Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Peter 1

Simon Peter. In the margin, Symeon. The name is written either Simon or Simeon—simwn or sumewn. Either word properly means hearing, and perhaps, like other names, was at first significant. The first epistle (1 Peter 1:1) begins simply, Peter, an apostle, etc. The name Simon, however, was his proper name—Peter, or Cephas, having been added to it by the Saviour (John 1:42).

A servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. In the first epistle, only the word apostle is used. Paul, however, uses the word servant as applicable to himself in Romans 1:1, and to himself and Timothy in the beginning of the epistle to the Philippians (Philippians 1:1). (See the notes on Romans 1:1).

To them who have obtained like precious faith with us. This refers to those who share this faith with us who are of Jewish origin. This epistle was evidently written to the same people as the former one, which was intended to embrace many who were of Gentile origin. (See the notes on 1 Peter 1:1). The apostle addresses them all now, whatever their origin, as heirs of the common faith and, in all respects, brethren.

Through the righteousness of God. This means through the method of justification that God has adopted. This is fully explained in the notes on Romans 1:17.

God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. In the margin, this is rendered our God and Saviour. The Greek will undoubtedly bear the construction given in the margin; and if this is the true rendering, it furnishes an argument for the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Bishop Middleton, Slade, Valpy, Bloomfield, and others contend that this is the true and proper rendering. However, it is doubted by Wetstein, Grotius, and others. Erasmus supposes that it may be taken in either sense.

The construction, though certainly not a violation of the laws of the Greek language, is not so free from all doubt as to make it proper to use the passage as a proof-text in an argument for the divinity of the Saviour. It is easier to prove the doctrine from other texts that are plain than to show that this must be the meaning here.

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. That is, grace and peace abound to us, or may be expected to be conferred on us abundantly, if we have a true knowledge of God and of the Saviour. Such a knowledge constitutes true religion: for in it we find grace—the grace that pardons and sanctifies; and peace—peace of conscience, reconciliation with God, and calmness in the trials of life. (See Barnes on John 7:3.)

According as his divine power has given to us. All the effects of the gospel on the human heart are, in the Scriptures, traced to the power of God (see Barnes on Romans 1:16).

There are no moral means that have ever been used that have such power as the gospel; none through which God has done so much in changing the character and affecting the destiny of humanity.

All things that pertain to life and godliness. The reference here in the word life is undoubtedly to the life of religion—the life of the soul imparted by the gospel. The word godliness is synonymous with piety. The phrase "according as" (wv) seems to be connected with the sentence in 2 Peter 1:5, "Forasmuch as he has conferred on us these privileges and promises connected with life and godliness, we are bound, in order to obtain all that is implied in these things, to give all diligence to add to our faith, knowledge," etc.

Through the knowledge of him. By a proper acquaintance with him, or by the right kind of knowledge of him (see Barnes on John 17:3).

That has called to glory and virtue. The margin reads by. The Greek is "through glory," etc. Doddridge supposes that it means that he has done this "by the strengthening virtue and energy of his spirit." Rosenmuller renders it, "by glorious benignity." Dr. Robinson (Lexicon) renders it, "through a glorious display of his efficiency." The objection that anyone feels to this rendering arises solely from the word virtue, from the fact that we are not accustomed to apply that word to God.

But the original word (areth) is not as limited in its signification as the English word is, but is rather a word that denotes a good quality or excellence of any kind. In the ancient classics it is used to denote manliness, vigor, courage, valor, fortitude; and the word would rather denote energy or power of some kind, than what we commonly understand by virtue. It would be, therefore, properly applied to the energy or efficiency that God has displayed in the work of our salvation.

Indeed, when applied to moral excellence at all, as it is in 1 Peter 1:5 of this chapter, and often elsewhere, it is perhaps with a reference to the energy, boldness, rigor, or courage that is evinced in overcoming our evil propensities and resisting allurements and temptations. According to this interpretation, the passage teaches that it is by a glorious Divine efficiency that we are called into the kingdom of God.

Whereby. di wn. "Through which"—in the plural number, referring either to the glory and virtue in the previous verse, meaning that it was by that glorious Divine efficiency that these promises were given; or, to all the things mentioned in the previous verse, meaning that it was through those arrangements, and in order to their completion, that these great and glorious promises were made. The promises given are in connection with the plan of securing life and godliness, and are a part of the gracious arrangements for that object.

Exceeding great and precious promises. A promise is an assurance from another of some good for which we are dependent on him. It implies:

1. That the thing is in his power;

2. That he may bestow it or not, as he pleases;

3. That we cannot infer from any process of reasoning that it is his purpose to bestow it on us;

4. That it is a favor which we can obtain only from him, and not by any independent effort of our own. The promises here referred to are those which pertain to salvation. Peter probably had in mind all that had then been revealed which contemplated the salvation of the people of God.

They are called exceeding great and precious because of their value in supporting and comforting the soul, and of the honor and felicity which they unfold to us. The promises referred to are doubtless those which are made in connection with the plan of salvation revealed in the gospel, for there are no other promises made to man.

They refer to the pardon of sin; strength, comfort, and support in trial; a glorious resurrection; and a happy immortality. If we look at the greatness and glory of the objects, we will see that the promises are in fact exceedingly precious; or if we look at their influence in supporting and elevating the soul, we will have an equally distinct view of their value.

The promise goes beyond our reasoning powers; it enters a field which we could not otherwise penetrate—the distant future—and relates to what we could not otherwise obtain. All that we need in trial is the simple promise of God that He will sustain us; all that we need in the hour of death is the assurance of our God that we will be happy forever.

What would this world be without a promise? How impossible to penetrate the future! How dark that which is to come would be! How bereft we would be of consolation! The past has gone, and its departed joys and hopes can never be recalled to cheer us again. The present may be an hour of pain, sadness, disappointment, and gloom, with perhaps not a ray of comfort. The future only opens fields of happiness to our vision, and everything there depends on the will of God; all that we can know of it is from His promises.

Cut off from these, we have no way either of obtaining the blessings we desire or of ascertaining that they can be ours. For the promises of God, therefore, we should be in the highest degree grateful, and in the trials of life, we should cling to them with unwavering confidence as the only things which can be an anchor to the soul.

That by these. Greek, "through these." That is, these constitute the basis of your hopes of becoming partakers of the divine nature. Compare 2 Corinthians 7:1.

Partakers of the divine nature. This is a very important and difficult phrase. An expression somewhat similar occurs in Hebrews 2:10: That we might be partakers of his holiness.

In regard to the language here used, it may be observed:

1. That it is directly contrary to all the notions of Pantheism—or the belief that all things are now God, or a part of God—for it is said that the object of the promise is that we may become partakers of the divine nature, not that we are now.

2. It cannot be taken in so literal a sense as to mean that we can ever partake of the divine essence, or that we shall be absorbed into the divine nature so as to lose our individuality. This idea is held by the Buddhists; and the perfection of being is supposed by them to consist in such absorption, or in losing their own individuality, and their ideas of happiness are graduated by the approximation which may be made to that state. But this cannot be the meaning here, for several reasons.

   First, it is in the nature of the case impossible. There must be forever an essential difference between a created and an uncreated mind.

   Second, this would argue that the Divine Mind is not perfect. If this absorption was necessary to the completeness of the character and happiness of the Divine Being, then He was imperfect before; if He was perfect before, He would not be after the absorption of an infinite number of finite and imperfect minds.

   Third, in all the representations of heaven in the Bible, the idea of individuality is one that is prominent. Individuals are represented everywhere as worshippers there, and there is no intimation that the separate existence of the redeemed is to be absorbed and lost in the essence of the Deity.

Whatever is to be the condition of man hereafter, he is to have a separate and individual existence, and the number of intelligent beings is never to be diminished either by annihilation or by their being united to any other spirit so that they shall become one. The reference then, in this place, must be to the moral nature of God; and the meaning is that those who are renewed become participants of the same moral nature—that is, of the same views, feelings, thoughts, purposes, and principles of action.

Their nature as they are born is sinful and prone to evil (Ephesians 2:3); their nature as they are born again becomes like that of God. They are made like God; and this resemblance will increase more and more forever, until in a much higher sense than can be true in this world, they may be said to have become partakers of the divine nature. Let us remark, then:

1. That man only, of all the dwellers on the earth, is capable of rising to this condition. The nature of all the other orders of creatures here below is incapable of any such transformation that it can be said that they become partakers of the divine nature.

2. It is impossible now to estimate the degree of approximation to which man may yet rise towards God, or the exalted sense in which the term may yet be applicable to him; but the prospect before the believer in this respect is most glorious. Two or three circumstances may be referred to here as mere hints of what we may yet be:

   1. Let anyone reflect on the amazing advances made by himself since the period of infancy. But a few, very few years ago, he knew nothing. He was in his cradle, a poor, helpless infant. He knew not the use of eyes, or ears, or hands, or feet. He knew not the name or use of anything, not even the name of father or mother; he could neither walk, nor talk, nor creep. He knew not even that a candle would burn him if he put his finger there. He knew not how to grasp or hold a rattle, or what was its sound, or from where that sound or any other sound came. Let him think what he is at twenty, or forty, in comparison with this; and then, if his improvement in every similar number of years hereafter should be equal to this, who can tell the height to which he will rise?

   2. We are here limited in our powers of learning about God or His works. We become acquainted with Him through His works—by means of the senses. But by the appointment of this method of becoming acquainted with the external world, the design seems to have been to accomplish a double work quite contradictory: one to help us, and the other to hinder us.

      One part of this design is to give us the means of communicating with the external world—by the sight, the hearing, the smell, the touch, the taste; the other is to shut us out from the external world, except by these limited channels. The body is a casement, an enclosure, a prison in which the soul is incarcerated, from which we can look out on the universe only through these organs.

      But suppose, as may be the case in a future state, there will be no such enclosure, and that the whole soul may look directly on the works of God—on spiritual existences, on God Himself—who can then calculate the height to which man may attain in becoming partakers of the divine nature?

   3. We shall have an eternity before us to grow in knowledge, in holiness, and in conformity to God. Here, we attempt to climb the hill of knowledge, and having gone a few steps—while the top is still lost in the clouds—we lie down and die. We look at a few things; become acquainted with a few elementary principles; make a little progress in virtue, and then all our studies and efforts are suspended, and we fly away. In the future world we shall have an eternity before us to make progress in knowledge, virtue, and holiness, uninterrupted; and who can tell in what exalted sense it may yet be true that we shall be partakers of the divine nature, or what attainments we may yet make?

Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. The world is full of corruption. It is the design of the Christian plan of redemption to deliver us from that, and to make us holy; and the means by which we are to be made like God is by rescuing us from its dominion.

And beside this. kai auto touto. Something here needs to be understood to complete the sense. The reference is to 2 Peter 1:3; and the connection is, "since (2 Peter 1:3) God has given us these exalted privileges and hopes, in respect to this (kata or dia being understood), or as a consequence fairly flowing from this, we ought to give all diligence so that we may make good use of these advantages and secure the highest attainments possible. We should add one virtue to another, so that we may reach the highest possible elevation in holiness."

Giving all diligence. Greek, "Bringing in all zeal or effort." The meaning is that we ought to make this a distinct and definite object and apply ourselves to it as something to be accomplished.

Add to your faith virtue. It is not meant in this verse and the following that we are to endeavor particularly to add these things one to another in the order in which they are specified, or that we are to seek first to have faith, and then to add to that virtue, and then to add knowledge to virtue rather than to faith, etc.

The order in which this is to be done, the relation that one of these things may have to another, is not the point aimed at. Nor are we to suppose that any other order of the words would not have served the apostle's purpose as well, or that any one of the virtues specified would not sustain as direct a relation to any other as the one he has specified.

The apostle's design is to say, in an emphatic manner, that we are to strive to possess and exhibit all these virtues. In other words, we are not to content ourselves with a single grace, but are to cultivate all the virtues and endeavor to make our piety complete in all the relations we sustain.

The essential idea in the passage before us seems to be that in our religion we are not to be satisfied with one virtue, or one class of virtues, but that there is to be:

1. A diligent CULTIVATION of our virtues, since the graces of religion are as susceptible to cultivation as any other virtues;
2. That there is to be PROGRESS made from one virtue to another, seeking to reach the highest possible point in our religion; and,
3. That there is to be an ACCUMULATION of virtues and graces—or we are not to be satisfied with one class, or with the attainments we can make in one class. We are to endeavor to add on one after another until we have become possessed of all. Faith, perhaps, is mentioned first, because it is the foundation of all Christian virtues; and the other virtues are required to be added to it, because, from the place that faith occupies in the plan of justification, many might be in danger of supposing that if they had that, they had all that was necessary.

Compare to James 2:14 and following. In the Greek word rendered “add” (epicorhghsate), there is an allusion to a chorus-leader among the Greeks, and the sense is well expressed by Doddridge: "Be careful to accompany that belief with all the lovely train of attendant graces." Or, in other words, "let faith lead on as at the head of the choir or the graces, and let all the others follow in their order." The word here rendered virtue is the same that is used in 2 Peter 1:3; and there is included in it, probably, the same general idea that was noticed there.

All the things that the apostle specifies, unless knowledge is an exception, are virtues in the sense in which that word is commonly used. It can hardly be supposed that the apostle here meant to use a general term that would include all the others.

The probability is, therefore, that by the word here he refers to the common meaning of the Greek word, as referring to manliness, courage, rigor, energy. The sense is that he wished them to show whatever firmness or courage might be necessary in maintaining the principles of their religion and in enduring the trials to which their faith might be subjected.

True virtue is not a tame and passive thing. It requires great energy and boldness, for its very essence is firmness, manliness, and independence.

And to virtue knowledge. This refers to the knowledge of God and of the way of salvation through the Redeemer (2 Peter 2:3; compare to 2 Peter 3:8). It is the duty of every Christian to make the highest possible attainments in knowledge.

{*} "this" ("And to this end"); {a} "virtue" (Philippians 4:8); {b} "knowledge" (Philippians 1:9).