2 Peter 1:2-7
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
2 may grace and peace be yours in abundance through knowledge[a] of God and of Jesus our Lord.
II. Exhortation to Christian Virtue
The Power of God’s Promise.[b] 3 His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of him(A) who called us by his own glory and power.[c] 4 Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.(B) 5 [d]For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge,(C) 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, 7 devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.
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- 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).
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