2 Peter 1:5 - Meaning and Application

In these words, the apostle comes to the main purpose of this letter, to stir believers on to grow in grace and holiness. They had already received precious faith and become partakers of the divine nature, but this was only a good beginning. They were not to stop there, as if they were already perfect. He had prayed that grace and peace would increase in them, and now he urges them to press on for more grace.

We should also remember to encourage the people we pray for, and help them use the means God has given for their growth. Anyone who wants real progress in religion must be diligent and serious about it. Without full effort, there is no real gain in holiness. Lazy people do nothing in the work of religion. We must strive if we want to enter by the narrow gate (Luke 13:24).

Here we can see the Christian life marked out step by step. First, the believer must add virtue, which here means strength and courage. Some have taken it to mean justice, and there is truth in that, but the main point is a strong heart ready for good works. Faithful believers are to be careful to maintain good works (Titus 3:8). Without courage, a Christian cannot stand openly for what is right or keep going in doing it. The righteous must be bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1). A fearful Christian, ashamed to confess Christ or obey his commands, should expect Christ to be ashamed of him on the last day.

We need this kind of courage all through life, and it will matter greatly when we come to die. Let not your hearts fail you in the evil day. Show courage in standing against every enemy, the world, the flesh, the devil, and even death itself.

Second, the believer must add knowledge to virtue, that is, prudence to courage. There is a knowledge of God’s name that must come before faith (Psalm 9:10). We cannot rightly approve God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will until we know it. But we also need wisdom about the proper time, place, people, and manner for duty. Christian prudence pays attention to those details. Every believer should seek the knowledge and wisdom that help direct them, both in the order of Christian duties and in the way they are carried out.

Third, we must add temperance to knowledge. We should be sober and moderate in how we love and use the good things of this life. When we truly understand outward comforts, we will see that they are much less valuable than spiritual blessings. Bodily exercises and bodily privileges help little, so they should be valued and used that way. The gospel teaches sobriety as well as honesty (Titus 2:12). We must be moderate in our desire for food, drink, clothing, sleep, recreation, and honor. Too much desire for these things does not fit with a deep desire for God and Christ. Those who take more than their due from these things cannot give to God or others what they owe them.

Fourth, we must add patience to temperance. Patience must do its full work, or we cannot be mature and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:4). We are born to trouble, and through many troubles we must enter the kingdom of heaven. Tribulation works patience (Romans 5:3), because trouble calls this grace into action and strengthens it. By patience, we bear afflictions and hard losses quietly and with submission. We do not complain against God, but justify him in all that he brings on us. We admit that our sufferings are less than our sins deserve, and we trust they are no more than we need.

Fifth, to patience we must add godliness, true reverence and love for God. Patience leads to this, because it produces experience, or tested knowledge of God’s care (Romans 5:4). When Christians suffer patiently, they learn by experience the loving-kindness of their heavenly Father. He does not take that kindness away from his children, even when he corrects them with discipline for their sins (Psalm 89:32, Psalm 89:33). This leads them into the childlike fear and reverent love that make up true godliness.

Sixth, we must add brotherly kindness, a tender affection for all fellow Christians. They are children of the same Father, servants of the same Master, members of the same family, travelers to the same country, and heirs of the same inheritance. So they should be loved with a pure heart and warmly, with a delighting love, as those who are especially near and dear to us, in whom we take special pleasure (Psalm 16:3).

Seventh, charity, that is, a love of goodwill toward all people, must be added to the love we especially have for God’s children. God made all nations from one blood, and all people share the same human nature. All are capable of the same mercies and exposed to the same troubles. So although Christians are set apart and honored above those without Christ, they should still feel for others in their sufferings, help them in their needs, and work for their good in body and soul whenever they have opportunity. In this way, believers show that they are children of God, who is good to all, but especially good to Israel.

All these graces must be present, or we will not be fully prepared for every good work, for the duties we owe God and people, for active and patient obedience, and for those acts in which we imitate God as well as those in which we simply obey him. For that reason, and to urge us into a steady and tireless pursuit of them, the apostle sets out the blessings that come to all who labor successfully so that these things are in them and abound. These are presented more generally in verse 8.

When these graces are in us and growing, they keep us from being idle or unfruitful. In Scripture’s style, much more is meant than the words openly say. So when it says of Ahaz, one of the worst kings of Judah, that he did not do what was right in the Lord’s sight (2 Kings 16:2), it means he did what was deeply offensive and evil.

In the same way, when Peter says that having and increasing in Christian graces will keep us from being inactive and unfruitful, he means they will make us lively, eager, and active in practical Christianity. They will make us rich in good works, and those works bring glory to God. They also bring fruit among people, especially in the knowledge, or open acknowledgment, of our Lord Jesus Christ. A true believer owns Christ as Lord and shows that by doing the work he has given them to do.

This is the natural result of adding one grace to another. When all Christian graces are in the heart, they strengthen and encourage one another. Then they all grow together, and where grace increases, good works increase too. Peter shows how desirable that condition is in verse 9.

He also shows how miserable it is to be without these life-giving, fruitful graces. A person who does not have them, or who only claims to have them but does not use and grow them, is blind in spiritual things. The next words explain this more fully, he cannot see far off. He can see and love this present evil world, but he has no true sight of the world to come. He is not moved by its spiritual blessings and heavenly privileges.

Anyone who truly sees the value of Christianity must work hard for those graces that are necessary for receiving glory, honor, and immortality. But where these graces are missing, people cannot really look ahead, even to things that are not far off in fact, though they seem far away to them. They push those things out of mind. What a miserable condition this is, to be blind to the great matters of the life to come, unable to see the reality, certainty, greatness, and nearness of God’s rewards for the righteous, and the terrible punishment he will bring on the ungodly.

But that is not all. Those who do not add to their faith virtue, knowledge, and the rest are also unable to look backward clearly. Their memories are as weak as their sight. They forget that they have been baptized, and that they have received means of grace and been bound to holiness in heart and life. By baptism, we are enlisted in a holy war against sin. We are solemnly bound to fight against the flesh, the world, and the devil.

So keep remembering your serious promise to belong to the Lord. Think often on your special advantages and encouragements to leave behind all uncleanness of body and spirit.

The apostle then names two great benefits that come from diligence in Christian duty, firmness in grace and a victorious entrance into glory. He brings these in by repeating his earlier call in different words. What he said in verse 5, to give all diligence to add virtue, knowledge, and the rest to faith, he says in verse 10 as giving diligence to make our calling and election sure. From this we learn that believers should seek clear assurance that they are chosen by God.

The way to make our eternal election sure is to make our effectual calling sure. No one can look into God’s eternal plan. But God’s chosen ones are also called, and if we find that we are truly and effectually called, we may conclude that we are chosen for salvation. This takes much diligence and effort. It calls for careful self-examination and close searching to see whether we are truly converted, whether our minds are enlightened, our wills renewed, and our whole souls changed in their bent and direction.

To reach settled assurance, we need the greatest diligence, and we cannot keep it without God’s help (Psalm 139:23; Romans 8:16). Yet no one should think this labor too much, because the gain is great. By this means, you will be kept from falling at all times, even in seasons of strong temptation on the earth. When others fall into serious and shameful sin, those who are diligent will be helped to walk carefully and continue in their duty.

When many fall into error, they will be kept sound in the faith and made perfect and complete in all God’s will. Those who are diligent in religion will also have a triumphant entrance into glory. Some are barely saved, with great difficulty, as by fire (1 Corinthians 3:15; 1 Peter 4:18). But those who grow in grace and abound in the work of the Lord will have a rich welcome into the joy of their Lord, into that everlasting kingdom where Christ reigns, and where they will reign with him forever.