Peter gives us an extensive list that we need in order to live a successful Christian life (2 Peter 1:5-9). He said if we do not have these, we are “shortsighted or blind and have forgotten that God has cleaned us.
He begins the list with faith. Every step in life, every decision, every plan of a Christian needs faith. We must trust God to work through us or we will be left in a heap of confusion and tension (James 1:2-7).
To faith he adds virtue or moral character. We cannot truthfully say we have faith (a connection with God) without moral character. To do so makes us a liar (1 John 2:4) because a relationship with God changes our moral character.
Knowledge is the backbone of moral character. We need to understand the consequences of poor behaviors so that we have the strength and wisdom to make righteous decisions. However, knowing is not enough; we also need self control.
Spasmodic self control does nothing. If I resist eating rich foods once a week, I will still get clogged arteries. I need perseverance. I need to resist rich foods on a daily basis to remain healthy. So I need to live a life of resisting temptation to be a healthy believer.
But even perseverance is not sufficient without godliness. We are to follow God, not traditions of men, or things that appear to be godly (Colossians 2:22). And to godliness we need brotherly kindness so that we don’t destroy our brother in Christ with our knowledge of God.
Even brotherly kindness is not enough because all these things without God’s love are empty sounding words and hollow acts (1 Corinthians 13). They become destructive by nature.
With these things (faith virtue, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness an d love) we will produce an abundance of divine fruit.
