Yesterday, we talked about 2 Peter 1:3 and how knowledge of God is how God has given us all things that pertain to life and Godliness. Now, we are going to look at how to keep from being ineffective or unfruitful in that knowledge of God.
2 Peter 1:5-8 gives us a progressive list. I have always found this list fascinating. It isn't like the fruit of the spirit which is a general list (Love, joy, peace) where the order doesn't matter. No, this order matters. At least, it mattered to Peter. We know this because it doesn't say "add to your faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, etc." No, it says to add to your faith virtue, and to your virtue knowledge, etc." They are listed in a way that at the least demonstrates that they grow out of each other. So, what are the things that Peter suggests we add to our faith? How significant could the order be? Let's take a look.
Virtue - The Greek word here is also "Moral excellence." Now, as we go through the rest of the list, think about all the things that Peter has coming AFTER you have added moral excellence.
Knowledge - this is the word that literally just means knowledge. It is not the special word we talked about yesterday that is more specifically about divine or ethical knowledge. It is just....knowledge. It's having a practical knowledge of life and applying that to our Christian life. A practical knowledge that allows us to live a Godly life. I love that virtue came before knowledge. Right living will us to learn and know more, but with a Godly context to the things that we know. Rather than knowledge for knowledge sake, we will have the foundation of our faith and our morals to guide what we learn.
Self-control - I love how blueletterbible.com puts this one. "the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions." Self-control is just that, the ability to control one-self. Now, self-control, from a Christians perspective, is a God-given ability. Christ freed us from our sin. "We are free to struggle, we're not struggling to be free." It is a great truth that God has given us the power to be master's of ourselves. Now, don't hear me as saying that non-Christians are not self-controlled; that would be ridiculous. In fact, Christians can be self-controlled in their own power too. That, however, is an issue of control and submitting yourself to God's control!
Steadfastness - Most of the Greek options I see hear have the theme of some kind of patience. The ability to remain faithful through....something. Also ,the idea of not being swerved in our focus and being loyal.
Godliness - here the Greek is talking about...part of worship. Reverence or respect and specifically toward God. To have a reverence and a respect for who God is and to have that built into my character. I heard a professor today who said "to love what God loves and to hate what God hates."
Brotherly-affection and love - yes, I'm lumping these together. I love that brotherly affection comes first. Having a brotherly type of love (this is Philadelphia in the Greek) will help you to then develop a God-type of love (agape).
I know this is strange, but here is my example of love tonight. We were watching Family Matters as a family and they were having a school dance. Steve asked Laura to go with him 28 times and she told him "no" every time. He finally asked her why she kept telling everyone else know and yet wouldn't go with him. She said that she was hoping a guy named Ted would ask her and he hadn't yet. (There was a great moment here about not settling for second best too.) So, the next day, Steve went to Ted and asked him if he wanted to ask Laura. Ted said he did but that he was scared to because she'd been telling all the boys "no." So, Steve tells Ted that he knows that if Ted asks Laura out, she will say "yes." Ted gets excited...and then stops and asks Steve why he's telling him this. "Everybody knows you are crazy about Laura. Why would you do this." Steve responds, "Because I know she really wants to go out with you and what I really want is for her to be happy." Self-sacrifice for the ones we love. Simple example, but true!!!
In summary: faith helps us to see and build correct morals, our knowledge then is shaped by those, we then have a greater understanding of where self-control is needed, and steadfastness allows us to be loyal and "unwavering" while exercising that self-control. Having self-control can help us as we work to remain faithful no matter what we go through and this allows us to better respect and revere the God we already claim to love. respecting and who God is and learning to hate and love what God hates and loves, helps us to have a brotherly affection for our fellow Christians and our fellow man, which also begins to develop in us a self-sacrificing love. These don't just happen on their own. that's why Peter says to "make every effort" to see things things added to our faith.
How about you and me today? What are we "making every effort" to add to our faith? May I suggest praying and asking God to show you the areas that you need to grow in and praying for opportunities to grow them! (Yes, it's dangerous...but God is not a passive God and we can be grateful for that.)
Verses 8 and 9 wrap it up. Verse 8 says that if we have these qualities, it will keep us from been ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of God. Verse 9 says that if we lack these things we will be so nearsighted that we will basically keep forgetting that we are free from the power of sin and able to struggle against it.
For God's glory!
2 Peter 1:5-8 gives us a progressive list. I have always found this list fascinating. It isn't like the fruit of the spirit which is a general list (Love, joy, peace) where the order doesn't matter. No, this order matters. At least, it mattered to Peter. We know this because it doesn't say "add to your faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, etc." No, it says to add to your faith virtue, and to your virtue knowledge, etc." They are listed in a way that at the least demonstrates that they grow out of each other. So, what are the things that Peter suggests we add to our faith? How significant could the order be? Let's take a look.
Virtue - The Greek word here is also "Moral excellence." Now, as we go through the rest of the list, think about all the things that Peter has coming AFTER you have added moral excellence.
Knowledge - this is the word that literally just means knowledge. It is not the special word we talked about yesterday that is more specifically about divine or ethical knowledge. It is just....knowledge. It's having a practical knowledge of life and applying that to our Christian life. A practical knowledge that allows us to live a Godly life. I love that virtue came before knowledge. Right living will us to learn and know more, but with a Godly context to the things that we know. Rather than knowledge for knowledge sake, we will have the foundation of our faith and our morals to guide what we learn.
Self-control - I love how blueletterbible.com puts this one. "the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions." Self-control is just that, the ability to control one-self. Now, self-control, from a Christians perspective, is a God-given ability. Christ freed us from our sin. "We are free to struggle, we're not struggling to be free." It is a great truth that God has given us the power to be master's of ourselves. Now, don't hear me as saying that non-Christians are not self-controlled; that would be ridiculous. In fact, Christians can be self-controlled in their own power too. That, however, is an issue of control and submitting yourself to God's control!
Steadfastness - Most of the Greek options I see hear have the theme of some kind of patience. The ability to remain faithful through....something. Also ,the idea of not being swerved in our focus and being loyal.
Godliness - here the Greek is talking about...part of worship. Reverence or respect and specifically toward God. To have a reverence and a respect for who God is and to have that built into my character. I heard a professor today who said "to love what God loves and to hate what God hates."
Brotherly-affection and love - yes, I'm lumping these together. I love that brotherly affection comes first. Having a brotherly type of love (this is Philadelphia in the Greek) will help you to then develop a God-type of love (agape).
I know this is strange, but here is my example of love tonight. We were watching Family Matters as a family and they were having a school dance. Steve asked Laura to go with him 28 times and she told him "no" every time. He finally asked her why she kept telling everyone else know and yet wouldn't go with him. She said that she was hoping a guy named Ted would ask her and he hadn't yet. (There was a great moment here about not settling for second best too.) So, the next day, Steve went to Ted and asked him if he wanted to ask Laura. Ted said he did but that he was scared to because she'd been telling all the boys "no." So, Steve tells Ted that he knows that if Ted asks Laura out, she will say "yes." Ted gets excited...and then stops and asks Steve why he's telling him this. "Everybody knows you are crazy about Laura. Why would you do this." Steve responds, "Because I know she really wants to go out with you and what I really want is for her to be happy." Self-sacrifice for the ones we love. Simple example, but true!!!
In summary: faith helps us to see and build correct morals, our knowledge then is shaped by those, we then have a greater understanding of where self-control is needed, and steadfastness allows us to be loyal and "unwavering" while exercising that self-control. Having self-control can help us as we work to remain faithful no matter what we go through and this allows us to better respect and revere the God we already claim to love. respecting and who God is and learning to hate and love what God hates and loves, helps us to have a brotherly affection for our fellow Christians and our fellow man, which also begins to develop in us a self-sacrificing love. These don't just happen on their own. that's why Peter says to "make every effort" to see things things added to our faith.
How about you and me today? What are we "making every effort" to add to our faith? May I suggest praying and asking God to show you the areas that you need to grow in and praying for opportunities to grow them! (Yes, it's dangerous...but God is not a passive God and we can be grateful for that.)
Verses 8 and 9 wrap it up. Verse 8 says that if we have these qualities, it will keep us from been ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of God. Verse 9 says that if we lack these things we will be so nearsighted that we will basically keep forgetting that we are free from the power of sin and able to struggle against it.
For God's glory!
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