Doctrine! Theology! These are not words calculated to inspire interest or rapt attention among modern Americans or even American Christians. If we did the word-association game, the associations of these words would probably be negative. Once more in this matter we need to have our attitudes and perspectives re-molded by the Word of God. For, as I hope to show you, the Bible tells us that every Christian must know doctrine—must become a theologian! 2 Peter 1:5-7 is my text and the key phrase for this blog is found in verse 5: “supply … in your moral excellence knowledge.”
The fascinating thing about Peter’s exhortation to growth in grace is its detailed, systematic, and orderly character. Yet this very order and system raises many questions in a thinking Christians mind. In this series so far I have set before you a number of propositions intended to answer these questions and unlock the true significance this order for you. Let me review briefly.
First, there is a rationale for the orderly or consecutive listing of graces that you see here in Peter’s exhortation. It is no accident, and it can be no accident, that faith comes first or that love comes last in this list. The rest of the New Testament so speaks of faith and love that no one aware of its teaching can possibly think that it is accidental that faith comes first and love comes last in this list.
Second, and nevertheless, Peter does not teach the Lego or building-block view of sanctification here in these verses. It is easy to read this list and conclude that Peter thinks that you can just stack one grace on top of another as you grow in grace. It would be easy to conclude that Peter thinks that you can work on moral excellence, finish that project, and then work on knowledge, etc. This Lego-block view of sanctification cannot, however, possibly be intended by Peter. Leaving aside other problems with it that might be mentioned, consider two problems. One problem is that no faith that is unaccompanied by and un-supplied with moral excellence is true faith. If you really had a faith that was by itself and not permeated with moral excellence, it would mean that you were not a true Christian. Faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Another problem is that a Christian without love is a contradiction in terms. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren (1 John 3:14). The Lego-block view of faith implies, however, that at some stage in the Christian life, you can have faith without having any moral excellence or any love. This is a patently wrong view of growing in grace.
Third, the key idea that enables us to unlock Peter’s meaning and the true significance of this orderly listing of graces is the idea of completion. Faith is first because it is not the completion of any previous grace. There is no grace goes before faith. Love is last because it needs no completion by another grace. Love according to Colossians 3:14 is the bond of completeness, the perfect bond of unity. Thus, it needs no completing by a further grace. Moral excellence follows faith and must be supplied in faith because “faith without works is dead being by itself” (Jam. 2:17). Faith must be completed by moral excellence.
Now I realize that this idea of one grace completing another may seem abstract or difficult to some of you. Let me illustrate it. The man was made first according to the Bible. Just so faith is the first of the graces. The man is the head of the woman. Even so faith is the leading grace. The man, however, is not independent of the woman. He needs a suitable helper. He needs to be completed by the woman. Without the woman he could never be or become what God wanted. Even so faith is not independent of moral excellence. It needs to be completed by moral excellence. Without moral excellence faith could never be or become what God wanted. As the woman completes the man and makes him what he should be, so moral excellence completes faith and makes it what it should be.
But moral excellence is also not complete in itself. And as I have said, only love needs no completion. All other graces are incomplete and defective if they are not supplied with a crucial addition. In this blog and the next I want to consider Supplying Moral Excellence with Knowledge. I want to open up this point by asking and answering four questions.
Why must moral excellence be supplied with knowledge?
Another way to put this same question is to ask, How is moral excellence defective or incomplete without knowledge? Now we might wonder, How can anything as fine and as wonderful as moral excellence be defective at all? Here is this zealous Christian. He labors tirelessly in Christian activity. He works and works for Jesus. He feeds the poor. He sacrifices for God. He witnesses to others about Jesus. He spends every night doing something at church. How could anything as fine as this be defective or incomplete in any way? Any pastor would be overjoyed to have someone like this in his church, you would think.
Yet Peter plainly says that such moral excellence must be supplied with knowledge. Why? What could be possibly be wrong with such moral excellence, such zeal? Let me tell you. Moral excellence must be supplied with knowledge because moral excellence without knowledge can degenerate into blind zeal and useless activity. There is the danger of blind zeal and useless activity in moral excellence by itself and left alone un-supplied with knowledge. Is this not the plain teaching of the Bible? Let me show you that it is. Romans 10:1-3 reads:
Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. 3 For not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
Paul actually says of the Jews that they had a zeal for God. There was an energetic concern for the cause of God. Yet, all of this zeal and all of this energy was utterly useless and worse than useless. It was carried on, you see, in ignorance of God’s Word. They thought they were serving God. They told themselves they were serving God. Yet they were actually with all their zeal, with all their moral excellence opposing the gospel of God.
Does all of this remind you of another Scripture? Please turn to John 16:2.
John 16:2 “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.
Here are Christians being excommunicated from synagogues by people who thought that in doing so they were serving God. What an amazing proof that moral excellence—zeal—must be supplied with knowledge!
But there is another text that must be considered here. Please turn to Matthew 23:15.
Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
Here we see that evangelistic activity—missionary activity (!)—can be misguided and actually end up doing people harm rather than good. Notice that the amount of activity or the fact that there was great energy and great zeal shown is no proof that zeal is genuine moral excellence–that moral excellence is not defective. These people traversed sea and land under the strenuous travel conditions of the first century. There were no jets and no trains and no SUV’s with padded seats and all sorts of comfort. It was a sacrifice to travel. It was terribly worse even than the sacrifice it is for missionaries in third world countries. Yet all of this religious activity in the name of God was not just useless, but worse than useless in God’s eyes.
Now let me urge you not to lightly dismiss this. Do not say to yourself, Well, they were Jews. They were deceived by a false religion. We are Christians. We engage in our zealous and energetic activities in the name of Christ. But aren’t you missing the point in saying that? Remember that Judaism until the time of Christ was the right religion. Remember that Judaism was supposed to lead men to accept the Christ when he came. The real problem with these Jews is that they had turned Judaism into something it was not. And it is just as possible for professing Christians to turn Christianity into something it is not. Merely using the name of Christ no more protects men from blind zeal than naming the name of God! Both for professing Jews and for professing Christians the difference between blind zeal and true zeal is the knowledge stressed by Paul in Romans 10 and Peter in our passage.
Dr. Sam Waldron is the Academic Dean of CBTS and professor of Systematic Theology. He is also one of the pastors of Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Owensboro, KY. Dr. Waldron received a B.A. from Cornerstone University, an M.Div. from Trinity Ministerial Academy, a Th.M. from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. From 1977 to 2001 he was a pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of Grand Rapids, MI. Dr. Waldron is the author of numerous books including A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, The End Times Made Simple, Baptist Roots in America, To Be Continued?, and MacArthur’s Millennial Manifesto: A Friendly Response.
