Next Level Training
Here Peter uses a literary device called sorites, in which each virtue leads to the next one in a stair-step structure. Peter’s audience would have been familiar with this style. Virtue lists, like vice lists (see 1 Pet 2:1 and note), were common devices in Graeco-Roman rhetoric.
1:5 goodness The idea of knowing about God is preceded by the principle of living a life of integrity, making the point that the disciplines of a faithful life lead to further understanding of God.
1:6 self-control Faith is not just a matter of obtaining salvation; it is a matter of life transformation—overcoming sin demonstrates the power of Jesus in a person’s life.
perseverance Against daily opposition, believers were forced to explain their choice to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Living as part of society without synchronizing their beliefs with those of the Roman Empire would have required incredible endurance. The believers who received the letter of 2 Peter would have found the principles of their faith at odds with the general practices of Graeco-Roman culture.
1:8–15 Knowing that his death is quickly approaching (2 Pet 1:14), Peter exhorts his audience to examine their faith continually so that they will remain established in the truth and truly be part of Christ’s kingdom.
1:8 in increasing measure Christians should not just possess the virtues in vv. 5–7, but be growing in them. It is possible to have some knowledge of Christ and yet be unproductive.
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; 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.