Last time we looked at the difference in being “Of” Christ and “In” Christ , and walking in His power as His partner; partaking of Him (Part 1 of this series). That is the life t hat comes from “abiding in Him” or as we noted, living in the Holiest Place at His feet. This time we will look at what Peter told us we need to do if we want to be a partaker of Christ. If we follow these seven steps they will put us in the place we need to be in order to recognize and guard against the false teaching that would draw us out of His presence should we fall under it.
Let’s take these one at a time and see how they come together to form the ingredients to living a victorious and spiritually abundant life in Christ, in His rest. To Peter the successful Christian life is one of simple addition.
2Peter 1:5-7 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
The expression beside this giving —used only here comes from a Greek word that conveys the meaning of “bringing something in to be placed by the side of something else.” First we are reminded that we are to give all “diligence” (spoude; earnest care) to our faith (pistis; assurance, fidelity). We are to have a faith that, as John Phillips says “behaves.” To this we are to “add” (epichoregeo; minister, fully supply) these seven steps. The most important thing that we can do in this life is to continue to build our faith and these seven steps — building upon one another — are keys to our successfully accomplishing that, remembering:
1. Virtue – (arete; goodness, moral excellence) Faith that honors God has the character of goodness and moral excellence. The more we meditate on virtue the more sin distasteful sin will become. This is the genuine character of Christian life.
2. Knowledge – (epignosis; acquired by learning, effort and experience). Our faith is not blind and it doesn’t exist in a vacuum, we must have the knowledge of God and His will for us. This is the exact opposite of the ignorance we walked in before we were born again. This is knowledge that refers to spiritual truth, what Paul shouted: O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! (Rom 11:33)
3. Temperance – (egkrateia; self control). Having knowledge isn’t enough, we need to know what we are to do with it and avoid the natural gulf that exists between knowledge and conduct. Temperance is one of the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:23). James told us: to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin (Jas 1:7). The word comes from kratos, which means strength, strength in self-control; Putting what we learn into practice. It means God control and that means being under control of the Holy Spirit.
4. Patience – (hupomone; endurance, waiting, continuing, perseverance). This comes from the root word that means to bear trials. The ones who persevere are the ones that win the prize. The patient person doesn’t act in a hurry, he doesn’t react, he puts things in perspective and puts up with what is tending to distract him. His goal is to submit to that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God (Rom 12:2). As Paul said, I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content (Phil 4:11). He knew what it was to be successful as well as unsuccessful — to abound and to be abased — and he was content in either place.
5. Godliness – (eusebeia; holiness, to be devout). This is something that can’t be conjured up or faked, it only comes from God. To receive it we must be dead-to-self that means that we are alive to God, which is evident by the Fruit of the Spirit in us. This is the result of spending more time with Him, moving from teknon (natural son) to huios (fully mature son); being conformed into His image. It means doing those things that are pleasing to God; those things that Jesus did. Consider the leper, the woman at the well, the demonic, the hungry and the list goes on.
6. Brotherly Kindness – (philadelphia; love of the brethren). For Peter this meant having unfeigned love for the brethren; being kindly and affectionate one to another. This is how we are to live out our Christian faith, having love for each other. It’s God’s plan that the love we have for one another will spill over into the world, for it is that love that attracts the lost soul, not a stand-offish holier than though spiritual attitude. For Jesus it meant in simplest terms, lending a helping hand in love.
7. Charity – (agape; benevolence; love feast). This is the “God kind” of love; the unconditional love the Father has for His Son. This is what God is: He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love (1John 4:8). It is by agape that we are to be recognized as Christians, it is also part of the Fruit of the Spirit. As Peter said in his first letter regarding agape: And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins. (1Pet 4:8). Agape is not the love that results from “feelings,” it comes from a commitment and that commitment sets Christianity apart from “any other” religion in the world.
So, as Peter has laid out these seven steps for us we need to use them to progress in building up our faith. He told us that “If” they were “In” us and “Abound” in us we are promised two things:
2Peter 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
First we will not be “barren” or as the word means here, to be useless or idle. If we are dedicated to and diligently following Jesus we will never be spiritually barren in our walk with Him. Secondly these seven steps will keep us from being “unfruitful.” If we will “abide” in Christ we won’t bare any rotten fruit because we (the branches) can’t bear any fruit in and of ourselves while we are attached to the Him (the vine). And likewise if we are abiding in Him then He will be abiding in us. But more importantly we will be abiding in the knowledge of Jesus and there is nothing more precious than “knowing Him.” Every one of these seven was evident in His life and as we develop them in ourselves our knowledge of Him will grow and mature.
Peter then goes on to remind us that just the opposite is true of those who lacks these seven principles.
2Peter 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
When we are walking in sin it blinds us from the truth, blinds us from seeing ahead. Sin has a way of blinding us from seeing things as they really are, seeing our sin for what it is. The word “cannot see” is muopazo and it occurs only here in the New Testament and it means “to be shortsighted” from which we get our word myopic. The result is that if we stay in sin we are going to be led astray by it. And the end result of that may well be that we “forget” that we have been forgiven and wind up living in our sin again, out of fellowship with Jesus and our brothers and sisters. It’s the step that begins a slow slide back into the life that we have been redeemed from. It’s the point at which we find ourselves like the prodigal, sitting in a pig sty wondering what happened. And if we stay there wondering long enough without doing something about it we may stop wondering altogether. This is the perfect description of those who continue to be perpetual babies in their Christianity, the Hebrews in the wilderness.
If we will focus on Peter’s seven steps to “perfection” in Christ we will not find ourselves listed in the baby category. We will continue to mature in our faith as we become more and more conformed into the image of Jesus, as we become the mature sons of God (huios) that all creation is looking for (Rom 8:19).
Next we will look at what Peter has to say about our maturation … making our calling and election sure.