2 Peter 1
1
Greetings and prayer
1From Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.
To everyone who shares with us in the privilege of believing that our God and Saviour Jesus Christ will do what is just and fair.#1.1 To everyone who…just and fair: Or “To everyone whose faith in the justice and fairness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ is as precious as our own faith.”
2I pray that God will be kind to you and will let you live in perfect peace! May you keep learning more and more about God and our Lord Jesus.
How the Lord's followers should live
3We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God's own power, when we learnt that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. 4God made great and marvellous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world.
5Do your best to improve your faith. You can do this by adding goodness, understanding, 6self-control, patience, devotion to God, 7concern for others, and love. 8If you keep growing in this way, it will show that what you know about our Lord Jesus Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful. 9But if you don't grow, you are like someone who is nearsighted or blind, and you have forgotten that your past sins are forgiven.
10My friends, you must do all you can to show that God has really chosen and selected you. If you keep on doing this, you won't stumble and fall. 11Then our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will give you a glorious welcome into his kingdom that will last for ever.
12You are holding firmly to the truth that you were given. But I am still going to remind you of these things. 13In fact, I think I should keep on reminding you until I leave this body. 14And our Lord Jesus Christ has already told me that I will soon leave it behind. 15That is why I am doing my best to make sure that each of you remembers all this after I am gone.
The glory of Christ
16When we told you about the power and the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not telling clever stories that someone had made up. But with our own eyes we saw his true greatness. 17God, our great and wonderful Father, truly honoured him by saying, “This is my own dear Son, and I am pleased with him.”#Mt 17.1-5; Mk 9.2-7; Lk 9.28-35. 18We were there with Jesus on the holy mountain and heard this voice speak from heaven.
19All this makes us even more certain that what the prophets said is true. So you should pay close attention to their message, as you would to a lamp shining in some dark place. You must keep on paying attention until daylight comes and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20But you need to realize that no one alone can understand any of the prophecies in the Scriptures. 21The prophets did not think these things up on their own, but they were guided by the Spirit of God.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
2 Peter 1
1
Greeting. 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. Symeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of equal value to ours through the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ: 2may grace and peace be yours in abundance through knowledge#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. of God and of Jesus our Lord.
II. EXHORTATION TO CHRISTIAN VIRTUE
The Power of God’s Promise.#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; Heb 3:14; 1 Jn 1:3; 3:2. 3His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of him#2 Cor 4:6; 1 Pt 2:9. who called us by his own glory and power.#By his own glory and power: the most ancient papyrus and the best codex read “through glory and power.” 4Through 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.#2 Cor 7:1; 1 Jn 2:15. 5#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). For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge,#Gal 5:22–23. 6knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, 7devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love. 8If these are yours and increase in abundance, they will keep you from being idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9#1 Jn 2:9, 11. Anyone who lacks them is blind and shortsighted, forgetful of the cleansing of his past sins. 10#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). Therefore, brothers, be all the more eager to make your call and election firm, for, in doing so, you will never stumble. 11For, in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.
Apostolic Witness. 12#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). Therefore, I will always remind you of these things, even though you already know them and are established in the truth you have. 13I think it right, as long as I am in this “tent,”#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). to stir you up by a reminder, 14since I know that I will soon have to put it aside, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me.#Is 38:12; Jn 21:18–19. 15I shall also make every effort to enable you always to remember these things after my departure.
16We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming#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). of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.#Lk 9:28–36; Jn 1:14. 17For he received honor and glory from God the Father#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.” when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory, “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”#Ps 2:7; Mt 17:4–6. 18We#We: at Jesus’ transfiguration, referring to Peter, James, and John (Mt 17:1). ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. 19#Lk 1:78–79; Rev 2:28. Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20#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.” Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, 21for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.
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