Sometimes, when I’m reading the Scriptures, I’ll be struck by something I’ve read a hundred times before, but never really paid attention to. This is, of course, exactly what I should expect. Knowledge builds on knowledge, including the knowledge of God’s word, so it only makes sense that I will continue to gain insight even on the hundredth reading. Or the millionth. The meaning was there all along, but I had not previously had a deep enough background in the Scriptures to fully appreciate it. Or perhaps it’s only now that I have finally grown enough in other areas that the Holy Spirit judges I’m ready to grow in this one as well.
I had that experience recently, when I was reading and meditating on 2 Peter. This is part of a group of New Testament letters that scholars sometimes call the catholic epistles, not in the Roman Catholic sense, but in the sense that they were universal. In other words, they were not addressed to one particular person or church, like Paul’s letters were. Of course, that does not mean that the authors did not have an audience that they were addressing; their intended audience was all the Christians of their era. And like every other part of the Bible, these catholic epistles can speak to us as well, if we are willing to hear them.
Peter wrote his second letter1 shortly before being executed, which probably happened around AD 64, under the emperor Nero. In it, immediately after the opening, he writes:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness (1 Peter 1:2).
When I read this, two phrases, “his divine power” and “everything we need” stood out. Do I actually believe I already have “everything I need” to live a godly life? More to the point, do I live as if I believe that?
Backing up one sentence, grace and peace come, of course, from God. But it’s specifically the knowledge of God, and of Christ, that Peter points to as the means through which grace and peace are obtained. And in the next sentence, it’s through this same knowledge that God’s power has given us everything we need to live godly lives. Our knowledge of God is the channel through which we receive, by God’s power, whatever we need.
The Greek word translated “knowledge” here is epignōsis, which Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words defines as, “exact or full knowledge, discernment, recognition.” This is the knowledge of God that comes from studying the Scriptures. In the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament used by the early church, this same word epignōsis is used in several places, including this passage:
my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
“Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law of your God,
I also will ignore your children
(Hosea 4:6).
So there are two possible results: by embracing the knowledge of God I can receive divine power to live a life pleasing to him. Or I can reject that knowledge, which will result only in destruction.
But it gets better:
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires (2 Peter 1:3-4).
The word “these” obviously points back to God’s “own glory and goodness” in the previous verse. Not only have we been given everything we need to live godly lives, we have been given promises, through which we participate in God’s very nature. And we have an escape; not from the world, the passage does not promise that, and Jesus himself specifically said he was not asking the Father to take his disciples out of the world. The followers of Jesus remain in the world, but we are not a part of it (John 17:15-16). What we have escaped, rather, is the corruption in the world. This also comes out of the knowledge of God; I can only trust God to fulfill his promises if I know him, his nature and his character, and if I also know what he has promised.
Given this, what should my response be? Peter continues:
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. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins (1 Peter 1:5-9).
Our response is to work at – “make every effort” – growing in goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, affection and love. This is what it looks like to live a godly life, to participate in the divine nature, and to escape the world’s corruption. In short, what it looks like to become more like Jesus. Crucially, this is not how I participate in the divine nature; it’s the result of participating in the divine nature. It’s the effect, not the cause. Because I can participate in God’s divine nature, and because I have been given an escape from the world’s corruption, I am able to develop the qualities Peter lists here.
After faith, which is necessary to be a follower of Jesus at all, the first quality on the list is goodness. We’ve already read, at the beginning of this passage, that it is by God’s glory and his goodness that he called us. And the implication here is that we need to strive to become like God in virtue. Don’t just be nice, be good. I must do, within the limits of my power, the same kinds of things God does.
Knowledge is next, and this, interestingly, is a different Greek word than the one used a few verses earlier. The word here is gnōsis. This is knowledge through a personal experience of God. Personal experience comes after goodness. In other words, after I’ve started acting like Jesus. And goodness comes after faith. Experience of God’s character should then lead to self-control, perseverance and godliness. The last two traits are mutual affection (Greek philadelphia) and love (Greek agapē). It’s interesting that love is listed last among the eight character traits. It could be that Peter saved the most important for last, but I think it’s more likely that he’s describing a pathway, where greater faith leads to greater goodness, which produces greater knowledge, and so on, with greater love as the final goal. This is the godly life, for which God’s divine power has already given us everything we need.
If you’re wondering why we can’t jump straight to love, you’re not alone. I’ll admit I wouldn’t mind at all skipping over a few of the other traits, especially self-control and perseverance. But then, how can I love like Jesus if I’m not like him in any other way? It’s only as the character of Christ is formed in me that I am able to love others as I should.
But before we get too discouraged by this list, notice that Peter talks about possessing these character traits “in increasing measure.” That’s important. It’s not about having reached a certain level, but about continually growing. There’s no minimum level we have to reach before they “count.” The benefit is for anyone who has made a start and is growing. And at the other end, there’s no talk here of reaching an end state. There should be no thought of having “enough” of these qualities.
The result of continual growth in these traits is that I will be effective and productive for God. But Peter does not say that growing in these traits will produce that result, but that it will prevent my effectiveness and productivity from being stifled. Failing to diligently cultivate these qualities interferes with the work the Holy Spirit wants to do through me. Which makes sense I can’t resist God’s Spirit in some areas of my life and expect him to do effective work in others. Jesus isn’t offering a list of menu options; he works through me as he transforms me to more clearly reflect the image of God.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:10-11).
By striving to grow in these areas I “confirm” my calling and election. Not produce, but confirm. As I begin to resemble Christ, it demonstrates, both to myself and to everyone around me, that I really do belong to Christ. Conversely, if I am not growing more like Jesus it could well mean that I never belonged to him at all.
So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things (1 Peter 1:12-15).
When Peter wrote this letter he knew that his time was short. As an apostle – a messenger of Christ – he used his final days, not to reach people who hadn’t yet heard the gospel, but rather to remind those who already believed of the reasons for their hope, and of the character that God wanted to develop in them. In modern language, at the end of his life he was more concerned with discipleship than with evangelism. The first century believers Peter was writing to already knew the things he was telling them. Not only did they know them, but they were “firmly established” in them. Peter was sending them a reminder and an encouragement to continue, not a new teaching.
According to the Scriptures, God has given me everything I need to live a life fully pleasing to him. If you’re a believer, he’s given you everything you need too. If that’s true, then I will naturally become as much like Christ as I am willing to become. Not all at once, but more and more as I grow in faith, and goodness, and knowledge, and self-control, and perseverance, and godliness, and brotherly affection, and love. That’s hopeful. It’s encouraging. It’s also pretty darn convicting, because the only thing holding me back is my unwillingness to actually become the man I claim I want to be. But the key is, “in increasing measure.” Not without setbacks and failures, but without giving up because “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day” (2 Timothy 1:12).
1. That is, the second of his letters that the Holy Spirit chose to include in the New Testament. It’s quite likely that Peter wrote many other letters during his life, but they were never part of the Bible, and have not survived.