RSV ~ 2 Peter 1 Notes
2 Pet 1:1 | ISB Notes
Simon: Several ancient manuscripts list the name as Symeoon, a Greek rendering of the Hebrew name “Simeon” (Lk 2:25; Rev 7:7). Symeon is probably the original reading, though it is unclear why the name is used here but not in 1 Pet 1:1. It appears elsewhere only in Acts 15:14.
Peter: The name Jesus gave to Simon, meaning “rock”.
See word study: Peter at Mt 16:18.
To those who: The readers are not identified beyond the fact that they are Christians.
See introduction: Destination.
our God and Savior: The expression in Greek indicates that both titles are given to Christ, the former affirming his divinity and the latter affirming his redemptive mission. This same construction is used elsewhere in the letter to assert that he is both “our Lord and Savior” (2 Pet 1:11; 2:20; 3:18). Some translate the phrase “our God and the Savior”, thereby distinguishing the Father from the Son, but this rendering is less likely to represent the author’s intention (see textual note a).
2 Pet 1:2 | ISB Notes
May grace and peace: The identical formula appears in 1 Pet 1:2 but nowhere else in the NT. In general, however, opening wishes of grace and peace are standard in early Christian letters (Rom 1:7; Phil 1:2; Rev 1:4).
knowledge: A key concept of the letter (1:3, 8; 2:20; 3:18). Growth in knowledge means increasing our understanding of God’s ways and deepening our relationship with him. True knowledge is emphasized because false knowledge was beginning to seep into the Christian community (2:1-3; 3:17).
2 Pet 1:3-11 | ISB Notes
Everything necessary to mature in godliness and attain glory is made available by God to believers. Our proper response is to supplement the gift of faith with a full range of virtues that conform us to Christ and grant us admittance to his kingdom (1:11) (CCC 1810-13). For similar lists that begin with “faith” and end with “love”, see Rom 5:1-5 and 2 Cor 8:7.
2 Pet 1:4 | ISB Notes
escape: The aim of Christian living is to rise above the sinful and decaying world toward an imperishable life with God (2:20).
partakers of the divine nature: This does not mean that believers are made deities or come to stand on an equal footing with God. Similar expressions were used in the Hellenistic world to say that man was made in the likeness of divine immortality (Wis 2:23), that a king could imitate the divine nature by governing men as God does (Philo, On Abraham 144), or that some had come to share in the divine nature by possessing extraordinary wisdom and foresight (Josephus, Against Apion 1, 232). Here it denotes human participation in the divine life of God, a mystery of grace that Paul describes as the indwelling of the Son (Rom 8:10; Gal 2:20) and the Spirit (Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 6:19). Believers thus become sons and daughters of God by sharing in the divine Sonship of Christ (Rom 8:14-16; Gal 4:4-7). This doctrine of “deification” or “divinization” is grounded on the truth that Jesus Christ assumed our humanity in order to fill it with his divinity (CCC 460).
• Participation in the divine life is a gift that comes to us through the sacraments (CCC 1692). It is especially in the Eucharist that we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity (CCC 1129, 19962000).
• Since he granted us his image and his Spirit, and we failed to guard them, he took to himself our poor and weak nature in order to cleanse us, to make us incorruptible, and to establish us once again as partakers of his divinity (St. John of Damascus, Orthodox Faith 4, 13).
2 Pet 1:5 | ISB Notes
virtue: i.e., a life of moral excellence.
See word study: Excellence at Phil 4:8.
2 Pet 1:9 | ISB Notes
cleansed from … sins: Experienced first in Baptism (Acts 22:16) and then in an ongoing way by confessing our faults and seeking the Lord’s mercy (Mt 6:12; 1 Jn 1:9). The point here is that forgiveness obliges us to mend our ways and to make progress in holiness (2 Pet 1:3).
2 Pet 1:10 | ISB Notes
your call and election: Believers are chosen and called by God to be his own people in Christ (1 Pet 2:9). This status is maintained and confirmed by living the faith and attaining the virtues of gospel morality outlined in 2 Pet 1:5-7. It is jeopardized, however, if one becomes reentangled in a life of sin (2:20-22). The danger that one might fall shows that confirming one’s election is a matter of real and crucial importance, i.e., it cannot be reduced to a merely subjective or personal reassurance that one’s salvation has already been eternally secured.
2 Pet 1:11 | ISB Notes
the eternal kingdom: Union with God in heaven is the kingdom of God in its fullness and perfection (2 Tim 4:18).
2 Pet 1:12-15 | ISB Notes
Peter wants readers to remember what he taught them after his death. This focus on the future leads some scholars to claim that 2 Peter exhibits characteristics of a “testament”, a popular literary form in Judaism in which great figures of biblical history bequeath to posterity a series of prophesies and ethical instructions on their deathbeds.
2 Pet 1:13 | ISB Notes
this body: Literally, “this tent”, an image that signifies the temporary duration of our bodily life on earth (Wis 9:15; Is 38:12). For the saints, these tents are folded away at death and give way to a permanent dwelling in resurrected bodies. See note on 2 Cor 5:1.
2 Pet 1:14 | ISB Notes
Christ showed me: Jesus warned Peter that he would die as a martyr in old age (Jn 21:18-19). Now that Peter is an elderly man writing in the early or mid-60s, he knows that the end of his life is drawing near. Some think that Peter is referring to a personal revelation from Christ that is not recorded in the NT but concerns the timing of his death.
2 Pet 1:15 | ISB Notes
my departure: Or, “my exodus”.
See word study: at Lk 9:31.
2 Pet 1:16 | ISB Notes
eyewitnesses: The apostles Peter, James, and John accompanied Jesus on the mountain of Transfiguration (Mt 17:18). Their testimony to Christ was therefore based on the facts of history and firsthand experience, quite unlike the imaginative tales spun by the false teachers denounced in the letter (2 Pet 2:3). This past revelation of Christ’s glory is considered a preview of the future revelation of Christ’s glory at his Second Coming (CCC 554-55).
2 Pet 1:18 | ISB Notes
the holy mountain: Traditionally identified as Mount Tabor in lower Galilee. Perhaps an analogy is implied with Mount Sinai, which was likewise sanctified or made holy by the manifestation of God’s glory (Ex 3:1-5).
See note on Mt 17:1-8.
2 Pet 1:19 | ISB Notes
the day dawns: The eschatological “day of the Lord”. For its meaning, see note on 2 Pet 3:10. morning star: Ancient writers used this expression for the planet Venus, which is sometimes visible in the morning sky just before daybreak.
• In addition, the expression is probably an allusion to Num 24:17, where the star that rises out of Jacob is seen in Jewish and Christian tradition as a prophetic image of the Messiah (Rev 22:16). Peter connects this with the return of Christ in glory, an event that will dawn upon the world at the end of history and bring joy to the heart of every believer who is eagerly awaiting him (Heb 9:28).
2 Pet 1:20 | ISB Notes
one’s own interpretation: The Spirit who inspired the prophecies of the OT is alone capable of interpreting them. By contrast, merely human intelligence can never ascertain their proper meaning without the divine assistance of the Spirit. The ramifications of this teaching are implied rather than stated, for Peter does not identify those who are authorized to give a correct interpretation of Scripture. Some contend that every believer who possesses the Spirit is automatically qualified for this task, but no such teaching can be found in the NT. On the contrary, we learn from other passages that the Spirit guides the Church into all truth through her apostolic leaders and their successors (Jn 14:26; 16:13), who serve as teachers and guardians of the Christian faith (1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:14; 2:2). This explains why Peter, being an apostle, expects readers to accept his teaching on Scripture as authoritative and reliable, whereas the false teachers among them are denounced for twisting its meaning (2 Pet 3:15-16) (CCC 104, 109-14). See note on Jn 14:26.
2 Pet 1:21 | ISB Notes
by the Holy Spirit: A description of prophetic inspiration, whereby God uses the prophet to speak his divine message to others. Peter’s stress on this point may suggest that the false teachers disputed such inspiration or at least made interpretive claims at variance with it. History knows of heretical Jewish-Christians, called Ebionites, who claimed that the biblical Prophets spoke of their own accord, apart from divine assistance or influence (CCC 105-107). For the related mystery of biblical inspiration, see word study: Inspired by God at 2 Tim 3:16.