SCRIPTURE VERSE: “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2peter 1:2-8 NKJV
Our knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord coupled with His multiplied grace and peace can give us everything we need to become Christ-like. That is because His divine power and His exceedingly great and precious promises give us the opportunity to become partakers of the divine nature. It is through the knowledge of His glory and virtue that this is accomplished.
And not only that, but we can also escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. Lust is defined as intense sexual desire, but it is also defined as an intense longing or craving, or seeking immediate or ruthless satisfaction. It is an overwhelming desire or presumed need; for example a need for power, wealth, sex, etc. The greater power of the Holy Spirit, though, coupled with the promises found in God’s Word can help us escape, avoid, or flee from these intense desires, and become more like Jesus.
But we must be diligent about this endeavor. This is the reason we should be proactive and persevere in the action of adding to our faith in Christ the following things. Peter gives us a list of things to do to activate the power and the promises to become the partakers of His divine nature. It, of course, begins with faith, and it is faith that carries us through the process. It needs to be said, though, that this is not a works thing, but it is working out your own salvation, as the scripture clearly teaches, and we are to do this with fear and trembling because it is God who works in us, both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13)
So we must add to our faith virtue (goodness), and to virtue knowledge (knowing His power and His promises toward us), Then we add to our knowledge self-control (allowing the Holy Spirit to empower us), and to self-control must be added perseverance (perseverance produces character and character hope. Rom. 5:4), Then we will add to perseverance godliness (Christ-likeness). The Bible gives this a small “g” because we are becoming Christ-like. To godliness must be added brotherly kindness, and then to brotherly kindness love. It is interesting that the best representation of us being Christ-like is love and brotherly kindness. (And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.) Romans 13:13
If we do these things we will be neither barren nor unfruitful in our ministries and if we lack these things we are shortsighted even to blindness and have forgotten that we were cleansed from our old sins. (2Peter 1:9) Do you wish you were more like Jesus?
Peter has offered us a recipe or a list to help us in our endeavor.
