Virtue + Knowledge

2 Peter 1:⁵ But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,

What is knowledge?  The Message version of the Bible uses "spiritual understanding".  TheAmplified Bible adds "intelligence" in parentheses.  Other versions substitute "understanding", "learn more about God" (Worldwide English version).  Peter is telling us that we start with faith and then build on that foundation.  We need to build "right actions" and proper moral decisions on the faith foundation.  We call this "Virtue".  So Virtue is "doing right".  We also need to build a growing understanding of the Lord to continue to mature, for greater effectiveness and for a richer quality of experience with the Lord (vertical dimension), those around us (horizontal dimension) and ourselves (inward dimension).  This is all about "being right". So we need to "do right" and "be right", and continue growing.  It seems that our maturing process continues all the way through our lives, once we have come to faith in Christ.  Unlike the physical life, where we mature to adulthood and then decline, our growth is to be ongoing from our spiritual birth in a continuous fashion all the way to our transition from mortal to immortal.  There is no "cap" on Virtue and there is no "ceiling" on our knowledge of the Lord.

Exodus 31: ¹ Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: ² "See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³ And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,

Psalm 27:⁴ One thing I have desired of the LORD,

         That will I seek: 
         That I may dwell in the house of the LORD 
         All the days of my life, 
         To behold the beauty of the LORD, 
         And to inquire in His temple.

blessings,

Rob Smith