2 Peter 1:1-11 (NKJV)

1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have
obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior
Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our
Lord,
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,
through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that
through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue
knowledge,
6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,
7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten
that he was cleansed from his old sins.
10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure,
for if you do these things you will never stumble;
11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Background. Whereas 1 Peter encourages Christians facing opposition from the world,
2 Peter warns Christians against false teachers within their fellowship who would lead
them into apostasy. Fidelity to the apostolic teaching is the main concern (see especially
1:12–16; 3:1, 2, 15, 16). Heretical teachers will appear (2:1, 2) and in fact are already on
the scene (2:12–22). They deny the Lord, exhibit a sensuous life-style, and are destined
for destruction. They ridicule the idea of the Lord’s return. These characteristics fit the
Gnostic heresy, which developed more fully in the second century, but whose roots were
fixed in the first century. Spirit filled life study Bible

1:2 The theme of the epistle is quickly introduced. A right knowledge is necessary to
overcome the doctrine and practice of the false teachers. The matter of knowledge is
addressed in 1:2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 20; 2:20, 21; 3:3, 18. This may indicate that 2 Peter was
written to combat an incipient form of Gnosticism, a religious system which placed great
stress on salvation as attained by mystic secret knowledge (see 1 John, “Introduction:
Theme”).
Believer’s Study Bible

Contrary to popular belief, knowledge isn’t bad. We must be grounded in the word of
God and to do that we must use our minds in a diligent effort of study and research.
There is no spiritual shortcut to avoid the discipline of reading and studying the bible.
All we are told about those to whom the Letter was written is that they had obtained the
same precious faith as Peter and his colleagues. This may indicate that he was writing to
Gentile believers, the point being that they had received the same kind of faith as
believing Jews, a faith that was in no way deficient. All who are saved by the grace of
God enjoy equal acceptance before Him, whether they are Jews or Gentiles, male or
female, slave or free. Believer's Bible Commentary

As Peter said in 1 Peter 5:1 that he was a “fellow elder” and didn’t put himself above
others, so too here he states that his faith and ours are the same. There are no spiritual
supermen – we all stand before the throne of grace equally.

3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.
The “divine power” is God Himself who has given us all that we need to walk in the
newness of life (eternal salvation) and in godliness (holy character).

partakers of the divine nature –

(2) It cannot be taken in so literal a sense as to mean that we can ever partake of the
divine “essence,” or that we shall be “absorbed” into the divine nature so as to lose our
individuality. This idea is held by the Budhists; and the perfection of being is supposed
by them to consist in such absorption, or in losing their own individuality, and their ideas
of happiness are graduated by the approximation which may be made to that state. But
this cannot be the meaning here, because:
(a) It is in the nature of the case” impossible. There must be forever an essential
difference between a created and an uncreated mind.
(b) This would argue that the Divine Mind is not perfect. If this absorption was
necessary to the completeness of the character and happiness of the Divine Being, then
he was imperfect before; if before perfect, he would not be after the absorption of an
infinite number of finite and imperfect minds.
(c) In all the representations of heaven in the Bible, the idea of “individuality” is one
that is prominent. “Individuals” are represented everywhere as worshippers there, and
there is no intimation that the separate existence of the redeemed is to be absorbed and
lost in the essence of the Deity. Whatever is to be the condition of man hereafter, he is to
have a separate and individual existence, and the number of intelligent beings is never
to be diminished either by annihilation, or by their being united to any other spirit so that
they shall become one.
The reference then, in this place, must be to the “moral” nature of God; and the
meaning is, that they who are renewed become participants of the same “moral” nature;
that is, of the same views, feelings, thoughts, purposes, principles of action. Their nature
as they are born, is sinful, and prone to evil Eph_2:3, their nature as they are born again,
becomes like that of God. They are made like God; and this resemblance will increase
more and more forever, until in a much higher sense than can be true in this world, they
may be said to have become “partakers of the divine nature.” Let us remark, then,
(a) That “man” only, of all the dwellers on the earth, is capable of rising to this
condition. The nature of all the other orders of creatures here below is incapable of any
such transformation that it can be said that they become “partakers of the divine nature.”
Barnes
There follows a list of Christian virtues:

G703 - virtue
αρετη aretē
From the same as G730; properly manliness (valor), that is, excellence (intrinsic or attributed): -
praise, virtue.

Virtue is moral excellence and courage.

G1108 - knowledge
γνωσις gnō sis
From G1097; knowing (the act), that is, (by implication) knowledge: - knowledge, science.

Not mystical knowledge as in Gnosticism, but a rightly dividing of the word of God.

G1466 – self-control
εγκρατεια egkrateia; from G1468; mastery, self-control: - self-control (4).

There is no such thing as “I couldn’t stop it” when it comes to the Christian. We can and should
control ourselves.

G5281 - patience
υπομονη hupomonē ; from G5278; a remaining behind, a patient enduring: - endurance (7),
patient enduring (1), perseverance (21), steadfastness (3).

Patience is not “putting up with” or allowing others to “get away with”, it is standing in faith
believing.

G2150 - godliness
ευσεβεια eusebeia
Thayer Definition:
1) reverence, respect
2) piety towards God, godliness

Having respect for the things of God.

G5360 – brotherly love

Φιλαδελφια philadelphia
From G5361; fraternal affection: - brotherly love (kindness), love of the brethren.

G26 - love
αγαπη agapē
From G25; love, that is, affection or benevolence; specifically (plural) a love feast: - (feast of)
charity ([-ably]), dear, love.

2Pe 1:8 ESV

(8) For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being
ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have these qualities and we grow and increase in them. These qualities keep us from
being ineffective and unfruitful.

2Pe 1:10 ESV

(10) Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure,
for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

Not falling is a good thing. It’s evident we need more training in these Godly virtues!