According as his divine power
Meaning either the power of God the Father, to whom belong
eternal power and Godhead; and he is sometimes called by the name
of power itself; see ( Matthew
26:64 ) being all powerful and mighty; or rather the power of
Christ, since he is the next and immediate antecedent to this
relative; and who, as he has the fulness of the Godhead in him,
is almighty, and can do all things; and is "El-shaddai", God
all-sufficient, and can communicate all things whatsoever he
pleases, and does, as follows: for he
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and
godliness;
referring not so much to a temporal life, though he gives that
and preserves it, and furnishes with all the mercies and comforts
of it; and which come to us, from him, in a covenant way, as his
left hand blessings, and in great love; but rather a spiritual
life, which he is the author and maintainer of, all the joys,
pleasures, blessings, and supports of it, being given by him; as
also eternal life, for that, and everything appertaining to it,
are from him; he gives a meetness for it, which is his own grace,
and a right unto it, which is his own righteousness; and he has
power to give that itself to as many as the Father has given him,
and he does give it to them; and likewise all things belonging to
"godliness", or internal religion; and which is the means of
eternal life, and leads on to it, and is connected with it, and
has the promise both of this life, and of that which is to come;
and everything relating to it, or is in it, or it consists of, is
from Christ: the internal graces of the Spirit, as faith, hope,
and love, which, when in exercise, are the principal parts of
powerful godliness, are the gifts of Christ, are received out of
his fulness, and of which he is the author and finisher; and he
is the donor of all the fresh supplies of grace to maintain the
inward power of religion, and to assist in the external exercise
of it; all which things are given
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and
virtue.
The call here spoken of is not a bare outward call, by the
ministry of the word, but an internal, special, and powerful one,
which springs from the grace, and is according to the purpose of
God, and is inseparably connected with justification and
glorification; and is either of God the Father, who, as the God
of all grace, calls to eternal glory by Christ; or rather of
Christ himself, who calls by his Spirit and grace; and hence the
saints are sometimes styled, the called of Jesus Christ, (
Romans 1:6 )
what they are called unto by him is, "glory and virtue"; by the
former may be meant, the glorious state of the saints in the
other world, and so answers to "life", eternal life, in the
preceding clause; and by the latter, grace, and the spiritual
blessings of grace here, and which answers to "godliness" in the
said clause; for the saints are called both to grace and glory,
and to the one, in order to the other. Some render it, "by glory
and virtue"; and some copies, as the Alexandrian and others, and
so the Vulgate Latin version, read, "by his own glory and
virtue"; that is, by his glorious power, which makes the call as
effectual, and is as illustrious a specimen of the glory of his
power, as was the call of Lazarus out of the grave; unless the
Gospel should rather be intended by glory and virtue, which is
glorious in itself, and the power of God unto salvation, and is
the means by which persons are called to the communion of Christ,
and the obtaining of his glory: so then this phrase, "him that
hath called us to glory and virtue", is a periphrasis of Christ,
through a "knowledge" of whom, and which is not notional and
speculative, but spiritual, experimental, fiducial, and
practical, or along with such knowledge all the above things are
given; for as God, in giving Christ, gives all things along with
him, so the Spirit of Christ, which is a spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of him, when he makes him known in
the glory of his person, grace, and righteousness, also makes
known the several things which are freely given of God and
Christ: and this is what, among other things, makes the knowledge
of Christ preferable to all other knowledge, or anything else.