2 Peter 1:3 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

According as his divine power— Some would read this verse in a parenthesis, as an incidental thought, and so connect the 2nd and 4th verses. Others would connect this with the foregoing verse;—Grace and peace be multiplied unto you, in or by the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord; according as his divine power hath bestowed upon us all things pertaining, &c. But the salutation being finished in the foregoing verse, the epistle seems to begin here, and the connection to be continued from this to 2 Peter 1:5. &c. For there is no reddition till you come to the beginning of 2 Peter 1:5. "His divine power having given us all things pertaining to life and godliness, do you therefore, giving all diligence to this very thing, add to your faith virtue." Life and godliness are by an usual figure put for a godly life. God had given them all things pertaining to a godly life: it was not owing to any merit in them, but partly to divine grace: it was the gift of God. Whitby supposes the words to be an hendyades, and understands them of "a glorious and powerful effusion of the Spirit."