¹ . . . to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ . . .

Peter’s audience presumably is the same as that of his first letter: believers scattered across the northeastern Mediterranean basin, in what is now the country of Turkey. By the time of his writing, Christianity had spread fairly broadly at least as far as Rome, as well as into Egypt. The apostle Paul had set his sights on heading to Spain (Rom. 15:28). The faith being spread was unified, as Paul wrote:

There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Eph. 4:4–6)

Peter’s and Paul’s teachings were consistent and mutually affirming (see Gal. 2:7–10, 2 Peter 3:15–16). In fact, many in Peter’s audience probably came to faith through Paul’s ministry on his first and second mission tours. It was the “same kind of faith.” And this faith came by the righteousness of God.

Many have a completely backward concept of righteousness as something attained by an individual through doing righteous things to somehow merit acceptance by God. No! Good things do not make a person righteous; good things are a product of a person’s righteousness. How can that be, though, when a person is emphatically not righteous? “There is none righteous, not even one” (Rom. 3:10, also vs.11–12). “By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight” (Rom. 3:20). Paul elucidated the answer: in redemption God declares us to be righteous. This is not a righteousness that is earned or possessed in and of ourselves. It takes place when He makes it so:

This [redemption] was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Rom. 3:25–26)

God was working righteously in and through Jesus Christ to put us into a state of being righteous. God is the only absolutely Just One, and He determines the meaning and parameters of what justice is all about. While salvation brings to us forgiveness, eternal life, and an everlasting relationship with God, at its core salvation is about a just God declaring us to be righteous.

Lord, though I don’t fully understand it all, thank You for making me righteous in Your eyes!