Audio Download

If Ye Do These Things, Ye Shall Never Fall

[Study Aired July 5, 2026]

2Pe 1:5  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe 1:8  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:9  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

Who among us does not want to “endure to the end [and] receive the crown of life” promised to those who do so?

Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

This promise is not a general promise of salvation for all. The fact that we are told, “He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death” reveals that this “crown of life” is reserved only for those who suffer with Christ and are “faithful unto death” in this present age.

Here in 2 Peter 1:5-10 the holy spirit gives us a list of eight virtues which, by the pen of the apostle Peter, tells us that “…if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Lord has given each of us the desire to endure any, and to gratefully accept all the trials the Lord will send our way. He has caused us to diligently strive for that “crown of life” which He has promised to those who overcome this world in this age. Here the holy spirit is encouraging and directing us in how we can be assured of achieving that most  prized goal, the blessed and holy first resurrection:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

In this study we will look at each of these eight virtues and pray that the Lord will grant “these things to be in us and abound”.

The very fact that the holy spirit has seen fit to mention ‘eight’ virtues is designed to encourage us to add all these virtues one to another as our old man dies daily knowing that it is through that daily dying process that our new man is being formed within these “vessels of clay”.

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-spiritual-significance-of-numbers-the-number-eight/

We can be confident that Christ Himself will perform the work He has begun in us “until the day of Jesus Christ.”

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
Job 23:14  For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

The first virtue in this list of eight virtues is ‘faith.’

If we have faith and add to our faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity, if we do these eight virtues we are told we will “never fall.”

2Pe 1:10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

That tenth verse is all that is needed to inspire the ministers of the great harlot to assert their false doctrine of free will…. “If you do these things you will never fall.” The ministers of Babylon know nothing of that ‘key to the kingdom’ which teaches that “the sum of Thy Word is Truth.”

Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ASV)

Part of that ‘sum’ teaches us that possessing this very first virtue, the virtue of ‘faith’, has virtually nothing to do with this false doctrine of mankind being given a fabled ‘free will’ which is untethered by God’s sovereignty. This is the only way any man will ever possess this first and most vital virtue, the virtue of ‘faith’:

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Is ‘grace through faith’ the only virtue in this list of eight virtues which are given to us as a gift from God? No, faith is not the only virtue which will keep us from falling, and which is a gift from God. We just quoted:

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
Job 23:14  For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

‘If these [eight virtues] be in us and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ’ are every one “the gift of God” which have nothing to do with anything of ourselves:

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

What exactly is this gift of faith which is granted us through the Lord’s chastening grace?

Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Heb 11:2  For by it the elders obtained a good report.
Heb 11:3  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

It was by this gift of considering the Words of God to be the very substance of things hoped for and of things which are not seen with our physical eyes that the Old Testament elders obtained a good report, and by this gift of faith in the Words of God we understand that the Word of God, Christ, has our aion, our world, written in His book “even the days appointed for [us] when as yet there were none of them.”

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. (ASV)

The Hebrew word for ‘numbered’ is not to be found in this verse, as the NIV wants us to think. The Hebrew word for ‘days’, H3117, ‘yom’ is found in this verse. Rather than being faithful to the Hebrew text, the King James Translators translated the Hebrew word ‘yom’ as “which are in continuance”. Here is the King James translation of the Hebrew word for ‘days’ in this verse:

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

The NIV translators acknowledge the fact that the Hebrew word ‘yom’ is indeed in this verse yet they also, because both they and the King James translators subscribe to the false doctrine of mankind being given a fabled ‘free will’ seek to hide the fact that God knows in advance every action of every day of every man who has ever lived. Here is the NIV:

Psa 139:16 Your eyes saw my body even before it was formed. You planned how many days I would live. You wrote down the number of them in your book before I had lived through even one of them.

The words “how many” and “the number” are not to be found in the Hebrew. What Psalms 139:16 tells us is that God has everything that is ordained for each of “[our] days written in His book before there were any of them.” Hence we are also plainly told:

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Eph 2:10  For we [every day of our lives are His performance] are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
Job 23:14  For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

Job is brought to see that he is self-righteous and “vile” before the Lord transforms him to humbly see that he was first ‘made wicked for his day of evil.’

Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

This is why Job, and every one of us, are first self-righteous and vile before the Lord opens our eyes to see that we were shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin:

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

It requires and necessitates the gift of faith to believe and accept all these Biblical Truths. If we are granted that gift, then we simply believe that God is indeed working all things after the counsel of His own will… both to will and to do of HIS good pleasure. Our will and our actions are in fact His work even as we are ‘working out our own salvation with fear and trembling’:

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation [as if it depended on you] with fear and trembling [nevertheless acknowledging the fact that]…
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

If we have been granted the faith to believe that “it is God which works in [us] both to will and to do of His [own] good pleasure”, and that ‘He is working all things after the counsel of His own will’, then we will have no problem believing that the remaining seven listed virtues are being worked together in our lives for our good if indeed we are the called according to His purpose in this present age to be the firstborn among many:

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

The firstborn are the first to die daily (1Co 15:31) and be crucified daily (Gal 2:20) and the first to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice to God (Rom 12:1). It is all accomplished “by grace” through the free gift of faith.

The second ‘virtue’ listed is ‘virtue’ itself

 “Add to your faith virtue…” What exactly is ‘virtue’? I thought it was just as the BT+ defines it:

G703-arete

– Original: ἀρέτη

– Transliteration: Arete

– Phonetic: ar-et’-ay

– Definition:

1- a virtuous course of thought, feeling and action
2- virtue, moral goodness
3- any particular moral excellence, as modesty, purity

– Origin: from the same as G730

– TDNT entry: 08:37,8

– Part(s) of speech: Noun Feminine

– Strong’s: From the same as G730; properly manliness (valor) that is excellence (intrinsic or attributed): – praise virtue.

Total KJV Occurrences: 5

– praises, 1

 1Pe 2:9

– virtue, 4

 Php 4:8; 2Pe 1:3; 2Pe 1:5(2)

This Greek word (G703, ‘arete’) appears only 5 times in the New Testament. Two of those five entries are right here in 1 Peter 1:5, where it is translated as ‘virtue’ twice in the same verse:

2Pe 1:5  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

This word also appears in 1 Peter 2:9 where it is translated ‘praises’:

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises [G703: ‘Arete’] of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

If the translators had been consistent and had translated ‘areta’ here as ‘virtue’, it would probably be a better translation, and it would be consistent with the two entries in the first verse of our study today and the only other two entries where ‘areta’ is consistently translated as ‘virtue’:

Php 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue [G703: ‘arete’], and if there be any praise, think on these things.

2Pe 1:3  According 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 [G403: ‘arete’]:

Notice that we are informed by Strongs that this word is “from the same as G730; ‘Arrhen’, properly manliness (valor) that is excellence…”

BT+ tells us that ‘arrhen’, G730, is the root word of G703, ‘arete’. This word appears only nine times in the New Testament, and it is consistently translated as ‘male, men and man’. Three of those nine entries will serve to demonstrate how this root word is used in scripture. It first appears in:

Mat 19:4  And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male [G730: arrhen] and female,

Paul used this word three times in:

Rom 1:27  And likewise also the men [G730: arrhen], leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men [G730: ‘arrhen] with men [G730: arrhen] working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

The last two entries are in Revelation 12:

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man [G430: ‘arrhen’] child G5207, ‘uihos’, a mature son], who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child [G5043: ‘teknon’, Child, male or female] was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Rev 12:13  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man [G430: ‘arrhen’, man] child. [The word ‘child’ is added by the translators]

What does the knowledge of the root of  ‘arete’, G403, add to our understanding? The fact that the root of the Greek word translated as ‘virtue’ is the Greek word for ‘man’ signifies that the Greek word for virtue, G403, ‘arete’ carries with it the concept that “the head of the man is Christ.”

1Co 11:3  But I would have you know, that the head of every man [G435, ‘aner’] is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man [G435: ‘aner’]; and the head of Christ is God.

The word translated as ‘virtue’, ‘arete’, G403, reminds us that our heavenly Father is a God of order:

 1Co 14:40  Let all things be done decently and in order. 

Our third virtue is knowledge.

2Pe 1:5  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; [G1108: ‘gnosis’]

Here is how Strong’s defines this Greek word:

G1108

γνῶσις

gnōsis

gno’-sis

From G1097; knowing (the act), that is, (by implication) knowledge: – knowledge, science.

Total KJV occurrences: 29

Like every word of scripture, this Greek word has both a positive and a negative application. Applying its negative application we are told:

1Co 8:1  Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge [G1108: ‘gnosis’]. Knowledge [G1108, ‘gnosis’] puffeth up, but charity edifieth.

In its positive application we are told:

Hos 4:6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Forgetting or rejecting knowledge will cause the Lord to reject us until the white throne judgment.

We find this Greek word in its verb form in one of the most powerful and revealing verses of scripture:

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know [G1097: ‘ginosko’] thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

In this very powerful verse, we are being informed that eternal life IS a matter of having the mind of Christ and His Father! “Knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent”.

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

When we ‘know’ God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent’ then we are beginning to take on the mind of Christ, and that is indeed a virtue which will “keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace”. ‘The unity of the spirit’ is so very rare in a world of 40,000 plus divided, and conflicting Christian denominations of men.

In the book of Proverbs this is what we are told of the value of knowledge:

Pro 2:3  Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
Pro 2:4  If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
Pro 2:5  Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

The fear of the Lord is an integral part of ‘the knowledge of God’. The Lord prefers ‘the knowledge of God’, and obedience to Him, more than offerings:

Hos 6:6  For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

1Sa 15:22  And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

Paul warns us against those who do not have the knowledge of God:

1Co 15:34  Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

King Saul thought partial obedience was sufficient, but both Samuel and Paul demonstrate that partial obedience is the same as rebellion and a lack of the knowledge of God.

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Paul makes it clear that the knowledge of God is an ongoing process in which we grow and increase daily as we seek to please the Lord in all our ways:

Col 1:10  That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Peter connects the grace we receive and the peace we know to the knowledge of God:

2Pe 1:2  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

Truly, the Lord’s people are “destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos 4:6).

We have five more ‘virtues’ to cover so we will pause our study here and resume it as we consider how the virtue of temperance contributes to “making our calling and election sure:

2Pe 1:6  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe 1:8  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:9  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: