When I started working in IT, like most people, I started in a call center. This can be either a good or bad experience for beginners, and the experience has nothing to do with one’s equipment or the attitudes of the customers that call. It has everything to do with the training one receives. My experience was a good one. My managers made sure I had the technical know-how before they hired me, but once in the center my first two weeks were spent shadowing other techs, then having them shadow me as I started taking calls. That time was invaluable.

Jesus did the same with his disciples. He hired – I mean, called – them. They observed his ministry, then he sent them out in pairs on more than one occasion to minister to others. It’s the pattern of all good schooling, and it’s what we are called to do in our Christian experience as well. Last time we took a deep dive into understanding the introduction of this letter because it sets the tone and purpose of everything that is to come. This will play out tomorrow and in the next few posts as we continue train, or “to grow in knowledge” as Peter puts it, in properly understanding and relating to God.

I can pray this because his divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence. Through these things he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire. — 2 Peter 1.3-4

Verse three of chapter one begins a short cycle on the sufficiency of Jesus. There are three points he wants to make about sufficiency and the Messiah, and the first is found in these two verses: Jesus is sufficient for regeneration. Once we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins a new work in us, one that helps us overcome sinful desires and draw closer to God. This is regeneration, and it isn’t something we have to wait for – it starts as soon as we become a bondservant of Christ.

In biology, regeneration means the restoration or new growth by an organism of organs, tissues, etc., that have been lost, removed, or injured. It is similar with our spirit and could be stated as restoration of one’s inclination toward righteousness and a right relationship with the Creator. The term implies that something that was once operational is now broken or missing and is in a state of repair. We were created for a relationship with God; this was broken by sin but, for the Jesus-follower, is in the process of being restored.

According to verse three, knowledge of Christ is the key to the divine power we are given to live and to become godly. In other words, one cannot regenerate their true, original nature without knowledge of Jesus. This makes sense as Jesus taught the disciples early that “no one comes to the father but by me” (John 14.6). While others may put on airs of righteousness and religious devotion it holds no substance unless it comes from a knowledge of Jesus.

Then in verse four we discover that knowledge of the promises of God is the key to escape worldly corruption (described later as carousing in broad daylight, eyes full of adultery, seducing the unstable, and greedy (2.13-.14)). This is due to one of the many gifts of God to his children, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This also makes sense as Paul teaches us, “For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”