2 Peter 1 1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the Knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3According 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:

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4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by theseby these ye might be partakerspartakers of the Divine NatureDivine Nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

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4 Whereby -- by the Power of God that has given us all that we need to live a blessed and godly life.

are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: -- all the Promises of Scripture are ours for a purpose in God's Plan.

that by theseby these ye might be partakerspartakers of the Divine Divine NatureNature, -- through the Word by the Holy Spirit, receiving the Promises of God in faith, we take on God's Nature.

having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. -- all the pleasures and riches of the world are rotton; we succumb to their temptation because of the lust of our carnal nature; we escape by the Power of Godwe escape by the Power of God.3

5 And beside this (in addition to all that God has done for us and in us), giving all diligence (making every effort), add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

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We growgrow into spiritual maturityspiritual maturity as we addwe add to our God-given faith the attributes of godlinessattributes of godliness.

5… giving all diligence, add to your faith virtuevirtue; manly courage and excellence

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We are taught, yea commanded, to make every effort to growevery effort to grow in the Lord.

To your God-given faith, youyou add virtue.

Have the couragecourage and the willwill to live such a lifelive such a life as God would have us to live.as God would have us to live.

And (you add) to virtue knowledge;

After we have the couragecourage and the willwill to live a life of excellencelife of excellence, we must know God's Willknow God's Will

according to His Word, as revealed by His Spirit.

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Know excellence Hearken

6aAnd (add) to knowledge temperancetemperance;

Discipline and control to liveto live in godly moderation.

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This is the opposite of self-indulgent.

6b and (you add) to temperance patiencepatience;

to cheerfullycheerfully continue and endure in doing right.

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It's not all duty; it's not a burden.

1 John 5 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His Commandments: and His Command-ments are not grievousare not grievous.

6c and (add) to patience godlinessgodliness;

living life God's Way; godly mindsetgodly mindset:

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Pleasing God is our only concern.

"Not my will, but Thine be done."

If the Bible teaches us to do, we strive cheerfullystrive cheerfully to do it with our whole heart.

If the Bible teaches us to avoid it, we cheerfully cheerfully avoid itavoid it with our whole heart.

7a And to godliness (add) brotherly kindness;

philadelphos -- fraternal affection; friendship

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… with tender affectiontender affection to all fellow Christians, who are children of the same Father, servants of the same Master, members of the same family, travelers to the same country, heirs of the same inheritance.

Matthew Henry Concise Bible Commentary.

This is the opposite opposite of harsh and critical, skeptical, condescending or ridiculing.

We are to live in this familyin this family in an understanding wayunderstanding way.

7b and to brotherly kindness (add) charitycharity. agape

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Agape is the highest levelhighest level of love,

And the highest level of Christian livingChristian living.

1 Corinthians 13 4-8a Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: …

This has been a brief lookbrief look at what it means to grow into spiritual maturityspiritual maturity.

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We could spend weeks and monthsweeks and months on it.

In fact, we will spendwill spend the rest of our lives striving with all diligenceall diligence to grow into these godly traits.

You think you're a man, measure yourself by this.

Never lower the standard.

Strive for excellence.