2 Peter1
New Living Translation
1This letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to you who share the same precious faith we have. This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.
2May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
3By 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, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
4And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
5In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge,
6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness,
7and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
8The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
10So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.
11Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
12Therefore, I will always remind you about these things—even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught.
13And it is only right that I should keep on reminding you as long as I live.
14For our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that I must soon leave this earthly life,
15so I will work hard to make sure you always remember these things after I am gone.
16For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes
17when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”
18We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
19Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts.
20Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding,
21or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for 2 Peter 1.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Exhortations to add the exercise of various other graces to faith. (1–11). The apostle looks forward to his approaching decease. (12–15). And confirms the truth of the gospel, relating to Christ's appearing to judgment. (16–21).
vv1-11
Faith unites the weak believer to Christ, as really as it does the strong one, and purifies the heart of one as truly as of another; and every sincere believer is by his faith justified in the sight of God. Faith worketh godliness, and produces effects which no other grace in the soul can do. In Christ all fulness dwells, and pardon, peace, grace, and knowledge, and new principles, are thus given through the Holy Spirit. The promises to those who are partakers of a Divine nature, will cause us to inquire whether we are really renewed in the spirit of our minds; let us turn all these promises into prayers for the transforming and purifying grace of the Holy Spirit. The believer must add knowledge to his virtue, increasing acquaintance with the whole truth and will of God. We must add temperance to knowledge; moderation about worldly things; and add to temperance, patience, or cheerful submission to the will of God. Tribulation worketh patience, whereby we bear all calamities and crosses with silence and submission. To patience we must add godliness: this includes the holy affections and dispositions found in the true worshipper of God; with tender affection to all fellow Christians, who are children of the same Father, servants of the same Master, members of the same family, travellers to the same country, heirs of the same inheritance. Wherefore let Christians labour to attain assurance of their calling, and of their election, by believing and well-doing; and thus carefully to endeavour, is a firm argument of the grace and mercy of God, upholding them so that they shall not utterly fall. Those who are diligent in the work of religion, shall have a triumphant entrance into that everlasting kingdom where Christ reigns, and they shall reign with him for ever and ever; and it is in the practice of every good work that we are to expect entrance to heaven.
vv12-15
We must be established in the belief of the truth, that we may not be shaken by every wind of doctrine; and especially in the truth necessary for us to know in our day, what belongs to our peace, and what is opposed in our time. The body is but a tabernacle, or tent, of the soul. It is a mean and movable dwelling. The nearness of death makes the apostle diligent in the business of life. Nothing can so give composure in the prospect, or in the hour, of death, as to know that we have faithfully and simply followed the Lord Jesus, and sought his glory. Those who fear the Lord, talk of his loving-kindness. This is the way to spread the knowledge of the Lord; and by the written word, they are enabled to do this.
vv16-21
The gospel is no weak thing, but comes in power, Ro 1:16. The law sets before us our wretched state by sin, but there it leaves us. It discovers our disease, but does not make known the cure. It is the sight of Jesus crucified, in the gospel, that heals the soul. Try to dissuade the covetous worlding from his greediness, one ounce of gold weighs down all reasons. Offer to stay a furious man from anger by arguments, he has not patience to hear them. Try to detain the licentious, one smile is stronger with him than all reason. But come with the gospel, and urge them with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, shed to save their souls from hell, and to satisfy for their sins, and this is that powerful pleading which makes good men confess that their hearts burn within them, and bad men, even an Agrippa, to say they are almost persuaded to be Christians, Ac 26:28. God is well pleased with Christ, and with us in him. This is the Messiah who was promised, through whom all who believe in him shall be accepted and saved. The truth and reality of the gospel also are foretold by the prophets and penmen of the Old Testament, who spake and wrote under influence, and according to the direction of the Spirit of God. How firm and sure should our faith be, who have such a firm and sure word to rest upon! When the light of the Scripture is darted into the blind mind and dark understanding, by the Holy Spirit of God, it is like the day-break that advances, and diffuses itself through the whole soul, till it makes perfect day. As the Scripture is the revelation of the mind and will of God, every man ought to search it, to understand the sense and meaning. The Christian knows that book to be the word of God, in which he tastes a sweetness, and feels a power, and sees a glory, truly divine. And the prophecies already fulfilled in the person and salvation of Christ, and in the great concerns of the church and the world, form an unanswerable proof of the truth of Christianity. The Holy Ghost inspired holy men to speak and write. He so assisted and directed them in delivering what they had received from him, that they clearly expressed what they made known. So that the Scriptures are to be accounted the words of the Holy Ghost, and all the plainness and simplicity, all the power and all the propriety of the words and expressions, come from God. Mix faith with what you find in the Scriptures, and esteem and reverence the Bible as a book written by holy men, taught by the Holy Ghost.
Key Words
Συμεών (Symeṓn): Symeon (i.e. Shimon), the name of five Israelites
Πέτρος (Pétros): a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037 (λίθος)); as a name, Petrus, an apostle
δοῦλος (doûlos): a slave (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntary; frequently, therefore in a qualified sense of subjection or subserviency)
καί (kaí): and, also, even, so then, too, etc.; often used in connection (or composition) with other particles or small words
ἀπόστολος (apóstolos): a delegate; specially, an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ ("apostle") (with miraculous powers)
Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs): Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites
Χριστός (Christós): anointed, i.e. the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus
λαγχάνω (lanchánō): to lot, i.e. determine (by implication, receive) especially by lot
πίστις (pístis): persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself
ἰσότιμος (isótimos): of equal value or honor
Cross References
2 Peter 1Direct historical reference to the Father's voice at the Transfiguration on the holy mount.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Peter asserts they did not follow fables but were eyewitnesses of His glory and majesty.
Supported by John Calvin, JFB
Reflects Peter's original Hebrew name 'Symeon' (Simon) used here and in James's speech.
Supported by JFB
Identical Greek grammatical structure asserting the deity of 'our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.'
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Equates eternal life with the personal knowledge of God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Supported by John Calvin, JFB
Jesus explicitly showed Peter how he would die, which Peter remembers as his decease nears.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Symmetrical close of the epistle, urging growth in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Peter's customary greeting of grace and peace multiplied to the elect.
Supported by JFB
Parallels God calling believers to show forth his praises ('virtues') and glorious light.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The mortal body described as an earthly house of this tabernacle or tent.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
The Lord revealing imminent death to his servant, prompting final charges and testimonies.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Identical verbal formula of divine approval spoken by the Father from heaven.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Prophetic imagery of the rising Sun of Righteousness/day star arising in hearts.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Confirms all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, not of human origin.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Old Testament prophets spoke as the Spirit of Christ in them testified.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Justification by faith brings peace with God, which Peter wishes multiplied.
Supported by Matthew Poole
An Old Testament stylistic parallel where peace is wished to be multiplied.
Supported by Matthew Poole