“With the help of
Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly,
encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.”
I often wonder what the side characters of the bible were
like. People like Caleb, Joab, Luke,
Barnabas, Timothy, and especially, Silas.
He was a companion of Paul for many years, preaching alongside him,
delivering messages back and forth to churches, being persecuted, and going to
prison with him. I hope to visit with
him in heaven one day – I bet he has some stories!
Scholars often attempt to discredit the bible by
questioning the authorship of books. In
the case of 1 Peter, scholars claim that it couldn’t have been written by Peter
because the writing is high quality Greek and Peter was an uneducated fisherman
from Galilee. And that would make
perfect sense if not for this verse.
Peter openly admits that Silas, a well-educated Jew who
was also a Roman citizen, helped him. Whether Peter dictated it, or wrote it in
Aramaic and Silas translated it – it is an argument easy to defend. And who knows, maybe Peter was a gifted
writer in spite of being a fisherman.
Maybe he took writing classes on the side. Just because we don’t know exactly how 1 Peter
was so well written doesn’t mean that Peter didn’t write it with assistance –
just like the bible says.
“Stand fast in it” is an interesting phrase. It conjures a picture of standing in a
shower, or in a downpour, or even better, under a waterfall being immersed and
soaked in God’s grace. To be saturated
by God’s love; to be flooded by God’s grace; to walk through life drenched and
dripping because I stand fast in the true grace of God. That is exactly what I need today – how about
you?
In this Christmas season that is often far too busy and
pulls us in so many different directions – I encourage you to slow down,
reacquaint yourself with the grace of God, and stand fast in it. God gave us the ultimate gift by sending His
Son to live and die for our sins, why not unpack that gift and explore the
grace God so freely gave us?
No comments:
Post a Comment