2 Peter 3:17-18 exhorts Peter’s disciples to be careful that they do not fall for the error of the men who follow their sinful desires, who are false teachers, and fall away from our own commitment to the truth. Instead we should grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, who has glory both now and forever.
In 2 Peter 3:17-18, Peter closes his second letter with an admonition to the believers to whom he is writing to be on guard against false teaching and to remain steadfast in their faith. Peter begins this final application addressing them, You therefore, beloved (v. 17). By this introduction, he reminds his readers that this application is made because he cares deeply for them (2 Peter 3:1, 8, 14).
This final application is based on knowing this beforehand. The this that Peter’s readers know beforehand refers to the entire contents to this point in his second letter. This includes:
Explaining the steps his readers can take toward Christian maturity, and therefore escape the corruption in this world and gain the reward of a glorious entrance into His kingdom (2 Peter 1:4-7, 11),
Warning them about the destructive influence (2 Peter 2) and outcome (2 Peter 3) of the false teachers among them, and
Understanding the prophetic truth about the the advent of God’s judgment, the future destruction of this present universe, and the creation of a New Heaven and new Earth (2 Peter 3:7, 10-13).
After beginning with You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, two exhortations are made based on what Peter’s readers already know from this letter. First, Peter exhorts his readers to be on your guard. This means to look out for or guard against. This is necessary so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness.
That Peter asks his disciples to be on their guard means that it is up to each believer to recognize and withstand false teachers. The church elder James tells us that if we resist the devil he will flee from us (James 4:7). Paul exhorts believers to continuously take up spiritual armor to fight against the “flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:10-17). A part of the armor in Paul’s admonition in Ephesians are items designed to guard against an attack. This includes instruction to “put on the breastplate of righteousness” (Ephesians 6:14), don the “helmet of salvation” (Ephesians 6:17), and take up the “shield of faith” (Ephesians 6:16).
The concept of being carried away means causing someone to go astray in belief. There is a real danger of this posed by the error, meaning wandering from the path of truth, of unprincipled men, referring to the disgraceful false teachers who are leading people to live in lust (2 Peter 2:2). This is something all believers should remain on watch against, that they might withstand being led astray.
The tragic danger that may result from the error taught by the false teachers is that believers may wander from the path of truth and fall. The word translated fall means to change for the worse from a favorable condition. This favorable condition is described: from your own steadfastness, referring to their own firm commitment to the truth.
If we refer back to the letter’s opening and the progression toward maturity in the Christian faith, we can infer that the 2 Peter 1:5-7 progression toward Christian maturity can also reverse. If we think of the progression as a set of stairs to climb, this tells us that we can fall back down the “stairs.” If we think of the spiritual progression in 2 Peter 1:5-7 as like stair—steps, we would apply “all diligence” (2 Peter 1:5) to climb these metaphorical stairs and would see them as:
Step 1: “faith” (2 Peter 1:5)
Step 2: “moral excellence” (Greek “arete” the commitment to become virtuous, 2 Peter 1:5)
Step 3: “knowledge” (how to be virtuous, 2 Peter 1:5)
Step 5: “self—control” or self—governance, the capacity to set aside self and follow the Spirit (2 Peter 1:6)
Step 4: “perseverance” (the continued practice of virtue, 2 Peter 1:6)
Step 6: “godliness” (2 Peter 1:6)
Step 7: “brotherly kindness” (2 Peter 1:7)
Step 8: “love” (2 Peter 1:7)
If we substitute false teaching for the knowledge of how to be virtuous, we can end up living in greed and lust (2 Peter 2:14).
Peter is exhorting his readers to guard against the erroneous teaching of the false teachers which will result in them wandering from the path of truth. If they do not guard against following their deceptive teaching, they might fall away from their own firm commitment to the truth of God’s Word. We can see from what Peter wrote about the progression of a maturing faith in 2 Peter 1:5-7 that the false teachers are attacking the foundational steps to Christian maturity:
2 Peter 2:2, 3, 15 says that in greed the false teachers exploit those who fall under their sway. In this the false teachers follow the way of Balaam and lure people into “sensuality.” This can be viewed as undermining Step 2, the commitment to moral excellence, as well as Step 5, self—control, and Step 6, godliness.
2 Peter 2:19 speaks of the false teachers promising freedom but leading people into slavery to sin, again undermining Step 2, moral excellence, and Step 5, self control, which in turn undermines Step 6, godliness.
2 Peter 3:3 says the false teachers mock the idea that God will judge, inferring that they teach that there is no adverse consequence to sin. This undermines Step 3, knowledge, which in turn undermines Step 1, faith.
Peter follows his first exhortation about guarding against being led astray by the false teachers with a second exhortation about firmly following Jesus Christ.
He begins his second exhortation, but (v. 18), indicating a contrast to the previous exhortation about maintaining a posture of defense against following false teaching. In addition to maintaining a good defense, he wants them to go on offense. We are to defend as we advance. His readers are exhorted to grow, a word meaning to become greater or increase (1 Peter 2:2): but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen (v. 18).
The verb grow is in the imperative mood which means here Peter is giving his followers a command. His readers are admonished to increase in two areas. First, they are to grow in the grace of Jesus. Grace translates the Greek word “charis” which means “favor,” with context determining who is giving favor and for what reason. In this instance the context is overt, Peter specifies he is speaking of the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
While the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus (John 1:17)
Believers are saved through faith, by God’s grace, from the penalty of sin. Through God’s favor granted through the work of Jesus, believers are justified in God’s sight, by God’s grace, to be born as children into His forever family (John 3:3,Acts 15:11,Romans 3:24, 5:15, Ephesians 2:8-9).
Believers are granted the grace or favor of God to receive great rewards when they walk by faith, living as faithful witnesses who follow His commands (1 Peter 1:13, 5:5-6, Ephesians 2:6-7,Hebrews 2:9-19).
To grow in the grace of Jesus likely includes all these applications. To grow in the grace of Jesus, who has fully accepted all who believe, means we grow out of all sense that Jesus would ever condemn or reject us (Romans 8:1). If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31). Even if we are faithless, God is faithful because as believers we are in Christ and He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13,2 Corinthians 5:17). All who believe get the great privilege of joining His forever family.
To grow in the grace or favor of Jesus by pleasing Him through seeking to live as faithful witnesses leads to gaining rewards that He has promised (2 Peter 1:4, 11, Hebrews 11:6,Revelation 1:3, 3:21). This is to grow in each “step” up the “stairs” of Christian maturity Peter set forth in 2 Peter 1:5-7. While becoming God’s child is simply a matter of having sufficient faith to “look” at Jesus on the cross, hoping to be delivered from the poisonous venom of sin (as Jesus describes in John 3:14-15), growing our walk of faith is a matter of “applying all diligence” as Peter describes in 2 Peter 1:5.
The required “diligence” is to grow in all phases of the metaphorical stairs that lead to Christian maturity as described in 2 Peter 1:5-7:
To add to faith the commitment to “moral excellence” or virtue requires a choice of will. This is a choice that must be made continuously.
To add knowledge to virtue requires observation and study. It requires humility (the willingness to seek and embrace reality as it is).
To add self—control to knowledge requires that knowledge be continuously applied.
To add perseverance to self—control requires daily commitment, renewing our commitment to virtue—an exercise of will to continue in diligence.
To add godliness to perseverance is to begin to live in the image of Christ.
To add brotherly kindness and love to godliness is to focus externally; to diligently seek the best interest of others.
Peter is intentional in his fivefold description of Christ as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This description is used two other times in this letter (2 Peter 1:11, 2:20).
Our — refers to both Peter and his readers.
Lord — indicates a title of authority (2 Peter 2:9).
Savior — recognizes Christ’s work on the cross, rescuing people from the penalty of sin, a penalty that includes being consumed in the lake of fire (John 3:14-16,Philippians 3:20,Revelation 20:15).
Jesus — acknowledges Christ’s humanity (Matthew 1:21,Philippians 2:7,John 1:14,Hebrews 2:9).
Christ — means the anointed promised Jewish Messiah (Matthew 16:16).
Not only are believers exhorted to grow in the grace of Christ, they are also exhorted to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The word knowledge (“gnosis” in Greek) means mental comprehension and understanding. “Gnosis” is used four times in Peter’s two letters (1 Peter 3:7,2 Peter 1:5, 6, 3:18). This kind of knowledge differs from the “true knowledge” of Christ (“epignosis”) which speaks of a deeper, richer, fuller, intimacy with Christ. Peter refers to “epignosis” in 2 Peter 1:2, 3, 8, 2:20.
The verse 18 knowledge that is “gnosis” is the same knowledge in the metaphorical stair—steps that lead to Christian maturity Peter sets forth in 2 Peter 1:5-7. Once we add to faith “moral excellence”—the commitment to acquire virtue—we need knowledge (“gnosis”) that informs and equips us to persevere in living with “self—control,” which leads to “godliness” and ultimately “love” (2 Peter 1:5-7).
It is likely that in highlighting knowledge in the phrase the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Peter expects the reader to understand that the entire metaphorical stairs to Christian maturity is implied. It makes sense to highlight knowledge here since the immediate context refers to false teaching; the knowledge of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is a major antidote for the poison of false teaching.
Peter understands as believers grow in their knowledge (“gnosis”), their mental comprehension and understanding of Christ, and the prophetic truth about His future coming, this will result in motivation to pursue a deeper, richer, fuller intimacy with Christ (“epignosis”). A proper understanding of the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ would motivate us to pursue intimacy with Christ both in this world and the world to come.
This knowledge of our Lord will also better prepare us to guard against being polluted by the teaching of the false teachers and help us escape participating in the ruin that awaits them. This letter ends with a final praise acknowledging: To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity (v. 18).
To Him refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. The phrase be the glory acknowledges the reality of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The Greek word “doxa,” translated glory, refers to the observed true essence of something. We can see this in 1 Corinthians 15:41, which speaks of the moon and sun differing in their glory (“doxa”). The sun and moon differ in glory because they differ in essence.
God’s glory is clearly observable by what He made. We see this in Psalm 19, which asserts that the “heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” (Psalm 19:1). We also see from Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made.”
Thus, the reality is that all things He created tell of God’s glory. So when Peter says To Him be the glory it is both an acknowledgement of the reality of God as well as an acknowledgment that we, as creatures made in His image, have as a part of our proper place in creation to observe the works of His hands and properly attribute that all things tell of God’s glory.
In 1 Peter 4, Peter states this:
“Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:11)
In saying that glory “belongs” to Jesus Christ, there is a recognition that God’s essence is seen in all that is. But in saying that “God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” when any believer “is serving by the strength which God supplies,” Peter is also saying that when believers walk by the Spirit in the obedience of Christ, they show God’s essence to others because “God supplies” the strength to believers to walk in His ways.
There is a humility in saying To Him be the glory. Humility is the willingness to seek and embrace reality. Saying To Him be the glory acknowledges the reality that God is the Creator. He made all that is and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:16-17). In saying To Him be the glory we acknowledge this reality. In saying both now and to the day of eternity, we add to the current reality an acknowledgement of a future reality, namely that every knee will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:10).
At the current time, God has veiled His presence sufficiently such that if we seek to see Him, He is everywhere (Psalm 19:1-4,Romans 1:20). But if we desire not to see Him, we can harden our hearts, and our eyes and hearts will be darkened (Romans 1:21).
Honor and recognition belong to the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Peter 4:11) both now, referring to the present time, and to the day of eternity, referring to the time when the eternal new heavens and new earth are created (2 Peter 3:12-13,Revelation 21:1-2). We could apply this verse to say that since in the day of eternity God’s glory will be acknowledged, that we ought to acknowledge it now as well.
This last mention of the day of eternity is a fitting conclusion to Peter’s second letter, which was written to motivate believers to move toward spiritual maturity in light of the reality of the coming judgement and Christ’s return. Spiritual maturity comes by following the stair—steps that lead to maturity (2 Peter 1:5-7). Spiritual maturity comes by the purification that comes through prophetic truth (2 Peter 1:12-21). It is the knowledge of the truth that protects believers from the way of apostasy promoted by false teachers (Chapter 2).
The believer’s progress toward maturity leads from intellectual knowledge (“gnosis”) to intimate relationship (“epignosis”). There is immense benefit to gaining a future reward of sharing Christ’s glory through the rewards He gives (2 Peter 1:11). But we do not have to wait for eternal rewards; we can gain immediate benefit from choosing to climb the stair—steps to Christian maturity. Faithfully following this process leads us to gain the great privilege of experiencing a deeper, richer, fuller, fellowship with the Lord in the present time, what Peter calls “epignosis,” which translates as “the true knowledge” of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:8).
Jesus painted a similar picture to the idea of “stair—steps” to maturity. Jesus said that there is a way that is “narrow” or difficult that “leads to life.” “Life” in this sense is connection with God’s design for us. It is God’s will that we walk in faith and be sanctified, or set apart, from the world through obedience to His ways (1 Thessalonians 4:3). This restores us to live in God’s design for us.
Believers are spiritually birthed into God’s family solely by receiving a new birth by grace, through faith in Christ (John 3:3, 14-15). Then just as with physical birth, whether we fulfill our potential and grow into maturity depends on our choices. Peter has admonished us to see reality as it is, and in light of the looming judgment and the glory of God, to choose to climb the difficult stairs to maturity. To gain spiritual maturity leads us to fully experience life.
The “epignosis” or “true knowledge” of Christ is intimate fellowship with Him. As Jesus said in this prayer, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). The fullest experience of life in this life as well as the next comes through walking in obedience to Christ. In heaven, God’s will is done. Jesus taught us to pray that His will be done on earth as well. When we grow into Christian maturity, we live in God’s will (1 Thessalonians 4:3).
Peter has set forth the challenges and obstacles we will encounter for any believer as they grow in Christian maturity. We will be presented with lies and deceit. Peter, in the Spirit’s power, has given us a path to follow that leads to the true knowledge of Christ.
May we have eyes to see and follow in the ways of truth!
2 Peter 3:17-18
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,
18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Set to dark mode
2 Peter 3:17-18 meaning
In 2 Peter 3:17-18, Peter closes his second letter with an admonition to the believers to whom he is writing to be on guard against false teaching and to remain steadfast in their faith. Peter begins this final application addressing them, You therefore, beloved (v. 17). By this introduction, he reminds his readers that this application is made because he cares deeply for them (2 Peter 3:1, 8, 14).
This final application is based on knowing this beforehand. The this that Peter’s readers know beforehand refers to the entire contents to this point in his second letter. This includes:
After beginning with You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, two exhortations are made based on what Peter’s readers already know from this letter. First, Peter exhorts his readers to be on your guard. This means to look out for or guard against. This is necessary so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness.
That Peter asks his disciples to be on their guard means that it is up to each believer to recognize and withstand false teachers. The church elder James tells us that if we resist the devil he will flee from us (James 4:7). Paul exhorts believers to continuously take up spiritual armor to fight against the “flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:10-17). A part of the armor in Paul’s admonition in Ephesians are items designed to guard against an attack. This includes instruction to “put on the breastplate of righteousness” (Ephesians 6:14), don the “helmet of salvation” (Ephesians 6:17), and take up the “shield of faith” (Ephesians 6:16).
The concept of being carried away means causing someone to go astray in belief. There is a real danger of this posed by the error, meaning wandering from the path of truth, of unprincipled men, referring to the disgraceful false teachers who are leading people to live in lust (2 Peter 2:2). This is something all believers should remain on watch against, that they might withstand being led astray.
The tragic danger that may result from the error taught by the false teachers is that believers may wander from the path of truth and fall. The word translated fall means to change for the worse from a favorable condition. This favorable condition is described: from your own steadfastness, referring to their own firm commitment to the truth.
If we refer back to the letter’s opening and the progression toward maturity in the Christian faith, we can infer that the 2 Peter 1:5-7 progression toward Christian maturity can also reverse. If we think of the progression as a set of stairs to climb, this tells us that we can fall back down the “stairs.” If we think of the spiritual progression in 2 Peter 1:5-7 as like stair—steps, we would apply “all diligence” (2 Peter 1:5) to climb these metaphorical stairs and would see them as:
If we substitute false teaching for the knowledge of how to be virtuous, we can end up living in greed and lust (2 Peter 2:14).
Peter is exhorting his readers to guard against the erroneous teaching of the false teachers which will result in them wandering from the path of truth. If they do not guard against following their deceptive teaching, they might fall away from their own firm commitment to the truth of God’s Word. We can see from what Peter wrote about the progression of a maturing faith in 2 Peter 1:5-7 that the false teachers are attacking the foundational steps to Christian maturity:
Peter follows his first exhortation about guarding against being led astray by the false teachers with a second exhortation about firmly following Jesus Christ.
He begins his second exhortation, but (v. 18), indicating a contrast to the previous exhortation about maintaining a posture of defense against following false teaching. In addition to maintaining a good defense, he wants them to go on offense. We are to defend as we advance. His readers are exhorted to grow, a word meaning to become greater or increase (1 Peter 2:2): but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen (v. 18).
The verb grow is in the imperative mood which means here Peter is giving his followers a command. His readers are admonished to increase in two areas. First, they are to grow in the grace of Jesus. Grace translates the Greek word “charis” which means “favor,” with context determining who is giving favor and for what reason. In this instance the context is overt, Peter specifies he is speaking of the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To grow in the grace of Jesus likely includes all these applications. To grow in the grace of Jesus, who has fully accepted all who believe, means we grow out of all sense that Jesus would ever condemn or reject us (Romans 8:1). If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31). Even if we are faithless, God is faithful because as believers we are in Christ and He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13, 2 Corinthians 5:17). All who believe get the great privilege of joining His forever family.
To grow in the grace or favor of Jesus by pleasing Him through seeking to live as faithful witnesses leads to gaining rewards that He has promised (2 Peter 1:4, 11, Hebrews 11:6, Revelation 1:3, 3:21). This is to grow in each “step” up the “stairs” of Christian maturity Peter set forth in 2 Peter 1:5-7. While becoming God’s child is simply a matter of having sufficient faith to “look” at Jesus on the cross, hoping to be delivered from the poisonous venom of sin (as Jesus describes in John 3:14-15), growing our walk of faith is a matter of “applying all diligence” as Peter describes in 2 Peter 1:5.
The required “diligence” is to grow in all phases of the metaphorical stairs that lead to Christian maturity as described in 2 Peter 1:5-7:
Peter is intentional in his fivefold description of Christ as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This description is used two other times in this letter (2 Peter 1:11, 2:20).
Not only are believers exhorted to grow in the grace of Christ, they are also exhorted to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The word knowledge (“gnosis” in Greek) means mental comprehension and understanding. “Gnosis” is used four times in Peter’s two letters (1 Peter 3:7, 2 Peter 1:5, 6, 3:18). This kind of knowledge differs from the “true knowledge” of Christ (“epignosis”) which speaks of a deeper, richer, fuller, intimacy with Christ. Peter refers to “epignosis” in 2 Peter 1:2, 3, 8, 2:20.
The verse 18 knowledge that is “gnosis” is the same knowledge in the metaphorical stair—steps that lead to Christian maturity Peter sets forth in 2 Peter 1:5-7. Once we add to faith “moral excellence”—the commitment to acquire virtue—we need knowledge (“gnosis”) that informs and equips us to persevere in living with “self—control,” which leads to “godliness” and ultimately “love” (2 Peter 1:5-7).
It is likely that in highlighting knowledge in the phrase the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Peter expects the reader to understand that the entire metaphorical stairs to Christian maturity is implied. It makes sense to highlight knowledge here since the immediate context refers to false teaching; the knowledge of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is a major antidote for the poison of false teaching.
Peter understands as believers grow in their knowledge (“gnosis”), their mental comprehension and understanding of Christ, and the prophetic truth about His future coming, this will result in motivation to pursue a deeper, richer, fuller intimacy with Christ (“epignosis”). A proper understanding of the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ would motivate us to pursue intimacy with Christ both in this world and the world to come.
This knowledge of our Lord will also better prepare us to guard against being polluted by the teaching of the false teachers and help us escape participating in the ruin that awaits them. This letter ends with a final praise acknowledging: To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity (v. 18).
To Him refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. The phrase be the glory acknowledges the reality of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The Greek word “doxa,” translated glory, refers to the observed true essence of something. We can see this in 1 Corinthians 15:41, which speaks of the moon and sun differing in their glory (“doxa”). The sun and moon differ in glory because they differ in essence.
God’s glory is clearly observable by what He made. We see this in Psalm 19, which asserts that the “heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” (Psalm 19:1). We also see from Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made.”
Thus, the reality is that all things He created tell of God’s glory. So when Peter says To Him be the glory it is both an acknowledgement of the reality of God as well as an acknowledgment that we, as creatures made in His image, have as a part of our proper place in creation to observe the works of His hands and properly attribute that all things tell of God’s glory.
In 1 Peter 4, Peter states this:
“Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
(1 Peter 4:11)
In saying that glory “belongs” to Jesus Christ, there is a recognition that God’s essence is seen in all that is. But in saying that “God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” when any believer “is serving by the strength which God supplies,” Peter is also saying that when believers walk by the Spirit in the obedience of Christ, they show God’s essence to others because “God supplies” the strength to believers to walk in His ways.
There is a humility in saying To Him be the glory. Humility is the willingness to seek and embrace reality. Saying To Him be the glory acknowledges the reality that God is the Creator. He made all that is and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:16-17). In saying To Him be the glory we acknowledge this reality. In saying both now and to the day of eternity, we add to the current reality an acknowledgement of a future reality, namely that every knee will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:10).
At the current time, God has veiled His presence sufficiently such that if we seek to see Him, He is everywhere (Psalm 19:1-4, Romans 1:20). But if we desire not to see Him, we can harden our hearts, and our eyes and hearts will be darkened (Romans 1:21).
Honor and recognition belong to the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Peter 4:11) both now, referring to the present time, and to the day of eternity, referring to the time when the eternal new heavens and new earth are created (2 Peter 3:12-13, Revelation 21:1-2). We could apply this verse to say that since in the day of eternity God’s glory will be acknowledged, that we ought to acknowledge it now as well.
This last mention of the day of eternity is a fitting conclusion to Peter’s second letter, which was written to motivate believers to move toward spiritual maturity in light of the reality of the coming judgement and Christ’s return. Spiritual maturity comes by following the stair—steps that lead to maturity (2 Peter 1:5-7). Spiritual maturity comes by the purification that comes through prophetic truth (2 Peter 1:12-21). It is the knowledge of the truth that protects believers from the way of apostasy promoted by false teachers (Chapter 2).
The believer’s progress toward maturity leads from intellectual knowledge (“gnosis”) to intimate relationship (“epignosis”). There is immense benefit to gaining a future reward of sharing Christ’s glory through the rewards He gives (2 Peter 1:11). But we do not have to wait for eternal rewards; we can gain immediate benefit from choosing to climb the stair—steps to Christian maturity. Faithfully following this process leads us to gain the great privilege of experiencing a deeper, richer, fuller, fellowship with the Lord in the present time, what Peter calls “epignosis,” which translates as “the true knowledge” of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:8).
Jesus painted a similar picture to the idea of “stair—steps” to maturity. Jesus said that there is a way that is “narrow” or difficult that “leads to life.” “Life” in this sense is connection with God’s design for us. It is God’s will that we walk in faith and be sanctified, or set apart, from the world through obedience to His ways (1 Thessalonians 4:3). This restores us to live in God’s design for us.
Believers are spiritually birthed into God’s family solely by receiving a new birth by grace, through faith in Christ (John 3:3, 14-15). Then just as with physical birth, whether we fulfill our potential and grow into maturity depends on our choices. Peter has admonished us to see reality as it is, and in light of the looming judgment and the glory of God, to choose to climb the difficult stairs to maturity. To gain spiritual maturity leads us to fully experience life.
The “epignosis” or “true knowledge” of Christ is intimate fellowship with Him. As Jesus said in this prayer, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). The fullest experience of life in this life as well as the next comes through walking in obedience to Christ. In heaven, God’s will is done. Jesus taught us to pray that His will be done on earth as well. When we grow into Christian maturity, we live in God’s will (1 Thessalonians 4:3).
Peter has set forth the challenges and obstacles we will encounter for any believer as they grow in Christian maturity. We will be presented with lies and deceit. Peter, in the Spirit’s power, has given us a path to follow that leads to the true knowledge of Christ.
May we have eyes to see and follow in the ways of truth!