2Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
As he did in his first letter, Peter extends to his readers the desire for them to abundantly experience God’s grace and peace. These are not static things that we get at salvation, but dynamics that affect every day of our Christian walk. We need the overflowing grace and peace of God to flood our lives. This can only happen as we immerse ourselves in the study of God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The study or knowledge of God is formally called “theology,” which comes from two Greek words, theos, which means God, and logos, which means word or knowledge. Peter is not advocating formal theological training in ivory towers (good though that may be for some). Rather he speaks of epignosis, that is, the intimate knowledge of someone or insight. One can know about God, but this is a familiarity, not insight or intimacy with God. When I say, “I know my wife,” that is something completely different from someone else who says, “I know your wife.” I know her intimately: what she is like, her mannerisms, ways of thinking, etc. Peter desires for us to know God and Jesus the way he does.
Peter connects this knowledge of God with what we need for living a life of godliness. In other words, to live as God desires for us we need to know Him intimately. We need to know Him! Our life should be all about Him. To borrow from an old sports challenge, to be fully committed, we need to eat, sleep, and breathe Jesus Christ. This is the key to the abundant Christian life (see John 10:10). The apostle John records Jesus in the upper room prayer as saying,
“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3)
When we grow in our knowledge of Him, we are equipped with everything we need for life and godliness. As one young person described his faith to an unbeliever, “I’ve known Jesus now for two years.” Books have been written with titles like Knowing Christ, Knowing God, The Deeper Life, and The Secret to the Abundant Life. We need to make a lifelong study into the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the path to entering more fully into His glory and excellence! Let us commit ourselves to reading His Word daily so that we may learn more about Christ.
Lord, I want to know You more, to enter more into Your glory and excellence.
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