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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Address and Salutation.
v. 1. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ:
v. 2. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord.
The writer here introduces himself with great solemnity: Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained an equally precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and of the Savior Jesus Christ. The apostle here uses the Hebrew form of his name, found elsewhere only Act_15:14. The name Peter was given him by Jesus at their first meeting in its Aramaic form, Joh_1:42, and in its Greek form after his great confession of the Lord, Mat_16:18. He calls himself, and is proud to be, a servant of Jesus Christ; he was unceasingly active in the service of his Lord and Savior, an inspiring example not only to all pastors, but to everyone that bears the name of Christ. But he was also an apostle of Jesus Christ; he belonged to the small company of disciples whom the Lord had expressly called and commissioned as His delegates and representatives in establishing the preaching of the Gospel throughout the world and in leaving this Gospel to subsequent ages in an infallible form. Peter addresses his letter to the Christians of Asia Minor, to those who have obtained, who have been allotted the same precious faith as the apostles and all other believers. Whether a Christian is an apostle or a child that has just learned the Catechism, whether his faith be strong and powerful or small and weak: faith will still in every case take hold of the same wonderful gift of the grace of God, which in every case has the same priceless worth. For the faith of the Christians rests in the righteousness of our God and of the Savior Jesus Christ. By His fulfillment of the Law, by His atonement for the sins of men, by the reconciliation which He has effected with God, a righteousness has been obtained for all men, a righteousness which is now in the hands of God, kept by Him as a priceless jewel. This righteousness of our Savior Jesus Christ has been gained for us; its purpose is to cover all our unrighteousness and sin, to enable us, that accept it by faith, to stand before God, to be accepted by Him as His dear children.
Since every one that believes is a partaker of all God's blessings in Christ Jesus, the apostle salutes his readers: Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord. Of the grace of God, of His free favor and love, we are assured in the Gospel, and we are urged to accept His kind offering without so much as a thought of doubt. The grace is there for all, peace between God and man has been established by the perfect satisfaction gained by Christ; therefore these two gifts should be multiplied in us, should grow rich and powerful in us, should possess our hearts and minds more and more. And this is done if we become ever more intimately and personally acquainted with our heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ as they have been revealed to us in the Gospel. The apostle is not satisfied with a mere head knowledge, but he insists upon an intimate heart knowledge. The more earnestly we search the Scriptures under the guidance of God's Holy Spirit, the more will we grow in the knowledge of our salvation, the more firmly will we cling to the glorious gifts which the Gospel holds out before us: grace and peace in the Savior.