“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;”
My Notes
What Does 2 Peter 1:5 Mean?
Peter commands progressive spiritual growth: and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge.
Beside this — connecting to the divine promises of v.3-4. Because God has given everything needed for life and godliness, the believer's response is diligent growth. The divine provision (v.3-4) grounds the human effort (v.5-7).
Giving all diligence (spoude) — the word means earnestness, eagerness, haste. The growth Peter describes is not passive. It requires focused effort — all diligence, not partial or occasional. The Christian life is not coasting on initial faith. It is actively building upon it.
Add (epichoregeo) — the word originally described a choragos — the patron who lavishly funded a Greek chorus. It means to supply abundantly, to furnish generously. The additions are not minimal or grudging. They are lavish — each quality supplied with generosity and fullness.
To your faith virtue (arete) — moral excellence, courage, goodness in action. Faith is the foundation. Virtue is the first addition — the translation of belief into moral action. Faith that does not produce virtue remains inert.
And to virtue knowledge (gnosis) — informed virtue. Not blind goodness but understanding that guides moral action wisely. Knowledge prevents virtue from becoming misguided zeal.
The chain continues in v.6-7: to knowledge temperance (self-control); to temperance patience (endurance); to patience godliness (reverent living); to godliness brotherly kindness (love within the community); to brotherly kindness charity (agape — universal, sacrificial love). The progression moves from personal faith to universal love — eight qualities that build upon each other in an ascending ladder of Christian character.
Verse 8 explains why: if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The addition prevents barrenness. The growth ensures fruitfulness.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Why does Peter describe spiritual growth as 'adding to' faith rather than replacing it?
- 2.How does each quality in the chain (virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, kindness, love) build on the previous one?
- 3.What does 'giving all diligence' demand — and how is this different from casual or passive Christianity?
- 4.Which quality in Peter's chain are you most lacking — and what would adding it look like?
Devotional
Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue. Your faith is the starting point — not the finish line. Faith is where you begin. What Peter demands is that you build on it — and the first addition is virtue. Moral excellence. Courage to do what is right. Faith that does not produce virtuous action is faith that has not grown.
And to virtue knowledge. Virtue needs knowledge. Good intentions without understanding produce misguided action. Knowledge informs the virtue — tells it where to aim, how to act, what truly matters. Blind goodness is not what Peter is after. He wants informed, wise, knowing virtue.
The chain keeps going (v.6-7): self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, love. Eight qualities — each building on the previous one. Each one added with diligence and generosity. The Christian life is not a single decision followed by coasting. It is a progressive construction — layer upon layer, quality upon quality, addition upon addition.
Giving all diligence. All. Not casual effort. Not when-you-feel-like-it attention. All diligence — focused, earnest, eager effort applied to growing in every dimension of character. The divine promises of v.3-4 give you everything you need. The diligence of v.5-7 is your response to what you have been given.
If you stop at faith — if you never add virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, kindness, and love — verse 8-9 warns that you become barren and unfruitful. The person who does not grow forgets they were purged from their old sins (v.9). Growth is not optional. It is the evidence that faith is alive.
What are you adding to your faith? Not just believing — building. Which quality in the chain is your next addition?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And besides this, giving all diligence,.... "Or upon this", as the Syriac and Arabic versions read, bestow all your…
And beside this - Καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο Kai auto touto. Something here is necessary to be understood in order to complete…
And beside this - Notwithstanding what God hath done for you, in order that ye may not receive the grace of God in…
In these words the apostle comes to the chief thing intended in this epistle - to excite and engage them to advance in…
and beside this, giving all diligence Better, on this very account. The Apostle does not contemplate the elements of…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture