIP for example, that is an imposition on the text, IMO. It is another to look at the context of Peter and see what he is calling for, and that is to live a holy life knowing that the end of time is upon us (chpt 3). We can enter eternity with confidence, or with our heads in our hands in shame. I don’t see Peter answering the question you are posing, because he is already writing to Christians. I see the context of the whole epistle as a challenge to live a holy life (and chpt 3 gives that punchline).

    In fact the whole of the NT presupposes that its readers are believers. Which in my mind is incompatible with the way the TULIP for example asks us to read many of the so called “warning passages.”

    Similarly, with Mt 7, it ties nothing to what you “do” to being saved — I know you’re not advocating a works-righteousness, right Ali — look at the context. It’s talking about false prophets, it has nothing to do with what they “do,” but on what basis they “do what they do.” These folks have done what they’ve done for personal gain (like Simon in Acts); for the approval of men (like the Pharisees that Jesus chastises in John). They were a bad tree to begin with and thus a bad tree to end with. Their salvation, for them, was based on what they “did;” of course genuine salvation is based on what Christ has done — and that’s the point.

    Our faith is grounded in Christ’s faith for us (as our mediator). How do you know you won’t end up like these folks in Mt 7? Do you trust in Jesus, or yourself for salvation? If you trust in Jesus and call Him Lord (I Cor 12:3), then you know you won’t end up like them. It’s not based upon what you “do,” I hope you know that, Ali — I’m sure you do — it’s based on the one you trust in (Jn 6:29). It’s that simple (God is faithful to keep His Word, and we know that by looking at Christ, realizing that He has taken us all the way into the heavenlies with Him — this is what Paul’s “in Christ” lang. is all about).

    John makes it clear (I Jn 5:11) if you believe on the Son you have eternal life (it’s that simple). And our “subjective” part of that is grounded in Christ’s humanity for us (i.e. so we know, based on the resurrection and ascension that God’s Word is sure, and that He follows through with us in His identificatgion with us and thus ours with Him by the Spirit).

    That’s as about as clear as I can make it, Ali.

  7. Ali says :

    No, I’m not asking you out of a personal need for assurance, I’m just trying to understand how you would answer those questions. Your answer is clear, and while I don’t think that those passages cannot answer questions not directly asked of them, what you have said has been helpful to understand a bit more of what you are getting at.

    Interestingly, I’ve got a similar response from listening to a Reformed preacher. ;)

    I enjoy this sort of presentation of Evangelical Calvinism. Thanks.

  8. Bobby Grow says :

    Well, I’m pretty much ‘Reformed,’ I just think we want to be careful with the context of scripture; and make sure were not making it answer questions it never intended. I believe in authorial intentionality still :-) .