2 Peter 1:5 – 9 says ‘5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.’
Here, we see the qualities, starting from ‘faith’ until ‘love’. True love is starting from the ‘faith’, is also true love to our God. The true love and the fellowship with the fellow brethren, how is it? ‘Love’ here, is just not an external love but it should begin within us. 10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Peter is emphasizing six qualities beginning with Faith and Love. He is writing this, just before his departure. We see from verse 13, ‘13 I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.’ Towards his end of life, Peter is reminding the generations to follow. To the believers, whom God has predestined to partake in God’s divine nature. Peter is giving us a reminder that the love should start with Faith, ‘your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.’ Also, 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
We consider this as an illustration of a pyramid. The foundation is God’s divine nature. First, it needs to happen in our life. We have the precious and magnificent promises of God. The Holy Spirit need to convict us of His divine nature and His promises, which are already given to us to be able to partake in His divine nature. Like a pyramid, the foundation is with promises of God and also the new life, which God has given us, which will help us to partake in His divine nature. We see in 1 Peter, about the true grace of God, which is the power to overcome the sin. We see God’s will for us in verse 4, ‘having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.’ There are temptations and difficulties. But for those who are called to be the partakers of God’s divine nature, those who are dying to their ‘self-will’ and taking up their cross, to partake in His divine nature. There is a higher calling. As we see in Revelation 4, ‘come up higher’.
2 Peter 1:5, 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love We see Faith here, is not an independent quality but is in addition of moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love. Faith – We see, in Hebrews 12, about the Jesus, the author and perfecter of Faith, and the new covenant faith God has given us. Faith is believing and trusting in God. We do not see but we wholeheartedly trust in our God. Moral Excellence – the real meaning is ‘doing good and leaving the wrong’. Doing what is right. God has given us all the promises, commandments to follow. It starts with faith. In each step of our life, when we encounter trials and temptations, faith is the starting point of saying, ‘I can win this battle. I cannot fall in this temptation.’ To it, add moral excellence, that is, ‘I know the good thing and I am holding onto the right thing and I am not doing any wrong thing.’
We read in Ephesians 4:17-20, 17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, We are not called to be like gentiles. In each step of our way, we can improve ourselves. We may have short-comings, sins in our life, where we want to improve, but God does not want us to stay as it is, but God wants to lift us up and wants us to come up on a higher ground. This is what is mentioned in Ephesians 4, 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way. Let us assess ourselves. What is ‘Christ’ to me? Individually, if we assess today, what is Christ nature? What is the light that I have? That God has given me about His divine nature today? How much are we understanding His precious and magnificent promises, are these promises true in our lives?
Dear brothers and sisters, God wants us to have faith and moral excellence. Romans 12:2 says, ‘2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.’ The will of God for us is not to conform to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Everyday renewal.
Knowledge – After Faith, moral excellence, comes the knowledge. We know the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Knowledge about His promises. It is not just about the head knowledge. When we read further, knowledge will lead to self-control.
Titus 2:11,12 says, ‘11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.’
We see the real knowledge here. When we face situations, Holy Spirit should remind us of His promises, which we learned from the ‘Word of God’. It will instruct us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present ages. Also, Holy Spirit will remind us of the blessed hope we have in God and when we see further, this Knowledge should lead us to self-control. Controlling ourselves, in love. We see God is sovereign. God is our hope. No matter, whatever temptations come in my way, may be anger or any sin, my focus should be on Jesus Christ. I have faith in Him. I have moral excellence, I have also the Word of God that brings knowledge to me, to deal with situations. I have also His promises and commandments of God which will also help me to control myself, through Holy Spirit. Is this true in my life? It came to me more clearly that, this is the way, I need to start my faith. To faith add moral excellence, knowledge and self-control. It will lead us to perseverance. We know about the withstanding capacity, of metals. There is a test for the metals. They are put in fire and their withstanding capacity is understood. There are metals like Gold, which are kept in deepest fire. It brings purity. Is this true in our life? Is there a perseverance, patience? is our self-control leading us to that level of perseverance to things, to the divine nature which we are called to partake. This perseverance leads us to godliness. We see from the Bible, ‘Godliness with contentment is a great gain’. This is the godliness; God is seeking in us. Through the self-control, through the perseverance, it will lead us to have brotherly kindness and love. We cannot just simply love our brothers. This is what we are told. We are not to have worldly love but as we see in 2 Peter, we need to have all these virtues, qualities and the promises of God should be our foundation. This foundation will lead us to have all these qualities.
Verse 8 says, ‘8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ If we are yielding to the will of God, to the Holy Spirit, we can partake in this divine nature. Verse 9 says, 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. May God help us all to covet these qualities, not just in a vague way but in depth. We should assess ourselves, among these, which quality we are lacking, and if we are lacking in any of these, we are breaking the covenant of love, which God has promised us. It may be the qualities like, loving brothers or in perseverance or whatever quality, we have to start with faith. Then only we can reach the peak of the pyramid, i.e., love.
Considering a story,’ where a husband and wife went to fishing on a yatch. As they went into river, the wife wanted to swim and she went quite far and the current carried her to a different location. She started screaming. The husband saw, he immediately left the yatch, jumped into the river. I read, he was a good swimmer and the wife, was a beginner, knew the basics of swimming. As the flow increased, they both could not reach the yatch. The husband asked his wife to float and meanwhile he started to focus, where his yatch was, in which direction. He understood that the yatch was quite far, from where they were. He started to swim towards the yatch, against the flow. When he reached the yatch, he could not find his wife. His wife was floating. He was searching for hours for his wife, but she was floating, the flow carried her wherever the wind blew. After a day, he was able to find his wife, who drifted about two to three kilometers from where their yatch was in the beginning. She was safe. As his wife was floating, she was going with the current or flow or the waves, wherever they took her. But we see the husband. He swam against the tide and was able to focus on the initial point where the yatch was. He swam towards it, though it was difficult, he was able to reach.’
We see here, in spiritual perspective, strong flow is strong temptation of this world. If we are trying to float, to escape these temptations, on our own, we cannot stay strong. Dear brothers and sisters, we can be strong, only if we come back, fighting the current. Coming back to where Jesus is, the yatch. If the world is trying to pull us back, away from the yatch, we should remember, the promises which are precious and magnificent promises of God and we have the example of Jesus Christ. We can swim back to the initial point and come back to the Lord. In many circumstances, we are drifting away from the Lord Jesus Christ. We tend to forget His promises but the Holy Spirit reminds us that, ‘if we are able to yield to God’s will and go back to God, against the flow, and towards the yatch, we can be partakers of His divine nature.’ If we float around, we cannot be anywhere near to God. This story blessed me. I should not just have an outward love, but I need to go deep and also swim across the flow, and towards the focal point. I want to commit my life in this regard, where I want to have love and also brotherly kindness. Not just outward love, but through faith and through all the qualities, Peter mentioned here. As Peter knows how Satan is a deceiver, he is reminding the coming generations about what is, real love.
Philippians 2:12,13 says, ‘12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.’ Paul also in the same spirit as Peter, is writing here. He says, ‘it is God, who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure’. I want to submit to God’s will, so I can have these qualities, starting from faith, and reaching up to the peak of the pyramid, that is, love. As Peter is reminding, I want to hold on to these qualities. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. If we are not understanding, it means we are short-sighted and blind in many areas. I don’t want to have my life in that way. I want to hold on to these qualities and also want to focus where my yatch is and swim towards the yatch, against the flow. I may have difficulties but I have the Holy Spirit who is reminding me the true knowledge of Jesus Christ. How Jesus lived in this world, when He faced temptations. Let us submit our lives to our God, seeking these Christian virtues in our lives.
