¹This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ²that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

Peter loves his readers, including us who are reading this now. One gets the strong sense that Peter knew his letter would have a far-reaching effect. Whether he understood it would be read by millions of people over twenty centuries, we don’t know. But he had a bond of love for all Christians, a mark of a true shepherd. In the same way that he said we love Jesus even though we have not seen him (1 Peter 1:8), he could command us to “love the brotherhood” (1 Peter 2:17), which would include Christians we have not yet seen or met. So, it is no stretch that Peter would extend the same love to us today as he did to his original readers.

He uses the word “love” nine times in his two letters; six times, he calls his readers “beloved.” He ended his first letter with the command, “Greet one another with a kiss of love” (1 Peter 5:14a). So he continues writing to his “beloved.” He is stirring up what is already in them, a sincerity of their thinking. There is no sense that his readers would say, “Peter, we’ve already heard all this before.” They were probably accustomed to Peter’s repetition. He makes no apologies. In our present day, this mindset is needed more than ever. The spirit of this age is a constant search for what is new and innovative. Biblical truths can easily be distorted to tickle the minds and ears of succeeding generations who become bored with what they may see as tired, old truths. But truth foundations never change; they must not change, for the Bible is the true Word of God. The packaging—that is, how the truth is presented—may vary according to culture and convention, but the truth itself remains the same. So we must be careful to speak the truth clearly and return repeatedly to the Word of God.

The phrase “your apostles” provides a fascinating insight. On a trip to Bangkok, Thailand, a taxi driver, while talking about the king of Thailand, kept referring to him as “my king.” He identified closely with the leader of his country. We Christians today identify with the apostles. Paul refers to the church as “having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone . . .” (Eph. 2:20). We are in this together. The church is “my church;” it is “our church.” The apostles are “my apostles,” “our apostles.” We identify with them; we are in this Christian life with them.

Lord, thank You for the family of God in which the apostles are my brothers.