Click Here to Read 2 Peter 1:5-15

To review the previous verses Peter shares with us that we have been given all things pertaining to life and godliness, that by His goodness God has invited us to receive great and precious promises through which we can be partakers of His divine nature, and that we have escaped the corruption that is in this world.  All of this being accomplished through the knowing of God and Jesus our Lord.  “But also for this reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.” (2 Peter 1:5-7 NKJV).  God has given us faith and salvation.  But we must do something with it.  We must build onto it and continue to grow in it to look more like Jesus and less like the world.  This being his final message to us before he leaves this earth, Peter commits himself to reminding us of these truths so that we will always remember them even after he is gone. 

The word diligent in the Greek implies strenuously giving yourself to something, fully committing to an activity without concern for the cost, going to great lengths to complete a goal.  Peter is encouraging us to make Christ and His kingdom our focus and put all of our energy and efforts into living for what is eternal, not just for the here and now.  To be completely devoted to knowing and living for Jesus.  Peter tells us seven qualities that we must diligently add to the faith we have been given for two reasons.  First, they will help us to be fruitful in the knowledge of Jesus; second, they will keep us from stumbling.

“Add to your faith virtue,”.  Virtue refers to excellence and goodness, integrity, courage, nobleness, and moral valor.  “To virtue knowledge,” or understanding.  Having a clear perception of what exists or of what is truth and fact.  With so much distortion of truth in the world today I feel more and more like knowing Jesus is the only way to really know truth.  He said himself that He is the truth, after all.  If it doesn’t line up with Him, it isn’t truth, no matter how good or right it might sound.  “To knowledge self-control,”.  No one really likes to think about self-control because it usually encompasses things like patience, tolerance, temperance, reigning ourselves in when our buttons are being pushed.  But self-control is also about freedom.  Being able to say that we are not subject to the circumstances around us.  Situations and people do not dictate our behavior or our attitudes, they do not control us.  We are free to have joy, peace, and love no matter what goes on around us.  Those are attributes of God’s nature that we possess within us all the time, we always have access to them, and we can choose to walk in them at any time. 

“To self-control perseverance,”.  Patient endurance.  We don’t always see the fruit of our labor right away.  Our prayers and our good works may seem to be all for nothing sometimes.  “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: ‘For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.  Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.’” (Hebrews 10:36-38 NKJV).  If we don’t give up, we win.  “To perseverance godliness,”.  Godliness speaks of holiness, our belief in God and a reverence for His character and His laws.  This comes as we grow in our love for God.  I found that my love for Him actually reshaped and changed the desires of my heart and motivated my actions.  I do things now because I want to honor Him, or I refrain from doing things because I don’t want to dishonor Him. 

“To godliness brotherly kindness,”.  Mercy and affection toward family in faith.  This means we delight in contributing to the happiness of others.  We elevate, serve, and build up one another.  We are not in competition with one another for God’s love.  As we help each other we grow stronger as one body united in Christ.  “And to brotherly kindness love.”  This love is speaking of benevolence and good will, thinking favorably toward one another.  It isn’t feeling, it’s doing.  Sometimes I have found that taking an active step into love produces the feeling of love along the way.  The more we step into those actions the more we will be able to develop the compassionate love that Jesus has.

Peter says that to be lacking in these things is to forget that we have been cleansed and our sins forgiven.  “For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.” (2 Peter 1:9 NKJV).  As we continue to move closer to God and grow in our relationship with Him, we discover these qualities in His nature, and through our knowledge of Him we develop them as attributes of our own nature.  If we do not continue to pursue a relationship with Him, we revert back to our old habits, our old mindsets, our old understandings, and we forget all that He has done for us.  Developing these attributes validates God’s gift of salvation in us.  They keep us on the path of righteous and holy living.  They prove that He has claimed us to be His very own.  “For this reason, beloved ones, be eager to confirm and validate that God has invited you to salvation and claimed you as his own.  If you do these things, you will never stumble.”  (2 Peter 1:10 TPT).  I love what the footnote in the Passions Translation says for this verse: “God spoke and you were His.  You are meant to be a chosen word from His mouth, and you will not return to Him void, but you will accomplish what He has determined for you to do.” 

Let’s pray.

Father, thank You for the most precious gift of salvation.  That alone is a priceless gift that we cherish.  But You draw us even beyond salvation and invite us into a life of holiness that is so rich in treasures and wonders to be discovered.  You invite us into a transforming love that nothing in this world can compare to.  And in that love, we become reflections of You.  Images of You here on the earth.  To show all of creation what You are like.  And we desire more.  Guide us in Your truth, that we may grow in our knowledge of You and Your ways.  That we may develop and grow our faith and make known Your love to all the world.  Amen.