1 Symeon Peter, a servant and apos tle of Jesus Christ, to those who have been sanctified by our God and Savior Jesus Christ and have received a faith as precious as ours:
2 may grace and peace abound in you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
We share in the divine nature
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and piety. First the knowledge of the One who called us through his own Glory and Might, by which we were given the most extraordinary and precious prom ises.
4 Through them you share in the divine nature, after repelling the corruption and evil desires of this world.
5 So, strive with the greatest determination and increase your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge,
6 knowledge with moderation, moderation with constancy, constancy with piety,
7 piety with mutual affection, mutual affection with charity.
8 If all these riches are in you so as to abound in you, you will not be idle and useless; you will rather be rooted in the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord.
9 Whoever is not aware of this is blind and shortsighted and is forgetful of the cleansing of former sins.
10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, strive more and more to respond to the call of God who chose you. If you do so, you will never stumble.
11 More over you will be generously granted entry to the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
12 So I shall always remind you of these things, though you know them and remain firm in the truth that you have.
13 It seems fitting that as long as I live in the tent of this body, I refresh your memory of them,
14 knowing that my tent may soon be folded up, as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me.
15 I will, nonetheless, endeavor to see that after my departure, you will be constantly reminded of all this.
The foundation of faith
16 Indeed, what we taught you about the power and the return of Christ Jesus our Lord was not drawn from myths or formulated theories. We ourselves were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 when he received glory and honor from God the Father, when from the magnificent Glory this most extraordinary word came upon him: “This is my beloved Son, this is my Chosen One.”
18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
19 Therefore, we believe most firmly in the message of the pro phets which you should consider rightly as a lamp shining in a dark place, until the break of day, when the Morning Star shines in your hearts.
20 Know this well: no prophecy of Scripture can be handed over to private interpretation,
21 since no prophecy comes from human decision, for it was men of God, moved by the Holy Spirit, who spoke.
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Comments Letter of Peter 2, Chapter 1
• 1.3 Christians tempted to become complacent are told two things:
– God’s call is such a great favor that we cannot really understand it;
– it is not enough to have been called to believe: we must confirm this election by a truly holy life that pre pares us to enter heaven.
You share in the divine nature (v. 4). This paragraph, with the texts of St. John, is the strongest expression of what we are and what we shall be. We have not merely been called to a good way of life that will be rewarded, to love a God who will be grateful to us. Jesus has come to reveal who we are: his brothers and sisters, members of a unique Humanity that is to become part of the eternal mystery of God. He was made human so that we become all that God is, nothing less.
What we taught you… was not drawn from myths or formulated theories (v. 16). Faith is not based on reasons and theo ries. We believe in what the apos tles saw and in the prophets’ words. It is true that through the centuries the understanding of the consequences of faith has developed, situating it within the realities of life; there has also been a constant effort to express what faith is in the language of our day. Nevertheless we continue holding and believing the mystery of Christ in the way the apos tles believed and understood it.
The last sentence clearly says what we find in the Bible: all that is there was said on behalf of God and all is the work of the Holy Spirit. It does not say that the Holy Spirit dictated the books nor that he granted revelations to all the authors. One same spirit guided all when each author wrote in his own style, and according to the custom of the time, what seemed good to write. Each author was aware that he was expressing the faith of his people, but was not necessarily conscious that he was inspired. Yet the Spirit arranged everything so that all the books make one whole that becomes a unique witness needed by humankind in every age. The Scripture is at the same time the work of the Holy Spirit and human literature in the language of a particular age.
Therefore, no prophecy of Scripture can be handed over to private interpretation (v. 20). It is true that anyone, according to his intelligence and faith, can understand one text or another. The message, however, is the whole. When we try to see how statements fit together, to see the important lines or discover the spirit of the Bible, then only the Church and those who are spiritually alive in her can discern.
The Morning Star (v. 19). This refers to Christ (see Rev 22:16).