Having established the believer's basic adequacy through God's power in him and God's promises to him, Peter next reminded his readers of their responsibility to cultivate their own Christian growth. He did so to correct any idea that they needed to do nothing more because they possessed adequate resources.
"In this beautiful paragraph Peter orchestrates a symphony of grace. To the melody line of faith he leads believers to add harmony in a blend of seven Christian virtues which he lists without explanation or description."30
1:5 Since believers have resources that are adequate for a godly life we should use them diligently to grow in grace (cf. 3:18). Escaping the corruption of lust takes effort (cf. 1 Tim. 6:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:2). It is possible to frustrate the grace of God by having "faith without works"(James 2:20).31Therefore we must apply all diligence. This is the most basic requirement for experiencing effective Christian growth (cf. vv. 10, 15; 3:14).
"Spiritual growth in the Christian life calls for the strenuous involvement of the believer."32
"The Christian must engage in this sort of cooperation with God in the production of a Christian life which is a credit to Him."33
"Spirituality, then, is a choice. It does not come automatically or inevitably.
"Indeed, if the Christian fails to add virtue' to his faith, his faith will soon become what James described as dead faith' (James 2:14-26). Its vitality and productivity will disappear. In fact, Peter says this same thing in his own way in v. 8, 9."34
To his faith, as a foundation, the believer needs to add seven qualities with God's help. Each virtue contributes to the total growth of the saint. Note that Peter placed responsibility for attaining them on the Christian.
"The Christian life is like power steering on a car. The engine provides the power for the steering, but the driver must actually turn the wheel. So the Lord provides the power to run our lives, but we must turn the wheel.' To a great extent the Christian determines the course of his life."35
Peter said add in and mix together, as in a recipe, the following ingredients to produce a mature godly life. He used a literary device common in his day to impress upon us the importance of giving attention to each virtue.36We should not infer that before we can work on the third virtue we must master the second, and so on. This literary device simply arranges the virtues in a random order but presents them so each one receives emphasis. The total effect is to create the impression of growing a healthy tree, for example, in which several branches are vital.
Sometimes children want to grow up faster than they can. They often ask their parents to measure them again, perhaps only a week or two after their last measuring. The wise parent will tell the child not to be so concerned about constantly measuring his or her growth. Rather the child should give attention to certain basic activities that will insure good growth in time: drink your milk, eat your vegetables, get enough exercise and rest. This is the spirit of Peter's advice.
1. "Moral excellence"(Gr. areten) is virtue or goodness (v. 3; cf. 1 Pet. 2:9). Moral purity and uprightness of character through obedience to God are in view. This term (Gr. arete) describes anything that fulfills its purpose or function properly. In this context it means a Christian who fulfills his or her calling (i.e., Matt. 28:19-20; et al.).
2. "Knowledge"(Gr. gnosis) refers to acquired information. In particular the Christian needs to know all that God has revealed in His Word, not just the gospel (cf. Matt. 28:19-20).
"Gnosishere is the wisdom and discernment which the Christian needs for a virtuous life and which is progressively acquired. It is practical rather than purely speculative wisdom (cf. Phil 1:9)."37
1:6 3. "Self-control"(Gr. egkrates) means mastery of self, disciplined moderation, controlling one's desires and passions (cf. Prov. 16:32; 25:28; Acts 24:25; 1 Cor. 9:24-27; Gal. 5:23; Phil. 3:12-16; 1 Tim. 4:7-8; James 4:17). Many of the early Christian heresies taught that since the body was evil (they claimed) it was not necessary to curb fleshly lusts, only to think correctly.
"Any religious system which claims that religious knowledge emancipates from the obligations of morality is false."38
4. "Perseverance"is the need to keep on keeping on in spite of adversity. It is patient endurance in holiness when we encounter temptation to give in or to give up (cf. Rom. 5:3-4; 15:4-5; 2 Cor. 1:6; 6:4; Col. 1:11; 1 Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 1:4; James 1:3). The Greek word (hypomonen) literally means to remain under something such as a heavy load.
"Many folk have the wrong concept of what patience really is. They think it means sitting in a traffic jam on the freeway in the morning without worrying about getting to work. Well, that is not patience. It just gives you an excuse for being late to work. Patience is being able to endure when trials come."39
5. "Godliness"(Gr. eusebeia) refers to behavior that reflects the character of God (cf. v. 3; 3:11; et al.). It presupposes a desire to please God in all the relationships of life.
1:7 6. "Brotherly kindness"(Gr. philadelphia) is thoughtful consideration of fellow believers (cf. 1 Pet. 1:22; 3:8; Rom. 12:10; 1 Cor. 12:27; 1 Thess. 4:9; Heb. 13:1). Overt acts of kindness manifest this characteristic (Gal. 6:10).
7. "Love"(Gr. agape) is the highest form of love, God's kind, that seeks the welfare of the person loved above its own welfare (John 3:16; 13:35; Gal. 5:22; 1 Pet. 4:8; et al.). It reaches out to all people, not just fellow believers.
Note that this list of qualities begins with those inside the believer and progresses to those he or she demonstrates outwardly. It moves from private to public qualities. This list begins with faith (v. 5) and ends with love.40
"Christian faith is the root from which all these virtues must grow, and Christian love is the crowning virtue to which all the others must contribute. In a list of this kind, the last item has a unique significance. It is not just the most important virtue, but also the virtue which encompasses all the others. Love is the overriding ethical principle from which the other virtues gain their meaning and validity."41
This is a good checklist that helps us evaluate whether we are all that God wants us to be. These are the traits of a maturing Christian whose faith is vital, not dead.42
"Their presentation here seems to observe an order from the more elemental to the more advanced, but they are all of them facets of the Spirit's work in the life of a believer, aspects of the glory of the indwelling Christ, his character shown in the Christian's character."43
Each child in a family bears some resemblance to his or her parents while at the same time remaining distinctive. So each growing Christian normally manifests similarities to Christ and yet remains different from every other Christians.
1:8 We must continue to grow in these qualities as well as possessing them; we must grow in grace (3:18). Failure to do so will make us "useless"(Gr. argous) in God's hands as His tools in the world (cf. James 2:20; cf. Matt. 20:3, 6), and "unfruitful"(Gr. akarpous) as demonstrators of His life (John 15:2, 4; cf. Mark 12:12-14, 20-26).44This is so even though we have received everything necessary for godly living through the knowledge of Christ (v. 3).
"Idle' (argous) is literally unworking'; it is not a picture of one unavoidably unemployed but of one who avoids labor for which he should assume responsibility."45
When we diligently add these virtues to our lives we will be both useful and fruitful, and we will evidence true knowledge (Gr. epignosis) of our Lord Jesus Christ. True knowledge of Him is not just intellectual understanding then but knowledge that comes through obedience. This growth should be the goal of every believer (cf. 3:18).
"Some of the most effective Christians I have known are people without dramatic talents and special abilities, or even exciting personalities; yet God has used them in a marvelous way. Why? Because they are becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. They have the kind of character and conduct that God can trust with blessing. They are fruitful because they are faithful; they are effective because they are growing in their Christian experience."46
1:9 The absence of these virtues gives evidence of lack of true knowledge. Peter described this condition as spiritual blindness to the realities connected with their relationship with God and, in particular, shortsightedness (lit. myopia, Gr. myopazo). Such people show concern about living for the present with little regard for the future (cf. Esau). James called this dead faith (James 2:17, 26).
Many Christians have forgotten how much God has forgiven them, or they have appreciated His forgiveness only superficially.
"As is usual in the Bible, the idea of forgetting' is not a mental process but a practical failure to take into account the true meaning and significance of something."47
Those who "have forgotten"have little motivation to grow in grace and thereby please God. They do not add the seven ingredients to their faith that Peter urged. Peter referred to this omission as forgetting one's purification from his or her former sins. Having forgotten one's escape from the corruption that is in the world through lust (v. 4) this person fails to see the importance of present purification through continued Christian growth.
This is one of the most practical and helpful passages in the New Testament dealing with spiritual growth. Peter presented both the reason for and the method of this growth clearly and attractively here.
"Peter was certainly a spiritual realist even if many modern theologians are not. He does not take it for granted that spiritual growth will occur automatically or inevitably. Indeed, the character development he thinks of cannot occur apart from the believer giving all diligence' toward that end (v 5). This does not mean, of course, that the believer does this all on his own. God supplies the basic resources and provides help along the way. But Christian growth will not occurapart from our diligent participation in the process. If we learn nothing else from this passage, we must learn this. We do not passively experience Christian growth, but actively pursue it!"48
