Second Peter Two Five through Nine

The side trip begins. The study of knowledge words brought me to this passage, and while it does contain both of the last two knowledge words (γνωσις and επιγνωσις) that we will be looking at in this study it also contains a path that leads from γνωσις (knowledge) to επιγνωσις (full knowledge). And so the study begins 2 Peter 1:5-9.

For this very reason

    Verse five begins with a look back to verses three and four, so before we can understand verses five through nine we must take a look at the reason supplied in the previous verses.

    The first thing that we see is that God the Son by means of His "divine power" has given us everything needed for life and godliness. The word translated "pertaining to" is προς (pros) (G4314) and brings with it the idea of movement toward something. Christ has given us, as believers, life; but He has also given us the means to live life. That includes physical needs such as food, clothing, health needs and the like. That also includes sustaining power, such as the ability to stand in times of testing. Godliness describes our lives activities. Verses five through seven are the expansion upon "life and godliness" that is mentioned here. The last part of verse three explains the method of delivery for His (Christ) divine power. The word for power used here is δυνάμεως (dynameos) (G1411) and it relates to ability to accomplish something. Another way of thinking about this is that Jesus has the ability to live a sinless life and overcome and because of that He supplies us with that ability. The conduit of the ability supplied is the "true knowledge" of God the Father. True knowledge will be discussed later in this development. Christ came to do the will of the Father, and to reveal the Father to us. In John 14:7 and following we learn that to know Christ is to know the Father.

    In verse four we see that God the Father has given us promises by means of His own "glory and excellence". (Vs. 3) The reason for this is that we may become "partakers" of Gods nature. The word translated as "partakers" is κοινωνοι (koinonoi) (G2844) and encompasses the idea of companionship. Finally we see that we are able to become companions of the divine nature because we have escaped the world's corruption that comes from its lust.

    Now that we have established the reason brought up in the first part of verse five we see a series of interconnected aspects of the Christian way of life. Faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love; each of these represent parts of the Christian way of life. Each of these lead to the development of the next, but at the same time they are all aspects of each other and the development in one area develops all areas at the same time. For example faith grows as our knowledge of God increases, knowledge increases through perseverance in study and so on. For the purpose of the study we shall consider each aspect in the order it was written in the verses.

Before we begin to consider each term we need to understand the phrase "applying all diligence". σπουδὴν πᾶσαν παρεισενέγκαντες, (spouden, G4710, pasan, G3956, pareisenenkantes, G3923) The phrase means to do your best. (LN 68.64) In the HCSB it is rendered as "make every effort to". Our primary concern in life should be the development of these areas of our Christian walk; in doing so we will develop our nature to conform to God's divine nature.