3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
The themes introduced at the start of the letter (see previous post) are continued here. These two verses provide a bridge towards the main part of the letter. Here we can see very clearly the influence of Greek culture for many of the terms used seem to come directly from Greek rather than from Hebrew originally. It seems likely that the author had a high level of Greek (which means he could not have been the apostle Peter) and was writing to native Greek speakers. The danger of this is that sometimes the letter sounds a bit pompous.
The main purpose of this passage is to describe all that God has done for humans through Jesus. Through God, we can escape the corruption of the world but this does not mean we should live in withdrawal from the world. As Francis Moloney wrote: “We do not become holy despite our everyday life, but because of it.” God gives us the ability to be holy; we do nothing ourselves to achieve holiness. He gives us knowledge of himself that we can’t know on our own, but we must use this knowledge to make every aspect of our life holy.
Christian life should be one of joy for that is what God wants for us. The joy and love of the Christian community is a sign that we truly understand God. But this world is not our only life and it is full of dangers so we must not simply long for happiness here. God has made us promises of a future life with him. Indeed, he has given us, through Christ, a share in divine life. Through knowledge of God and acceptance of his gifts, we can live a virtuous life here on earth and share in the divine life. But we must never forget that we also look forward to a perfected world afterwards.
St. Joseph's Paris: Bible Study Website 