2 Peter 1:5

2 Peter 1:5. And for this very cause then. The A. V. erroneously renders ‘and beside this.' The formula does not introduce something which is to be added to the former statement, but makes the former statement the ground for what is next to be said. The R. V. renders it well by ‘yea, and for this very cause.'

applying on your side all diligence. The idea of ‘diligence' is conveyed by the term which means also ‘zeal,' and is rendered ‘earnest care' in 2 Corinthians 8:16. The verb, which is inadequately represented by the ‘giving' of the A. V., is a rare compound form, of which this is the only New Testament instance. It is taken by some to mean ‘edging in,' or ‘bringing in modestly' (Bengel); by others, ‘bringing in on the other hand' (Wiesinger, etc.). The idea, however, seems to be that of ‘contributing on your side' (Huther, etc.), ‘contributing what might seem to be superseded' (Hotmann), or ‘applying besides' (Scott). In the Classics it expresses the bringing in of something new or additional, as e.g. the introduction of a new bill to amend an old law. Here it introduces what the readers have to do on their side, in response to, and in virtue of, that which Christ has done on His side. The fact that Christ's Divine power had so richly endowed them, and that God had privileged them to see the accomplished realities which had been the subjects of His promises, was not to be made an argument for anything else than strenuous effort on their part. It was to be the reason and motive for applying themselves with sedulous care to aims and exertions which the Divine gift might seem to have rendered unnecessary. ‘Rest not satisfied, then, with a mere negative exertion, or with any low, fragmentary measure of accomplishment, but, co-operating to the full extent of the Divine purpose, go on unto perfection' (Lillie).

furnish in your faith virtue. The A. V. is entirely at fault with its rendering, ‘add to your faith virtue,' in which also it unhappily followed Beza, and forsook the earlier English Versions. Wycliffe and the Rhemish give ‘minister ye in your faith, virtue;' Tyndale and Cranmer, ‘if your faith minister virtue;' the Genevan, however, has ‘join moreover virtue with your faith.' The verb itself is a compound form of the one rendered ‘give' by the A. V. in 1 Peter 4:11; which see. The sense is that of supplying or furnishing besides. It occurs again in 2 Peter 1:11, and in 2 Corinthians 9:10; Galatians 3:5; Colossians 2:19. In the New Testament it has lost the technical sense of the simple verb, namely, that of bearing the expense of a chorus for the dramatic exhibitions, and is used in the sense of furnishing generally, not in the special sense of discharging office. In harmony with its original idea of performing an act of munificence, it is usually applied to what God furnishes. Here it is applied to what man has himself to furnish in order to make his life correspond, in the free development of the spiritual character, to the liberal endowment of Divine grace, followed here, too, by the preposition ‘in,' it expresses something different from the mere addition of one thing to another. It represents this development of the spiritual character to which the gift of grace pledges the believer as an internal process, an increase by growth, not by external junction or attachment, each new grace springing cut of, attempting and perfecting, the other. The life itself is exhibited as a unity; all its elements and possibilities being already contained in faith. It is a unity, however, intended to grow up out of this root of faith, and unfold itself into all the sevenfold breadth of the varied excellencies of the Christian character. The ‘faith' itself, therefore, is taken as already existent. They are not charged to supply it. But having it, they are charged to furnish along with it, and as its proper issue, seven personal graces. The several elements in the ideal spiritual character are given in pairs, as if each lay already implicit in its immediate predecessor, and belonged to its life and genius. The first thing thus enjoined is ‘virtue,' a word very sparingly used in the New Testament. It is the same term as is applied to God in 2 Peter 1:3. It occurs also in 1 Peter 2:9 (which see), and outside the Epistles of Peter it is found only once, viz. Philippians 4:18. Here it can scarcely have the sense of our English word ‘virtue,' or moral excellence, which would take from the precision of the statement, and reduce it to the vague advice to add to virtue so many other virtues. As in 2 Peter 1:3 it expressed not mere excellence of character in itself, but the efficiency of such excellence, so here it conveys the definite idea of might, energy, or moral courage what Bengel aptly terms ‘a strenuous tone and vigour of mind.' This is to be furnished in and with our faith, or in the exerciseof our faith; so that our faith shall not be an uncertain, feeble, and timorous thing, but a manly and powerful thing with a touch of heroism in it.

and in the virtue knowledge. The simple term for ‘knowledge' is used here, not the intense, compound form used in 2 Peter 1:2-3, and again at 2 Peter 1:8. It is the same word as is used in 1 Peter 3:7, and means here, as there, not the knowledge of doctrine, but the knowledge which consists in the recognition of what is dutiful and appropriate in conduct. This practical knowledge is to accompany the exercise of the ‘virtue,' or moral heroism of faith, lest it run into unregulated zeal, inconsiderate obstinacy, or presumptuous daring. Peter's recollections of his own bold protestations, and of the hardy vent tiresomeness which failed him so sadly at the pinch in the ‘high priest's palace' (Matthew 26:58; Matthew 26:69-75), would give a special pungency to this article in his counsels. This faculty of ‘understanding what the will of the Lord is' (Ephesians 5:17), which is necessary to qualify and soften the ‘virtue,' has also its own roots in the same. ‘An evangelical fortitude is favourable to the enlargement of evangelical knowledge; which, in its turn, is essential to the regulation and safe exercise of fortitude' (Lillie). So it forms an essential step in the progress towards that full ‘knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ' which is represented in 2 Peter 1:8 as the goal of all.