Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - 2 Peter 1:3 - 1:3
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us (hōs hēmin tēs theias dunameōs autou dedōrēmenēs). Genitive absolute with the causal particle hōs and the perfect middle participle of dōreō, old verb, to bestow (dōrea, gift), usually middle as here, in N.T. elsewhere only Mar 15:45. Autou refers to Christ, who has “divine power” (tēs theias dunameōs), since he is theos (2Pe 1:1). Theios (from theos) is an old adjective in N.T. here and 2Pe 1:4 only, except Act 17:29, where Paul uses to theion for deity, thus adapting his language to his audience as the papyri and inscriptions show. The use of theios with an imperial connotation is very common in the papyri and the inscriptions. Deissmann (Bible Studies, pp. 360-368) has shown the singular linguistic likeness between 2Pe 1:3-11 and a remarkable inscription of the inhabitants of Stratonicea in Caria to Zeus Panhemerios and Hecate dated a.d. 22 (in full in C I H ii No. 2715 a b). One of the likenesses is the use of tēs theias dunameōs. Peter may have read this inscription (cf. Paul in Athens) or he may have used “the familiar forms and formulae of religious emotion” (Deissmann), “the official liturgical language of Asia Minor.” Peter is fond of dunamis in this Epistle, and the dunamis of Christ “is the sword which St. Peter holds over the head of the False Teachers” (Bigg).
All things that pertain unto life and godliness (panta ta pros zōēn kai eusebeian). “All the things for life and godliness.” The new life in Christ who is the mystery of godliness (1Ti 3:16). Eusebeia with its cognates (eusebēs, eusebōs, eusebeō) occurs only in this Epistle, Acts, and the Pastoral Epistles (from eu, well, and sebomai, to worship).
Of him that called us (tou kalesantos). Genitive of the articular first aorist active participle of kaleō. Christ called Peter and all other Christians.
By his own glory and virtue (dia doxēs kai aretēs). So B K L, but Aleph A C P read idiāi doxēi kai aretēi (either instrumental case “by” or dative “to”). Peter is fond of idios (own, 1Pe 3:1, 1Pe 3:5; 2Pe 2:16, 2Pe 2:22, etc.). “Glory” here is the manifestation of the Divine Character in Christ. For aretē see note on 1Pe 2:9, note on Phi 4:8, and note on 2Pe 1:5.