![\"\"](\"\/Banner-MOG-60.gif\" "\\"Ministry")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
2 Peter 1:8<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n We need to be continually growing in our Christian faith.<\/p>\n Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The word \u201cpossess<\/span>\u201d is the Greek word huparchonta<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cto begin to be\u201d or \u201cto come into existence.\u201d It is expressed here as a present, active participle, indicating continual action. So we could translate the beginning of this verse as, \u201cFor if these things are beginning to be to you\u201d or \u201cFor if you are continually acquiring these things.\u201d<\/p>\n The words \u201cin increasing measure<\/span>\u201d are translated from the Greek word pleonadz\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cto cause to increase.\u201d In the Greek text this word and huparchonta<\/span><\/em> are joined by the equivalent of our English word \u201cand.\u201d The implication is that we should be constantly acquiring these character qualities and<\/strong> consistently building on what we already have.<\/p>\n \u201cIneffective<\/span>\u201d is from argos<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cnot working\u201d or \u201cinactive,\u201d and \u201cunproductive<\/span>\u201d is from akarpos<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cwithout fruit.\u201d<\/p>\n Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Okay, so why is it so important that we develop these Christian qualities that Peter has been talking about? Why should we work hard at developing faith, morality, knowledge and understanding, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love? Peter says that if these qualities are constantly growing in us then we will neither be idle nor unfruitful.<\/p>\n The last phrase of today\u2019s verse is a little misleading due to an unfortunate translation. The word translated \u201cin\u201d is the Greek word \u201ceis<\/span><\/em>\u201d which means \u201cinto\u201d or \u201cunto\u201d implying a result, and the word translated \u201cknowledge\u201d is the word \u201cepignosin<\/span><\/em>\u201d which means complete knowledge or full understanding. Peter is saying that developing these Christian qualities in abundance will result in constant successful efforts in the service of the King, resulting in a complete understanding of Him.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n This was the Apostle Paul\u2019s desire in Philippians 3:8-10<\/span><\/strong> where he expressed disdain for the things of this world in favor of knowing Christ,<\/p>\n But whatever things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. But no, rather, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ<\/span><\/strong> Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them to be<\/span> dung, so that I may win Christ and be found in Him; not having my own righteousness, which is of the Law, but through the<\/span> faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith, that I may know Him<\/span><\/strong> and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death;<\/span><\/p>\n Is that your desire, to disdain worldly accomplishments, to know God better, to serve Him more faithfully?<\/p>\n Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Back in verse five we said: as a Christian you\u2019re either moving forward, or you\u2019re sliding backward. Which direction is your Christian life going? Which way does God want you to go?<\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n <\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 2 Peter 1:8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Truth to Learn We need to be continually growing in our Christian faith. Behind the Words The word \u201cpossess\u201d is the Greek word huparchonta, which means […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[139,223,224],"class_list":["post-859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christian","tag-growing","tag-growth"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-dR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"signature\"](\"\/signature.gif\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"chrome:\/\/skype_ff_toolbar_win\/content\/cb_transparent_l.gif\"){kind=spacer}
<\/span>![\"\"](\"chrome:\/\/skype_ff_toolbar_win\/content\/famfamfam\/us.gif\")
![\"\"](\"chrome:\/\/skype_ff_toolbar_win\/content\/space.gif\")
![\"\"](\"chrome:\/\/skype_ff_toolbar_win\/content\/arrow.gif\"){kind=icon}
<\/span><\/span>(618) 614-3070<\/span>![\"\"](\"chrome:\/\/skype_ff_toolbar_win\/content\/cb_transparent_r.gif\"){kind=spacer}
<\/span><\/span><\/span> and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to:![\"e-mail](\"\/Will_e-mail.gif\")
<\/div>\n