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.
