Are Virtues "Progressively Successive"?-A Look at 2 Peter 1:5-9
In my quiet time I've been reading and praying through 1 & 2 Peter recently.
As I've started 2 Peter, the question has come to mind, "is this list of Christian virtues described in 2 Peter 1:5-9 sequentially ordered to indicate progressively successive growth, or is there something else going on here?"
What I mean by progressively successive is that steps in progressing something must come in a particular successive order. The truism "you can't learn to run till you learn to walk" is an example of progressive succession. To do B, first A must come. In order to achieve D, then C must first be mastered. Much of the university academic system is set up in progressively successive order. A person cannot take Math 102 unless they've demonstrated proficiency with Math 101 and so on.
Is a progressively successive development of Christian virtue an accurate description of 2 Peter 1:5-9?
Here is the passage in question:
5 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. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. (2 Peter 1:5-9)
If this list is progressively successive, then it gives some very specific and targeted directions towards being "effective and productive in your knowledge of Jesus Christ". We may read this passage almost like a baking recipe, with a very specific order of operations for growing in Christ-pleasing usefulness. Pursuing these things out of order may end up having a less effective outcome in our lives.
If this list is not progressively successive, then rather than being akin to a baking recipe, it's more of a list of ingredients that go into a soup. There isn't necessarily a particular order in which the ingredients need to be combined. Pursuing these things then is less about building upon one another, and more of the sum total of the parts.
Soup Side
Here are a few commentators on this passage I'll start with Albert Barnes and John Calvin, who are both more in the "soup" side of the discussion:
Albert Barnes, the American Presbyterian, had this to say in his commentary on 2 Peter 1:5:
"Add to your faith virtue. It is not meant in this verse and the following that we are to endeavor particularly to add these things one to another in the order in which they are specified, or that we are to seek first to have faith, and then to add to that virtue, and then to add knowledge to virtue rather than to faith, etc. The order in which this is to be done, the relation which one of these things may have to another, is not the point aimed at; nor are we to suppose that any other order of the words would not have answered the purpose of the apostle as well, or that any one of the virtues specified would not sustain as a direct relation to any other, as the one which he has specified. The design of the apostle is to say, in an emphatic manner, that we are to strive to possess and exhibit all these virtues; in other words, we are not to content ourselves with a single grace but are to cultivate all the virtues and to endeavor to make our piety complete in all the relations which we sustain. The essential idea in the passage before us seems to be, that in our religion we are not to be satisfied with one virtue, or one class of virtues, but that there is to be
(1.) a diligent CULTIVATION of our virtues, since the graces of religion are as susceptible of cultivation as any other virtues;
(2.) that there is to be PROGRESS made from one virtue to another, seeking to reach the highest possible point in our religion; and,
(3.) that there is to be an ACCUMULATION of virtues and graces-or we are not to be satisfied with one class, or with the attainments which we can make in one class. We are to endeavour to add on one after another until we have become possessed of all. Faith, perhaps, is mentioned first, because that is the foundation of all Christian virtues; and the other virtues are required to be added to that, because, from the place which faith occupies in the plan of justification, many might be in danger of supposing that if they had that they had all that was necessary." (click here to read more from Barnes)
For Barnes, the list is not progressively successive but instead points to a summary of virtues that arise in the individual Christian as they grow in Christ.
John Calvin, the French Reformer, had this to say on the topic:
"Add to your faith virtue, or, Supply to your faith virtue. He shews for what purpose the faithful were to strive, that is, that they might have faith adorned with good morals, wisdom, patience, and love. Then he intimates that faith ought not to be naked or empty, but that these are its inseparable companions. To supply to faith, is to add to faith. There is not here, however, properly a gradation as to the sense, though it appears as to the words; for love does not in order follow patience, nor does it proceed from it. Therefore the passage is to be thus simply explained, “Strive that virtue, prudence, temperance, and the things which follow, may be added to your faith.”" (Click here to read more from Calvin)
Thus we read that Calvin agrees with Barnes, that this passage does not describe a rigid list to follow in a specific order, but rather a target of the sum of Christian virtues.
Baker Side
Moving from the "soup" to the "bakers", here are a few more comments from Charles Spurgeon, Robert Jamison, and Thomas Manton in favor of a progressively successive reading:
Charles Spurgeon, the British Baptist wrote with a different perspective than Barnes or Calvin, seeing in this list something of progressive succession:
"If thou wouldest enjoy the eminent grace of the full assurance of faith, under the blessed Spirit’s influence, and assistance, do what the Scripture tells thee, “Give diligence.” Take care that thy faith is of the right kind—that it is not a mere belief of doctrine, but a simple faith, depending on Christ, and on Christ alone. Give diligent heed to thy courage. Plead with God that he would give thee the face of a lion, that thou mayest, with a consciousness of right, go on boldly. Study well the Scriptures, and get knowledge; for a knowledge of doctrine will tend very much to confirm faith. Try to understand God’s Word; let it dwell in thy heart richly.
When thou hast done this, “Add to thy knowledge temperance.” Take heed to thy body: be temperate without. Take heed to thy soul: be temperate within. Get temperance of lip, life, heart, and thought. Add to this, by God’s Holy Spirit, patience; ask him to give thee that patience which endureth affliction, which, when it is tried, shall come forth as gold. Array yourself with patience, that you may not murmur nor be depressed in your afflictions. When that grace is won look to godliness. Godliness is something more than religion. Make God’s glory your object in life; live in his sight; dwell close to him; seek for fellowship with him; and thou hast “godliness”; and to that add brotherly love. Have a love to all the saints: and add to that a charity, which openeth its arms to all men, and loves their souls. When you are adorned with these jewels, and just in proportion as you practise these heavenly virtues, will you come to know by clearest evidence “your calling and election.” “Give diligence,” if you would get assurance, for lukewarmness and doubting very naturally go hand in hand." (Click here to read more from Spurgeon)
Spurgeon does address the virtues in sequence. He uses the time indicator "when" often throughout his comment. Which seems to suggest something of a sequential nature to this list. Spurgeon is by far the least convinced of the "progressively successive" interpreters. To continue to Baker's pun, he's using the least yeast in the dough possible.
On the other hand, Robert Jamison, the Scottish minister, sees a firmly fixed progression in the list of virtues, with one building upon another:
"Each grace being assumed, becomes the stepping stone to the succeeding grace: and the latter in turn qualifies and completes the former. Faith leads the band; love brings up the rear [Bengel]. The fruits of faith specified are seven, the perfect number." (Click here to read more from Jamison)
Thomas Manton, an English Puritan, also saw the list as firmly progressively successive. In his commentary on the book of James, Manton brings up 2 Peter 1:
"From the same, we may observe more particularly, that patience is a grace of an excellent use and value. We cannot be Christians without it; we cannot be men without it: not Christians, for it is not only the ornament, but the conservatory of other graces. How else should we persist in well-doing when we meet with grievous crosses? Therefore the apostle Peter biddeth us, 2 Peter i. 5, 6, to `add to faith, virtue; to virtue, knowledge; to knowledge, temperance; to temperance, patience., Where are all the requisites of true godliness? It is grounded in faith, directed by knowledge; defended, on the right hand, by temperance against the allurements of the world; 34on the left, by patience against the hardships of the world. You see we cannot be Christians without it; so, also, not men" (Click here to read more from Manton)
For Manton, each virtue is seen as interconnected, with relational support for one another.
My Thoughts
1. This list ought not to be divisive, so regardless of our understanding this isn't something worth getting heated over. There are no essential pillars of our faith at stake in understanding this passage to be more of a "soup" or more of a "bakery recipe".
2. Regardless of the "soup" or "baker" approach, this list is to be pursued. We cannot abandon this list altogether and think with any confidence that our faith grows. This list is practical. This list is applicable. This list is a call to action. This list is a call to prayer. This list is a guide for living out the hope of our faith on a daily basis.
3. As I consider my own life , often virtues do hang upon one another. When one slips, it is often because another area is also lacking. I cannot recall a time when I've lost self-control but maintained knowledge of my faith in any meaningful way. In fact, a loss of self-control is a manifestation of a lack of appropriate application of knowledge.
4. Another list comes to mind in considering this list by Peter. The list was given by the Apostle Paul in Romans 10:8-15 in which Paul definitively lays out a sequential pattern. Peter's writing style is different from Paul's and his words "these qualities in increasing measure" seems to summarize that the list is a unit together to be cultivated.
5. To do any sort of definitive study on the question of virtues and their nature as being more of a soup or more of a baker's recipe would require a much broader scan of the New Testament than one brief examination of a single passage.
In conclusion, I don't think this list, even if originally intended by the Holy Spirit through Peter, is to be viewed as progressively successive in a rigid manner. If a person was pursuing growing in mutual affection and love, I do not see that growth as being contrary to the goal of the passage, or other passages which exhort for the growth of Christian virtues.
In other words, there may be practical and helpful applications to pursuing these virtues in a progressively successive manner, but there isn't any great harm in pursuing any of these virtues as they are all a part of our becoming more and more Christ-like.
There is much more which could be said about the interrelated nature of Christian virtue, but that will have to be for another time. I hope this discussion is fruitful to you in your faith and pursuit of being effective and productive in your knowledge of Jesus Christ!
