In the Good News of Christ God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith. Why two faiths and not one? Surely faith should be unified into a single concept; God’s righteousness is revealed in faith. But, that would be like saying a man who receives a great inheritance from his father would be considered a good steward of that inheritance regardless of what he does with it. The man who guards it and does nothing; and the man who squanders it with wasteful spending; and the man who makes wise investments or uses it to grow into new successful enterprises, should all be considered equally as faithful. But that isn’t reality; to be truly faithful a man must go from faith to faith—from the free gift of faith to the practice of faith!
Jesus sat at the Last Supper table and delivered to His disciples His most prophetic mandate—this is what is coming and this is who you will be. And He made it clear that He was extending that mandate to a world beyond that table. His petition just hours before His execution: “Father, I pray that My disciples grasp this profound revelation and calling, and to embrace that it doesn’t end with them. It is for every disciple who will ever come to faith in Me, because I now commission them to preach this message—as You sent Me into the world, I now send them into the world. My ultimate desire is that this truth would perfectly unify God’s people, as if they are one person, as We are indeed One Person.”
Peter sat at that table and heard His Savior’s heart. Many years later he knew, just prior to his own execution, that he too must leave a legacy. He would write to his disciples and by extension his words were meant to touch us all; “This letter is to those who have obtained a like precious faith. It is first addressed to all those who have received the gift of faith. But ultimately it’s for those who wish to obtain a second type of faith like mine—to walk the narrow road from faith to faith. It’s a faith I obtained for free that is on a journey of faith that I was obedient to practice. The instructions in this letter will explain how.” Yes, two faiths—and dead is the former without
the latter.
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