(Part One)
2 Peter 1:5 KJV
[5] “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;”
After being born again, we have a responsibility to add to our faith. In the next few verses, Peter will talk about what we must add to our faith. This is an important truth that every child of God must be aware of in order to live a victorious Christian life. Let me begin by drawing your attention to the phrase, “giving all diligence.” He encourages the saints to give their all when it comes to spiritual growth. We must put forth the effort to grow for God. The Lord has given us His Spirit to lead us and His Word to speak to us, but we must read the Bible and allow the Spirit to control our lives. We must give all diligence to add to our faith.
Peter is going to give us a list of things that we can add to our faith. Here in this verse, we see the first two. He begins by telling us to add to our faith virtue. What is virtue? Virtue is moral excellence. This would include courage, strength, energy, and being morally excellent. There is no doubt that this is missing in a lot of our churches today. We must be people of conviction and morality. We must be willing to show the courage and character that it takes to stand up and be counted for the cause of Christ.
The second thing that Peter mentions is knowledge. He is not talking about worldly knowledge. He is not suggesting that we become career students and spend all of our time studying the philosophies of this world. Peter is not emphasizing higher education and learning. The world has become a place where people are overrun with too much information. These last days have been marked by men who are ever learning but unable to come to the knowledge of the Truth. We read about this in the Word of God. The knowledge that Peter is talking about is spiritual knowledge. The world places little or no value on this kind of knowledge. However, if we are going to live the life that God wants us to, then we must add to our faith knowledge. This means that we must live for God every day in this world. We must read our Bibles, memorize our Bibles, and practice the knowledge that we learn from our Bibles. Dear reader, I challenge you today to add virtue and knowledge to your daily practice. Live today with courage and conviction in your routine. Strive today for moral excellence in your life. Read your Bible today and see if it doesn’t strengthen your faith in God. Add to the faith that is already present in your life. This is how you become a strong Christian for the glory of God.