“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-11 ESV)
For what reason? For the reason that we who are of genuine God-ordained and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ have been granted God’s precious promises so that through them we may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire (see 2 Peter 1:1-4). In other words, the purpose of our salvation from sin is that we may cease with deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord and that we may now, in the power of God, walk in holiness and in righteousness, in obedience to our Lord and to his commands.
Thus, we are to supplement our faith with these various biblical and godly attributes which should be a natural result of God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, these attributes are produced by our walks of faith in the Lord Jesus, in God’s power. They are not us adding on to our faith the works of the flesh nor the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification and dietary laws and restrictions, which we are taught not to do. This is speaking of the process of sanctification and how we are to grow in our walks of faith and maturity, becoming more like Jesus day by day.
We who are genuine believers in and followers of Jesus Christ are to be growing daily in our walks of faith. And this will be evident in our character, our words, our deeds, and in our way of thinking and in our attitudes. We should be continually changing, continuing to be transformed of the Spirit of God away from the ways of the flesh toward the ways of the Spirit. And the evidence that this is taking place in our lives is going to be in self-control, virtue, practical and applicable biblical knowledge, steadfastness of faith, godliness, and a loving and proper affection for one another in Christ.
But then pay close attention to the words which follow. “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So, you see, these are spiritual qualities which should be produced in our lives as a result of our walks of obedience to our Lord in holy living. But then keep reading.. “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” So to lack these qualities is detrimental to our faith and to our salvation, too.
So keep reading… “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” So, what’s this saying? It is saying that a mere profession of faith in Jesus Christ does not secure heaven for us. And it is letting us know that our salvation is progressive, and that we must continue to walk in obedience to our Lord and not in sin, for if sin is what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God.
Now this is not us “doing good deeds” in our flesh in an effort to earn or to deserve our own salvation, for that is impossible! This is us walking in the salvation that the Lord already provided for us. For Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. And he said if we want to come after him that we must deny self, take up our cross daily (daily die to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, and we continue in that, we have eternal life.
So, what this is teaching us is what Jesus and his NT apostles taught us all throughout the New Testament. We just need to read what they wrote in their full (and appropriate) context so that we can get the big picture. For they all taught our salvation as progressive sanctification, which is what this passage of Scripture is teaching us here in 2 Peter 1, too. We must be those who are daily putting sin to death, by the Spirit, and who are walking in obedience to our Lord in holy living and no longer in deliberate and habitual sin, and we must continue in this to the end to have eternal life with God.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Believe Him
An Original Work / July 15, 2013
My heart cries: Lord, won’t You hear me
Seeking You for the answers
To my heartache and questions
I have concerning my life?
Speak, Lord, to me right now.
“Oh, dear one, why don’t you trust Me
With your life’s circumstances?
Give your all on the altar
In submission of your will
To My purpose for you.
“Surrender your life completely
To your Lord and your Savior.
He has all things planned for you
For His glory and honor.
He’ll work all things for good.
“Believe Him. He will fulfill all
Of His promises to you
For your life and your future.
Trust Him. Rest in His love.
He’ll give you peace from above.”
