II Pet. 1:2 ... "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."
This text is one of those verses in the Bible that people usually read over with little attention in their haste to go to something else that seems more interesting and worthy of study. When this statement is thus overlooked, however, a precious and beautiful part of our relationship as Christians with our Lord is missed. These words do not constitute a mere formality in opening this inspired epistle. Much to the contrary, they are actually the expression of a wonderful development in our spiritual lives as we yield them more fully to the molding fingers of our heavenly Father.
Grace signifies God's favor bestowed upon people who have done nothing to deserve it. Everyone likes to think that he is special and that God therefore values him a little more than others. But God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34); neither is He obligated to anyone. Of His own will, on His own initiative, and at the time of His own choosing, God manifested His amazing grace to man by sending His Son to die for our sins and reconcile us unto Himself. His grace is further revealed by adding to His church those who obey His will, giving us the guidance of His Spirit, and granting to us the power and wisdom to persevere in the way He wishes us to live. As fallen creatures subjected to the excesses of sin, mankind stood in desperate need of God's grace, for there was nothing men could do on their own to escape the tyranny and eventual ruin of sin. But God loved man whom He had created in His own image so much that He freely bestowed His grace, as we are informed in Rom. 5:20, "But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."
Peace is a product of God's grace. When God by His grace overpowered the reign of sin in human life, He laid the foundation for peace between Himself and man. The apostle Paul explains: "For He (Jesus) is our peace, who made both groups (Jews and non-Jews) into one ... by abolishing in His flesh the enmity ... so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near, for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father, (Eph. 2:14f). When peace with God is established through the elimination of sin, it can flow through our lives into our relations with other people. One cannot be hostile and adverse to his fellow men and still live on terms of peace with God, (Mat. 5:22-25; Rom. 12:17-21; Jas. 1:19-20). Also, the conviction that one is at peace with God produces a wonderful consolation that brings together the various parts of the human psyche into a peaceful unity. Christians are assured of this inner peace, which is "of God," (i.e., from God, or based on the action of God's grace), in these words of Php. 4:7, "The peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Finally, we must notice in our featured text that this most glorious "grace and peace" is "multiplied to (us) in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." This is not the knowledge of the accumulation and retention of masses of facts so that the individual is a walking encyclopedia. It is rather the know-ledge gained in the course of real experience as one struggles with the issues of life in fellowship with Christ and under the guidance of His teaching preserved in the New Testament. It is through this kind of practical knowledge that God multiplies to us His incomparable "grace and peace."
