“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,”
My Notes
What Does 2 Peter 1:2 Mean?
Peter opens his second letter with a blessing that connects grace and peace to a specific source: "the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord." Grace and peace aren't general blessings floating in the atmosphere. They come through knowledge—personal, relational, experiential knowledge of God and of Jesus. The more you know God, the more grace and peace multiply in your life.
The word "multiplied" (plēthuntheiē) means increased abundantly, grown exponentially. Peter doesn't wish them a little grace and a little peace. He wishes multiplication—the kind of growth that compounds over time. Grace doesn't just arrive. It multiplies. Peace doesn't just exist. It expands. And the mechanism of multiplication is knowledge of God.
The word "knowledge" (epignōsis) means deep, personal, experiential knowledge—not mere information about God but intimate acquaintance with Him. The grace-and-peace multiplication doesn't come through theological education alone. It comes through knowing God—the way you know a person, not the way you know a subject. The deeper the relationship, the more the grace and peace compound.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Is your grace and peace multiplying—or stagnant? What does that reveal about the depth of your knowledge of God?
- 2.Peter connects multiplication to personal knowledge, not information. How deep is your experiential knowledge of God versus your theological knowledge about God?
- 3.If deeper relationship unlocks greater multiplication of grace and peace, what's preventing you from going deeper?
- 4.Grace and peace are supposed to compound over time. What would exponential growth in these areas actually look like in your life?
Devotional
Grace and peace—multiplied. Not added. Not trickled. Multiplied. Through the knowledge of God. The deeper you know Him, the more grace and peace compound in your life. It's not a one-time deposit. It's an exponential growth curve tied to the depth of your relationship with God.
Peter connects the multiplication to knowledge—not information but epignosis: deep, personal, experiential knowing. You can study God for decades and have minimal grace and peace if the study never became relationship. The multiplication comes through knowing God the way you know a person—through time spent, through vulnerability shared, through experiences navigated together, through the accumulating intimacy of sustained companionship.
The economy Peter describes is: more knowledge of God produces more grace and peace. Not once. Multiplicatively. Each deepening of the relationship unlocks a new multiplication of what you receive. The grace that seemed sufficient last year gets multiplied this year because the knowledge grew. The peace that covered your anxiety last season compounds this season because you know God better.
If your grace feels insufficient and your peace feels thin—if the supply doesn't seem to match the demand—Peter's equation points to the variable: knowledge of God. Not more effort. Not more religious activity. Deeper knowledge. More intimate acquaintance. Closer relationship. The grace and peace multiply through the knowledge. Deepen the knowledge, and the multiplication follows.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you,.... By a multiplication of grace may be meant a larger discovery of the love and…
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord - That is, grace and peace…
Grace - God's favor; peace - the effects of that favor in the communication of spiritual and temporal blessings.
Through…
The apostle Peter, being moved by the Holy Ghost to write once more to those who from among the Jews were turned to…
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you Here the writer falls into the phraseology of the First Epistle (see note on 1Pe…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture