Hello there, friends of the Most High,
Today, let’s look at one subtle element that can help us have life and godliness:
seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
— 2 Peter 1:3
In Peter’s opening remarks in his second letter to the exiles, he makes a statement that Jesus’ divine power has granted us everything we need for life and godliness. He then states that this granting of all that’s needed for life and godliness is through the full knowledge of God.
What Peter is saying here is that the means by which God ordains to grant us all that we need in order to have life and godliness is access to this knowledge of God.
Before we go further into exploring this knowledge, it’s important to understand these two terms that Peter uses: life and godliness.
Life
The apostle here is speaking about eternal life. It’s a contrast to death, or the state of fallenness that Paul speaks about in his letter to the Ephesians:
And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience,
— Ephesians 2:1-2
Godliness
Godliness means the quality or practice of conforming to the laws and wishes of God; devoutness and moral uprightness. Sometimes the word that Peter uses here for godliness is also translated as piety, which has to do with a reverence for God and hence leading to someone living a life that honors and reveres God.
Paul tells Timothy that godliness is actually something of great value and its effects extend from this life into the next:
for bodily training is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
— 1 Timothy 4:8
Full Knowledge of God
This is a term that we see being mentioned quite a number of times in the scriptures. For example, Paul prays for the believers in Colossae to have the full knowledge of God because then they would be in a place to please God in all respects:
For this reason also, since the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God;
— Colossians 1:9-10
Furthermore, Jesus had a conversation with Peter and his other disciples where he asks them to identify him, and Peter correctly states that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, to which Jesus says that this was divine revelation. Jesus then makes a statement that the church will be built on this specific knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.
And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
— Matthew 16:16-18
What we see here is that it is this knowledge of God which would then be used in building the church of Jesus Christ. This is divine revelation.
In God’s revelation to the prophet Ezekiel, we see that it is God’s own delight that people boast not because of their might, wealth, or wisdom but rather that the only reason one can boast is because they have this knowledge of Him:
Thus says Yahweh, “Let not a wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast in his might; let not a rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Yahweh who shows lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares Yahweh.
— Jeremiah 9:23-24
When the Bible speaks of knowledge in this way, it does not simply refer to a simple awareness that one has of something or someone. Rather, it is about an intimate relationship that one has with someone else. Such is the time when statements like “Cain knew his wife and bore a child” are made. This knowledge has a connotation of intimacy, a deep connection between the parties involved, like a husband and a wife.
Such is this full knowledge of God. It is not merely an awareness of information about God, but rather a personal, salvific, intimate relationship with God. Where the believer desires to know God deeply, to know what pleases God, to know His will, to know His word, to know the mind and heart of God, and to live a life that is in step with the convictions that come from having this knowledge. Such is the relationship between the believer and God.
Another notable aspect of this knowledge is that it is revealed by God. Man cannot arrive at this knowledge by simply reading books and doing research. There is a divine element to the acquisition of this knowledge in the true sense.
This is the reason we see Jesus saying it was not flesh and blood that revealed this knowledge to Peter but His Father who is in heaven (Matthew 16:18). It is also why the apostle Paul prays to God that the Colossian believers come to a full knowledge of the will of God. It is also why God himself says He permitted Himself to be sought and found by a people who were neither seeking nor asking:
“I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’
To a nation which did not call on My name.
— Isaiah 65:1
What this tells us is that left to ourselves, we do not wish to know God. It is only through the illumination by the Holy Spirit that we find ourselves with this desire for the full knowledge of God that leads to life and godliness.
We finally see that Peter’s desire for the believers that he is sending his epistle to is that grace and peace be multiplied in the full knowledge of Christ, which he later states is what they need to have life and godliness:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
— 2 Peter 1:2
Remember this:
- The full knowledge of God leads to life and godliness.
- Acquiring this full knowledge is a divine work of God, not of flesh and blood.
- Let us continue to pray to be filled with the full knowledge of God.
I pray that this word humbles us, knowing that it is by grace that we come to know God.
May grace and peace increase to you,
Paul
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