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2Pet.1:1. Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, who received with us the equally precious faith in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Simon is an abbreviated name for Simeon, as is Miter - Mitrodora, Mina - Minodora, Theudas - Theodosius. From the very beginning, the apostle awakens the thoughts and souls of believers, encouraging them to try to be equal to the apostles in the work of preaching. For then, since all have received equally precious grace, it would be unjust to lack something in which all were found to be equal. The Apostle constantly wishes the believers the peace that Christ gave them after His resurrection from the dead and during His departure to the Father, crying out: “Peace be with you” (John 20, 19, 21, 26; Luke 24, 36). And in church we pray to the Lord to give us the “angel of peace,” and the priest from the holy altar gives “peace” to the people; because peace is the mother of all blessings. Therefore, the Lord commanded His disciples that when entering houses, they should first of all give “peace” (Matthew 10:12; Luke 10:5). 2Pet.1:2. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord. The connection is this: to you who, in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord, have received with us the equally precious faith, according to the righteousness of our God, grace and peace be multiplied. 2Pet.1:3. Just as His Divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and goodness, 2 Peter 1:4. by which are given to us great and precious promises, The connection is this: may grace and peace be multiplied to you, since everything that is necessary for life and godliness, in the knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus, by His divine power, by this grace, has been given to you for the knowledge of glory and virtue, for which the greatest promises have been given, so that you, moving away from worldly corruption, which is committed through lust, may become partakers of the Divine nature. Otherwise. The presentation is lengthy, but the idea is this: by the power of Christ, having received countless benefits, we can become partakers of the Divine nature and achieve life and piety; Therefore, we must live in such a way as to add virtue to faith and through virtue to progress in piety, until we achieve the most perfect good, which is love. We became partakers of the Divine nature through the appearance of the Lord and God, Who united the firstfruits of our nature in Himself and sanctified it through perception; if the first fruit is holy, then the whole is holy. so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust: The connection is this: so that you, having freed yourself from worldly corruption, which takes place in carnal lust, become partakers of the Divine nature, for “having departed” means the same as “having been freed.” The consequence of worldly lust is called “corruption” because it is formed and revolves around corrupted objects. 2 Peter 1:5. then, applying all your diligence to this, show virtue in your faith, prudence in virtue, 2 Peter 1:6. in prudence there is self-control, in self-control there is patience, in patience there is godliness, 2 Peter 1:7. in godliness there is brotherly love, in brotherly love there is love. Shows degrees of success. Faith comes first, since it is the foundation and support of good. In second place is virtue, that is, works, for without them, as the Apostle James says: “faith is dead” (James 2:26). Next is prudence. What kind of prudence? Knowledge of the hidden secrets of God, which is not accessible to everyone, but only to those who constantly practice good deeds. Then abstinence. For the one who has reached the indicated measure also needs it, so that he does not become proud of the greatness of the gift. And just as with short-term abstinence one cannot strengthen one’s gift (for the passions, despite the freedom that restrains them, always like to strive for the worse), then patience must be surpassed. It will bring about everything, and will pacify piety and perfect trust in God. Brotherly love will be added to piety, and to all this love, which the Apostle Paul calls “the totality of perfection” (Col. 3:14). For love showed its power both over the Son of God and over His Father: it disposed the Father to give His Beloved (John 3:16), and the Son to shed His Blood for us (1 John 3:16). 2 Peter 1:8. If this is in you and multiplies, then you will not remain without success and fruit in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. What is this" ? Faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, piety, brotherly love, love, which must not only exist, but also increase. For if acquiring them is useful, then multiplying them is much more useful. What is the use of them? The one who has them is safe at the second coming of the Lord. For whoever does not have them, blindness will follow when the Judge comes in glory and shines like the sun; even if vision somehow survives, it will not be able to look harmlessly at the immeasurable brilliance, for the excessive brilliance of light usually darkens the weak eye looking at it. 2 Peter 1:9. And whoever does not have this is blind, has closed his eyes, and has forgotten about the cleansing of his previous sins. 2 Peter 1:10. Therefore, brethren, strive more and more to make your calling and election firm; Blind (μυωπάζων). This expression refers to mice (μυων), which remain constantly blind underground. The saying of the Apostle Peter is similar to that said by the Apostle James, namely: “whoever hears the word and does not do it is like a man looking at the natural features of his face in a mirror” (James 1:23). For having learned that through cleansing by holy baptism he was washed from a multitude of sins, he must know that along with cleansing he also received holiness, he must stay awake in order to thus preserve that sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord; but he forgot. Therefore, he says, my brethren, “try more and more to make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10); that is, the catechumen teaching that you heard at the time of your election, and be blameless in your calling, so that you are not condemned for forgetting the gift of God, but remain firm in your calling. If you do this, you will never stumble, 2 Peter 1:11. for in this way free entry into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be opened for you. 2 Peter 1:12. That's why I will never stop reminding you of this, About what – “about this”? About the above, namely: virtue, knowledge and so on. Note how before the apostle wanted to motivate with fear - the coming of the Judge, but now he convinces with the promise of good things - entrance into the eternal Kingdom of God. although you know this and are established in the present truth. 2 Peter 1:13. I consider it fair, while I am in this bodily church, to excite you with a reminder, 2 Peter 1:14. knowing that I must soon leave my church, just as our Lord Jesus Christ revealed to me. So that, with a constant reminder of the same thing, they would not think that they were being condemned for idleness, and would not be saddened, the apostle added: “even though you know and are established in the present truth.” And to explain the reason for the constant reminder, he added that he knew that permission from his body would soon follow. 2 Peter 1:15. I will try to ensure that even after my departure you always bring this to mind. Some understand this with the following rearrangement of words: “I will try, even after my departure, to always bring you to memory,” that is, to remember every day and continuously, and from here they derive the idea that the saints, even after death, remember those who remain here and pray for the living. The justice of this is seen daily by those who call on the divine grace of the saints. Some people understand this way; but others understand differently. The latter read and understand this verse simply: I will try to ensure that even after my departure you always remember this, that is, we continuously repeat the same thing to you in order to turn it into a habit for you, so that through constant and unchanging assimilation of this you will get rid of the accusation of disobedience and ignorance, but even after my death you will keep the testament about this firmly and unchangeably. 2 Peter 1:16. For we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, not by following cunningly woven fables, but by being eyewitnesses of His majesty. Demanding strict attention on the part of believers to their gospel and insisting on this for a long time, although they know and have heard it more than once, the apostle now says: it is not in vain that I dwell on this, but because I realize the full importance of this. Why? Because when we proclaimed to you the power and the coming of the Lord, we did not use human wisdom in dealing with you and did not deceive your ears with eloquence, like the pagans and heretics. For the pagans deceive with beauty and poems, and heretics with fiction (probably they were already beginning to appear then). Nothing of the sort can be suspected of us. For we taught you the teaching in simple, unsophisticated words, just as Paul says to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 2:4, 13), and we taught you what we saw with our own eyes when we ascended the holy mountain with Him. The Apostle speaks of the glory of the Only Begotten, which was revealed to the apostles at the Transfiguration, and of the voice of the Father, which they heard descending upon the Lord from heaven from the Father. And since we learned from the very deeds what was foretold by the prophets, we consider their prophecy to be the most accurate. For the words were justified by events. Therefore, you are doing well that you listen to prophecy, that is, to the predictions of the prophets, although the prophets at one time did not speak entirely clearly. 2 Peter 1:17. For He received honor and glory from God the Father when such a voice came to Him from the magnificent glory: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 2 Peter 1:18. And we heard this voice coming from heaven while we were with Him on the holy mountain. Not because there is any prophecy about the voice of the Father descending from heaven, but because from this voice of the Father from heaven, testifying to the sonship of Jesus Christ, we are convinced that everything revealed through the prophets indisputably refers to the One to whom the Father testifies. And we know the Father’s testimony about the sonship of our Lord Jesus Christ three times: one - at Baptism (Matthew 3:17), the other - before suffering, when it is said: “I also glorified it, and I will glorify it again” (John 12:28). And the third - on Mount Tabor (Matthew 17:5). 2 Peter 1:19. And besides, we have the most faithful prophetic word; and you do well to turn to him as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day begins to dawn and the morning star rises in your hearts. By listening, he says, to the predictions of the prophets, you will not be deceived in your hope. For in due time they will be justified by the very works, which the apostle called “day,” continuing the figurative speech, for he immediately spoke about the lamp, about the dark place, which is the night. So, when, he says, the “day” comes, that is, the manifestation of events, then “the morning star will rise in your hearts,” that is, the coming of Christ, foretold by the prophets, and how true light will illuminate your hearts. 2 Peter 1:20. knowing first of all that no prophecy in Scripture can be resolved by oneself. 2 Peter 1:21. For prophecy was never uttered by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke it, being moved by the Holy Spirit. The prophets understood what and what the Spirit of prophecy inspired them with, but not so clearly and accurately how everything in particular was fulfilled. Therefore, they “desired to see,” the fulfillment, as the Lord said (Luke 10:24). The Apostle explains why the prophets did not interpret their sayings, and at the same time shows the difference between true prophecy and demonic and fictitious prophecy, which is accepted by heretics. “For prophecy was never spoken by the will of man” (2 Peter 1:21), this means: prophets receive prophecy from God, but not as they want, but as the Spirit of God acts; they recognized and understood the prophetic word sent down to them, but did not explain it. That the prophets, during the action of the Spirit of God on them, were aware that a word was being sent down to them from the Spirit of God, is evident from the fact that they submitted voluntarily, and what they wanted, they expressed, and what they did not want, they kept silent about. Not so with false prophets. They were not conscious during the action, but driven into a frenzy, like drunken people, they did not know what was happening to them. The holy prophets, although they understood, had no need to explain their predictions, both because they served others, namely us, and so that the coming of the Lord would be hidden and not subject to slander from the wicked. It could have avoided slander by the power of the Lord; but, probably, the work of the accomplished incarnation would seem illusory if several times such avoidance was an unusual method. That this is true is evident from the example of the New Testament prophets, who prophesied and explained themselves, although not everything. For there is nothing of this kind to be feared in the New Testament. And that the prophets did not prophesy in a frenzy is clear from the following. The prophets of the Old and New Testaments prophesied by one Spirit. And the Apostle Paul says: “If there is a revelation to another of those sitting, then the first should be silent” (1 Cor. 14:30). From this it is clear that the prophets prophesied voluntarily while remaining in the state of nature. Therefore, when another inspired one stood up, the one who spoke first was commanded to remain silent, which no one will find in those who are raging. For how can one remain silent who does not know what he is doing? That the Holy Spirit acts in the prophets, the same Apostle Paul speaks about this: “to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom... to another prophecy” (1 Cor. 12:8, 10). You might be interested in: