In his second letter Peter describes himself both as Simon and as a servant, in order to show that he was humble and obedient. In his first letter he confined himself to the name Peter, which had been given to him by the Lord himself and signified that he was the chief of the apostles, but here he reverts to his original name Simon in order to show those who preferred to forget his Jewish origins that he had not rejected them.

Notice how right from the start Peter encourages the souls of the believers by raising them up to the same spiritual level as that of the apostles. For the grace of baptism is the same in every believer.

Simon may also be written as Simeon, of which it is the diminutive form. Compare Metras and Metrodorus, Menas and Menodorus, Theudas and Theodosius. Right from the beginning, Peter lifts up the hearts and minds of believers, encouraging us also to share in the apostles’ zeal for preaching. For it would be unjust to suggest that those who have received this gift a little later in time are somehow inferior to them, when they have officially been declared to be their equals in honor.

There is nothing to equal this, which is why we pray and seek after the angel of peace. Everywhere we pray for peace in the churches—in the prayers, in the supplications and in the sermons. And the Guardian of the church gives it to us not once or twice but many times over: Peace be unto you.^[1] Why? Because peace is the mother of all good things and the foundation of our joy. For this reason Christ taught his disciples that when they entered people’s houses they were to say: Peace be unto you.^[2] Without peace everything else is useless.

This is not the peace of the world but the peace which comes from knowing God. For the only true peace is the one which delivers us from our transgression and enmity against God. It is the same peace which Christ gave his disciples when he was about to go to the Father, and when he rose again from the dead.^[1]

Here Peter is talking about the Scriptures, the miracles which Christ did in the flesh, the work of baptism and the doctrine which was preached, all of which bring us into the enjoyment of eternal life.

This verse follows on what has gone before, because it is by the knowledge of our Lord and Savior that we come to understand all the mysteries of his divinity, by which we have been saved. For he did not send an angel or an archangel to save us, nor did he find anything in us which might allow us to contribute to our own salvation, but when he saw that we were weak and had nothing to boast of, he came in his own glory and power and redeemed us.

Grace and peace are the means by which God gives us everything we need in order to live godly lives.

What is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit?^[1] Peter describes this by calling it sharing in the divine nature.

The word of Christ bestows immortality.^[1] But immortality is the companion of divinity, because divinity is immortal, and so immortality is the result of partaking in the divine nature.

When Christ’s body and blood become the tissue of our members, we become Christ-bearers and partakers of the divine nature, as the blessed Peter said.

Since the Christian is conscious of having been made a partaker of the divine nature, as blessed Peter says in his second epistle, he must measure the nature of God not by the laws of our own nature, but evaluate the divine truths in accordance with the magnificence of God’s testimony concerning himself.

The fact is that God made humankind a partaker of the divine nature, as we read in the second epistle of Peter. He granted us a relationship with himself, and we have a rational nature which makes us able to seek what is divine, which is not far from each one of us, in whom we live and are and move.

Realize your dignity, O Christian! Once you have been made a partaker of the divine nature, do not return to your former baseness by a life unworthy of that dignity. Remember whose head it is and whose body of which you constitute a member!

Just as God stepped out of his nature to become a partaker of our humanity, so we are called to step out of our nature to become partakers of his divinity.

The greater your knowledge of God becomes, the more you will realize the magnitude of his promises. When God blesses us, he changes our very being so that whatever we were by nature is transformed by the gift of his Holy Spirit, so that we may truly become partakers of his nature.

God has blessed us abundantly—that is the meaning of this passage. We have received thousands of good things as a result of Christ’s coming, and through them we can become partakers of the divine nature and be turned toward life and godliness. Therefore we must behave in such a way as to add virtue to faith, and in virtue walk along the way which leads to godliness until we come to the perfection of all good things, which is love.

When Peter talks about virtue here, he does not mean the power to perform miracles but the strength to lead a good life, which means putting our faith into practice. If we fail to do this, our faith is dead and we become aiders and abettors of those who want to destroy any good works we may have done.

Peter lays out here the order which we are to follow to come into full maturity. First of all comes faith, which is the foundation and source of all good works. Next comes virtue, by which he means good works, for without them faith is dead, as Saint James said.^[1] Next comes knowledge. What is that? It is an understanding of the secret things hidden in God which are not revealed to everyone, but only to those who continue faithfully in the works already mentioned.

Those who fast must be very careful to make sure that in running away from the desires of the stomach they do not give birth to vices which are much worse, almost as if their virtue were producing them. For it is easy to mortify the flesh but at the same time to become very impatient in spirit, and this impatience upsets the minds of many who abstain from the desires of the world.

As people learn to do good, so they will soon stop doing evil. If anyone does not do so his knowledge of heavenly things disappears as if in a vacuum. Self-control requires steadfastness, because whoever has learned to stay away from the pleasures of this world needs the willpower to go on doing so. The person who reaches that point of self-discipline may truly be called godly.

Next in the list comes abstinence, or temperance. This is necessary in order to ensure that those who get this far are not carried away by the magnitude of the gift they have received and become haughty as a result. Patience follows next, because it takes time to acquire temperance, and without patience a person is liable to give up and fall into something even worse than what he has been delivered from. Patience increases our trust in God, which is why godliness comes next.

The only context in which godliness has any meaning is that of brotherly love. You cannot win people to Christ merely by arguing them into the kingdom. It is necessary to practice godliness by prayer and good works. Charity here means the love of God, because we cannot love God without loving our neighbor, nor can we love our neighbor without loving God. The love of God is greater than the love of our neighbor, which is why we have to practice it with all our heart, mind and strength.

The more we are like God, the more we are compelled by that likeness to love others, which is why brotherly love is next in the list. Finally, there is charity, the perfection of all virtues, as Paul also confirms.^[1]

These things, as well as those already mentioned, namely, virtue, knowledge, continence, patience, godliness, brotherly love and charity, must not only be present in us, they must be present to overflowing. For if their presence is a good thing, how much more their abundance! What advantage do these things have, and what will it mean to have assurance on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ? Peter is speaking here of his second coming, when Christ will come to judge the living and the dead. Before the great and terrible judgment seat of God, what a good and wonderful thing it will be to have assurance of being acquitted!

Those who have chosen to live the glorious and beloved way of life devised by Christ must first be adorned with simple and unblemished faith, and then add virtue to their faith. When this has been done, they must strive to enrich their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and ascend to the most complete understanding of him.

What are the qualities which we possess? They are faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly love and charity, all of which must not only be present in us but present in abundance.

When we hear these things, we must fortify ourselves and obey what is said, and cleanse ourselves from earthly things. If we do that, we shall share in his blessings, and we shall not need anything else. But if we do not obey, we shall be destroyed. What difference does it make whether we are destroyed through wealth or through laziness? Or if not through laziness, through cowardice? For when a farmer destroys his crop, it hardly matters how he does it. On the other hand, he will raise us up to do all the good works which he has predicted we shall do. Therefore it is necessary that once someone has been cleansed and has partaken of holiness, that he hold on to it through thick and thin, for without it he will not see the Lord.

If these virtues are present, we can see God, but if they are absent, we are blind.

The eye stands for knowledge and the hand for action. A blind man who tries to act is someone who does not know what he should be doing. Lacking the light of truth, he puts his hand to something which he cannot understand and goes down a road which he cannot see, with the result that he ends up in a complete wreck. The person who lacks the things which Peter mentions here is just like that.

This person ought to realize that he has been cleansed by holy baptism and that now he is expected to pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.^[1]

Peter is telling us that we should not be content with our baptism but should go on and grow in our faith.

Lest you be judged unmindful of God’s gift, you must stand fast, having a sure calling.

Jesus said: Many are called but few are chosen.^[1] The calling of all those who come to faith is certain, but those who consistently add good works to the sacraments of faith which they have received are the ones who make their calling and election certain in the eyes of those who observe them. The opposite is also true, for those who go back to their crimes after they have been called and who die in their sins make it clear to everyone that they are damned.

What are we supposed to do in order to avoid falling? The answer is clear from what is written above—we are to practice virtue, knowledge, temperance and so on.

Here Peter reminds us that the entrance into heaven is the narrow way of following God’s commandments.

This verse reminds us of Ezekiel [40:31], which says: Its stairway had eight steps. The reason for this connection is that here Peter lists the eight steps of virtue by which those of us who are fleeing the corruption of worldly lust must ascend if we are to enter the heavenly kingdom.

Notice that the person who was once led by his terrible deeds straight into the judge’s courtroom is now welcomed because of his good deeds into the eternal kingdom of the Lord.

The people to whom Peter is writing already know what he has to say because they have read his first letter. The truth which he has to share with them is the New Testament, for as Paul said: The old has passed away, and all things are made new in Christ.^[1]

Peter repeats what he has already said about virtue and the commandments consequent on it, through which we shall enter the kingdom of heaven with great assurance. Notice how, when speaking of the kingdom of heaven, Peter first goes over the things we should be afraid of and then over the good things, ending up with the judgment seat.

Why did Peter want to go on reminding people of these things, when he says that they know them and are already established in the presence of the truth? Perhaps the reason was that he wanted them to turn their head knowledge into practical action and maintain the truth which they knew they had, in order to escape being led away from the purity and simplicity of their faith by teachers of heresy, of whom he has a good deal to say in the course of his letter. Compare what Peter says to John’s statement in his first epistle: I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it.^[1] The apostles wrote to people who knew the truth already and exhorted them to live up to what they knew. As John added a little further on: Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.^[2]

Peter tells his hearers that they already know what he is talking about, so that they will not think that it is because they are lazy that they have to be constantly reminded of these things and get upset as a result.

Peter thought that it was right to call Gentiles to faith, but the Jews did not. This is why he expresses himself like this here.

Peter calls his body a tent because we normally use tents when we are on a journey or in combat. Those who believe are rightly said to be dwelling in tents as long as they are in the body and distant from the Lord, because it is in this bodily tent that they are journeying through life and fighting the enemies of the truth.

Some think that Peter was saying this in order to ensure that even after his death his hearers would still remember what he was saying to them and go on practicing it. Others say that Peter’s intention was simply to leave a record behind him, so that it could be referred to after his death, for he was not condemning their inadequacy in matters of faith but merely confirming them in the way which they were already pursuing.

The Lord Jesus showed Peter that his end was near either by a revelation through the Holy Spirit or by his response to Peter when he said: Get behind me, Satan^[1] or perhaps by dreams and visions in the night.

Peter has a wonderful way of describing his death, not as the end but as a putting off of this earthly tent, because going to be with the Lord is like coming home from a journey and exchanging the tent for the comforts of home. The only home a believer has is in heaven.

Peter explains that he keeps repeating the same things to his hearers because he knows that his end is coming quickly and that he will soon be delivered from his body.

By writing to them often Peter hoped to leave something behind him after his death.

The reason why we have to remember these things is that we hope that Christ will soon come back and transform our present life.

The constructions of the heretics are myths and human fantasies, which Paul wants us to avoid, as he writes: Warn a heretic once or twice, and after that have nothing to do with him.^[1] Peter is here already starting to do battle against the heretics. To the extent that they do not possess the truth, heretics are obliged to concoct a lie by using flowery words. But we are not like that, he says, because we saw the truth with our eyes when we were with him on the mountain. Therefore we have the prophets who have proclaimed the same truth to us, and even better, as we came to behold ourselves, the Word came to us. What the prophets foretold, Christ fulfilled when he appeared. We were witnesses of this, and we heard the Father’s testimony also.

In this verse Peter strikes out at pagans and at heretics as well. Pagans were not afraid to divinize anything they happened to like, whereas heretics, although they received the mysteries of the true God, paid no attention to the teaching of Scripture but by wrongly interpreting it did their best to twist it to suit their own falsehoods.

Peter says that he has not invented stories like those of the Valentinians^[1] but merely handed on the teaching of Christ in simple and humble words, as Paul also told the Corinthians he was doing.^[2]

The one who received glory and honor was not inferior to the one who bestowed these things, because it was in his human flesh that the Son received them, not in his eternal divinity.

There used to be many people who thought that this letter was not written by Peter. But it is enough to read this verse, and you will soon see that it was Peter who stood with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. It is therefore the same Peter who heard the voice testifying to the Lord who wrote this letter.

Peter knew that Jesus received the Father’s confirmation from heaven on three different occasions, in his baptism, at his passion and on the mountain. However, this was the one which he himself witnessed.

Tradition says that the transfiguration took place on Mt. Tabor.

This was the third time this happened. The first was at Jesus’ baptism, and the second was when the Son cried to the Father: Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with you before the foundation of the world.^[1] The transfiguration was therefore the third time.

Those who doubt that Peter wrote this letter need to pay careful attention to this verse and to the one which follows, because the eyewitness testimony makes it clear that no one else could have written it.

The blessed apostle Peter, with two other disciples of Christ the Lord, James and John, was up the mountain with the Lord himself and heard a voice coming down from heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him^[1] To remind us of this and draw it to our attention, the same apostle referred to it in his letter and went on to add that all this confirmed the message of the prophets. The voice echoed from heaven, and the prophetic word was thus made more certain.

For those who have died in the faith, the light-bearing lamp has risen and the day dawns, according to the Scriptures, and to them the light of truth is sent, which is the face of the Holy Spirit.

The light which shone on them was the light of Scripture.

The prophets of the New and of the Old Testament spoke in the same Spirit. If it is true that some things were saved to be revealed in the New Testament, it is also true that the prophets of the Old Testament were commanded to be silent about them. For prophets are not what they are merely because of what they say. Their whole being proclaims their calling. Willingly and knowingly they ministered to the word which came to them, for no such word ever came by the will of man. Rather it was conveyed by God to men, and the men who received it ministered to it. Thus even Balaam was commanded to speak what had been given to him, even though he had the power not to say anything if he did not want to. Jonah is another example of the same phenomenon.

In the night of this world, so full of dark temptations, where there is hardly anyone who does not sin, what would become of us if we did not have the lamp of the prophetic word? Will this word always be necessary? No. It is only necessary until the daylight comes. Right now we have a night lamp because we are children of God, and in comparison with the ungodly, we are the very daylight itself. But if we compare what we are now with what we shall be in the future, then we are still in darkness and need this lamp.

You must take care when interpreting the Scriptures not to be too greatly fixated upon the places, times and people who wrote them down, as if they were merely human compositions. Rather you ought to rely on the clarity and sufficiency of the Spirit.

The prophets heard God speaking to them in the secret recesses of their own hearts. They simply conveyed that message by their preaching and writing to God’s people. They were not like pagan oracles, which distorted the divine message in their own interest, for they did not write their own words but the words of God. For this reason the reader cannot interpret them by himself, because he is liable to depart from the true meaning, but rather he must wait to hear how the One who wrote the words wants them to be understood.

This means that the prophets received their prophecies from God and transmitted what he wanted to say, not what they wanted. They were fully aware that the message had been given to them, and they made no attempt to put their own interpretation on it. If they could not bring themselves to accept what the Spirit had said to them, then they kept their mouths shut, as Jonah did, for example, when he refused to preach to Nineveh,^[1] and Balaam also did when he was commanded to say what had been communicated to him.^[2]

Peter does not say that the prophets interpreted their own sayings. They were not speaking to themselves but serving the Holy Spirit. What is the interpretation of their words if not the works which Christ revealed when he came? So if anyone wants to understand the words of the prophets properly, let him obtain faith in Jesus Christ, through which he will recognize the divine message. John bore witness before we did. Christ came from heaven, enlightening everyone. Likewise he showed that the power to prophesy is of the Holy Spirit, as did the apostle Paul when he said: To another [the gift of] prophecy, etc.^[1] So the one who prophesies is undoubtedly speaking with a tongue inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Theoretically it is always possible to predict the future, but the Holy Spirit filled the hearts of the prophets when he wanted to. It was not in their power to teach whatever they wished; rather they taught by the illumination of the Holy Spirit and said only what he told them to. We say this just in case there might be someone who feels the urge to interpret Scripture for himself. Some interpret Peter’s words to mean that the Spirit inspired the prophets in much the same way as the flutist blows into his flute, so that the latter were no more than mechanical instruments in God’s hands, saying what the Spirit told them to say without necessarily understanding or believing it themselves. This is ridiculous. For how could the prophets have given such good counsel to people if they did not know what they were saying? Are prophets not also called seers? How could a prophet possibly have communicated what he saw in secret heavenly visions to a wider audience if he did not fully grasp what it was that he had seen?

The prophets knew that they were inspired by the Holy Spirit, even if they did not always understand the full significance of what they were told. But they were eager to see the outcome of what they did understand, as the Lord himself pointed out.

You see that it is not I who speak great and extraordinary things to your charity, but the Spirit of God who speaks in us. To this Peter, the chief apostle, bears witness when he says that no prophecy ever came by man, but holy men of God spoke, moved by the Holy Spirit. For though we are insignificant and unworthy, far from all holiness and from the holy men of God, yet we cannot deny the power that has been given to us by God.