2 Peter 1:3
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Truth to Learn
All that we need for life and godliness comes from God.
Behind the Words
“Divine” is translated from theios, which is derived from theos, meaning “God.” It refers to that which is uniquely God’s and proceeds directly from Him.
The verb “has given” is translated from dōreomai, which means “to give a gift” (one that is undeserved). It is expressed here in the perfect tense, indicating past completed action with an ongoing effect, where the emphasis is on the effect.
“Knowledge” is the same word, epignōsis that we looked at in the previous verse, meaning complete, in-depth knowledge.
The word translated “goodness” is the Greek word arêtes, which means “moral excellence” or “superiority.”
Meaning Explained
In this verse Peter continues his benediction by saying that it is through His Godly power that Jesus Christ has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Some have supposed that this means all things that pertain to spiritual life and godliness, but I am of the persuasion that he means all aspects of life, both earthly and eternal. As born-again Christians we have everything we need to live a peaceful life and to expect eternal life in the grace of God, not because we have done anything, but because He has given it to us through His divine power.
As we noted above, the act of giving was accomplished in the past, but it has current ongoing consequences. The point when the giving actually took place can be interpreted either as the point in time when we accepted Christ as Lord and Savior or the point in eternity past when He chose us:
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love (Ephesians 1:4)
Peter seems to imply that we receive everything we need for life and godliness by developing the in-depth, personal knowledge of God in Jesus Christ that we talked about in the last verse. He is the one who called us, and He is the one who empowers us:
And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:6)
What I want you to see from these two verses is that God shows His grace to us and gives us peace as we recognize and accept who He is and what He has done. And because of His divinity and power, He has called us to Himself and He has given us everything we need for life and for living in a godly manner. But we only get this through understanding and thoroughly knowing who He is, how glorious He is, and how powerful He is.
Application
We must recognize that we are what we are and we have the salvation that we have solely because of who He is, not because of what we have done.
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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