non-Christian literature. It means ‘excellence’, and was used to denote the proper fulfilment of anything. The excellence of a knife is to cut, of a horse to run. But what is the excellence of a man? This was a question much and inconclusively discussed in antiquity. Peter hints strongly at the answer. For he has already used this word in verse 3, when speaking of the impact of Christ’s character on a man which leads him to commitment. Here he claims that the same quality of life is to be worked