2 Peter 1:3

According as his divine power Better, Seeing that.… The Greek word for "divine" is found elsewhere in the New Testament only in 2 Peter 1:4 and Acts 17:29.

life and godliness The words at first suggest the union of outward and spiritual blessings, the things needful for body and soul. The words that follow shew, however, that "life" must be taken in its higher sense, as extending to the eternal life which "standeth" in the knowledge of God. The word for "godliness" is found elsewhere in the New Testament only in this Epistle (2 Peter 1:6-7; 2 Peter 3:11), and in Acts 3:12, where it is used by St Peter, and in the Pastoral Epistles (1 Timothy 2:2; 1Ti 3:16; 1 Timothy 4:7-8, et al.), and like that for "knowledge" in 2 Peter 1:2 is characteristic of the later period of the Apostolic age. In the LXX. of Proverbs 1:7 a kindred word appears as an equivalent for "the fear of the Lord." Its strict meaning is that of "true reverence for God," and so far answers more to "religion" than to "godliness," the state of one who is "godly" or "like God."

through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue The word for "knowledge" is the same as in 2 Peter 1:2, and fixes, as has been said, the meaning of "life" in the previous verse. In the last four words the English text mistranslates the preposition, and we have to read " by (or through) His own glory and virtue." Some MSS. give the simple dative of the instrument (ἰδίᾳ δόξῃ), and others the preposition with the genitive (διὰ δόξης). For the word "virtue" see note on 1 Peter 2:9. Its recurrence three times in this Epistle (here and in 2 Peter 1:5) and so rarely elsewhere in the New Testament (Philippians 4:8 only) is, so far as it goes, in favour of identity of authorship. Taking the true rendering, the thought expressed is that the attributes of God manifested by Him are the means by which He calls men to the knowledge of the truth.