Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Peter 1:6

γνῶσις. Mayor well compares John 7:17 ἐάν τις θέλῃ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ποιεῖν, γνώσεται περὶ τῆς διδαχῆς. Only, here, the knowledge that will come of ἀρετή is not only knowledge about God, but knowledge of Him and of His will.

ἐγκράτεια. Control over self in all matters.

ὑπομονή. On this St James lays great stress (2 Peter 1:3-4; 2 Peter 1:12), and so does St John in the Apocalypse (e.g. 2 Peter 1:9; 2 Peter 2:2-3; 2 Peter 2:19, etc.). We may think of it as meaning to the early Christians two things in particular—endurance under persecution, and patient waiting for the Return of the Lord. Perhaps the latter meaning was the one more present to the writer’s mind: he speaks at length about it in the third chapter.

εὐσέβεια, like ἀρετή, is so general a word that it is puzzling. We have it in 1 Timothy 6:11, along with other words of this list: δίωκε δὲ δικαιοσύνην, εὐσέβειαν, πίστιν, ἀγάπην, ὑπομονήν, πραϋπαθίαν. Our author has used it in 2 Peter 1:3, and we shall not be far wrong if we render it in both places as “godly conduct.”

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Peter 1:6

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