Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 2 Peter · About this commentary
The Chain of Virtues
2 Peter 1:5-7
5 Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge; · WEB
Seven qualities are added to faith in a deliberate order, and the chain begins where God's gift ends and ends where God's own character begins.
For this very cause — because everything has already been granted — adding on your part all diligence. The logic runs from gift to effort, never the reverse. Diligence is required precisely because the supply is not in doubt.
Then the chain. In faith supply moral excellence; in excellence, knowledge; in knowledge, self-control; in self-control, perseverance; in perseverance, godliness; in godliness, brotherly affection; in brotherly affection, love. Seven links, each growing out of the one before rather than merely following it.
The order repays attention. Knowledge comes third, not first, so understanding is a fruit of moral seriousness rather than its substitute. Self-control precedes perseverance, since endurance without governed appetite is only stubbornness. And the sequence ends where Scripture always puts the summit: brotherly affection is warmth toward one's own, and agapē is the wider thing that does not depend on kinship. Paul ends his own list of gifts at the same place 1 Corinthians 13:13.
settled What this mark means