Peter concluded his epistle with a summary of what he had said and a doxology. He did so to condense his teaching for his readers and to redirect their living to glorify God.
3:17 Much of what Peter had written was warning that he summarized here. His appeal was tender throughout this epistle (cf. vv. 1, 8, 14). The threat to his readers was the false teachers (ch. 2). Peter's mental picture was of a torrent of false teaching knocking believers off their feet and sweeping them away. The possibility of loss of salvation is not in view, but loss of steadfastness is.
This is the fourth and last time Peter addressed his readers as "beloved"in this chapter, and in each instance he gave them a challenge. He told them to remember (vv. 1-2), to be informed (v. 8), to be diligent (v. 14), and to beware.
3:18 Next he added a positive exhortation (cf. 1:5-10). Rather than being swept away by error his audience should keep on growing (present imperative in Greek) in God's grace. They could do so by consciously depending on His resources (His power and promises, 1:3-4) and by growing in the knowledge (Gr. gnosei) of "our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"(cf. 1:11; 2:20; 3:2). They could do the latter by getting more intimately acquainted with Him day by day (1:5-8).
"Christian knowledge fosters fellowship with God and deepens a consciousness of the believer's obligation to live a life worthy of His grace."170
"The command to grow is an appeal to the will. But growth, in the spiritual as in the physical realm, is not produced by an assertion of the will. Yet the human will plays a decisive part in the experience of spiritual growth. Believers must will to remove the hindrances to growth while actively fostering the conditions which promote growth. When the conditions for spiritual growth are maintained the divinely implanted life will assuredly grow and mature. . . .
"Growing knowledge fosters fellowship with God and deepens the consciousness of one's obligations to lead a life worthy of His grace."171
Continuing growth ". . . is the unfailing panacea for all spiritual ills."172
"We grow best in a loving family, and this is where the local church comes in. A baby needs a family for protection, provision, and affection. Tests prove that babies who are raised alone, without special love, tend to develop physical and emotional problems very early. The church is God's nursery' for the care and feeding of Christians, the God-ordained environment that encourages them to grow."173
The greatest goal for the Christian should be to glorify Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 10:31).174Peter's final words focused his readers' attention anew on that ultimate priority. The day of eternity is the time when we will be living on the new earth (v. 13).
