2 Peter 1:2

χάρις … πληθυνθείη.: the same form of salutation as in 1 Peter 1:2. ἐν ἐπιγνώσει τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν. (For history of ἐπίγνωσις see Mayor's note, pp. 171 ff.; Robinson's Excursus in Ephesians.) ἐπίγνωσις in this epistle corresponds to πίστις in the Pauline sense (Spitta, p. 522). In Romans 1:21 γνόντες is used of the imperfect knowledge of God possessed by the heathen world, and in Romans 1:28 he contrasts it with the Christian or perfect knowledge of God. (καθὼς οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν τὸν Θεὸν ἔχειν ἐν ἐπιγνώσει.) Cf. 1 Corinthians 13:12; Colossians 1:9. “ ἐπίγνωσις, involving the complete appropriation of all truth and the unreserved acquiescence in God's will, is the goal and crown of the believer's course” (Lightfoot, note on Colossians 1:9). Cf. Introd. p. 117; note 2 Peter 1:8; Paget, Spirit of Discipline, pp. 112 ff. ἐπίγνωσις implies a more intimate and personal relationship than γνῶσις. It would be a useful word, seeing that γνῶσις. had become associated with Gnosticism, then incipient in the Church. Mayor quotes Clem. Alex. Strom. i. p. 372, and Str., vi, p. 759, where κατʼ ἐπίγνωσιν is twice opposed to κατὰ περίφασιν (= on a broad general view, cf. Mayor's note, p. 213). Grace and peace are multiplied in and through this more intimate heart knowledge of Jesus Christ, in contrast to a mere barren γνῶσις.