Adding to Your Faith

"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance paitience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity." - II Peter 1:5-7

I once heard an old preacher say that the first thing he did once he got out of bed in the morning was to make sure his flesh was in the grave and then he'd "add virtue."

This post is written specifically with the young adults that I have the priviledge of teaching Sunday School to in mind. We've been covering the opening verses of Hebrews 6 which detail a list of fundamental, foundational doctrines beginning with "repentance from dead works" and "faith toward God." I gave II Peter 1:5-9 as a memorization challenge for this week and this post is designed to help give some insight as to why these verses are so significant.

The overarching theme of these verses is to progress in our practical understanding and obedience to the Lord. Start with faith and add to it until you wind up at the chief gift: charity. Just read I Corinthians 13 if you're not sure how important charity is (hint: it's very important since it's translated out of the same Greek term that's used to convey God's love for us). But even before we can look at these spiritual steps to walking in God's love, we have to understand the context of this passage.

The Context: Peter's final letter

By reading further into this chapter we see clearly that Peter knows that his days are running short. This letter would likely be the last piece of admonition and instruction that he would be able to give his audience. His first epistle was addressed to Hebrew Christians who had fled Israel and settled in what is modern day Turkey. They had sacrificed their relationships, jobs, way of life, history, and heritage all because of their faith in the Lord Jesus. The opening verse of II Peter finds the Apostle addressing "them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ."

The opening verses of this letter are all about the gift and knowledge of God. Our precious faith was obtained, not by our own righteousness or merit, but "through the righteousness of God." He continues, though, by saying that grace and peace would be multiplied "through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord." He then combines these two elements and says that "his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue."

That final phrase of verse 3 is significant and emphasizes our observation in Hebrews 6 that "repentance from dead works" can only do us good if we move in the direction of "faith towards God." God's desire is for us to be "conformed to the image of His dear Son." God didn't give us "all things that pertain unto life and godliness" so that we could stand still. He has called us TO glory and virtue.

Peter's desire was that, even after he was gone, these Christians would keep advancing towards a deeper and more practical knowledge of the Lord. He reminds us that we have been given "exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." The goal is to be a partaker of the divine nature and to be delivered from the corruptions of the world. It is immediately after this that our text begins "and beside this..."

Unfortunately too many focus on our eternal state. We delight in the fact that we will spend eternity in heaven and what a comfort that is! But we forget that there is a "beside this." Beside the fact that "we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is" there is the real, tangible call for us, in this life, to walk in the Spirit and to practically "put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." That is what our text is about.

The Process: Adding as you go

You know how you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Don't get caught up on the size of the thing. Just start somewhere and keep plugging away. This is the way of the Christian walk. One step at a time. One day at a time. One moment at a time. One temptation, one tribulation, one trial... "Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; Line upon line, line upon line; Here a little, and there a little..."

"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith..." Don't forget that this whole thing requires urgency. The term "diligence" is translated out of a word which means to hasten or to be eager. This is not just important work, it is THE important work. All our effort should be applied towards our spiritual progression in Christ.

But there are several 'steps' listed here which we will quickly work through.

Faith: belief

Faith is the foundation, well, of our faith. It means "belief." In our class we have discussed this at length. It is a gift of God given to those who hear and receive the Word of God. Faith is essential to please God. There are so many things that can be said about faith, but if we are to grow we MUST grow out of a place of confidence, trust, belief, assurance, and faith in God.

Virtue: pleasant

From faith we move to virtue. Virtue is often defined as "excellence of character" but it comes from the word which means "pleasant" or "to please." Obviously our desire should be to please the Lord but this speaks to possessing a character and a testimony that is pleasing towards others. We will obviously have enemies if we live for the Lord and we do not live as men-pleasers, but I hope you will understand the point being conveyed here. Jesus had a gentleness and an approachability to Him. He welcomed sinners to come to Him and find rest and reconciliation with the Father. Our character and demeanor should not be unnecessarily rough or jaded. It is interesting that, even before our next attribute of knowledge, God's desire is for our disposition be changed. Too many think that, because they seem to know something, they can excuse having a harsh, judgmental, overly-sarcastic personality. But James says that the wisdom that is from above is gentle and easy to be intreated. Paul admonishes Timothy that the servant of the Lord "must not strive" but to be gentle and instructing the unlearned and rebellious in the spirit of meekness. Someone who does not possess virtue has not progressed in their faith and reveals a lack of knowledge.

Knowledge: understanding

Knowledge is more than just having the ability to recite facts. When I was training in the principles of automotive engine machining I struggled to do well until I took the time to properly understand WHY is was doing what I was doing. God's desire for us is that we understand what it is that He desires and has decreed to be right and just. Jesus tells the Apostles that they were not called servants, but friends, because servants didn't know what the master was doing. He has revealed to us all things that we need to know and He wants us to move into a practical understanding of these things.

The last memory verses my childhood mentor gave before he died was Jeremiah 9:23-24 which says that our glory should be in the fact that we understand and know Him. Move towards a more complete comprehension (even though we will never fully comprehend) of His righteousness and will.

Temperance: self-control

This is a simple enough concept but impossible to apply without the Holy Spirit. To control one's desires, impulses, and very nature is a work of God. We are called upon to control our tongue, our sexual impulses and desires, our appetite for food and entertainment, our anger and wrath... The only way for us to have any hope of self-control is with a foundation of faith, virtue, and knowledge.

Patience: steadfastness

As we grow in faith we will find an increased resistance towards the work of God in our life. Friends and family will forsake us, tribulation will befall us, discouragement will take hold, and many more "divers temptations" will follow. Yet, in all these things, we are called upon to rejoice and consider Christ who "endured such contradiction of sinners against himself." Remain faithful even when the world falls apart around you and draw comfort and strength from the Lord who goes before you.

Godliness: piety

This term deals with a holy reverence and respect towards our spiritual responsibilities. We have believed and that belief has begun to alter our character. We strive to understand and withstand temptation and trials, but now we come, after all has gone wrong, to a place a deep respect for the example of Christ. We have suffered with Him, even though it be just a little. It has given a depth of character to us that we no longer see such enjoyment in the trivial things that the world has to offer. We begin to view things as they are in light of eternal things. Reverence and piety are terms long lost to this generation today but they are attributes to which the Christian should aspire.

Brotherly kindness: philadelphia

"Brotherly kindness" is translated out of a familiar Greek term: Philadelphia. (Phileo - love, dephi - brother) This is the penultimate attribute in this text. Love, affection, and kindness towards the brethren. There is so much disunity in Christ's church today because there is a lack of piety. A lack of piety reveals a void of steadfastness, self-control, and so on. True brotherly kindness seeks to restore the one overtaken in a fault. True brotherly kindness gives towards another's need without any expect of recognition or reward. True brotherly kindness is to fast and pray and to neglect one's own wants so that another might be filled. Brotherly kindness is inconvenient. It is difficult. It is controversial. But brotherly kindness transcends the attribute that we have translated for us as "godliness." Even greater than this profound piety and reverence towards spiritual things is a sacrificial, familial type affection towards the brotherhood.

Charity: God's love

I Corinthians 13 is devoted to expounding for us the greatness of charity. I recommend you go and study that to grasp the significance of this attribute. It really is the crowning jewel of the saint. To love as God loves should be the desire of every Christian.

The Purpose: fruitful and faithful

I won't belabor this point much, but the verses after our text tell us the implications of having these attributes present in our lives. That we should "neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" being just one. Another is that, if we lack these things, we will forget the joy of salvation and forgiveness. He furthermore admonishes us that we should, again, give diligence to "make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall."

I don't know about you, but I want to be faithful. I want to be fruitful. I don't want to forget. I don't want to fall. So I reckon I need to "add virtue."