Kootenai Church: 2 Peter

Living the Christian life is hard. It is hard work. That is why Scripture says that it is a narrow road. It is likened to a battle, to a contest, and to a race. Those are all analogies that are used in the Word of God to describe the day-to-day grind of living the Christian life. And if you are living a Christian life that is easy and effortless, I would suggest to you that it might not be the Christian life that you are living. It might be another kind of life.
The demands of Scripture upon the believer are strenuous and require effort to fulfill. For instance, Scripture says that we are to put to death the deeds of the body. It says that we are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. We are to be willing and ready to suffer for righteousness and be persecuted, which is what we should expect if we are living godly in Christ Jesus, according to 2 Timothy 3. We are called to bear His reproach, to go outside the city, to face the hostility of an angry and hostile world. We are called to endurance and perseverance. In fact, we are called to die to ourselves, to live for others, to mortify and kill sin, to deny ourselves and take up our cross, to pursue holiness, to be a slave of Christ, to serve others, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, to flee from lust, and to pursue purity.
So the Christian life is likened to guarding a treasure, to being a hardworking farmer, a disciplined athlete, a focused soldier. It is likened to running a race, to finishing a course, and to fighting a fight. And none of that suggests something that is easy or effortless or comfortable. And if you are swimming downstream in this world, you are swimming in the wrong direction. If the wind is at your back, you are facing the wrong direction. The Christian life is not an easy life to live. It requires effort, it requires striving, it requires diligence, and it requires hard work.
Now to be clear, I'm not describing working for our salvation. Not at all. In fact, that's something we cannot work for. I'm not describing striving for salvation but striving in salvation, striving because of salvation. Not working for our salvation, but working out our salvation.
Our salvation, our justification, is not something that we can work for, but it is something that we can work out. We can't work for it because we could never merit our own redemption. We can never merit the grace of God or the mercy of God. Our justification is something that is given to us by faith apart from any human effort. And if it is by faith, then it cannot be of works. And if it is by works, it cannot be of faith. These two are mutually exclusive.
So our justification, being declared righteous in the sight of God, is something that God credits us. He imputes it to us, because the righteousness that we have is the righteousness of Christ. It's His work and His obedience that God, on the basis of faith and faith alone, apart from any human merit or any human works, credits to the account of the sinner, regenerating him, justifying him, declaring him righteous, not because the sinner is righteous or has earned that declaration in any way. In fact, that declaration is bestowed upon the believing sinner while the sinner is still in a sinning state, before the sinner has any chance to do anything which might merit that grace or merit that justification and righteousness.
So justification is not something that we can work for or contribute to. Romans 9:16 says, “It does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy.” That salvation is entirely a work of God. That's justification.
Sanctification is something different. And we do well to make sure that we never confuse justification with sanctification, that we never see them as overlapping in terms of what it means for the believer, because they are two separate and distinct works of God. Our justification is a work of God that takes place without any human merit or contribution. Our sanctification is a work of God, but it is a work of God that is done through the sinner that involves the sinner's effort, striving, and work.
Hebrews 12:14 says that we are to “pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification [or holiness] without which no one will see the Lord.”
In Philippians 2:12–13, Paul said to the church in Philippi, “Just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
Our text, 2 Peter 1—look down at verse 10: “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choice of you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.”
Living out our salvation requires lifelong, diligent, consistent, laborious effort. And that is what Peter is calling us to in 2 Peter 1, beginning at verse 5. This is our passage for this morning, 2 Peter 1:5. Let's read verses 5–7:
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence [now look at that language, applying all diligence], in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. (LSB)
Applying all diligence is the language of work, the language of zeal. It is the language of effort. And he describes our approach to our Christian life as applying diligence to supply these eight virtues. Look at those eight virtues. This is quite a list. Faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Those are the eight qualities. Now that's a list. Quite a list.
And lest you and I think that Peter is simply suggesting a few things that we might want to sort of check in and check up on once in a while just to, you know, entertain the notion that we should develop one or more of these virtues, there is quite a bit at stake, which is evident when you get down to verse 8. Look at this. “For if these things are yours and increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Do you want to be useful and do you want to be fruitful in the kingdom? Peter says these virtues—you need to apply all diligence to make sure that these qualities characterize you.
9 For in whom these things are not present [Peter says], that one is blind, being nearsighted, having forgotten the purification from his former sins.
10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and choosing sure; for in doing these things, you will never stumble;
11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. (2 Pet. 1:9–11 LSB)
Now that list of eight qualities—faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love—if these things are yours, if these things characterize you, and if these things are increasing in your life, they will render you neither fruitless nor useless. If these things do not describe you, if you do not possess these qualities and you are not growing in these qualities, then you are in profound spiritual peril. But if you do possess these qualities and you are growing in these qualities, then you can lay claim to some profound spiritual promises, that an abundant entrance will be supplied to you into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So this is a serious list. This is the list that is going to occupy our attention here for the next couple of weeks. I'm going to tell you how we're going to approach this today. There's a lot here to consider just in sort of understanding what each of these qualities means. And if you're thinking this sounds like an eight-week series, it's not. That's not what I'm going to do with this. But there's a lot to consider with this list, not only on what each of these qualities means, how it's defined and biblically what is being described and what Scripture says pertaining to each of these things, but also how does this list fit with the context? It does seem odd that Peter would say that these things should characterize us, that he would be describing these things as being part of our Christian life in a book that deals with false teachers. And you may at first blush read this list and then think, What does this have to do with warning against false teachers later in the book? Certainly Peter knows that in chapter 2 and 3, he's going to get to that subject. So why does he begin with this list of virtues?
So we want to consider how this fits with the context and we want to consider how each of these things relates to one another. For instance, is the order of these virtues important? Does one produce another? Is it a chain? Is it a series of virtues? Are they building blocks? Do they all grow up at the same time? How should we understand this? And then I'm going to end today by warning us of a couple of ways that we would approach a list like this in a wrong way as Christians. There's some lessons we should take from this, and then there are a few lessons that we should not take from this. We shouldn't misunderstand Peter's point in this.
So let's begin with a couple of general observations. Look at the list. We're not going to get into any of the specific ones, but just look at that list again. Faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. That sounds like another list that you find in Scripture. How many of you were thinking of the fruit of the Spirit as we go through those? That popped into your head probably. Galatians 5:22–23—here's the fruit of the Spirit listed. And just let your eyes kind of look down here at this passage, this list, and I'll give you the fruits of the Spirit. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
So maybe we should think that for Peter, this is kind of Peter's list of the fruit of the Spirit. And then you might think, well, he doesn't say it's the fruit of the Spirit. In fact, he tells us that we are to apply all diligence. If it's the fruit of the Spirit, it sounds like something the Spirit would produce in us, but we're being told to produce these things in our faith. So it can't be really the fruit of the Spirit, but there's obvious overlap between the fruit of the Spirit and this list that Peter gives to us.
And in fact, there is no conflict at all between working on the fruit of the Spirit and the Spirit producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. There's no conflict between those two. In other words, as a Christian, we don't say, “OK, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So since that's the Spirit that produces that, I just get to sit back, sort of fold my hands, and then say, ‘OK, Spirit, produce them. Produce them in me.’ And if I'm not patient, that can't be my fault. That has to be the Spirit's fault. It's His fruit. He's supposed to produce that.” That's not how we would approach a list like this. These are qualities that we are to supply. We are to, with all diligence, supply these things in our faith, and yet the Spirit produces these things in our lives. These two things go together; they are not mutually exclusive.
So, there is some overlap here between these two lists. I want you to notice that there are certain things that are common to both lists—love, for instance, a fruit of the Spirit. Moral excellence in Peter's list here could be compared to goodness in the fruit of the Spirit. Self-control is mentioned in both lists. Brotherly kindness is mentioned here in Peter's list, but kindness is mentioned in Galatians 5. And then faith is mentioned here in Peter's list, and faithfulness is listed in the fruit of the Spirit.
So, there is a bit of overlap, but we should not think that Peter's list here is a comprehensive list because there are some things that Peter would list out here that we should work on, that Scripture commands us to work on. So, Peter's list of eight virtues or qualities here, it's not a comprehensive list at all. There are things that are part of the fruit of the Spirit that Peter doesn't mention—joy, patience, gentleness, peace, and goodness, for instance. And then there are other qualities that we are called to emulate and to manifest that are not mentioned here or in the fruit of the Spirit—for instance, humility, hope, purity, generosity, holiness, meekness, integrity, compassion, hard work, courage, honesty, contentment, honor, respect, and tenderheartedness. We're to be forgiving. All of those virtues are things that we should work on as well. But just because Peter doesn't mention them doesn't mean that we are not to apply all diligence to apply them. So, this isn't a comprehensive list of what a Christian should be, but it is somewhat of a representative list. I would suggest that.
A second way that I would caution us in approaching this list is to think that the list is sort of like a consecutive list—that is, that there is some discernible order in all of these virtues where one leads to another or one produces another. I read a couple of commentaries this last week where the commentators were suggesting this, trying to find some way in which to connect all of these in a logical or discernible order. And it does not seem that there is any logical or discernible order to Peter's list, and the only exception to that would be I think the first quality that he mentions and the last quality that he mentions.
What's the first one? Faith. Well, it seems right that you would start with that, right? It seems like that's the foundation. He's already talked about us having received a faith of the same nature as his. So that faith, which has supplied us with everything we need for life and godliness, we begin with that. And to our faith, which is sort of the foundation or the building block of these virtues, we add all of these other virtues. And the last one that he mentions is love. That's the first quality mentioned in the fruit of the Spirit, but it is the last one that Peter mentions here. And I would suggest that love comes last because it's kind of like the icing on the cake, as it were. So you have the foundation, which is your faith, and then love, which really is the sum and substance of all of these Christian virtues. Because if you have not love, then what do you have? If you have all of these other things, but you lack love, then you lack the most important thing. You lack the thing which gives a distinctly Christian and Christlike flavor to all of the other virtues. There must be that love.
So the first one seems like it's well placed, the last one seems that it's well placed, but it does feel, as you kind of work through these, that the ones in the middle, you could almost take them in any order and come out with the same idea. And I would suggest that it would be a waste of time to try and find some discernible or logical order to it.
By the way, this is not a sequence of virtues where one produces the next or where you work on one for a while and then work on another. Famously, Benjamin Franklin came up with thirteen virtues, and he had them on a piece of paper. And it’s said that he, from time to time, would carry them around with him, and he would pull out this list of virtues and work on one of them for a while, focusing on one for several months or a couple of years and then moving on to the next one. Franklin's virtues were temperance, order, frugality, sincerity, moderation, tranquility, humility, silence, resolution, industry, justice, cleanliness, and chastity. Sounds like he could have worked on chastity a little bit more than he did, but those were Franklin's virtues. And it’s said that he would focus on one, hoping to produce that in his life, and then move on to the next one.
And Peter is not suggesting that these are individual virtues, that we take one and work on it, hoping that it will produce the next one or give us a running start on the next one. In fact, these virtues seem to be linked intentionally, as Peter repeats each one of them and tells us, “With this one, add this one, and with this one, add this one.” You notice the repetition there? In your faith supply moral excellence. With your moral excellence, supply knowledge. And with your knowledge, supply self-control. So these are not individual things unlinked. They are like links of a chain that all go together. And to pull one of them is to pull all of them. To lift one of them is to lift all of them. To drop one of them is to drop all of them.
So it is as if all of these virtues grow up simultaneously—individually, yes, but linked together almost from the same root, sucking off, as it were, the same nutrients and substance and growing together. So one's brotherly kindness is characterized by love, one's self-control is characterized by love, one's godliness is characterized by love, knowledge is characterized by love, perseverance is characterized by love. And then we could take each of the virtues and say that they are all characterized by perseverance. Your brotherly kindness, your love, your self-control, your godliness, your faith, your knowledge, all of that must be characterized by perseverance as well.
So these all bleed into one another. You see how this works? So they are all linked. They're all fed by the same thing, which is this faith that God has supplied us, which is a gift from God. It is the fruit, the foundation, the root out of which all of these virtues grow simultaneously. You can't have one without the other. Can you imagine godliness without self-control? Have you ever seen somebody and thought, You know, he's a godly person. He's a godly man. But he can't control his temper, can't control his lusts, can't control his spending, can't control his mouth, can't control his mind, can't control his heart. He can't control anything about his life, but what a godly person he is. Have you ever met such a person?
Can you imagine love without brotherly kindness? Isn't brotherly kindness an expression of love? What good is self-control if it's not motivated by love? Can you imagine faith without perseverance? Is that really true faith? The faith that God gives us is a faith that perseveres all the way to the very end. Can you imagine moral excellence without godliness, or godliness without moral excellence? Can you imagine somebody who you would characterize as godly but he lacks valor or virtue or honor? Is that possible? Or can you imagine faith without love, or love without faith? These virtues all grow together. And I would submit to you that in the life of every believer, all of these virtues will be present in some measure or another.
Now, imitations of these virtues can be present in the life of an unbeliever as well. And herein lies a potential caution. You will meet unbelieving people and maybe even atheists who can model some of this from time to time, but it's not really the quality that is described here. You can meet unbelieving people who, for instance, have a good deal of knowledge until you ask, “Well, what kind of knowledge is he talking about and what does that knowledge look like?” You can meet unbelievers who are loving and who have other virtues, but when you realize what these virtues mean and where they come from and how they are produced and what the fruit of it is, then you realize this is not something that an unbeliever can have or model. This is something that requires faith at the very beginning. So if you don't have these things, if these things are not increasing in you, if you don't have these biblical qualities, you are in serious spiritual peril.
Now I want you to notice—having looked at sort of the passages and overview, let's kind of zero in on verse 5 and notice the encouragement here to diligence. Second Peter 1:5: “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge.” There is an encouragement here to diligence, but notice what Peter says: “for this very reason.” Now you might ask, well, what is the very reason? What is the reason that we are to do this?
It is because of what he has already told us in the first four verses. In verse 1, we have received a faith just like the apostles' faith. In verse 2, we have been made righteous by that faith in the sight of our God and Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 3, we have received a full knowledge of God, which has resulted in salvation. In verse 3, we have been called to Christ Jesus by His own glory and excellence. In verse 3, we have been granted everything that is necessary to live a God-honoring, God-glorifying, obedient, and holy Christian life in this world. In verse 4, we have been granted precious and magnificent promises of His coming and our future hope. In verse 4, we have become partakers of the divine nature. And in verse 4, we have escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. That's quite a list, isn't it?
So, Peter says, for this very reason, because you have already been given everything that you need for life and godliness; for that reason, because of the hope and the promises that are set before you; for that reason, because you have become a partaker of the divine nature; for this very reason, because you have already escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust; for this very reason, you are to supply with all diligence in your faith knowledge, self-control, perseverance, brotherly kindness, etc. That's the reason. Grace comes first, and then our response to grace comes next. Without the grace of God—if God does not provide all of that, if He does not grant the faith, if He does not give us His promises, if He does not make us partakers of divine nature, allow us and cause us to escape the corruption that is in the world by lust, if God doesn't do that, if God does not, by His grace, provide everything we need for life and godliness, then the pursuit of all of these virtues means nothing. It's useless. But if God has done that, then our pursuit of these virtues has meaning and purpose and motive behind it. So for this very reason, supply these things.
The pursuit of these virtues is the necessary, proper, and biblical response to the grace of God. And understanding this will protect you from legalism. Legalism says I develop these virtues so that I may merit God's favor and grace. Christianity says I have received God's favor and grace, and therefore I can pursue these virtues. You see how these are two entirely different and opposite approaches to Christian faith and morality. Legalism says I do these things so that God will be pleased with me. And Christianity says God is already pleased with me because of what His Son has done, and therefore I can apply all diligence and pursue these virtues.
You cannot cultivate godliness and grow in it unless God grants you first everything you need for life and godliness. You cannot increase in love unless God first by His grace pours out the love of Christ into your heart. You cannot apply all diligence to grow in moral excellence if God does not first call you to Christ Jesus by His own glory and moral excellence. That grace of God extended in the heart of the sinner must be first or all that we do will be useless. What is the evidence that we share the divine nature? It is that we apply all diligence to supply in our faith moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, etc. And God has supplied everything we need in this life to do this very thing.
Now, some have accused Peter of kind of having a Hellenistic or Greek approach to these virtues, similar to Benjamin Franklin's. Benjamin Franklin's approach was to, without any consideration of God's activity in the lives of men, take the virtue and to say, “If I develop this virtue, I'll be a better person, I'll live a better life, I'll have better circumstances, and I will be a full man.” That's how Socrates and Aristotle and the rest of the ancient Greeks kind of approached the virtuous life, that the virtuous life was the full and rewarding life and the unvirtuous life led to sort of a life that was not as well-lived and not enjoyable and not as blessed in material ways.
But what Peter is doing is not that approach at all. Peter is not suggesting that we work at these things apart from or unaided by any divine grace or power. In fact, Peter's approach is that we ought to work on these things and work toward these things because we have already received divine grace and divine power. In other words, it is the work of God's grace and the work of God's goodness in providing for us that is the motive and the energizing force behind the development of all these virtues.
So Peter says we are to apply all diligence. That word diligence is a word that describes earnestness. It describes diligence. It's translated four times as “diligence” and five times it's translated in Scripture as “earnestness.” It carries the idea of something done in a hurry, with zeal, with effort. And it has to it a sense of urgency. So it is the opposite of sort of a cavalier, lackadaisical, lazy, relaxed approach to pursuing these virtues. Instead, we are to apply all diligence. That's the noun form. The verb form is used down in verse 10. Look at it. “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and choosing sure; for in doing these things, you will never stumble.” And there the verb form is used.
We are to be diligent and we are to apply diligence. The same word is used in verse 5 and verse 10. It means to work hard, to do one's best, to do it with eagerness, to do it with zeal, to do it quickly. Not capricious, not casual, not sluggish, not indolent. This means no excuses. “Yeah, I know I lack self-control, but if you only knew the family I grew up in, if you only knew how I was trained, if you only knew the intensity of the temptation. Yes, I know I lack love, but I just wasn't wired that way.” I've got news for you, none of us were wired that way. None of us were wired to be self-controlled. Not one of these virtues is a quality of man in his sinfulness where these things come naturally. An unbeliever can learn to do some of these things to a degree, but producing fruitfulness in these virtues is the work of the Spirit of God. And we are to supply all diligence, to work with all diligence, to supply these things in our lives. No laziness, no excuses for not loving as we should, not being kind as we should, not being self-controlled, not being persevering or enduring in our faith. The grace of God does not relieve us of the responsibility to apply every effort.
And in fact, the grace of God motivates us and encourages us and enables us to it. It is the grace of God that is part of this work of sanctification. Philippians 2:12–13:
12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, [listen to these two sides of sanctification] work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (LSB)
You work; God is at work in you. Your will to work out your salvation is the work of God. Your working on that salvation is God working in you. And God is not going to do it without you, and you are not going to do it without God. You can't do it without God, and He is not going to sanctify you apart from your efforts. Both of those are required. We work out our own salvation with fear and trembling because God is at work in us, both to desire that and to do it for His good pleasure. Human work or human effort is indispensable, but merely human effort is inadequate.
And Peter says, “For this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge” (1 Pet. 1:5). Faith is the foundation—that is where it begins—but we build upon that. And Peter uses the word supply there. That's an interesting word. In fact, the history behind this word, the etymology of the word, is a fascinating one. The word translated “supply” is epichoregeo, which means to support or to provide or to provision something. It's used five times in the New Testament.
And here's where it gets interesting. This word, epichoregeo, comes from the noun choregos, which means the leader of a chorus. Do you hear chorus in there? Choregos, epichoregeo. The leader of a chorus. It is a vivid metaphor drawn from the Athenian drama festivals in which a rich individual called the choregos joined with a poet and the heads of state to put on these large plays and productions. And the choregos was the one who would fund that out of his own pocket so that the state wasn't—they didn't have the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts so that the state was funding plays and stuff like that. The state would help enable it and participate in it, but the choregos was the one who would supply a very expensive show out of his own pocket. Out of his own supply, he would hire the people and pay for the set and pay for the time and put that all on at great expense to himself. He would supply this. And he would work with the poet, the writer of the play, and he would work with the state officials in order to produce this, but the choregos would get the credit, as it were, for funding this great enterprise.
Now you might say, How common was it for the choregoi—that's the plural form—to provide for those things out of their own pocket? There were actually competitions between them as to who would get to fund different artistic works like that. But the one who supplied that, the one who provisioned it all, was the choregos. And that word describes a lavish provision, not a miserly contribution but a generous and lavish supply. The word describes an eager and generous supply of what was necessary, and those who stepped up to supply that were called the choregos. And to go ahead and supply something like that was called epichoregeo. So Peter says that you and I are to, like a choregos, supply everything that is necessary.
Now you're probably thinking, But that sounds like you just contradicted everything you just said. God Himself has given to us everything we need for life and godliness, right? We have already been supplied that, everything we need for it. Now Peter is saying we need to step up to the plate, as it were, and we need to, in our faith, by our faith, supply—that is, work and develop and produce—these things, almost as if to say it is out of our own resources that we lavishly work at this. But he's not suggesting it's out of our own resources because he has just already told us that all of this has already been given to us, granted to us in Christ Jesus, in the faith that He has given to us and through the promises that He has given to us everything that we need for life and for godliness.
That word supply is the same word used down in verse 11. Essentially, Peter uses the word later. Look at verse 11: “For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” Same word used there.
Now with all of that in mind, understanding this in this way, it helps guard us from a couple of errors, and let me give you a couple of them. First, as I already mentioned, the error of legalism, thinking that having these virtues are the sum and substance of the Christian life, that God's goal in giving us Christ was simply moral reform. That is part of it. We ought to be morally reformed. But that's not all of it, because God has given to us His grace not just for our moral reformation, not just for the production of these virtues, but in order for us to glorify Him by the effort that we work at in our lives to produce these very virtues. So it's not simply moral reform. That's legalism.
Second, it guards us against a libertinism. Libertinism is the worldview or the attitude that says, “God has given me His grace, and my ticket is punched, and I'm going to Heaven, and I know that my eternity is secure, so now I just get to sit back and coast. Now I can just sit back and relax. No effort is necessary, no diligence is necessary. I'm going to get into Heaven, so it doesn't matter how I live in this life.” Libertinism is not a biblical perspective at all. To say, “I have eternal life. I get to go to Heaven. Man, it's all grace. It's all grace, man.” Do you hear people say this? “Man, it's just grace, just living on grace, all good grace. Don't judge me. Don't tell me how to live. Don't give us your moral code. I've been saved by grace. I prayed a prayer when I was four years old. I'm good to go for the rest of my life.” That is a libertine approach.
It's possible that Peter here is countering—let me back up for a second. Remember I asked you earlier, What does a list like this have to do with false teachers later on in the book? It's possible that Peter is countering a false teaching that was often circulated around Paul's writings. Peter mentions Paul later in chapter 3, verses 15–16, saying that the false teachers were twisting and distorting Paul's writings as they do the rest of the Scriptures. Well, Paul said in Romans 3 when he was talking about the gospel of God's grace that he was slanderously reported as saying, “Let us do evil that good may come” (v. 8). See, the preaching of the gospel of God's grace can lend people to twist and distort it to say, “Well, if we're saved by grace, and works has nothing to do with it, then if it's all by grace, I don't have to do anything. I can just live like I want and get in, skate in by grace.” That was a twisting and distorting of Paul's message, even in Paul's day.
And Peter may be coming at that, suggesting no, just the gospel of grace doesn't mean that there's no effort on our part in terms of working out our salvation with fear and trembling. He instead is saying we are to apply all diligence so that we don't become libertines, thinking we can live however we want and not worry about any of these virtues simply because God has saved us by grace and by grace entirely. That's how it fits in with the false teacher. So it is a protection against legalism. And understanding this list is a guard against libertinism.
And this one's not even in my notes right now, but a third one, laziness. Sometimes we have to look at the way some Christians live their Christian lives and just say, “Man, what are you doing? What are you doing? Like, do you not understand that there's an eternity ahead, and it's long?” We're wasting time on what? We're making excuses for what? This life is short. It's shorter than most of us are going to realize. So what are we doing? Apply all diligence. In your faith, supply these things. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. We should read a passage like this and say, “No more excuses, no more blame shifting, no more finger-pointing, no more laziness, no more distractions.” Let's mortify our sin. Let's pursue holiness without which no one will see Christ. And let's be diligent with doing it.
Now there is a reason why I'm not just going to rush through this and say, “Faith is trusting God, moral excellence means virtue, knowledge means what you know, and self-control means controlling yourself.” That's kind of a real quick way of just sort of going through the list. And you could say, “Oh Jim, you could just really quickly give us the definition and we'd be already at verse 8 by next week, and wouldn't that be much better than starting over in verse 5 again next week?” You could say that, but the danger in sort of quickly going through a list like this is that we would look at the list and then see ourselves as passing on every one of those.
Faith? Check. Moral excellence? I don't know anybody who's more morally excellent than me. I think I’ve got the moral excellence. Virtue? I might not be as virtuous as some, but I'm certainly more virtuous than others, so yeah, I'll give myself a check on that one. How about knowledge? Oh, I've been going to church for years now. I know all kinds of things. I can almost recite the Kootenai Community Church doctrinal statement. I read systematic theology. So yeah, I got the knowledge thing down. How about self-control? Well, I had one piece of cheesecake instead of two, so that seems like self-control. Of course, the one piece was as big as two, but I didn't have two pieces as big as two, so that was self-control. So check, I've got self-control down. How about perseverance? Well, I persevered by not having another piece of cheesecake since the time that I didn't have two pieces of cheesecake last night, so that's perseverance. Check. How about godliness? Well, I'm probably not as godly as other people that I know but more godly than others that I might know, so yeah, I think I can check that one off. Brotherly kindness? I'm fairly kind to complete strangers. How about love? There are all kinds of things I love. So check, check, I pass. That's how we tend to approach lists like this.
But once we stop and say, “All right, what does he mean by self-control? What does that look like in the Christian life? How does that work out? And yeah, I might exercise self-control, but are there other areas where I need to grow in self-control?”—in order to have that honest conversation, we have to step back and avoid the error of falling into this list and just checking ourselves off and then moving on to verses 9 and following. This will help us guard against false teaching. And I think as we work through this list starting next week, you will see how each one of these characteristics is something not true of the false teachers that he mentions later in chapter 2. So if we develop these virtues, it will help us to avoid the dangers and pitfalls of the false teachers and their errors that he highlights in chapter 2. And we’ll start doing that next week.