2 Peter 1:3-4

the Savior.

The Obligations Imposed upon the Believers by the Rich Promises of God. 2 Pet. 1, 3-11.

God’s promises and the Christian virtues: V.3. According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue; v.4. whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Peter assumes from the outset that his readers are, without exception, believers, that they have all become partakers of the grace and peace of God through faith. Upon this fact he bases his entire discussion: Forasmuch as His divine power has given us all things that are necessary for life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that called us by His glory and divine virtue, through which He has given to us the precious and greatest promises, that by means of these you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world in lust.

The apostle enumerates some of the wonderful gifts of God, as the Christians are enjoying them. It is God, whose divine power, working through the Gospel, has freely given us, donated to us, everything that serves and aids us in the new spiritual life, as it shows itself in godliness. His grace and mercy is so full and complete that there is nothing missing which might serve our spiritual needs.

God presented us with all these wonderful gifts by working the saving knowledge of Himself in us, when He called us through the Gospel. The knowledge of God which the natural man possesses is at best one which makes Him fear the almighty power of the great Lord of the universe. But we have learned that God is our kind, merciful, loving Father in Christ Jesus. To this knowledge of faith God has brought us through the glory and virtue that is peculiar to Him, through His majesty as well as through His unassailable perfection, through His goodness, kindness, mercy, and grace, 2 Tim. 1, 9; Rom. 3, 25. 26.

At the same time, and through the same perfection of His essence, God has imparted to us another gift, namely, the precious, the immeasurably great and beautiful and incomprehensible promises. His purpose in doing this was and is that He might so strengthen our faith as thereby to make us partakers of His divine nature, to give us the spiritual power to put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created us.

It is in this way that we are enabled to be consecrated to Him and to flee from the corruption, from the degeneration, decay, and death which is in the world and is brought about by the evil lust, by the natural deceitfulness of the human heart in consequence of sin. Thus all the benefits of conversion and sanctification are here briefly outlined, in order to give a solid foundation to the appeal which the apostle is about to make.