The Bible Says
2 Peter 1:8-9 Meaning

In 1 Peter 1:8-9, Peter asserts that growing in maturity in Christ is exceedingly constructive for our lives, making us fruitful for Christ and growing us up to fulfill God’s design for us. Peter follows up the learning loop to acquire spiritual qualities of maturity he set forth in the previous section saying, For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 8).

Having presented eight qualities in 2 Peter 1:5-7 that reveal a learning loop that leads to Christian maturity, Peter explains the benefits of developing these qualities. He begins, For if these qualities (v.8). The For explains a reason for developing the qualities. The if introduces a condition he assumes to be true. The pronoun these qualities, refers to the eight qualities beginning with “faith” and ending with “love” that are previously mentioned in 2 Peter 1:5-7.

Peter explains the condition for benefitting from developing the eight qualities is that these qualities are yours and increasing, meaning his readers have not only developed these eight qualities but they also are continuing to grow in each of them. The ongoing nature of the word increasing indicates that this is a loop, a progression believers go through many times as they progress toward maturity. This picture fits our experience as well as fitting with this passage. No matter what we learn, it takes many iterations of learning in order to gain proficiency.

If the above conditions are met, Peter describes the following benefits. They, referring to the eight qualities, render you, meaning to make or cause his readers to be, neither, a negative used to express a positive benefit, useless, a word containing the ideas of idle, lazy, and worthless which turned positive implies being useful and ready to work, nor unfruitful. To be unfruitful means unproductive, like a tree without fruit. When turned positive, this verse implies that the product of walking through this learning loop and acquiring these qualities results in a bountiful harvest of fruitfulness.

The idea of fruitfulness matches the metaphor Paul uses of walking in the Spirit bearing positive fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). The prize of gaining this place of fruitfulness is to grow in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here again the phrase true knowledge translates the Greek word “epignósis” which refers to a deeper, richer, fuller, intimacy (2 Peter 1:2, 3) of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Philippians 3:7-11, Paul expressed that he considered all he gave up or lost in this world to be a very small price to pay in order to know Christ to the point of being conformed to His death.

We saw in 2 Peter 1:3 that all things that give us life and godliness come through the “knowledge” (“epignósis”) of Christ-the intimate fellowship with Him. Now in 2 Peter 1:8 we see that the destination of the progression or learning loop of Christian maturity is again “epignósis”-the true knowledge of intimate relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

The expression Lord Jesus Christ refers to a three-fold description of the 2^nd Person of the Trinity. He is Lord, indicating His authority as God. He is Jesus, referring to His full humanity. And He is Christ, the anointed Messiah. The word “Christ” means “anointed” which refers to Jesus as the anointed of God to reign over both Israel, as the Son of David, as well as the earth, as the Son of Man. The name “Jesus” means “Yahweh is salvation” indicating that Jesus is the God-man who is our means of salvation.

Believers are exhorted to know and continually pursue the eight stairsteps to maturity in Christ set forth in 2 Peter 1:5-7. When we grow and learn in Christ, our life will be useful and fruitful for the Lord which leads to our own fulfillment, as we are growing into God’s design for us. We also grow in oneness with Christ and have the privilege to enjoy a deeper, richer, fuller intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ.

In contrast to the benefits of progressing on to maturity by developing and growing in each of these eight qualities, Peter presents the consequences of a believer lacking these qualities, For he who lacks these qualities is blind or shortsighted (v.9).

The For introduces an explanation of the consequences: he who lacks these qualities refers to the believer who does not have the eight qualities revealed in 2 Peter 1:5-7.

The believer who lacks the eight qualities necessary for spiritual maturity is blind or shortsighted, meaning he cannot see or understand the importance of developing these qualities. It also likely means he does not see beyond immediate needs and pleasures, that he is not investing in this life to gain benefit in the next.

The word translated shortsighted is the Greek word “myopazo” from which we get our English word “myopia” which is a common eye condition known as nearsightedness, that makes distant objects appear blurry. How fitting for the immature believer who focuses only on the present and does not have a clear picture of the future rewards God has promised for progressing on to spiritual maturity in the Christian life on earth. They are not looking ahead to the judgment seat of Christ, and therefore are short-sighted (2 Corinthians 5:10).

One of the reasons for this spiritual nearsightedness is that this believer has forgotten his purification from his former sins, meaning he has lost sight of the value of Christ dying for his sins (v. 9). This infers confusion of the nature and consequences of sin. This believer has likely believed the lie of the world that its ways lead to life. The truth is that the consequences or “wages” of sin is always death (Romans 6:23). Death is separation, and when we sin we are separated from walking in the Spirit and thus separated from the life-giving power that produces the fruit of the Spirit.

It is important to note that the text does not say the one who fails to progress up the stairsteps to spiritual maturity is not a believer. It does not say he or she somehow loses his or her justification in God’s sight through their faith in Christ. It simply says the believer has forgotten.

If we say we forgot our wallet, it does not mean we no longer own a wallet. It means we failed to remember to bring with us something that was important. The same goes here. The thing that the believer has forgotten is his purification from his former sins. The believer was purified. All believers are new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Every believer is purified from their sins and placed into the Body of Christ. But the shortsighted believer has forgotten their purification from sins.

This indicates that believers can be purified from sins but still be walking in sins and experiencing the negative consequences of sin. Sin leads to death (Romans 6:23). Death is separation, as in James 2:26 which speaks of physical death as being the separation of body and spirit. Sin separates us from the fruitfulness we can gain as a believer. Instead of walking in the life-giving characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) we walk in the death-producing characteristics of the fruits of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21).

Paul makes the same point in Romans 6. He exhorts those who have been freed from sin to no longer walk in sin (Romans 6:12). This is because sin leads to death. It separates us from freedom and places us back into slavery and produces the fruits of sin (Romans 6:20-21).

The basic application here is that believers should understand the importance of growing into spiritual maturity. There are consequences for failing to progress up the stairsteps to Christian maturity. Among the consequences is not being useful or fruitful in our service for Christ. This means our deeds are like wood, hay, and stubble, which will combust in the fire of judgment when we stand before Christ; we would rather mature and be fruitful in Christ so that our deeds might be like gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

Peter wants his readers to have a deeper, richer, fuller intimacy with the Lord. When we have this, we have everything we need to live the victorious Christian life. The Greek word “nikeao” can be translated “victorious.” To be victorious is a key theme in the book of Revelation; the word “nikeao” appears in fifteen different verses in that book. In Revelation, to “nikeao” or be victorious (to “overcome”) is to overcome the temptation to walk in the ways of the world and to live as a faithful witness for Jesus. To be fruitful in Christ, and walk in intimacy with Him.

As Jesus says to the church in Laodicea, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.” Jesus urges the Laodiceans to live in intimacy with Him, describing a picture of intimate fellowship of “epignósis” when He says if anyone hears His voice and “opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). To those who “nikeao” or overcome, Jesus says, “I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Revelation 3:21).

Christian maturity does not come automatically to believers. We must diligently work at developing the eight qualities of 2 Peter 1:5-7 because they provide the learning loop that leads to Christian maturity, which leads to the fullest experience of life. God even gives us both His power and promises to help us develop these qualities.

When we do develop these eight qualities, the benefits include having a useful and fruitful fellowship with Christ. If we don’t develop these qualities we can be like Esau and squander our inheritance, losing rewards because we were myopic in focusing on this life and failed to focus on the next (Hebrews 12:6).