Sermon Tone Analysis

For the past few years, the church (and particularly the Reformed community) has been under siege by those who want to redefine the one doctrine that, according to Martin Luther, is the article on which the church either stands or falls.

The doctrine, of course, is justification by faith alone.

It has been assaulted by advocates of the New Perspectives on Paul and the Federal Vision theology.

Whatever form the assault takes, its initial axiom is pretty much the same: faith is not the only instrument of justification.

Our good works are just as effective.

It has even become common in some circles to combine faith and good works, and then argue that justification is by faithfulness instead of by faith.

Although these attacks on justification are very serious, we have to make sure that we do not overreact to them.

We could easily put so much emphasis on justification, for example, that we virtually ignore sanctification, thus giving the impression that sanctification doesn’t really matter.

But sanctification does matter.

God calls his people to a life of holiness that reflects his own holiness.

We are to be holy because God himself is holy (Lev.

11:44–45; 19:2; 20:7; 21:8; I Pet.

1:16; cf.

Matt.

5:48).

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Faith’s Complements

This morning’s text is a summons to grow in our obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the verses immediately preceding it, Peter reminds us of how much God has already done for us.

In verse 3 he says that gives us all things that are necessary for life and godliness.

The next verse adds that God showers us with /exceeding great and precious promises/, the purpose of which is that we /might be partakers of the divine nature/.

That is, as God’s people our lives should display as many of God’s attributes as is possible for creatures to do.

And the one attribute here that towers above all the others is holiness.

Thus, Peter exhorts us to /escape the corruption that is in the world through lust/.

The first three verses of our text tell us how to build upon this foundation.

It all begins with faith.

Each of us must believe that the work of the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied for our sins so completely that nothing in the universe can separate us from the love of God.

We must believe that he suffered, died and rose again for our sakes.

This faith, of course, is a gift of God, and not something that we create within ourselves.

But our faith is just the beginning of what God wants to see in us.

Peter says that we must add a whole range of virtues to (or by) our faith.

Interestingly, the word translated /add/ (ἐπιχορηγήσατε) in verse 5 is also the root of our words /chorus/ and /choreography/.

In ancient Greece the state established choruses (χοροί), but the directors of the choruses (χορηγοί) were financially responsible for their training.

Thus, the director supported the choir.

Later this word came to be used for anyone who supports others.

In modern Greek it simply means benefactor and no longer has anything to do with choirs.

In our text, Peter’s point is that our faith must be upheld and supported by other virtues — not in the sense that faith needs these other things in order to be faith, but only because we cannot recognize the sincerity of faith (either in ourselves or in others) apart from the virtues that accompany it.

Faith, then, is at the beginning of the list.

Now, before we consider the remaining virtues, it’s important to note that the order in which Peter lists them is not necessarily the order in which they manifest themselves in our lives.

For example, it would make no sense for patience to come after temperance or for godliness to come after patience, since temperance presupposes patience, and patience is a manifestation of godliness.

Rather, Peter is simply telling us that faith has many complements, and that God requires us to add each of them to faith as soon as possible.

The first grace that he mentions is /virtue/.

The word used here is the same word used in verse 3 (cf.

I Pet.

2:9) and is sort of a catch-all term.

It includes all the righteousness that we should have as believers.

The specific things that define virtue follow it in the list.

/Knowledge/ comes next.

Some commentators believe that the knowledge that Peter intended here was a practical understanding of God’s will, i.e., in contrast to an academic understanding of Scripture.

They say that faith, the foundation for all virtue, already includes knowledge as one of its components, since we cannot believe unless we know what we are to believe.

But this not a very good argument, since it assumes that believers have a complete knowledge of the Bible as soon as we’re born again.

But the Bible teaches that we need to grow in our knowledge of Scripture as much as we need to grow in our application of it.

In fact, the very last verse of II Peter exhorts us to /grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ/ (II Pet.

3:18).

But even the context of verse 5 favors a doctrinal understanding of the knowledge.

Verse 2, for example, says that grace and peace are multiplied by a knowledge of God, that is, by a knowledge of theology.

Verse 3 adds that all things that pertain to life and godliness come by the same.

Peter says that we must know the one who calls us to the virtues he enumerates in our text.

And later verse 8 also summons us to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, the one through whom these virtues are mediated.

On the other hand, we must not think of this knowledge as a mere intellectual understanding.

Rather, it is a believing understanding or a knowledge that accepts the propositions of Scripture as a true and accurate account of what really is.

You see, unbelievers can intellectually understand what the Bible says.

They just don’t believe that it tells the truth.

Only those to whom God gives faith know that every word the Bible says is true.

Following knowledge we have /temperance/.

Temperance or self-control teaches us to restrain our desires, especially when lust is concerned.

/Patience/, the next item in the list of faith-additives, is the ability to bear afflictions without grumbling and complaining.

Instead, we should rejoice in our trials, knowing that they have been given to us by a Father who loves us, and that their purpose is to make us more like Christ in our obedience.

/Godliness/ refers to our duties toward God, which we sometimes call the first table of the law.

In fact, it might be more helpful to translate this word (εὐσέβειαν) as “piety.”

In the list it comes after patience because the two virtues are related.

Godliness teaches us to accept God’s providential appointments for our lives patiently, with the assurance that he will come to our aid just as he promised.

/Brotherly kindness/, on the other hand, takes us to the second table of the law, as it is applied specifically toward other our brothers in the Lord.

In fact, /brotherly kindness/ translates a single Greek word φιλαδελ­φίαν.

Philadelphia is literally “the city of brotherly love.”

And the fact that it comes immediately after godliness shows that the two tables of the law must go together.

We cannot keep one without also keeping the other.

And finally, lest we think that our duty is restricted only to those of the household of faith, the last grace listed is /charity/ or love.

This teaches us to show compassion toward all men, even our enemies.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan illustrates this.

The Samaritan was an enemy of the Jew who fell among thieves; nonetheless he cared for his bodily needs.

Our charity toward others ought to go even further.

We need to minister to their souls as well, and we do that by witnessing to them of God’s love for sinners in Jesus Christ.

In all of this Peter wants us to understand that the strongest testimony to the genuineness of our faith occurs when this whole range of virtues conspires together, offering a consistent picture of God’s grace at work in our lives.

And that’s what each and every one of us should strive for.

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A Warning Against Infidelity

According to verse 8, these graces must not only be in a person but also abounding in him.

When this is so, we cannot help being productive in our service to Christ.

Why?

Because the graces themselves constitute (καθίστησιν) us as productive.

From this we learn something very important about these graces.

The fact that they are /graces/ means that God gives them to us according to his sovereign pleasure.

That’s what verse 3 says: /his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness/.

And yet these graces are also gifts that we must exercise.

God gives us faith, but he doesn’t believe for us.

He commands us to be virtuous, but he does not do the good works that he has appointed for us to (Eph.

2:10).

He also reveals his mind to us on the pages of Scripture, but we have to open the Bible and study it for ourselves if we want the Holy Spirit to illuminate our understanding.

Thus, the graces that God gives us constitute us as productive if, and only if, we make good use of them.

Peter states this truth negatively at end of verse 8.

He says that we will not be barren or unfruitful if we abound in the Spirit’s graces.

/Barren/ (ἀργοὺς) literally means lazy or sluggish, and /unfruitful/ (ἀκάρπους) means unproductive.

Peter uses the negative here to emphasize the positive, viz., that if we exert ourselves fully in the Spirit’s graces God will count us as diligent and productive servants.

Specifically he says that we will be productive in respect to our knowledge of Christ, which will increase our faith, which in turn will testify to the genuineness of our faith.