Growing in Grace: The Ladder of Christian Virtue
Because God has already granted everything necessary for life and godliness, believers must make diligent, grace-shaped effort to cultivate the visible qualities of Christian maturity, so that their lives become fruitful, their assurance strengthened, and their future entrance into Christ's eternal kingdom increasingly confirmed.
2 Peter 1:5-11 (BSB)
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge;
6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
8 For if you possess these qualities and continue to grow in them, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But whoever lacks these traits is nearsighted to the point of blindness, having forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
10 Therefore, brothers, strive to make your calling and election sure. For if you practice these things you will never stumble,
11 and you will receive a lavish reception into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
What is the big idea of 2 Peter 1:5-11?
Because God has already granted everything necessary for life and godliness, believers must make diligent, grace-shaped effort to cultivate the visible qualities of Christian maturity, so that their lives become fruitful, their assurance strengthened, and their future entrance into Christ's eternal kingdom increasingly confirmed.
How does 2 Peter 1:5-11 relate to the life and ministry of Jesus?
The qualities Peter lists are not abstract virtues detached from Christ. They are traits embodied perfectly in the life of Jesus. In His earthly ministry, Christ displayed moral excellence, true knowledge, self-control, endurance under suffering, reverence toward the Father, covenant love for His people, and sacrificial love unto death. Peter's call is therefore Christ-shaped. Believers are being conformed to the pattern already seen perfectly in their Lord.
Literary Context
This passage grows directly out of 2 Peter 1:1-4. Peter has just declared that God's divine power has granted believers everything needed for life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ and through His precious promises. Verses 5-11 now show the proper response to that provision. The movement is not from grace to self-salvation, but from grace to sanctified diligence. After this paragraph, Peter turns in 1:12-15 to the ministry of remembrance, showing that these truths must be kept before the church continually.
Chapter: 2 Peter 1
Godliness, Apostolic Witness, and the Sure Prophetic Word
Because God has granted everything needed for life and godliness through Christ, believers must grow diligently, remember apostolic truth, and hold fast to the Spirit-given prophetic word until Christ's day dawns.