___________________
A Paper
Presented to
Dennis J. Kavanaugh Ph.D.
Dallas Theological Seminary
___________________
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Course
BE 107 Hebrews, General Epistles & Revelation
___________________
by
Rick E. Meyer
19 April 2012
Remember: 2 Peter 1:12-13,15; 3:1-2
As a man thinks in his
heart, so is he[1].
“You are six-inches from your greatest achievements[2].
The six-inches between your temples determine your response to God the Father,
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit[3].”
Proverbs 23:7 illustrates our memory influenced and generated thoughts which determine
our words, actions and beliefs.
Authorship and Purpose
The Holy Spirit—speaking through Simon Peter[4]—encourages
believers reading the second epistle transcribed by Simon Peter to
remember The Bible illuminates the power
of God remembering and forgetting, each are favorable and disastrous for man
contingent upon the action or promise involved. This estimated of authorship is
64-68 A.D.[5]
These scholars also estimate Peter’s death occurring in 67-68 A.D.5
Comparatively, Nero reigned from 54-68 A.D.5
Audience
Peter addresses the readers as agapētoi, “beloved, loved ones” or Dear friends[6]. This verbiage reveals the targeted
readers are fellow believers of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These
believers are probably one of the congregations in the five provinces Peter addresses
in 1 Peter[7].
Additionally, God’s intended audience includes believers of all generations,
otherwise He would have prevented this message’s inclusion in the holy
scripture. The Holy Spirit’s purpose, through Peter, resides in provoking a
“sincere mind,” or pure thoughts. The commentary[8]
illustrates the Latin “sine cera” defines pottery absent corrective wax covering
blemishes. When we remember God’s words, our thoughts lead to forgiveness and
righteous living. Christ’s death and resurrection removes our sin causes
cracks, blemishes and weak spots[10].
Power of Memory
Before we commence discussion of specific topics of Biblical
memory, let’s review the power of memory on the brain. Let’s briefly expound
upon the statements in the opening paragraph. Wilder Penfield conducted
pioneering brain probing experiments in the 1930s and 1940s at Montreal
Neurological Institute. Probing the brain in various spots immediately above
the ears, forty of his patients’ memories brought to life past voices,
childhood scenes, various songs[11].
Speaker and author Dr. Denis Waitley speaks of in his Seeds of Greatness recordings, a study
in which brain probing enables a forty-something year-old lady to relive her
fifth birthday party. The conscious recollection hinged upon proper probing.
These studies reveal the longevity and power of our memory, the brain stores
everything we experience. The key lies in our recall ability. Prudence suggests
we ask the Holy Spirit to probe our brains, activating the memories to serve
God, and live righteously.
- Appetite
- Cardiovascular
- Control of Muscles
- Immune System
- Injury Recovery
- Motivation
Memory generated emotions also affect hormones, which affect11:
- Blood Pressure
- Body Temperature Maintenance
- Heart Rate
- Hunger
- Sexual Functions and Behaviors
- Sleep-Wake Cycle
- Thirst
The above lists display the power
of accurate memory, including framing our memories within the context of
Christ’s redemptive power in our life. Remembering the words of God, spoken
through Peter and other prophets and authors, affects our physical bodies, or
“earthy dwelling.[13]”
Remembering Peter’s Message
What does the Holy Spirit say, speaking through Peter’s
writings, immediately before “So I will always remind you of these things, even
though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have[14]”?
He instructs to make every effort for the cumulative additions of faith,
goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, Godliness, brotherly kindness
and love[15].
As these attributes enable effective, productive knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ15.
The readers are reminded of the grueling, all-out effort
required to acquire and internalize these factors, as the words translate to
“all diligence” or “all zeal.”[16]
When I reflect on this type of exertion from running or physical labor, the
accompanying deep sweat fills my memory. Difficulty exists in explaining this
sweat and the feeling that comes with it, to those whom have yet to exert this
high level of exertion.
The sweat’s aroma appears different from “normal” sweat.
The body’s high temperature permeates from one’s epidermis (skin) to the
muscles and perhaps one’s internal—core organs. Peter, like great coaches,
reminds his team of the physical
effort necessary for success in serving Christ.
Let’s examine the aforementioned attributes[17][18].
Faith refers to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins,
because of death and resurrection. Goodness’s literal meaning includes “moral
excellence” or “virtue.” To these, the believer must add knowledge from the
Holy Spirit, focusing on Christ and the Word of God. One must also exhibit
self-control of their passions.
The previous attributes instructs focusing our
passions’ on Christ, the Holy Spirit and God the Father. Conversely, the false
prophets lacked controlling their passions, allowing drifting to the secular,
carnal desires. Perseverance, “hypomenēn” is “staying under.” This
encouragement to continue through adversity requires the “deep sweat” effort,
and faith of Christ providing the necessary physical, emotional, and spiritual fuel. In running, Greek: metaph, staying power or perseverance
implicates metabolizing lactic acid at the same rate one’s perpetual effort
produces lactic acid.
Lactic acid accumulation in the muscles cause fatigue and
sharp burning. Perseverance in the Christian life requires dependence on Christ
metabolizing our pain and discomfort
originated from operating outside of our comfort zone, at an equal or greater
rate than the pain and discomfort generate. Reverence for God yields Godliness.
Brotherly kindness compliments the second greatest commandment[19],
desiring Christ’s best for others[20].
Possessing and increasing these attributes provides
discernment of God’s word and salvation through Christ, as well as discernment
for recognizing the false teachers. False teachers existed at the writing of this
epistle, continuing through today. Peter reminded the readers to assure all
teachings correlated with scripture, avoid teaching lacking perfect
correlation.
Let us remember to measure teachings, our thoughts, words
and actions with the standards of scripture. Moreover, the Holy Spirit
apparently clearly revealed to Peter the nearness of Peter’s death; thus
prompting Peter’s increase passion for reminding the readers through these
epistle since Peter would no longer be available for personally reminding them.[21]
Some also suggest Peter reflected on his own forgetfulness of adhering to truth
when he denied Christ three times.22
When God Remembers
What do we expect when God remembers? God promises are often
contingent upon man’s behavior, while God’s oath will occur in God’s perfect
time and method[22].
God is a God of his word, the Spirit of truth. He remembered his covenant with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob[23],
producing Abraham’s descendents as numerous as the stars in heaven. God also
provided a rainbow as a visible sign of his promise to Noah, after the Great
Flood, “I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures
of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life[24]”.
God delivered on all these promises.
When God promises, and man obeys, God delivers. The Old
Testament contains numerous promises of Christ’s arrival. God remembers these
promises, as everything promised and foreshadowed in the Old Testament occurred
as predicted with Christ’s birth, life and death[25].
I comprehend the concept of God remembering in the aforementioned scripture,
and the examples set people my life. We are created in God’s image[26].
Consequently, when submitting to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, accepting
his writings on our hearts and minds[27],
we resemble God.
In no way, am I suggesting we are God or gods. Moreover,
human’s resemblance falls drastically short. Regarding people God placed in my
life, my relatives are men and women of their word. They remember and deliver
their promises[28].
The referenced article speaks of my cousin Bruce making a single statement
promise made in a cornfield, then following through with the promised phone
call seven months later. At the time of the promise, I did not know my future
college address or phone number.
The power of sinful man’s memory, promise and
delivery resembles a fraction of God’s memory, promise and delivery[29].
God also
remembers sinful actions, much less favorable to the unrepentant sinner, “for
her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes”[30].
Anyone rejecting Christ, rejects forgiveness of sins, thus God remembers these
sins.
When God Forgets
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their
sins no more[31]."
Confession and forgiveness allows God to forget our sins[32].
Other times God fails to forget our sins, “The LORD has sworn by the Pride of
Jacob: ‘I will never forget anything they have done’.[33]”
Y
Yet other times, God forgets people and nations—Jerusalem, placing them out of
his “mind,” “Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long?”[34]
In the instance of Jerusalem, the Israelites continually ignore God with their
intentional sinful acts. The consequences of sinful behavior failed to receive
proper consideration by the people of Judah.[35]
God forgets, turns his back on, nations when they continually and deliberately
ignore him. In his goodness and mercy he restores upon their confession and
repentance.
Because God forgot Jerusalem, horrific events occurred while
they were under siege. Women cooked and ate their own children[36].
Because of Jerusalem’s sinfulness, God became like an enemy to them, working
against them[37].
The horror stories are difficult to read, much less imagine. God responds in
this manner because he loves his people. Because of this love he is unable to
accept and bless intentional, unrepentant behavior contradicting his nature.
Additionally, God strongly desires their and our hearts returning to him.
I believe America is currently receiving God’s discipline
for many, individually and collectively turning backs on God, living with
unrepentant sin[38].
Conclusion and Summary
Remembering contains magnificent power. Memories provides
discerning false teachers from true teachers. The power of memory enables recalling
scripture, as well as God’s involvement in our life. This memory allows us to
calibrate our thoughts and actions to increase in correlation with
righteousness. This memory encourages us to “press on” in the face of
difficulties, challenges, and seemingly impossible situations. Whether our boss
asks us to resign for being “too honest,” as happened to me in August 2009, or other shocking events, memory strengthens us.
When one
loses their dad, memory of God’s word, love, faithfulness and their parents’
example enables one to continue on. Our being reminded of studying the Word,
worshipping God, praying, association with fellow believers, internalizing the
Bible’s message enables us to reject the enemies enticing invitation to get
drunk “just once.” Instead reply, “No! I am pouring myself even deeper into
God’s word.
Because my memory of the Bible assures me of God’s memory of his
promise to never leave nor forsake us. This promise arises out God’s goodness,
as opposed to anything I do. The memory and knowledge of God’s message leads
friends to support one another in times of hardships. Memory reminds us to
pray. Memory reminds us God always responds better than we imagine, even if we
fail to immediately comprehend his actions or seemingly inactions. Because, we
remember his wisdom far exceeds our own.
Yes, let’s continually remind ourselves and one another of
God’s grace, mercy and love. God created us with powerful memory devices—brains.
Let us continually remember to continually thank and praise him for our brains.
Let us submit our minds to him. Because of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, we
are only six-inches from our greatest achievements, when we respond with our
minds to Christ.
Bibliography
Blakeslee, Sandra, and Matthew Blakeslee. The Body
Has a Mind of Its Own. Random House, 2007.
Gangel, Kenneth O.,
John F. Walvoord, and Roy B. Zuck. The Bible Knowledge Commentary.
Third. Edited by Roy B. Zuck, Contributing: Donald K. Campbell, Stanley D.
Toussaint John F. Walvoord. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook Distribution
Canada, 1973, 1978, 1984.
Mathias, Art Ph.D. In
His Own Image. Anchorage, AK: Wellspring Publishing, 2003.
Meyer, Rick E.
"BE101 Class Notes with Dr. Mark Bailey." Class Lecture Notes.
2011.
—. "Class Notes
from Dr. Kavanaugh." Class Lecture Notes. 2012.
—. RUNNING ON FAITH.
Edited by Barbara Lehmann. Dallas, Texas: Pending, 2011.
—. "Your Word is
Your Worth." Running on Faith. November 2006.
http://rickemeyer.blogspot.com/2008/02/your-word-is-your-worth-november-2006.html
(accessed April 19, 2012).
Promise Keepers.
"The Promise Keepers Men's Study Bible." In Promise Keepers Men's
Study Bible, by Promise Keepers, 1352-1354. Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Zondervan PUblishing House, 1997.
Radmacher, Earl, Ronald
B. Allen, and H. Wayne House. Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary.
Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1999.
Wenham, David, and
Steve Walton. Exploring the New Testament. 2nd. Vol. 1. 1 vols.
InterVarsity Press, 2001, 2011.
[10]
John 3:16
See Christ, Believe Christ, Achieve through Remembering Christ!
Rick E. Meyer
See, Believe, Achieve Inc.
