This is the Baymaw Podcast with Marty Solomon. I'm his co-host Brent Billings. Today we look at the second letter from the Apostle Peter to see how he utilizes the midrash to encourage the early believers to keep walking in faithfulness and not give in to the temptation to return to the cultural norms around them.

Yep. So in addition to first Peter we have a second letter from Peter to what we would assume is the same general region. While the first letter was written to almost all the region of Asia and Asia Minor, which would have included a Jewish population scholars are saying today about 20% but one out of five people would have been Jewish in Asia and Asia Minor. It's actually a ton. It's a lot. It's a lot of Jews. It's my opinion that has next letter.

While meant to be heard by both Jewish and Gentile audiences is aimed more specifically at the struggle of those Gentile converts. And again, if Peter spent all this time in those regions like Galatian, Capodokian, but then he had those kind of things, he would have spent most of his time with Gentiles. Gentiles that weren't being included and welcomed by people like the Jews and the synagogues there.

And I feel like second Peter is almost so first Peter, Brent, go back to last week and tell me how you what do you feel like kind of like the big idea was of first Peter that were like this unified body of believers, the spiritual house idea where all stones building the one house.

Even and that's so important because there's there in a context of what of persecution intense persecution, right. And so first Peter was like, Hey guys, hang in there, keep walking, keep, keep walking out the faith, keep living in faithfulness.

And second Peter is kind of like the other side of the conversation because Peter is encouraging to do that in first Peter because the other temptations going to be what Brent to just absorb into the culture.

Exactly. Just kind of like yeah, absolutely. Instead of keeping strong and standing in your conviction and having a stinktiveness to just kind of like giving up the right term, but just losing that distinctiveness and becoming sitting in the middle of culture.

So I think second Peter is kind of the other side of the conversation of that they're struggling with. And so I believe he's he's talking particularly with a special emphasis and focus on Gentile converts. And I believe this because of Peter's address, go ahead and give me the first opening versus here of Peter.

It is a little bit of a different opening.

It is first Peter Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ to those who through the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours.

Okay, listen to that line to those who through the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ have received the faith as precious as ours. Who's the hours?

That's the Jews.

The Jews. And so who through the righteousness of Jesus, who is it that through the righteousness of Jesus received a faith as precious as a Jews?

The Gentiles.

Maybe the Gentiles. So that's where I'm getting my theory. So go ahead and keep and give us a few more verses there.

Grace and peace be yours and abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Alright, so he speaks of this. You've escaped that pagan world, this evil world, this evil desires for a Jewish teacher righteousness is the idea of generosity and kindness.

I read Peter's address to say that because of the kindness and generosity of Jesus the Gentiles have also received a faith just as precious as a Jewish faith.

His next comments define what he'll spend his time arguing for. Peter tells them that they the Gentiles have God's divine power helping them deal with escaping the temptations of their pagan world and their sinful desires to indulge in those practices.

Peter is going to go on to make very Jewish rabbinical arguments which are even rooted deeply in the midrush and we'll talk more about the midrush portion of it kind of more in the book of Jude when we do our episode on Jude we'll get more into the details and I'll probably say that a few more times before we're done today.

But but Peter is making some really Jewish arguments rooted in midrush does this mean that I'm wrong in my assumption of a Gentile audience? Maybe I don't think so.

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