Take Your Supplements
Peter’s second epistle opens with a prayer that God’s grace and peace would be multiplied to the saints “in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” He then writes,
2 Peter 1:3-8
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,
6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,
7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Note how these verses speak about the knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter prays that God’s grace and peace be multiplied “in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (v.2). God has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness “through the knowledge of him who called us” (v.3). God has given us His “precious and very great promises” (v.4). Peter admonishes the saints to add self-control and other qualities to this knowledge (v.5). By doing this the saints would be prevented from becoming ineffective and unfruitful “in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v.8).
The saints had a knowledge of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. But, as se 8 points out, they were not to become ineffective and unfruitful in that knowledge. It is possible to have a knowledge of God and the Lord Jesus Christ and not be effective and fruitful. Other English Bibles translate “ineffective” as “useless,” “empty,” or “inert.
How do we avoid this? The context gives us the answer: take our supplements.
We are to make a diligent effort to add to our believing virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love.
Verses 5-7 contain an interesting figure, a repeated anadiplosis, also called climax or gradation. Anadiplosis is the repetition of the last word in a sentence and the first word of the next. As with all figures of repetition, anadiplosis emphasizes the repeated words:
virtue, virtue
knowledge, knowledge
self-control, self-control
steadfastness, steadfastness
godliness, godliness
brotherly affection, brotherly affection WITH LOVE.
Rather than list the qualities one after another, Peter, by inspiration of God, uses this figure to drive home each aspect. The words in this list are further emphasized by polysyndeton, another figure of repetition. These figures cause us to slow down and consider each word in turn.
Virtue in classical Greek meant a life of excellence, not merely a moral quality but a life that demonstrates excellence.
Given the context, knowledge means a knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
Self-control includes being self-restrained and self-disciplined.
Steadfastness means patient endurance,
Godliness is to be loyal, obedient, and reverent to God.
Brotherly affection is brotherly love or Christian love for a brother or sister in Christ.
These six words reach their climax with the seventh, love, the Greek word agape. This type of unconditional love is possible only among those who are born again of God’s spirit. It is a spiritual love, the love of God. This is the high point of a Christian’s Walk, something to aspire to continually.
[photo credit: "Nutritional supplements" by Clean Wal-Mart is licensed under CC BY 2.0.]
