(5) For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, (6) and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, (7) and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. ~ 2 Peter 1:5-7
The context of this verse in 2 Peter chapter 1 is that, because Christians have already been rescued and blessed by Jesus, they should do everything they can to hold onto, and confidently remain in, this spiritual standing of positive relationship with God.
To supplement, of course, means to ‘add alongside’ something, and there is a list in this passage focused on adding more and more things that make us fruitful in following Jesus. Because the Christians spoken about have already been saved, adding these things don't themselves save. Verse 8 makes this clear saying, ‘if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ The point of this fruitfulness is to remain in the standing of relationship with God that has already been given. So this list, which I will keep pointing to in the following posts, is full of proactive measures to make the Christian life abundant, joyful and effective for holding onto God’s promises until the very end. So, Peter (the writer) is saying in this passage, ‘you have faith, but don’t stop there; keep adding the right qualities to your life to be fruitful so that you might more confidently remain with Christ’. Following Christ in these ways should get better and better.
Interestingly, the word 'virtue' in Greek is also close to the meaning of 'excellence', and so is probably describing the idea of ‘moral excellence’, but it seems reasonable Peter means 'virtue' in the Christian sense. He’s not saying that we should be morally virtuous in any way that contradicts with Scripture. However, ‘excellent virtue’ must in some way be different from the other qualities listed, including self-control and godliness. So maybe Peter is saying that virtue is a good ‘stepping stone’, so to speak, before his next recommendation that we gain knowledge. The knowledge he mentions here must be knowledge of God’s will, i.e., knowledge of what the Bible says about how to live for God. I wonder then, and I’m just speculating, if Peter is saying to new Christians that being morally excellent, even in ways that Scripture overlaps with a universal or secular morality, is still helpful beyond the first step of faith before they gain the more detailed and relevant knowledge of God’s loving will for how they should live.
The Bible does affirm that God has given all people a moral code for a reason, and that it testifies to his work in creating mankind. Maybe there is a challenge here for Christians not to forget that sometimes the most obvious good things are not too basic to be irrelevant in living for God. There’s also a challenge here to be actively excellent at those things with courage, knowing that if we are, we will more naturally take further steps in growth towards the knowledge of how we should live for God that the Bible reveals with more specificity. Although Peter is probably also using multiple words, including virtue, to say that Christians should live in a way that pleases God (i.e., godliness).
For those who aren’t Christians, there isn’t much way to make sense of any of this. The ways that Christians live for God are empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit only enters a persons life after they welcome new relationship with God by the power of Jesus’ cross. After this, what seems restrictive for unbelievers is freeing for believers. Living for God offers freedom whereas sin is the burden that was once deceptive in offering false liberation. Sin becomes an oppressive power that is enslaving, distorting, alienating, damaging, and without lasting satisfaction or promise for this life or the next.
The next post will focus on supplementing virtue with knowledge.
This post was written in advance and automatically published.