Part Six, 2 Peter and Deconstruction
Why add to our faith? Why do we need these qualities in our lives?
Because we are sinners who, though now followers of Christ and recipients of His Spirit within us, often forget to rely upon Him for growth and for the carrying out of right actions.
Peter spelled this out for us in this way:
“3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that THROUGH THEM YOU MAY participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.5 For this very reason, MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge [gnosis]; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love” (2 Peter 1:3-7 NIV).
MAKE EVERY EFFORT is not something you put off for a more convenient day or a less complicated phase of your life. No, it means that you carry this out immediately, beginning now, with speed, diligence, zeal, and earnest effort. Don’t wait.
Because we have the powerhouse of God’s grace, God’s power, and God’s divine ability to empower us, we are enabled to MAKE EVERY EFFORT to add these many qualities to our daily lives.
Why do we want and need these qualities?
“8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge [epignosis] of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:8 NIV).
These qualities are evidence of our knowledge of Christ and of our interactions with Him. These actions mark our spiritual growth, giving us the wisdom and strength to avoid becoming habitually lazy, slothful, idle, and inactive in our Christian life of love and commitment to Christ.
Living out these qualities given to us keeps us from becoming unfruitful, increases our ability to live the Christian life even more effectively, and makes us ready to reach out and to bless others, for we partake of God’s nature, and thus we always have at our ready the surplus of every one of these qualities available in and through Christ and His Spirit.
Warning! Warning!
“But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins” (2 Peter 1:9 NIV).
If we don’t have the evidence of these qualities increasing in our lives, we are classified as:
nearsighted — shortsighted, to shut eyes or squint like one who cannot see, in short, unable to understand or comprehend spiritual matters any longer
blind –enveloped with the smoke of confusion, unable to see clearly.
actively forgetting that they have been cleansed from past sins. (2 Peter 1:8-9) And so, in our forgetfulness of our forgiveness, our cleansing, and of having been made new, we become lethargic in our Christian growth and action, repeatedly missing the mark, minimizing our relationship with Christ, and eventually aiming toward sin instead.
I lived this out the first time I ran from God as a teenager. This is indeed the pathway I followed.
“8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge [epignosis] of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:8 NIV).
Knowledge: “The wisdom that has been acquired by thorough and active participation in knowing Christ and behaving as a follower of His. This results in changing our behavior and religious life to conform to Him. We seek to be personally involved in knowing God and Jesus our Lord more thoroughly. Our faith isn’t merely about head knowledge. It is about transformation.”
With this knowledge [epignosis] in place, this is how we grow:
In the original language, making every effort means that with speed and urgency, we have hastened to press hard with diligence and zeal, expending all of our earnest effort to grow in these qualities.
This is what the Lord is asking us to do regarding our spiritual growth and our lifetime of walking with Christ. We are to begin right now, if we have not already pursued growth in our faith in Christ.
IF we possess these qualities in steadily increasing measure, they will keep us from being ineffective and unproductive in our knowledge [epignosis] of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, knowing, and thus loving, the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is at the top of the list, the most pressing and urgent item on our schedule each and every day of our life, so help us, God, for by this knowledge [epignosis] of Him, we are transformed.
Knowing and loving the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is at the top of the list, the most pressing and urgent item on our schedule each and every day of our life, so help us, God. #bgbg2 #LoveJesus #KnowingGod Click To TweetThis will require the constant help of the Holy Spirit, for a serious pursuit of the Lord is always under attack by the evil one, who does not want us to know God, nor to grow in the knowledge [epignosis] that will transform us into solid followers of Christ Jesus our Lord.
What do these qualities of our spiritual growth mean?
Goodness is comprised of “virtue, moral excellence, and His divine nature working in us to produce a perfect living example of His very own goodness.”
Knowledge, a different word in Greek than our previous study of epignosis. Knowledge here is gnosin, Strong’s #1108, meaning “a more thorough participation in acquiring knowledge of Him, personal involvement, knowledge that changes our religious life.” In other words, this knowledge boosts the previous impact of knowing the Lord, bringing a more thorough participation for us to take action in knowing Him. We don’t only know, we now live in a way that shows that we know and love Him.
Self-control: continence (stability); calm, temperance (balance); steadiness; soberness
Perseverance: enduring circumstances, hopeful, not surrendering to circumstances or succumbing to trial — endurance, constancy, bearing up with a tranquil mind
Godliness: the outflowing of God’s divine nature in us — reverence and piety that produces godly behavior and attitude, making us more like Christ.
Mutual Affection: brotherly love that Christians hold for one another. Love borne of a common spiritual life shared together
Love: God-like love, benevolence, regard, and goodwill toward others. Derived from Christ’s Spirit in us. Evidence of 2 Peter 1:3-4.
When we trust the Lord’s very great and precious promises, His divine nature empowers us for transformation. Christ Jesus and His Holy Spirit are our power source for the ability to live these.
When we trust the Lord's very great and precious promises, His divine nature empowers us for transformation. Christ Jesus and His Holy Spirit are our power source. #Faith #LoveGod #bgbg2 Click To Tweet
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When times are good, we often forget His goodness. When times are bad, we cry out to Him for help. I pray I will always remember to walk with the Lord, in good times and in bad times. He is always with us.
Well said, Melissa! You write with great wisdom. We need to seek Him every single day, yet we often forget. My prayer also is to daily and nightly and as needed to seek Him.
Amen, Melissa! I feel the same. Thank you for adding your perspective and take away!
So often we fall into the trap of thinking the listed qualities stand independent of one another – like silos on a farm. It flows from a bad habit of compartmentalizing life. But God’s Holy Spirit doesn’t work in compartments. He wants all of us all the time. And through our submission to Him, He will grow one quality into another into another into another . . . and He gets all the glory!
Amen, Ava! I love this reminder: “But God’s Holy Spirit doesn’t work in compartments. He wants all of us all the time.” Definitely not like silos. Thank you for that vivid pictorial description. Well said!
You are such a helpful teacher when it comes to the Bible! I love your point about God being our power source. You are so right – we do need to make every effort to cultivate these qualities in our life. They draw us closer to the Lord and they draw others to him as well. God bless you, my friend!
Thank you, Jessica! I love teaching sections of Scripture in which I’ve invested many hours of examination. These passages shape my life and my convictions. I wrote the Bible study material for our church in Michigan. By the grace of God, having relocated, I continue in a more simple form.
I love the progression of qualities he commands us to add. He reminds us to keep growing, keep loving, studying, serving.
Great message, Melinda! God bless!
Amen, Nancy! What a great observation! Thank you for adding this point to the conversation!
Great reminder Melinda as always. Thank you for continuously bringing us closer to God. We must keep learning and growing.
Yvonne, these passages are such a blessing to study and to learn about growing in Christ. I’m thoroughly enjoying sharing my research and my thoughts.
Melinda, you once again unpacked this with great insight noting biblical application in such a practical way. It’d be so easy to focus on verse 3 of 2 Peter 1, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
And think everything means every-thing, thus falsely concluding that we don’t play a vital role in adding to our faith. But oh how we do play a key role, along with the power of the Holy Spirit, in intentionally and with every effort adding these qualities to our faith.
Why? Because they keep us from becoming ineffective and unproductive. Such a good message!
Yes, they do, Karen! Not only the gifting and the enablement, but also our part carrying out the acquiring of these as we grow, for our faith is participatory in our knowing and in our acting. Thank God for His empowerment to do so.