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:

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

3 According as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue:

4 Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 But he that lacks these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

10 Why the rather, brothers, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, you shall never fall:

11 For so an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

12 Why I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth.

13 Yes, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me.

15 Moreover I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

17 For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.

19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto you do well that you take heed, as to a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

The author writes to those who possess a faith not less honourable (precious) than that of the apostles themselves, since they, too, possess all things pertaining to life and godliness. But effort on their part is necessary if they would make their calling sure. The lack of such effort involves stumbling and implies forgetfulness of their baptismal cleansing possibly, forgetfulness that the special cleansing of baptism cannot be repeated (Bigg). The Gospel is not a cloke for libertinism.

2Pe 1:3. him that called us: i.e. Christ: the reference is to the call of the apostolate. In this section we and us refer to the apostles, you to those who have received the apostolic message.

So long as he lives, it is his duty as an apostle to impress these truths upon them, especially since he anticipates a sudden death. ( 2Pe 1:14. swiftly: render suddenly the reference is to the prediction in John 21 that Peter should die a violent death.) But he will make provision for them, so that after his death they may be reminded of these truths. The reference is probably to the Gospel of Mark, which is traditionally connected with Peter. Some, however, suppose that the reference is to the Apocalypse of Peter, either as implying its existence or suggesting its composition. Spitta, who maintains the priority of 2 P., suggests that Jude was written to fulfil this promise.

2Pe 1:16-21. In support of his teaching, he appeals to a twofold witness: (1) His apostolic relation to Jesus. In speaking of the power of Jesus, as manifested in His earthly ministry, he was not following cunningly-devised fables, as the false teachers asserted (treating the Gospel records, perhaps, as allegory and not history), but was speaking of that which he had seen and heard for he had been present at the Transfiguration and had heard the voice from heaven. (2) OT prophecy an even more sure witness, which provides them with a lamp in the darkness of this world until the Second Coming of Jesus. But they must remember that if they are to interpret prophecy aright, they need a guide. Prophecy did not come by the will of man but from God, and therefore it cannot be interpreted by man's unaided power.

2Pe 1:16. and coming of our Lord: His coming in the flesh; but the reference may be to the Parousia.

2Pe 1:19. Render, even more sure is the word of prophecy which we have; the meaning is not, as in RV, that the Transfiguration proves the truth of OT prophecy, but that in the OT there is a second witness to the author's teaching against libertinism. For this purpose the voice of Heb. prophecy, with its stern insistence on righteousness, is more certain than the voice of the Transfiguration.