2 Peter 1
Greeting and Call to Spiritual Maturity
The author introduced the purpose of his letter in this chapter. He desired to spur these Christians on to spiritual virtue, to warn them of the danger of false teaching, and to ground their faith in the reliability of the scripture.
Grace And Peace to You
Peter
Vs. 1 - Simeon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ:
For various reasons (addressed in introductory notes to 2 Peter), many scholars question the legitimacy of Peter’s authorship of this letter. But whether it was penned by the apostle or by another author who chose to use his name, the early church found great value in the content of the epistle and accepted it into the scriptural canon.
To Those
Vs. 1 - To those who have received a faith equal to ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus
Peter addresses his letter to those who had once been despised Gentiles but who had been given equal rights of citizenship with the Jews and even with the apostles themselves in the kingdom of God. - William Barclay
Grace And Peace
Vs. 2- May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Peace and favor are said to come through knowing God and His Son. It was not by moving beyond this knowledge that these Christians were to find peace but rather by moving deeper into it.
By God’s Divine Power
Divine Power
Vs. 3 (NLT) - By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him.
It is important to note that before the author wrote a word about the pursuit of Christian virtue, he reminded these believers of their God-given position and power. The same grace that had saved them would be available to train them. With this assurance, the author could spur them on to effort.
Divine Nature
Vs. 4 - By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.
The author acknowledged the persistent presence of “evil desire” in their lives but still called these Christians to escape it through claiming God’s “precious promises” and sharing God’s “divine nature.” All the new testament biblical authors seem to describe a similar partnership in the pursuit of sanctification.
Make Every Effort
Life is at its noblest and its best when our effort cooperates with God's grace to produce the necessary loveliness. - William Barclay
Growth
Vs. 5 - For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith
According to the author, it was God’s promise of empowerment that should motivate these Christians to pursue godliness and brotherly affection. He called them to a grace-driven effort.
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. - Thomas Constable
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. - Gangel
Vs. 8-9 - For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins.
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. - Douglas J. Moo
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 (2 Peter 1:4), this person fails to see the importance of present purification through continued Christian growth. - Thomas Constable
Endurance
Vs. 10 - make every effort to confirm your calling and election
Vs. 10 (NLT) - work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen
By developing the truly Christian character, believers receive added assurance that they belong to God now and will enjoy his presence in the coming eternal kingdom. - Don Fleming
The author described endurance as evidence, perseverance as proof, and virtue as verification. He called these Christians to partner, if you will, with God in the pursuit of godliness, to act as God enabled.
I Will Always Remind You
To Wake You
Vs. 12 - Therefore I will always remind you about these things
Vs. 13 - I think it is right, as long as I am in this bodily tent, to wake you up with a reminder
Vs. 15 - so that you are able to recall these things
The pastor's aim was to bring to his people God's truth while he was still alive and to take steps to keep it in their memories after he was dead. He wrote, not to preserve his own name, but the name of Jesus Christ. - William Barclay
My Tent
Vs. 13 - this bodily tent
Vs. 14 - I will soon lay aside my tent
He talks of his body as his tent, as Paul does (2 Corinthians 5:4). This was a favorite picture with the early Christian writers. The picture comes from the journeyings of the patriarchs in the Old Testament. They had no abiding residence but lived in tents because they were on the way to the Promised Land. The Christian knows well that his life in this world is not a permanent residence but a journey towards the world beyond. - William Barclay
My Departure
Vs. 15 - after my departure.
Whether this was written by Peter or by an author from his perspective, we know from John’s gospel record that Jesus warned Peter that he would not die from old age.
John 21:18-19 - “Truly I tell you, when you were younger, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you and carry you where you don’t want to go.” He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. After saying this, he told him, “Follow me.”
We Were Witnesses
1:16 - For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Cleverly Contrived Myths
The author emphasized the apostolic voice as the primary source of Christian teaching. He says, “We did not just make all of this up. We witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration. We were taught by the resurrected Messiah.”
Eyewitnesses
Peter explained that his reminder came from one who was an eyewitness of Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry. He did so to heighten respect for his words in his readers’ minds. This section begins Peter’s defense of the faith that the false teachers were attacking, which continues through much of the rest of the letter. - Thomas Constable
Transfiguration
Vs. 17-18 - For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased!” We ourselves heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain.
The apostles’ message was essentially that Jesus was the Christ (God’s promised Messiah). God had revealed this clearly at Jesus’ transfiguration when He had announced that Jesus was His beloved Son (Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35). - Thomas Constable
We Also Have Prophecy
vs. 19 - We also have the prophetic word strongly confirmed, and you will do well to pay attention to it
Apart from Peter’s own witness of the power and glory of Christ, there is the witness of the Old Testament writings. Prophecies concerning Christ’s first coming were fulfilled, and this gives assurance that those concerning his second coming will also be fulfilled.
It is important that Christians pay attention to these prophecies, for they are not stories that people have invented, but messages from God. They were given through God’s Spirit, and people can understand them properly only with the help of the same Spirit. - Don Fleming
Private Interpretation
Vs. 20 - No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man
The New International Version: ’No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation.’ The meaning, then, is that no prophecy arose out of the prophet’s own solution to the scenes he confronted or his own interpretation of the visions presented to his mind. Calvin remarked that the prophets ’did not blab their inventions of their own accord or according to their own judgments.’ [John Calvin, "The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews and the First and Second Epistles of St. Peter," in Calvin’s Commentaries, p. 343.] - Thomas Constable
Men Spoke From God
Vs. 21 - men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Peter’s statement recognizes both the divine and the human element in the production of Scripture. Any balanced doctrine of the origin of Scripture must recognize both. - Ibid
Did God or humans write the Bible? Both, in that order. God told Jeremiah, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.” That's precisely the way to understand scripture: God put his words in human mouths. The words are truly God's, but He gave them through the distinct personalities and word banks of the human authors. This is why the simple elegance of John can differ markedly from the earthiness of Mark or the flowery, lengthy sentences of Paul, while all three are truly and fully speaking God's own words. - from Deeper by Dane C. Ortlund
