Chapter 52—Steadfast Unto the End
This chapter is based on the Epistles
Second Epistle of Peter
.
In the second letter addressed by Peter to those who had obtained
“like precious faith” with himself, the apostle sets forth the divine plan
for the development of Christian character. He writes:
“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath
given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the
knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are
given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye
might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust.
“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and
to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temper-
ance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly
kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in
you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor
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unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
These words are full of instruction, and strike the keynote of vic-
tory. The apostle presents before the believers the ladder of Christian
progress, every step of which represents advancement in the knowl-
edge of God, and in the climbing of which there is to be no standstill.
Faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly
kindness, and charity are the rounds of the ladder. We are saved by
climbing round after round, mounting step after step, to the height of
Christ’s ideal for us. Thus He is made unto us wisdom, and righteous-
ness, and sanctification, and redemption.
God has called His people to glory and virtue, and these will be
manifest in the lives of all who are truly connected with Him. Having
become partakers of the heavenly gift, they are to go on unto perfection,
being “kept by the power of God through faith.”
1 Peter 1:5
. It is the
glory of God to give His virtue to His children. He desires to see men
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