2 Peter 1:2

2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (NIV)

Grace is the love we don't deserve that comes only through God. Peace is the shalom, the end of the war between rebellious man (conscripted by the devil) against the loving God--the war we gratefully and wonderfully lost when Jesus tore away our sinfulness and released us from the bondage of the devil and made us his own children.

Part of the message of 2 Peter is a warning against the Gnostics. The "Gnosis" of these Gnostics was a secret Knowledge about God that could only be achieved by membership with other Gnostics and could not be achieved through the Bible. But Peter blasts at this Knowledge (gnosis) by showing that ordinary Christians have Knowledge of God, Greek epi-gnosis or "correct and thorough knowledge" of God. This knowledge is no secret, but is available out in the open, in public, for everyone to see and hear and believe.

"You," Peter assures all of us, "have more than mere gnosis. You have epi-gnosis!" You have everything you need to achieve eternal life and true knowledge of God. You have it because you know and believe the Scriptures about Jesus our Lord. Later in this letter, Peter will remind us that we also trust the Word of God given through the Apostle Paul, and in particular: "Salvation, as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom God gave him" (2 Peter 3:15). Paul's wisdom corresponds exactly with the Wisdom described in those early chapters of Proverbs; the Wisdom that trusts God alone.

This is wisdom that grasps and grabs at God's grace and peace, through the knowledge -- the full, correct, certain and public knowledge -- of our God, Jesus Christ. This is the Jesus who saved us. Jesus who rescued us.