2 Peter 1:7-8 Podcast
7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:7-8)
As we considered yesterday, Peter is giving us certain qualities produced by the Spirit of God in the life of the yielded believer who is feeding the Spirit and thus experiencing the life of God in his everyday life.
Peter writes in 2 Peter 1:5-6, "5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness..."
Faith plus goodness plus knowledge plus self-control plus perseverance plus godliness. Today, we add to these mutual affection and love.
I don't believe Peter means that these quality traits are added to our character in just this sequence. There is a lot of overlapping among these qualities. For example, love is already present in patience (1 Corinthians 13:4). Therefore, I believe Peter is saying: true Christians do not stop pursuing growth in God's grace (2 Peter 3:18). They apply themselves with diligence to increase in these things (see 2 Peter 1:8).
The word Peter uses for "mutual affection" is "philadelphian", which is brotherly love, companionship love. The word Peter uses for love is "agapen" which is commitment love.
The literal translation of 2 Peter 1:5–7 is, "So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others." (The Message)
In 2 Peter 1:8, Peter begins to frame up this arsenal that he has given to the follower of Christ. I'm sure you know it is possible to make a start in the Christian life, but then to become indifferent and unfeeling and careless to the grace of God.
Of course, when we become indifferent to God and His culture, we will drift away from His provisions and into destruction of some form. If we are not feeding the Spirit and subsequently being defined by God, we will be defined by our flesh which will bring corruption according to Galatians 6:8.
The answer is that we are motivated by God's promises which will spur us on to strive against the tide of self, resulting in fruitfulness and the ability to spot the false when it comes knocking on the door of our souls.
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