“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness, knowledge” (2 Peter 1:5 NIV).
Beginning here in verse five, the Apostle Peter discusses the addition of various elements to our faith. In fact, Peter even specifies the “construction materials” we should use for this purpose. The first building product on that list can be translated goodness (NIV), virtue (KJV), or moral excellence (NASB). The primary idea behind that phrase expresses the qualities of integrity, purity, and honorable character.
A relationship with God in Christ offers two compelling reasons to conduct ourselves in this manner. The first begins with God’s love for us, for as we are told in 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.” Thus, God’s love for us should inspire us to reciprocate His love, for “…the love of Christ compels us” (2 Corinthians 5:14).
The corresponding incentive to avoid doing wrong (even when it appears that we can escape the consequences), arises from the knowledge that a just and holy Creator will hold us accountable for our actions. The New Testament book of Romans addresses this idea when it says, “…each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12).
Therefore, our relationship with God in Christ and the reality of eternal life should influence our judgments in various areas of life. These twin motivations -love and accountability- help enable us to make wise choices and good decisions.
However, “goodness” carries a secondary meaning as well. That meaning encompasses the qualities of valor (1), power, strength, (2) or uprightness (3). Another source links this word with the God-given ability to perform heroic deeds in classical Greek usage. (4) This passage thus highlights the importance of this inner quality along with its corresponding external behaviors.
The next characteristic is knowledge, a word that relates to the information we possess on a given subject. We can also associate knowledge with an awareness or perception of the facts. Nevertheless, it is important to consider the relationship between knowledge and wisdom, for it is possible to be knowledgeable, but not very wise.
Wisdom is the quality that allows us to exercise good judgment and select an appropriate course of action. Simply put, wisdom involves knowing what to do with the knowledge we possess. A well-known passage from 2 Timothy 2:15 underlines the spiritual aspect of that knowledge-wisdom relationship: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
(1) G703 arete Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g703/kjv/tr/0-1/
(2) " Virtue" Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary General Editor, Ronald F. Youngblood. Copyright © 1986, 1995 by Thomas Nelson Publishers.
(3) G703 arete Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/arete
(4) See John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), 2 Pe 1:5.