And this is all about what, of His all-sufficient power, has made available to us through granting us the complete knowledge of the One who has called us to share in His status and reputation, everything that we need to live a life dedicated to Him.
And in regards to which He has bestowed upon us promises of such great worth in order that we might become participants in that which comes forth from [His] all-sufficiency. [This is for us] having [now] escaped the decomposing desire that is in the world.
So what's it all about?
Peter has unequivocally put himself on the same level as his hearers.
This is no secret society. What is proclaimed to those who believe is what the apostles set forth to be heard by all, those who are far away and those who are near at hand. From the outset he makes it quite clear that he is sharing, he is privileged to share, because God in Christ has shared Himself, His life, His time and His Person. And the "complete knowledge" that Peter has and passes on, is nothing else than the complete self-giving that has been revealed of God in Christ.
Peter passes on what he has come to know from this Person because with Christ Jesus there are great benefits.
Peter makes the remarkable statement. It is such a momentous statement that by putting it into mere words we are apt to allow it to pass us by without much thought. All things - all that we are and all that we will ever be - are bequeathed to us in God's own Son. Everything that we ever needed for us to live lives that He has set apart for Himself!!
Peter is thus in solidarity with those to whom he writes. Jesus Christ has made this possible and in making it possible Peter is impelled to announce that God's promises to thoroughly fulfill our lives, lives that He specially created, has been fulfilled in the Son of God.
By the same promises, to which he has always remained faithful, He rescues and protects a flock, a people for His own, those who will henceforth be thoroughly embedded within His status and reputation, maintained by His power and enlightened by His Glorious Spirit.
The rescue is complete. Jesus Christ has entered into our lives and brings about our escape from the reckless decomposition that we had brought upon ourselves by our own fault. But now the way of escape from our own self-imposed slavery is announced.
There is a specially prominent aspect to this announcement. Those who share in this good news are granted to share in Christ's glory, and His exalted reputation.
Καλέσαντος ήμάς ίδία δόξη και άρετή
Having called us to share in His status and reputation
Such a revelation might seem almost unbelievable. But it is of that restoration of the Image of God that has indeed been accomplished by Peter's Lord, that Peter writes this letter. That is what this is all about.