(1) Introducing a letter from Peter, to believers.
Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
a. Simon Peter: The Apostle here called himself Simon Peter. Perhaps, since he wrote this letter later in life, he didn’t want to forget where he came from and that sometimes he was still more like the old Simon than the new Peter.
i. We remember that Simon was his given name at birth; Peter was the special name given to him by Jesus, to call this man to “rock-like” thinking and behavior.
ii. Some have said that Peter didn’t write this letter because the subject and style is somewhat different than 1 Peter. Yet the purpose of the two letters is quite different. 1 Peter was written to encourage Christians under the threat of violent persecution; 2 Peter was written to warn those same believers of the danger of false teachers and harmful influences.
iii. “Convinced that the best antidote for heresy is a mature knowledge of the truth, Peter exhorts his readers to have a proper appreciation for prophecy, to live holy and godly lives while awaiting Christ’s coming and to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.” (Kirby)
b. A bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ: The order of these titles is important. Peter considered himself first a bondservant, and then an apostle. His standing as a bondservant was more important to him than his status as an apostle.
c. To those who have obtained like precious faith: Peter wrote to those who had the same salvation he had experienced, which he called “a like precious faith.” This faith was obtained, and not by the efforts of man but by the righteousness of our God.
i. “He tells us too, that faith is ‘precious;’ and is it not precious? For it deals with precious things, with precious promises, with precious blood, with a precious redemption, with all the preciousness of the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (Spurgeon)
ii. Like precious faith probably speaks to the fact that the Jews and Gentiles enjoyed the same faith, and therefore the same benefits in Jesus. “God having given to you – believing Gentiles, the same faith and salvation which he had give to us – believing Jews.” (Clarke)
d. Our God and Savior Jesus Christ: The grammar of the ancient Greek demonstrates that Peter said that Jesus Christ is our God and Savior. Peter clearly thought that Jesus was and is our God and Savior.
i. “The expression God and our Saviour is in a construction in the Greek text which demands that we translate, our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the expression thus showing that Jesus Christ is the Christian’s God.” (Wuest)
ii. “The grammar leaves little doubt that in these words Peter is calling Jesus Christ both God and Savior.” (Blum)
2. (2-4) A greeting expanded into an understanding of the value of the knowledge of God.
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
a. Grace and peace be multiplied to you: Peter indicated that grace and peace – those two most precious of gifts – are ours in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. As we know God we gain these essentials foundations for salvation and living.
b. His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness: However, not only grace and peace – but also all things that pertain to life and godliness are ours through the knowledge of Him. Knowing God is the key to all things that pertain to life and godliness.
i. These things come to us through His divine power. “Divine power! What stupendous issues are grasped in that term, divine power! It was this which digged the deep foundations of the earth and sea! Divine power, it is this which guides the marches of the stars of heaven! Divine power! it is this which holds up the pillars of the universe, and which one day shall shake them, and hurry all things back to their native nothingness.” (Spurgeon)
ii. We are willing to try almost anything except the knowledge of Him. We will trust in the schemes and plans of men instead of the knowledge of Him. We will try knowing ourselves instead of the knowledge of Him. We need to come to the same place the Apostle Paul did, when he said that I may know Him (Philippians 3:10).
iii. According to Blum, the ancient Greek word knowledge doesn’t refer to a casual acquaintance. It means an exact, complete, and thorough knowledge.
c. Through the knowledge of Him: We come to knowledge of Him as we learn of Him through His Word, through prayer, and through the community of God’s people. It is true that we need God alone, but God does not meet us only in our solitude but also in the community of His people.
d. Who called us: This knowledge of God comes to those who are called. It is knowledge, but it is not mere intellectual understanding or intuition. It is the knowledge that comes by experience – the experience God’s people have of God Himself.
e. Who called us by glory and virtue: It is Jesus’ glory and virtue that motivated Him to call us, and it is His glory and virtue that draw us to Him.
f. By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises: This explains the value of the glory and virtue of God that calls us. By these He gave us exceedingly great and precious promises. This means that the promises of God are based upon His glory and virtue, and therefore perfectly reliable because God can never compromise His glory and virtue.
i. Psalm 138:2 reminds us that God honors His word even above His name. We never have to doubt any promise of God. Instead we should let God be true but every man a liar (Romans 3:4).
ii. For these reasons, God’s promises are both exceedingly great (in the sense of being large and imposing), and they are precious, in the sense of being valuable. “Many things are great which are not precious, such as great rocks, which are of little value; on the other hand, many things are precious which are not great-such as diamonds and other jewels, which cannot be very great if they be very precious. But here we have promises which are so great, that they are not less than infinite, and so precious, that they are not less than divine.” (Spurgeon)
iii. “It was of considerable consequence to the comfort of the Gentiles that these promises were made to them, and that salvation was not exclusively of the Jews.” (Clarke)
g. That through these you may be partakers of the divine nature: This explains the value of these great and precious promises. Through these promises, we are partakers of the divine nature. Peter’s idea is similar to Paul’s idea of our glorious status as adopted sons and daughters of God (Galatians 4:5-7).
i. This is a remarkably generous and loving of God. He could rescue us from hell without even inviting us to be partakers of the divine nature. It shows how deeply God loves us and wants to share His life – indeed, even the divine nature – with His people.
h. Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust: God is above and beyond the corruption of this world. It should also be that way with those who are the partakers of the divine nature. The corruption that is in the world expresses itself through lust – the ungodly desires of this world.
3. (5-7) How to live as a partaker of the nature.
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
a. Giving all diligence: We are partakers of the divine nature, but once we are made spiritual sons and daughters, growth in the Christian life doesn’t just happen to us. We are supposed to give all diligence to our walk with the Lord.
b. Add to your faith virtue: We begin our life with God with faith, but faith progresses into virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love – love being the capstone of all God’s work in us.
i. Add to your faith: Literally in the ancient Greek, “Lead up hand in hand; alluding, as most think, to the chorus in the Grecian dance, who danced with joined hands.” (Clarke)
ii. The scope of the list demonstrates that God wants us to have a well-rounded Christian life, complete in every fashion. We can’t be content with an incomplete Christian life.
iii. Of the word self-control, the Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest says the Greeks used this word self-control to describe someone who was not ruled by the desire for sex.
c. Giving all diligence: These beautiful qualities are not things that the Lord simply pours into us as we passively receive. Instead, we are called to give all diligence to these things, working in partnership with God to add them.
4. (8-9) How to use these qualities to measure our Christian walk.
For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
a. If these things are yours and abound: If we have these things, and abound in these things, it is evident to everyone that we are not barren nor unfruitful in our knowledge of Jesus.
i. The words barren and unfruitful characterize the lives of many Christians, who lack these qualities because they lack in their knowledge of God, that is, knowing Him relationally in an increasingly fuller and deeper sense.
ii. Abound: Some may feel good that these qualities are seen in us from time to time. But Peter says they should abound in us.
b. He who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness: If we lack these things, it shows we have “eye trouble.” We are shortsighted, unable to see God, only ourselves. This makes us virtually blind, showing we have forgotten that we were cleansed from his old sins.
i. “Such a man sees the things of time, and fails to discern those of eternity … he sees himself and his fellowmen, but not God. This nearsightedness is destructive of a true Christian experience, and therefore makes advance impossible.” (Morgan)
ii. The reason for this condition is also stated; such a one has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. “That is to say, he has failed to respond to all the enlargement of life and vision which came to him when he received the cleansing of his nature at the very beginning of his Christian life.” (Morgan)
iii. Perhaps this one has forgotten how bad he was, and how much he needed this cleansing. Perhaps this one has forgotten the great cost of this purging of sin’s dirty stain. Perhaps this one has forgotten how great and complete the cleansing is, making a once guilty sinner now as pure and as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).