Second Peter 1:2 says, “Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” In this verse there are also two crucial points. The first is related to grace and peace. The words grace to you and peace in verse 2 indicate that grace and peace come to us. After grace and peace come to us, they will be multiplied in the sphere of the full knowledge of God and our Lord and by the means of this full knowledge. Because a wonderful portion—the Triune God Himself—has been allotted to us, grace and peace have come to us. Grace is the enjoyment of our portion of the New Testament inheritance, which is actually the processed Triune God. In simple terms, grace is the enjoyment of the Triune God.
Peace is the condition that results from grace. To have grace and peace is to have the enjoyment of the Triune God and the issue of this enjoyment. When we enjoy the Triune God, the result is a tranquil condition or situation with both God and man.
The second crucial point in verse 2 concerns the words in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. As in verse 1, the preposition in here means “in the sphere of, or by means of.” Grace and peace come to us in a sphere and by a particular means—the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. The full knowledge of the Triune God is for our participation in and enjoyment of His divine life and divine nature. It is not a mere doctrinal knowledge; it is an experiential knowledge, a knowledge that is full.
The Greek word rendered “full knowledge” is composed of the word gnosis plus the prefix epi, which means “upon.” This word indicates a thorough, experiential knowledge. This kind of knowledge is not superficial or general. Rather, it is a knowledge that is deep, thorough, and experiential. This is not simply a mental knowledge; it is experiential knowledge in our spiritual understanding and apprehension. The full knowledge of God and of Christ is a deep, practical, thorough, and experiential knowledge of God and our Lord. This full knowledge is both the sphere in which and the means by which the Triune God can be enjoyed by us in order that we may have a peaceful situation with Him and with all men.
Grace and peace came to us through the God-allotted faith, which substantiates the life-blessing of the New Testament (v. 1). This faith was infused into us through the word of God, which conveys to us the real knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. In the sphere of the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, and by means of this increasing and increased knowledge, the grace and peace that we have received will be multiplied.
In his Epistles Paul frequently says, “Grace to you and peace” (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2; Phil. 1:2). In 2 Peter 1:2, after saying, “Grace to you and peace,” Peter adds the expression be multiplied. This expression indicates that grace and peace are not light or small; they are within us, multiplying all the time. We need to sense that the divine grace and peace are daily multiplying within us. Moreover, Peter says in verse 2 that grace and peace are multiplied “in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” At the end of this Epistle, Peter tells us to grow in the “knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (3:18). In a very real sense, we the believers do know God and Jesus, but we need to realize that our knowledge of God and of Jesus may be inadequate. Among a great many believers, there is a great shortage in knowing the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—and His New Testament economy. Multiplication of grace and peace within us is according to the increase of our knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. We must have the full knowledge of God and Jesus Christ in order that grace and peace in us would be multiplied. For this reason, the burden of the ministry in the Lord’s recovery is to help the believers to come to the full knowledge of the Triune God and His economy (1 Tim. 2:4).
In 2 Peter 1:3 Peter speaks of “His divine power.” The pronoun His is singular, but in verse 2 there are two antecedents of this pronoun—God and Jesus our Lord. If we study the Word carefully and properly, we will pay attention to the fact that in verse 2 we have two antecedents for the singular pronoun His in verse 3. This indicates that our Lord Jesus is God Himself and that our God is actually the Lord Jesus. Otherwise, Peter would have said, “As Their divine power has granted to us all things.”
We have seen that grace is multiplied as His divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness. Life is within for us to live, and godliness is without as the outward expression of the inward life. Life is the inward energy, inward strength, to bring forth the outward godliness. All things relating to life within and godliness without have already been given to us by the divine power. Now grace must be multiplied according to the giving of this divine power.