“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Peter starts this section with the words “For this very reason…” We may need to do a little refresher here and go back to verse 4. Peter has said that God has given us divine promises, that through them we may share in the divine nature, “escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.” He now goes on to tell his readers how they are to do this.
Peter next utilizes a literary device called sorites. It is sometimes called a chain argument. This would have been something familiar to his readers. You can see Paul use it in Romans 5:3-5. As a retired English teacher, I love seeing these kinds of things, but I know it is probably not as interesting to most of you.
Let’s look at the list. “Make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” He starts with faith and ends with love. Most commentaries I read said the order for the middle virtues was not important and I agree. You can rearrange them without changing the meaning, but faith and love are the anchors. We will look at each one in order.
Before we do anything else, we must place our faith in Jesus. This is the anchor we start with. If these virtues were a ladder, this is the first step. Kenneth Gangel writes in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, “Faith in Jesus Christ is what separates Christians from all other people. Pistis, trust in the Savior which brings one into the family of God, is the foundation of all other qualities in the Christian life.”
Peter then lists the qualities that Christians need to develop. He says “make every effort” to do this. Douglas Moo points out in his commentary, “The word ‘effort’ can also be translated ‘earnestness,’ ‘haste,’ ‘zeal.’ Peter is fond of this word, using it again in 1:10, 15 and 3:14.” There is to be a growth in these qualities as we mature in our faith.
He starts with goodness. The Greek word that Peter uses here is “arete” which he also used in verse three. I am going to quote Moo again here. “Peter here borrows again from the wider Greek world, where the word meant, broadly, ‘virtue’ (the word occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only in Phil 4:8 and 1 Peter 2:9).”
He moves on to knowledge. He is not writing about intellectual knowledge here. We can look back to verse 3 to see that this is spiritual knowledge, the ability to discern what is correct. Peter will be writing about false teachers later in his letter, and the believer will need to have a knowledge of God. If we do not know what the Bible teaches about the triune God, we will easily be led into deception.
Next is self-control. There are many temptations that we are subjected to, just as the readers of Peter’s letter were. Because self-control is a fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23), we can resist these temptations.
One of the verses that I have memorized is Hebrews 12:1b-2. The first part reads, “Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” Endurance is the next quality that we are to develop. Another word for this is perseverance. Gangel writes about this word, “It is frequently used in the New Testament to refer to constancy or steadfast endurance under adversity, without giving in or giving up (cf. Rom. 5:3-4; 15: 4-5; 2 Cor. 1:6; 6:4; Col. 1:11; 1 Thes. 1:3; 2 Thes. 1:4; James 1:3).”
He then moves on to godliness. This word- eusebian – is used many times in the New Testament. It refers to piety, our reverence toward god. Douglas Moo writes, “While God gives us the ability to become godly, it is our responsibility to use the power he has made available to us and actually work at becoming people who please God in every phase of life.”
Next on the ladder is brotherly affection. You are probably aware that in the Greek, love can be translated in different ways, depending on the kind of love you are talking about. The word Peter uses here is ‘philadelphian.’ He is writing about caring for other’s needs. There are many verses that talk about how important this is. “Let brotherly love continue” (Hebrews 13:1). “Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another” (Romans 12:10). “About brotherly love: You don’t need me to write you because you yourselves are taught by God to love one another” (1 Thessalonians 4:9).
The top of the ladder is love. The Greek word here is “agape.” Brotherly love cares for other’s needs. The kind of love described here with the word “agape” is desiring the highest good for them. This is the love God showed us in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world…” We start with the foundation of faith in Christ and end with love. Moo writes, “Surely it is not by chance that love, the crown of Christian virtues (see 1 Cor. 13) comes at the climax of Peter’s staircase of Christian qualities. Note the parallel in Colossians 3:14: ‘And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.’ Love is not only the last and greatest Christian virtue; it is also the glue that holds all the rest of them together, the quality without which all the others will be less than they should be.”
Peter ends this portion of the letter by reassuring his readers that if they possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that he uses the phrase “in increasing measure.” There is to be growth in the believer’s life. Peter also uses the word “unfruitful.” We do not want to be useless or unfruitful. Paul writes in Titus, “Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works for pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful” (3:14). He writes in Galatians 5:22-23 about the fruit of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.”
I want to be known for these qualities. I want people to recognize the fruit of the Spirit in me. I hope that people will see in me goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. I’m a work in progress. How about you?
Grace be with you!
Abundant Joy 