“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue.…” II Peter 1:6
Peter begins his description of Christian maturity with some interesting words that are instructive and which we need to study carefully.
Add to Peter tells us that our growth as believers is linked to something else. The words “add to” convey the idea that our growth in Christ is one thing added to another like layers being added to a cake. If this was the case it would appear that each of the items that Peter mentions are individual and separate. One characteristic is to be completed before the next one begins. That is not Peter’s point.
The words translated “add to” means “supply”. It is the lavish supply
needed to accomplish a grand objective. Before we received the gift of salvation by grace through faith, we lacked both the ability and the desire to live the way God designed us to live – like His Son. Here Peter tells us that God gives us (supplies) everything we need to live the way Jesus lived. For that to occur we must actually obtain and use those gifts. After salvation, God empowered us to live according to His example and word but to do so we must “make evert effort” to allow the following qualities to come alongside our saving faith in Christ. Thus the concept is not adding one layers of Godly characteristics to another. Instead it is the picture of soil in which all these fruits of the Spirit spring forth as evidence of true, saving faith.
Faith Peter begins his discussion of growth in Christian maturity exactly where we would expect. We know from God’s word that God’s grace through faith is the only way we can gain deliverance and forgiveness of our sin. “For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” When we are saved we have the faith of a mustard seed. We have trust and believe that what God told us about our sin, about our exclusion from His presence into everlasting hell and about the one and only way He has provided for us to be forgiven. With all our hearts we know God’s word is true and we desire God’s grace in forgiveness because of what His Son paid in our behalf on the cross. As a result we humble ourselves, confess our sin and that Jesus Christ is Lord. That small mustard seed of faith moves mountains for it moves us from eternal death to eternal life. That is the first part of salvation – forgiveness and adoption into God’s family.
Saving faith is never the end but the beginning. Scripture tells us that “the just shall live by faith”. This is what Peter is referring to. If our faith and trust in God is real at salvation it will be living soil that God uses to grow in us the characteristics of His Son (the fruit of the Spirit). This is what James refers to in his epistle when he talks about dead faith. If a person makes a profession of faith but there is no difference in their life, no fruit, no evidence no works, then it is highly likely that their faith is dead. The reason? True forgiveness produces a change in our lives which lives and grows. “Faith without works is dead.”
What can we learn? Transformation is a living organic process. Becoming more like Christ is not a checklist of things we must do. Instead God gives us His Spirit at salvation. As we obey God’s word and the leading of His Spirit, we become stronger in our faith and trust. We learn how great God is and that we can trust Him in every situation in which He places us. We do not work to gain His approval. We allow Him to make us into the image of His Son. Growth is the slow process from spiritual babe to young men to fathers. We allow this growth to happen, we do not force it. It happens as we abide in Christ and His Word. We see its value and pursue it with great zeal.