Peter describes a
seven-step journey of faith
—2 Pet. 1:2–8
(I have included the NLT version of this passage as it reads so
well, and aids in the meaning)
2 Peter 1:2-8 (NKJV)
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of
God and of Jesus our Lord,
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that
pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by
glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and
precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add
to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance,
to perseverance godliness,
7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness
love.
8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be
neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We can see in verses 3
and 4 that this seven-step journey takes us from faith to love—through His power and promises, and our participation
(partake) in His divine nature. Look at the attributes we have to add to
our faith in order to gain more and more of the likeness of Christ:
Add
to your faith—virtue (moral excellence, goodness, Christian energy)
Add
to virtue—knowledge (intelligence)
Add
to knowledge—self-control (discipline)
Add
to self-control—perseverance (patience, endurance)
Add
to perseverance—godliness (piety)
Add
to godliness—brotherly kindness
Add
to brotherly kindness—love
It is interesting to me that the journey begins with faith and concludes with love. What perfect "bookends" for our journey!
The concept of “adding” to our faith means that we have work to
do. We cannot work for our salvation - Jesus has done that - there is nothing we can do to add to what He accomplished for us on Calvary. However we do have work to do in order to grow in grace. God does not force these attributes onto us, nor does he hand them to us as
a free gift. Each of these attributes has to be worked into our lives through a
series of choices, self-discipline, and faith victories. God doesn’t do this
work – we must do it.
I think we will grow stronger in faith if we have to walk into these things day by day - disciplining our hearts and minds to follow Christ and let go of self.
We must become passionate about gaining the likeness of Christ –
this is really what it means to be a “Christian.” I invite you to embark on
this journey to “build and perfect your faith” – take a day out of the week to
focus on each one of these steps and ask the Lord to reveal His plan for you to
grow in this grace.
2 Peter 1:2-8 (New
Living Translation)
2 May God bless you with
his special favor and wonderful peace as you come to know Jesus, our God and
Lord, better and better.
3 As we know Jesus
better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life.
He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness!
4 And by that same
mighty power, he has given us all of his rich and wonderful promises. He has
promised that you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil
desires and that you will share in his divine nature.
5 So make every effort
to apply the benefits of these promises to your life. Then your faith will
produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing
God better.
6 Knowing God leads to
self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance
leads to godliness.
7 Godliness leads to
love for other Christians, and finally you will grow to have genuine love for
everyone.
8 The more you grow like
this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
