Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Peter 1:5

καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο δέ. The two passages usually quoted to exemplify the use of αὐτὸ τοῦτο are (1) Xenophon, Anab. I. 9. 21 καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸ τοῦτο οὗπερ αὐτὸς ἕνεκα φίλων ᾤετο δεῖσθαι, ὡς συνεργοὺς ἔχοι, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπειρᾶτο συνεργὸς τοῖς φίλοις κράτιστος εἶναι, (2) Plato, Protag. 310 Ε αὐτὰ ταῦτα καὶ νῦν ἥκω παρά σε. In both these passages, as in our text, the phrase means “for this very reason.” God has put within your reach the means of participating in His nature: this fact ought to incite you to exertion on your side.

παρεισενέγκαντες. This compound usually has the force of “smuggling in, bringing in by stealth”: but it does not seem practicable to give it such a meaning here. εἰσφέρεσθαι σπουδήν without the παρά is, as Mayor shows by a number of examples, a common phrase in later Greek.

ἐπιχορηγήσατε. The best English equivalent here is perhaps “provide.” The virtues enumerated immediately afterwards are to be the contribution of man to meet what God gives. We have the verb again in 2 Peter 1:11, and three times in the Pauline Epistles (2 Corinthians 9:10 ὁ ἐπιχορηγῶν σπέρμα τῷ σπείροντι … Galatians 3:5 ὁ ἐπιχορηγῶν ὑμῖν τὸ πνεῦμα. Colossians 2:19 πᾶν τὸ σῶμα διὰ τῶν ἁφῶν … ἐπιχορηγούμενον καὶ συνβιβαζόμενον.

ἐν. The force of the preposition is not clear. It may import that each of the virtues named is to be infused or grafted into that which precedes. But the order in which the virtues are set out does not seem to bear very strict investigation. The base on which all is founded is belief in Christ, and the culmination is love to God and man. The intermediate steps, we feel, might admit of variation or addition.

Eight in all are named: after πίστις comes ἀρετή. We may take this in the general sense of virtue (our list seems to put some words of larger import at the beginning) or give it a more special meaning of strength and bravery in the domain of morals. The former is preferable.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Peter 1:5

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