THURSDAY 24th
2 Peter 1:5
‘For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge . . .’
‘and virtue (or as we saw previously, goodness, moral excellence) with knowledge’.
One of the greatest joys for a parent (and a grandparent seeing as I’m in that bracket now) is to see a baby develop and grow, yes physically but also in their awareness and knowledge. You begin to watch them and see how suddenly, almost unexpectedly they have gained the knowledge that gives them the ability to do something new. They are continually learning, gaining knowledge. This in turn will lead to the baby becoming a mature adult in later years.
The Bible has much to say about our need as new-born babes in Christ to grow up or to mature spiritually, to gain understanding or knowledge concerning spiritual matters. As Christians we should always be desiring to gain spiritual knowledge and understanding, we should continually be desiring to know more and to understand more concerning spiritual matters and in our desire to be learning we should be using discernment to help us to understand, to know spiritual truth, so that as we do, the more ready we will be to be able to discern between that which is right or wrong, truth or error.
Every one of us who has come to faith has come to know Jesus – but we should long to not only know him more, (relational) but to also know more about him, (knowledge), we can replace the name Jesus with God, getting to know God more deeply, and the same about his Word, getting to know the Word of God more deeply, not just its content, but its wisdom, its counsel, its truth etc.
The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology says that ‘knowledge’ in its sense here in 1 Peter 1:5 is not a natural understanding of something, but is that which we receive by revelation from God.’ In other words (my words this time) ‘it is a knowledge that springs out from our firstly knowing God, a knowledge that comes once our spiritual eyes and spiritual understanding have been opened’. Look at what we see in 2 Timothy 2:24-26, ‘. . . if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may KNOW the truth . . .’, The KNOWLEDGE we are talking about only comes after repentance. That is why unbelievers cannot believe what we believe, they have no knowledge, perception or understanding of truth, that is why they see the message of the cross as foolishness, whereas we who are saved see it as the power of God at work unto salvation.
As we add spiritual knowledge to goodness and faith it should do at least the following for us, it should enlighten us, challenge us, correct or change us and transform us.
So to virtue add knowledge