Wednesday, May 22, 2019

2 Peter 1:5-7

.2 Peter 1:5-7 King James Version (KJV) "5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity." After re-reading this scripture again today, I was struck. Is not virtue a necessary incident of faith? Why then need it be "added ?" Knowledge I could easily see, conceive of as being separate from faith and virtue; the acquisition of knowledge requires "diligence." Temperance (or moderation) was usually an accoutrement of knowledge, especially conferred, gifted by the graduate school of hard knocks! From temperance comes patience, a graduate degree derived from all of the foregoing: faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience. These lead to godliness, whose necessary incident , accoutrement is brotherly kindness, is charity, (love). Ultimately, as we move about, along, around , we experience , we accumulate, we associate with each of these characteristics. We may do so diligently or less diligently. But as dust, gas, air, light, earth , endure , so do lesser configurations of God's grace.