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Scripture Reading: 2 Pet. 1:1-4
In this message I have the burden to consider further 2 Peter 1:1-4. Let us go back to these verses one by one.
Verse 1 says, “Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have been allotted like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” In this long verse we all need a definite and clear understanding of two crucial points. The first concerns the allotment of the New Testament faith. This faith, which is the “like precious faith,” is the same as the New Testament inheritance. The New Testament inheritance is nothing less than the Triune God Himself, the One who has been processed and has become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. Hence, the Triune God as the life-giving Spirit is the New Testament inheritance. Faith is actually the reflection of this inheritance. Therefore, faith is one with the New Testament inheritance. If we have faith, we also have this inheritance. Faith is the substantiation of the substance of the inheritance. Therefore, the New Testament faith and the New Testament inheritance are one.
If what God had done was merely to allot a New Testament inheritance to us, we would have something that is too objective, something not only outside of us but also far beyond us. It would, of course, be something that is for us, but it would not be able to reach us, and we would not be able to reach it. For this reason, there is the need of substantiation, and this substantiation is a matter of faith.
Faith is not initiated by us, and it is not something that is out of us. On the contrary, faith is out of God, it is initiated by God, and it is allotted to us by God. In what way is faith allotted to us? Faith comes to us by the word in God’s revelation. When this word is preached to us, it conveys the reality of the New Testament inheritance. Furthermore, as this word is preached to us, simultaneously the Spirit works with it. Actually, according to the Bible, the word and the Spirit are one. In John 6:63 the Lord Jesus said, “The words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life.” The word and the Spirit are one. The word is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the word (Eph. 6:17). Therefore, through the spoken word and by the working, the inspiring, of the Spirit, faith is produced within us. This is the way God allots to us the like precious faith. Through the spoken word and by the inspiring Spirit, God infuses faith into our being. Once this faith has been imparted into us, we have our portion of the New Testament inheritance.
The second crucial point in verse 1 is related to the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. According to 1:1, the precious faith has been allotted to us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Greek preposition translated “in” here means in the sphere of or by means of. In what sphere, or by what means, has this wonderful faith been allotted to us? It has been allotted to us in the sphere of the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. This righteousness implies the righteous deed, the righteous act, of the Lord Jesus (Rom. 5:18). The Lord’s righteous act was His death on the cross. The Lord’s death on the cross was in absolute obedience to God and fulfilled all the requirements of God’s righteousness. Therefore, His death is a righteous deed highly valued by God according to His own righteousness. Christ’s righteous deed of dying on the cross in obedience to God fulfilled God’s righteousness and gave Him, the righteous God, the legitimate position to justify all those who believe in this righteous deed of Christ. This righteousness, the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the sphere in which and also the means by which God has the liberty and position to allot Himself to us as our portion. This is the reason Peter says in verse 1 that we have been allotted the like precious faith in the righteousness of our God and Savior.
In 1:2 Peter says, “Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” In this verse there are also two crucial points. The first is related to grace and peace. Because a wonderful portion — the Triune God Himself — has been allotted to us, grace and peace have come to us. Grace is our enjoyment of our portion of the New Testament inheritance, which is actually the processed Triune God. In simple terms, grace is the enjoyment of the Triune God. What, then, is peace? Peace is the condition that results from, issues from, grace. To have grace and peace is to have the enjoyment of the Triune God and the issue of this enjoyment. When we enjoy the Triune God, the result is a tranquil condition or situation with both God and man.
The second crucial point in verse 2 concerns the words “in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” As in verse 1, the preposition “in” here means in the sphere of or by means of. According to verse 1, the allotment of the precious faith was given to us in the sphere of a twofold righteousness and by means of this righteousness, the righteousness of our God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now in verse 2 we see that grace and peace also come to us in a sphere and by a particular means — the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. In verse 1 the sphere is a twofold righteousness, and in verse 2 the sphere is the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. The full knowledge of the Triune God is for our participation in and enjoyment of His divine life and divine nature. It is not a mere doctrinal knowledge; it is an experiential knowledge, a knowledge that is full.
The Greek word rendered “full knowledge” is composed of the word gnosis plus the prefix epi, which means upon. This word indicates a thorough, experiential knowledge. This kind of knowledge is not superficial or general. Rather, it is a knowledge that is deep, thorough, and experiential. As we have pointed out, this is not simply a mental knowledge; it is experiential knowledge in our spiritual understanding and apprehension. The full knowledge of God and of Christ is a deep, practical, thorough, and experiential knowledge of God and our Lord. This full knowledge is both the sphere in which and the means by which the Triune God can be enjoyed by us in order that we may have a peaceful situation with Him and with all men.
In verse 2 Peter does not say simply that grace and peace will be added to us; he speaks of grace and peace being “multiplied in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” In his Epistles Paul does not say anything about grace and peace being multiplied to us. The words “to you” in this verse indicate that grace and peace come to us. After grace and peace come to us, they will be multiplied in the sphere of the full knowledge of God and our Lord and by the means of this full knowledge.
Grace and peace have come to us through the God-allotted faith, which substantiates the New Testament inheritance. This faith has been infused into us through the word of God, which conveys the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. In the sphere of and by means of this full knowledge, the increasing and increased knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, the grace and peace which we have received will be multiplied.
The punctuation of 1:1-4 indicates that these four verses make up one long sentence. In verse 3 we have the continuation of the thought in verse 2: “As His divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory and virtue.” Verse 3 begins with the word “As.” This word is a literal translation of the Greek. The King James Version says, “According as,” and both the American Standard Version and the New American Standard Version adopt the rendering “Seeing that.” The King James Version says grace and peace be multiplied through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord according as His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. The American Standard Version indicates that grace and peace are multiplied in such a sphere, seeing that the divine power has granted to us all things.
In verse 3 Peter speaks of “His divine power.” The pronoun “His” is singular, but in verse 2 there are two antecedents of this pronoun — God and Jesus our Lord. If we study the Word carefully and properly, we shall pay attention to the fact that in verse 2 we have two antecedents for the singular pronoun “His” in verse 3. This indicates that our Lord Jesus is God Himself and that our God is actually the Lord Jesus. Otherwise, Peter would have said, “As Their divine power has granted to us all things.”
We have seen that grace is multiplied as, or according as, His divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness. Life is within for us to live, and godliness is without as the outward expression of the inward life. Life is the inward energy, inward strength, to bring forth the outward godliness. All things relating to life within and godliness without have already been given to us by the divine power. Now grace must be multiplied according to the giving of this divine power.
In addition to this, we have been given “precious and exceedingly great promises” (v. 4). The New Testament contains many promises. Through regeneration, we have the divine life with the divine nature. Furthermore, all things pertaining to life and godliness have been given to us by the divine power. In addition, we have the promises in the New Testament. It is by these promises that we may become partakers of the divine nature.
Now we can know the way to experience the multiplication of grace. We need to realize that all things which relate to life and godliness have already been given to us, and that inwardly we have the divine life with the divine nature. Through the promises given in the New Testament, we can become partakers of the divine nature. We simply need to open the Word and pray-read the promises. If we take the Word in this way, we shall experience the multiplication of grace.
It is not sufficient simply to learn about the multiplication of grace. We need to partake of the divine nature through the precious promises. Then grace will be multiplied to us. If we are faithful to take in the Word by drinking it as pure milk (1 Pet. 2:2), we shall experience an inward spiritual multiplication of grace. This is growth in grace.
The proper way to take the milk of the Word is to drink it. When we drink in the milk of the Word, it will then be digested and assimilated into our being. In this way, it will become part of us, and grace will be multiplied in us. The Lord is rich to all who call upon Him (Rom. 10:12). If we would partake of the riches of Christ, we need to call on His name and pray His Word into us. In this way grace will be multiplied within us.
Everything pertaining to life and godliness has been given to us by the divine power, and the precious promises have also been given to us. If we simply call on the name of the Lord and pray-read the word of His promises, eating and drinking of Him, we shall experience the multiplication of grace. This is the way to have a true Christian life which produces the genuine church life.
We have seen that in verses 1 and 2 there are two crucial points each. But in verse 3 there are at least six crucial matters: the divine power, all things, life, godliness, full knowledge, and being called to glory and virtue. It would be very good if we could have a full message on each of these matters to cover them adequately.
We have pointed out that the divine power in verse 3 is the power of the divine life related to the divine nature. It is beyond our ability to measure this divine power. In the realm of human power we are impressed by the kind of power it took to land a man on the moon. But how much more power was necessary to raise Christ to the third heaven, to the center and height of the universe!
Paul speaks clearly of this divine power in Ephesians 1 when he prays that we would know “what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the operation of the might of His strength, which He wrought in Christ in raising Him from among the dead, and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies” (Eph. 1:19-20). This divine power has exalted Christ over all and has put everything under His feet. Now Christ is seated on the highest peak of the universe, far above everything on earth and “far above all rule and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named” (Eph. 1:21). In Ephesians 1 Paul goes on to indicate that this divine power has been applied to us (v. 22). Hallelujah, the very power, the divine power, that raised Christ from among the dead and seated Him at God’s right hand in the heavenlies, far above all, has been applied to us!
I am not speaking something that is legendary or mythical, nor am I teaching something of philosophy. On the contrary, I am speaking according to the divine revelation in the holy Word. This revelation tells us that the divine power described in Ephesians 1 has been applied to us. In 2 Peter 1:3, Peter says that this divine power has granted us all things which relate to life and godliness. This means that all these things have been imparted, infused, and implanted into us by the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, who has regenerated us and now indwells us (2 Cor. 3:6,17; John 3:6; Rom. 8:11). Praise the Lord for what He has infused into us and implanted into us!
