Make Every Effort

Peter begins with a phrase that holds effort and grace together: for this very reason, believers should work diligently. Because God has given precious promises and everything needed for godliness, believers are not passive. They are to add virtue to faith, knowledge to virtue, self-control to knowledge, perseverance to self-control, godliness to perseverance, brotherly kindness to godliness, and love to brotherly kindness.

The list is not a ladder by which people climb into God's acceptance. Peter is describing the shape faith should take as it grows. Virtue gives faith moral courage; knowledge helps courage become wise; self-control puts limits on desire; perseverance keeps going when growth is slow; godliness turns reverence toward God; kindness makes holiness relational; and love gathers the whole life toward another person's good.

Peter says these qualities should increase. A Christian household will not display them perfectly every day, but it should be possible to see movement over time. Growth may look like an apology made sooner, a temptation named more honestly, or patience that survives a difficult conversation.

The person who lacks these traits is described as nearsighted to blindness, having forgotten that he has been cleansed from past sins. Forgetting grace creates two opposite errors: despair when we fail and pride when we think we are succeeding. Remembering cleansing lets us pursue change without pretending that change is our own achievement.

Peter urges believers to make their calling and election sure by practicing these things. He is not telling them to earn a place in Christ. He is calling them to live in a way that makes their received calling visible and keeps them from stumbling into a faith with no fruit. The destination is a lavish welcome into Christ's eternal kingdom.