Seven Outgrowths of Faith

Writing to the Church at large, the apostle Peter states: "For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love."  (II Peter 1:5-7)

Having “escape[d] from the corruption that is in the world ” (v. 4) through our “faith” in Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we must now grow spiritually, conforming our nature and practice to His. We must put to use the divine nature we now possess, recognising that He has provided all the resources we need.

In this passage, Peter assumes we already have “faith,” thus here our spiritual lives must begin. He instructs us to “supplement” that faith with seven character traits: virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness  (perseverance), godliness, brotherly affection, and [agape] love.

 

There is, both in the text ( “supplement”), and in practice, a progression here. As new disciples of Jesus, we should strive for virtue, eliminating sinful actions and thoughts from our lives, as the Holy Spirit brings conviction. A commitment to growth in knowledge, first the basics of the faith and then deeper doctrines, enables us to exercise wisdom in life’s choices (and my own books, especially "Foundations of the Faith", may be found to be helpful in this matter!). A self-controlled, disciplined lifestyle exercises perseverance, even strength in the face of adversity, which in turn produces godliness - an attitude of reverence toward God that strives to please Him by developing His attitudes and priorities. Our relations with others will thus be marked by brotherly kindness toward believers and agape love (self-sacrificing, undeserved love) for all.

 

Such spiritual growth does not come without effort. He has provided all we need, but we must “make every effort” in the process, and not simply allow the Holy Spirit to reside in our hearts to work on our character and habits. Any lack of spiritual growth is our fault, not His. May all who read these words be found " grow[ing] up in every way into Him Who is the Head, into Christ," (Eph.4:15-16), to Hos glory.