Since my early days as a young believer, I’ve understood the biblical doctrine of grace. Well, I understood it at a basic level.
The importance of God’s grace solidified even more for me as I learned about the 5 Solas of the Protestant Reformation.
One of the first Bible verses I memorized was— For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).
I discovered and noted many other scriptures confirming the important theological truth of God’s grace alone as the believer’s confidence in the assurance of our salvation. A popular expression summarizes it this way— Jesus + nothing = everything.
But one day, I came across these verses —
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. (2 Peter 1:5–7, NIV)
Whoa! Wait a minute. How can you add anything to faith? If faith plus nothing equals everything, why would we add anything to it? Isn’t faith itself a gift of God’s grace? Why would the apostle Peter exhort believers to “…make every effort to add to your faith…?”
So, I checked the original Greek text (the sort of thing pastors do) and other Bible versions and sought counsel from reliable commentaries. All my studies revealed it meant what it said! So, where do we go from there?
Context Context Context
Once again, I understood the importance of context. As I read the preceding two verses (2 Peter 1:3–4) and those immediately following (2 Peter 1:8–11), I realized it was one continuous thought — just as our redemption is one continuous process.
The truth of the Scriptures is greater than the words themselves because the truth of God transcends the words used to express it.
We often hear of someone saying something that gets taken out of context, misconstruing what they meant. This is why face-to-face communication is more reliable than email, or through texting, and even a phone call.
How a word is expressed—the way it is expressed—is what gives the word or phrase meaning. We can express simple phrases like I love you with various emotions and attitudes—passion, sarcasm, indifference, and so on.
This is why we need to understand the truths of the Scriptures within their given context. Not just the wording but also their cultural and historical setting, as to who said it and to whom it was originally said.
Faith and Perseverance
I realized how these verses spoke of perseverance in faith. What God began in us, He, will complete until the day we see Jesus face to face (Philippians 1:6). This is also the essence of the apostle Paul’s further exhortation—
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed — not only in my presence but now much more in my absence — continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Phil 2:12–13, NIV)
So, how can we make every effort and not become absorbed in our efforts to gain God’s redemption or get sucked into working for our salvation?
Faith is all about trust — a personal trust in the Lord Himself (Hebrews 11:6).
We need to live by faith and exercise our faith to remain spiritually healthy. Just as our physical bodies need nutritious food and exercise, so does our faith, which needs to be fed and exercised. Faith is all about trust—a personal trust in the Lord.
Understanding these Spiritual Qualities
This list of spiritual qualities describes how we can persevere in our faith: Faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love. They speak of how God’s Spirit lives in us and transforms us, similar to what the apostle Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23).
The context of these verses helps us understand how important these qualities are for us to persevere in our faith and reflect God’s Spirit in us. Let’s look at these qualities briefly, one at a time.
- Goodnessimplies integrity or moral excellence—the effect of God’s goodness at work in us.
- The knowledgespoken of here is insight and understanding of the Lord Himself—a knowledge and understanding of who God is in a personal way.
- Self-controlresults from continuing to submit our self-will to God instead of letting our selfish nature control us.
- Perseveranceis like the persistence needed for running a marathon—to persevere to the finish line—to keep going forward even when we want to quit and seem to have no strength left.
- Godlinessspeaks of internal self-discipline worked into our character through the power of God’s Spirit, transforming us from the inside out.
- Mutual or brotherly affectionis simply genuine care and concern for others in a mutual way. This requires an authentic relationship of acceptance, forgiveness, and unselfishness.
- The love(charity in the KJV) referred to here is often called God’s love (agape) — the apostle Paul expresses with eloquence an unselfish and unconditional love — the way God loves us in 1 Corinthians—
Love is patient… kind… does not envy… boast… is not proud… does not dishonor others… is not self-seekng… easily angered… keeps no record of wrongs.. does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth… always protects… trusts… hopes… perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Cor 13:4–8 NIV)
How to Add these to Our Faith
Peter tells us these spiritual qualities need to increase in our lives as we continue to trust in God daily.
If you have these qualities and they are increasing, it demonstrates that your knowledge about our Lord Jesus Christ is living and productive. (2 Peter 1:8, GW)
This is the essence of spiritual growth and the key to persevering in faith—our life submitted to Him as the Holy Spirit is at work in us. These need to become spiritual disciplines in our lives.
How Can these Become Spiritual Disciplines in Our Lives?
We need to pursue a deeper relationship with the Lord daily and to invest the overflow of this relationship in the lives of others in our lives, especially within a community of other believers.
Lord, help us to continue to grow spiritually and persevere as we trust in you daily. And encourage us to add these spiritual qualities to our lives as you produce the fruit of your Spirit in us.
