Most of us are well familiar with vs. 5-11 of the first chapter of 2 Peter, and with good cause. This short passage encompasses all that a Christian may, indeed must, be. It shows what our focus in life and our goal in life are to be. It indeed is one of the greatest passages in the Bible.
Yet in focusing on these six verses, we often neglect what comes before them. In reality, these six verses answer the four that precede them. These six verses show what the Christian must do; the four preceding show what God has done. The first show the grace of God; the next show what our continual answer must be in response to that grace. Peter is writing to Christians; therefore their initial response to God’s grace, being obedient in baptism, is not in need of mention; this passage focuses on what the responsibility of the Christian is after they embark on the new life. It deals with what our continual response to God’s grace must be, in order to be pleasing to God.
The apostle begins with a very simple, yet very profound fact: the faith that we have was brought about by the righteousness of Jesus. In other words, were it not for Jesus, His death, burial, and resurrection, there would be no faith for us to have. We would have no way to please God, there would be no sacrifice for sin, there would be no hope, no saving faith. The faith of the New Testament rests solely upon Jesus, and what He has done. As He has said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing”, John 15:5 (the thought of which should put to death all of our pride).
Moving on, he states that there is a knowledge of God and of Jesus, through which grace and peace will be multiplied to us, and through which, by His divine power, He has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. Everything that we need to know He has given to us, through His word. Through it He has given us great and magnificent promises (forgiveness, eternal life, etc.), to the end that we might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption of the world.
Now we come to the familiar part. Verse 5 begins with the words, “Now for this very reason also…”, that is, because God has done all these things for us, and provided such a precious path for us to walk down, because of this we ought to do what follows.
He begins by saying that there is a specific way to go about doing these things: “with all diligence.” One thing I’ve noticed, the more time I spend in the word, is how many times we are admonished in the Scriptures to be diligent in our pursuit of eternal life. Over and over, time and again, constantly we are called to be diligent. I suppose the reason for this can be amply shown from Peter’s other letter, “Be of sober mind, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”, 1Peter 5:8. As an illustration, I’ve heard it said more than once that there is a certain class of Christians who could be characterized as being in neutral gear. They come to worship, sit in the pew, and don’t do a whole lot else. But I would disagree with characterizing them as being in neutral, because I don’t believe there to be a neutral. If we aren’t growing in the Lord, we are deteriorating. To put it another way, we had best pursue the Lord, because the devil is certainly pursuing us! So with our whole mind, with our whole heart, with all of our strength we ought to pursue these things, as is said, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart”, Jeremiah 29:13.
“Add to your faith virtue”
Faith is the basis of the list of qualities the Christian is to supply in his life. Why? The answer to that is simple enough, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him”, Hebrews 11:6. Faith that salvation is through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Christian life. If we don’t believe that Jesus came as the Lamb of God, to take away the sin of the world, then as far as the word of God goes, nothing else matters very much. It is only possible to be pleasing to God by being obedient to His will, through faith.
Webster defines virtue as, “Conformity to a standard of right, Morality, a particular moral excellence.” I am going to use the first definition, “conformity to a standard of right”, as this will illustrate very well the meaning of this passage.
To our faith we are to add virtue. As virtue is conforming to a standard of right, what standard are we to use? We live in a world where it is denied that there is a standard of truth, where right and wrong are subjective, where “I’m not hurting anyone else, so it must be okay” is the motto of the day. As the proverb says, “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes”, Proverbs 16:2. Does this mean then that we may be virtuous in our own subjective view of right and wrong? Listen to the rest of the proverb, “But the Lord weighs the spirits.”
There is a striking example of this in the book of Daniel 5:10ff, in the case of Belshazzar, king of Babylon. When the finger sent from God came, and had written on the wall, the third word was ‘Tekel’, which translated meant, “You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting.” The Lord weighed him, and found him unacceptable. In what was he unacceptable? In that he did not humble himself before God, to be obedient to Him, Daniel 5:18-23.
So then what shall we be weighed against in the judgment? “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day”, John 12:48, and again, “Not everyone who says to Me ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven”, Matthew 7:21ff. The standard of right that we will be measured against, then, is the word of God. So then having faith, we must begin to conform our lives to the gospel, the revealed word of God, which is the only standard of right.
“To virtue, knowledge”
Now that we have begun to conform our life to His standard of right, we must learn exactly what that standard of right contains. And knowledge of the truth is gained only by studying the Scriptures.
Paul, in one of his letters to Timothy, his son in the faith, wrote these words, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”, 2Tim 2:15, and again, “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth…”, 2Tim 2:24-25.
We cannot “rightly divide the word”, we cannot be “able to teach”, we cannot “in humility correct those who are in opposition”, if we do not know the word of God.
Again, how can we avoid error (and error is everywhere), how can we be pleasing to God, if we do not know His will? “Sanctify them by Thy truth, Thy word is truth”, John 17:17. We cannot know His will, we cannot learn His will, we cannot find out His will, any other place than the Scriptures.
Consider the ways that Satan tempted both Eve and Jesus. By a subtle twisting of the Scriptures, by attaching a meaning to them that they did not contain, he tempted Eve successfully, and Jesus unsuccessfully.
God told Adam, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die." Now Satan comes along, and says, essentially, “What God told you isn’t true. He just doesn’t want you to be like Him.” God tells us the truth; Satan lies to us, implying God is untrustworthy. Notice how the serpent twisted the truth; when Eve ate of the fruit, she didn’t physically die immediately, just as the serpent had said. Yet as God had said, she truly did immediately die, for in the moment she rebelled against God, she incurred the penalty of death. Up to that point, Adam and Eve were alive, with no penalty over them. But when they ate, they did indeed die.
The point is, if we don’t know the truth, we won’t recognize error when it comes.
“To knowledge, self-control”
Now that we have faith, have determined to conform ourselves to His will, and have set about to learn His will, that we may indeed conform ourselves to it, we are ready for the next step: self-control.
“Like a city that is broken into and without walls, is a man who has no control over his spirit”, and again, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city”, Proverbs 25:28, 16:32.
We live in a time when one city blends into the next, the passing from one to next merely a step. So to us, the thought of a city without walls doesn’t necessarily call to mind the intention of the writer.
In olden times, many cities were walled in to offer protection against invaders. If then a city was broken into, and without walls, it was overtaken, and had no further protection against any other potential raiders.
If then we have faith, virtue, and knowledge, yet no self-control, then the faith, virtue, and knowledge are of no value to us. If we do not discipline ourselves, then we have become as that city: sin will batter down our walls, plunder us of our spiritual treasures, and leave us defenseless against further attacks by temptation. We then will have become fruitless, and of little worth, if any.
Instead, we must exercise control over ourselves, and bring our passions and desires into submission to His will. A worthless man through strength can capture a city, but the man who captures his own spirit, and brings it into subjection to the will of God, is precious in His sight.
“To self-control, perseverance”
Now that we have won the battle, and reined ourselves in, now comes the hard part, perhaps the hardest thing for a man to accomplish: patience and perseverance. It is not enough to have ruled our spirit for a day, a week, or a month. We must rule it to the end.
Throughout the Bible is the admonition to be patient, and to wait for the Lord. To make an analogy, the Christian life is not that we approach the river, are baptized in it, and come out on the other side in heaven, but rather that we approach the river, are baptized in it, and come out on the other side with only the guarantee of heaven; we still have to cross the ocean in a rowboat to get there. The ocean? Yes; like the ocean, we can’t see the other side to where we are headed; yet we know it’s there; we don’t know how long our journey will be, and on our own, we don’t know the way to heaven. But as the mariner has the stars of the sky given to him for navigation, knowing that if he follows them he shall reach his destination, so we have the words and example of our Lord to guide us safely to eternal life, with the promise and guarantee that if we are patient and persevere, we shall reach the shore. We will encounter storms on our journey, but the Lord will see us through, if only we persevere.
Remember the example of King Saul: he was impatient, and lost the blessings. Rather we must follow the example of Jesus: He was patient and trusting, and waited for God to deliver Him.
“To perseverance, godliness”
Now that we have settled in for the long haul, what sort of man must we be?
The Greek word that is translated ‘godliness’ has reference to our attitude towards God. We are to reverence Him. Though He is our Father, and we address Him as such, and though He tells us to cast all our cares and troubles on Him, yet we must be careful that we maintain the proper respect due to Him. After the destruction of the sons of Aaron, for improper worship, Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me, I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people, I must be glorified.’” We have unprecedented access to God through the blood of Christ; we must be careful that through familiarity or taking it for granted that we don’t lose the proper attitude towards Him.
In a sense this is what happened with Job. When his sufferings began, he had the proper respect for God, “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.” Yet as his sufferings progressed, he began to charge God with being unjust towards him, for he knew he hadn’t sinned. At the rebuke of God, Job repented, and he recovered his proper respect for God.
We should remember that, “All things work together for good for him that loves the Lord”, Romans 8:28, that no matter what we go through, “though the fig tree should not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail, and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation”, Hab 3:17-28.
Christ will see us through everything.
“To godliness, brotherly kindness”
Now that we have seen what our attitude towards God is to be, what is our attitude towards our fellow Christians to be?
It is not in vain that Christians are referred to as brethren. As physical families have a common bond in the flesh, so we have a common bond in our spirits. We have joined in our common faith and hope in Jesus, which brings us together.
I think from time to time about things that prove that God exists, and the church is one of those things that to me proves that God truly exists. Where else, or under what circumstances, could you gather a large number of men together, and have it be as a family?
What then is our responsibility to each other as brethren? Proverbs 17:17, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” In addition to the camaraderie and fellowship we afford each other, the purpose for our being brothers is to help each other out.
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon shows to us the benefit of a brother, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor, for if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.” “Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
If a Christian is alone, there is a good chance that sooner or later temptation and sin will overcome them. This is why we are brethren: to give help during trials, whether it be by a kind word or by strong rebuke; to keep each other strong in the faith, by the examples of each others faith and belief. All of this is encompassed in brotherly kindness.
“To brotherly kindness, love”
Now that we have begun to culture that affection with our brethren that is proper among families, it is time to grow into the state of agape love, a love best illustrated by the willingness of God to send His Son to die on the cross for those who were in the act of rebellion against Him. It is not the love that comes from warm, tender feelings, but rather the love that comes from wanting the best for others, no matter how they act towards us. It is the love that prompted Jesus to pray for the forgiveness of those who were in the very act of murdering Him, and the love that prompted Stephen to do the same.
It is the love that prompts us to go the extra mile, that has us turn the other cheek, that sends the rain upon the unjust as well as the just. It is the love that sent the only Son of God to the cross.
It is the love that we must cultivate towards all men.
Not that it’s easy towards all men. It takes swallowing huge amounts of pride at times (though pride, being a deadly sin, shouldn’t be there anyway). But it is a love that as Christians we must possess, and continue to grow in.
The result
If we are diligent in our pursuit of these qualities, diligent to apply them in our life, two things will come about as a result. That is, two things will come about. When the Bible says a thing is, then the thing is. God doesn’t lie. Two things will come about.
First, we will be “neither useless, nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What does this mean? It means that we won’t be like the fig tree that had no fruit when Jesus went to it; the fig tree that He subsequently cursed, and it died (now the interesting thing is that it wasn’t the season for figs. The lesson is, just as Paul exhorted Timothy, “Preach the word. Be instant in season and out of season.” Simply put, there is no off-season with the Christian. We must be ever-ready.). It means that we will always be ready for whatever comes up; whether that means helping a brother in need, giving a defense of the gospel, giving an answer to those who ask questions of our hope, whatever. For indeed the Lord will come to us looking for fruit. If we pursue these qualities in our life, we will be ready.
Now the second thing which comes about is one of the sweetest promises in all of Scripture, a promise which strikes at the heart of our hope: “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” If we do these things continually, we will never stumble, and we will enter heaven.
The essence of the Christian life is contained in this short passage. What pleases the Lord? Here it is. How do we get to eternity (on the good side)? Here’s how.
Have faith in Him. Determine to conform our lives to His will. Learn what that will is, to the depths. Rule over and discipline our own spirit. Persevere. Reverence God. Love your brother in Christ. Seek the good of all men.