<p>3:18- see on 2 Pet. 1:5,6.</p><p><i>But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and for ever. Amen</i>- It would be hard to grow in grace if we consider grace as just a static theological concept. The <i>charis</i>, gift / grace in view is the gift of the Spirit, connected with the knowledge or relationship with the Lord Jesus. Peter frequently uses 'knowing' in the Hebraic sense of having a relationship with.</p><p>Peter&rsquo;s last words in 2 Peter are full of the theme of knowing Christ (1:2,3,5,8; 2:20). Finally, Peter came to really know the man whom he thought he once knew. His very last recorded words urge us all to follow his pattern: to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour (3:18). He wrote this with awareness that he had denied the knowledge of the Lord; his very last words reflected his sense of inadequacy and shame at his failures, and yet the sure and certain knowledge that he knew the grace of the Saviour whom he believed.</p><p>At the end of Peter&rsquo;s recorded words in Acts, he comes to a climax of understanding in coining the phrase &ldquo;the Lord Jesus Christ&rdquo;. In 2 Pet. 2:1 he describes Christ as &ldquo;Lord&rdquo; using a word which is usually used in the Gospels for God. He saw the extent of Christ&rsquo;s perfection, the height of His exact manifestation of the Father. He was the &ldquo;Lord&rdquo; who bought us through His blood, and therefore and thereby He has an almost God-like authority over us. Appreciating the&nbsp;true implications of the cross leads to a true sense of His Lordship. At the end of 2 Peter, Peter reaches an even greater height in the title: &ldquo;Our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ&rdquo; (3:18). He brings together in one title all the different aspects of his Lord he had learnt and come to appreciate in the course of his life. And this should surely be the climax of every life of discipleship. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>