By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. [2 Peter 1.3-9]
Everything we need for living a godly life is a tall order! And yet, that is what Peter is describing for his readers.
There seems to be a progression in what Peter defines here. First, Peter mentions coming to know Him (Jesus), which is implied to only be possible because He (Jesus) called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. So the real progression is that Jesus is first seen in His glory and excellence. This glory and excellence reveals great and precious promises that serve to call us. Only then, when we respond to His great and precious promises that enable us to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desire may we know Him. Peter gives the "bottom line" that we should make every effort to respond to God's promises.
Also, included with Peter's recipe for living a godly life is what I would describe today as Peter's "ladder to love." It starts with faith which is our necessary response to His promises. From there, we should build upon faith with moral excellence. From the rung of moral excellence, we should reach for knowledge. The next progression from knowledge is self-control. From self-control, our next move is to patient endurance after which godliness is attained. Only after godliness is at work in our lives can we advance into brotherly love. "Brotherly" love is the last step before God's John 3.16 kind of love: love for everyone.
To attempt to skip a "rung" in this ladder of love will have less than desirable outcome because each progression depends on the foundation of each preceding step. Everyone wants to enjoy the top-rung 'everyone love,' but few are willing to 'climb the ladder,' building up to that kind of love. It could be said that there is no way to really exercise and live in God's kind of love without the progressive foundation of brotherly love upon godliness upon patient endurance upon self-control upon knowledge upon moral excellence upon faith (our initial response to God's promises).
The significance of Peter's recipe for living a godly life is that Peter walked with Jesus. This is not to take away from the writings of Paul who briefly met Jesus on the road to Damascus, but only to highlight the significance that Peter spent real time with Jesus for some three years! It makes sense that, as he wrote, Peter could see in his mind all the ingredients he described fleshed out in Christ as he interpreted and ordered those ingredients in his 'recipe.'
Father, help me to understand my growth to godliness and not attempt to skip any steps along the way!
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