“Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. [4] For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. [5] Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; [6] and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; [7] and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. [8] For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (NAS)
I was reading my Wesley devotional this morning and it focused on this passage. I was intrigued by two sentences ending the short devotional: “Our diligence is to follow the gift of God. And diligence is followed by an increase of all His gifts.” Earlier Wesley explains the significance of the word translated here as applying:
“Giving all diligence—a very uncommon word which we render giving. It signifies bringing in over and above; implying that God works the work, yet not unless we are diligent.”
I looked at Strong’s and it gave, as the definition of pareisphero: to bear alongside, i.e. introduce simultaneously. (Strong’s G3923). The NASB Greek & Hebrew Dictionary gave, as the definition: To bring in, to supply besides (NASB Greek 3923).
This passage intrigues me because I think it is an excellent concise description of the process of maturing as a believer. So I’m going to pull the passage apart in order to understand it.
For by these (v 4) looks back to His own glory and excellence. So by His glory and excellent come His precious and magnificent promises.
Why?
So that (still v 4) we might become partakes of the divine nature, having escape the corruption of the world. The corruption of the world is sin. The divine nature is both perfect and eternal. Thus, the promise is that we are partakers of that which is perfect (without sin) and eternal (everlasting) because He promised it so. That is the result of salvation.
Now for this reason (v 5) refers back to the promises that we have received: being made without sin and eternal. Because of that, and applying all diligence. I agree with Wesley that this phrase—applying all diligence—is the center of this entire passage. Without it, the entire dynamic falls apart because it separates us, as believers, from the first part. God does the first—giving us the promises of being partakers of the divine nature and escaping the corruption of the world—and we do the second.
In a second, this is similar to If-Then promise, only grammatically set about opposite. It’s actually more of a Because He did-We should do kind of structure. The ending of the structure is also different. In an If-Then promise, if we do something, then God has promised that He will respond in a certain way. In this passage, God has already done His part, but if we fail to respond as we should, then a certain result takes place.
- God has granted to us His promises: (1) partakers of the divine nature and (2) escape from the corruption in the world (sin)
- If we apply all diligence (v 5) in doing a set of things, then we will end up being neither useless nor unfruitful. In other words, we will end up being useful and fruitful.
What are the things we are to apply with all diligence?
• v 5: moral excellence, and then . . .
• v 5: knowledge, and then . . .
• v 6: self-control, and then . . .
• v 6: perseverance, and then . . .
• v 6: godliness, and then . . .
• v 7: brotherly kindness, and then . . .
• v 7: love
This sequence begins in v 5 with the Greek word epichoregeo (Strong’s G2023). The meaning is “to furnish besides, to aid or contribute, to nourish.” The NASB dictionary fully defines it as “to supply.” The English dictionary (Merriam-Webster Online) gives three main emphases for the word supply: to add as a supplement, to provide, to substitute. I think that definitely the first two apply: to supplement and to provide. So, then we look at the sequence. Now, this is a very interesting sequence, particularly when you think about the focus in contemporary churches where we often stress that we are to love each other, but we seldom talk about personal moral excellence. We seem to think that if we begin with love, that all other things will follow. But, it seems that Peter is telling us that there is a long journey prior to learning to love and the first step of that journey is moral excellence followed by knowledge, then self-control, then perseverance, then godliness, then brotherly kindness, and then, finally, love.
Love is very difficult. I think most of us would admit that. To love our neighbor (who is awful), to love our enemy (who harms us). These kinds of love are very difficult. But to have moral excellence? That is easier, just not as comfortable discussing, because it means that there are things in our lives that we need to toss out. And some of those are near and dear to our hearts. I won’t make a list because it may be that my list will be different from yours. But what are the things that draw me into the world? That distract me from prayer, from confession, from study? What are the things that promote my pride, my hard-heartedness? It’s very likely that we easily can identify these things (though we would rather not). In our walk toward love, these are the things that we should begin with, supplying this portion with all diligence. When we give up these things completely, then we are ready to move onto the next step which is knowledge of our Savior and His heart for the world.
Are you ready? I want to be. That is my prayer for today.
© 2010 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment