"The first chapter vividly portrays the nature of the Christian life with its challenge to spiritual growth and maturity, built on a sure foundation. The second part of the epistle is a ringing polemic against the false teachers who would allure and seek to mislead God's people, while the third chapter deals with the heretical denial of the return of Christ and concludes with some fitting exhortation to the readers."19
Second Peter is one of the few New Testament epistles in which chapter divisions coincide with thought divisions.
"In seeking to prepare the readers against the danger from the false teachers, Peter states in chapter 1 that their safety lies in their clear apprehension of the nature of the new life in Christ and their spiritual growth and maturity in the faith as the best antidote against error."20
Peter reminded his readers of God's power and promises that were available to them. He did this to rekindle an appreciation for the resources God had given them in view of their present needs. This epistle begins and ends on a note of victory (cf. 3:14-18).
1:3 Grace and peace are possible since God has given us (all Christians) everything we need to live lives of godliness.
It is possible that Peter meant the apostles specifically when he wrote "us"in verses 3 and 4.21The apostles are evidently in view in verse 1 ("ours"), and they may contrast with the readers ("you") in verses 2 and 5. If this is what Peter meant, he was probably continuing to stress his apostolic authority, specifically in the teaching that follows. This would have been important since the false teachers were claiming that their teaching was authoritative (ch. 2). However the opening sections of most other epistles that contain reminders of God's blessings (e.g., Eph. 1:3-14; 1 Pet. 1:3-9), as 2 Peter 1:3-4 does, seem to refer to all believers as "us."Moreover the "our"in verse 2 seems to be inclusive of all believers rather than a specific reference to the apostles. Nevertheless the prologue to 1 John (1:1-4) apparently does refer to the apostles as "us."22
"Life and godliness"is probably a hendiadys meaning "a godly life."23These resources are available to us through full knowledge (cf. v. 2) of Jesus Christ, namely, through relationship with Him (cf. Phil. 4:13; Col. 2:9-10; 2 Tim. 1:7). Lenski rightly, I believe, called epignosis("full knowledge"), ". . . the key word of this epistle."24
"Just as a normal baby is born with all the equipment' he needs for life and only needs to grow, so the Christian has all that is needed and only needs to grow."25
Is what God has given us in His Spirit and His word sufficient for a godly life, or do we also need the insights of other branches of knowledge (e.g., psychology)? Clearly our basic resources as Christians do no equip us for every task in life (e.g., auto maintenance, gardening, orthopedic surgery, etc.). This was not Peter's claim, but how do the resources that he identified and modern psychology interface? Can psychology provide tools for growth in godliness, or is the Bible sufficient in itself for this? It seems to me that Peter's point was that God's Spirit and His word provide everything that is essentialto godly living, not that these are the only resources that we have or should use. Peter's point was that there is nothing that allbelievers need to become more godly that He has not already made available to us. Some people, for various reasons, need more specialized help in dealing with the obstacles to godly living that they face, which psychology may provide. Nevertheless, no one can get along without God's Spirit and His word to make progress in godliness.
Jesus Christ called Peter's readers to Himself in the sense that His excellent glory, another hendiadys, attracted them to Him. "Excellent"(Gr. areten) really means moral excellence or virtue (cf. v. 5). Both Christ's glory and His moral virtue appealed to the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
1:4 The Lord's promises come to us through Christ's divine power and the true knowledge of Him (v. 3). We learn of these promises as we get to know Him better, and the power for fulfilling what He has promised comes from Him. "Granted"translates a Greek word (doreomai), also found in verse 3, that stresses the great worth of what God has given. "Promises"refers to promises that all believers can know about, not secret promises; they are in the Scriptures. The ones Peter referred to in his first epistle deal with our inheritance (1 Pet. 1:3-5) and the Lord's return (1 Pet. 1:9, 13). Here his reference is to all God's promises. They are "precious"(Gr. timia) because of the great worth of the spiritual riches involved (cf. 1 Pet. 1:7, 19; 2:7). They are "magnificent"(Gr. megista, lit. greatest) because they are intrinsically excellent.
". . . one of the great lessons of 2 Peter is that to maintain a holy life in a world like ours, we must be deeply rooted in the prophetic promises of God's word. Above all, we must hold fast to that blessed hope' of the coming again of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ [cf. Matt. 24:48-50]."26
Christians become partakers of God's very nature by faith in His promises. In our day, as in Peter's, many people are interested in becoming partakers of "the divine nature,"though they may conceive of the divine nature in non-Christian ways (Eastern mysticism, new age, etc.).27Peter evidently used this phrase to capture the interest of his formerly pagan Hellenistic readers, but he proceeded to invest it with distinctively Christian meaning. (He was an effective communicator.)
When God saved us by faith in His promise, He indwelt us, and we therefore possess the nature of God within us (cf. John 16:7; Acts 2:39). God's nature in us manifests the likeness of God and Christ through us. It also gives us power enabling us to overcome the temptations of lust that result in corruption (cf. Gal. 5:16-17). Note that Peter did not say that we havethe divine nature (which is true), from which we might infer that we no longer have a sinful human nature and do not sin. He said that we participate inthe divine nature, from which we should infer that we experience some of God's qualities but not all of them now.
Peter spoke of our having escaped this corruption in the past. He meant that our justification has assured our escape of this corruption, not that we escape it automatically simply because we are Christians.28The temptations that we presently face characterize the world as a whole (cf. 1 John 2:17). Assurance of ultimate victory over this corruption should encourage us to strive to overcome it now.
"Each man must make a choice. Either he becomes freed from sin, or he becomes further enslaved to sin."29
Godliness, goodness (lit. virtue), divine nature, and corruption are all concepts that fascinated the philosophical false teachers of Peter's day. Peter reminded his readers of God's provisions for them that made them adequate and in need of nothing the false teachers, to whom he would refer later, said they could provide.
Having established the believer's basic adequacy through God's power in him and God's promises to him, Peter next reminded his readers of their responsibility to cultivate their own Christian growth. He did so to correct any idea that they needed to do nothing more because they possessed adequate resources.
"In this beautiful paragraph Peter orchestrates a symphony of grace. To the melody line of faith he leads believers to add harmony in a blend of seven Christian virtues which he lists without explanation or description."30
1:5 Since believers have resources that are adequate for a godly life we should use them diligently to grow in grace (cf. 3:18). Escaping the corruption of lust takes effort (cf. 1 Tim. 6:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:2). It is possible to frustrate the grace of God by having "faith without works"(James 2:20).31Therefore we must apply all diligence. This is the most basic requirement for experiencing effective Christian growth (cf. vv. 10, 15; 3:14).
"Spiritual growth in the Christian life calls for the strenuous involvement of the believer."32
"The Christian must engage in this sort of cooperation with God in the production of a Christian life which is a credit to Him."33
"Spirituality, then, is a choice. It does not come automatically or inevitably.
"Indeed, if the Christian fails to add virtue' to his faith, his faith will soon become what James described as dead faith' (James 2:14-26). Its vitality and productivity will disappear. In fact, Peter says this same thing in his own way in v. 8, 9."34
To his faith, as a foundation, the believer needs to add seven qualities with God's help. Each virtue contributes to the total growth of the saint. Note that Peter placed responsibility for attaining them on the Christian.
"The Christian life is like power steering on a car. The engine provides the power for the steering, but the driver must actually turn the wheel. So the Lord provides the power to run our lives, but we must turn the wheel.' To a great extent the Christian determines the course of his life."35
Peter said add in and mix together, as in a recipe, the following ingredients to produce a mature godly life. He used a literary device common in his day to impress upon us the importance of giving attention to each virtue.36We should not infer that before we can work on the third virtue we must master the second, and so on. This literary device simply arranges the virtues in a random order but presents them so each one receives emphasis. The total effect is to create the impression of growing a healthy tree, for example, in which several branches are vital.
Sometimes children want to grow up faster than they can. They often ask their parents to measure them again, perhaps only a week or two after their last measuring. The wise parent will tell the child not to be so concerned about constantly measuring his or her growth. Rather the child should give attention to certain basic activities that will insure good growth in time: drink your milk, eat your vegetables, get enough exercise and rest. This is the spirit of Peter's advice.
1. "Moral excellence"(Gr. areten) is virtue or goodness (v. 3; cf. 1 Pet. 2:9). Moral purity and uprightness of character through obedience to God are in view. This term (Gr. arete) describes anything that fulfills its purpose or function properly. In this context it means a Christian who fulfills his or her calling (i.e., Matt. 28:19-20; et al.).
2. "Knowledge"(Gr. gnosis) refers to acquired information. In particular the Christian needs to know all that God has revealed in His Word, not just the gospel (cf. Matt. 28:19-20).
"Gnosishere is the wisdom and discernment which the Christian needs for a virtuous life and which is progressively acquired. It is practical rather than purely speculative wisdom (cf. Phil 1:9)."37
1:6 3. "Self-control"(Gr. egkrates) means mastery of self, disciplined moderation, controlling one's desires and passions (cf. Prov. 16:32; 25:28; Acts 24:25; 1 Cor. 9:24-27; Gal. 5:23; Phil. 3:12-16; 1 Tim. 4:7-8; James 4:17). Many of the early Christian heresies taught that since the body was evil (they claimed) it was not necessary to curb fleshly lusts, only to think correctly.
"Any religious system which claims that religious knowledge emancipates from the obligations of morality is false."38
4. "Perseverance"is the need to keep on keeping on in spite of adversity. It is patient endurance in holiness when we encounter temptation to give in or to give up (cf. Rom. 5:3-4; 15:4-5; 2 Cor. 1:6; 6:4; Col. 1:11; 1 Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 1:4; James 1:3). The Greek word (hypomonen) literally means to remain under something such as a heavy load.
"Many folk have the wrong concept of what patience really is. They think it means sitting in a traffic jam on the freeway in the morning without worrying about getting to work. Well, that is not patience. It just gives you an excuse for being late to work. Patience is being able to endure when trials come."39
5. "Godliness"(Gr. eusebeia) refers to behavior that reflects the character of God (cf. v. 3; 3:11; et al.). It presupposes a desire to please God in all the relationships of life.
1:7 6. "Brotherly kindness"(Gr. philadelphia) is thoughtful consideration of fellow believers (cf. 1 Pet. 1:22; 3:8; Rom. 12:10; 1 Cor. 12:27; 1 Thess. 4:9; Heb. 13:1). Overt acts of kindness manifest this characteristic (Gal. 6:10).
7. "Love"(Gr. agape) is the highest form of love, God's kind, that seeks the welfare of the person loved above its own welfare (John 3:16; 13:35; Gal. 5:22; 1 Pet. 4:8; et al.). It reaches out to all people, not just fellow believers.
Note that this list of qualities begins with those inside the believer and progresses to those he or she demonstrates outwardly. It moves from private to public qualities. This list begins with faith (v. 5) and ends with love.40
"Christian faith is the root from which all these virtues must grow, and Christian love is the crowning virtue to which all the others must contribute. In a list of this kind, the last item has a unique significance. It is not just the most important virtue, but also the virtue which encompasses all the others. Love is the overriding ethical principle from which the other virtues gain their meaning and validity."41
This is a good checklist that helps us evaluate whether we are all that God wants us to be. These are the traits of a maturing Christian whose faith is vital, not dead.42
"Their presentation here seems to observe an order from the more elemental to the more advanced, but they are all of them facets of the Spirit's work in the life of a believer, aspects of the glory of the indwelling Christ, his character shown in the Christian's character."43
Each child in a family bears some resemblance to his or her parents while at the same time remaining distinctive. So each growing Christian normally manifests similarities to Christ and yet remains different from every other Christians.
1:8 We must continue to grow in these qualities as well as possessing them; we must grow in grace (3:18). Failure to do so will make us "useless"(Gr. argous) in God's hands as His tools in the world (cf. James 2:20; cf. Matt. 20:3, 6), and "unfruitful"(Gr. akarpous) as demonstrators of His life (John 15:2, 4; cf. Mark 12:12-14, 20-26).44This is so even though we have received everything necessary for godly living through the knowledge of Christ (v. 3).
"Idle' (argous) is literally unworking'; it is not a picture of one unavoidably unemployed but of one who avoids labor for which he should assume responsibility."45
When we diligently add these virtues to our lives we will be both useful and fruitful, and we will evidence true knowledge (Gr. epignosis) of our Lord Jesus Christ. True knowledge of Him is not just intellectual understanding then but knowledge that comes through obedience. This growth should be the goal of every believer (cf. 3:18).
"Some of the most effective Christians I have known are people without dramatic talents and special abilities, or even exciting personalities; yet God has used them in a marvelous way. Why? Because they are becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. They have the kind of character and conduct that God can trust with blessing. They are fruitful because they are faithful; they are effective because they are growing in their Christian experience."46
1:9 The absence of these virtues gives evidence of lack of true knowledge. Peter described this condition as spiritual blindness to the realities connected with their relationship with God and, in particular, shortsightedness (lit. myopia, Gr. myopazo). Such people show concern about living for the present with little regard for the future (cf. Esau). James called this dead faith (James 2:17, 26).
Many Christians have forgotten how much God has forgiven them, or they have appreciated His forgiveness only superficially.
"As is usual in the Bible, the idea of forgetting' is not a mental process but a practical failure to take into account the true meaning and significance of something."47
Those who "have forgotten"have little motivation to grow in grace and thereby please God. They do not add the seven ingredients to their faith that Peter urged. Peter referred to this omission as forgetting one's purification from his or her former sins. Having forgotten one's escape from the corruption that is in the world through lust (v. 4) this person fails to see the importance of present purification through continued Christian growth.
This is one of the most practical and helpful passages in the New Testament dealing with spiritual growth. Peter presented both the reason for and the method of this growth clearly and attractively here.
"Peter was certainly a spiritual realist even if many modern theologians are not. He does not take it for granted that spiritual growth will occur automatically or inevitably. Indeed, the character development he thinks of cannot occur apart from the believer giving all diligence' toward that end (v 5). This does not mean, of course, that the believer does this all on his own. God supplies the basic resources and provides help along the way. But Christian growth will not occurapart from our diligent participation in the process. If we learn nothing else from this passage, we must learn this. We do not passively experience Christian growth, but actively pursue it!"48
Peter concluded this section on the nature of the Christian by assuring his readers that simply practicing what he had just advocated would prepare them adequately for the future. He did this to help them realize that they had no need for the added burdens the false teachers sought to impose on them.
1:10 In view of what Peter had just said (vv. 3-9), it was imperative that his readers make the proper moral response. They would give evidence that they were genuine Christians by doing so. The evidence of divine nature in a person demonstrates his or her salvation. Conversely if a person gives no evidence of having the divine nature his or her salvation is in doubt as others observe that one. By adding the seven virtues other people could see the divine nature more clearly in the Christian who added them. This would make God's calling and election of him or her clearer to everyone.
"The Christian who progressively develops these virtues in his life will grow steadily. This growth will be obvious proof that he has been elected by God."49
"The Christian life is not a list of propositions or a tight theological system; it is a vital relationship to a resurrected Lord. The commandments He gave us and the theological systems we devise as an understanding of those propositional truths exist only to help us live in a vital relationship with Christ day by day as we follow Him as Lord."50
Another reason for adding them is that by doing so we can walk worthy of the Lord without stumbling along the way (cf. Jude 24). Loss of salvation is obviously not in view here. Peter said we might stumble, not fall unable to rise again.
"We do not stumble when we are giving attention to where we are stepping. We stumble when we become preoccupied with other things and do not pay attention to where we are going."51
Neither is this verse saying that our assurance of salvation rests on our good works. Our assurance of salvation rests on the promise of God that everyone who believes in Jesus Christ as Savior has eternal life (John 3:16; 5:24; Rom. 5:1; 8:38-39; 1 John 5:11-13).
"This passage does not mean that moral progress provides the Christian with a subjective assurance of his election (the sense it was given by Luther and Calvin, and especially in seventeenth-century Calvinism) . . ."52
"Nowhere in the Bible is a Christian asked to examine either his faith or his life to find out if he is a Christian. He is told only to look outside of himself to Christ alone for his assurance that he is a Christian. The Christian is, however, often told to examine his faith and life to see if he is walking in fellowship and in conformity to God's commands."53
What "make certain about His calling and choosing you"does mean is that by pursuing Christian growth we give evidence that He really did call and choose us. The uncalled and unchosen have no desire to become useful and fruitful by growing in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 8).
1:11 One of the greatest motivations for purposing to grow in grace is that when we go to be with the Lord forever He will welcome us warmly. The alternative is to get in by the skin of our teeth, saved so as by fire (1 Cor. 3:15). Every Christian will go to heaven and receive much eternal inheritance (1 Pet. 1:3-5). However, our Lord's welcome of those who have sought to express their gratitude for His grace through a life dedicated to cultivating godliness will be especially warm. It will be even warmer than what He extends to other less committed believers (cf. Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 12:21, 31; Acts 7:56).
"This passage agrees with several in the Gospels and Epistles in suggesting that while heaven is entirely a gift of grace, it admits of degrees of felicity, and that these are dependent upon how faithfully we have built a structure of character and service upon the foundation of Christ. Bengel likens the unholy Christian in the judgment to a sailor who just manages to make shore after shipwreck, or to a man who barely escapes with his life from a burning house, while all his possessions are lost. In contrast, the Christian who has allowed his Lord to influence his conduct will have abundant entrance into the heavenly city, and be welcomed like a triumphant athlete victorious in the Games. This whole paragraph of exhortation is thus set between two poles: what we already are in Christ and what we are to become. The truly Christian reader, unlike the scoffers, will look back to the privileges conferred on him, of partaking in the divine nature, and will seek to live worthily of it. He will also look forward to the day of assessment, and strive to live in the light of it."54
". . . there will be degrees of glory hereafter proportioned to our faithfulness in the use of God's gifts here."55
