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Growth in Grace 8 — Knowledge Must Be Supplied with Self-control

by | Sep 17, 2014 | Soteriology

Do you want the male version or the female version?  Have you ever heard that question?  Or perhaps you have yourself asked that question.  You know the difference between the male and female versions of a story.

Take the simple question: Did you go to the store and buy the milk?  The typical male would give you a one word answer, Yup. 

The typical female answer would involve telling you how hard it was to find a parking place, how she met Sally at the story, how she had not known that Sally worked there, how she noticed that the price of milk had gone down 10 cents, how there was a new girl at the cash register, how that new girl looked a little like the girl you both knew in college, and how she almost put the transaction on credit rather than debit.  I am exaggerating—a little!—but you recognize the truth in this illustration.  Men can be thick-headedly and frustratingly short.  Women can drive you around the block before they tell you what you want to know.

But let me defend the fairer sex.  There are some issues about which we want cannot have too much detail and too much information.  One such issue is the important matter of growing in grace.  In the passage about growing in grace we have been looking at, Peter is engaged in giving us The Bible’s Most Systematic and Detailed Exhortation to Growth in Grace.

We have discovered that the order of graces Peter gives us in these verses has an important rationale.  Peter is concerned that Christian character be genuine and complete.  The tell-tale mark of false, defective, or stunted Christianity is the failure to supply each virtue with the counterpart virtue that completes it.  This counterpart virtue—this balancing grace—delivers each Christian virtue Peter mentions from being only a deformed counterfeit of the genuine thing.  In the last blog we saw that even moral excellence needs completing with the virtue of knowledge—a deeper and more systematic understanding of the Christian faith.

But Christian knowledge—necessary as it is and wonderful as it is—also needs completing.  Peter tells us that it must be supplied with self-control.  Without self-control the professed virtue of Christian knowledge is just a twisted and deformed imitation of the true, Christian virtue.  Our present theme, then, is Supplying Knowledge with Self-control.

We must ask and answer three questions about self-control.

I.     Why must knowledge be supplied with self-control?
II.   What is the self-control with which knowledge must be supplied?
III. How can such self-control be attained?

I.                  Why must knowledge be supplied with self-control?

Each time I have asked this question so far, I have been able to turn you to one key passage that crystallized the rationale for Peter’s order.  Faith must be supplied in moral excellence because according to James 2:17 faith without works is dead.  Moral excellence must be supplied with knowledge because there is a blind zeal that is not according to knowledge (Romans 10:2).

There is also a key passage that explains why knowledge must be supplied with self-control.  Notice these excerpts from 1 Corinthians 8:1-11:  “Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.  2 If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know;  3 but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him…. 9 But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.  10 For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?  11 For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died.”  Notice also 1 Corinthians 10:12:   “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”  Let me paraphrase Paul:  Let him who thinks he stands in his knowledge take heed that he does not fall through his lack of self-control.

Now what is the answer of these verses to the question: Why must knowledge be supplied with self-control?  It’s clear, isn’t it?  Knowledge must be supplied with self-control, because knowledge not supplied with self-control may lead to moral falls in ourselves and others.  Knowledge may make us over-confident in the use of our liberty.  Knowledge may make us use our liberty in a way which is a stumbling-block to others.  Knowledge tells us that there is nothing wrong with an occasional adult beverage.  Thus, we indulge ourselves without realizing that we have a special vulnerability to alcohol which makes one drink lead to too many and drunkenness.  Or perhaps we can safely and moderately indulge, but we use our liberty in front of someone who has a peculiar problem with alcohol and our example and encouragement makes them take the first and fatal drink.  This is why—to use one example—knowledge must be supplied with self-control.

Returning to 2 Peter, we also notice this.  Peter was probably already thinking in our text of the false teachers he was intent on exposing and condemning in chapter 2 of this very epistle.  Look at 2 Peter 2:18-20:  “For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,  promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.  For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.”

These false teachers had knowledge of the doctrine of grace for salvation.  It is likely that they had come into contact with the teachings of the Apostle Paul about grace and freedom in Christ.  Compare 2 Peter 3:15, 16:  “and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,  as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.”

These false teachers, however, did not supply in their knowledge self-control.  Rather they turned the doctrine of the grace of God into a license to sin and get away with it.  They gave unrestrained liberty to their lusts for money, power, partying, and sex.

This tendency of knowledge un-supplied with self-control to lead to serious, moral lapses is rooted in an even more basic principle.  In the language of Paul knowledge makes arrogant.  It puffs up.  This leads Paul to warn in 1 Corinthians 10:12: “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”  Remember the famous proverb?  Proverbs 16:18 declares, “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.”  It is by this ethical pathway that knowledge can lead to the most horrible moral lapses and falls.  Knowledge leads to pride, and pride makes you fall.

There are enormously important lessons we must consider before we move on.

First, there is a lesson for all those who know and love the doctrines of grace.  Many of you know and love the great doctrines of God’s free and sovereign grace.  They are wonderful doctrines indeed.  They are doctrines that are the solid foundation of all our assurance and comfort.  They are also doctrines that many Christians do not understand.  This lays people who love and believe these doctrines open to the possibility of the pride bred by superior knowledge.  Those who love the doctrines of grace should be deeply concerned about this possibility.  They should cry out to the sovereign God of grace that they love that He would make them the humblest and holiest of Christians and keep them from becoming the proudest and most carnal of professing Christians.  They should pray, in other words, that they should add to their indisputable knowledge “self-control.”  There is a great, moral danger especially when the Reformed Christian has large and liberal ideas about Christian liberty.

Second, there is a lesson for pastors here.  Pastors by definition ought to have a deeper understanding of the Christian faith—more knowledge—than most Christians.  They have special need to supply in their knowledge self-control.  What a solemn warning this is for us!  What a call it is for you to pray for your pastors that God would give us unusual measures of the grace of self-control!

Growth in Grace 7 — Knowledge Must Be Supplied in Moral Excellence 2

by | Sep 15, 2014 | Soteriology

A second question which must be asked about supplying moral excellence with knowledge:

What kind of knowledge must moral excellence by supplied with?

In other words, what is this knowledge of which Peter is speaking?  Peter uses a word that carries enormous weight in the Greek language.  He uses the word, gnosis, from which is derived the words, Gnostic and Gnosticism.  Let me ask you to listen to the dictionary definition of this word.

gnosis…basically, as the possession of information what is known, knowledge; (1) as a characteristic of God and man knowledge (RO 11.33; 1C 8.1); (2) as the result of divine enlightenment knowledge, understanding, insight (LU 1.77); (3) of heretical claims to higher forms of knowledge available only to a select few Gnosis, (esoteric) knowledge (1T 6.20).

Though this is the general Greek word for knowledge, in many cases it implies something more specific.  It implies insight—something more than a superficial knowledge of things—a deeper understanding of things.  This is why it was used by the gnostic sects to refer to the higher knowledge (gnosis) of things that they claimed for themselves.

1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”

These heretics claimed that ordinary Christians had only a superficial knowledge of divine truth.  Only Gnostic Christians really had a deeper insight into the truth.  This idea of a deeper insight—something more than a superficial insight—into truth is brought out by 1 Peter 3:7.

You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way (according to knowledge), as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Each of these passages, then, in their own way speak of a deep insight into truth.  Now let’s go back to our question. With what kind of knowledge must moral excellence be supplied?  This knowledge refers to that deeper insight into the Christian faith that will enable us to wisely direct the zeal and energy we have for God’s cause.

Remember that Peter’s recipients were already believers.  This means that they already had some knowledge of Christ and Christianity.  Some knowledge of Christ is necessary for faith itself to exist and for repentance itself to be exercised.  Something must be believed to be a Christian.  Repentance is unto the acknowledgement of the truth (2 Timothy 2:25).  There are elementary principles of the Christian religion which must be accepted when a person believes.

Hebrews 5:11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.  12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.  14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. 6:1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,  2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

The knowledge in view, then, must be that knowledge which will enable us to wisely direct the zeal and energy we have for God’s cause.  It is that knowledge of the truth that will deliver us from blind zeal and useless activity and insure that our zeal and activity effectively furthers the cause of God.

Now we have a name for this deeper knowledge of the Christian faith, this knowledge that goes deeper than the initial knowledge necessary for faith, that word for a deeper more systematic understanding of the Christian faith is theology.  Theology literally means the science of God and refers to a knowledge of the Christian faith that is thought through, that is more than elementary, and that has a systematic and logical character to it.

This is why every genuine Christian must be a student of theology.  Every genuine Christian must grow in the knowledge of Christ, and this means getting beyond and going deeper than the basic and simple understanding of the gospel that he had when he first became a Christian.  Unless a Christian grows in knowledge by becoming a student of genuine, Christian theology, he runs the grave danger of blind zeal and worse than useless activity.  Christian theology must guide Christian zeal.

This brings us to a third question, How can such knowledge be attained?

How can such a deeper knowledge of the Christian faith—one that will guide our zeal and make it really useful—be attained?  Well, of course, nothing will be accomplished unless a person has a deep and abiding interest in the Word of God himself that leads him to read and study privately.  In our highly individualistic day and age, however, there is a danger that we will completely ignore one of the major emphases of the Word of God on this issue.  The Bible tells us that no small part of coming to a deeper knowledge of the truth has to do with our willingness to subject ourselves to the public ministry of the Word by the pastor-teachers Christ gives to the church.  The key passage here is Ephesians 4:11-15:

11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ

The language is plain, isn’t it?  Pastor-teachers are given to the church so that they will attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.  Blind zeal and useless activity result when the instruction of pastor-teachers is absent or not heeded.  What a responsibility belongs to the pastor faithfully and fully to preach the Word of God!  What a warning to the Christian to make attendance upon a faithful ministry a life-priority!

But it is not just living and/or present pastors to whom you must give your attention.  Christ has been giving the gift pastor-teachers to His church for 20 centuries.  We must devote our attention to good books written by those men as another means of coming to a deeper and theological knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus.  One of the things we need to do and have been encouraged to do by our deacon is to begin a book table to encourage reading of good, Christian books among us.  Look we are not against reading for mere recreation and relaxation, but are you reading any solid books intended to help you add knowledge to your moral excellence?  Are you listening to any good sermons that will help you supply your  knowledge with moral excellence?

Here is how to add knowledge to your moral excellence!  Read your Bibles every day.  Listen to good preaching!  Read good Christian books.

My fourth and last question on this subject is, Who especially is in need of such knowledge?

Young Christians

One answer to this—the last of our four questions—is also plainly implied in Ephesians 4:11-15.  It is immature Christians who especially need this deeper insight into truth.  Here they are likened unto children.  Now pardon me for saying so, but this means it is especially young Christians and Christians who are young people who need such instruction.  So much is this the case that it is almost proverbial that young Christians are known for their immoderate zeal.  We even have a phrase for them that I have often heard.  They are “young Turks”.  Do you understand the reference of that phrase?  It is not a reference to young Turkeys.  It is a reference to the young Turkish soldiers of the Middle Ages who were famous for their utter, death-welcoming, and fanatical commitment to their generals and to the Islamic faith.  These are those whose zeal for Christianity has an off-with-their-heads kind of flavor.

Now this is no advertisement for less zeal.  There must be zeal for Christ and for truth.  If there is no zeal for Christ and for truth, there is no true faith.  Moral excellence must be supplied into true faith.  Praise God for young people with zeal!  But just because they have such zeal, they must earnestly seek to grow in the knowledge of Christ.  Otherwise, much of their fine zeal for Christ may be wasted. Also, young Christians must seek to be guided in their zeal by older Christians.  Their zealous activity for Christ should be wisely guided by experienced leaders.  This is why God has appointed that the church should be led by elders and not by youngers!

Christian Fathers and Mothers

The Bible calls on fathers and mothers to be disciple their children in the Christian faith.  Ephesians 6:4 says,  “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”  The whole book of Proverbs in its calls for children to pay attention to the wisdom of their fathers and mothers teaches the duty of parents to teach the Christian faith to their children.  How can fathers do that and how can mothers assist them unless they are themselves theologians?  I have to confess that I have not read the book, but I really like the title of the book, Housewife Theologian!  This is why it is particularly crucial for fathers to be growing in their knowledge of the Christian faith and in their ability to speak of it and teach it to their children.

Pastors and Aspiring Pastors

This is also why pastors and aspiring pastors must be theologians.  It is they who are primarily responsible to make theological knowledge of the Christian faith practically available to the Christian church.  Untold damage has been done by so-called pastors who simply do not understand the confessional and theological tradition of the church.  This means ordinarily, although not universally, that pastors and aspiring pastors be required to study a thorough theological curriculum in preparation for the Christian ministry.  Of course, there are men (like Spurgeon) who because of natural gift and blessed upbringing do not require such a course of study.  But frankly most men are not Spurgeons in either way and need such a required course of study.  That is why  places like Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary must exist and may make a claim on the church’s resources because such training is necessary.

There is never any room for self-satisfied complacency or moralistic pride in our graces and virtues in the Christian life.  This is one of the clearest lessons that Peter teaches us in this list.  No virtue except love is complete by itself, and who can ever say that they have enough love?  You can never rest satisfied with your attainments.  If one says, I have faith, he must ask himself, but do I have moral excellence?  If one says, I have attained moral excellence, he must be asked, but do you have knowledge?  We may never have the attitude in the Christian life that says: “I have attained.  Leave me alone.  I don’t need to be exhorted.  I’m alright.”  Young people, especially, how can you justify having this attitude to your parents when they try to talk to you about ways you need to grow in grace?  We must always strive to be approachable by those who would help us grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Every grace and virtue (again except for love) has its counterfeit, its evil twin, its deformed counterpart.  What we think is the beautiful nose of faith can be the Pinocchio deformity of dead orthodoxy.  The lovely and caring hands of moral excellence can really be the claws of blind zeal.  As we will see next week, the strong chin of what we think to be knowledge may be the witch’s jaw of arrogant opinionated-ness.  Every virtue may be deformed into something evil and ugly.  Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.  You have faith, do you? It is only true faith, if it has a zeal for God.  You have moral excellence or zeal, do you?  It is only true zeal, if it is supplied and guided by a deepening knowledge of God.  It is possible to be religious and deceived.  It is possible to be a professing Christian and deceived.  It is possible to be active in the church and deceived.  It is possible to be moral and deceived.  Take a closer look at those things in yourself that you thought were Christian grace.  If they are really, they will stand up to a closer inspection.  Is your faith characterized by moral excellence and zeal for God?  Is your moral excellence supplied with a deepening knowledge of God and His Word?  Is Christ really formed in you?  And if He is not, isn’t this a good time to admit it and to cry out for the mercy that alone can remake you in the image of Christ.

Growth in Grace 6 — Knowledge Must Be Supplied in Moral Excellence

by | Sep 10, 2014 | Soteriology

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.

Growth in Grace 5 — Moral Excellence Must Be Added to Faith

by | Sep 8, 2014 | Soteriology

Contrary to popular opinion, God does not save people simply to keep them from going to hell.  Of course, our compassionate God does desire to keep people from going to hell, but God’s ultimate purpose involves the Christian’s growth in grace.  This is because God’s ultimate purpose is to glorify His Son by re-making those whom He saves into the image of His Son.  For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren (Romans 8:29).  This involves growing in grace.  The most detailed and systematic statement of growth in grace in the entire Bible is 2 Peter 1:5-7.  In this blog post we come to the second grace in Peter’s list and the one that must be supplied into faith.  The NASB translates this grace with the words, moral excellence.  My goal is to answer two questions about moral excellence.  The first is this:

What is moral excellence?

The best way to understand the meaning of a word is not by turning first to the dictionary definitions, but by listening to how it is used in the New Testament.  The word translated, moral excellence, is used three other places in the New Testament.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

2 Peter 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Clearly, in the New Testament the word describes something that is excellent, morally virtuous, or praiseworthy.  God is excellent, virtuous, and praiseworthy.  His people are to so live that they show in their lives the excellent, virtuous, and praiseworthy nature of God.  Two parallel texts come to mind.

Isaiah 43:21 “The people whom I formed for Myself Will declare My praise.” (The LXX translates praise by the Greek word used in our text.)

Matt. 5:16,  “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your father who is in heaven.”

The moral excellence of which our text is speaking is not the moral excellence of God, but the reflection of His moral excellence in our lives.  What we are to add to our faith, then, is moral excellence, praiseworthiness, or virtue.

There is an emphasis in this word that needs illustrating.  Suppose I told one of my children that I expected them to get excellent grades in school.  Further suppose that they brought home a report full of D’s and C’s with an occasional B-.  Do you suppose I would consider such grades excellent and praiseworthy?  Of course not!  Do you suppose I would be appeased if they objected to my unhappiness by saying,  Dad, why are you so upset?  I did better than a lot of kids.  I did alright.  It’s good enough.  What’s wrong with my grades?  At least I didn’t flunk any classes.  Again, the answer is “of course not.”  D’s and C’s are simply not excellent grades.  Whatever they are, even if they are not as bad they could be, they are not excellent or praiseworthy.

Of course, if a young person is simply not capable of getting A’s, we should be satisfied.  But every Christian because of the indwelling Spirit is capable of moral excellence.  God calls for nothing less than moral excellence in His sons and daughters.  God is not satisfied with conduct that is the moral equivalent of D’s and C’s.  God is not satisfied by moral standards just a little bit better than the world’s standards.

We must supply moral excellence in our faith because our faith deserves nothing less.  Our faith is what we believe.  It is the truth we believe (2 Pet. 1:1).  The Christian faith is the greatest truth in the world and deserves to be adorned by the greatest lives in the world.  If you are a member of this church, I hope it has a great deal to do with its particular understanding of the Christian faith—its doctrines!  What Peter says here about moral excellence is very similar to what Paul says in Titus 2:10.  There Paul calls on Christians to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.”  Children, do you know what it means to adorn something?  You girls know!  It means to make something look pretty or attractive!  This is what you are to for the doctrine of God’s grace.  You are to make it attractive.  Because of a recent wedding in our family, I can bear personal witness to the expense, time, and effort which went into making certain ladies look attractive.  It is such expense, time, and effort for which Peter calls here in order that the doctrine of God our Savior might look attractive.

Why is moral excellence next?

One of the most obvious features of our text is the specific order in which Peter mentions these graces.  How do we explain this order?  Why does Peter say that this specific grace must be supplied in that other, specific, previous grace? Why is it moral excellence and not knowledge or self-control that is mentioned next after faith and which must be supplied into it?

There are a number of patently false ideas that must be avoided in answering these questions.   We must not conclude that these verses reveal a step-by-step chronological order in time by which we are to grow in grace.  We must not be tempted to think that they teach that a man can have faith, but utterly lack the seven qualities mentioned in Peter’s list of graces.  We must not think that true faith can be devoid or empty of the seven graces which follow it.  Peter is not giving to us a kind of chronological map of growth in grace.  He is not advocating a building block view of growth in grace.  He is not saying that we are to stack one block of grace on top of the previous.  He is not advocating some sort of sanctification-made-easy formula.  But, then, what is he doing?  I will answer this question by giving you—first—a general explanation for the order as a whole and—second—a specific reason for the order of faith and then moral excellence in particular.

The General Explanation for the Order as a Whole

In a previous post I made the point that there is a logical reason for the order of the graces listed here.  I spent a long time showing why faith had to be the first grace in the list.  Faith must be first because no grace precedes it in the Christian life.

Now I want to point out that it is no accident that love is the last grace in the list.  This is entirely appropriate. Since love is the first of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22), the greatest of the Christian graces (1 Cor. 13:13), and the fulfillment of the whole law (Rom. 13:8, 10), it is not surprising that love is given the climactic place in Peter’s list.

But there is another reason why love had to be given the climactic place in this list. Love concludes the list because it alone of all the Christian graces does not need to be completed by another grace.  All the other graces require something else to be supplied in them.  Faith must have supplied in it moral excellence.  Moral excellence must be completed with knowledge.  Love culminates the list because it alone is (in the words of Col. 3:14) “the perfect bond of unity”.  The NIV of Col. 3:14 says,  “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”  Literally, the Greek of Col. 3:14 says that love is the bond of completeness.  Faith is first because nothing can precede it.  Love is last because nothing can complete it.  It is necessarily the completing grace, just as faith is necessarily the beginning grace.

Peter’s order has to do with the idea of completing.  Faith is first because it completes no other previous grace.  Love is last because it needs no completing.  The key idea, then, is that each Christian grace by itself is incomplete and defective if to it is not added the grace that completes it.  Faith, then, is defective if to it is not added moral excellence!

The Specific Reason for the Order of Faith and Moral Excellence in Particular

Faith must be completed by moral excellence because without it faith is defective and incomplete.  That reminds us James 2:14-26.  Notice particularly the question of James 2:14:  “Can that faith save him?” The implied answer is:  Of course not!  Notice also verses  17, 22, and 24.

James 2:17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself

James 2:22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;

James 2:24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Faith is first.  Faith is crucial.  Faith is justifying.  But if it is not a faith completed by works, it is nothing.  If it is not a faith perfected by moral excellence, it is dead.  Such a kind of faith is not saving and is not justifying.  It is the wrong kind of faith.

People have thought that Paul and James were on different pages in the matter of justification.  They are simply wrong.  Remember what Paul said in Galatians 5:6, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.”  Only the kind of faith that works through love is saving faith.  Thus, Peter, James, and Paul all teach that faith must be supplied with good works or completed with love.  Faith that is not completed or supplied with moral excellence is not true, saving, or justifying faith.  No supposed grace standing by itself, naked and alone, is the genuine article.  Only love needs no such completion because it completes all other graces.

It is a wonderful truth of the Word of God that we are justified by faith alone.  Ah! But we are not justified or saved by a lonely faith!  Our Confession epitomizes this important distinction when it says at 11:2: “Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification;  yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.”

Here is my concern.  There are a lot of people in our day who have sat in church under defective teaching on this subject.  They think they have saving faith.  But this saving faith has never resulted in moral excellence, has not made them adorn the gospel with good works in their lives.  According to the Apostles Peter and Paul, they are deceived and still on their way to hell with their defective faith.  I do not want any of you to be among them that deceived multitude who when they come to the day of judgment with their defective faith hear the horrible words, Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!  Cf. Matthew 7:19-23.

Growth in Grace 4 — Effort Is Necessary! Practical Conclusions

by | Sep 3, 2014 | Soteriology

In 2 Peter 1:5 Peter quadruplely emphasizes that effort is necessary in the Christian life.  He says:  “… applying … all … diligence … supply …”  Now I take up some of the practical conclusions which follow from this emphasis which runs quite counter to a lot of popular teaching on sanctification in our day!

(1)     God does not just command men in general or Christians to do these things in order to show us our inability.  He commands us to do these things, because we can as redeemed men and women, and because if we do not, the process of ongoing sanctification will not take place.  The religion which dislikes all human activity and thinks of all human activity as of the flesh, as dutyism, as legalism, or as Arminianism is not the religion of the Bible.

(2)     Effort is not contrary to faith.  I have said that faith is first and effort is necessary, but there must be faith in our working.  The two things required in growth in grace are faith resting and faith working.  Faith must rest in the promises of God, but then faith must work out of the resources of the grace of God.

Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.

This is why we should avoid saying that we are sanctified by faith alone.  Although it might be technically be true in some sense, it is misleading because in justification “faith alone” means faith receiving and resting on Christ alone for justification.  In sanctification “faith alone” includes “faith working.”

(3)     Our whole redeemed humanity is and must be intensively involved in the great work of ongoing sanctification.  This involvement, as the passage implies, must cost us something.  As it costs a miler something to run a mile in the track meet, as it costs the person who is starting or running a business, as it costs to raise a family right, so too the Christian life, growth in grace, requires and demands the cost of hard work and sweat.  The believer most active and energetic in growing in grace will be the most sanctified believer.  The lazy believer will be the least sanctified.

(4)     We must not think that all effort in the Christian life is “of the flesh.”  Isn’t this what we hear all the time?  I don’t want to be guilty of doing something in the flesh.  I want to pray, but I don’t want to do it in the flesh.  I want to be pure, but I don’t want to do it in the flesh.  I want to talk to that person about the Lord, but I don’t want to do it in the flesh. I would like to be faithful to my wife, but I don’t want to do it in the flesh.

OK, I am being a little sarcastic.  I am aware that it is possible to do the outward things we should do, but without the right spirit or motivation and so do them in the flesh.  So how can you be sure that you are doing the duties of the Christian life in the flesh?  How may you avoid doing your duties in the flesh?  Let me give you a few tips on how to avoid doing things in the flesh.

  • Never try to add to your faith moral excellence without confessing your sins.
  • Never do it without a washed-in-the-blood-of-Jesus’ conscience.
  • Never do it without prayerful dependence on God.
  • Never do it without renouncing self-sufficiency.
  • Never do it without confessing your tendency to pride and self-righteousness and asking to be delivered from seeking your own glory.
  • But when you are all done, you must not associate doing something in the Spirit with having a certain feeling.  You must not associate doing something in the flesh with the absence of a certain feeling.

Even if you add to your faith moral excellence, in cold blood, you must still do it—even if you have to confess your coldness of heart while you do it.  A fear of doing what is right because you might do it in the flesh produces a paralysis which is also sinful.

(5)     What kinds of effort are necessary in the Christian life and growth in grace?  The Bible teaches that many different kinds of effort and activity are necessary to grow in grace.

Romans 13:14b implies the necessity of foresight, planning to avoid the occasions of sin:  “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

Romans 12:1, 2 indicates the importance of learning, reading, listening, and studying:  “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Hebrews 10:25 shows the necessity of gathering with God’s people in the assemblies of the church:  “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.”

Matthew 26:41 instructs us in the importance of watching (staying awake) and praying:  “Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Titus 2:12 teaches us the importance of saying no to ourselves and self-denial: “instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.”

1 Timothy 4:7 informs us of the necessity of self-discipline:  “But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”

I am certain that many other kinds of effort could be gleaned from a diligent study of the Bible.

(6)     There is a direct connection between our effort, our diligence, and our sanctification.  God has decreed that the way in which He will sanctify His people and cause them to grow in grace is by making them diligent in supplying in their faith all the things Peter mentions.  Thus, He has decreed that when we are diligent, we will make progress.  This passage refutes the idea that a Christian can work his head off in growing in grace and make no progress.  Peter tells us to supply in our faith moral excellence, because by the grace of God working in us we can.  God is sovereign, but He shows His sovereignty by giving us diligence, not by making our diligence pointless and futile.  There is a direct connection between our supplying and our progress in grace.

(7)     We must make time and energy available to grow in grace.  Many of us are at very busy times in our lives.  At such a time we must guard against being so stressed and tired that we have no energy left to commit to growing in grace.  Time must be set aside for prayer, Bible study, godly concerns, and focusing on the concerns of our souls.  Energy must be reserved to grow in grace, because, dear brethren, it does take energy.  This fact may necessitate a serious and painful review of our family priorities.

(8)     Peter’s emphasis on “applying all diligence supply” ministers a serious rebuke to spiritual laziness.  Talk is cheap, right?  Let us not be those who talk about holiness, but who never do anything about it.

Proverbs 21:25 The desire of the sluggard puts him to death, For his hands refuse to work;

Proverbs 13:4 The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, But the soul of the diligent is made fat.

Proverbs 22:13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside; I will be killed in the streets!”

Sluggards may want holiness and talk about holiness, but they won’t do anything to get it.  When you offer them good counsel about it and how to get it, they always have an excuse.  Don’t be the spiritual sluggard!  Applying all diligence supply in your faith moral excellence!

(9)     Growth in grace because it requires effort, because it requires “applying all diligence … supplying.”  But it is a work that only God can enable you to do.  It is a work of divine power.  You must beseech Him for the strength you need!  You must give Him all the glory if you are to be successful in any measure at growing in grace!

2 Peter 1:5-7 says,  “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,  and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,  and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.”  Adding these graces to your faith is clearly to be a priority to you.  You have nothing to do that is more important.  Adding these graces involves effort.  It involves doing something.  So what are you going to do?

Should you spend tomorrow praying and fasting about that problem are in your life?  You have that problem area.  It grieves you.  You are frustrated, but have you ever given yourself to prayer and fasting about it?  What are you going to do?

Should you sit down with your wife today and re-structure your lives so that you both have to read the Bible and pray daily or so that you have time to have family worship?  What are you going to do?

Should you make yourself accountable to someone and report to them regularly about that area in which you struggle?  What are you going to do?

Do you need to write that letter or make that phone call or have that conversation you have been putting off and do it today or tomorrow?  What are you going to do?

This is the question that Peter’s words require me to ask you.  It is the question you must ask yourself.  The question is not carnal or fleshly or legalistic.  The question is, So what are you going to do?

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