2 Peter 1:2 - Printer Friendly

ESV: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

NIV: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

NASB: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

CSB: May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

NLT: May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.

KJV: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

NKJV: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

Peter continues his opening greeting to his readers. While verse one used a common form of introduction, this verse is not a frequent greeting of the time, even among believers. His desire is for the readers to have grace and peace in abundance, meaning "more than enough."

What Peter does not wish for, at least here, is for that peace and grace to happen in an instant, or without understanding. Peter prays that his readers would have those things in and through knowledge of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, Peter's greeting is a prayer that his readers would find abundant grace and peace in knowing God and Jesus the Lord. Peter identifies knowing God as the right path to peace and grace. This "knowledge" of God is something Peter will build on in the following verses.

Notice, also, that after calling Jesus "God" in the previous verse, Peter here separates the name "God" from "Jesus the Lord." Biblically, we understand Jesus to be God, but we also understand Jesus to fill a separate and distinct role in the Trinity.

2 Peter 1:1–2 serves as Peter’s opening greeting to his readers. He identifies himself both by the older form of his Jewish name—''Simeon''—and the more well-known name which he was given by Jesus. He writes to believers, those who share his faith because of Jesus’ righteousness, wishing them grace and peace in the knowledge of God and Jesus.

Peter begins this brief letter to Christians by reminding them they are not missing anything they need to lead the good and godly lives they are called to. They must work, then, to add to their faith the goodness and qualities of Jesus. This requires effort, unlike eternal salvation which is not based on our work. Those who lack these positive attributes will live as unproductive and ineffective servants of God, nearly as blind as unbelievers and forgetting that their sins are forgiven. Peter, near death, insists that his eyewitness testimony about the transfiguration confirms that the prophecies about the Messiah are true. Jesus is coming back.

Peter begins his letter by urging his Christian readers not to be unproductive in their knowledge of Jesus. Rather, they should work to add all of Christ’s qualities to their lives. Then Peter begins to lay a foundation to support his attack on the false teachers in the church. He also introduces ideas supporting his declaration that the Day of the Lord is coming. Later chapters will use the background of this first chapter to support those arguments.

Apparently written shortly before his death in the AD 60s, 2 Peter may have been written to the same audience as 1 Peter, which was Christians scattered by persecution. Peter writes this letter to encourage Christians to live out the purpose of their lives in Christ. He warns readers to beware of teachers who claim to be believers, but present a false version of Christianity. And, Peter calls on all Christians to eagerly watch and wait for the return of the Lord.

Accessed 5/7/2024 8:12:52 AM