1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Confirming One’s Calling and Election
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
[We are called to participate in the divine nature of God as adopted sons and daughters]
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is near-sighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters,[The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family.] make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Prophecy of Scripture
12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him, I am well pleased.”[Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35] 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
NOTES:
1:1 Symeon Peter: on the authorship of 2 Peter, see
Introduction; on the spelling here of the Hebrew name Šim‘ôn, cf. Acts 15:14.
The greeting is especially similar to those in 1 Peter and Jude. The words
translated our God and savior Jesus Christ could also be rendered “our God and
the savior Jesus Christ”; cf. 2 Pt 1:11; 2:20; 3:2, 18.
1:2 Knowledge: a key term in the letter (2 Pt 1:3, 8; 2:20;
3:18), perhaps used as a Christian emphasis against gnostic claims.
1:3–4 Christian life in its fullness is a gift of divine
power effecting a knowledge of Christ and the bestowal of divine promises (2 Pt
3:4, 9). To share in the divine nature, escaping from a corrupt world, is a
thought found elsewhere in the Bible but expressed only here in such
Hellenistic terms, since it is said to be accomplished through knowledge (2 Pt
1:3); cf. 2 Pt 1:2; 2:20; but see also Jn 15:4; 17:22–23; Rom 8:14–17; Hb 3:14;
1 Jn 1:3; 3:2.
1:3 By his own glory and power: the most ancient papyrus and
the best codex read “through glory and power.”
1:5–9 Note the climactic gradation of qualities (2 Pt
1:5–7), beginning with faith and leading to the fullness of Christian life,
which is love; cf. Rom 5:3–4; Gal 5:6, 22 for a similar series of “virtues,”
though the program and sense here are different than in Paul. The fruit of
these is knowledge of Christ (2 Pt 1:8) referred to in 2 Pt 1:3; their absence
is spiritual blindness (2 Pt 1:9).
1:10–11 Perseverance in the Christian vocation is the best
preventative against losing it and the safest provision for attaining its goal,
the kingdom. Kingdom of…Christ, instead of “God,” is unusual; cf. Col 1:13 and
Mt 13:41, as well as the righteousness of…Christ (2 Pt 1:1).
1:12–19 The purpose in writing is to call to mind the
apostle’s witness to the truth, even as he faces the end of his life (2 Pt
1:12–15), his eyewitness testimony to Christ (1 Pt 1:16–18), and the true
prophetic message (2 Pt 1:19) through the Spirit in scripture (2 Pt 1:20–21),
in contrast to what false teachers are setting forth (2 Pt 2).
1:13 Tent: a biblical image for transitory human life (Is
38:12), here combined with a verb that suggests not folding or packing up a
tent but its being discarded in death (cf. 2 Cor 5:1–4).
1:16 Coming: in Greek parousia, used at 2 Pt 3:4, 12 of the
second coming of Christ. The word was used in the extrabiblical writings for
the visitation of someone in authority; in Greek cult and Hellenistic Judaism
it was used for the manifestation of the divine presence. That the apostles
made known has been interpreted to refer to Jesus’ transfiguration (2 Pt 1:17)
or to his entire first coming or to his future coming in power (2 Pt 3).
1:17 The author assures the readers of the reliability of
the apostolic message (including Jesus’ power, glory, and coming; cf. note on 2
Pt 1:16) by appeal to the transfiguration of Jesus in glory (cf. Mt 17:1–8 and
parallels) and by appeal to the prophetic message (2 Pt 1:19; perhaps Nm
24:17). Here, as elsewhere, the New Testament insists on continued reminders as
necessary to preserve the historical facts about Jesus and the truths of the
faith; cf. 2 Pt 3:1–2; 1 Cor 11:2; 15:1–3. My Son, my beloved: or, “my beloved
Son.”
1:18 We: at Jesus’ transfiguration, referring to Peter,
James, and John (Mt 17:1).
1:20–21 Often cited, along with 2 Tm 3:16, on the
“inspiration” of scripture or against private interpretation, these verses in
context are directed against the false teachers of 2 Pt 2 and clever tales (2
Pt 1:16). The prophetic word in scripture comes admittedly through human beings
(2 Pt 1:21), but moved by the holy Spirit, not from their own interpretation,
and is a matter of what the author and Spirit intended, not the personal
interpretation of false teachers. Instead of under the influence of God, some
manuscripts read “holy ones of God.”
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