2 Peter 1.5-9
“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.”
This is an enormously important passage. It communicates the second part of the equation for spiritual growth, that is, how we respond to the resources the Lord makes available to us. The message is that we must “make every effort” and take disciplined action in order to grow to maturity.
To better understand what is being taught here, I have restated the passage and included explanations in brackets.
“For this very reason, make every effort [work very hard]
… to supplement your faith with virtue [build specific character attributes into your life],
… and virtue with knowledge [understand what those virtues are and why they are important],
… and knowledge with self-control [discipline yourself to practice the virtues in response to specific situations],
… and self-control with steadfastness [do this repeatedly over time],
… and steadfastness with godliness [the purpose is to display fruit that glorifies God],
… and godliness with brotherly affection [do this in fellowship and community with others],
… and brotherly affection with love [your efforts should be motivated by love for God and love for others].
“For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ [if you don’t fully engage in working hard to grow spiritually, you will not be effective for the Kingdom].
For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind [if you are not actively building these attributes into your life, you are foolish],
… having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins [you neither appreciate the gift of forgiveness nor understand the purpose for which God saved you].”
I love 2 Peter 1.3-9 because it spells out The Growth Equation:
1) What God has done and makes available to us; and, 2) What we must do in response to what God has done. It describes real spiritual growth in the real world. It tells us with exceptional clarity that we are responsible for building specific attributes and qualities into our life.
The Lord is calling.
