Abide in Him: 2 Peter 1:8-9

How are you all doing with these memory verses? Are you putting all of them together to keep it fresh in your mind? Let’s say them together, beginning with verse 3: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them we may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.”
I typed that without looking at my Bible, and I had to correct a few mistakes. Guess I need to work a bit more on these verses. How about you?

This week’s section consists of verses 8 and 9. In them, Peter explains what happens if we add these qualities to our faith, which is we become fruitful in our knowledge of Christ. Then, he speaks a harsh, but necessary truth, saying if we lack these qualities, then we have forgotten who we used to be before Christ and who we are now because of Christ.

Numerous times I have lost sight of who I was in Christ. One of those times was shortly after we moved back to Texas. I wanted to be the best wife and mom for my family. I did all the things, except grow closer to God. Instead, my faith grew stagnant. I read the Bible occasionally, but I didn’t study it. I barely prayed, and I rarely attended church. I’d grown complacent in my walk with the LORD as I tried to be a better wife and mom, which is ironic, because had I walked closely with the Lord, then everything else would have fallen into place. It wasn’t until my mom passed away that I realized how weak I had become in my faith.

I think Peter understood this dilemma – the ease of settling into our worldly identities rather than our spiritual one. His words offer encouragement to us to live an active faith so that we don’t forget who we are or whose we are.

Let’s look at the verses.

The Verses

“For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.”

2 Peter 1:8-9 (ESV)

Grammar

As mentioned earlier, Peter encourages us to add to our faith so that we may be fruitful in our knowledge of Christ. What does he mean by that? The word “knowledge” in the original Greek form (epignosis) means “full knowledge.” Let’s pause right here because I want to point out that this definition of knowledge differs from the definition of knowledge found in verses 5 and 6. As a reminder, the Greek word used in verses 5 and 6 is “gnosis” and it means “knowledge and understanding.” It’s a basic or general knowledge. Epignosis not only means “full knowledge,” but in the New Testament, it also means knowledge of the “ethical and divine.” We’ve seen this before in verse 3.

What Peter is saying in these verses is basically: because we have a full divine knowledge of the One who called us (verse 3), we need to add a basic knowledge and understanding to our faith (verse 5) in order to fully (divinely) know Jesus (verse 8).

Another way to look at it is this: It’s like knowing about someone versus actually knowing that person. The knowledge spoken of in verse 5 refers to what we know about God – His Word, His laws, and so on. The knowledge spoken of in verses 3 and 8 refer to knowing God because of our personal relationship with Him.

Application

As Peter mentioned, adding these qualities to our faith keeps us from being ineffective or unfruitful. Ineffective means “lazy, idle, and useless.” If we do not add to our faith, then we will grow idle in our faith.

To be unfruitful means just as it sounds – fruitless. We are not bearing the fruit of the Spirit. We are not bearing the fruit of true Christianity – righteousness and godliness (Matthew Henry’s Commentary, p. 1594). John 15:2 says God will cut away fruitless branches from the vine of Jesus. This can be the “unproductive child of God who refuses to do the will of God” (Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 1458). It can also refer to those who profess to be Christians outwardly, but have no fruit to show for it (think Judas Iscariot) (Matthew Henry’s Commentary, p. 1594).

But, when we are fruitful, God is glorified because we are fulfilling (or confirming) our calling as His disciples (see John 15:8).

Peter then writes a truth that may seem a bit hard to take, but it is necessary. If we lack these qualities, then we are “so nearsighted that we are blind.” If we are not actively adding faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love, then we have forgotten how we were once sinners and destined for death and that Jesus saved us and redeemed us. We have become blind to spiritual matters and can only see what is in front of us – the world.

Final Thoughts

As I mentioned before, I have struggled in the past with supplementing my faith. Focusing on my worldly identity caused me to lose sight of my spiritual identity – a child of God and follower of Christ. Thankfully, though, once I repented, He showed me mercy and grace. He met me where I was and forgave me. Since then, He has grown my faith and I can’t imagine going back to my old ways. In fact, I pray against it. My desire is to now serve Him and to seek His will and His ways in all I do.

If you believe you’ve grown idle in your faith, there’s still hope. Repent and ask the LORD to help you grow and bear fruit. Abide in Christ through prayer, Bible Study, obedience, and application of God’s Word. He will hear you and guide you.

If you are fruitful, then continue in your ways by following Him. Let my experience be a cautionary tale of what happens when we become lazy and nearsighted.

As we end this session, I pray you are encouraged in your walk with the Lord. Don’t let your past keep you from having a fruitful relationship with Jesus. He wants you to know Him. Finally, seek out one thing you can do to add to your faith this week. Is it prayer? Daily Bible study? Serving others? Next time, we will conclude our study of 2 Peter 1:3-11.