Gift of Righteousness and Faith

2 Peter 1:1-4 

1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Peter first identified himself as Christ’s servant, a slave to the one who set him free from the bondage of sin’s power and penalty.  Then he mentioned the authority and position which God gave him in Christ, as a messenger or apostle of the same Lord who bought him at such a great price.  He writes here to others who have been given the same kind of faith by grace alone in Christ and by that God given faith alone according to the scriptures for God’s glory in His Son and His work for all who are so called.  He begins by letting us all who are so called as we grow to know Him more that we experience more of God’s peace in this grace we stand in.  It is His divine power above any man’s which has given us everything we need for life and godliness.  We cannot use our reason or work harder to earn eternal life nor be more godly; only His work in us can do this (Philippians 2:12-13), yet we are urged to know Him more completely and His call by such glory and virtue of our perfect sacrifice.  Because of what Jesus has done we inherit the promises of Abraham and the other faithful throughout history, such promises of a new life enabled to follow from our heart (Ezekiel 11:19-20, 36:26-27).  This new birth of regeneration is the promise that enables us to really know God and partake of His godly nature as we have escaped the fallen desires opposed to God’s righteousness that have corrupted us through Adam and Eve’s original sin of cosmic disobedience and rebellion.  This is the faith given us by Christ’s righteousness (Ephesians 2:5, 8).