2 Peter 1:5 “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness, and to goodness knowledge. . .”

Several weeks ago a leader in our church challenged the congregation to memorise the first part of 2 Peter 1. Ever since that time, I have been reflecting on the above verse. Three questions have been foremost in my mind. The first two, I’ll deal with in this post. The third, I’ll save for next week. Here are the questions:

1. What on earth does ‘goodness’ mean?

2. If we are saved by grace, why is ‘every effort’ necessary?

3. What significance might there be in the order of these three (and the rest of the list in verses 6 and 7)?

What is goodness?

When I was in school, ‘good’ was one of those adjectives like ‘nice’ that carried little meaning because it was so vague. (Actually, this is not the case in the US, where it is a much more precise adjective which, when used of food, means something like ‘very delicious’). But upon closer investigation, I found that the word translated ‘goodness’ (arete) would be better translated ‘virtue.’ All of a sudden it began to make sense. Human Virtue broadly speaking is the skill of living rightly acquired by practice over time. Traditionally it has been broken down into a number of individual ‘virtues’: charity (selfless love), chastity (sexual purity: marital fidelity or abstinence), temperance (self control and moderation), diligence, patience, humility and kindness. Essentially it boils down to the practiced instinct of doing the right thing at the right time in the right situation for the right reason. When used of God, virtue refers to His essential Goodness (that word again, but it doesn’t seem as vague when used of Him). Thus our virtue is always derivative. He is the ultimate Good. Here in 2 Peter 1, the exhortation to virtue in verse 5 is on the basis of God’s virtue in verse 3.

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness (virtue)….For this very reason, make every effort…”

And that kind of brings me to my next question.

Make every effort!

Why is it that if we are saved by grace apart from works, we are exhorted here to make every effort to add virtue to our faith, knowledge to our virtue and so on? That sure sounds a lot like work to me. Well it is. I said before that virtue can be understood as a skill that is acquired by practice over time. Like any skill. If you want to learn to play the piano, or train to win a marathon, or acquire any other skill worth having, you need to practice. You can’t play the piano ‘by grace’ (however gracefully you may play). That takes practice. Nor can you become a champion athlete by grace. You must practice.  But it needs to be said that virtue, properly understood, no more equates to merit than practice of the sort that is necessary to acquire it equates to ‘work’. Virtue does not save. We are not considered righteous before God on the basis of our goodness, but on the basis of Christ’s. Neither can we make ourselves good or virtuous by our own effort apart from the Holy Spirit.

But then again, a young person cannot make themselves a champion athlete either without some kind of inspiration; some kind of belief that deep down inside, that is what they really are. This is why we hear sports people talk so much about self-belief. It is that belief in the end goal, of realising their full potential—who they know that they are on the inside but are yet to be in fullness—that gets an athlete out of bed at 4.30 in the morning to train. And here is the point. When we receive salvation, we receive it free and its effects are total. What remains however is our physical flesh, the habits of a lifetime, the well established thought patterns of our mind. And yet when we receive salvation, we are declared to be a new creation, God’s child. This is the new and glorious reality, and yet while the possession of our new identity happens in a moment, the realisation of its fullness takes time…and, dare I say it, effort. It is not that we strive from this starting point to become worthy of a title we do not deserve. Rather we strive to cooperate with the Holy Spirit; to live as the children of God that we already are.

Here’s a simple example. Why do we as Christians read the bible? Is it because we are trying to earn our salvation by doing things that we think will be pleasing to God? Well, I admit, many do. But that just isn’t sustainable. The sense of obligation is suffocating as the experience of many would testify. No, when we read the bible, we read it as children seeking to understand their Father better. Because the more we understand Him, the more we understand who we are, and the more we understand who we are the more we are motivated to live accordingly.

We don’t work to please God. We don’t work to earn our position with Him. But when we actually get a revelation of the position that we already have, as his sons and daughters, we are freed to do the work for which we were made. And we strive, not to be found worthy, but to develop our potential as God’s children, to grow in the virtue that is ours by (new) birth.

For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith, virtue. Or, in the words of my title, for goodness sake, make an effort!