2 Peter 1 Bible study: Life and godliness

The letter opens, "Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:" (1:1) (tap like precious) "Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord," (1:2) (tap knowledge) "seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue," (1:3) (tap godliness) "by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust." (1:4) (tap promises). It names one sender. These notes say nothing of this Simon Peter, of the letter's readers, or of when or where it was written, beyond what the letter says; they explain 1:1 and 1:3-4 no further than their words; and they apply this chapter to no reader, church, people or person today. Here is what almost everyone misses: knowledge in 1:2 and knowledge in 1:3 stand for the same Greek noun, and it comes again in "the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1:8).

ἐπίγνωσιςepignosissay ep-EEG-no-sis

Strong's: "recognition, i.e. (by implication) full discernment, acknowledgement". "Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord" (1:2), "through the knowledge" (1:3), and "they make you to not be idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1:8): behind knowledge each time is this noun. 2 Peter has it four times, three of them in this chapter (counted in RP2018, and in all eight editions TAGNT compares). Behind knowledge in 1:5 and 1:6 is another noun (tap knowledge there).