dhs

It is helpful to read this verse backward: Christ has called us by his power and righteousness. This calling, as Peter has already stressed, comes to us by way of "knowing" or "getting to know" Christ, i.e. there is an understanding of Christ, his work and our need and a growing relationship to Christ. This "relational knowledge" can develop further in the context of a new life focussed on God, and everyting needed for that has been given to us. Life is meant comprehensively, but still there is a focus on a certain type of life here. "Everything we need for life" does not mean that Christians will never suffer loss or poverty or crises. But it means that God will give us everything we need (and don't have) to enable us to live a life of character and closeness to him in the midst of different circumstances. I certainly do believe that God can change circumstances as well - but I don't think it holds true very often, that we actually "need" the change to be able to live a God-focussed life. Here the statement is that God will give us all we need.

Hello everyone. I see Peter trying to identify with his readers, to meet them on the same level. His self-designation is carefully balanced: "Servant and apostle of Christ" - he doesn't make himself smaller than he is (yes, he is an apostle, and that will become important later in the letter), but he also makes clear that he is no more than a servant of Christ, giving Christ the place of authority. In the next sentence, then, he uses this primary authority structure between Christ and him to emphasize the equality of his readers' faith and his: "You have received faith from a gracious God, and so have I. I may have had the privilege of having known Christ personally, but before God I am still a rescued sinner just like you." His purpose, I think, is both didactic and theological: On the one hand he is establishing a relationship w/ his readers in which he appears not as their lord or judge, but as their coach, friend and brother. He is with them, not above them. On the other hand, he is already teaching them: Faith is a gift from an all-powerful God to powerless people. Faith enables us to do good, but doing good can never alter our stance before God. Peter is laying the necessary foundation for what he is going to say about spiritual growth.