2 Peter 1:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

This is knowledge of the mysteries of God and of the Christian's duties. Without it, virtue itself will be the action of a blind man. With knowledge, self-control is necessary, the taming of sensual impulses, and perhaps moderation even in knowledge itself (Rom 12:3).

Still more necessary is patience, constancy in virtue and steadfastness in suffering. Its fruit will be piety, that is, the directing of our thoughts and deeds toward God as our Father and the chief goal of our existence.

From this comes brotherly love, love for those close to us by blood, life, and faith. Finally, as the highest rung of love for neighbors, comes love for all people as children of one heavenly Father, without distinction of origin or faith, even love for enemies.

Applying every effort: see 2 Pet 1:10, 15; 2 Pet 3:14. Since God has done everything for you, in order to give you all blessings for life and piety, you also, on your part, must use every effort to make fitting use of all that has been given to you.

Show, and so forth: in exhorting them, the apostle shows believers the lofty ladder of virtues by which the believer must ascend in order to attain perfection. He begins with faith, which constitutes the beginning and foundation of this ladder of virtues.

He ends with love, which constitutes the bond of perfection; cf. Rom 13:10.

In faith, virtue: faith, both as a spiritual disposition and as a practical virtue, is the foundation and root of all virtues. As blessed Augustine says, Faith is the mother and root of all virtues.

Here faith is indicated as a gift of God, a gift of grace (Jn 6:29; Eph 2:8).

Virtue: a courageous, firm, and resolute manner of action against all the enemies of our salvation, for the strengthening of all good works. It corresponds to the power of God, which energetically turns away every evil (verse 4).

Among the beautiful fruits on the beautiful tree of faith, this is the best fruit; cf. Phil 4:8.

Discernment: more precisely, though more generally, knowledge. This is a rational and discerning manner of action and thought, by which one quickly judges what is useful and harmful, good and evil, what must be done and what avoided.

This same knowledge, or discernment, protects from irrational zeal and from every excess in thought, action, and life. It is wisdom. It is the eye of all the virtues.

Without this eye, virtue can be blind and can fall into error. This knowledge, discernment, and wisdom is like the guiding thread of the virtues.

It guides and moderates every virtue, so that the one governed by it does neither too little nor too much. He goes neither to the right nor to the left, but by the straight path. He goes directly toward the goal and does not wander.

Yet Christian faith will be still higher if it is united with understanding. But this understanding must be free from the freethinking that characterized the false teachers, who placed their own speculations and considerations above the true divine teaching.

Christian understanding must be filled, on the one hand, with humility, and on the other, with patience, permeated by pious submission to the will of God and by piety in general.

The apostle teaches that Christian piety must be shown first of all in love for neighbors, and generally in love as the sum of all Christian perfections.

Thus all the moral states indicated by the apostle are presented by him as coming from one root, faith. Good works are like its branches, leaves, and flowers. The fruit of everything is piety toward God and love toward all people.

A teaching similar to this about Christian virtues is also given by the apostle James; see Jas 1:3-4; cf. Col 3:14.